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Chapter 200 Swimming with Arms
The fact that Ji You had a close relationship with the Dan Sect and was able to purchase priceless Dan Sect elixirs quickly spread the news.

After that, the letters sent to the Heavenly Academy came not only from the Heavenly Academy and Shengjing, but also from Yunzhou and Youzhou.

The people who sent the letters were mostly mid-level cultivators from middle-ranking aristocratic families.

The two elders of the Dan Sect who received the money turned a blind eye to the matter, only meeting with him symbolically and having a cup of tea, without interfering much.

The Dan Sect's attitude is not surprising.

For thousands of years, their direct sales channels have only been the Immortal Sect and the ancient families. Only the spare pills are sold through merchants such as Qionghua Pavilion and Wannianxuan at a higher price.

This was not because the Dan Sect was truly unwilling to sell; part of the reason was also due to the constraints imposed by the global situation.

The Immortal Sect does not want the emergence of a more powerful thousand-year-old family, the thousand-year-old family does not want the emergence of a more powerful hundred-year-old family, and the hundred-year-old family does not want the emergence of a newly emerging family.

Therefore, the circulation of elixirs has always been a matter of great concern.

This involves the balance between the nine provinces, and even the attitudes of the six major immortal sects and those ancient families towards the Dan Sect.

The Dan Sect's status is indeed lofty, far surpassing the thousand-year-old aristocratic families, and it ranks among the Seven Sects, but this cannot change the fact that the Dan Sect generally lacks combat power.

Having experienced the dark era when alchemists were captured and kept in captivity, the Pill Sect has always maintained an attitude of "better to avoid trouble" and strictly controls the sales of pills.

It's like they possess poison pills capable of killing someone at the peak of the fifth realm, but only dare to use them for self-defense, never selling them to the outside world.

Because sometimes hatred isn't just directed at the killer, but also at the knife used to kill.

In particular, many powerful families have never lost their covetousness for the Dan Sect, but they are unable to take action due to the current balance of power.

In fact, this is similar to Yunzhou's cautious attitude towards Ji You. The reason why they dare not take action easily is that while they are keeping an eye on Ji You, they may also be being watched by others.

There are several deeply rooted aristocratic families in the Heavenly Academy, such as the Fang family and the You family. The middle-level members of these families have always been very interested in the spirit stone business in Yunzhou.

If they target Ji You, it would be tantamount to giving others a reason to target them.

At that time, whether it is a family claiming to protect the disciples of the Heavenly Academy or a family claiming to uphold the immortal rules, they can all legitimately go to Yunzhou to get a share of the pie.

Therefore, middle and upper-class families like the Lu family are often the ones who most support the Qingyun Immortal Rules.

This is similar to when Ji You went to Fengzhou Prefecture to establish his family, and although Ban Yangshu, Wen Zhengxin, and Bai Rulong were worried to death, they still dared not participate because of their family's position.

Similarly, the same applies to the Dan Sect.

Although selling pills is the same to anyone, some money can be a hot potato when you hold it in your hands.

Now that someone is willing to take on the risk of distributing pills downwards, it's not necessarily a bad thing for them. It might even give their Pill Sect more room to maneuver in its shady pill distribution practices.

More importantly, this matter is justifiable both according to the rules of the celestial realm and in terms of common sense.

After all, everyone in Qingyun knows that the daughter of the Pill Sect has a secret affair with Ji You, so even immortal sects and aristocratic families cannot hold the Pill Sect accountable for this.

Qingyun Tianxia is just like that. In Ji You's words, it's a pile of building blocks stacked very high, wobbling and seemingly about to collapse, yet still maintaining a delicate balance.

Subsequently, Ji You of the Heavenly Academy gained the favor of the daughter of the Pill Sect due to his good health, and the news of his open sale of pills began to spread through rumors...

"I heard that Ji You sold a lot of pills in Shengjing."

"Elixir?"

"Qianyuan Pill, Changbai Pill, Longxiang Pill, Tianhe Pill, Biling Pill..."

"?"

"These pills aren't something you can just sell so easily!!"

"I've already asked the eldest brother at the Heavenly Academy, and it's true. I don't know where Ji You got the luck from, but it seems he's going to marry into the Pill Sect..."

Although Fengzhou is vast and barren, and news does not spread as widely as in the other states, the people who come here to establish immortal estates are all from prominent families in the other eight states.

After the heads of the five great immortal manors—Risheng, Taizhen, Fuyan, Qiyun, and Changqing—were beheaded by Ji You and his two disciples at Yecheng Mountain, Juguang, Tianyan, and Dongsheng became the three largest outside immortal manors in Fengzhou.

