Midway through the banquet, Wang Quan released more than twenty palace maids to scatter flowers once again.
When the banquet ended, cannon fire rang out. This time, Wang Quan not only had the palace maids scatter flowers, but, at the Officiant Daoist Nun's request, also had them perform an elegant court dance.
At dusk, the Officiant Daoist Nun gave Wang Quan thirty thousand Green Beetles and left him her contact details.
"If there's another job, I'll let you know at least half a day in advance."
"The pay starts at thirty thousand Green Beetles."
"Good!"
With the rehearsal over, the courtyard was a complete mess.
The spirits packed up the leftovers and staggered away with their arms around one another's shoulders.
The human martial artists headed to Immortal Qin’s Book Garden to keep drinking.
Wang Quan bade farewell to the Officiant Daoist Nun and Dream Nun, picked up his case, and headed straight for the lower court.
Before he left, Dream Nun advised him, "The lower court is a chaotic place. Save some money and get yourself a house in the Market Ward."
"Well, there are still some empty rooms in Courtyard No. 95. The rent isn't high, and it's not far from Fairy Qin's Book Garden. If you move in, you might even be able to work with Fairy Qin, gathering yin and yang essences together to cultivate!"
The corner of Wang Quan's mouth twitched. "I'd like to build a manor in the mountains."
Beside them, the Officiant Daoist Nun chuckled. "Unless you're already on the verge of Foundation Establishment, the moment you build a manor, someone will grab you and refine you in an instant."
Wang Quan was taken aback.
He remembered that when Zhao Hongyi built her manor, she had only been cultivating magical power for a few months. Back then, she hadn't even possessed seventy strands of magical power.
Why hadn't someone grabbed her and refined her in an instant?
He bade the two Daoist nuns farewell and headed out.
Just outside the entrance to No. 95 Courtyard, he saw a gaunt Daoist directing two green-faced, fang-toothed Door Gods as he argued with a group of cultivators.
"Who in the inner and outer Market Ward doesn't know this? What demon hasn't heard? Anyone selling flesh must register with our Blissful Union House."
"Why should that Widow Qin be exempt?"
The gaunt Daoist sneered. "Fairy Qin doesn't cultivate your so-called New Method. Why should she register with you?"
Someone sneered back. "What right do practitioners of the Old Cultivation Method have to look down on our New Method?"
"The New Method is the tide of the times."
Wang Quan frowned and was about to skirt around them and head up the mountain.
But the cultivator leading the group blocked his path. "Hey, you tell us. Is the New Method better, or the Old Cultivation Method?"
Startled, Wang Quan pointed at himself. "You're asking me?"
The cultivator nodded. "That's right."
"My name is Zhao Fei, ninth level of Qi Refinement, an Attendant of the Blissful Union House."
"I'd like you, an uninvolved outsider, to judge who's in the right."
"The Market Ward has a rule. All cultivators selling flesh must register with the Blissful Union House."
"But the people of No. 95 Courtyard refuse to register."
"They even claim that because they practice the Old Cultivation Method, the New Method's rules don't apply to them."
"You tell me..."
Wang Quan smiled. "Sorry, I don't know anything about a New Method or an Old Cultivation Method, much less selling flesh. I've only just started cultivating. I don't understand any of it."
He understood that this business of registering or not was really a dispute between the New Method and the Old Cultivation Method.
It had nothing to do with him.
So he simply found an excuse to decline.
The result:
After hearing this, Zhao Fei's eyes actually lit up. "Since you've only just started cultivating, why not join our Blissful Union House?"
"I guarantee you'll reach Qi Refinement in three days and Foundation Establishment in three years."
"That's much better than sitting up on the mountain, swaying your head as you recite scriptures, suffering for a lifetime without ever reaching Foundation Establishment."
Wang Quan shook his head. "Sorry, I don't understand any of this. I still need to go up the mountain!"
He went around them, preparing to leave.
But Zhao Fei blocked his path again. "Hey, why can't you tell good from bad? I'm kindly showing you the right path. Why are you so ungrateful?"
