[Respected User, your reserve fund has arrived...]
In the end, Lu Yang chose to take the loan.
Surprisingly, although the great dao immortal talisman was essentially just a piece of waste paper, the difficulty of refining it was quite high, mainly due to the large number of anti-counterfeiting marks.
"If it were an ordinary person, from buying the refining method with a loan to learning the refining method, and finally getting started with refining, it would probably waste a lot of time. By the time they can finally refine their own immortal talismans, the interest on the one hundred million loan would probably compound to an amount difficult to pay off easily."
By then, the person would be trapped.
Fortunately, my comprehension is extraordinary, so I don't have to worry too much. Thinking of this, Lu Yang immediately transmitted the immortal talisman refining method to Patriarch Nether Whisper in the righteous dao banner.
"I'll have to trouble you, Patriarch," Lu Yang said with a cheeky smile.
"You... give it to me."
Patriarch Nether Whisper shook his head, showing no intention of refusing. In fact, even if Lu Yang hadn't given him the immortal talisman refining method, he would have proactively asked for it.
After all, everyone was now in the same boat.
In addition, Patriarch Nether Whisper also had his own plans: I'm still too weak... Although the [Wu You Heaven] is considered top-tier among the unorthodox paths—
But the Unorthodox path was ultimately the unorthodox path.
An unorthodox dao fruit that had weathered the years had a flimsy foundation. In terms of stature and background, how could it compare to an orthodox dao fruit that clung to the thigh of a dao lord?
The two were simply not in the same league.
I still have to find a way to get an Orthodox one.
Unfortunately, although Unorthodox dao fruits are easy to attain, to a certain extent, they also cut off one's dao path. Trying to return to the Orthodox path is even more difficult than during foundation establishment.
Originally, Patriarch Nether Whisper had already given up.
However, after coming to the [Celestial Court] great world and seeing the system named "great dao immortal talisman," where even dao fruits could be bought and sold, hope was rekindled in him.
If I can succeed... perhaps I can help Lu Yang again.
...
Mengwei City.
Lu Yang descended on a streak of light.
After handing over the immortal talisman refining method to Patriarch Nether Whisper for comprehension, he thought for a moment and came back again. Not for anything else, but to scout for information.
Master, Suo Huan, and Empress Xiao are still in a state of serious injury. I've only forcibly suppressed their injuries with the righteous dao banner. To recover, supreme treasures will likely be needed, and they must be effective on perfected lords... Thinking it over, the Unorthodox Alliance is the easiest place to start. I hope I can get some good stuff.
In the next second, a streak of light came to meet him.
Then the light split apart, and Banshan walked out from within. The look in his eyes as he regarded Lu Yang carried surprise: "Fellow Daoist... could it be you haven't claimed the reserve fund yet?"
In Banshan's view, Lu Yang shouldn't have had time to look for him.
After all, as long as you were within the [Celestial Court], you needed to spend money. And with the stature of a perfected lord, if you didn't refine immortal talismans yourself, you definitely couldn't survive just by working for others.
However, to refine immortal talismans, one had to take a loan. And to pay off the loan early and avoid excessive interest, the comprehension and use of the immortal talisman refining method allowed for no delay. The later you started refining immortal talismans, the larger your debt would grow, until finally, you turned into a debt-ridden worker completely.
Yet, this person actually dared to run around everywhere?
Thinking of this, Banshan was suddenly startled: They say newborn calves are not afraid of tigers. After all, he's a foreign; could it be he doesn't plan to repay the loan?
This wouldn't do!
Repaying loans was the obligatory duty of every Unorthodox immortal lord in the [Celestial Court], and also the guarantee of an Unorthodox immortal lord's survival. Saying you wouldn't pay meant you wouldn't pay—was there still any law?
Moreover... I lent him ten million.
Banshan frowned tightly, looking at Lu Yang and saying in a deep voice, "Fellow Daoist, the [Celestial Court] pursues debtors very vigorously. Don't do anything foolish."
Lu Yang's eyes flashed upon hearing this, but he deliberately put on a look of righteous indignation: "No matter what, one hundred million Unorthodox immortal talismans is too expensive. If I take the loan, won't I be controlled by them in the future? We cultivators seek the great dao and freedom; how can we live under others in depression for long?"