When Ji You was promoting joint harvesting and joint excavation in Fengzhou under the pretext of taxation, many of the disciples from the lower three realms of their Immortal Manor went there.

The three estate owners turned a blind eye and did not stop it. In reality, they wanted to reopen the card table and reshuffle the tax share at the neck of the joint reclamation and joint cultivation of Kasuga Kajiyu.

They have even decided to follow Ji You's example and take over the cultivated land to their own Xianzhuang, making the people cultivate it for them.

At that time, no more taxes or fees will be required, and one can eat one's fill.

But when news of Ji You selling pills came, Juguang, Tianyan, and Dongsheng suddenly fell silent.

No cultivator doesn't yearn for a higher realm. They come from afar because they are looked down upon by their families due to their lack of talent.

Compared to pleasure and greed, spiritual境界 (jingjie, a concept encompassing spiritual realm, state of being, and spiritual state) is the most entangled and the most difficult to let go of among all distracting thoughts...

Meanwhile, inside the Heavenly Academy, Lu Qingqiu received two Gathering Profound Pills that had been brought out of the inner courtyard by the disciples in charge of the academy.

There are very few effective pills for breaking through from the lower three realms to the profound realm; there are only two kinds.

What you can buy on the market is the Spirit-Nourishing Pill, the kind of pill that Ji You really wanted to try when he first entered the Heavenly Academy, but even he and Cao Jingsong combined couldn't afford.

The effects of the Gathering Profound Pill far surpass those of the Nourishing Spirit Pill, and it is the version that cannot be bought.

However, Lu Qingqiu did not initially mean that he could buy it, because Ji You had just fallen out with their Spirit Stone Merchant Guild some time ago.

But she still managed to buy it...

The problem is that neither Fang Jincheng nor Puyang Xing managed to buy them.

There shouldn't be many spare pills for the Gathering Profound Pill. When the quantity of goods is small and the number of buyers is large, the seller can choose buyers according to their preferences.

Lu Qingqiu did not expect that after confronting Ji You at the Ling Shi Chamber of Commerce, he would still choose to sell to the two sisters first.

Why did Ji You sell this elixir to us?

"Young Master Ji said you often treat him to meals."

“That meal… was actually worthless. I know that Fang Jincheng actually offered three times the price for this Gathering Profound Pill.”

"Young Master Ji said that for a poor person, that meal was very valuable."

After saying this, the disciple in charge of the affairs bowed and said, "I still have to deliver the pills to Young Master Ji. Farewell."

The number of spare pills was not very large, and it wasn't long before the news spread that the pills were sold out.

Just then, the New Year's Day quietly arrived.

The East and West markets had closed two days in advance. As dusk approached, the eight-treasure glass palace lanterns hanging under the vermilion eaves and the twelve zodiac animal lanterns hanging between the pillars lit up together, instantly transforming the entire long street into a winding galaxy.

Then a flower platform was erected, and the sound of drums and music startled the copper bells on the eaves to ring out clearly.

Furthermore, several gardens in the capital, such as Chunchi Garden and Donggong Palace, were also booked by prominent families in the city, who planned to use red carpets to entertain their guests.

Amidst the clinking of glasses and the brewing of tea around the stove, the conversation flowed freely.

When cultivators gather, their conversations will almost always revolve around cultivation, and cultivation inevitably involves spirit stones and elixirs.

The lively conversation here was often abruptly cut short, because nowadays, whether it was about spirit stones or elixirs, the name of that rural private cultivator was always mentioned.

In fact, whether it was the Gathering of Immortals Banquet at Chunchi Garden or the Ascension Banquet at Winter Palace, Ji You had sent a visiting card to both.

However, the invitee did not come, because Ji You was sitting in Kuang Cheng's courtyard, looking at the exquisitely drawn map of Fengzhou.

During the two days of selling the pills, the Imperial Pharmacy had already selected a transportation route to Fengzhou, which was then delivered to Ji You.

After discussing it for a long time, Ji You and Kuang Cheng felt that the current route design of the Sixianjian was acceptable, so they finalized it.

"The repair of the official road is estimated to take half a year, so the Sixianjian plans to use the old road on the west side of Fengzhou to transport the goods first."

"Alright, let's send the Snowfield Demon Stone through first."

Kuang Cheng nodded slightly, put away the road map from the Imperial Observatory, and then lowered his voice to ask, "Brother Ji, how have you been these past few days?"

Ji You snapped out of her daze and glanced at him: "Okay, why would it be bad?" "When I heard that Miss Yuan had arrived at the Heavenly Academy, I had nightmares for several days in a row."

"What nightmare?"

