Free Web NovelChapter 605: Chapter 605: The Alienated Perfected Lords
[Dear User, your reserve funds have been deposited...]
In the end, Lü Yang still chose to take out the loan.
Surprisingly, although a Great Dao Immortal Talisman was essentially a worthless piece of paper, the difficulty of refining one was quite high, mainly due to the large number of anti-counterfeiting measures.
"If this were an ordinary person, they would waste a lot of time just going from taking out a loan for the Refining Method, to learning it, to finally getting the hang of the refining process. By the time they could actually refine their own Immortal Talisman, the one-hundred-million loan would have compounded interest to a sum that would be incredibly difficult to repay."
By then, they would be trapped.
’Thankfully, my Enlightenment is extraordinary, so I don’t have to worry too much.’ With this thought, Lü Yang immediately passed the Immortal Talisman Refining Technique to Progenitor Tingyou inside the Righteous Banner.
"I’ll have to trouble you, Progenitor," Lü Yang said with a sheepish grin.
"Oh, you... just give it to me."
Progenitor Tingyou shook his head, but he had no intention of refusing. In fact, if Lü Yang hadn’t given him the Immortal Talisman Refining Technique, he would have asked for it himself.
After all, they were all in the same boat now.
Besides, Progenitor Tingyou had his own plans. ’I’m still too weak... Although the Fruit of Sorrowless Heaven is considered top-tier among the Outer Dao...’
But the Outer Dao was, in the end, still the Outer Dao.
An Outer Dao Fruit Position, weathered by the ages, had a weak foundation. In terms of Position and pedigree, how could it possibly compare to an orthodox Fruit that had latched onto a Master of Dao?
The two weren’t even in the same league.
’I still need to find a way to become orthodox.’
’Unfortunately, while an Outer Dao Fruit Position is easy to attain, it also cuts off one’s Dao path to a certain extent. Trying to return to the orthodox path is even harder than it was during Foundation Establishment.’
Originally, Progenitor Tingyou had already given up hope.
However, after arriving in the Celestial Treasure Great World and seeing a system called the "Great Dao Immortal Talisman" where even Fruits could be bought and sold, his hope was rekindled.
’If I can succeed... perhaps I’ll be able to help Lü Yang again.’
........
「In Mengwei City」 Lü Yang descended on his Flying Light.
After handing over the Immortal Talisman Refining Technique to Progenitor Tingyou to study, he mulled it over for a moment and came back here. He had no other purpose than to gather some information.
’Master, Summon, and Empress Xiao are still heavily injured. I’ve only managed to suppress their injuries with the Righteous Banner. To recover, they’ll likely need Supreme Treasures—ones that work on Perfected Lords, no less... After thinking it over, the Outer Dao Alliance is the easiest place to start. I hope I can get my hands on something good.’
In the next second, a Flying Light shot over to greet him.
The Flying Light then parted, and Mountain Mover emerged. He looked at Lü Yang with astonishment. "Daoist... have you not claimed your reserve funds yet?"
From Mountain Mover’s perspective, Lü Yang shouldn’t have had time to look for him.
After all, as long as you were in the Celestial Mansion, you needed to spend money. And with the Position of a Perfected Lord, if you didn’t refine your own Immortal Talismans, you definitely couldn’t survive by working for others.
However, to refine Immortal Talismans, you had to take out a loan. And to pay back that loan as soon as possible and avoid excessive interest, studying and using the Immortal Talisman Refining Technique was a matter of utmost urgency. The later you started refining Immortal Talismans, the larger your debt would grow, until you were completely transformed into a heavily indebted laborer.
And yet, this person still dared to run around aimlessly?
At this thought, a jolt of alarm went through Mountain Mover. ’They say newborn calves don’t fear tigers. He’s an outsider, after all. Don’t tell me he has no intention of repaying the loan?’
That was unacceptable!
Repaying loans is the duty of every Outer Dao Immortal Monarch in the Celestial Mansion, and it’s the very guarantee of their survival. To simply decide not to repay—is there any law and order left?
Besides... I lent him ten million!
Mountain Mover’s brow furrowed. He looked at Lü Yang and said in a low voice, "Daoist, the Celestial Mansion is very aggressive in pursuing debtors. You mustn’t do anything foolish."
Lü Yang’s eyes flashed when he heard this, but he deliberately put on an indignant expression. "No matter how you look at it, one hundred million for an Outer Dao Immortal Talisman is too expensive! If I take out that loan, won’t I be under their thumb forever? We Cultivators seek the freedom of the Great Dao! How can we live our lives gloomily under the heel of others?"
Mountain Mover had to laugh when he heard that.
