When Fang Qingyuan saw Zhao Liangde’s money-grubbing expression, he actually felt a sense of relief. ’I’m not worried about you wanting my money; I’m worried about you refusing it.’
It seed there was still room to maneuver. If Zhao Liangde had stopped accepting Spirit Stones, it would have ant the situation had completely collapsed.
Fang Qingyuan thought for a mont, then pulled out more than a thousand Low-grade Spirit Stones from his storage pouch and placed them in front of Zhao Liangde.
Zhao Liangde glanced at the Spirit Stones and said,
"Nephew Fang, your combat prowess is lacking, and you have a kind heart. You don’t need to go to the front lines at Celestial Attraction Mountain. You can be stationed before the Mountain City Array instead."
Hearing Zhao Liangde’s words, Fang Qingyuan grew thoughtful. Then, steeling himself, he took out all his remaining Spirit Stones from his storage pouch. He even added so spiritual materials from the Desert of Death, stacking everything into a small mountain before Zhao Liangde’s eyes.
Zhao Liangde’s expression shifted slightly. He gave Fang Qingyuan a aningful look and said,
"Nephew Fang, you are kind-hearted and quick-witted. As it happens, the great array in the rear is in need of a supervisor to oversee supply transportation. If you wouldn’t mind the position, it’s yours."
Fang Qingyuan ignored the painful sting of the loss and imdiately bowed in thanks.
"Qingyuan thanks you for your care, Dean. If you ever have need of this disciple in the future, please do not hesitate to ask."
Zhao Liangde chuckled, his small eyes narrowing to slits. With a casual wave of his hand, he swept up all the Spirit Stones and spiritual materials. He then personally helped Fang Qingyuan to his feet and said in a mild tone,
"Nephew Fang, you’re very perceptive. Unlike so other disciples, who aren’t so bright. They even thought of going to Zongshan to report . Do you know how I deal with disciples like that?"
A chill went down Fang Qingyuan’s spine. Feigning ignorance, he shook his head.
Zhao Liangde sneered.
"These disciples who think so highly of themselves... I just send them all to the front lines at Celestial Attraction Mountain to serve the sect. And look what happened. In the last batch, six Inner Sect Disciples and eight Outer Disciples died. That’s why Esteed Master is now planning to transfer all the Inner Sect Disciples. He’s truly enraged."
’The last batch of Inner Sect Disciples was only about twenty people, and in just three months, more than a quarter of them have died. How brutal.’
’It’s a good thing I bribed my way out of the first wave. Otherwise, I might have been one of those six.’
At this thought, Fang Qingyuan’s expression grew even more fearful. He hastily pledged his loyalty to Zhao Liangde, who listened to a few words before waving him away.
After Fang Qingyuan had left, Zhao Liangde chuckled softly.
"Replacing all the disobedient ones... that’s what the Esteed Master truly intends. Otherwise, why would he bother sending disciples to Celestial Attraction Mountain? Wouldn’t you agree?"
The mont Zhao Liangde finished speaking, an Early-stage Golden Core Shadow Leopard erged from the shadows behind him and said,
"Master, you’ve gone to great lengths. You are willing to be reviled just to ease the Esteed Master’s worries. That is a truly loyal man, a truly useful man to the sect."
Zhao Liangde looked at his life-bound Companion Beast, stroked his beard, and added,
"This Fang Qingyuan is a perceptive one. He always manages to surprise . He’s far more useful to alive than dead, so let’s keep him around for now."
The Shadow Leopard laughed as well.
"The more disciples like him there are, the richer you will beco, Master. Keeping him is absolutely the wise choice."
Zhao Liangde roared with laughter, then shouted toward the door,
"Next!"
.....
After leaving Zhao Liangde’s residence, Fang Qingyuan waited until he was soaring through the sky on Yinbao before he let the smile drop from his face. His true feelings surfaced: deep worry.
On the back of the humpback ray, the little bear he had nad Jinbao was persistently nudging his body, seeming to want to play.
But Fang Qingyuan was in no mood for gas. He pulled Jinbao into his arms and toyed with the bear’s small ears, lost in his own troubled thoughts.