Banshan laughed at this.
"Fellow Daoist's words are quite interesting. Back then, several patriarchs of my Unorthodox Alliance said the same thing, and even wanted to take their sect disciples to the outer heavens."
"Oh? And the result?" Lu Yang asked curiously.
Banshan said indifferently, "The result was that because they were overdue on payments, they were beaten until their souls scattered by the tax officials who came down from the ninth layer, and their dao fruits were seized."
"Fortunately, my great-grandfather's generation had business acumen. He united with several other Unorthodox perfected lords to create the Unorthodox Alliance, integrating the Unorthodox immortal talismans of each family and issuing them uniformly. Only then was the market reorganized. After my grandfather succeeded him, he made great efforts to govern and finally redeemed the seized dao fruits."
"It is precisely because of the achievements of two generations of ancestors."
"In today's Unorthodox Alliance, fellow daoists recommended me to serve as the Alliance Leader and entrusted the most important position of [World Realm Observation Patrol Envoy] to me."
At this point, Banshan sighed again.
Forget it, forget it. Consider it my bad luck. I lent someone ten million after all. If it really goes down the drain, my liquid capital will also decrease.
"Fellow Daoist, follow me."
While speaking, the two had already arrived in the depths of Mengwei City. There, remarkably, was a vast cemetery shrouded in layers of formations.
Lu Yang looked over; the tombstones were countless.
From the outside to the inside, the closer to the center of the cemetery, the stronger the residual aura and stature were. Especially the dozens of tombstones at the very center, which surprised Lu Yang:
Unorthodox perfected lords... No, that's not right. They were once Unorthodox perfected lords, but before dying, their stature must have fallen. At most, some divine wonders remain.
"These... are all patriarchs of my Unorthodox Alliance."
Banshan raised his hand to gesture and said in a deep voice, "After every generation of patriarchs death, they leave behind their dao fruit for descendants to inherit, while their bodies are buried in this Dao Mausoleum."
"This was created by my great-grandfather back then, spending a huge sum to buy [Taiyin Soil] from a tax official, finally creating this treasure land for nurturing spirits. Burying the body in it, as long as it is nurtured for another thousand or eight hundred years, there is a thirty percent chance that the body will gain spirituality and thus live out a second life."
"Looking at these, Fellow Daoist should have some feelings."
Banshan advised earnestly, "Does Fellow Daoist wish to be unable to afford even such a cemetery to bury your body a thousand years later?"
If you don't wish for that, then hurry up and comprehend the immortal talisman refining method, refine your own immortal talismans, and then pay me back the ten million Unorthodox immortal talismans you owe me.
At the same time, Lu Yang also realized:
No wonder I always felt something was wrong... The lifespan of an unorthodox perfected lord is not infinite. Without golden nature, an unorthodox perfected lord will also age and die.
In other words, Banshan, or rather the seven unorthodox perfected lords of the current Unorthodox Alliance, had all inherited the dao fruits of their predecessors. They were long past being the first generation of people who attained the dao. No wonder their schemes and methods were a bit lacking. In Lu Yang's eyes, they didn't even seem much like cultivators, but rather more like—
More like mortals.
Yes, despite the monstrous momentum of this huge Unorthodox Alliance, in Lu Yang's view, it was actually more like a mortal organization cloaked in the guise of the immortal dao.
Did they need to fight? Did they need to battle with others?
None of that was needed.
What they needed to do was manipulate the price of unorthodox immortal talismans, become richer than others, make enemies go bankrupt, create yin-yang contracts, and avoid taxes reasonably and legally...
As for cultivation? That efficiency was too low.
Buying with immortal talismans was much more efficient.
Their battlefield was on another level, a field completely different from the cultivation battlefield in Lu Yang's cognition, entirely built upon the [Celestial Court] system.
In that field, perhaps each of them was an outstanding talent with shocking gifts. But in terms of comprehending the dao, fighting, and the scheming methods between cultivators, they showed astonishing ignorance. This was not because they were stupid, but because their long-standing way of thinking could not be changed.
In an instant, Lu Yang actually felt a slight chill:
These Unorthodox perfected lords have long been alienated by the great dao immortal talisman and the [Celestial Court] system built upon it... No different from domesticated dogs!