Chapter 11: Cultivation Is Just Robbery – Struggling Souls in the Same Boat

Lian Mu went to the place Guan Shize mentioned and did find the Library Pavilion, but she couldn’t get in.

She tried every possible method, even attempting to climb over the wall, but the Library Pavilion was surrounded by a barrier. The moment she tried to climb, she was immediately thrown back.

“What is a sword cultivator doing here? Go back and practice your sword!” The senior disciple guarding the entrance scolded her for the umpteenth time.

Lian Mu: “…”

Couldn’t a sword cultivator have a love for reading?!

Having failed both by force and persuasion, Lian Mu had no choice but to head back.

On the way, feeling frustrated, she kicked a small rock with full force—only for it to hit someone right in the head.

“Ow!”

Lian Mu jumped in surprise and turned her head. She saw a disciple wearing a long-sleeved sect robe crouching on the ground, clutching his head with one hand while holding a handful of dirt in the other.

“…” She had used all her strength just now.

Lian Mu: Was this the start of an expensive accident? She had no money—how could she afford to compensate for medical expenses?

As she was pondering how to minimize the cost, the person she hit turned around and gasped.

“Ah!”

Lian Mu: “…”

Were all sect disciples this easily startled?

“Master, it’s you!”

Lian Mu: “You’ve got the wrong person. I’m not an elder from Qianling Peak; I’m a new disciple.”

“No, it’s really you! The master who taught me swordsmanship! Don’t you remember me? You saved my life!”

“I’m so busy—how could I possibly remem—”

“I’m Xu Xianxing!”

Lian Mu’s words came to an abrupt halt. She paused, then said, “Xu Xianxing?”

She finally remembered—the “silly rich kid” from five years ago.

Her gaze suddenly became warm and eager. “Yes, it’s me.”

Xu Xianxing looked her up and down, realizing she was indeed a new disciple, still carrying the latest version of the registration token.

So, she wasn’t the master, but the master’s daughter.

“Why did you only enter the sect this year? I thought you joined before me,” Xu Xianxing said, pulling out his registration token.

Lian Mu noticed that he didn’t look like a sword cultivator at all—he seemed more like a Artifact Refiner. “You became a Artifact Refiner?”

Xu Xianxing grinned. “Yeah, my dad said that fighting and killing harms one’s virtue. And as you know, after studying for a few more years, I realized I really wasn’t cut out for sword cultivation, so I switched to being a Artifact Refiner.”

The events from five years ago had also left a deep impact on him.

“What are you doing here?”

Lian Mu gradually relaxed. Since it was Xu Xianxing, she had nothing to worry about. With his brain, she could easily distract him with a few words and make him forget about asking for compensation.

Xu Xianxing held up his dirt-covered hand. “I’m looking for materials to forge spiritual artifacts. The soil here absorbs the essence of the sun and moon, so I wanted to take some back for testing.”

Lian Mu’s gaze fell on his Artifact Refiner registration token. “Your token is different from mine.”

The Artifact Refiner’s token had a blooming night-blooming cereus at the center, while sword cultivators had magnolia flowers.

The Library Pavilion guard had immediately dismissed her the moment he saw the emblem on her token.

“Xu Xianxing, we’re old acquaintances, aren’t we?” Lian Mu naturally slung an arm around his shoulder.

Xu Xianxing also felt nostalgic. “I never thought I’d run into you here. Finally, someone I know in this sect!”

Lian Mu: “Since we’re such good friends, can you lend me your registration token?”

Xu Xianxing was silent for a moment. “…No.”

“Aren’t we friends?”

Xu Xianxing said, “My registered jade token can’t be casually lent to others.”

“Why not?”

Xu Xianxing spoke mysteriously, “Because I have a Heaven-Spirit Root.”

“I know you have a Heaven-Spirit Root,” Lian Mu replied. “Is there some special restriction on the registered jade token? Like if you lend it out, you’ll be expelled from the sect or something?”

“No. You can just put up a borrowing notice on the lending board and pay spirit stones for it.” Xu Xianxing stuffed some soil into his Spatial Pouch, clapped his hands, and said, “I’m heading back now. See you next time.”

Lian Mu: “…”

So it could be borrowed after all.

Then what difference did it make from letting the entire sect use it?

As Xu Xianxing turned to leave, Lian Mu grabbed him. “Wait.”