“I dreamt that your leg was broken and you were crawling around on the sacred path of Mount Ni. When I woke up, I was covered in a cold sweat. So I wanted to go to the Heavenly Academy several times to find out about you, but I felt that I couldn’t bear this bad news.”

As Kuang Cheng spoke, he couldn't help but recall the scene from his dream, and a lingering fear showed in his eyes.

Ji You then lightly twirled the teacup on the table between her fingers: "That's because you don't understand my family's imperial status. My Ji family has a strict system of husbandly authority. How could little Yan Shuyi, even if she is an empress of the Yingtian Realm, possibly cause trouble in my backyard?"

Kuang Cheng looked at the wound on the corner of his mouth and said, "Brother Ji, don't be stubborn. Was it Fairy Yan who scratched you?"

"The innocent scholar knows nothing; this is a reward."

"?"

Yuan Chen was sitting next to them at this moment. He didn't understand the spirit stone transportation route that the two had just talked about in Fengzhou, and now he didn't understand the reward that his brother-in-law was talking about either...

Ji You picked up her teacup, took a sip of tea, and then turned to look outside the courtyard, her gaze falling on the three women in the tea pavilion.

Yan Shuyi was sitting in the innermost seat, her eyelashes fluttering slightly as she sipped her tea with an air of arrogance.

Yuan Caiwei also held a teacup in her hand, as quiet and composed as a lady from a prominent family, but her eyes kept looking at Yan Shuyi's mouth, which was hidden by the teacup. A wound resembling a tooth mark was faintly visible where her gaze fell.

This wound is the same one I saw on Young Master Ji's lips yesterday morning.

"Is the appraiser's sister also getting a sore throat?"

Yan Shuyi nodded calmly: "Shengjing is drier than Lingzhou, and you can easily get a sore throat if you're not careful."

Wei Rui sat with them, appearing quiet and well-behaved, but she was actually secretly glancing at the two older sisters in front of her out of the corner of her eye.

However, her gaze lingered more on Yan Shuyi, observing her very carefully, not missing a single movement or expression.

At this moment, the sun began to set in the west, and the area outside the courtyard was already faintly bustling with activity.

The five of them left the Heavenly Academy today to visit the Lantern Festival, and now that it was almost time, they decided to go out. However, the combination of them going out was somewhat intriguing.

If it were just Ji You and Yan Shuyi strolling together, and Ji You wanted to hold hands, Yan Shuyi would probably let his sword energy whistle for a while before letting her hold his hand.

If Ji You were to stroll with Yuan Caiwei, and she wanted to hold his hand, Yuan Caiwei would probably blush slightly, then whisper, "How could you do this, young master?" and then obediently let him hold her hand.

But... because there are so many people now, it ended up becoming Yan Shuyi and Yuan Caiwei's mobile game street.

On the other side, although Kuang Cheng hadn't yet held hands with Wei Rui, the feeling of Wei Rui gently tugging at his clothes from behind was quite intimate.

Only Ji You looked at Yuan Chen beside her, listening to him keep talking about going to the street to listen to storytelling, and couldn't help but doubt the meaning of life.

"Brother Ji originally thought he was alone, so he didn't plan to go sightseeing in Xinyuan. But he was very happy when Fairy Yan came to Shengjing. He probably didn't expect that two of them would come at once."

"Actually, two arms are not so bad, after all, Brother Ji has two arms. What I'm thinking about now is what to do when the princess of the demon race comes."

"If all three of them are here, where will Your Highness go?"

Kuang Cheng couldn't help but mutter to himself, feeling somewhat worried for Brother Ji...

The lantern festival was extremely crowded, with people jostling shoulder to shoulder, and gradually the crowd began to disperse.

Kuang Cheng and Wei Rui had deliberately gotten separated, specifically seeking out secluded spots to hide in, but neither dared to make a move.

When Yan Shuyi met Ji You again, it was already in the middle of the Lantern Street. Yan Shuyi stood on the riverbank with her hands behind her back, looking aloof and like a fairy descending to earth, but Ji You quickly pinched her cheek.

Kuang Cheng thought Ji You would be beaten for being so rude, but he found that Yan Shuyi only had a murderous look on his face, but actually didn't seem angry at all.

The two then walked towards the east. Wei Rui noticed that Yan Shuyi seemed to be deliberately walking behind Ji You. Before she could figure it out, she saw Sister Yan quietly reach out and tug at Young Master Ji's sleeve before quickly letting go.

However, not long after, Yan Shuyi seemed to realize that Ji You hadn't noticed, so she reached out again and held onto the hem of his clothes, never letting go...

It wasn't until she saw Ji You's barely suppressed smile that she suddenly realized something, and her eyes sharpened considerably.

