Debt-Paying Life-Claiming Thunder

"There are ten million spirit stones in this storage ring. Consider it a deposit, Mister Tao. Please keep it safe." Vice Cult Master Shi felt the pinch. He had originally planned to use those ten million to buy out the advertising rights; he had never imagined that after a brief back-and-forth, the ten million would be demoted to a mere down payment. "As for the remaining forty million, I must return and mobilize our funds before I can gather the full sum, so I must ask Mister Tao to wait half a month. "We haven't finished filming the one-minute promotional illusion either. Half a month from now, the promotional illusion will be delivered to Mister Tao along with the forty million spirit stones. "This is a wooden badge for communication." Vice Cult Master Shi handed Tao Yaoye a palm-sized wooden badge; he had given one to Lu Yang in the past as well. "Once the spirit stones are ready, we will use the wooden badge to contact Mister Tao." Shi Huagu's courtesy could hardly be faulted. Just as Lu Yang had noted earlier, in this matter, the Nine Nether Cult was begging Tao Yaoye for help, and Tao Yaoye was the one holding all the initiative. "Very well. I have other matters to attend to, so I will not entertain the three of you any further." Shi Huagu slowly rose to his feet and shot Huo Huashen a look, signaling him to see Lu Yang and the other two out. Huo Huashen understood. Reaching into his storage ring, he retrieved a bottle of eye drops and handed it to Shi Huagu. Shi Huagu: "..." "I was telling you to see them off!" If not for Huo Huashen's exceptional talent—such that given time, he might become a Vice Cult Master or even Cult Master—Shi Huagu would have slapped the bastard dead long ago! Huo Huashen thought to himself, *Can you really blame me? One glance from you carries half a dozen meanings. Who could possibly figure it out?* Huo Huashen escorted the trio on their way. After walking about two li, a sudden clap of thunder erupted behind them, startling them so badly they shuddered. The three turned their heads and saw the sky above Shi Huagu's location abruptly transform. Dark clouds churned, lightning flashed, and thunder roared, like an apocalyptic tempest. This was a lightning tribulation that posed a lethal threat even to those at the Body Integration stage. Even across such a distance, one could feel the crushing weight brought by the lightning... "Wait, why don't I feel any pressure?" Lu Yang wondered. Looking at the expressions of his two junior sisters and Huo Huashen, the residual might of the thunder should have reached this far. Why didn't he feel a thing? "Because of this Immortal, of course!" The Immortal Fairy stepped forward, proudly patting her chest with her chin raised high, looking thoroughly smug. "You're that formidable, Fairy?" Lu Yang was thoroughly astonished. He hadn't expected the Immortal Fairy to carry so much weight. "Naturally! The source of most lightning tribulations traces back to Immortal Ying Tian's Tribulation Responding Dao fruit. Wouldn't the lightning tribulation have to give this Immortal some face?" The lightning tribulation had not been created by Immortal Ying Tian; his contribution lay in developing and popularizing its various forms and types. This was the first time Lu Yang learned the Immortal Fairy had so much clout—even a lightning tribulation had to show her respect. It seemed the psychological trauma she had inflicted on Immortal Ying Tian ran deep indeed. "Judging by this setup, this tribulation must be the Debt-Paying Life-Claiming Thunder molded by Immortal Ying Tian, made specifically to strike down scoundrels who default on their debts." Lu Yang recalled that Huo Huashen seemed to have taken an inheritance left behind by Qin Haoran from his hands, and the contents of that inheritance were tied to a promissory note... Glancing sideways at Huo Huashen to confirm he was indeed still breathing, Lu Yang sighed inwardly. It seemed Vice Cult Master Shi truly valued Huo Huashen, seeing as the man had survived even that. "Speaking of which, isn't the name of this lightning tribulation a bit too plain?" In Lu Yang's impression, a lightning tribulation ought to be named something like Shangqing, Purple Firmament, Return to Silence, or Six Ding and Six Jia. Calling it Debt-Paying Life-Claiming Thunder—why not just call it Promissory Note Thunder? *Immortal Ying Tian, do you even know how to name things?