Chapter 13: Resolved With Money
Fifteen minutes ago, all the prospective disciples had gotten off the ship. People filled the harbor. A few Taiqing disciples were already trying to recruit the best talent to their respective divisions, and Ye Dafu and his clique had surrounded one such disciple.
"Third Uncle, everyone here is a brother of mine. They might not be as talented as I am, but we'd rather not be split up. I promised to help them all become formal disciples. Won't you help?" Ye Dafu looked expectantly at his uncle.
His clique all followed his gaze with unrestrained hope.
Ya Dafu's uncle frowned at Ye Dafu's clique. He didn't want to take in any of them, but his nephew was all but begging him…
"So be it. Take these eleven tokens. All of you will be formally inducted as disciples of the Mortal division of the sect. Cultivation is a dangerous affair, and you all might as well stick together if you can." Ye Dafu's uncle gave his nephew a princely gift.
"Thank you, Uncle!" Ye Dafu's lackeys cried out in relief.
Ye Dafu's uncle nodded, then turned to leave. There were plenty of talented individuals he needed to try and recruit.
"Boss, please take care of us while we're in the sect." Ye Dafu's lackeys cheered, overjoyed by how easily they had been accepted as formal disciples.
Ye Dafu, his pride restored, looked all around him until he saw Xiao Nanfeng standing some distance away. For some reason, throughout the voyage, this youth had given him no small amount of grief. Now, looking at the forlorn Xiao Nanfeng and thinking back to how weak his cultivation was, a sense of overwhelming superiority suffused Ye Dafu, significantly improving his mood.
"Did you see that, lad? We won't even have to participate in the second selection—we became formal disciples just like that. As for you, you don't even know what the Taiqing sect is like. With your qualifications, even becoming a nominal disciple would be difficult." Ye Dafu smiled smugly.
Xiao Nanfeng gave Ye Dafu an odd look. Is he crazy? He's trying to flex on me after I stole ten thousand taels of his gold? Does he need another lesson?
"Boss, there's no need to stoop to his level! What would he know?"
"Right, I heard that there's always a batch of prospective disciples who are eliminated and sent back. He'll surely be one of them!"
Ye Dafu's lackeys all began to heckle Xiao Nanfeng, as though wanting to vent all the discomfort and unluckiness they had suffered throughout the voyage onto him.
Xiao Nanfeng looked at all of them with a strange expression on his face. He had helped them out at the heavy price of ten thousand taels of gold, but they still seemed to be as obnoxious as ever…
"Is it that difficult to understand the nature of the Taiqing sect?" Xiao Nanfeng retorted.
"Oh? Is there someone you know here, then?" Ye Dafu asked in surprise.
"No, but gold will do the trick," Xiao Nanfeng informed them.
Ye Dafu and the others: …
That sounded particularly ironic coming from a youth who spent all day in his suite eating dry rations, who would rather buy discounted Taoist scriptures rather than actual techniques. Money was all he needed?
Ye Dafu and his clique watched on as Xiao Nanfeng looked all around him. Suddenly, a man in tattered robes walked up to him. The man was none other than Senior Brother Zhao Yuanjiao, responsible for ferreting out the spies who had infiltrated the ranks of the Taiqing sect's prospective disciples.
When Xiao Nanfeng saw Zhao Yuanjiao's tattered robes, his eyes lit up.
Xiao Nanfeng firmly believed that, no matter where, there would be a disparity between rich and poor, even in an Immortal sect. It was a natural consequence of population dynamics. For instance, the man in front of him was wearing tattered robes—perhaps out of personal interest, but more likely because of his circumstances. Surely someone like this had to be a nominal disciple who wasn't doing well for himself?
Xiao Nanfeng reached into his pocket and handed him his remaining four taels of gold.
"Senior Brother, you look very much like a friend of mine..."
Not far away, Ye Dafu and the others widened their eyes. What was Xiao Nanfeng doing? Trying to bribe a disciple of the Taiqing sect with just four taels of gold? What would four taels of gold do—did the disciples of the sect lack for money?!
However, considering the disciple's tattered robes... Ye Dafu and the others couldn't help but consider the possibility that Xiao Nanfeng's strategy really might be successful. Just who was this person, to have been forced into such dire straits? Could he really be tempted by four taels of gold? He was a Taiqing sect disciple, after all!
"Please, take it! Go buy yourself a few sets of clothes, Senior." Xiao Nanfeng stuffed the ingot into Zhao Yuanjiao's hands. "Senior Brother, it's my first time here, and I intend on apprenticing under a master of the Taiqing sect. Senior Brother, I have a few questions I'd like to ask. Might you be able to spare some time for me?"
