The Sanqing Immortal Sect.
This was the residence of Lu Baicao, the leader of Danyang Peak.
Yan Ruyu, the top disciple of the Alchemy Sect, navigated the familiar route, passing through a painted gallery to arrive outside a secluded cottage. He bowed with his hands clasped. "Master, your disciple has returned to report!"
A moment later, an aged voice called from inside. "Ah, Ruyu. Come in and have a seat."
Yan Ruyu did as he was told and walked into the cottage. Behind a layer of a bamboo curtain, he saw an old man in a bright red robe. The man had a fair complexion and was tidying up his appearance in front of a mirror.
"Sit for a while. Your master will be ready soon!"
Lu Baicao had a sharp-featured face and a pair of exquisitely trimmed little mustaches, giving him the air of a Daoist master with an ethereal, immortal bearing. The only thing that ruined the impression was the sparse hair on his head. Follow current ɴᴏᴠᴇʟs on novel·fıre·net
He sat before a mirror, holding a medicine jar filled with a pitch-black liquid elixir. It exuded the fresh scent of herbs, evidently concocted from some potent spiritual medicine. He gently applied the elixir to the top of his head, spreading it evenly.
In no time at all, a thick head of hair grew out like bamboo shoots after a spring rain, dark and lustrous! The man’s entire presence instantly became much more vibrant. He picked up a comb and meticulously groomed his hair until it was perfectly neat. Then, staring at his reflection in the mirror, he twirled his little mustaches, his eyes filled with self-admiration.
After a long moment, he slowly rose, lifted the bamboo curtain, and stepped out to face his beloved disciple. "You’ve worked hard on this trip to Vermilion Bird City to negotiate the elixir sales!"
Yan Ruyu quickly bowed with his hands clasped. "It was my duty, Master. It was no hardship at all!"
As he spoke, he retrieved a small booklet from his Space Ring and handed it over. "Master, these are the details for your review."
"Hmm!" Lu Baicao nodded and began to flip through the booklet.
Yan Ruyu glanced at Lu Baicao’s thick black hair and subconsciously touched his own high, shiny forehead. I should ask Master for a bottle of Baicao Liquid before I leave, he thought. My hair has been falling out much faster lately from all the mental exhaustion.
As his mind wandered, Lu Baicao closed the booklet, nodding in satisfaction. "Well done! At this rate, our earnings this year should significantly exceed last year’s!"
"You flatter me, Master!" Yan Ruyu replied.
Just then, Lu Baicao seemed to sense something and looked up. A moment later, Yan Ruyu felt it too. He hurried out of the cottage and gazed at the sky.
High in the firmament, hundreds of streaks of light tore through the heavens, all speeding toward a certain direction. At a glance, the magnificent spectacle looked like a throng of immortals vying to be the first to cross a river.
"Is today... some special occasion?" Lu Baicao asked with a frown.
"Not that I know of!"
Frowning in confusion, Yan Ruyu suddenly stared at several figures in the sky and blurted out, "That’s Junior Brother Yuan from the Formation Sect, Junior Brother Luo from the Physical Sect, Junior Sister Lin from the Thunder Sect..."
"You know them?" Lu Baicao asked.
"I have some dealings with them!"
Disciples of the Alchemy Sect undoubtedly had the widest network of connections among all the branches. After all, what cultivator didn’t need elixirs? By building a good relationship with them, one might get elixirs at an internal price and make a fortune. As the chief disciple of the Alchemy Sect, countless people wished to curry favor with Yan Ruyu.
But, thinking about it, those people don’t have any connection to one another. Why would they suddenly flock together and fly in the same direction? That direction... it seems to be the Divination Sect?
He suddenly remembered something. "Right, I heard they all borrowed money from the Divination Sect recently. Could it be... they’re rushing off to work in the mines?"
Upon hearing the words "Divination Sect," Lu Baicao’s previously amiable expression instantly turned dark. "Rushing to work in the mines? Heh, these young disciples today truly have no integrity as cultivators. They cast aside all principles for the sake of paltry gains! That madwoman, Luo Binglan, not only threw every sect into chaos back in her day, but now she’s taken a disciple who is just as insidious and cunning! To think they’d use such a vicious method to win people over... how preposterous!"
Lu Baicao’s face was as cold as frost. Even the temperature in the air seemed to drop.
Well aware of his master’s prejudice against the Divination Sect, Yan Ruyu immediately fell silent, lowering his head.
"Ruyu!" Lu Baicao said, staring at him suddenly.
"Disciple is here!" Yan Ruyu replied nervously.
Lu Baicao’s gaze was deep. "None of our Alchemy Sect disciples have gone to borrow money from that Divination Sect, have they?"
Yan Ruyu answered hurriedly, "Of course not! Under your leadership, Master, the Alchemy Sect is flourishing. Our junior brothers are all quite well-off. They have no need to borrow money!"
This was the truth. It wasn’t just the Alchemy Sect. Among the major branches, the Artifact Sect, the Talisman Sect, and several others had their own means of making money. Even without the monthly stipend from the Immortal Sect, their disciples lived more comfortably than those from other branches.
Hearing this, Lu Baicao clasped one hand behind his back, straightened his posture, and began twirling his mustache as he proclaimed with great moral righteousness, "Excellent! You must remember: we cultivators can allow our heads to be severed and our blood to be spilled, but our hairstyles... our integrity must not be lost! We must never cast aside our backbone for a few Spirit Stones! We of the Alchemy Sect would sooner die poor, starve to death, than take a single Spirit Stone from that Divination Sect! Understand?"
Yan Ruyu bowed his head. "Disciple will remember Master’s teachings!"
"Good!" Lu Baicao nodded in satisfaction.
Just as his voice fell, a vast and chaotic flurry of auras swept across the sky high above, their countless rays of light illuminating the peaks.
Yan Ruyu looked up to see over a thousand figures riding magic artifacts, their faces tense and eyes fixed straight ahead as they flew with all their might.
They look like they’re rushing to get reincarnated, he thought, watching them scramble over one another.
"Another batch is going?" Yan Ruyu asked, confused. "Surely the Divination Sect’s Spirit Stone Mine doesn’t need that many miners? Master, perhaps... I should go and find out what’s happening?"