The perils of cultivation loans

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Chapter 9: The perils of cultivation loans

Following Four Directions Bridge uphill, Chen Beiwu gradually caught sight of a shimmering tributary of Still Abyss West Lake.

Cultivators gathered in twos and threes along the riverbank. Ignoring the "No fishing" signs around them, they secretly cast their lines in secluded spots thick with grass.

In the era of the Immortal Alliance, fishing was not difficult. Finding a lake rich in spiritual energy was the hard part.

The Still Abyss River spanned three provinces and nurtured countless spirit fish. Even treasure fish comparable to Golden Core True Persons appeared from time to time, making it a sacred destination for countless fishing enthusiasts.

Every year, a few lucky people in Fallen Dragon Prefecture caught second-tier spirit fish in the Still Abyss River and vaulted into a higher social class.

But this sacred destination belonged to the Immortal Alliance. Ordinary cultivators had to pay exorbitant fishing fees to cast their lines there.

As far as Chen Beiwu knew, even fishing on the outskirts of the Still Abyss River-namely, in Still Abyss West Lake-cost at least one spirit stone per hour. That was beyond most people's means, and it was why he had previously declined Xu Ziqing's invitation.

Of course, the bigger reason was that he did not want to trigger a seven-colored encounter (a trace) on the boundless Still Abyss River, however low the odds might be.

Looking at the figures keeping watch in the distance, Chen Beiwu thought, My luck's pretty good today. Another chance to earn a little extra.

Not every fishing enthusiast could afford the steep fees, especially in the relatively impoverished Far Sky County.

To exploit a loophole, some fishing enthusiasts went to remote tributaries of Still Abyss West Lake and secretly fished in areas where the Immortal Alliance's World Affairs Hall prohibited it.

To curb the increasingly rampant illegal fishing, Far Sky County's World Affairs Hall had introduced a reporting reward system several years earlier: residents could receive official rewards by photographing other people fishing illegally and uploading the evidence.

The World Affairs Hall's rewards were neither particularly large nor particularly small, but Chen Beiwu's good luck made all the difference. Even an occasional trip across Four Directions Bridge could bring him across someone fishing illegally.

Reporting illegal fishing earned him roughly one spirit stone a month, equivalent to half a month of his mother's wages embroidering at home.

Chen Beiwu took out his phone, snapped a photograph toward the grass, and uploaded it to the World Affairs Hall's official platform. After entering the exact time and location to file his report, he turned gracefully and stepped forward.

Plop. A lump of bird droppings landed exactly where he had been standing.

Chen Beiwu showed no surprise.

The divine ability he cultivated, Nine-Breath Qi Ingestion, was immensely powerful, capable of seizing the creative forces of heaven and earth to nurture his own fortune, but it was not without drawbacks.

Every time he triggered an encounter, he risked running into misfortune afterward.

What did that mean?

Fortune and misfortune relied on each other. While he accumulated fortune through his divine ability, bad luck and calamities were also brewing.

Things were fine while his fortune remained, but once he expended his accumulated fortune to trigger an encounter, the bad luck and calamities it had suppressed would erupt as tribulations.

However, Chen Beiwu had the supreme treasure Nine-Breath Chaos supporting him. Even on the few occasions when his fortune hit rock bottom and tribulations erupted, the outcome proved unexpectedly lucky.

Once, for instance, Chen Beiwu had been unlucky enough to get into a traffic accident after leaving home. His injuries kept him from school, and later that same day, he learned that a vicious killing spree had taken place there, leaving four dead and eighteen injured. One of the dead was the student who sat behind him.

Thinking back afterward, Chen Beiwu had felt profoundly relieved. Without that traffic accident, he might have become one of the victims.

Unfortunately, I can only draw on a tiny trace of Nine-Breath Chaos's power right now. Chen Beiwu lowered his head and glanced at the bird droppings on the ground.

With a supreme treasure in his possession, he would hardly stand by and watch his tribulations brew and grow alongside his fortune.

After several years of experimentation, he could now draw on Nine-Breath Chaos's power to release accumulated calamities and tribulations as bouts of bad luck-in other words, turn tribulations into minor mishaps. That was why Chen Beiwu had encountered an angry, pooping bird today.

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"Hey, fellow Daoist, interested in a cultivation loan?"

A flyer was suddenly offered to him from the side. Eight enlarged, bold characters stood out on it: "Easy loans-borrow your way to immortality!"

"No, thanks." Chen Beiwu waved a hand and walked straight past without even raising his head.

Buying a Frostfall Pill required a large number of spirit stones, but he had not reached the point of resorting to a cultivation loan.

These days, every cultivator knew the saying: you could dabble in anything within the Immortal Alliance, except cultivation loans.

Cultivation loans carried terrifying interest rates, starting at 10%. If the borrower had poor credit, the rate could even soar to 25%. ;psme&;psme&

Most importantly, unlike the spirit beast loans the Immortal Alliance offered to encourage talented students, cultivation loans charged compound interest, calculating interest on both the principal and accrued interest. Ordinary people could never repay them, and even after they died, their descendants had to keep paying.

Cultivation loans could be summed up in a single sentence: one loan passed through three generations; the borrower died, but the debt lived on.

Unless the borrower managed to break through to a higher cultivation realm within a short period, a cultivation loan was a bottomless pit.

That was precisely why some cultivators in the Immortal Alliance called cultivation loans "undecaying bones": these loans devoured people without spilling blood, squeezing even their marrow dry.

Yet every year, countless cultivators in the Immortal Alliance gambled on cultivation loans to set foot on the path of cultivation and attain eternal life, ultimately ending in ruined households ;psme&;psme&

and death.

Chen Beiwu returned to the entrance of his residential complex just in time to see a beautiful figure emerge from the elevator.

She wore a long dress, its skirt swaying in the breeze to offer fleeting glimpses of her long, lovely legs. Their cool, pale sheen gleamed in the sunlight, making her look like a classical beauty who had stepped out of a painting.

"Long time no see, little Wu." Chen Qin paused briefly, then greeted him.

Then she seemed to notice something unusual. Her eyes fixed on Chen Beiwu's flowing, lively hair, and she looked dazed.

Seeing her reaction, Chen Beiwu lowered his head to inspect his clothes. "Sister Qin, what's wrong? Have I got flowers growing on my face?"

He called Chen Qin Sister Qin not because she was three years older, but because her family lived directly across from the Chen Household. They had known each other since infancy; calling them childhood sweethearts would hardly have been an exaggeration.

At his words, Chen Qin came back to herself. Her voice rose involuntarily as she exclaimed, "You've broken through to late Qi Refining?"

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"Yes, just recently." Chen Beiwu nodded, his expression complicated.

Fate toyed with people. If not for her family's burdens, Sister Qin's aptitude might have already made her a late Qi Refining cultivator too.

Both their mothers had failed to break through to Foundation Establishment.

His mother had chosen to abandon the path of cultivation and leave the opportunity to the next generation, while Aunt Chen had chosen to take out a cultivation loan and keep going all in.

As a transmigrator, Chen Beiwu understood Aunt Chen's longing to cultivate and attain eternal life. Unfortunately, her gamble had failed. Within days, she had died of her severe injuries, leaving Sister Qin with a mountain of debt that was nearly impossible to repay.

Crushed beneath that mountain, Sister Qin had dropped out of school early. From a promising young cultivator with a chance at Foundation Establishment, she had been reduced to a musician at the Elegant Rhyme Pavilion, all but cut off from the path to immortality.

(End of chapter)