Xu Xian had barely stepped through the courtyard gate when Li Qingshan came chasing after him, practically sniffing out the trail.
Xu Xian feigned ignorance, asking, "What are you doing here?"
Li Qingshan was speechless. "This is my house."
"Oh, I almost forgot."
Li Qingshan’s lips twitched. He couldn't be bothered to argue and simply held out his hand. "Cut the nonsense. Hand it over."
"Hand what over?"
"The merit points," Li Qingshan said, his patience wearing thin.
Xu Xian spread his hands, his face remaining perfectly calm. "Senior Sister didn't give them to me."
Li Qingshan stared at him.
Xu Xian stared back.
Li Qingshan gritted his teeth. "Don't force me to get physical."
"She really didn't?"
"Can you have a shred of decency?"
"Ugh... you have no sense of humor. Give me your dao jade, and I'll give them to you."
Xu Xian stopped pushing. He felt that as a person, one must maintain a basic level of integrity.
Li Qingshan gave him a side-eye and handed over the dao jade.
As Xu Xian processed the transfer, he remarked, "Rest assured, your Martial Uncle is a man of principle. I won't take a single point that isn't mine. As the saying goes, a gentleman loves wealth but acquires it through the proper Dao. I don't make money that weighs on my conscience; that's the behavior of a petty man, and I simply can't bring myself to do it."
Li Qingshan rolled his eyes repeatedly.
Those words sounded incredibly high-minded.
If he didn't know Xu Xian, he might have actually believed him.
One second ago, the kid was trying to pocket the whole thing.
The next second, he was putting on an act. Li Qingshan secretly resolved never to collaborate with this kid again.
"Here, take it."
Li Qingshan took the dao jade, muttering, "That's more like it."
However, the moment he glanced at the balance, his expression froze. He looked again, then looked a third time.
[Xu Xian has transferred 2.13 million merit points to you.]
Li Qingshan silently calculated in his sea of consciousness, terrified he had made a mistake. His fingers twitched instinctively as he performed the mental math again.
"Half of 5.55 million... isn't that 2.775 million?"
He looked up and glared at Xu Xian. "Xu Xian, can't you act like a human being for once?"
Xu Xian looked innocent. "What did I do to you now?"
Li Qingshan slammed the dao jade onto the table with a loud crack, startling Lu Yuan outside the courtyard.
Li Qingshan nearly roared, "Do you think I can't count?"
Xu Xian clicked his tongue and explained, "Let's talk facts. 5.55 million, split fifty-fifty, is 2.775 million each, right?"
"Don't give me that," Li Qingshan snapped.
"I asked you, is it or isn't it?"
"Obviously!"
Xu Xian continued, "Then 2.775 million minus 650,000 is 2.125 million. I took a small loss and rounded it up to 2.13 million for you. Is there a problem? Instead of thanking me, you're shouting?"
Li Qingshan wasn't having it. "Why the hell are you subtracting 650,000?"
Xu Xian’s voice was calm and matter-of-fact. "That's the salary you owe me. A total of sixty-five months comes to 650,000."
Li Qingshan choked on his words, taking a long moment to recover.
Good heavens.
Unbelievable.
He forced the words out through his teeth, his voice filled with venom.
"You bastard, you were in the Demon Suppression Abyss, and I still have to pay you a salary? Where is the logic in that?"
Xu Xian reclined in his chair, looking completely unbothered. "I don't care about that. If it's not mine, I won't take an extra cent, but if it is mine, I won't accept a cent less. You were the one who said you'd pay me ten thousand a month. When I left, you already owed me seventeen months. I was gone for four years, which adds up to exactly sixty-five months. I didn't take a single extra point."
The veins on Li Qingshan’s forehead bulged, his fists clenched, and his face turned from red to white. He looked like he was about to blow a fuse.
He laughed out of pure rage.
"Ha!"
"Fine."
"You're something else."
"You really are something else, Xu Xian!"
With that, he grabbed the dao jade from the table, kicked the door open, and stormed off in a fury.
Xu Xian called out behind him, "Take it easy! If the door breaks, you're the one who has to fix it!"
Those words were like rubbing salt into a wound, painful enough to make one faint.
Frustration.
Anger.
Nowhere to vent.
In the end, he could only stomp his foot and cry out in grief.
"What a sin!"
Lu Yuan, unaware of the full story, only saw the man acting like a lunatic. He gave a side-long glance and offered a blunt assessment.
"Is he sick?"
Xu Xian, on the other hand, felt wonderful.
The auspicious beast was in the sect.
He had won merit points from his Senior Sister.
And he had collected over five years of back pay in one go.
He couldn't help but feel smug. He almost wanted to burst into song about what a glorious day it was.
However, after the brief moment of joy, he began to fret about the future again.
The matter of the auspicious beast was settled.
But two major tasks remained before him.
First, the construction of the third floor of the Sword Tower, which required spirit stones and materials.
He wasn't too worried about spirit stones. The gift Senior Brother Yun Zheng had given him before his death—all those bodies of beast gods and beast sovereigns—would be enough if he sold just a few.
Even if he didn't touch those, the beast emperors and sovereigns he had killed himself would be more than sufficient once processed.
It was the materials that were the problem.
He had already looked into it while at the Demon Suppression Abyss. If he hadn't been so busy slaying demons, he would have started worrying long ago.
The rare materials required for the third floor of the Sword Tower were far harder to obtain than those for the first and second floors.
[Shadow Soul Stone]
And not just one piece—he needed a million tons.
Xu Xian had some memory of this. During the trip to Yecheng, he had seen Min Zhan use it.
This stone was produced in the Demon Abyss and was typically used in the Central Plains alongside the Soul-Binding Curse.
Not only was the stone worth a fortune, but it was also incredibly rare. Buying a single piece was difficult enough, let alone a million tons.
To gather that much, Xu Xian had only two options. First, go deep into the Demon Abyss and simply seize it. Second, do business with the demons in the Demon Abyss and establish a trade route.
Neither path seemed easy.
He would have to plan this carefully.
As for the second matter, it was Yao Xiaoxiao’s illness.
Now that Yellow Spring Burial had been unsealed, this matter should be put on the agenda.
Xu Xian planned to cure Yao Xiaoxiao first before figuring out how to get the Shadow Soul Stone.
He paced to the window, leaning his hands on the table as he watched the sky gradually darken. He muttered to himself, "I wonder if Elder Yao has found those few herbs yet."
On his first day back at the sect, Xu Xian had taken the time to visit Elder Yao. He told him that he might be able to fully cure Yao Xiaoxiao’s illness and gave him a list of specific medicinal ingredients to prepare.
Elder Yao had taken one look at the list and agreed immediately.
It had been four or five days now.
He wondered how things were progressing.
Just as Xu Xian was wondering, the Little Book Spirit appeared, manifesting from illusion to reality. Sitting on Xu Xian’s head and stretching luxuriously, it said in an old-fashioned tone, "Speak of the devil, and he shall appear."
Xu Xian paused for a moment, his eyes looking upward. "What do you mean?"
The Little Book Spirit pointed outside the courtyard. "That handsome old man with white hair is here."
Less than three breaths after the book spirit spoke, there was a knock at the courtyard gate, followed by a familiar voice.
"Is Little Friend Xu at home? Yao Luochen requests an audience."
Xu Xian raised an eyebrow and repeated, "Speak of the devil indeed."
He turned and went out to greet him.
Opening the door, he gave a slight bow.
"Elder Yao!"
Yao Luochen hurried inside, grabbing Xu Xian and leading him into the courtyard, acting more like the host than the guest. "Little friend, let us talk in the courtyard."
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