In the sect, loans were taken directly from the Bloody Path Sect’s patriarch. And he was very, very wealthy. Having lived for hundreds of years and forged his very own path to Nascent Soul, he was sure to have accrued a significant amount of wealth. And as the sole patriarch of the Bloody Path Sect his treasury was nothing to scoff at.

Now taking out loans wasn’t uncommon and was done by many members of the sect. But if that person didn’t manage to pay their loan off in time. That meant they would be beaten in public by an elder in the sect, have their cultivation crippled, all their belongings stolen, then they would be exiled back into the mortal world. Only a disciple with the support of a formidable backer could hope to escape such a fate. And only then, would they be let off from just the former two punishments.

When Xing Yi first heard of this, he was afraid of the worst and thus didn’t dare take out a loan. Of course, many opportunities would open up to him. But not being able to pay of the loan was not something he thought himself capable to do.

Several years later, he would’ve most likely taken out a loan. But now there was a chance that could change everything for him. If things worked out how they did in his head, this was something that even Martial Uncle Yang would froth at the mouth to have.

So once Xing Yi fully acknowledged all the risks of taking out this loan and having the deadline of one year from now being drilled into his head, the sceptic scholar who had been sceptically eyeing him the entire time throughout their discussion finally gave him the hundred spirit stones on a tray.

He stowed away all one-hundred spirit stones from the metal tray and into his leather bag. They were tiny little things, each the size of his thumb. These were low-grade spirit stones, but there was also mid-grade, and even high-grade spirit stones. Mid-grade was usually the size of a fist while high-grade were big, dense crystals the length of a person’s forearm.

The spirit stones he received all shined a varying five colours. Green for wood, blue for water, red for fire, yellow for earth, and grey for metal. There were other types of spirit stones, but they were far rarer and wouldn’t be seldom handed out to disciples like him.

Bowing respectfully to the freckled, bespeckled lady behind the desk, her black hair tied back into a ponytail, he made his exit. He readjusted the leather strap of his bag as he left and made sure not to make eye contact with the cultivators within the reception area. Sneaking across the hall, he walked underneath the doors that lead outside. They were colossal titans that were created out of long, brown wooden boards that gave off an ancient vibe.

But as he made his ways down the steps leading up to the Scholar’s Hall, he heard some loud laughter from up ahead. Casually strolling along the stone path was a group of three purple-robed cultivators. Leading at the front was a grey, short haired youth. He had a bounce in his step, a proud smile on his face, and held his head up high as he walked.

To his left was a bulky middle-aged man with multiple scars on his face, a mean look in his eyes, and both of his sleeves forcefully torn off. And to his right was a short, smiling teenager with long-black hair that reached his-mid back. He had crooked teeth and tied by his waist was a green rope.

Seeing this group, Xing Yi slightly averted his direction of travel so as to avoid bumping into them. But a few seconds later, they seemed to notice them. Particularly the person leading at the front. They seemed to be delighted to see him and after saying something to his friends, he summoned a flying sword and flew over at high speed.

“Wu Jia, hold up. Wait for me!” The crooked teeth teenager laughed as he ran over ran using qigong, bounding across the distance with single, light taps of his feet. The burly man only look slightly amused and took his time getting over by walking.

At this, Xing Yi’s heart dropped. This type of situation was something very familiar to him. Back in his village, groups of bullies acted the same way when they found someone easy to pick on. Back then, his brothers and even Hou Li would’ve came to his defence to fight them back and they would all have big group fights against each other. It seemed that things were the same even in the sects of immortal.

Wu Jia, the proud-looking cultivator abruptly stopped his flight right in front of Xing Yi’s face, causing a large gust of wind to blow away his hair and face. The cultivator jumped off his sword, snatching it from the air with his right hand and he placed both his hands on his hips with a smirk on his face.

“We have a celebrity here!” Wu Jia laughed in a mocking voice.

“It’s Mortal Xing Yi!” The crooked teeth teenager screamed in a girlish voice, acting as if he was some kind of fangirl.

