In a courtyard, inside a pavilion, Gao Yuan, Jiang Shan, and Mouse Granny sat in silence.
Bai Lan stepped out from the house, glanced around, saw the three people in the pavilion, and walked over to sit down with them.
Mouse Granny asked her quietly, “Were you not going to kill that little thief to avenge you? Why have we been sitting here motionless for months?”
Bai Lan sighed softly, “How should I know? Perhaps it is inconvenient to act. The little thief still has some backing.”
As the few people murmured in the pavilion, the iron faced man watched them from the gap in the upstairs window.
Familiar footsteps approached from behind. Without needing to look, he knew it was his subordinate. Facing away, the iron faced man said slowly, “Did you not say that the Tanhua Lang was deeply in debt and planned to leave Youjiao Port to take on the Youya mission? Why is there still no sign of him leaving now? Is he waiting for others to return and complete the mission first, and then take on a task himself?”
The person behind him, with half their face concealed in a cloak, replied, “There was indeed a misjudgement, but he is nearly unable to hold on. The Bihai Shipping Company has delivered the goods to the designated location and is already pressing him to pay the interest on last year’s debt. He has little money on hand and can delay at most until the year is up. To plan for the coming year, he should be heading out to make money.”
The iron faced man asked, “Does he not still have around ten million on hand?”
The cloaked figure replied, “Those immortal peaches can still be sold in small batches. For many, it remains a considerable income, and he does not wish to give up yet. Arrangements have been made to ensure he runs out of money. We will definitely force him to leave Youjiao Port.”
…
Some time later, Yu Qing carried an immortal peach wrapped in resin from a shady area. Holding it like a piece of amber, he walked into the courtyard to inspect it under the midday sun. As he looked through its hazy translucence, he suddenly noticed something was wrong. He turned back, went inside to draw his sword, returned, and split the resin wrapped peach with a single strike.
Resting the sword on the ground with one hand, he squatted to look. The peach flesh inside had turned black, clearly spoiling from the skin inwards. Only a small part at the core remained intact, but it was no longer usable.
He planted the sword in the ground, went back inside, and brought out dozens of other immortal peaches sealed in resin and glue. He split them open one by one to inspect them.
None of them were in good condition. All had started to spoil to varying degrees.
Tie Miaoqing, who was passing by the courtyard gate, stopped her steps. Seeing the scene inside, she walked over gracefully. Noticing the spoiled peaches on the ground, she asked in surprise, “What are you doing?”
Yu Qing replied, “Those immortal peaches will gradually decay. This is our only source of income at present, so I want to extend their freshness as much as possible.”
Tie Miaoqing nodded in understanding. Looking at the rotten peaches on the ground, she asked, “Are none of them salvageable?”
Yu Qing said, puzzled, “I thought sealing them would help, but I did not expect them to spoil in less than ten days. They actually rotted faster than the unsealed ones. I do not know why, but it seems these immortal peaches are indeed different from ordinary items.”
Tie Miaoqing also frowned.
Yu Qing pulled his sword from the ground, hurried back to his room, opened the sealed mouth of a large vat, and began hacking vigorously at the frozen ice inside with his sword.
Tie Miaoqing, who had been peeking through the doorway, did not know what he was doing. After a moment of hesitation, she stepped inside to see for herself. Arriving at the vat, she happened to see Yu Qing dig out an ice sealed immortal peach.
He held the peach and examined it, then suddenly swung his sword, cracking the ice peach cleanly in two.
The two immediately stared at the cut surface. They even applied some “Blue Enchantress” to inspect it closely. They found the peach flesh remained fresh and icy, perfectly sealed. The spiritual energy inside was preserved exactly as before, with no damage at all.
Tie Miaoqing looked at the vat again and asked, “Are you using ice souls for preservation?”
Yu Qing nodded, “For now, it seems ice souls work better for preservation than those other materials. I only hope long term storage proves viable. I should have tried this sooner.”
He had only decided to try this new method after seeing the experimental results from the three earliest picked immortal peaches on the windowsill.
In the end, he had been thoroughly tricked by Long Xingyun. He had originally thought he could sell a large quantity.
Tie Miaoqing pondered, “Even if it works, with so many immortal peaches, how many ice souls would be needed to seal them all?”
“Let us wait and see the results from this vat first.”
Yu Qing sighed and resealed the vat.
After stepping outside, the two stood side by side under the eaves, watching the beam of light from the skylight pierce through the underground world, creating a surreal atmosphere.
“The Bihai Shipping Company is pressing for interest payments again.”
“There is no rush for that. It has not been a full year yet. We can delay it a bit. It is not as if we will refuse to pay them.”
After that, they fell silent. They simply stood quietly side by side, in silence and calm.
Yu Qing remembered what Ye Diandian had once said. He did not know if it was true or false, and several times he wanted to talk to this woman about it, but did not know how to bring it up.
He turned his head slightly to look at her profile and found it truly beautiful, exquisite and flawless. Even the slight flutter of her eyelashes held a unique charm, making her peerless. Standing this close, he could even smell her natural fragrance, which would surely stir the heart of any man.
He felt stirred as well, with an urge to embrace her, but he dared not, nor did he know how to proceed.
Moreover, he knew very well that a woman like her would never look at him for who he was. If she did have feelings, they would be for that Tanhua Lang. If he were to overstep his bounds, it would be deceit.
