Chapter 245 : The Path to Redemption

Chapter 245: The Path to Redemption

“Go down.” Feng Buxiu’s eyes closed slightly, as if he were waiting for someone.

Oil added to roaring flames, flowers layered on brocade—when the moon is full, it begins to wane; when water overflows, it spills.

Though he had now advanced to Foundation Establishment and gained quite a reputation, standing unrivaled in Biyuan Market with even his main clan finding it hard to suppress him...

In truth, danger lurked on all sides. A single misstep over the matter of stealing from the mine vein could lead to his annihilation.

“Yes.”

Sheng Yong and Sheng Gang exchanged a glance and respectfully withdrew.

One incense stick of time later, an old man suddenly appeared inside the Ten Thousand Laws Pavilion. He wore a deep blue Daoist robe, his figure was gaunt, and his long beard draped down to his chest.

This was none other than Hua Buqi, an Outer Elder of the Mirror Moon Sect, a peak Foundation Establishment cultivator whose power overshadowed all three of the Shen Clan’s Foundation Establishment elders.

“Greetings, Elder Hua.” Feng Buxiu rose and bowed, not displaying even a shred of the pride expected of a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

A dog must have the awareness of a dog.

If Elder Hua were not shielding him at the front, a newly-advanced Foundation Establishment cultivator like him wouldn’t have dared make such a scene—he’d have long been crushed by the Shen Clan.

“How much stock is there this year?” Hua Buqi nodded slightly, his tone calm.

“I beg the Elder’s forgiveness.”

Feng Buxiu knelt on one knee and took out a hexagonal ore from his storage pouch. It was translucent in color, with densely packed golden star-sand-like particles suspended inside.

“Why is there only one piece?” Hua Buqi frowned slightly and glanced at Feng Buxiu.

“The cultivators in charge of mining over the past few years have nearly all perished. Subordinates are now doing everything they can to find new mine slaves to ensure next year’s production recovers,” Feng Buxiu explained.

The Empty Gold Marrow mine vein contained extremely sharp Metal Essence Qi.

This Qi was formless and intangible, but it could erode a cultivator’s flesh and seep straight into the internal organs.

Low-level Qi Refining cultivators tasked with mining could last at most two years before dying from Metal Essence Qi invasion.

Only Foundation Establishment cultivators with Flawless Defense and established Dao Foundations could mine Empty Gold Marrow and survive.

“Fine, I’ll let it slide this year. But if you can’t meet the quota next year, you’ll go mine it yourself!” Hua Buqi warned.

Empty Gold Marrow was not only an essential material for crafting Third-Tier Artifacts, but also a vital component for the Heavy Gold Sect’s sect-defining cultivation method—[Golden Body of Ten Thousand Tribulations].

With two more pieces of Empty Gold Marrow, he could trade with the Heavy Gold Sect for a Golden Palace Pill, and attempt to form a Golden Core.

“Yes.” Feng Buxiu lowered his head, not daring to object.

Meanwhile, at the Yunhai Shen Clan.

Morning mist lingered. On either side of the Shen Clan’s main gate, clan disciples stood with heads lowered.

Their auras were condensed—all of them were Late-Stage Qi Refining cultivators. Their gazes kept drifting toward the direction of the clan patriarch’s residence.

‘This guest brings no goodwill,’ Shen Tianyue thought silently, his eyes fixed on a dark flying boat breaking through the clouds.

Standing at the prow of the boat was a beautiful female cultivator dressed in luxurious robes with a graceful figure. She was none other than Shu You, who had taken on Chen Beiwu’s mission.

“Greetings, Moon-Choosing Envoy.”

The three Foundation Establishment elders all bowed simultaneously, giving Shu You full respect. This caused the expressions of the Shen Clan cultivators to pale slightly, shock written across their faces.

Such a grand display.

In the past, Moon-Choosing Envoys from the sect had descended upon Yunhai before, but never had they seen the three Foundation Establishment elders leave seclusion together to greet someone in person.

Shu You nodded slightly, the corners of her lips curving upward.

Even though Shu You knew the three elders of the Shen Clan weren’t kneeling for her, but rather for the sect’s Dao Child she represented, she still felt immensely satisfied.

