Upon leaving Xu Henshui's residence, Zhang Sheng parted ways with Ji Liuli and hurried off. He felt guilty over the incident and truly had no desire to linger around her.
After they separated, Ji Liuli climbed a secluded mountain peak and stopped before a small courtyard at the summit. The courtyard gates swung open on their own.
In the courtyard sat a young Daoist whose boyish features made him look even younger than Ji Liuli. Cradling an ancient tome in his hands, he set the book down upon seeing her walk in and asked, "Caused trouble again?"
"Of course not!"
The young Daoist looked slightly surprised. "Nobody has come to lodge a complaint with me for three whole months! Did something go wrong with your cultivation?"
Ji Liuli said, "Lately, I've been cleansing Wei Yuan's foundation, but the more I cleanse it, the more puzzled I get. I searched the ancient records and found no answers, so I had to come ask you, Patriarch."
The young Daoist took some interest. "Wei Yuan? That little gold-devouring beast from Sky Azure Hall? What's the matter with his foundation? Bring it out and let me have a look."
Ji Liuli said, "He cultivates the Jade Toad Gazing at the Moon Chart. This is his visualization chart."
The young Daoist stared at the jade toad several hundred feet tall—an eye alone large enough to hold his entire courtyard—and the smile froze on his face. The jade toad stared right back at him, even blinking once.
After a moment, the young Daoist muttered, "Curse you, Xuan Yue, keeping this so tightly hidden!"
The young Daoist carefully examined Wei Yuan's visualization chart before saying, "This truly is a bit tricky. What medicines are you currently using to cleanse his foundation?"
"Here is the cleansing formula." Ji Liuli rattled off a dozen or so medicinal names.
The young Daoist shook his head the moment he heard them. "Too weak! Your formula is like using a ladle to water an entire field—how long is it going to take you to soak ground this vast? You have to use strong medicine."
The young Daoist pondered for a moment before saying, "I will give you four medicinal formulas, corresponding to sinew, blood fusion, jade bone, and spirit refinement. Use my formulas to cleanse and temper his foundation. Once his sinews are tempered, the potency of Origin-Nourishing Pills won't be enough, and Sky Azure Hall will have to upgrade his pills. Truth be told, for a foundation like Wei Yuan's, cleansing no longer does all that much, but it's always wonderful to give Sky Azure Hall a headache."
Upon taking the formulas, Ji Liuli's face instantly dropped. "Patriarch, how could Sky Azure Hall possibly afford these herbs right now?"
"They can run up a tab, so long as Zhang Sheng signs an IOU. Don't take one from Fenhai!"
"Even if Zhang Sheng is willing to borrow, I don't have that much money to front for him!"
The young Daoist said indifferently, "It's only a few million taels of immortal silver—mere pocket change. I'll front it for you. We'll turn that little gold-devouring beast into a giant gold-devouring beast! I'd love to see how that old bastard Xuan Yue survives this! Next time he sees me and dares bring up 'theories,' I'll slap the IOUs right across his face!"
Ji Liuli was overjoyed. "Thank you, Patriarch! Patriarch, you're the best!"
The young Daoist gave a scoff. "You, ah! If you'd learned even a sliver of this old senior's skills, would you ever fret over such petty coin? All day long, all you know is fighting and killing, completely blind to the art of subduing the enemy without fighting..."
Before he could even get started on his grand lecture, Ji Liuli had already vanished without a trace. Stomping his foot in frustration, the young Daoist could do nothing about it.
Yet thinking back to that visualization chart, he still felt something was off. Frowning, he muttered, "To make it that enormous looks almost deliberate. Could it be... to welcome something arriving?"
***
At the foot of the mountain, Ji Liuli tiptoed away. She naturally knew that while these sums of immortal silver were insurmountable obstacles to others, they were utterly trivial to True Monarch Yanshi, Master of the Hall of Heavenly Secrets. Altering another True Monarch's fortunes on a whim was enough to rake in millions; his efficiency at snatching money was not the least bit inferior to the Monastery of Creation's.
She simply enjoyed fighting and killing.
True Monarch Yanshi claimed that altering fortunes could kill people too, but she still preferred getting her hands dirty.