Looking at her black dress and the small white flower at her temple, he finally ventured to ask, “Do you really intend to observe mourning for Yan Xu for your entire life?”
Tie Miaoqing stirred slightly, lowering her head slightly. Without looking at him, she knew what he had noticed. Subconsciously, she raised her hand to touch the small white flower at her temple and replied softly, “To outsiders, whatever I do is wrong.”
Yu Qing did not understand what she meant by that, so he did not respond.
After a period of silence, seeing he had nothing more to say, Tie Miaoqing stepped down from the platform, walked into the beam of light, and gracefully departed…
A few months later, Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie both broke through to the Xuan realm in succession. Both were very excited, and also learned from Yu Qing about their current difficulties.
The difficulties were also within expectations.
Within the freshness period of the immortal peaches, this might be their last opportunity in this lifetime to rapidly improve their cultivation. So, ignoring everything else for now, they continued to seize every moment to use the peaches to advance their cultivation.
It felt as though they were making up for all the cultivation resources they had missed out on during their years at Linglong Temple in one go.
They also discovered that after breaking through to the Xuan realm, the speed of refining spiritual energy increased dramatically. Their capacity to hold it also noticeably expanded to a vast degree, truly marking a different realm. No matter how much they absorbed and refined daily, it still felt like a drop in the ocean.
Gao Yunjie, naturally, was also continuing to advance within the High Martial realm.
Even Chong’er had similarly stepped into the High Martial realm.
It would only be a matter of time before the two of them broke through to the Xuan realm.
With such a rapid pace of cultivation improvement, Yu Qing dared to guarantee that they would be remarkable in any sect.
Thinking of the near future, when every single person in Linglong Temple, including the outer disciples, would be Xuan level cultivators, who could deny that it was not his merit as the sect master?
Yu Qing felt a little excited just thinking about it, and very proud, feeling that all the risks he had taken for this were worth it…
Several more months later, the inevitable finally arrived. The interest owed to the Bihai Shipping Company could not be delayed indefinitely.
After receiving a reminder from the company, Yu Qing finally handed over ten million to them, providing some form of explanation.
After paying the sum, Yu Qing opened the large ice sealed vat again, dug out another ice peach, and split it open to inspect it. Finding that the preservation effect of the ice soul remained good, he then observed the size of the ice soul and noticed it had only shrunk by one ring. He then made a long planned decision.
“Mortgage Miaoqing Hall?”
Under the peach tree in the garden, hearing Yu Qing’s decision, Sun Ping exclaimed in surprise, while Tie Miaoqing looked stunned.
Yu Qing nodded, “To exchange it for some emergency funds first.”
Sun Ping said anxiously, “No, if Miaoqing Hall is gone, where will we settle down in the future?”
Yu Qing replied, “If we have nothing to sell, we will not survive the three yearly elimination in Youjiao Port. Mortgage it first for money, and I will figure out the rest later.”
He had no choice. Those immortal peaches had already started to wrinkle, and he needed a large quantity of ice souls to preserve them. Also, because the peaches now looked unappealing, they were becoming increasingly difficult to sell, with almost no buyers left.
Sun Ping wanted to say more, but Tie Miaoqing raised her hand to stop her. She nodded to Yu Qing and said, “Let us do as the proprietor says.”
Afterwards, the two women went out, found the relevant merchants, and mortgaged Miaoqing Hall. They only received twenty five million in return.
Moreover, they were only given a two and a half year term. If the money was not repaid by the deadline, the shop would be seized directly. The lenders had to take possession before Youjiao Port eliminated Miaoqing Hall.
Combining this with the money on hand, Yu Qing gathered around thirty million and purchased nearly a hundred ice souls in one go.
He then modified several rooms to build a few large water pools, intending to use the ice souls to seal all the immortal peaches…
“He mortgaged Miaoqing Hall? Is this what you meant by him being unable to hold on due to a lack of money?”
In a dimly lit room, the iron faced man paced back and forth, asking in a low voice. He walked to the window and observed Bai Lan and the others wandering outside through the crack.
The person in the cloak replied, embarrassed, “I truly did not expect the Tanhua Lang to actually do that.”
The iron faced man asked, “Why is this guy stubbornly holding out here?”
The cloaked figure replied, “He is probably still afraid that Long Xingyun will cause him trouble. Long Xingyun has been keeping a close eye on him.”
“What were you doing earlier, only reminding him now?”
The iron faced man slammed the window crack shut and turned around to scold angrily.
The person in the cloak lowered their head and remained silent…
Outside Miaoqing Hall, a passing group paused.
Long Xingyun, who was leading them, spat on the ground. “What Tanhua Lang? I say he is a coward. He actually made me guard this place for nearly a year. Damn it, if he has the guts, he can hide here for life and never come out.”
An old man beside him sighed, “Young master, do not dawdle. The pavilion master is truly displeased. There is a strict deadline to return. If we are late, we will likely suffer.”
Long Xingyun flicked his sleeves and walked away, with the group following.
Cui You, who was accompanying them, glanced back, and could only sigh.
There was nothing to be done. It was said that someone had warned Pavilion Master Chilan that the rumour Long Xingyun spread, which made doing business at Miaoqing Hall difficult, had already attracted the attention of Youya. Once solid evidence fell into Youya’s hands, that judge from Youya would not show any favour to the Great Sage. When that time came, no one would be able to protect Long Xingyun.