Longzang

Chapter 45 I'll fight two more

Even immortals have appetites. Zuifenglou was renowned among lower-ranking disciples, but Wei Yuan had only heard of it and never imagined he would ever have the chance to eat there. Upon entering Zuifenglou, a waiter led Wei Yuan to a secluded courtyard, where Bao Yun's victory celebration banquet was being held.

There were three large tables in the room, and Wei Yuan was led directly to the main table. Wei Yuan was currently at the bottom of the class in terms of cultivation progress, so how could he be embarrassed to sit at the main table? He turned around and wanted to sit at the side table, but Bao Yun's eyes lit up as soon as she saw him. She rushed over, grabbed him, and pressed him into the seat next to her, even leaving Cui Yu a seat between them.

There are ten people at the main table. Five of them have received the blessings of the patriarch, while the other five are either exceptionally talented in cultivation or come from prominent families.

Wei Yuan now clearly understands that a distinguished family background equates to top-notch cultivation talent.

Once everyone had arrived, Bao Yun stood up and said, "Dear senior brothers and sisters, I am very happy that you could grace us with your presence. I will drink this first as a sign of my respect!"

Everyone hurriedly stood up and downed their drinks. With Bao Yun's visualization diagram, she was practically guaranteed a Heavenly Rank and a Celestial Foundation in sight. The Bao family was a top-tier aristocratic clan, and Bao Yun possessed such talent. Everyone had already awakened their wisdom long ago; if they didn't seize this opportunity to curry favor, when would they? A few years later, it would be too late to even try.

Wei Yuan tilted his head back and drank it down. He immediately felt a line of fire enter his stomach, followed by a burst of powerful spiritual energy. A visualization appeared in his mind, and a light rain began to fall again, visibly expanding the area on the ground.

Wei Yuan was shocked. This cup of wine was equivalent to thirty days of arduous training! If he drank a whole bottle, wouldn't it be equivalent to a year of hard work?
Wei Yuan found it hard to believe. Looking at the dishes on the table, he didn't recognize any of them, only that they were exquisitely beautiful and exuded wisps of spiritual energy. He thought that even just smelling them would be beneficial to his cultivation, let alone eating them.

After offering a toast, Bao Yun continued, "The main reason for this small gathering is to prepare for the sect's preliminary examination three years from now. I've already received word that this examination will be a contest between us and the disciples of the Zhigu Sect. We all know that the Zhigu Sect has several times our numbers, so I've heard that they consider victory in the examination a sure thing and are already discussing how to divide up the sect's rewards! Moreover, they've said that they'll post the examination results publicly within the sect."

We're all at an age where we're fearless, and this "Ancient School" is clearly looking down on us, which has angered many people.

Looking at everyone's expressions, Bao Yun continued, "They've already sent someone to find me, saying that if we surrender, they'll make our defeat less embarrassing, and we won't have to post the leaderboard anymore."

Cui Yu was immediately enraged. He slammed his hand on the table and cursed, "Outrageous!"

Xiaoyu maintained her aloof demeanor and asked, "Who said that?"

Bao Yun sighed and said, "Xu Yin'an."

A murderous aura suddenly emanated from Xiaoyu.

Cui Yu became curious and asked, "What's the background of this Xu fellow?"

Xiaoyu remained silent with a cold face, while Baoyun said, "Speaking of which, he also came from Fengyuan County, but he didn't participate in the centralized training like us. There's another thing, his family has always wanted to propose marriage to our family."

Cui Yu immediately understood and angrily said, "He's really overestimating himself! No wonder he came to Senior Sister to say such things. So he wanted to use us to establish his authority! Humph, he wants to climb over us to get ahead. He'll have to see if he has the ability!"

Xiaoyu didn't say a word, but nodded emphatically.

Bao Yun sighed again and said, "Although my father has already refused once, Brother Xu does have talent, and the Xu family isn't too bad either. If they really win big this time, perhaps my father will think more highly of him?"

“He can’t win!” Xiaoyu said.

Cui Yu also said, "I remember who this person is! Although the Xu family is one of the seven surnames, they have always been at the bottom, just there to make up the numbers. How can they compare to the rest of us? If your Xu family brother were some kind of genius, that would be one thing, but I think his talent is just average, far inferior to mine. How dare he propose marriage to the Bao family? If I don't crush him in this small test, I, Cui Yu, might as well give up!"

