Cohabitation with Sword Spirit

Chapter 525 - 26: The Hong Beauty Who Brings Trouble Out of Interest

May 14, 2018

The Sect Leader really feels like hitting someone now.

This guy Zhao Chenlu, he’s troublesome enough as a teammate, but the moment he stands on the opposite side, even if it’s just one foot over the line, he can make others feel pain throughout their body, pain deep in their bones!

The Saint Sect’s financial issues began to appear eighty years ago, when a breakthrough in technology for exploring the Primordial Ruins occurred.

On one hand, with the technological breakthrough, many previously insurmountable difficulties can now be easily overcome without heavy casualties, but on the other hand, all factors that could have led to casualties are actually consumed as resources and money.

Dangerous obstacles that used to require exploration team members to risk their lives can now be investigated using expensive mechanical puppets and Immortal Technique Arrays. The exploration teams emerge unharmed, yet the cost of exploration is even higher than paying compensation for deceased members!

Furthermore, it’s even worse that after the technological breakthrough, although casualties among exploration teams are rare, whenever they do occur, it involves high-profile figures!

The principle of "good swimmers often drown" applies here; when technology was imperfect, there was a basic awareness of risk. Now that technology is complete, more people are reckless, especially skilled cultivators who love challenging limits. These people are extremely valuable, one of them equaling ten ordinary individuals, so the Saint Sect’s compensation payouts remain enormous. As a result, despite the Saint Sect’s two thousand years of accumulation, it cannot withstand the resource drain over these decades.

So at this point, although the top sect of the Immortal Dao cannot be called poor, its finances are not as abundant as in Golden Jade City, where they can invest freely. Every move must be carefully calculated. For instance, today, the Sect Leader suddenly wanting to take over Cyan Lotus Academy’s research budget is simply impossible; if the Sect Leader insists, it would only lead to the Elder in charge of Saint Sect’s finances hanging himself from the old tree in Myriad Forms Garden.

Now, Zhao Chenlu has mercilessly uncovered the Saint Sect’s weaknesses, and even the Sect Leader, despite his remarkable composure, is somewhat embarrassed and angry.

But Zhao Chenlu is indeed an annoying grandmaster-level figure, precisely grasping the Sect Leader’s emotional breaking points, smiling at the moment of his impending outburst and changing her tone: "Of course, the Saint Sect has a large foundation, hidden treasuries are entirely possible, and the Saint Sect doesn’t need to act personally. With one command, countless aristocratic families and elites are willing to contribute funds to support the Saint Sect. So, I have no intention of exploiting the situation. What I just said and did was actually with Cyan Lotus Academy’s unanimous agreement, right?"

Beside her, Feng Xiaolu, Shang Wuming, and Tan Luo nodded vigorously.

The Sect Leader was stunned, casting a suspicious glance at the group: "Do you have something held over you by her, forcing you to bow to her might?"

"No, not at all."

The young-looking Feng Xiaolu, nervously replied: "Chenlu sister hasn’t threatened us. We just learned the Sect Leader wants to restore the Sword Manual, so we asked her..."

"You asked her?" The Sect Leader frowned, feeling this logic was absurd. Cyan Lotus Academy’s internal issues, can they really ask Zhao Chenlu?

"Because, because..." Feng Xiaolu was so nervous under the Sect Leader’s gaze that her head was almost hung down to her chest, completely speechless.

Zhao Chenlu sighed: "Old man, wake up, and look in the mirror. You look just like a thug harassing a good family girl. They asked me to step in because the only one at Cyan Lotus Academy who dares to oppose you, Shang Miaoyu, is dead drunk, and I’m known for defying authority and quite infamous for that, so naturally, it’s me they asked."

The Sect Leader gritted his teeth again: "Shang Miaoyu got drunk again?!"

"Is it surprising? She’s always addicted to alcohol, spending most of the year inebriated—even during the Academy Master’s competition finals years ago, she passed out drunk, letting the Sang Sisters step on Shang Wuming and win the posts of Master and Deputy Master. And recently, coinciding with encountering the sisters’ mishap, it’s only natural for her to drink in celebration."

Shang Wuming quietly added: "Sister has been drinking ever since half a month ago..."

"..."

The Sect Leader had nothing to say.

The animosity between Shang Miaoyu and the Sang Sisters was no news, but he didn’t expect the relationship between these two sides could be so poor that one would drink for half a month in celebration of the other’s misfortune—this is just mutual hatred at its finest! Were the internal conflicts at Cyan Lotus Academy really this severe? He hadn’t heard of such things!

Shang Wuming said: "Because previously, Academy Master Sang Yue diverted some of Miaoyu’s research funds for the expedition of the Primordial Ruins, making her unable to drink for a week, so..."

The Sect Leader said woodenly: "I’m already too tired of commenting on you all."

On one side is an Academy Master freely using another Elder’s research funds, and on the other is an Academy Elder buying alcohol with research funds—the Cyan Lotus Academy within the Three Academies is truly the model of the Xiangzhou Cultivation Realm!