The fourth encounter was on the west side of South Street. The young appraiser had apparently wandered off somewhere again, while Ji You and Yuan Caiwei met at a jewelry stall.

There are more stalls and more people on South Street.

As they walked, Ji You instinctively protected Yuan Caiwei, only to find that this daughter of the Dan Sect would always fall precisely into his arms, making him unable to resist pinching her cheek.

He thought only Yan Shuyi was mischievous, but he never expected that someone who usually seemed so well-mannered would be like that.

When they met for the fourth time, Yan Shuyi and Yuan Caiwei linked arms again and followed Ji You toward the brothel where the performance was to take place.

Wei Rui and Kuang Cheng were currently on the arched bridge of South Street, which was relatively high. With a slight lift of their eyes, they could see dancers swaying their waists on the brothel, their navels exposed and their skin snow-white.

They noticed that Ji You turned his head several times without making a sound, looking at the fair-skinned songstress with a slightly critical gaze.

Before long, people passing by them instinctively wrapped their clothes tighter.

So busy, my dear Brother Ji.

Kuang Cheng couldn't help but sigh, and once again thought of Ji You's dream of climbing the sacred path, feeling that one day he might see it come true.

Kuang Cheng and Wei Rui were not the only ones who set their sights on them.

On the brothels along the street, Princess Chang Le, Miss Lu Qingqiu of Yunzhou, Miss Lu Hanyan of Yunzhou, as well as some other disciples of immortal sects and young ladies from the capital, were all looking down.

Ji You herself was attractive enough to them, not to mention Yuan Caiwei, the daughter of the Dan Sect, but what really intrigued them was the woman wearing a veil and whose aura remained completely still.

Yuan Caiwei's status is extremely high, as she is the daughter of the sect leader of the Dan Sect and a fifth-grade alchemist.

Although Lu Qingqiu is the eldest daughter of a family of spirit stones and Zhao Yunyue is a princess of the Great Xia Kingdom who studied under the Spirit Sword Mountain, they are simply no match for the bloodline of such immortal sects.

The problem is, how could a woman of such high status as the daughter of the Dan Sect accept sharing a husband with a mortal woman?
Even if she could accept it, how could the Pill Sect allow it?

What puzzled them was that what they thought was impossible was now happening right before their eyes.

What's even more unbelievable is the way Yuan and the others interact.

The veiled woman had been living in Ji You's courtyard, and Yuan Caiwei had been leaving Ji You's courtyard in the evenings for the past few days, only to return the following morning.

Logically speaking, Yuan Caiwei's behavior was somewhat subservient, but according to custom, it was even more serious, because this was clearly the custom of the second wife paying respects to the first wife...

Perhaps this doesn't mean anything to others, since Yuan Caiwei hadn't married Ji You yet.

The problem is that since she is the daughter of the Dan Sect, even if she is still unmarried and cannot stay overnight in Ji You's courtyard, she should not allow another woman to stay overnight, let alone willingly go there again the next day.

Therefore, the only possibility is that Yuan Caiwei did not feel that this was an offense at all.

Zhao Yunyue couldn't figure it out, and felt that the only possibility was that Yuan Caiwei was too soft-hearted, so she couldn't control Ji You's harem.

At this moment, Lu Qingqiu couldn't help but take out the two pills from his bosom, his heart stirred slightly.

After initially learning about Ji You and Yuan Caiwei's affair, she felt rather empty-headed, but now that she saw that Yuan Caiwei couldn't even control a mortal woman, she couldn't help but have her thoughts rekindled.

After thinking for a long time, Lu Qingqiu handed the pill in his hand to his younger sister, Lu Hanyan.

Lu Hanyan was looking down at the same time. She was brought back to her senses when her elder sister patted her on the shoulder. She was slightly stunned when she saw the pill.

She knew that there was a conflict between the Spirit Stone Merchant Guild and Ji You, and she also knew that Fang Jincheng had spent three times the price to buy the pill, which she thought was impossible to obtain.

Lu Qingqiu looked at his younger sister and said, "After the new year, I will teach you to cultivate diligently and strive to enter the inner academy in the autumn."

Lu Hanyan suddenly bit her red lips, and a layer of mist rose in her beautiful eyes: "I will definitely not let Senior Brother Ji down."

"?"

Night fell quickly, making the lanterns in the city appear even more magnificent, and the aroma of wine gradually wafted into the cold winter wind.

Sometimes it doesn't matter where you go or when you go shopping; what matters is who you go with. So, the five of them were quite satisfied as they strolled through the east and west streets, through the alleys and arched bridges.

Only Yuan Caiwei felt a few times that something was missing, but she couldn't remember what it was.

(End of this chapter)