Chapter 12

The sky had darkened, and a gentle night breeze stirred. Fang Xiaoyu clutched the Void Crystal, ignoring the persistent, soul-haunting cries of "Senior Brother Fang! Senior Brother Fang!" trailing behind him, and hurried along the bluestone path of the Artifact Workshop.

The demonic chanting finally became too much to bear. Fang Xiaoyu stopped, turned, and looked at the young girl shadowing him.

"Junior Sister Qi," Fang Xiaoyu said, his tone strained, "let me be honest with you. I am heading out for a trial in a few days. I’m even selling my Void Crystals just to scrape together enough money for life-saving pills and talismans."

Even if there were no urgent matters, Fang Xiaoyu wouldn't dare let Qi Miao buy on credit. One had to understand that standing before him was the biggest debtor in their Cangwu Sect. Lending to her felt like throwing a meat bun at a stray dog—once it was gone, it was never coming back.

Qi Miao was stunned for a moment, then asked tentatively, "Senior Brother Fang, are you going to the trial in the Zhulu Secret Realm?"

Fang Xiaoyu paused. "How did you know?"

"The Elder told me," Qi Miao answered honestly. She then looked at Fang Xiaoyu with surprise; when Elder Lan told her, he mentioned that the disciples of the Cangwu Sect had not yet been notified. Where, then, did Fang Xiaoyu hear the news?

Fang Xiaoyu understood her expression and twitched the corner of his mouth. "My master is Venerable Yijun. He is currently in seclusion, so I handle many of the sect’s affairs that require his attention."

It was perfectly normal for him to know about the Zhulu Secret Realm. As for Qi Miao, he wasn't surprised she knew; as the eldest disciple of Venerable Yijun, he was one of the few who knew the Elders were collectively guiding her.

Fang Xiaoyu paused, then continued, "Since you know about the Zhulu Secret Realm, that makes things easier. I need to make preparations before it is officially announced, so I really cannot afford to let you buy the Void Crystal on credit."

Fang Xiaoyu assumed that after putting it this way, Qi Miao would give up. Instead, he heard her ask, "Senior Brother Fang, if I can help you spend less money on your pills and talismans, can I buy the Void Crystal on credit?"

"?"

Fang Xiaoyu looked at her, bewildered. "How could you possibly make my pills and talismans cheaper?"

Qi Miao patted her chest and declared with full confidence, "I have connections!"

Fang Xiaoyu was silent for a few seconds before he couldn't help but laugh. "You have connections?" She was a disciple who had been in the Cangwu Sect for less than two months—what kind of connections could she possibly have?

"Mhm."

Qi Miao tapped her spirit talisman, showing Fang Xiaoyu her hundreds of contacts. "Look, no matter the sect or cultivation path, I have creditors here."

The smile on Fang Xiaoyu's face froze. "Creditors?"

Qi Miao nodded obediently, then argued with conviction, "Creditor relationships are connections, too."

"..."

Fang Xiaoyu choked for a moment. Pointing at her spirit talisman, he tried to make her face reality, bordering on a breakdown: "They are your creditors! You owe them money! What makes you think you have the standing to ask them for favors?"

Qi Miao tilted her head up. "Senior Brother Fang, just watch."

Having said that, she asked Fang Xiaoyu what he planned to buy. He named three types of pills, then crossed his arms and waited on the sidelines, watching her operations with deep suspicion. He didn't believe her for a second, fully prepared to leave once she failed.

Qi Miao flipped through her spirit talisman and skillfully found a "lucky" creditor.

"Senior Brother Qiu, I have a desperate situation."

Qiu Tu was currently lecturing an ungrateful body-cultivator disciple at the medical clinic. When his spirit talisman chimed, he didn't pay it any mind, continuing to roll up his sleeves and berate the disciple. "I am a medical cultivator, not a deity! Healing injuries requires a gradual process. You broke four bones today and now you want me to heal you in a single day? I suggest you go to sleep; that’s the fastest way to get what you want."

The talisman chimed twice more. Annoyed, Qiu Tu pulled it out to check which inconsiderate person was messaging him.

Qi Miao's name and the message "desperate situation" popped up. Qiu Tu’s tiger-like frame jolted. Ignoring the disciple, he frowned and tapped back a question mark.

Qi Miao’s reply was quick: "Senior Brother Qiu, I need a stone called a Void Crystal for my artifact crafting today."

Qiu Tu was confused. How did this require him to save anyone?

Qi Miao: "A fellow disciple has this stone, but the price is quite high."