As he spoke, the dozens of cultivators behind him readied talismans or lifted swords. Some even held crossbows radiating an icy chill, vaguely aiming them at Wang Quan.
Wang Quan surveyed them, memorizing every face, then smiled at Zhao Fei. "Thank you for your guidance."
"Let me go up the mountain and pack my belongings. Tomorrow, I'll come down and join your Blissful Union House. How does that sound?"
Zhao Fei laughed heartily. "Good!"
"I'll be waiting!"
This time, Wang Quan went around them and headed straight up the mountain.
But on his way up, he took out his token and left a message for the round-faced Daoist nun. "Senior Sister, prepare a set of top-grade materials for Nightmare Victory spells for me."
"Kill someone? I've only just started cultivating. How could I kill anyone?"
"I'm only going to use Nightmare Victory methods to temper my Yin Spirit."
"Fifty thousand Green Fly Coins for a set of top-grade materials used at the Qi Refinement stage? I only have thirty thousand. Sister, could you cover the rest for me first?"
"Yes, I've found steady work."
"I'll definitely be able to pay you back!"
"Thank you, Sister!"
At the entrance to No. 95 Courtyard:
Zhao Fei looked around smugly and declared loudly, "Everyone, you all saw it. That newcomer to immortal cultivation was willing to join us in cultivating the New Method too."
"Brothers and sisters, demons and spirits, as long as you join us in cultivating the New Method, you won't have to suffer exploitation by the Drowning Dao Lower Court anymore."
"The strengths of our New Method are rapid cultivation of magical power and superior cultivation realms."
"We..."
Zhao Fei went on and on, preaching the benefits of the New Method.
His main purpose in coming this time was to stir up trouble and take advantage of the crowd to promote the New Method.
In just a few short hours, through veiled threats, he had forced many people and spirits to declare on the spot that they were willing to join the great family of the New Method.
As for whether they would actually join in the end, he didn't care.
He was merely using this approach to spread the word about the New Method. That was all.
The House's higher-ups will certainly praise me for what I did today.
My Lineage will praise me too.
Soon, I'll have accumulated enough merit to exchange for a set of Foundation Establishment materials and a Foundation Establishment Pill, and become a Foundation Establishment Ancestor.
Then, here in the Market Ward, in the Drowning Dao Lower Court, among these mountains stretching a million li, I'll be able to establish a Foundation Establishment Lineage of my own and leave a fragrant name for a hundred generations.
Inside No. 95 Courtyard:
The cold, aloof Daoist nun sat upright in a second-floor loft, where thirty-six coffins with outer caskets were piled.
A bell rang. A coffin lid lifted, and a female corpse stepped out.
The cold, aloof Daoist nun surnamed Qin opened her mouth and spat a mouthful of magical power into the corpse. A moment later, the corpse's flesh shifted, transforming into her likeness before going off to explore the great Dao of yin and yang with a guest.
The number of New-Method Cultivators in the Market Ward grows by the day. They're the next rising wave.
They have plenty of magical power and money, but their spells are poor. They can't see through this spell of mine.
I can use them to cultivate my magical power and make some money along the way.
Wonderful!
Just then, someone knocked on the door.
"Come in!"
The door opened, and an honest-looking Daoist entered.
"Qin White Lotus, if you want to cultivate your magical power, why not go to the Blissful Union House run by the New Method practitioners?"
"People and demons come and go there. It's far better than running your Book Garden."
"Now look what's happened. They're targeting our courtyard and making all the residents anxious."
The cold, aloof Daoist nun surnamed Qin had the Daoist name White Lotus and was known as Qin White Lotus.
"The Blissful Union House splits the proceeds sixty-forty."
"They take sixty percent, and I only get forty."
"I am a proper cultivator of the lower court. I've cultivated for some twenty years and mastered over twenty thousand volumes of Daoist scriptures."
"Killing the New Method's so-called Foundation Establishment Ancestors is as easy for me as a cat killing mice."
"With abilities like mine, why should I follow their rules?"
"A bunch of chives waiting to be harvested, and they want to make money off me? Heh..."
Before you continue