The moment the Eldest Senior Sister arrived, the three of them finally felt at ease.
After all, the Eldest Senior Sister was the hardest one to deal with. Anyone scheming behind the scenes would never be able to make waves in front of her.
“Clean up the spoils and head back first. We can review everything once we’re there. What are you standing around for? Get to work.” Shu Xin shot them a sharp look and demanded impatiently.
Everyone immediately began cleaning up the battlefield. They collected all the storage bags and magical artifacts, then burned the cultivators’ corpses to ashes before obediently following Shu Xin back to the Hu family courtyard.
“Li Qinghe, Meng Wenrui, come over here too. Let’s review everything together.” As soon as Shu Xin entered the courtyard, she called out, “And since you’re here, you’ll get a share as well.”
Everyone piled all the spoils together. With Shu Xin watching over them, they could break open every storage bag without restraint, with no need to worry about hidden restrictions.
As piles upon piles of spirit stones spilled out, along with various pills, talismans, magical artifacts, cultivation manuals, jade slips, and more, everyone’s eyes grew brighter and brighter.
No wonder their master had once said that the biggest profits came from robbing robbers.
Working honestly for a living really couldn’t compare to the gains from a single robbery.
The poor cultivators, led by Yuan Dawei and Cao Ru, could hardly contain themselves when they saw so many spirit stones. They had already begun calculating how many years’ wages this amounted to.
“Eldest Senior Sister, if you hadn’t arrived in time and driven off that Dao Nascent Soul cultivator, none of us might have made it back. You should take your share first,” Yuan Dawei said at once, eager to show his loyalty. “It’s not much, so please don’t look down on it.”
Cao Ru was stunned.
Had the outside threat barely ended before the internal struggle began?
Yuan Dawei, how dare you steal my line?
“Eldest Senior Sister, you worked so hard. How could one share possibly be enough? I’ll give you my share too,” Cao Ru immediately declared with great generosity.
As long as the Eldest Senior Sister didn’t bring up the fact that she had been deceived, Cao Ru was willing to be her dog.
[Those demonic cultivators are still studying how to control a cultivator’s mind. Clearly, they’ve been wasting their time. They should just come learn from you instead.]
The sword spirit sighed deeply.
How long had it been? These cultivators had already been thoroughly corrupted by Shu Xin.
The infighting among their fellow disciples had forced them to learn how to flatter her, whether they wanted to or not.
“I’ll only take half. You can divide the rest among yourselves.” Shu Xin did not particularly care for these things, but since she had taken action, she would take what was rightfully hers.
The sword spirit fell silent.
She claimed not to care for them, yet she still took half. If she actually wanted something, would anyone else get a share?
“Although Junior Sister Qinghe and Junior Brother Wenrui didn’t take part this time, I think they should still receive a portion. How about we take half of what we obtained and give it to them?” Cao Ru suggested.
“I have no problem with that.”
“Me neither.”
Qi Feiyang and Yuan Dawei both agreed.
“No, no. We didn’t take part, so these things were earned through your hard fighting. We can’t accept something we didn’t work for.”
“If Senior Brothers and Senior Sisters insist on giving us something, then ten spirit stones each as pocket money will be enough.”
Li Qinghe and Meng Wenrui weren’t shameless enough to take part in dividing the spoils without having contributed.
“That’s not quite right. Although you didn’t go out with us, you still did your part by guarding the courtyard,” Qi Feiyang said. “All right, it’s settled. If you still feel uncomfortable about it, then share some of your spoils with us next time you obtain any.”
Since he had put it that way, Li Qinghe and Meng Wenrui could only agree.
The spirit stones were easy enough to divide. As for the pills, magical artifacts, and talismans, they were distributed according to everyone’s actual needs.
Once everything had been divided, only a few miscellaneous magical artifacts and some unidentified cultivation-manual jade slips remained.
They truly had no use for those things.
Magical artifacts had to suit the user’s particular circumstances. Besides, refining a new artifact required time and mental effort. It was far more convenient to use the artifacts they were already familiar with.
And these crudely made artifacts were hardly worth their notice.
“Eldest Senior Sister, none of us can use these magical artifacts. How are we supposed to sell them?” someone asked.
