“It has nothing to do with me!” Zhang Sheng yelled inside his head, but he could neither move nor speak. An unnatural power was wiping away the Dao techniques and mystic abilities in his mind en masse.

Trueman Fen Hai realized that something was amiss and blocked protectively in front of his disciple, flames bursting out of his body. However, most of the blazing fire flickered out instantly upon meeting the giant bird’s gaze, exposing his chest and abdomen in an instant.

It was at this moment a gigantic hand that was tens of zhang long appeared from the sky and grabbed hold of the bird’s head!

The three-eyed bird’s head let out a furious roar before reluctantly vanishing into nothing. The shadow on the moon finally faded completely as well.

When the giant hand loosened its grip, its little finger, ring finger, and middle finger suddenly lost their color before crumbling into nothing. True Lord Xuan Yue let out a soft grunt and put away the giant hand.

The Truemen were all shaken by this turn of events. They didn’t think that the otherworldly fortune would be so powerful that just the illusion it manifested was beyond their ability to stop. Even True Lord Xuan Yue was injured by it, and it was no minor injury. Everyone present at the scene would be dead if not for his intervention!

True Lord Xuan Yue cast his gaze at Zhang Sheng and asked, “Why does that otherworldly fortune persist in pursuing you?”

Zhang Sheng answered gloomily, “I do not know. Maybe I was just unlucky?”

True Lord Xuan Yue pondered for a moment before answering, “That is a very likely possibility! Head to the Heavenly Mysteries Hall and ask them to alter your fortune for you later.”

The scholar replied succinctly, “I can’t afford it!”

The True Lord fell silent, and the matter was glossed over just like that.

High above everyone’s heads, the massive jade toad was looking down coldly at the group of Truemen. The Truemen glanced at the toad, then at Trueman Fen Hai, then at the toad, then at Trueman Fen Hai again.

The old man immediately flew into a rage, “Why do you keep looking at me?!”

Someone immediately said, “Congratulations on recruiting such an excellent disciple, Trueman. However, I fear that the cultivation resources necessary to temper his body are beyond his means to solve. As his grand shifu, it is your duty to help him, no?”

Trueman Fen Hai’s eyes bugged out. “My excellent disciple is a disciple of both the Skyblue Hall and the Water Moon Hall, meaning that everyone here has a duty to help him! Don’t even think about running away!”

“I don’t see how this concerns the Water Moon Hall.”

Trueman Fen Hai pointed at the gigantic jade toad above their heads and said, “There is no way I can fill up a bottomless pit this size all by myself. Naturally, this is a burden we should all shoulder together—unless our fellowship means nothing to you?”

The Truemen immediately started making excuses. Some were even trying to sneak away.

There was no such thing as an ignorant Trueman. The scale of an image concerned a lot of things, and one couldn’t just make it as large as they pleased. However, Wei Yuan’s image had exceeded the length of one hundred zhang. Although its quality was quite flimsy, meaning that it cost less spirit qi per square zhang than your conventional disciple’s to fill up, the cost was halved at most. In fact, by the time the image was completely filled up, and Wei Yuan had reached the end of his body-tempering, the cultivation resources consumed would likely be enough to nurture several hundred ordinary Dao Foundation cultivators.

Forget a Trueman, not even True Lord Xuan Yue could raise hundreds of Dao Foundation cultivators on his own, no matter how ordinary their Dao Foundations were.

There was a bottomless pit, and then there was the bottomless pit. Naturally, everyone was desperate to get away from it. The Truemen did their best to stonewall Trueman Fen Hai while waiting for True Lord Xuan Yue to save him.

To their surprise and horror, the True Lord said, “Let’s all chip in!”

Although it was a direct order from the True Lord, this was a matter of grave importance. A Trueman from the Water Moon Hall argued, “It would take over half of the Skyblue Hall’s accumulated wealth to fill up this foundation, but otherworldly fortune is known for its fickleness. It is impossible to say what kind of Dao Foundation the boy may form. What if it turned out to be a dud? The Skyblue Hall would have wasted all that resources for nothing.

“Sure, the Skyblue Hall has been toiling under terrible management in recent years—spending more than it earns, its reputation in tatters, and creditors knocking daily at its doors—but even a hundred-footed insect remains stubbornly lively in death. What little wealth the Skyblue Hall has left isn’t so insignificant that it could be invested in an uncertain future, no?”

Trueman Fen Hai was furious to hear this. “What do you mean that the Skyblue Hall has been toiling under terrible management and spending more than it earns?!”

The Trueman from the Water Moon Hall replied coldly, “It’s exactly what it sounds like. If you still don’t understand what I’m saying, I can maybe spend half a day to tutor you.”

Another Skyblue Hall Trueman said, “Skyblue Hall this, Skyblue Hall that. Have you forgotten that the two halls are one under Founder Xuan Yue’s leadership, Senior Brother? The Water Moon Hall is naturally responsible for nurturing Wei Yuan as well.”

A woman belonging to the Water Moon Hall immediately countered, “You’re the ones who keep addressing him as the ‘disciple of the Skyblue Hall’! If you would make such a distinction, then it’s only right that we do the same! But of course, we can reconsider our decision if you allow him to come under me, Lan Hua.”

“Ask me again after you’ve conquered the Four Seas, dreamer!”