***
Inside the Mission Hall, Zhang Sheng had been wandering around for nearly half an hour without spotting a single task slip from the Hall of Heavenly Craft, leaving him thoroughly dejected.
This month, the price of Origin-Nourishing Pills had gone up by another five percent. Those old scoundrels at the Monastery of Creation were truly inhumane.
Zhang Sheng calculated the days: in two days, Wei Yuan would run out of pills. Sighing, he flew toward Sky Azure Hall and headed for Perfected Fenhai's residence. While his master had it hard too, as a Perfected, he ought to have more ways out.
The gates to Perfected Fenhai's hall stood open, and faint voices carried from within, sounding like a heated quarrel. Zhang Sheng instinctively held his breath and waited outside the inner courtyard gate, intending to seek out his master only after the visitor departed.
The two inside had originally been speaking in hushed tones, but over some point of contention, their voices suddenly spiked.
A pleasant woman's voice could be heard saying, "Wang, don't refuse face when it's given! You already owe me a small fortune, and you'll only owe more in the future. If you truly piss me off, I'll lend nine and demand thirteen—you won't stand a chance of climbing back up in this lifetime!"
Perfected Fenhai said, "Yunying, we are both accomplished cultivators. What need is there for such fiery temper?"
"Look around your study! Is there anything valuable left? Where are the fire fish in your pond? You've sold off nearly every scrap of your pathetic estate—all that's left is tearing down the two pillars by your door! Oh, and you have the nerve to display such a shoddy jade toad right in the center of your treasure rack? Is it even worth ten taels of immortal silver? You call this an accomplished cultivator?"
Perfected Fenhai gave a bitter smile. "As an elder, I must shield and nurture the juniors, must I not? What else would you have me do?"
"Juniors! Hmph, juniors are all you care about! If you're so good at caring for people, why didn't you care for me back then?"
"Back then, I truly had no choice..."
"Nonsense! Back then, you broke faith and deserted me! You clearly gave me your word, only to backtrack at the last second and run off without a sound, leaving me all alone on that mountain! And now you have the cheek to say you had no choice?"
Perfected Fenhai adopted a humble, meek tone. "What happened back then was indeed my fault, but so many years have passed. Surely your anger has cooled a little?"
"Fine, let's not speak of the past, only the present. You'll be begging me for favors plenty more in the future. Why should I help you? Based on your thick skin and shameless face?"
Perfected Fenhai let out a long sigh. "Just name your terms. So long as it lies within my power, I will do my utmost."
"Fine! I won't make things difficult for you. Come back with me right now and heat up the lake behind my hall—I want to take a bath. Your Daoist moniker is Fenhai, Ocean Scorcher, so boiling a little lake shouldn't be too hard for you, right? As long as you come boil my bathwater once a month from now on, I won't charge you interest. Otherwise, it's lend nine, return thirteen!"
Perfected Fenhai fell silent for a moment before sighing deeply. "No matter how you look at it, I wronged you. Let us go."
A Perfected moved like lightning. Two silhouettes shot into the sky and vanished in the blink of an eye.
Both Perfecteds had been in the grip of stormy emotions and failed to notice Zhang Sheng outside the courtyard. Zhang Sheng knew a little about those old grievances and knew full well this was something he had no place meddling in.
Yet it appeared his master was also at the end of his rope. Even a Perfected could not single-handedly shoulder the cultivation resources needed for over five hundred Dao Foundations.
Zhang Sheng let out a quiet sigh. Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly recalled a phrase the female Perfected had spoken. A jade toad? What jade toad?
Zhang Sheng pushed the door open, entered the courtyard, and headed straight for the study. Facing him was a display rack for treasures, now largely emptied; most of the precious items once kept here were gone. Perfected Fenhai had always liked displaying his cherished treasures on this rack, and it appeared he truly had liquidated most of his wealth.
Yet Zhang Sheng's gaze locked onto the very center shelf, where sat a low-grade jade toad. That compartment had originally held three miniature swords, which had now been shifted to an adjacent shelf.
Zhang Sheng walked out of the study expressionless and slammed the door shut behind him. He had initially felt some sympathy for his master's plight, but now...
That old reprobate truly had this tribulation coming!
Chapter 57