“You can store them for now. When we get the chance, I’ll take you to the ghost market and sell them there,” Shu Xin replied. “It will also give you a chance to learn how to set up a stall and bargain.”
Everyone became excited and nodded in agreement.
“As for these cultivation-manual jade slips, you can take a look at them.” Shu Xin thought for a moment before continuing. “Your cultivation methods are all superior, so you don’t need to switch to another one. But you should still learn what kinds of cultivation methods rogue cultivators in the cultivation world use most often. That way, when you encounter them in the future, you won’t know nothing about their techniques when fighting them.”
This was also the difference between cultivators from major sects and those from a rogue-cultivator background when they crossed hands.
Imagine that a disciple from a major sect could identify your cultivation method and its characteristics the moment you made a move. They would know its weaknesses and what it was not good at. A rogue cultivator, on the other hand, would have no idea how a sect disciple’s cultivation method worked. Even if the rogue cultivator had a higher cultivation level, it would still be difficult for them to gain an advantage.
That was why, whenever rogue cultivators had the opportunity to join a sect, the first thing they did was change to a new cultivation method. They would rather spend extra time starting over than let others see through their techniques.
“Yes.” After thinking it over, everyone felt that the Eldest Senior Sister’s words made perfect sense.
“After fighting them, I noticed that these rogue cultivators place far more importance on raising their cultivation level,” Qi Feiyang said proactively. “But they’re extremely crude when it comes to manipulating spiritual energy, deepening their connection with their magical artifacts, or even recovering after a battle. Although their cultivation levels are higher, as long as they can’t kill us within the first few dozen moves, they’ll run out of spiritual energy. Once that happens, they definitely won’t be able to defeat us.”
“Exactly. Their Spirit-Sealing Formation was poorly drawn too. I broke it in an instant.”
“I still don’t understand. Zhang Zhensheng was already at the Core Formation stage. Wouldn’t it have been better for him to stay with the Hu family and honestly receive the resources for escorting the convoy?” Cao Ru asked with a frown. “And he colluded with demonic cultivators. If he had been discovered, wouldn’t that have meant certain death?”
“Rogue cultivators have a difficult time surviving. If they can’t hold on to their principles, then there’s not much difference between them and demonic cultivators. They do the same things demonic cultivators do; they simply haven’t been branded with the name,” Shu Xin said, shaking her head. “Of course, there are also rogue cultivators who remain steadfast on their chosen path, and those people are often able to achieve something remarkable.”
“As for Zhang Zhensheng, he might not have originally intended to attack you so soon. He may simply have wanted to test you.” Seeing the confused looks on Cao Ru and the others’ faces, Shu Xin couldn’t help smiling. “You told him that all you had to do on the mountain was cultivate. How could he not be jealous? What he wanted was your cultivation method.”
Cao Ru and the others still looked somewhat bewildered. They couldn’t understand how a few words from them could possibly provoke someone into wanting to kill them.
Shu Xin did not want to waste time explaining everything to them. With a sweep of her divine sense, she quickly picked out a jade slip from the pile of cultivation manuals, erased the restriction on it, and handed it to them.
“Read it yourselves. This is the record of insights Zhang Zhensheng left behind.”
“Because rogue cultivators act without restraint, they tend to develop inner demons,” Shu Xin explained. “That is why many rogue cultivators have a habit of recording the things they cannot let go of or do not want to forget onto jade slips. On the one hand, it gives their emotions an outlet. On the other, it helps stabilize their Dao hearts.”
Put simply, it was the cultivation world’s version of a diary.
Many of the demonic cultivators Shu Xin had killed in the past had proudly recorded their “glorious achievements” on jade slips. It had certainly made it easier for Shu Xin to torment them in a more nuanced fashion.
“Eldest Senior Sister, do we need to do this too?”
“No. Who among respectable people keeps a diary?” Shu Xin rejected the idea outright. “Writing these things down is nothing more than deceiving yourselves and finding excuses for your actions. Some people write this sort of thing because they know that if they openly revealed what they had done, all they would receive would be the contempt of others. You have your fellow senior and junior brothers and sisters, as well as your friends. You can relieve your emotions by talking to one another. Why bother writing them down?”
