An Investment

"Was it Xue Renya?" Chen Suqiu asked uncertainly.

There was gossip!

The stray tuft of hair on Jiang Jinyi's head sprang upright. She still remembered Chen Suqiu telling her that very morning that she and Senior Xue, who had spoken on the stage, had only met a few times as children and barely knew each other.

Yet in the blink of an eye, Senior Xue had actually asked her brother to give Chen Suqiu a Supreme White Gold Essence Pill. Jiang Jinyi recognized the pill.

She herself cultivated Dui Metal, the orthodox position of the Metal Virtue, and this pill would also be of great benefit to her when she reached the Qi Refining Stage in the future.

"Suqiu, what's going on?" Jiang Jinyi gave her roommate a meaningful look, curiosity written all over her face.

Jiang Wangxuan nodded and handed Chen Suqiu the jade bottle containing the Supreme White Pure Gold Pill. "Renya practiced swordsmanship with me for three years. He's a rare good friend. He has a lot of influence at school, and he was the one who arranged for you two to share a dorm."

Chen Suqiu cradled the precious jade bottle in both hands and lightly bit her lip. "Then why didn't he give it to me himself?" she asked wistfully.

Jiang Wangxuan picked up his teacup and took a small sip. "Sorry, Junior Suqiu. I don't play messenger bird. What happens to the pill after this is between the two of you."

Just then, a server gently knocked and entered the private room, brought in all six dishes they had ordered, then bowed and slowly withdrew.

Jiang Jinyi noticed that the servers here were all cultivators rather than ordinary mortals, each at the Embryonic Breathing stage.

But the gluttonous girl's attention was soon captured entirely by the East Sea Glazed Medley in the center of the table. "Th-this is the Glazed Medley everyone online keeps talking about, made with East Sea moonlight bream?"

"It looks decent, doesn't it? I made a reservation especially for you two after coming out of seclusion yesterday." Jiang Wangxuan handed chopsticks to his sister and Chen Suqiu, who was sitting beside her in a daze.

For cultivators, a short period of Grain Avoidance was possible at the Embryonic Breathing stage, while those at the Qi Refining Stage lost all desire for nourishment through food. Yet in modern cultivation society, fine dishes made from spiritual delicacies had become indispensable to social gatherings among cultivators.

For one thing, modern cultivators rarely entered seclusion for more than a decade at a time as they had in ancient times. An ancient cultivator's social activity over an entire lifetime might not have amounted to as much as a modern university cultivator's in a single year.

The social needs of modern cultivators had also spurred the dining industry to flourish. More importantly, over three hundred years ago, the lords of Qinghuan had wrested Hearth Fire back from the Luan clans, allowing the stoves in the homes of Qinghuan's people to resonate with this Fire Virtue fruit position.

Spiritual delicacies cooked over Hearth Fire could not only nourish mortals' constitutions, but also increase cultivators' cultivation by a small amount through the appropriate ingredients.

In just sixty years, the way of nourishment through food flourished throughout the world, and the Hearth Fire burned ever brighter.

Today's main dish, the East Sea Glazed Medley, was suited to nourishing the bodies and increasing the cultivation of those who had just reached the Qi Refining Stage. Embryonic Breathing cultivators like Jiang Jinyi, who were preparing to break through to Qi Refinement, could enjoy it as well.

By now, Chen Suqiu could hardly fail to realize that Senior Jiang had long since made thorough arrangements for her. Her information had probably been on his desk before she even enrolled, perhaps delivered personally by Xue Renya.

Their earlier conversation had all been a deliberate assessment of her by this Grand Yin senior. A Grand Yin cultivator who might one day build an immortal foundation indeed had the influence to arrange such things.

The Grand Yin Dao Lineage's standing in Qinghuan was beyond comparison with other lineages.