The Truemen argued furiously against each other, unwilling to back a single inch. True Lord Xuan Yue didn’t step in, seemingly pondering about something. As a result, the argument kept escalating until they were seconds away from engaging one another in a physical debate.

It was true that many geniuses and prodigies had emerged from the Skyblue Hall in the past century, but it was also true that they were earning less than they were spending. As high as they ranked among the Twelve Halls, their problems were numerous and debilitating to put it mildly.

On the other hand, the Water Moon Hall followed a different approach. Steady and methodical, they consistently turned a profit year after year. Besides that, their overall strength would increase somewhat every two or three decades. Though ranking last among the halls, their upward trajectory was undeniable. And in terms of immortal silver, they had the Skyblue Hall beat completely.

It was impossible to fill up the bottomless pit known as Wei Yuan with just one or two Trueman. Without exaggeration, the cultivation of every Trueman in the hall would be massively affected if they agreed to support him. After all, the Palace of Absolute Beginning itself only nurtured a hundred Dao Foundation cultivators or so every five years. This was why the Skyblue Hall Truemen were trying their best to drag the Water Moon Hall down with them, and the Water Moon Hall was doing their utmost to abscond from the responsibility.

It was at this moment True Lord Xuan Yue finally broke his long-standing silence. “He is your disciple, Zhang Sheng. What do you say?”

The scholar quietly walked up to the center of the main hall before dropping to his knees. He then pressed his head against the floor and said, “This disciple humbly begs that you give Wei Yuan a chance, founder! I am willing to offer up my own Dao Foundation and path to immortality as a guarantee! Whatever achievements Wei Yuan may attain in the future, I swear to repay all of the cultivation resources he expended on his behalf!”

“And if I say no?” 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Zhang Sheng fell silent for a moment before answering, “Then I will earn those cultivation resources myself. Whatever I have, he will have it as well.”

True Lord Xuan Yue sighed. “You have a path to immortality that leads straight to the heavens. Why must you burden yourself so?”

“Because it is a master’s natural responsibility to toil away for his disciple!”

The corner of Trueman Fen Hai’s eyes twitched. He then stood next to Zhang Sheng and bowed deeply as well. “This disciple is willing to surrender all of his cultivation resources to Wei Yuan as well. What’s mine is his!”

However, a big hand descended from the air, caught him, and tossed him aside. “Who’s the reason the Skyblue Hall has been earning less than it spends? Besides, your yearly salary has been deducted for fifty years! What cultivation resources do you have, pray tell?”

A Trueman’s eyes were sharp. Besides basking in schadenfreude, they noticed that True Lord Xuan Yue was using his left hand, not his right.

An embarrassed Trueman Fen Hai was stumped for words for a time. The main reason the Skyblue Hall had been losing money in recent years was because of his medical bills.

Seeing that Zhang Sheng was still prostrating himself on the floor, Trueman Fen Hai gritted his teeth and abruptly dropped to his knees as well. He declared, “This disciple swears to carry out the Palace’s every whim for a hundred years! I only ask that you give Wei Yuan a chance, Master!”

This time, everyone was stunned and speechless. An Avatar Trueman was highly respected no matter where they went. In the Palace, the only times they needed to kneel was during their master’s birthday, when they were paying homage to the Founder, and a handful of exceptions.

Trueman Fen Hai’s combat strength was outstanding, so he was held in great respect even within the Palace. But now, the man was kneeling of his own accord.

The Trueman’s temper was as fiery as his heavenly fire. He would never kneel for his own sake. Thus, he was doing this half for Zhang Sheng and half for Wei Yuan.

The appellation “Master” silenced True Lord Xuan Yue for a long time. Trueman Fen Hai was his closed door disciple, and he had more or less raised the man since childhood. Today, they were both old men. How time flies!

True Lord Xuan Yue let out a sigh and said, “You were just a skinny, seven-year-old boy when you first joined the sect. To think that you have your own grand disciple now... Rise.”

A gentle surge of energy lifted Trueman Fen Hai to his feet and delivered him to the sidelines, leaving only Zhang Sheng behind.

He then said, “As you are offering your own path to immortality as the guarantee, I will ask you this again, Zhang Sheng. No matter what Dao Foundation Wei Yuan forms in the future, you shall bear all of his expenditure with him. This is not a trivial matter. Do you agree?”

The scholar replied without hesitation, “This disciple agrees!”

“Very well. From now on, the hall shall provide Wei Yuan with everything he needs. He may procure whatever he needs directly from the public treasury. If the public treasury does not have it, then please check your private stash and make up for it anyhow.”

Every Trueman present including the three Truemen belonging to the Water Moon Hall felt the gaze from above. Since True Lord Xuan Yue had made up his mind, the Truemen fell in line even though their hearts were aching from the future loss. Just like that, the matter was settled. When the Truemen looked at the jade toad again, it suddenly looked less comely than it was at the beginning.

Suddenly, someone remarked, “Say, this image doesn’t have any extraordinary phenomenon, is there?”

Trueman Fen Hai grunted. “Why would it need an extraordinary phenomenon when it’s this big?”

The Truemen couldn’t refute that. No matter how extraordinary an ant was, it was still going to be crushed to death by an elephant.

The jade toad was still facing toward the moon, but its eyes were looking down on Zhang Sheng’s kneeling figure.

True Lord Xuan Yue’s presence disappeared after this. The Truemen took their leaves as well.

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