Qiu Tu was instantly on guard: "Are you trying to borrow money from me?"

"No, no! I want to buy it on credit, but this Senior Brother needs spirit stones to buy pills, so he won't agree. I discussed it with him—if I can help him buy Spirit Ascension Pills, Purple Qi-Nurturing Lotus Pills, and Bone-Solidifying Pills for less, he will agree to let me buy on credit."

Qiu Tu raised an eyebrow. Once he understood, he was puzzled as to why Qi Miao thought he would help.

Qi Miao: "I certainly won't let you help for nothing, Senior Brother Qiu. If you help me this once, I will move you up one spot in my list. From now on, you will be my sixty-third creditor."

Qiu Tu, who was currently her sixty-fourth creditor, went silent: "..."

Qiu Tu felt like he had lost his mind; he actually felt tempted after reading the message. His pills were just sitting there anyway. Selling them now meant making a little less money, but the possibility of getting paid back would increase.

Qiu Tu stared at the talisman for a long time, then typed out: "I can, but you have to move me up more than one spot."

"Just one." Qi Miao was as firm as iron.

Qiu Tu paused, thinking about letting her wait, but a new message popped up.

"Senior Brother Qiu, you were the first person I thought of because I feel we are already quite familiar. If you don't want to, it's fine; I can go find other seniors."

Qiu Tu: "..." Damn, he forgot she had plenty of medical cultivator creditors.

"Move me up two spots," Qiu Tu bargained, unwilling to give up.

"Only one," Qi Miao remained unmoved. "Senior Brother Qiu, you are already high on the list. If I move you up too much, I won't be able to explain it to the others."

Qiu Tu: "...Fine." One spot it is. At least there's a glimmer of hope.

Qi Miao looked up at Fang Xiaoyu. "Senior Brother Fang, the pills are settled."

Fang Xiaoyu had been watching the entire time. He was so stunned by her smooth operations that he was speechless, and didn't even react when she called him.

Qi Miao then asked him which talismans he needed. Right in front of him, she found her 102nd creditor, Meng Chaoqing, and used the same method to ask for "emergency" help. She sent almost the same message as the one to Qiu Tu, only adding, "Among the vast sea of talisman-cultivator creditors, I spotted you at a glance, Senior Brother Meng. This must be destiny."

Meng Chaoqing’s reaction was no different—first confused, then wavering, and finally agreeing.

A quarter of an hour later, Qi Miao turned her spirit talisman around for Fang Xiaoyu to see: "Senior Brother Fang, look! I’ve got the talismans for you too."

Fang Xiaoyu: "..."

"Junior Sister Qi," Fang Xiaoyu looked at her with an indescribable expression. After a long while, he squeezed out four words: "You are truly formidable."

Qi Miao only stared longingly at the Void Crystal in his arms: "Senior Brother Fang, we must keep our word."

"..."

Fang Xiaoyu tossed the Void Crystal to her. After thinking about it, he took another piece of similar size from his storage bag and gave it to her: "Here, take both on credit."

"!"

Qi Miao tucked the crystals away, clutching her chest like a maiden in a play: "Senior Brother Fang, you really are a good person."

Fang Xiaoyu looked at her speechlessly. "Since you have such methods, why didn't you just go to your artifact-crafting creditors for the Void Crystals?"

A brilliant smile had been hanging on Qi Miao's face, but at these words, her expression instantly withered. She said gloomily, "Senior Brother Fang, excluding the Venerables and Elders of the sect, I have three hundred and six creditors. Only five of them are artifact crafters."

"They are my third, fourth, seventh, tenth, and eighteenth creditors."

"They are all ranked so high that this trick doesn't work on them."

In the Cangwu Sect, the fewest of Qi Miao's creditors were artifact crafters. This was because they all crafted their own storage bags and firmly believed that no one could break into them, so they rarely deposited treasures into the Vermillion Bird Pavilion. The only reason she had five of them as creditors was that they had all gone on long-distance trials and, for the sake of caution, had deposited their entire fortunes in the Pavilion. When the incident occurred, their losses were among the highest of all the disciples.

Fang Xiaoyu was silent for a while: "Junior Sister Qi, you haven't had it easy."

Qi Miao nodded melancholically: "Indeed."

"Sigh, just take your time paying back for these crystals. I’m not in a rush."

Qi Miao was genuinely moved this time: "Senior Brother Fang, you really are a good person."

Fang Xiaoyu: "..." What does that mean? She called him a good person earlier, too—was that just something she said casually?