How dare they offend the Dao Child—Shen Clan was doomed!

……

Immortal Alliance, Yuqing Immortal Sect.

Fuyou Residence, Jiuyue Cave Residences.

【Credits】: 0

【Absence Record】: Marvelous Method of Companion Beast Landscape, Companion Beast Transformation Record...

【Absence Rate】: 99%

Chen Beiwu stared at the credits page on his phone screen and let out a heavy breath.

According to the Yuqing Immortal Sect’s academic system, if absences for electives reached 10% of total course hours, a sect advisor would initiate a warning interview.

His current absence rate was a whopping 99%—no wonder his phone was flooded with messages from Senior Sister Feng Ya and warnings about grade repetition.

Fortunately, the Yuqing Immortal Sect had a highly relaxed academic atmosphere.

After briefly replying to his parents, Senior Sister Feng Ya, Xu Lingling, and others, Chen Beiwu logged onto the Immortal Alliance Official Website, clicked into the Earthly Sha section, and filtered for high-grade Earthly Sha Qi suitable for Foundation Establishment cultivators of Water and Wood attributes seeking to form their Golden Cores.

【Mystic Nether Earthly Sha】: Mystic Nether governs winter; its Qi is biting cold and freezes into Ice Soul upon contact with water. Price: 40,000 Spirit Yuan.

【Luofeng Earthly Sha】: The Six Heavens of Luofeng, Court of Ghosts and Spirits. This Sha can forge a Golden Core that suppresses evil and malevolent souls. Price: 50,000 Spirit Yuan.

【Jumang Earthly Sha】: Jumang holds the compass, governs spring and Wood Sha. Refining Jumang True Qi from this Sha can extend lifespan. Price: 55,000 Spirit Yuan.

【Ren-Gui Earthly Sha】: ……

As he scrolled through the various high-grade Earthly Sha Qi types, Chen Beiwu discovered that every listing was marked as sold out, with the shortest waitlist being thirty years.

‘No choice, then.’

Chen Beiwu shook his head and opened the Immortal Alliance’s Pinball Game Net.

Pinball machines were simple mini-games cultivators played when bored.

These machines could ruin a cultivator’s fortune—or crown them with overnight wealth.

According to statistics, nearly a million people across the Immortal Alliance went bankrupt every year due to playing pinball. Yet there were also cultivators who won big prizes and acquired Third-Tier Treasure Beasts or even Fourth-Tier Mystic Beasts, becoming famous across an entire province overnight.

When Chen Beiwu first obtained Nine-Breath Chaos and Nine-Breath Chaos Divine Ability, he also tried his hand at the pinball game, hoping to strike it rich overnight.

As expected, his triggered fortuitous encounters had no effect on the pinball machine. He lost more often than he won.

Clearly, the so-called games of pure luck were just slogans the pinball manufacturers used in their marketing.

Any cultivator who truly believed in their miraculous luck would sooner or later gamble away their entire fortune in pinball.

In Chen Beiwu’s eyes, the pinball game’s harm to the Immortal Alliance was second only to Immortal Loans—perhaps even worse.

But alas, it was just too easy and too lucrative for the companies to profit from, so it had never been banned.

As time passed, the pinball manufacturers added more features to draw in cultivators—prizes now included Spirit Yuan, Spirit Stones, Artifacts, Pills, Magical Treasures, Treasure Beasts, Earthly Sha Qi, and even random loot boxes from conquests on other planets by the Immortal Alliance.

Naturally, these unscrupulous companies never did anything good.

So-called lucky draws were no better than consolation prizes. The loot boxes from conquests usually contained nothing of value—mostly exotic junk from other realms, or at best, low-grade resources.

Chen Beiwu had once opened one such loot box…

He strongly suspected that all the good resources had been taken by the senior executives of the pinball company, and that the loot boxes released to the market were nothing but junk.

Fortunately, the pinball companies also understood the principle of “excess leads to failure” and would occasionally insert grand prizes into the random loot boxes.

For instance: Tribulation-Breaking Golden Core, Metal Essence Earthly Sha, high-grade beast blood, and other rare resources—then they would use media hype to stir up attention.

