Chapter 42: The Outer Sect
"Of course I've got enough money. I was just asking, that's all."
Lu You put on a fawning smile, reached into his robe as if counting spirit stones, then took out fifty. "Senior Brother, I'm stupid and my success rate at drawing talismans is really low. I'd better buy another fifty sheets. If that's still not enough, I'll come back to buy more."
Buying fifty more at once!
Seeing the glittering pile of spirit stones, all three men broke into smiles. They immediately took out fifty sheets of talisman paper and cheerfully handed them to Lu You. "That's the spirit. Spirit stones only count as spirit stones when you spend them, if they sit in your pocket, they're just broken rocks."
Taking the talisman paper, Lu You cupped his hands toward the three Foundation Establishment cultivators. "May I ask your honored names, Senior Brothers? We'll be doing business together in the future. If I come to buy talisman paper and you're not around, I'll know who to look for."
"Not bad. No wonder you managed to charm your Senior Sister, you really know how to read the room."
The leading cultivator nodded in satisfaction and began introductions one by one. "If we're not here, tell the duty cultivator you're looking for Fang Ziming, Gu Jintang, or Ruan Zhengnan. Since you're buying talisman paper from us, we might as well be honest with you. Besides overseeing registrations, we're also responsible for checking whether talismans pass inspection. Lu You, you've hit the jackpot—going forward, as long as the talismans you submit can be activated, we'll mark them as qualified no matter how weak the effect is."
"There's something this good? Then I'll really have to thank you for taking care of me, Senior Brother. But wouldn't it be too eye-catching for me to keep asking others to call you over? Do you have a message talisman? I can buy one so it'll be more convenient to contact you."
Lu You's reasoning made sense, and since Lu You was willing to pay, Fang Ziming didn't hesitate at all. He immediately took out his personal message talisman and sold it to Lu You for ten spirit stones.
A message talisman was a bit like a cellphone from Lu You's old world, though it could only receive texts. It was still more convenient than pagers that required relays. Each message talisman was engraved with the user's spiritual energy and sent messages to whoever's spiritual energy was marked.
"Thanks, Senior Brother. It's almost the end of the month, I'll head back and finish this month's quota first."
With Fang Ziming's message talisman in hand, Lu You bade the three of them farewell and turned to leave.
After Lu You left, Gu Jintang tugged at Fang Ziming's sleeve. "Brother Fang, aren't we charging Lu You too much? One spirit stone for one sheet—outside it's ten sheets for one stone. Once he realizes it, he could just find other Outer Sect disciples to buy from and use a middleman."
"Would he dare?" Fang Ziming scoffed. "Haven't you figured it out? He bought fifty sheets, and it's already the end of the month. He's just a Qi Refining cultivator—drawing thirty unranked talismans alone will already keep him busy to death. Where would he find the time to look for someone else to buy for him? Fifty sheets to get thirty talismans—that's probably about this kid's success rate. Tsk tsk, didn't expect him to be pretty good."
With a nasty grin, Fang Ziming added, "We'll keep selling to him at this price. As long as he buys fifty sheets every month, we'll pass all his talismans. If he can't buy, we'll block him. After a few times, he'll behave. Even that Fat Zhou can slaughter fat sheep, why can't the three of us have a feast too?"
Ruan Zhengnan chimed in from the side, "Using a treasured artifact in sparring, renting a hundred-spirit-stone courtyard the moment he enters the Outer Sect—skimming a bit of money off him won't kill him. Senior Brother, Fat Zhou is nothing. His deals are basically one-and-done. What we're doing here—that's the real slow, steady harvest. Besides, Lu You even asked us for a message talisman. One look and you can tell he got scared by Brother Fang's bluff."
All the way back to his courtyard, Lu You finally understood why the disciples in the shared compound had looked at him that way.
So that's how it was, he'd been pegged as a fat sheep again.
No wonder bandit cultivators kept popping up in the lower city and the Verdant Cloud Sect never bothered to deal with them. Compared to those bandits, the Verdant Cloud Sect itself was the biggest bandit of all.