Everyone nodded and silently committed Eldest Senior Sister’s words to memory.
After all, Eldest Senior Sister was never wrong.
Everyone looked at the jade slip Zhang Zhensheng had carved, curious to see whether they could find any clues about the mastermind behind everything.
【Year 498 of the Yuan Kingdom, autumn.
My parents, wife, son, and I finally escaped the Yuan Kingdom and arrived in the cultivation world. At last, we have found a place where we can settle down.
Father and Mother are not very happy. They were originally a pair of rogue cultivators who had left the cultivation world for a mortal kingdom. Now that they have brought us back, they seem deeply worried.
My wife and I do not understand. The four of us are all Qi Condensation cultivators. If our family works together, how could we fail to establish a foothold in the cultivation world?
Father and Mother said nothing. They only sighed.
After a long while, they suggested that we first visit the place where they used to live among the rogue cultivators and see whether we could find a cave dwelling for our family of four.
Altogether, we have only three broken spirit stones. They are all of my parents’ savings, and they are enough to cover just ten days at the cheapest inn.】
…
“So cultivators can return after going to the mortal world?” Cao Ru asked curiously. “I thought they could never come back.”
“They can,” Shu Xin explained from the side. “Mortals are merely kept in captivity by cultivators. The royal families of many mortal kingdoms are descendants of cultivators from certain sects.”
The boundary between cultivators and mortals was actually very thin.
“Zhang Zhensheng said that his parents and wife were all being controlled by the mastermind,” Yuan Dawei sighed. “Perhaps it’s true.”
“Not necessarily.” Shu Xin spoke indifferently. “Didn’t I already tell you? Don’t believe a single word these people say.”
Everyone continued reading.
【Winter of the second year after arriving in the cultivation world.
Our family of four finally made it to the place where my parents used to live among the rogue cultivators. To our surprise, it is still here. My parents were delighted, but after searching for a long time, they found only one cultivator they knew. That cultivator was preparing to leave and spend the rest of his life in a mortal kingdom.
He gave us a small welcoming gift, and presented my wife and me with a magical artifact each. They are the first magical artifacts we have ever owned, and we were overjoyed.
“The taxes here keep getting heavier. If you want to stay on the mountain and cultivate, each person has to pay the mountain lord one spirit stone every year in rent. If you sign a long-term lease, the rent goes up even more. You should leave as soon as possible.”
Only then did I learn that even places where rogue cultivators gathered, places without the slightest trace of spiritual energy, had a mountain lord.
The mountain lord was the most powerful person among the rogue cultivators. He provided the others with basic protection, but in return, the rogue cultivators had to pay him spirit stones.
I was indignant. We were all rogue cultivators; shouldn’t we be helping one another? Why was the mountain lord exploiting us instead?
Father and Mother merely shook their heads. They said we should find a more remote place to grow some spirit crops. The harvest each year would just barely cover our rent, but at least we would have somewhere to live.】
“So even rogue cultivators have this kind of hierarchy?” Everyone felt as though they had learned something new. “This mountain lord is basically the leader of the rogue cultivators, right? Since he protects the others, it makes sense that he would charge them a protection fee.”
At that, everyone could not help looking toward Shu Xin again.
“Eldest Senior Sister, you used to be a rogue cultivator too, didn’t you? How many spirit stones did you pay the mountain lord back then?”
Shu Xin leaned back in her chair and smiled.
“Every mountain lord who ever collected spirit stones from me is dead.”
Those whose cultivation was slightly higher than hers but whose brains were lacking had all been killed by her.
Who could blame her? They had tried to sell her whenever they got the chance.
Shu Xin had no choice but to send them to the underworld.
Everyone agreed that the question had been rather ridiculous. Eldest Senior Sister had eventually been recruited by the Everlasting Dao Sect, which showed that she must have been an exceptional figure even among rogue cultivators. How could she possibly have been exploited?
【Spring of the third year after arriving in the cultivation world.
My wife and I had just finished working in the fields. After casting a spell over the spirit fields to ensure they would not lack water, we were on our way back when we heard Father and Mother say that the nearby mountain where rogue cultivators gathered had been taken by a passing demonic cultivator and refined into a soul banner.