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The burly, scarred man chipped in, “I have to say, he’s pretty damn smart. He cheated his way into the sect through such a dirty method. But at the same time, there is something wrong in the head if he think it is actually going to do something for him. If I had been in his position, I wouldn’t have hesitated to give it someone who actually deserved to be in the Bloody Path Sect. And definitely not some fucking trash without spiritual roots.” The scarred man gave a face of disdain as he talked, emphasising his cussing with a further distortion of his facial expression as he spoke the last sentence.

Making a bold move, Xing Yi turned around and walked away. But he didn’t even make even three steps away when he felt a big push from behind, sending him tumbling face first into the ground.

“Where you goin’ buddy?” Wu Jia asked in a mocking tone.

As Xing Yi made it back onto his knees, he was shoved by the shoulder to the ground again. Xing Yi sucked this up as he attempted to get back onto his feet again as he really didn’t want to get into a confrontation with this group. He thought that as long as he got away, everything would be alright. Despite this, he couldn’t help but blurt out, “What is your problem?”

Wu Jia snapped right back, “No, what is your problem? Why are still here? Just leave the sect already. No one has time for you. I haven’t even seen you even once before this and you have been in the sect for a whole year. What the fuck do you even do? Not much obviously, from the looks of it.”

“You’re wrong!” Xing Yi argued back. This guy’s accusations all hit him deeply and his anger spilled forth through these words. He was scared of a fight but he couldn’t just let these guys walk all over him.

The crooked teeth teenager pranced over with his green rope in hand, “Hey kid, where did you used to live?”

Xing Yi didn’t care to answer and stood in place.

“Why are you asking him that, Ge Yifeng?” Wu Jia squinted his eyes at the crooked-teeth teenager.

“Don’t worry about, just- “, Ge Yifeng turned to Xing Yi and asked in an interested voice, “I’m genuinely curious. Where did you used to live?”

Xing Yi was confused as to the purpose of the question, but seeing that he wanted to know and would temporarily slow down the escalation of the situation, he answered, “I used to live in a small farming village with my family. Why?”

Hearing this, Ge Yifeng chuckled and said, “So you know what happens when you’re being a naughty servant? That they get punished by their lord when they step out of line and remember their place and keep doing what they are supposed to.”

The teenager had a creepy smile as he proceeded to unfurl and brandish the green whip he had in hand, “They would use something like this to whip them. It’s a painful weapon that even I’m afraid of. You want to give it a try?”

Xing Yi sternly declined, “Is there something wrong with you? No!”

The middle-aged man then pointed out with a massive grin on his face, “Idiot, your restraining rope isn’t a whip.”

“Shut up!” Ge Yifeng turned around and screamed. The other cultivator only laughed in response and didn’t take their remark to heart.

Anger coursing through his body towards both Xing Yi and his friend, he stomped over to Xing Yi and instead of whipping him, he lifted his hand high up into the air to smack him across the face.

At that instant, Xing Yi had had enough. He circulated his inner qi at his maximum limit, causing veins to pop out and his whole body to creak out in a painful retaliation. He hadn’t learned how to fight yet but he was going to. But at this point of time, he didn’t. So, he did what he could and punched upwards, right towards the bottom of the unsuspecting cultivator’s chin.

Surprisingly, the Ge Yifeng didn’t expect this coming and it was too late for him to dodge when he noticed. He was sent to the ground and began whining like a little boy.

“Ow! You little bastard,” Ge Yifeng cursed as he gritted his teeth in pain.

The middle-aged man burst out laughing while Wu Jia gave a light chortle.

“This dumb bitch forgot to use his qigong to protect himself,” The middle-aged man held his belly in laughter, tears coming out of his eyes.

Right after, Xing Yi was sprinting towards the hall, hoping he would find solace there.

“Hey, he’s getting away! Run maggot, run!” The middle-aged man shouted, wanting to see Ge Yifeng chase the boy down. Wu Jia too, thought the same and was similiarly amused at what was occurring.

“Aah!” Ge Yifeng screamed in a rage as he flipped himself back up using his qigong. The silhouette of his feet glowed an ocean blue as he quickly closed the gap between them with a few jumps.

However, just as Gi Yifeng reached out towards Xing Yi with his hand, a loud voice boomed up from above, “Wu Jia, you are supposed to be training right now you unfilial disciple!”