* "This Immortal thought the name I came up with was pretty good, though." Realization struck Lu Yang like sunlight breaking through the fog. He instantly adopted an expression of profound enlightenment. "So you named it, Fairy! No wonder the name carries such an aura of returning to pure simplicity! When you ponder it carefully, there's profound truth within. As the saying goes, debts must be repaid. If debtors actually paid back what they owed, why would they ever face a tribulation? Thus, those who default on their debts must pay with their lives! The name you chose truly leaves a lingering impression—just a few words contain layer upon layer of deep meaning, giving one so much food for thought!" The Immortal Fairy gave a smile appropriate for her childlike appearance. "Heheh, this Immortal didn't think that far ahead." A Body Integration stage breakthrough tribulation was a rare sight, so the four paused to watch for a while. Huo Huashen had actually witnessed it several times before, but he stayed mainly to keep Lu Yang and his companions company. In truth, they were merely watching the spectacle. This was a tribulation dangerous even to Body Integration experts; the tier was far too high. At the cultivation level of Lu Yang and his junior sisters, they couldn't discern the underlying mysteries of how Shi Huagu weathered the tribulation. As for the Immortal Fairy, she had seen Immortal Ying Tian forge this lightning tribulation with her own eyes, so there was nothing novel for her either. Leaving Shi Huagu to face his tribulation alone, Huo Huashen escorted the trio aboard the flying boat. Before departing, Huo Huashen felt he had to speak his mind, lest keeping it bottled up drive him mad. "If the three of you ever have the chance, feel free to drop by our barbecue shop and have a bite. While it can't compare to the delicacies of immortal sects, our grilled skewers do taste quite good." "Sure thing." In the flying boat's cabin, Lan Ting had still not fully processed what had happened. How had an ordinary mission led to them being waylaid by a vice cult master of the Nine Nether Cult, asked for a business collaboration, and finally handed ten million spirit stones before being politely seen off? Lan Ting wasn't short on money, but she had never seen money earned like this. She hailed from the Lan family—without any regional prefix. Ordinary prominent clans carried regional prefixes, such as the Qingzhou Yan family, the Liangzhou Wenren family, or the Liangzhou Ye family. Only a select few clans lacked a regional prefix, signifying that when one mentioned the Lan clan, there was only one Lan family under heaven. This privilege belonged exclusively to the uppermost echelon of great clans, the product of supreme strength and deep heritage combined. Enjoying the same distinction was the Meng family. While the Lan family couldn't rival the Meng family, the foremost clan under heaven, it was undeniably a top-tier clan. Lu Yang also breathed a sigh of relief. This excursion had gone rather smoothly—no need to slay Body Integration cultivators, nor did he have to confront Tribulation Transcendence experts. "Senior Brother Lu, these ten million spirit stones..." Tao Yaoye clutched the storage ring, looking eagerly at Lu Yang, feeling uneasy that the spirit stones had come so easily. She had done practically nothing, yet here she was with ten million spirit stones, plus another forty million pending payment. Lu Yang waved his hand. "You earned it by your own skill. Keep it." "Oh." "There's one more thing I should remind you about." "What is it?" Lu Yang narrowed his eyes, noticing several burly men rising in the distance and walking toward them. He casually cautioned, "When traveling away from home, never flaunt your wealth. It invites trouble." Tao Yaoye suddenly realized that when speaking to Senior Brother Lu just now, she hadn't used voice transmission. Any cultivator paying the slightest attention would have heard every word. Right now, in the eyes of others, she was a cultivator holding ten million spirit stones—a fortune that took a Soul Formation cultivator a lifetime to amass, yet she was only at the Golden Core stage! When wealth did not match strength, trouble was bound to follow! Several burly men with fierce expressions strode over. Their cultivation levels were impossible to read, but they were at least at the Golden Core stage, or perhaps even the Nascent Soul stage. Long-distance flying consumed too much spiritual energy, so many cultivators opted to take flying boats even if they were capable of flight. The burly men surrounded Lu Yang's group, ignoring Lu Yang and Lan Ting as their gazes settled entirely on Tao Yaoye, a faint trace of greed lurking in their eyes. "Fellow Daoist, it sounds like you have quite a few spirit stones on hand?" "Keeping so many spirit stones on you isn't safe, wouldn't you say? How about we keep them safe for you?" "What do you want?!" Tao Yaoye asked warily, her hand secretly brushing against her identity jade talisman, prepared to unleash magic treasures at a moment's notice. So what if the other party might be at the Nascent Soul stage? She had nothing to fear. The burly man in the lead let out a pair of cold chuckles, no longer hiding their intentions. "Has Fellow Daoist ever considered depositing your spirit stones with our Falling Coin Chamber of Commerce? We offer five percent annual interest."