A person next to him whispered a reminder: "It seems that there are four members of the Cui family on the Zhigu Sect's side."

Cui Yu said calmly, "Don't be afraid! There's only one direct descendant among them, and he's an illegitimate son. His talent isn't as good as mine either. If you go against them, fight them to the death. I'll take responsibility if anything happens!"

After a brief commotion, Bao Yun and the others coughed lightly and waited for everyone to quiet down before saying, "Actually, this is my personal matter. Even if I lose, I can't agree to his demands. At worst, he'll talk about me behind my back." Cui Yu said in a deep voice, "We are all classmates studying together. To humiliate you is to humiliate all of us! Besides, they plan to post the results publicly, which means they still want to use us as stepping stones! So what if we are outnumbered? We absolutely cannot tolerate this. We'll fight them!"

"Damn it!" Xiao Yu said sparingly.

Children at this age are full of youthful vigor and would rather die standing than live on their knees. There is no reason for them to surrender without a fight.
Bao Yun finally smiled and said, "Since everyone is determined to fight, let's come up with a plan and start preparing now. Since it's a battle between opposing factions, and we have fewer people, everyone is important. However, some classmates don't have enough resources, which might hinder their cultivation. So I'd like to set up a common account. Those who are able can put some immortal silver in the common account, and other classmates who need resources but don't have enough immortal silver can borrow from the common account."

"Of course, the immortal silver in the public account is a loan, not a gift. Senior brothers and sisters can borrow as much as they need, and repay it within ten years."

Bao Yun's idea was utterly outlandish, but most of the students, including Wei Yuan, were immediately intrigued. After all, scions of powerful clans were only a minority; most came from ordinary families. For a small, ordinary family, supporting the basic cultivation of a Tai Chu Palace disciple was already extremely difficult. Therefore, for most, immortal silver was never enough, inevitably slowing down their cultivation progress.

Within ten years, the vast majority of Taichu Palace disciples would have cultivated to the Dao Foundation stage. Even the lowest-ranking Human-level Dao Foundation cultivators would be able to take on basic sect missions, and their earning power would be incomparable to those in the Body Forging stage. Therefore, Bao Yun's condition of paying off the debt within ten years was extremely lenient.

Seeing the eager looks on everyone's faces, Bao Yun said, "Since it was my suggestion, I should go first. I'll offer 30,000 taels of silver!"

Thirty thousand?! Wei Yuan almost slid off his chair.

The eldest daughter of the Bao family gave him more than two hundred years' worth of monthly allowance, which was sixty times more than the pocket money given by the Burning Sea Immortal.

Cui Yu, without hesitation, said, "I'll also contribute 30,000!"

Xiaoyu said, "Same."

Then several other scions of powerful families contributed 10,000 taels each, bringing the total to 100,000 taels.

Wei Yuan was already somewhat numb, feeling that what these people were talking about didn't seem to be immortal silver. Even if it were just rice grains, 100,000 grains wouldn't be a small amount.

Bao Yun was delighted and said, "How about we put the public accounts with Senior Brother Cui, and let Senior Brother Cui, Junior Brother Xiao Yu, and I manage them together?"

Xiaoyu waved her hand: "I don't care."

Cui Yu smiled and said, "Junior Brother Xiao is focused on cultivation, so I'll take care of these miscellaneous tasks."

Bao Yun continued, "There are twenty-one people on the other side who have received the patriarch's blessing. Naturally, we who have received the blessing should deal with them. The rest of the senior brothers and sisters should deal with those who haven't received the blessing."

Cui Yu nodded: "There are twenty-one on the other side, and five of us. Each of us can take on four."

“Simple,” Xiaoyu said.

Seeing that Wei Yuan hadn't spoken, Bao Yun asked, "Junior Brother Wei, is there a problem?"

Wei Yuan hesitated for a moment and said, "My cultivation progress is a bit slow, and I'm afraid I'll hold everyone back."

Cui Yu was not from Fengyuan County and had never participated in the martial arts test. Upon hearing Wei Yuan's words, he immediately said, "Don't be afraid! If Junior Brother can't beat them, I'll take on two more!"

(End of this chapter)