Chapter 63

The flying sword was like lightning, and in the blink of an eye, they arrived at Zhang Sheng's cave dwelling. This was Wei Yuan's first time coming to Zhang Sheng's residence. The courtyard was quite messy, with all kinds of strange tools and materials placed in piles here and there, completely unlike the immortal atmosphere Wei Yuan had imagined, and there were no heavy treasures like those in Behind Bao Yun's courtyard.

Zhang Sheng let Wei Yuan sit in the study and moved out a box. After opening it, inside was a thick stack of jade paper. Looking at this stack of jade paper, Zhang Sheng also had a moment of distraction.

"It's actually been ten years..." Zhang Sheng sighed, closed the box lid, and then picked up the blank jade paper placed on the table and put it in front of Wei Yuan.

"Sign your name, then drip three drops of fresh blood," Zhang Sheng said expressionlessly.

"What is this?" Wei Yuan felt a vague sense of unease.

"This is the resources you consumed for your cultivation over the past ten years. Now that your Dao foundation is imminent, it is naturally up to you to repay it. The portion you deserved as a disciple of the Azure Heaven Hall has already been deducted from it."

Wei Yuan also felt it was only right and proper. According to the Grand Void Palace's custom, the treatment of disciples at the same realm was roughly the same; each hall was slightly different, but overall it was not much different. The treatment was mainly based on monthly silver, which certainly could not be called good, but could only be said to be able to maintain basic cultivation needs. On this basis, if one wanted to speed up progress, one needed subsidies from the disciple's own family, such as Behind Bao Yun and Xiao Yu, who came from noble families.

Another way was for genius disciples who needed key support; each hall would pay out of its own pocket to supply a portion of resources, such as Zhang Sheng, whose monthly silver was so high it chased after that of a Dharma Form True Person.

Repaying debts is a matter of course. Although the jade paper was blank, out of trust in Zhang Sheng, Wei Yuan still signed his name and dripped his fresh blood. The fresh blood fell on the jade paper and was immediately absorbed, and the jade paper recorded Wei Yuan's Primordial Spirit aura; the contract was made.

Zhang Sheng pointed at the jade paper, and handwriting gradually appeared on the paper surface. Then Wei Yuan saw a long string of numbers, and his vision went black.

Owe twenty-three million seven hundred and seventy thousand immortal silver...

Looking at the fractional amount at the back had no meaning; what was meaningful were the first two digits. Wei Yuan never thought that he would owe twenty-three million taels of immortal silver! As an entry-level disciple, even if Wei Yuan did not eat or drink, it would take two hundred thousand years to pay off this money, and this was without calculating interest. Even if he achieved a Dao foundation, it would be no different; an ordinary Dao foundation disciple's monthly silver was one hundred taels, and Wei Yuan would still have to not eat or drink for twenty thousand years; ten Dharma Form True Persons did not have such a long lifespan.

Fortunately, Zhang Sheng said that this debt had no interest, otherwise Wei Yuan did not know if he would lose his Dao heart on the spot.

It took Wei Yuan a great effort to calm his mind, and this could not be blamed on him; he only owed Behind Bao Yun two hundred thousand taels, and his actions had already violated his original intention many times. Suddenly carrying such a huge debt, even a Fenhai Zhenjun would find it difficult to remain calm.

After calming down, Wei Yuan began to carefully think about his ten-year cultivation process. In fact, the consumption of elixirs alone was already a huge number; Wei Yuan ate elixirs every day until he wished he were dead, so how could he care about thinking how much money he had eaten in total?

Besides elixirs, washing the foundation also seemed to cost a lot of money. Wei Yuan only recognized a few of the medicinal materials used by Ji Liuli, but these few medicinal materials were already worth a fortune, only a line away from heavenly materials and earthly treasures. The problem was that heavenly materials and earthly treasures were only used occasionally, but these medicines were used every seven days.

After passing the initial panic, Wei Yuan gradually calmed down, his heart peaceful, actually even calmer than when he only owed ten thousand taels. At that time, he was so worried that he could not sleep all night, and felt it was a sin to eat too much rice, and almost suffered qi deviation several times during cultivation.

Wei Yuan suddenly remembered a sentence he heard when he was a child: lice are not itchy when there are many, and one does not worry when there are many debts.

The sages truly did not deceive me.

