Dao Seeking Sect, Hundred Refinements Peak.
Li Haoran was still reminiscing about the bits and pieces of his past life with Mu Baiyi.
As a new-generation Vice Cult Master, Mu Baiyi had been young and spirited, and Qin Haoran had thought very highly of him.
"Mu Baiyi was a pitiable child too. His family had been poor since he was young. After becoming a cultivator and joining a sect, he hoped to earn money, but instead of making much, the sect shut down first."
"Later, seeing that the Nine Nether Cult offered a decent monthly allowance, he joined them."
"According to him, he originally wanted to join the Immortal Cult. After all, the monthly stipend for Immortal Cult believers was three times that of a local official."
"Then why didn't he join?" Qin Yanyan chimed in.
"The Immortal Cult hid too well, so he couldn't find their door. The Nine Nether Cult was easy to find—just track down a wild ghost, and there was a one-in-ten chance it belonged to the Nine Nether Cult. Following that thread led right to them."
"Of course, that was in the past. Later, Qin Haoran realized this method carried too much risk and made it too easy to be caught by the righteous sects, so he learned from the Immortal Cult. Now the Nine Nether Cult is quite hard to find too."
"Qin Haoran got along pretty well with Mu Baiyi. Back in the Nine Nether Cult, he helped Qin Haoran quite a lot."
"Once, Qin Haoran heard that money houses were lucrative and wanted to start one. But he feared that if nobody came to deposit money when it opened, it would turn into a laughingstock. So he had Mu Baiyi disguise himself as men, women, young, and old to deposit money on the opening day."
"Hiring shills—a very common business tactic." Thanks to Qin Haoran's memories, Li Haoran was now well-versed in all kinds of underhanded commercial tricks.
"So did the money house ever open?"
"No. The money house Qin Haoran opened forgot to get government approval, and both of them were arrested for illegal public deposit fundraising."
"We explained that no one had actually deposited money, that it was all an act directed and performed by ourselves."
"Did the authorities let you go?"
"No. The authorities said our actions constituted both illegal public deposit fundraising and fraud, warranting concurrent punishment for multiple crimes."
Lu Yang: "..."
Qin Yanyan: "..."
"During their time locked in the dungeon, the two of them advanced side by side, diligently studying all kinds of laws. Eventually, their sentences served, they returned, having mastered the law." Li Haoran had not yet fully absorbed Qin Haoran's memories; otherwise, he would be quite the legal scholar right about now.
"Fortunately, Qin Haoran had planned ahead and foresaw this disaster. Before entering prison, he had already arranged follow-up affairs, so the fact that the cult was operating at a deficit was never exposed."
This went to show that Qin Haoran had been a man of remarkable foresight.
Just as Li Haoran was about to continue recounting the glorious days of the Nine Nether Cult, a cool, graceful figure appeared behind him.
"Eldest Senior Sister."
"Greetings, Eldest Senior Sister." As a member of the Heavenly Court Cult, Qin Yanyan had wrestled with whether to call Yun Zhi "Cult Master" or "Eldest Senior Sister." After some mental struggle, she chose to go with the crowd.
"Eldest Senior Sister, I was just confirming with Junior Brother Li. The one wearing the white paper hat in Hanshui City is indeed the Nine Nether Cult Master, named Mu Baiyi."
"Nine Nether Cult Master Mu Baiyi? Understood. You did well. Little Junior Brother, come back with me."
Lu Yang dutifully stood beside Eldest Senior Sister and accompanied her back to Tianmen Peak.
"Eldest Senior Sister, did you need me for something?"
"Not you. Senior Fairy."
"Looking for this immortal?" Hearing this, the Immortal Fairy sprang up from the bed like a leaping carp, happily emerging from the spiritual space.
"Speak, what do you need this immortal for?" It was rare for Yun Zhi to ask something of her, so the Immortal Fairy felt invigorated, as if she had suddenly grown ten years younger.
Now she was only six years old.
