Chapter 2428

Shangguan Biao also felt a bit discouraged; Li Yun had said such things no less than ten times.

"You grow medicinal herbs well, yet you can't leave?" Xiao Ying laughed angrily, "It's been years like this, and you still haven't been transferred out."

"Senior Brother Xu conveyed Junior Uncle Li's meaning, saying that sending me back requires an opportunity; it's best to achieve some merit, then he can facilitate it. Otherwise—" Shangguan Biao said word by word: "I didn't come to Du Zhi Mountain for no reason; wanting to leave here also can't be for no reason."

"Merit, you still need merit? If this matter were easy to handle, would you need to ask Li Yun for a favor?" Xiao Ying was dissatisfied, "I just don't believe it—making you avoid menial work is this difficult? All this obstruction and delay, is it just that he lacks ability?"

"Shh!" Shangguan Biao whispered, "Don't gossip behind Junior Uncle Li's back; this is Changfeng Valley."

"Is achieving merit really that simple?" Xiao Ying muttered, "Again greedy and wicked!"

"Actually, regarding achieving merit, I have an idea. But it hasn't been successfully verified yet, so I won't tell you for now."

Xiao Ying's eyes lit up: "Any clues?"

"Perhaps."

"Great!" Xiao Ying rejoiced, pulling out two plump, watery peaches from the basket, wiping them with a handkerchief, and handing him one: "Come, let's substitute peach for wine to celebrate!"

The two tapped their peaches together and began to eat.

"If this still doesn't work..." Xiao Ying chewed the peach, speaking unclearly, "You might as well quit Changfeng Valley. Though the Yuan'an Sect I joined is small and insignificant, it doesn't have so many troubles, and fellow disciples are still on friendly terms. This peach you're eating was personally planted and picked by my senior sister."

"No wonder it's especially sweet." Shangguan Biao's smile vanished instantly, "Changfeng Valley is hard to enter, but equally hard to leave. When we joined, we all signed a contract, unconditionally obeying the sect's training, allocation, and management, not allowed to leave privately; otherwise, treated as betraying the sect, we would be pursued to the ends of the earth, and then have our cultivation taken back!"

Being pursued by Changfeng Valley is absolutely the nightmare of loose cultivators.

"What kind of gangster clause is this?" Xiao Ying exclaimed in disbelief, "What if one actively terminates the contract?"

"It's possible, but... very expensive." Shangguan Biao said gloomily, "To get me into Changfeng Valley, my family has already spent a fortune. These past years, we've been currying favor with Junior Uncle Li, nearly emptying our savings, unable to afford such a high termination fee. Moreover, even if my family were as wealthy as before, the estate would need to at least double before we'd qualify to terminate the contract with Changfeng Valley. And after termination, it would still mean losing all family property."

Xiao Ying was so frightened she stopped eating the peach: "What? Why is it so expensive?"

"Changfeng Valley says it invests heavily in every promising disciple—masters' teachings, sect atmosphere and ethos, plus the xuan crystals, elixirs consumed by disciples in the sect, even the absorbed spiritual energy—none of which can be measured by worldly money. The compensation specified in the contract is already quite favorable."

"It says that, as if..." Comparing worldly silver money to the benefits the sect gives each disciple really is hard to calculate. But Xiao Ying also suddenly realized, "No way! You've been demoted to Du Zhi Mountain—how much sect resource could you still be consuming? Where does it get the nerve to demand such high termination fees?"

"This is Changfeng Valley." Shangguan Biao's words carried some self-mockery, "Even if I don't want to enter, there are plenty who do. Why would it need to be courteous to me?"

Xiao Ying could not utter a sound, and after a long while sighed: "Then there's really no other way?"

"My situation is like sailing against the current—if not advancing, then retreating. Before us, there is only—" Shangguan Biao said heavily, "Only the path of striving to rise above."

The family's wealth, his own future—all staked here. Now, where does he have the qualification to withdraw?

Xiao Ying could only comfort him: "Biao gege, you will definitely make it."

Then she quickly changed the subject: "By the way, can you still see that red big ghost now?"

Shangguan Biao's words rose to his lips, then turned into a shake of the head: "Can't see it anymore, probably just my illusion."

Since others can't see it either, what meaning is there in him saying it?

"Then that's good!" Xiao Ying breathed a sigh of relief, "We've all been worried about you."

"By the way, how is my mother's health?"

Xiao Yi obviously hesitated a moment before saying: "My father won't let me say this, but I also don't want to hide it from you. She's very ill; the family has tried many medicines, but with little effect."

Shangguan Biao's lips were dry: "Still, still the...?"

"Yes, the wasting disease." Xiao Ying lowered her voice, "Your mother's life fire may soon go out."

Shangguan Biao closed his eyes.

This truly is a terminal illness, incurable.

"The doctor said she fell ill from worry and overwork. I also went to see her this time—your mother is reduced to skin and bone. Whenever she mentions you, she cries, saying she regrets every day sending you to Changfeng Valley, this place eats people and doesn't spit out bones, and also blames my father for not investigating beforehand, personally sending his son into a demon's den."

Shangguan Biao lowered his head, and after a while said: "People of Su Cheng all consider joining Changfeng Valley an honor; this sect is indeed immensely powerful. This cannot be blamed on my father, only on my own lack of ability."

When the last sentence was spoken, he already gritted his teeth somewhat.

Xiao Ying lightly shook his arm to comfort him: "Your mother said her final wish is just to see you free from your predicament. For this, she would do anything."

Shangguan Biao nodded, then nodded again, and said in a deep voice: "I know, thank you. I recently need to find an opportunity to return home once, to see my mother."

After talking a while longer, the two held hands.

The sky was about to darken, and a light drizzle began; Shangguan Biao then saw her off from Du Zhi Mountain, until he watched her enter the mountain-foot inn to rest, before he turned back.

……

Through Shangguan Biao's window, He Lingchuan and the other three could see the golden dew lotus on the medicine rock.

When the sky darkened, the golden light it emitted became even brighter, visible from afar.

Mingke Xianren stared at the golden lotus, falling into thought: "Earlier, Liu Yisheng said he and the earth mother's essence had re-signed a contract, yet he couldn't prevail against her. Could it be because Shangguan Biao hid the earth mother's essence in a Secret Realm, controlling her body himself? The contract would naturally be invalid for him."

Zhu Xiuer immediately said: "Eighty percent that's it! Isn't Shangguan Biao skilled in soul-sealing arts?"

Seizing the essence of living people and things, imprisoning them in a Secret Realm to suffer, is Shangguan Biao's specialty—for example, Li Yun and Liu Yisheng and so on.

By analogy, could the earth mother also be enjoying such treatment?

"At that time, the earth mother had already suffered considerable injury while resisting the invasion of the three sects; Liu Yisheng, in order to control her, used a stratagem to inflict a second serious injury, thus breaking the original contract and re-signing with her; later, Liu Yisheng again ordered her to launch a strong attack on the other two factions, and in this process the earth mother must have suffered further damage."

(End of chapter)