He didn't bicker with her. Shoving his hands into his sleeves, he prepared to say goodbye, but caught a glimpse of Qi Miao fiddling with her spirit talisman again.

Fang Xiaoyu asked casually: "Who are you messaging now?"

"Notifying my former 63rd and 101st creditors that they've been moved down a spot."

Qi Miao replied while dutifully explaining the ins and outs to the two creditors. Both were initially dissatisfied, but upon learning that Qiu Tu and Meng Chaoqing had actually helped out and incurred costs to get ahead of them, they reluctantly accepted.

—There was no other choice.

However, there was still a bit of lingering reluctance. One by one, they sent messages telling Qi Miao to prioritize them next time such an opportunity arose. Qi Miao thanked them kindly and promised she would if the chance came.

Fang Xiaoyu was surprised: "You really told them?" He thought she would have made the switch quietly.

Qi Miao looked up, confused: "Of course. Surely they needed to know about something like this."

Fang Xiaoyu touched the tip of his nose and asked: "Did they accept it?" This whole thing was partly because of him; if Junior Sister Qi was scolded by them, should he offer some words of comfort?

As Fang Xiaoyu was lost in thought, he heard Qi Miao’s reply: "They all accepted! They even said if I need help next time, I should prioritize them."

Fang Xiaoyu: "..." Who exactly is the one who owes money here?! This world had finally gone insane in a way he didn't recognize.

*

Starting the next day, the Elders notified the Artifact Workshop that disciples were to practice on their own. Qi Miao didn't immediately craft a light sword, nor did she choose to stay and read in the workshop. After consulting with Jiang Ran, she rode a spirit beast to Sword Peak.

She was confident about crafting the light sword; what she needed to do now was "embrace the Buddha's feet" and try to break through her zero-foundation in swordsmanship within ten days. —Or at the very least, improve her reaction time.

Thus, Qi Miao spent her days following the outer disciples of Sword Peak, practicing basic sword skills, and her nights in the Artifact Workshop, burning the midnight oil reading books.

Five days passed.

Qi Miao was exhausted and decided to take a day off from crafting. On that same day, the Cangwu Sect announced to the entire sect that the Zhulu Secret Realm would appear in five days, and that inner disciples should prepare for the trial.

Once the news broke, the Cangwu Sect became bustling with excitement.

"Oh my, the Zhulu Secret Realm is descending in our Northern Territory this time. Wouldn't the treasures inside be easy pickings?"

"You don't know the first thing about it, but your mouth sure is big."

"Stop arguing! Is there anyone willing to form a team with me? I am a talisman disciple, top ten in the Formation Gate. Anyone interested, add me on your spirit talisman!"

The inner disciples were all agitated, rubbing their palms in preparation for the secret realm.

At the Daoist Court, in the Wind and Rain Pavilion, two young men sat by the pond, playing chess. The heavy rain above them cleverly skirted around them as it approached.

The man with the white pieces made his move and then looked at his opponent: "Liu Ruzhen, your spirit talisman has been ringing non-stop."

The man with the black pieces gave a languid "Oh," and used his pinky to push aside a white piece that had "accidentally" slipped a space. "This low-level trick won't fool me, Chang Ling. Try a more sophisticated way to cheat next time."

Chang Ling: "..."

"Your talisman is really ringing."

"I know," Liu Ruzhen said lazily. "The Zhulu Secret Realm has been announced; everyone wants to form a team with me."

"You're narcissistic enough," Chang Ling couldn't help but retort. "I am a disciple of Venerable Mingyuan, and I don't see that many people contacting me."

Liu Ruzhen raised an eyebrow and said sincerely: "Then you should reflect on whether your reputation outside is bad."

Chang Ling couldn't take his friend's sharp tongue. He grabbed the chessboard and flipped it over in a rage: "I'm not playing with you anymore. I'm going to find my Junior Sister."

"...You use this trick every time you're about to lose. Haven't you gotten tired of it after three years?" Liu Ruzhen waved his hand, and the scattered chess pieces flew up and returned to the board.

Chang Ling acted as if he were deaf, rode the wind, and left quite decisively.

Liu Ruzhen flipped over his spirit talisman, intending to mock his Junior Sister about her Senior Brother's childishness, but he paused abruptly when he saw the message on it.

"Senior Brother Liu, where are you?"

"Elder Lu just couldn't find you, so he asked us to tell you—Qi Miao is going to the Zhulu Secret Realm this time, too."

The disciple who sent the message seemed to be on the verge of a breakdown: "How could the sect agree to let her go? If something happens to her in the secret realm, what are we supposed to do!"