"These spirit stones don't mean much to me right now, but if this keeps up long-term, the real problem will be where the spirit stones come from."
Lu You sat at the table, thinking, while picking up a sheet of talisman paper stamped with the green character. With a single stroke of the talisman brush, an unranked Rain-Calling Talisman took shape. He tossed the Rain-Calling Talisman into his small cauldron, and just like that, all of this month's tasks were completed.
Buying fifty sheets earlier had been deliberate, Lu You had intentionally revealed a fake "success rate" to the three men. In reality, for unranked talismans like this, when Lu You drew them himself, he could achieve a one-hundred-percent success rate.
"Today, I got marked as a fat sheep by people with ulterior motives. This isn't the time to stir up trouble, I'll wait and see for now."
Lu You took out the message talisman from his robe, weighed it in his hand for a moment, then put it back. He then took out the Five Elements Qi-Nourishing Technique, activated several Purifying Heart Talismans, and began reading.
Compared to the Five Elements Qi-Nourishing Technique, the Minor Five Elements Qi-Nourishing Technique that menial disciples cultivated was outdated by more than a dozen "versions." The Minor Five Elements Qi-Nourishing Technique focused more on converting one's own internal energy, absorbing very little spiritual energy from heaven and earth. The Five Elements Qi-Nourishing Technique, on the other hand, was the true method of immortal cultivation.
Comparing the two, Lu You instantly understood the Verdant Cloud Sect's "good intentions." It turned out that for disciples with subpar spiritual roots, the sect had never intended to let them enter the Inner Sect at all. Cultivating the Minor Five Elements Qi-Nourishing Technique, those with mixed spiritual roots would spend their whole lives farming unless they encountered a rare stroke of fortune. This was also a form of screening: the sect first took in disciples with good spiritual roots, then used an ordinary cultivation method to coax the rest into obediently farming the fields. As for those who managed to enter the Inner Sect with just an ordinary cultivation method—that meant they had their own opportunities and fortune. On the path of cultivation, besides talent, destiny and luck mattered too. Whether it was good spiritual roots or good luck, the Verdant Cloud Sect didn't lose out by taking either.
This was also why Zeng Yan had kept urging Lu You to fight for opportunities. Zeng Yan came from a family in the lower city and had long known about these shady tricks of the Verdant Cloud Sect. But she couldn't spell it out directly, so she could only hint and prod Lu You from the side.
"No wonder Foundation Establishment cultivators dare to bully me, the sect itself is rotten to the core."
Lu You finally understood why Senior Sister Zeng Yan had been able to enter the Inner Sect. It wasn't just because of her contributions in the ancient tomb; her background from a cultivation family also played a role.
This Verdant Cloud Sect essentially accepted three types of disciples: those with good spiritual roots, those with great opportunities, and those with backing or influence. Everyone else was treated like beasts of burden. Even after joining the Outer Sect, they were just better oxen and horses among the herd, if the sect wanted to slaughter them, it could do so at will.
Even with the effects of the Purifying Heart Talisman still active, Lu You's blood boiled with anger. Sitting in his room, he looked out the window at the endless green mountains of the Verdant Cloud Sect. The layered peaks, once a majestic sight, now looked like a gaping, blood-red maw.
The Five Elements Qi-Nourishing Technique absorbed and transformed spiritual energy in ways no longer limited to the cultivator's own body. Even the drifting spiritual energy of heaven and earth could be drawn in by Lu You. His cultivation speed was more than twice that of the Minor Five Elements Qi-Nourishing Technique. Just from trying it out, Lu You could already feel the bottleneck at the fifth level of Qi Refining loosening.
Taking a spirit stone from his robe, Lu You tried absorbing from it. Crack—the spirit stone crumbled into powder, but nearly half of the spiritual energy inside was absorbed by Lu You.
"So that's why I couldn't cultivate with spirit stones before... my cultivation technique was too low-grade. With the Five Elements Qi-Nourishing Technique, I can finally use spirit stones for cultivation."
After discovering this method, Lu You immediately went into the secret chamber, spread spirit stones across the floor, and stopped drawing in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, instead directly absorbing the spiritual energy from the stones themselves.
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