Chapter 123: A Fortune and Varying Motives

Advanced chapter, subscribe my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/c/caleredhair

The moment Master Chu finished speaking, a wave of gasps went through the crowd. Five second-grade spirit stones were equivalent to five hundred low-grade spirit stones! Even for a favored disciple like Luo Jinhua, that was three or four years’ worth of pure income. For Hu Ge to receive such a sum for just three months of work was a true windfall.

With an ecstatic expression, Hu Ge went up to receive his reward. Five second-grade spirit stones in three months—it was a fortune he couldn’t have earned in three years!

Master Chu continued, “Luo Jinhua of the Hundred Flowers Hall, for guiding Xu Yu from the Sprouting stage to the Eighth-Leaf of the Spirit Sprout Realm, is rewarded with four second-grade spirit stones!”

Luo Jinhua also accepted her reward with a joyful expression.

“Shi Junjie of the Jade Bamboo Hall, for guiding Li Jing from the Sprouting stage to the Fifth-Leaf of the Spirit Sprout Realm, is rewarded with two second-grade spirit stones and fifty low-grade spirit stones.” When he called Li Jing’s name, Master Chu’s mouth twitched almost imperceptibly. Li Jing, who had once been the most favored, was now the weakest of the three Purple Seeds.

After announcing the rewards for the other special seeds and a few promising full seeds, Master Chu was inwardly satisfied. This was undoubtedly the greatest harvest of new disciples in the history of the Taicht Sect, and as their Initiate Master, his name would be remembered.

“The rewards for the Spirit Sprout Realm disciples have been announced,” he said, his voice carrying across the meadow. “Now for the rewards for the Sprouting stage disciples.”

Just as the remaining disciples were waiting eagerly, a voice suddenly interrupted, “Elder Chu, please wait.”

All eyes turned to the speaker: Qin Haoxuan.

Elder Chu was visibly displeased. In the presence of the Ninth Elder from the Elder’s Council, such a breach of decorum reflected poorly on his own teaching.

“What is it?” he asked, his voice turning colder.

Everyone saw the elder’s displeasure and waited with schadenfreude to see Qin Haoxuan be put in his place.

Qin Haoxuan, however, seemed oblivious. “Elder Chu, I have also sprouted a leaf.” With that, he stopped suppressing his aura, letting it flow out freely.

“First-Leaf of the Spirit Sprout Realm?” Elder Chu was stunned. His impression of Qin Haoxuan was that of a weak seed with a firm but misguided Dao Heart. A breakthrough should have been a distant prospect for him. How was this possible?

Behind him, the Ninth Elder’s eyes lit up. He released a strand of his spiritual energy, locking it onto Qin Haoxuan.

An unstoppable pressure enveloped Qin Haoxuan, and the air around him stagnated. He felt as if his body was no longer his own, unable to move, unable to breathe. An instant later, a tendril of spiritual energy probed his body, confirmed he was at the First-Leaf, and then withdrew.

The process took only three breaths, but for Qin Haoxuan, it felt like three agonizing years.

The Ninth Elder spoke, as if to himself, “A weak seed, First-Leaf of the Spirit Sprout Realm… A weak seed sprouting a leaf in six months. Interesting, very interesting…”

Elder Chu then called out, “Ye Yiming of the Nature Hall, for guiding Qin Haoxuan from the Sprouting stage to the First-Leaf of the Spirit Sprout Realm, is rewarded with fifty low-grade spirit stones.”

Hearing this, the Ninth Elder’s face flashed with surprise again. This record-breaking weak seed was from the Nature Hall. He took another, longer look at both Qin Haoxuan and Ye Yiming.

The news that Qin Haoxuan had broken through shocked the other disciples. They were certain he had not yet reached the Spirit Sprout Realm when his senior brother died. They had thought the grief would set him back for a year, yet he had broken through on that very day! The gossip spread like wildfire, with some crediting his unbreakable Dao Heart, others attributing it to Xu Yu’s miraculous Qi-Circulating Powder. But no matter the reason, everyone agreed that he was now the pride of the weak seeds.

The other special seeds each had their own reaction.

Xu Yu beamed with a gentle pride, knowing the secret that the miraculous powder was his own creation. Murong Chao appeared calm, reassuring himself that a single, veinless leaf posed no threat. Li Jing offered a congratulatory smile, but inwardly he seethed with shame and jealousy. Zhang Kuang remained impassive, as if this was all perfectly normal. Zhang Yang, on the other hand, glared with killing intent, his mind already formulating a new plan: since he couldn’t kill Qin Haoxuan, he would capture him in the Aqueous Manor and ransom him for Xu Yu’s precious medicine.

After the reward was announced, Ye Yiming walked over to Qin Haoxuan and offered him the bag of fifty spirit stones. “This should have been Han Zhong’s,” he said. “He is gone, and I cannot take it.”

Qin Haoxuan did not accept it. He looked into Ye Yiming’s clear eyes and said, “Senior Brother Ye, in his letter, Senior Brother Pu said that every disciple of the Nature Hall is my family. Do you consider me and Senior Brother Pu to be your family?”

“Of course,” Ye Yiming replied without hesitation.

Qin Haoxuan smiled and gently pushed the bag of spirit stones back. “Then these are all yours. This is the sect’s reward for the Guiding Senior Brother. If you push them back to me, it means you do not see us as your own.”

Seeing his firm attitude, Ye Yiming relented and put the bag away.

At the same time, a similar scene was playing out between Luo Jinhua and Xu Yu. Luo Jinhua, in a shrewd move to preserve their relationship, offered her four hundred stones to Xu Yu, crediting the success to her talent. Xu Yu graciously refused, saying Luo Jinhua had earned it for her teaching.

The distribution among the others was far more varied. Zhang Kuang simply informed his terrified guide that they would “split” the five hundred stones after the trial. Li Jing’s guide shrewdly gifted his entire reward to Li Jing as a political investment. Zhang Yang put on a grand show of denouncing the others for taking their guides’ rewards, thereby earning his own guide’s loyalty without spending a coin. And Murong Chao, with noble grace, refused his guide’s offer to split the reward, earning his respect and a promise of future support.

After the special seeds had sorted out their fortunes, and the rewards for all the other disciples had been distributed, Elder Chu cleared his throat.

“Silence. Now, let us hear from the Ninth Elder.”