Every person on the mountain, including its mountain lord, had their souls extracted. Their corpses were discovered by a passing rogue cultivator, who bundled them all together and sold them to an outer disciple of the Yin Corpse Demon Sect, making a considerable profit.
Fortunately, the mountain lord here has already reached the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage and is only a step away from Core Formation. Ordinary demonic cultivators would not provoke him.
One spirit stone per person each year really is a very cheap price.
I breathed a sigh of relief.
My wife, however, complained that if we had returned earlier and gone to the neighboring mountain, we might have been the ones to discover the bodies.
A passing demonic cultivator might not care about the belongings of those cultivators, but whoever discovered their corpses would certainly search the entire mountain.
With all the looting, we could have earned at least a hundred spirit stones—equivalent to several decades of our income.
I too felt that it was a pity.
My wife was right. From now on, we should pay more attention to what happens in the neighboring settlements of rogue cultivators. We ought to make sure we get our share when opportunities like this arise.】
“At the beginning, Zhang Zhensheng still had some conscience,” Cao Ru sighed. “But by this point, he had already become no different from the other rogue cultivators.”
The environment really could change a person.
【Winter of the tenth year after arriving in the cultivation world.
Today, we heard astonishing news. Our mountain lord is preparing to challenge the Dao barrier and attempt Core Formation.
Father and Mother are extremely anxious.
The mountain lord has little life left. Even if he attempts Core Formation, there is a ninety-nine percent chance that he will fail. Once that happens, our mountain will no longer have another mountain lord whose cultivation is close to Core Formation.
Father and Mother say that we must leave immediately.
The Mountain Lord was about to enter seclusion. To improve his chances, he would certainly plunder the spirit stones from people like us.
I was reluctant to leave my spirit fields. They were only a little way from harvest.
My wife was also reluctant to give up the place we had made our home.
But there was nothing we could do. We had to leave as quickly as possible.
When we set out, we discovered that many of the rogue cultivators who lived here had also begun to flee. Everyone knew that staying behind would not end well.
But we were still too slow.
The Mountain Lord had already sealed off the entire mountain.
Our magical artifacts, spirit stones—everything—were confiscated.
Even so, my parents hurriedly took us and fled.
The closer he got to entering seclusion, the more deranged the Mountain Lord became. The approach of the end of his lifespan drove him to do many incomprehensible things.
In this regard, my parents had far more experience than we did.
Before long, I heard that the Mountain Lord had failed in his attempt to enter seclusion.
Some rogue cultivators who had stayed behind, hoping to get lucky and pick up whatever was left behind, were all burned to death by the Mountain Lord.
Fortunately, we had fled quickly.
My parents secretly took us back to see whether we could salvage any of the Mountain Lord’s inheritance after his death.
We were very lucky and found a damaged magical artifact. It was worth a great deal.
But we didn’t dare approach it. There were other cultivators there, and they even wounded my parents. We could only hurry back.
【Year Twenty, summer.
My parents’ injuries have continued to worsen and improve in turns, never fully healing. Their hair has already turned white, and it seems they won’t live much longer.
My wife secretly told me that perhaps we should start preparing coffins. I spent all our spirit stones on medicinal pills, but even they couldn’t cure my parents.
I’m heartbroken. Without my parents’ help, how will my wife and I survive?】
【Year Twenty-One, winter.
My parents sold themselves.
They sold themselves to a passing cultivator, agreeing to use what little remained of their lifespans to serve as test subjects for an alchemist’s medicines. If they were lucky, perhaps they might even survive.
They gave my wife and me twenty spirit stones. This was the money they received for selling their lives.
My wife and I had no choice but to take those twenty spirit stones and find somewhere else to settle down.】
“An alchemist still needs people to test his medicines?” Li Qinghe and Yuan Dawei were utterly shocked. “After successfully refining a pill, can’t an alchemist tell whether it worked simply by examining the pill?”
“That only applies when the alchemist has a complete formula.” Shu Xin glanced at Li Qinghe and the others, realizing that none of them possessed even the most basic common sense. “The alchemists that rogue cultivators encounter almost never have complete formulas. Most of them are self-taught. If these alchemists want to distinguish themselves, they can only repeatedly alter the ingredients in incomplete formulas and experiment with their effects. Naturally, they need test subjects. If they’re lucky enough to develop an effective formula, they can use it to join a sect, after which they’ll have nothing to worry about for the rest of their lives.”