Xu Xianxing: “What is it?”

Lian Mu held out her hand. “The life-saving fee from five years ago.”

Xu Xianxing was silent for a moment and said, “Aren’t we friends?”

“Even blood brothers settle accounts clearly, let alone friends,” Lian Mu said.

Xu Xianxing: “…”

He was no longer the naive child from five years ago who could be tricked so easily. “You hit me just now. I’m a delicate artifact cultivator, and I get injured easily.”

He pointed to his head. “Especially here. You need to compensate me too.”

Lian Mu: He had made some progress, but she suggested he hold off on growing too much.

After some negotiation, they reached an agreement: Xu Xianxing paid her six thousand spirit stones as a life-saving fee, and Lian Mu compensated him three thousand spirit stones.

In the end, Lian Mu came empty-handed and left with a net gain of three thousand spirit stones.

…

The lending board was just a wooden board, somewhat similar to the bulletin boards in Lian Mu’s world. Each mountain peak had one.

After observing others for a while, Lian Mu noticed that there weren’t many people borrowing registered jade tokens, and the prices were quite high—five hundred spirit stones for a single borrowing. She only had three thousand in total.

There was no way she was setting the price at five hundred spirit stones, so she decided to test the waters first. Casually, she wrote a notice, pricked her finger, and let a drop of blood fall into the small vial attached to the notice paper, serving as a contact method through the Fish-and-Goose Stone.

To her surprise, that very night, someone took her notice.

“Are you ‘Cultivation Is Just a Money Grab’? I’m an artifact cultivator.”

A soft and weak male voice came from the Fish-and-Goose Stone.

“Cultivation Is Just a Money Grab” was the name she had left on the notice.

Hearing his voice, Lian Mu couldn’t help but think: Artifact cultivators really do sound frail.

She had posted the same notice at both Qianling Peak and Yinxian Peak. When the notice at Qianling Peak was taken, the one at Yinxian Peak automatically disappeared.

However, she was a bit curious. “There are so many borrowing notices for jade tokens. Why did you choose mine?”

She had listed the borrowing price as just one spirit stone—an amount that couldn’t buy anything in Gui Xian Sect.

The male voice on the other end hesitated for a long time before stammering, “Because… you know, very few people lend artifact cultivators their registered jade tokens, so…”

“I… um… I’m quite poor and short on spirit stones,” the artifact cultivator said. “I’m from a small place and don’t have many spirit stones, but being an artifact cultivator requires a lot of spirit stones.”

Artifact cultivators—except for those with single or Heaven-Spirit Roots, who could channel spiritual energy directly into artifacts—needed spirit stones to infuse energy into their artifacts if they had dual or lower spirit roots.

Spirit stones were essentially currency for cultivators. Artifact cultivators without innate talent could only rely on money.

To borrow a jade token originally priced at over five hundred spirit stones for just one spirit stone…

Life was truly cruel.

Lian Mu sympathized deeply. “The day after tomorrow, I’ll come to pick up the jade token from you. I’ll give you ten spirit stones.”

She was strapped for cash and could only afford that much—scraping by like picking vegetable leaves from between her teeth.

“Thank you, you’re really a good person.” The other party was quite emotional. “When I saw your name on the notice, I felt like we were both fellow sufferers. I’m a three-spirit root artifact cultivator with poor talent. You’re the first kind person I’ve met since joining the sect.”

He was also a new disciple.

Lian Mu: “…”

Let’s not go there. At least he had three spirit roots, while she didn’t even have a spirit root.

Thinking about this made her already impoverished cultivation life feel even bleaker.

…

On the third day, Lian Mu finally got her long-awaited registered jade token for artifact cultivators. She skipped breakfast and rushed straight to the library.

“You…”

The senior brother guarding the library looked at the person he had chased away countless times before with a complicated expression.

“You sword cultivators just can’t stay out of the library, can you?”

Lian Mu took out the jade token she had borrowed and said, “I heard a few days ago that registered jade tokens can be lent out. If that’s the case, then doesn’t that mean everyone can enter? Why set a restriction at all?”

Seeing that she had indeed borrowed a token, the senior brother couldn’t stop her and stepped aside to let her through.

“This rule was set by the first sect leader. It’s always been this way. I don’t know why either.”

Lian Mu internally called it ridiculous and figured Gui Xian Sect just had too much time on its hands. She swaggered into the library.

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