"Emperor Xia's lifespan has run into trouble. He has roughly ten years left, and the Little Medicine King is of no use to him. Fairy, do you have any ideas?"
Lu Yang was startled by this news. The outside world claimed Emperor Xia was in the prime of his life, executing grand plans with a bright future ahead for Great Xia. Why would he have only a few years left out of nowhere?
The Immortal Fairy looked thrilled and said eagerly, "When are we staging an uprising?"
She felt that the Dao Seeking Sect possessed vast resources and the qualifications to vie for the realm. Once the time was ripe, the world would rise in response, and success was guaranteed!
Wasn't that exactly what Lu Yang's strategy for the Nine Nether Cult had said?!
With her and Yun Zhi as two supreme combatants, wouldn't they be able to make whoever they wanted emperor?
"...It is not an uprising. Senior Fairy, do you have a way to extend his lifespan?"
The characteristic of the Immortal Fairy's Dao fruit was immortality. Even in death, simply chanting her honorable title and name could revive her. Let alone mortal cultivators, even the Little Medicine King envied such an ability.
In Yun Zhi's mind, the Immortal Fairy was the most likely to solve Emperor Xia's problem.
"Give him a rudimentary Immortal Dao fruit and let that whatever Emperor Xia become the Fourth-in-Command of the Immortal Lineage?"
Everything followed a first-come, first-served order, so whoever arrived last naturally ranked at the back.
The Immortal Lineage was strong and formidable: the First-in-Command was the head of the Five Ancient Celestials, the Second-in-Command was a Golden Core Patriarch, the Third-in-Command was a half-immortal, and the Fourth-in-Command would be the reigning emperor.
Lu Yang instantly felt that his title as Second-in-Command of the Immortal Lineage carried immense weight.
"The imperial palace's ancestral grounds will certainly not agree," Yun Zhi said, shaking her head.
If Emperor Xia went and became the Fourth-in-Command of the Immortal Lineage for no good reason, Yun Zhi could already imagine the person in the imperial ancestral grounds stamping his feet in fury and demanding a duel with the Immortal Fairy.
Moreover, this would expose the Immortal Fairy's existence.
What Yun Zhi wanted was a method that could be revealed openly to the world.
"If the Little Medicine King doesn't work, that leaves immortal fruits... My immortal fruit can keep a corpse from decaying, which is only useful after death."
"Immortal Kirin and Immortal Ying Tian's immortal fruits don't grant eternal youth or prolong life either."
"Right, does he have any sons? Look for some water from the Child-and-Mother River so he can leave behind an heir."
"He has nine sons and seven daughters."
"He can have that many? Is he giving birth to piglets?" the Immortal Fairy muttered. Even drinking from both the Child-and-Mother River and the Twin River couldn't compare to Emperor Xia.
Immortal Kirin and the paragons of the Dragon and Phoenix clans had labored for so many years without managing to birth a single little qilin.
The higher one's cultivation realm, the harder it was to leave behind offspring.
"Oh, right!" The Immortal Fairy shouted as a clue struck her. "There is a Heaven-and-Earth Spiritual Root in this world—a peach tree born of heaven and nourished by earth, beyond the scope of ordinary natural treasures. The immortal peaches borne by that peach tree can prolong life!"
"The five of us ate peaches from that tree. They were delicious, bursting with juice."
"Where is this Heaven-and-Earth Spiritual Root?" It was the first time Eldest Senior Sister had heard of such a root; even ancient records held no mention of it.
"Don't know. The peach tree had legs. After we picked its peaches, it ran away."
Eldest Senior Sister nodded. It counted as a lead, even if it would be difficult to track down. She told Lu Yang to continue cultivating while she went to consult the other elders.
After Eldest Senior Sister left, Lu Yang fell into thought, then turned toward the Scripture Pavilion.
"What are you going there for?"
"I vaguely remember seeing a technique in the Scripture Pavilion related to longevity. It was buried at the very bottom, so very few people have likely learned it. It might just be useful."
Chapter 455