The three soon ate and drank their fill. Jiang Jinyi had the worst table manners and ate the most, while Chen Suqiu ate quite a bit as well. The East Sea Glazed Medley was said to increase cultivation, but it only amounted to a few extra days of Qi Refinement.

For the present Chen Suqiu, splurging on such a delicacy purely to satisfy her appetite was still too expensive. It was better to use her Tongbao on the cutting edge of the blade.

Jiang Wangxuan took only one bite of each dish before putting down his chopsticks. The East Sea Glazed Medley was not very suitable for his current cultivation.

But watching his gluttonous little sister tuck in with gusto gave him a sense of the warmth of everyday life. Back home, children with good appetites were the elders' favorites.

And then there was Chen Suqiu, sitting across from him. As a direct descendant of a great clan in which someone had achieved Purple Mansion Divine Ability within the past few generations, she really was different.

Every gesture she made was so proper. No wonder the single-minded Xue Renya still thought about this childhood friend of his; in the past few years, Jiang Wangxuan had never seen him take an interest in any other girl his age.

After the meal, another pot of tea was brought in. Only then did Jiang Jinyi narrow her eyes in contentment and prop up her round little face as she gazed at the sea of clouds outside.

"Brother, it feels like a dream, having a meal like this at Luyu Station. Is this how those great figures in Qinghuan live?"

Jiang Wangxuan and Chen Suqiu exchanged a glance and, by unspoken agreement, did not respond.

"Junior Suqiu, Jinyi still has to come with me to visit a senior teacher later. Sorry for the trouble, but could you ask for leave on her behalf when you go back?"

"Of course, Senior Jiang." Chen Suqiu set down her teacup and winked at Jinyi. "Thank you for the splendid meal today, Senior Jiang. Let's get together for another meal when we have the chance. Jinyi, I'll be going first."

Only after she had walked a long way from the Fortune and Longevity Restaurant did Chen Suqiu's feelings gradually settle. The pressure Jiang Wangxuan gave her was something even her own elders had rarely made her feel.

He had only sat there, idly turning his teacup, yet he could draw everyone's eyes in the room. And his face was truly a little too stunning.

Chen Suqiu gave a bitter laugh inwardly. In the end, it was that Supreme White Pure Gold Pill that had utterly disrupted her state of mind. She understood perfectly well that neither Senior Jiang nor Xue Renya was someone she could reach.

A person needed to know their own limits.

After the Jiang siblings went downstairs, Jiang Wangxuan took his sister for a stroll around the bustling Luyu Port. The place most worth visiting was undoubtedly Fuji Avenue, near the Heavenly River.

Everlasting Protection Life Insurance had already moved its Jiangnan headquarters here. The group supplied Spirit Roots for export throughout Qinghuan, and the people of Qinghuan had also relied on the supreme [Everlasting Protection] attainment to set many ordinary people on the Dao Path to immortality.

The skyscraper beside it, gleaming gold amid the sea of clouds, was the Gold Federal Reserve's Luyu Port branch. The Gold Federal Reserve served as ballast for all of Qinghuan.

Behind it stood the True Lords of the four great Metal Virtue lineages: [Rare Metal], [Qian Metal], [Tongbao], and [Geng Metal]. They accounted for four of the vast Metal Virtue's lineages, and the four metals were branches joined by the same Qi, jointly holding the economic lifelines of Qinghuan's two emperors and six realms.

As such, the Gold Federal Reserve rarely spoke publicly and generally did not interfere in Qinghuan's internal affairs. A colossus like it could bring about earthshaking change with a mere sneeze.

The founders of Hengbao Group and the Gold Federal Reserve were both True Lords of Qinghuan's past, immortal lords whose illustrious names were recorded in the history books. They were the founders of Qinghuan itself, as well as Qingheng Great Luo's personal disciples.

It took the two of them nearly two hours to walk the entire length of Fuji Avenue from south to north. Jiang Jinyi was like an unrestrained fawn, stamping her feet in excitement whenever she saw one of the things she had previously only been able to see online.