Zhao Yuanjiao raised an eyebrow. So this lad hasn't managed to discover my identity, after all? And he intends on trying to weasel information out of me with just four taels of gold? How ludicrous! Very well, very well—let's see just what you're up to!
"What would you like to know?" Zhao Yuanjiao asked, pocketing the four taels of gold.
The reason he did so was to get Xiao Nanfeng to relax and make a blunder, but Ye Dafu and the others, witnessing this scene, thought something entirely different. What's going on with the world? Can Taiqing sect disciples really be bribed with just four taels of gold?!
Xiao Nanfeng had only been testing the waters. Four taels of gold was nothing in the grand scheme of things, after all, and he had been worried that this senior disciple would scoff at him and turn away. Well, if he had done so, Xiao Nanfeng would have written it off as an act of charity—but this senior disciple was actually willing to play along!
"I'd like to learn some fundamentals about the Taiqing Immortal Sect, along with what the second round of selection would be like, if possible?" Xiao Nanfeng ventured.
Zhao Yuanjiao patiently explained everything, anticipating that Xiao Nanfeng would eventually ask something that would give him away. "The Taiqing Immortal Sect takes in two classes of disciples: formal and nominal. Nominal disciples are responsible for the tedious affairs of bureaucracy and interactions with the mortal world. Occasionally, formal disciples will host public lectures to advise them in cultivation, but their success is largely limited. Formal disciples have the opportunity to apprentice under one of the Taiqing masters. The greater their accomplishments, the more sect resources they enjoy—but simultaneously, the more battles they're expected to participate in.
"The formal disciples of the Taiqing Immortal Sect are divided into four divisions, named for heaven and earth. Each of the four divisions has a division leader. Today, the disciples of the four divisions are searching the crowd for the best talent among the new recruits. As you've seen, the cream of the crop has largely been picked clean already." Zhao Yuanjiao pointed all around him.
Indeed, formal disciples were going through the crowd and occasionally stopping and talking to a few promising recruits.
"The fact that no disciple has approached you must mean that your talent is average, at best. You'll have to participate in the second round of selection," Zhao Yuanjiao concluded
"What qualities will the second round focus on?"
"Cultivation isn't only a matter of talent, but also of nature and will. Some cultivators aren't particularly talented, but their nature and will are perfectly suited for cultivation. These qualities can compensate, to some extent, for otherwise meager or average talent. The second round of selection focuses on nature and will."
"Nature?" Xiao Nanfeng suddenly brightened. "May I ask what the test will involve?"
"You'll be listening to music," Zhao Yuanjiao replied. "The music will transport you to an illusory realm. Those who can last longest in that realm have the best nature and will."
"Listening to music? Like the requiem that Elder Ku was playing yesterday?" Xiao Nanfeng inquired further.
Zhao Yuanjiao's gaze suddenly turned piercing. "You're aware of Elder Ku?"
"Yes, I'd like to apprentice under him. Do you have any advice for me, Senior?"
Zhao Yuanjiao suddenly narrowed his eyes. Elder Ku, was it?
Zhao Yuanjiao was even more confident that Xiao Nanfeng was a spy, now. Elder Ku held a particularly special place in the sect—could the demonic sect be trying to exploit this as a weakness? Indeed, that was their style!
"It's not too difficult," Zhao Yuanjiao replied. "The administrator of the second round of testing will be Elder Ku. If you persist to the last, you'll be able to choose any master to apprentice under."
"Really? I must thank you, Senior." Xiao Nanfeng bowed to him.
Zhao Yuanjiao smiled, nodded, and left.
In the distance, Ye Dafu and the others were stupefied. Xiao Nanfeng really had managed to get an incredible wealth of information—and all for the price of four taels of gold! Could this be true?
"See? All you need is money." Xiao Nanfeng calmly lectured Ye Dafu and his clique.
Ye Dafu and the others: … That's what we should be telling you! How can a poor bastard like you lecture us on money? We were far richer than you!
Meanwhile, Zhao Yuanjiao made his way back to the Hall of Immortal Recruitment. A number of junior disciples followed behind him. One of them asked, "Senior Brother, is something wrong with that youth?"
Zhao Yuanjiao narrowed his eyes. "Absolutely. I'm sure I'm not mistaken—but I won't do anything to him just yet. I want to trap him and use him as bait to fish out the spies in our midst."
"An amazing plan, Senior Brother!" the junior disciples cried out.
"He claims to want to apprentice under Elder Ku—in an attempt to sneak into the sect's vault of scriptures, I imagine. I'd like to see just how the demonic sect intends to help him with this task."
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