But no matter what, judging from the current situation, it seems the Academy elders are clearly reluctant to restore the Sword Manual.

This is genuinely unexpected. He thought Cyan Lotus Academy would be eager to restore the Sword Manual after losing the Cyan Lotus Chapter, which is why he, as the Sect Leader of Saint Sect, personally stepped in to handle the matter. It turns out he was too sentimental...

"That’s why I’ve always said, the best strategy is marriage, but you stubbornly pursued your own disgrace." Zhao Chenlu, with a look of condescension at a fool, made the veins near the Sect Leader’s temples throb.

And at this moment, from outside the Assembly Hall, a lazy, sticky female voice drifted in.

"Chenlu, has the old man gone back yet..."

At this moment, the Sect Leader’s anger truly could not be suppressed anymore, and he roared: "Shang Miaoyu!"

The voice outside the Assembly Hall abruptly fragmented.

"Oh, my dear, you guys are heartless, the old man hasn’t gone back, can’t you at least draw a caution line for warning? No way, my stomach hurts, I’m leaving..."

Before the words could be finished, the Sect Leader clenched his right hand, and the time and space inside the Assembly Hall shattered like glass. From the fragments, a sloppily dressed woman, reeking of alcohol, rolled out like a tumbling gourd.

It was Shang Miaoyu, who had been summoned by the Sect Leader using the Lingxu Divine Techniques.

Having brought her here, the Sect Leader was about to unleash his fury. However, before him, this woman’s hair was disheveled, vast areas of her snow-white skin were exposed, and even some crucial sensitive parts were vaguely visible... Such a tantalizing scene made everyone present visibly embarrassed, forcing them to turn their heads away.

In the next moment, Zhao Chenlu opportunely added salt to the wounds, "Old man, a dignified Sect Leader of the Saint Sect, indulging in such debauchery in broad daylight, isn’t it improper?"

The Sect Leader, not wanting to bicker with someone as sharp-tongued as Zhao Chenlu, completely ignored it, shifted his gaze, and scolded Shang Miaoyu.

"Why do you go out without wearing proper clothes?!"

"The dirty ones were sent to be washed, I didn’t expect you, you old geezer, would still be..."

"What did you say!?"

"I said I didn’t expect someone as busy as the Sect Leader to spend so much time solving our Cyan Lotus Academy’s troubles. So don’t mind just now, consider it a little benefit on the house..."

"Who wants your ’benefit’!?"

"Oh, don’t say that. Although I’m a bit unkempt, the foundation’s still good. With a proper wash and dress-up, spending a night fetches at least a few hundred Spirit Stones, right?"

"What did you say!?"

"What’s up? Isn’t this the only way to measure the value of the benefit?"

"...Your Cyan Lotus Academy needs a mental purification session!"

"It’s not like we didn’t have one, and you saw the results. That money would be better spent on buying me two bottles of wine. I assure you, after drinking your wine, I’ll absolutely listen to you, whatever you say, I’ll do."

These extremely disgraceful lines made the Sect Leader tremble with anger.

"Don’t be angry, I was just saying. Although I’ve given out quite a few benefits over my cultivation years, I’m still a pure maiden, alright?" Shang Miaoyu said while tidying her clothes, and then showed a mournful expression to Zhao Chenlu, "Such bad luck for me."

Zhao Chenlu sighed, "I left a note by your pillow, telling you not to come."

"... So that note was from you? I, I was sleeping drowsily and thought it was a crisp biscuit and ate it directly." Shang Miaoyu embarrassedly touched her stomach, then her face turned ghostly pale as her stomach churned again. "I can’t, I need to go throw up first..."

The Sect Leader watched on the side with another long sigh.

"I should have realized earlier, that well-dressed, articulate Shang Miaoyu from before was definitely an imposter!"

Shang Wuming softly retorted, "When Sister isn’t drunk, she’s still pretty normal."

"She can get drunk for 400 days a year!"

Zhao Chenlu said, "So are you really planning to waste time restoring the Sword Manual for Cyan Lotus Academy?"

The Sect Leader had to admit, at that moment, he was indeed shaken by those words.

Zhao Chenlu didn’t miss this opportunity.

"Think about it carefully, given the nature of these people, if you forcefully restore the Sword Manual, might they turn around and sell it at a high price to Wuxiang Sword Academy?"

The Sect Leader sternly said, "Don’t incite discord among the One Sect Three Academies!"

Zhao Chenlu said, "Sowing discord is the fundamental character of a femme fatale, and I’m just stating the facts. Your wishful thinking is just causing trouble for them."

"What’s in it for you to cause me so much trouble!?"

Zhao Chenlu said, "A qualified femme fatale is never a woman of utility. I do things more out of interest."

"Don’t justify your outrageous behavior so confidently!"

Zhao Chenlu said, "Alright, let me put it another way: as long as it concerns dealings with the Sect Leader, whatever you do, I’ll block it."

"I knew it!"