Zhang Sheng took the jade paper away, carefully placed it in a secret compartment on the wall, and then added several sword qi seals.

After doing all this, Zhang Sheng returned to Wei Yuan and asked, "Do you think these immortal swords of your master are worth ten million immortal silver?"

Wei Yuan originally wanted to nod, but felt that this flattery was truly too exaggerated; as the saying goes, too much is as bad as too little, so he honestly said, "No."

Zhang Sheng glared at him and corrected, "Not now!"

"Not now!" Wei Yuan repeated, emphasizing "now".

Zhang Sheng was satisfied and asked again, "Then do you think your grandmaster's Heaven Fire Boiling Sea Dharma Form is worth ten million immortal silver?"

Wei Yuan originally wanted to shake his head, but after thinking about it, he changed it to a nod.

"Of course not, far from it!" Zhang Sheng had an expression of "rotten wood cannot be carved" and corrected him again, "That old... your grandmaster's Dharma Form is not as valuable as my immortal swords, and he spent that money long ago."

Wei Yuan was originally smart, and at this moment he understood: "So it was the face of the grandmaster..."

Not to mention how much money he owed, being able to borrow twenty million taels of immortal silver was a skill in itself. Wei Yuan himself, wearing the title of first in the unified examination, had already reached his limit by borrowing one hundred thousand taels. Not to mention him, even Zhang Sheng's immortal swords could not offset ten million immortal silver. Only the face of Fenhai Zhenjun Xuan Yue could be worth so much.

As for Zhang Sheng and True Person Fenhai, their faces were not big enough.

"So, if you dare to get me a Heaven foundation, you don't need Grandmaster Xuan Yue to do it; I will clean up the sect myself first!" Zhang Sheng said sternly.

Just now he said he would only execute a rebellious disciple if it were Earth-rank... Wei Yuan complained in his heart, naturally not daring to show it on his face.

"Go back and pack your luggage; in three days, the sect will have a flying boat heading to Ganzhou, and your master will go with you then."

Three days later, Wei Yuan boarded the flying boat and finally left the Empty Valley Hanging Green where he had lived for ten years.

This flying boat was completely different from the one Wei Yuan took when he first came to the Grand Void Palace. The entire flying boat was one hundred and fifty zhang long and thirty zhang high, with nine floors of pavilions on the deck and seven floors of cabins below the deck. The flying boat was entirely deep cyan, built with ten-thousand-year spirit wood, and could carry ten thousand people if it carried people, but this time heading to Ganzhou, there were only a few hundred cultivators on the boat, and most of what was loaded in the cabins was cargo. It was said that if this boat was fully loaded, it could carry one million shi.

The giant boat's flying speed was much slower, and this trip to Ganzhou would take a full seven days. Wei Yuan could just enjoy the scenery along the way. Ten years ago, that flying boat was too fast, and Wei Yuan was too young, so he could only see a piece of strange and colorful lines outside the window.

Whenever he had time, Wei Yuan would run to the deck. He liked standing at the bow of the boat the most, watching the rolling sea of clouds rushing toward him and then skimming under the boat. At this moment, looking up at the firmament and overlooking all living beings, there was nothing more heroic than this.

Watching the vastness of heaven and earth day by day, it seemed that his heart would gradually become broad and able to contain heaven and earth.

On this day, Wei Yuan was standing at the bow of the boat again, and Zhang Sheng appeared beside him at some point, also looking at the rolling sea of clouds, and said, "Tomorrow we will reach the battlefield; aren't you afraid?"

"Will I die?"

"This is a battlefield of slaughter with alien races, and anything can happen; even those charlatans in the Heavenly Mystery Hall cannot calculate it clearly. In other words, anyone could die, you are the same, and I am the same. As strong as the Three Immortal Grandmasters of that year, they also fell one after another after a great battle."

Wei Yuan was, after all, of a youth's temperament, not knowing fear, but rather eager to try. He suddenly said, "Can I ask you a question?"

Zhang Sheng laughed, "The great battle is ahead, yet you still think about those things. Okay, ask."

"I see many people in the palace have Dao companions; what kind of Dao companion do you want to find, Master?"

"You child..." Zhang Sheng shook his head, rarely not losing his temper, but pointed to the vast sea of clouds ahead and said, "Heaven and earth have great love, and the human world has great love. Your master has love in his heart, which is love for heaven and earth, love for the human world, not the love between men and women."

(End of chapter)