"When you get down to it, Fuji Avenue is just a collection of modern buildings. They haven't even been around as long as Mom and Dad. Why are you so excited?"

"How can you say that's the same?" Jiang Jinyi shot her buzzkill brother a glance. "To stand here, in front of the Gold Federal Reserve-how many people back home can say they've done that? Enough to count on both hands?"

"Brother, you're still too far removed from ordinary talents like us. Just standing here puts me ahead of 99.999 percent of Qinghuan's people. How could I not be excited? I cultivate Dui Metal too, you know, so I'm even more fired up."

"Besides, this is the only time you've gone shopping with me in the past few years, Brother. Of course I'm excited!"

Jiang Jinyi pursed her lips and took her brother's hand as they walked the streets. Sunlight from above the sea of clouds shone through the ends of her hair, laying a golden glow over the girl's face and making even its fine down clearly visible.

Smiling broadly, his sister lazily stretched toward the sunlight over the sea of clouds.

Jiang Wangxuan could not help remembering how busy their parents had been with work when they were young, and how, at only six years old, he had taken little Jiang Jinyi out to play in the courtyard.

Back then, the Spirit Aperture between his brows had not yet been detected, and his sister had still been a silly little child who needed looking after, always calling for her brother and asking where he was.

Further along in time, their younger brother was born. He was ugly and not at all pretty, and his cries were terribly loud. Jiang Wangxuan had no patience for him; even living a second life, he really could not handle a noisy little brother.

Jiang Jinyi had been much more obedient as a child and easy to look after. Later, he had set foot on the immortal path, cultivating none other than the Essentials of Moon Essence Breathing.

He reached Qi Refinement at fourteen and then entered Lüyu. After six years of dedicated cultivation there, he had now arrived at the threshold of Foundation Establishment.

But that door was not easy to push open. Jiang Wangxuan was not completely confident in breaking through to Foundation Establishment. If he failed and turned into a laurel tree, all the changes he had brought to the Jiang Household would be put on hold, and might even be reversed.

Death and the end of one's Dao were much the same. Of course, the five-million-Tongbao loan he carried would also be wiped clean.

It was a low-interest loan approved for him jointly by the Great Qian Head Bank and Yuanhuai Heaven. Each time he broke through a level in the Qi Refining Stage, the corresponding loan amount would be released to him.

He would then use the approved Tongbao to buy spiritual pills and medicines for breaking through, and proceed as though killing monsters and leveling up, advancing through each level of cultivation and receiving each successive loan allocation.

The snowball kept rolling, growing larger and larger, until he reached a realm far beyond his peers, and the final allocation had also been exhausted.

The amount each time had been adjusted with extreme precision, enough for Jiang Wangxuan to break through to the next realm. So one should never play number games with the Great Qian Head Bank; those Qian Metal cultivators never got a bill wrong.

Of course, Luyu University also provided corresponding Tongbao rewards. Along the way, Jiang Wangxuan's food, clothing, housing, and transportation had been no worse than those of the Spirit Aperture children raised from childhood by grotto-heavens.

Such was the largesse of the Great Qian Head Bank and Luyu University. The five million Tongbao was, at its core, an investment, a gamble.

If they could truly train a Grand Yin Foundation Establishment cultivator together, the returns would not be something a mere five million Tongbao could measure.

To the Great Qian Head Bank, Tongbao was only a string of numbers. To Yuanhuai Heaven, pills like the Azure Marrow Origin-Nourishing Pill, which were exceedingly precious at the Qi Refining Stage, were nothing more than unremarkable stock in the grotto-heaven's stores.

The key question was whether you had value, whether your innate talent was worth the great figures placing a bet on you.

For five million Tongbao, the great figures had bought the possibility of someone making an attempt at Grand Yin Foundation Establishment. That alone meant they had broken even. Next, it was time for them to enjoy scratching the lottery ticket.