’Before I went to see Zhao Liangde, I thought Lechuan had lost his mind, that the casualties on the front line had made him lose all sense of proportion. But after Zhao Liangde’s subtle hint just now, I’m starting to wonder... could this be what Lechuan intended all along?’
’After all, a large portion of the current Inner Sect Disciples were personally cultivated by Dean Jiang. Their ways of doing things are very different from Lechuan, who cos from Zongshan.’
’Could Lechuan be using this as a chance to purge dissidents? He could send everyone who won’t obey him to the front lines at Celestial Attraction Mountain. That way, everyone left would be one of his own people.’
The more Fang Qingyuan thought about it, the colder he felt. He realized he was the one who had been slow on the uptake. ’If I hadn’t been resourceful enough—and willing to part with my Spirit Stones to pave a path for myself—wouldn’t I have been treated as a dissident as well?’
’I’ve been close with Jiang Kui for the past two years, and I even turned down an assignnt from Lechuan, refusing to actively cozy up to him. I thought it wouldn’t be a big deal, but in the eyes of so people, refusing to get closer ans you bear a grudge.’
’It’s hard to make it as a Loose Cultivator, but the struggles within a large sect can sotis be even more cruel and insidious than those in the outside world.’
On the way back to his courtyard, Fang Qingyuan’s mind raced. He realized that while his peaceful days of focusing on quiet cultivation and earning Spirit Stones from his ferry shop were stable, that very stability was a disadvantage in a crisis.
By not participating in sect affairs, he was poorly inford. He’d only found out about this situation because Jiang Kui had told him.
Moreover, if he hadn’t run into a dean as insatiably greedy as Zhao Liangde, he wouldn’t have even been able to offer a bribe. He would have been forced to the front lines to fight to the death against those White Mountain Cultivators.
’This is the Southern Border, right next to the chaotic lands of White Mountain. A mindset focused solely on quiet cultivation is completely out of place here. Unless I can find a way to get transferred out of this place, find sowhere safe to keep lying low...’
’Otherwise, trying to get by in the Southern Border, conflict is inevitable. The Beast Taming Sect’s ethos doesn’t exactly encourage a peaceful life. It seems I joined the wrong sect. The Qi Yun Sect in the Central Plains would actually have been a much better fit for .’
Fang Qingyuan had heard that when sects in the Central Plains fought, even if one side broke through the other’s main gates, they wouldn’t take a single life. At worst, they would imprison their foes for a ti or simply disperse them.
This code of conduct had led to the Central Plains becoming overpopulated with Cultivators who weren’t skilled in combat. There, combat-oriented Magical Artifacts were incredibly cheap; you could often trade three of them and still not get a single Magical Artifact designed to aid cultivation.
It was unlike the Southern Border, where combat Magical Artifacts were more expensive. In White Mountain, the situation was completely reversed. A single killing artifact was worth people risking their lives over, sothing he found incomprehensible.
Lost in these thoughts, Fang Qingyuan returned to his courtyard to find that Jiang Kui had already left.
After tidying up a bit, Fang Qingyuan rushed to Black River Square. He found the Steward of the Vast Collection Pavilion and requested to terminate his lease.
The Vast Collection Pavilion’s Steward didn’t give Fang Qingyuan any trouble, as their original agreent was month-to-month. It was perfectly reasonable for him to terminate the lease.
’I don’t know how long it will be before I can return from this deploynt,’ Fang Qingyuan mused. ’I can’t just leave the shop closed. The rent of fifty Spirit Stones a month would be a complete waste.’
’I’ll just terminate the lease. I can use that as a pretext to sell off all my inventory to the larger neighboring shops. I’ll exchange everything for Spirit Stones and Talismans. It will be the perfect cover.’
And so, in the four or five days before his deploynt, Fang Qingyuan frantically sold off the spiritual materials from his Immortal Mansion. He converted everything into Spirit Stones, life-saving Talismans, and Magical Artifacts. Finally, before anyone could think of making a move, he returned to Celestial Gate Mountain and joined the military detachnt heading for White Mountain.
Just like that, two days later, a detachnt of five hundred n set out for White Mountain, arriving before the Mountain City Array.
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