"Those words are quite interesting, Daoist. Back in the day, a few progenitors of my Outer Dao Alliance said the same thing. They even wanted to take their Sect disciples and leave for the regions Beyond the Heavens."
"Oh? And what was the result?" Lü Yang asked curiously.
Mountain Mover said calmly, "The result was that, because of their overdue debts, the Tax Officer Immortal Officials who came down from the Ninth Layer beat them until their souls scattered, and their Fruits were confiscated."
"Fortunately, my great-grandfather’s generation had a knack for business. He united with several other Outer Dao True Monarchs to create the Outer Dao Alliance, consolidated everyone’s Outer Dao Immortal Talismans, and issued them uniformly. That’s how they managed to reorganize the market. After my grandfather succeeded him, he governed with great effort and finally managed to buy back the confiscated Fruits."
"It is precisely because of the achievements of two generations of ancestors."
"That in the Outer Dao Alliance today, my fellow Daoists recommended me for the position of Alliance Leader and entrusted me with the most important role of Observing Realm Patrol Envoy."
Speaking of which, Mountain Mover sighed again.
’Oh, forget it. I guess it’s just my bad luck. In any case, I lent him ten million. If it really goes down the drain, my own liquid capital will decrease.’
"Daoist, please follow me."
As they spoke, the two arrived in the depths of Mengwei City. There, they found a vast, boundless mausoleum shrouded in layer upon layer of Arrays.
Lü Yang glanced over and saw innumerable tombstones.
From the outside in, the closer to the center of the mausoleum, the stronger the residual Qi trace and Position. The dozens of tombstones at the very center, in particular, surprised Lü Yang:
’Outer Dao True Monarchs... No, that’s not right. They were once Outer Dao True Monarchs, but their Position must have fallen before they died. At most, only a hint of their divinity remains.’
"These... are all progenitors of my Outer Dao Alliance."
Mountain Mover gestured with his hand and said in a solemn voice, "After every generation of progenitors sheds their mortal form, they leave their Fruit for their descendants to inherit. Their corpses are then buried in this Dao Mausoleum."
"This is the Spirit Nourishing Treasure Land that my great-grandfather spent a fortune to create, built from Taiyin Earth he bought from a Tax Collector. If a corpse is buried here and nourished for another thousand years or so, there’s a thirty percent chance it will give birth to a new spirit, allowing it to live a second life."
"Seeing all this, you must have some feelings about it, Daoist."
Mountain Mover spoke earnestly, his tone heavy with meaning, "Daoist, do you really want to be in a position where, a thousand years from now, you can’t even afford a mausoleum like this to bury your corpse?"
’If he doesn’t want that,’ he thought, ’then shouldn’t he hurry up, study the Immortal Talisman Refining Technique, refine his own Immortal Talismans, and then pay me back the ten million Outer Dao Immortal Talismans he owes me?’
At the same time, a realization dawned on Lü Yang:
’No wonder I felt like something was off... Outer Dao True Monarchs don’t have infinite lifespans. Without the Gold Attribute, Outer Dao True Monarchs will also grow old and die.’
In other words, Mountain Mover, and indeed all seven of the current Outer Dao True Monarchs in the Outer Dao Alliance, had all inherited the Fruits of their predecessors. They were long separated from the first generation who achieved Attainment. No wonder their scheming and methods were somewhat lacking. In Lü Yang’s eyes, they didn’t even seem much like Cultivators. They were more like—
’More like mortals.’
Yes, despite the Outer Dao Alliance’s immense power and influence, in Lü Yang’s view, it was actually more like a mortal organization masquerading in the robes of the Immortal Dao.
Did they need to fight? Did they need to engage in Combat with others?
They didn’t need to do any of that.
What they needed to do was manipulate the price of Outer Dao Immortal Talismans, be richer than their rivals, bankrupt their enemies, create dual contracts, and legally avoid taxes...
As for Cultivation? That was far too inefficient.
It was much more efficient to just buy what you needed with Immortal Talismans.
Their battlefield was on another level entirely, a domain completely different from the Cultivation battlefields Lü Yang knew, built entirely upon the Celestial Mansion’s system.
In that domain, each of them might have been a titan of their field, possessing world-shocking talent. But when it came to Enlightenment, Combat, and the schemes between Cultivators, they displayed a stunning ignorance. This wasn’t because they were stupid, but because their long-standing mindset was impossible to change.
In that instant, Lü Yang actually felt a slight chill:
’These Outer Dao True Monarchs have long been warped by the Great Dao Immortal Talisman and the Celestial Mansion system built upon it... They’re no different from domesticated dogs!’