But with too many cultivators in the Immortal Alliance playing the pinball game, the odds of winning a grand prize from a loot box were nearly zero.

Chen Beiwu wasn’t opening the Pinball Game Net hoping to win a jackpot. His real goal was to use the so-called "lucky prize" to reasonably explain the presence of high-grade Earthly Sha Qi within his dantian and qi sea.

However, this was only one of Chen Beiwu’s backup plans to "whitewash" the Earthly Sha Qi in his body. Unless it was absolutely necessary, he wouldn't use such an excuse.

After all, too many coincidences would only raise suspicion.

What’s more, he had no idea how deep the corruption behind the pinball companies ran.

The pinball game’s prize system was actually better suited for laundering low-grade resources from the Southern Wastes.

To cover up the source of his Earthly Sha, Chen Beiwu believed the best method was to overpay to purchase Five Elements high-grade Earthly Sha Qi on the Ten Thousand Spirits app.

Only real and verifiable transactions could perfectly conceal the flaws in his cover.

【High-priced purchase of Five Elements Earthly Sha Qi. Willing to overpay. Item-for-item trades accepted. Serious inquiries only. No time-wasters.】

After posting the purchase notice on the secondhand market of the Ten Thousand Spirits app, Chen Beiwu turned his eyes to the flashing screen of the pinball game.

“Ding!”

【Congratulations, you have won a lucky prize!】

【Congratulations, you have won a lucky prize!】

“……”

Watching the flurry of messages popping up on his phone, Chen Beiwu shook his head slightly.

He had spent ten thousand Spirit Yuan, placing one thousand bets on the pinball machine.

In return, he won fifty lucky prizes, a hundred and ten Spirit Stone rewards, two hundred and twenty-three Spirit Yuan rewards, and three hundred and ninety-six "Try Again" bonuses.

The winning rate looked astonishingly high—up to 77.9%—as if he had profited immensely.

But after he finished playing and calculated carefully, excluding the fifty random loot boxes, Chen Beiwu had lost over six thousand Spirit Yuan.

‘Spending over six thousand Spirit Yuan for fifty random loot boxes... I suppose that’s still worth it,’ Chen Beiwu thought to himself.

Next, he would decide—based on the items he obtained from the loot boxes—whether or not to use them as the excuse for laundering his Southern Wastes resources.

……

Yuyu Path, Zhuyuan Prefecture.

Immortal Alliance Pinball Entertainment Tower, Logistics Warehouse.

Dozens of Qi Refining cultivators in Immortal Alliance uniforms waved their sleeves, fingertips radiating spiritual light as they each retrieved items from the warehouse shelves.

Beside them, Companion Beasts stationed at the ready immediately carried the goods to the logistics sorting hub.

【Recipient: Yuqing Immortal Sect, Fuyou Residence, No.1 Jiuyue Cave Residence, Chen, Contact: 15*******40】**

Seeing the delivery label, one of the Qi Refining cultivators in charge of packaging paused mid-action, lost in thought.

“Goodness gracious, even a Yuqing Immortal Sect student plays the pinball game…”

Recalling his superior’s instructions, the cultivator quickly placed the loot box back on the shelf and rushed straight to the supervisor’s office.

“Bang!”

“Bang!”

“Bang!”

A few minutes later, led by the logistics supervisor, a group of subordinates exited the office and knocked on the manager’s door.

“Come in.”

After signing a cooperation agreement, Jiang Chen looked up and smiled gently at the two somewhat nervous subordinates. “What brings you here?”

The supervisor swallowed hard.

Power suppressed from one level up.

And what’s more, his direct superior—the Pinball Entertainment Logistics Manager Jiang Chen—was a Golden Core True Person with a lifespan of 1,200 years, who could crush Foundation Establishment cultivators with a mere thought.

Before such a being, maintaining even a facade of calm was already a testament to his mental fortitude.

“Reporting to Manager Jiang, there is a special transaction today that requires your attention.” The supervisor bowed and handed over the documentation related to Chen Beiwu’s pinball gameplay.

“How interesting.”