“And if they fail, what happens to those test subjects?”
“Why do you think a pair of cultivators with barely any lifespan left would be worth twenty spirit stones?” Shu Xin asked in return. “They’re not in the business of making losses.”
Out of ten thousand test subjects, fewer than ten would survive.
So the idea that becoming a test subject might cure them was probably nothing more than a comforting lie they told themselves.
“Zhang Zhensheng’s parents must already have been dead by this point. He really was lying,” Cao Ru said with a sigh. “I thought he would at least tell the truth once.”
Shu Xin merely smiled.
In this diary, Zhang Zhensheng had written that his parents had sold themselves.
But how could two elderly cultivators with little lifespan remaining and incurable injuries have managed to find an alchemist and sell themselves to him so precisely?
Even a diary could lie.
【Year Fifty-Six, between spring and summer.
I’m preparing to establish my foundation. My aptitude is far better than my wife’s. Once I establish my foundation, I’ll be able to become a Mountain Lord, and she’ll become the Mountain Lord’s wife.
I will never let her down.】
“After fifty-six years in the cultivation world, he’s already on the verge of Foundation Establishment. His aptitude really is excellent among rogue cultivators,” Shu Xin said with a sigh.
After all, Zhang Zhensheng had already reached the Core Formation stage before his death. Clearly, his luck had surpassed that of ninety-nine percent of all rogue cultivators.
【Year One Hundred, winter.
Without realizing it, I’ve already spent a hundred years in the cultivation world. It was only after attending the banquet everyone held for me today that I remembered this jade slip containing my cultivation insights.
I’m now at the late Foundation Establishment stage, and I’m the Mountain Lord of more than a dozen rogue cultivator strongholds in the surrounding area.
Only now did I remember that I once seemed to have had a wife.
She appears to have been sold to some cultivator. The price wasn’t low.】
By the time he reached this part, Cao Ru had already begun cursing furiously.
“What a piece of trash! I bet his parents were sold by him too. He sold his parents, then sold his wife, and in his final moments, he still had the nerve to use them as an excuse while begging for mercy?”
“Damn it. I only regret that I killed him too quickly.”
Everyone’s expression had become extremely ugly.
It seemed that they had still held out some hope for Zhang Zhensheng. Only after seeing these jade slips containing his cultivation insights did they learn what kind of scum he truly was.
The later entries contained even more accounts of how Zhang Zhensheng deceived and murdered people, and how he acquired his first fortune.
For example, Zhang Zhensheng had voluntarily become the cauldron of a Core Formation cultivator. While the Core Formation cultivator was cultivating, Zhang Zhensheng killed him and seized all his resources, using them to successfully form his core.
On another occasion, Zhang Zhensheng had deceived a rogue cultivator woman with excellent aptitude. After taking her vital yin to aid his cultivation, he turned around and sold her to a cultivator from the Joyous Union Sect.
Everything he had done was utterly in the manner of a demonic cultivator.
Until the final entry recorded on the jade slip.
【Final entry in the cultivation-insight jade slip.
I’ve met my master. He is crueler, stronger, and more appreciative of me than I am.
He says that writing these cultivation-insight jade slips can control inner demons is a lie.
One day, I will replace him and become an even more powerful cultivator!】
Beyond this, they found no other useful information about the person behind the scenes.
But Cao Ru and the others were already furious beyond words.
“There are cultivators like this everywhere in the cultivation world.” Shu Xin looked at them calmly. “You can become angry over one person, but can you become angry over the entire cultivation world?”
“Let me tell you: this is only the beginning. If you want to survive in a cultivation world like this, first, you must at least be stronger than most cultivators. That will ensure that you won’t be sold off most of the time. Second, you must be more cunning than they are. Only by being cleverer than them can you avoid being framed.”
“Don’t be in such a hurry. You still have plenty of time to take a good look at this rotten world.”
This was merely the first lesson every cultivator had to learn after descending the mountain.
Xu Guan had been too softhearted, trying to preserve a pure haven for her disciples.
Shu Xin was different. She had always been ruthless enough.