Jiang Chen raised an eyebrow, a hint of amusement on his face. “So even a prodigy from the Yuqing Immortal Sect has such terrible luck? Out of a thousand bets, only fifty lucky prizes?”

The supervisor pursed his lips but said nothing.

He knew better than to speak recklessly.

A prodigy from the Thirteen Immortal Sects already held a status comparable to a Golden Core True Person.

Especially one from the Upper Three Immortal Sects—even Manager Jiang himself would likely have to yield to them.

A low-level staffer like himself wouldn’t dare joke about such a figure unless he had a death wish.

“Well done. Send him a few more high-grade packages,” Jiang Chen chuckled and encouraged, “Students from the Yuqing Immortal Sect make for excellent promotional material.”

“Yes, sir.”

With Manager Jiang’s instruction, the supervisor breathed a sigh of relief.

Only internal staff of Pinball Entertainment knew: lucky prizes weren’t truly “lucky” — they were distributed according to hidden evaluation.

Put simply, Pinball Entertainment categorized the loot box prizes into Common, Good, Superior, Rare, and Peerless tiers.

Though all these loot boxes appeared identical on the outside, the quality of contents inside varied drastically.

Common boxes might contain First-Tier cultivation resources.

Good boxes might yield Second-Tier cultivation resources.

Superior boxes had a chance to grant Third-Tier treasure pills or even Third-Tier Treasure Beasts as major prizes.

As for Rare boxes, they might contain Mystic Beast cubs or Dharma Aspect Pills—resources of the utmost rarity.

It was precisely because Pinball Entertainment’s prizes were so lavish that one chance occurrence had created a Nascent Soul True Monarch, sending the Immortal Alliance’s cultivators into a frenzy.

But what few knew was—this so-called Nascent Soul True Monarch was actually an in-house shill, a walking advertisement strategically planted by Pinball Entertainment.

Ordinary cultivators, even if they spent huge sums—say, more than ten thousand Spirit Yuan—could only receive a mix of Common and Good loot boxes. They would never win a grand prize and might at best earn some minor gains.

The only cultivators who could obtain grand prizes were those with deep collaborations with Pinball Entertainment, powerful True Venerable clans they needed to curry favor with, or direct disciples from Dao Venerable Immortal Clans.

Naturally, to avoid raising suspicion among Immortal Alliance cultivators, Pinball Entertainment occasionally recruited talented individuals from humble backgrounds who were willing to become their promotional actors.

Watching his two subordinates respectfully depart, Jiang Chen revealed an intrigued smile.

“I wonder what kind of grand prize that prodigy will pull?”

To prevent internal embezzlement, all loot boxes of Good grade and above were sealed by the Qian Clan, a True Venerable family behind Pinball Entertainment.

Even the sealing personnel were not cultivators, but rather special puppets left behind by the Qian Clan’s late patriarch, who performed random sealings.

This ensured that even Qian Clan members didn’t know which Superior or Rare loot box contained a super jackpot.

“Wait… there's a flaw!”

As if thinking of something, Jiang Chen’s brow furrowed. “Could it be that prodigy from Yuqing Immortal Sect has such awful luck that he won’t win even a single grand prize?”

……

Chen Beiwu had no idea that someone behind the scenes was muttering about his luck.

He picked up his phone and opened the elective video course Companion Beast Transformation Record from Yuqing Immortal Sect, watching together with Golden Egg.

Even Nascent Soul True Monarchs of Yuqing Immortal Sect didn’t have time to hold live classes every day. They too needed to cultivate and pursue breakthroughs to Divine Transformation True Venerable.

The reason they stayed on as instructors was to pass down Yuqing Immortal Arts, select worthy seedlings for the sect, and also gain access to better resources for breaking through to True Venerable.

Thus, most Nascent Soul True Monarchs at Yuqing Immortal Sect would upload recorded lectures to the sect’s official website.

Until he could properly explain the changes in his mana, Chen Beiwu had no plans to go out. Avoiding the risk of being seen through by a Nascent Soul True Monarch, catching up through online electives became his best option.

Of course, electives had their drawbacks—no credit rewards. He would still fail and repeat the year.