Chapter 38

Chapter 38: Hidden Details

That very day, Hu Wan Zhi returned with Zhao Chun to the Inner Sect.

Xu Kuang Rui was not difficult to deal with in and of himself. The problem was his reliance on Xu Feng.

Zhao Chun tried to visit, sending in a card—only to learn Xu Feng had gone to a Small World and would not be back for some time.

So Hu Wan Zhi stayed with Zhao Chun for several more days while they waited for a chance to settle things cleanly.

Over careful conversation, Zhao Chun learned what had truly been happening.

Hu Wan Zhi’s assigned work was in the sect’s Spirit Plant Garden. It was not like the Reed River herb garden, where medicinal plants were grown with painstaking care.

The Spirit Plant Garden produced spiritual rice and spiritual fruits and vegetables for disciples’ daily use. The acreage was vast, and day-to-day tending was rough—mostly watering on schedule and keeping the fields from going wild.

Hu Wan Zhi was responsible for a variety of fine spiritual rice. It ripened every seven days. A yield of six hundred jin per mu was considered normal.

That was why Xu Kuang Rui chose her. Spiritual rice was not as precious as spiritual herbs. Even if someone investigated, the punishment would not be severe.

He did not cut off her livelihood outright. He simply bribed others to add yield-reducing substances to the fields. As for poisoning—he didn’t dare.

Even so, it made Hu Wan Zhi miserable. Harvest after harvest came up short. She could never reach six hundred jin, and sometimes she didn’t even reach four hundred. Each time, the steward scolded her, and she had no way to explain.

In the end, Cui Lan E asked someone to look into it and discovered the sabotage. From there, it was easy to trace back to Xu Kuang Rui—proof that his methods were hardly sophisticated.

The funny part was that Zhao Chun knew the person Cui Lan E had hired: Cao Wen Guan, the steward responsible for guiding arrivals from Flying Gourd Small World.

The two had known each other for years and were quite familiar.

Once Zhao Chun understood the full story, she asked Hu Wan Zhi whether any evidence remained.

Hu Wan Zhi gave a soft laugh. Xu Kuang Rui had been careless. Not only had the yield-reducing substances been found, even the bribed menials had been caught cleanly, red-handed.

“Good,” Zhao Chun said. “Then it’ll be simple. Lay the evidence before Xu Feng. If he wants to shield his son, he can argue it with the law-enforcement disciples himself.”

She made Hu Wan Zhi keep everything secure. They would need it.

Time moved on. Xu Feng still had not returned, but the Ren Yang Sect matter finally reached a conclusion.

Ling Zhen Sect treated it as a matter of utmost importance. It immediately began purging the affiliated cultivation clans in Secluded Valley, and to no one’s surprise, it truly did catch two. After that, the sect issued an order forbidding any of the old clans from relocating there, hoping to cut off future trouble at the root.

When Zhao Chun heard, she couldn’t help thinking the great sect was cold. But Ling Zhen Sect had declined greatly because of Ren Yang Sect. Their wariness was understandable.

In this affair, the Tu Family had both merit and fault, but in the end their merit outweighed it. They had helped kill the villain and handed over the token. Though the sect refused to send an escort to bring them to Secluded Valley, it did send wealth and treasures, waived the Tu Family’s tribute obligations for thirty years, and offered support for rebuilding.

With Zhao Chun’s name attached, and Ling Zhen Sect’s assistance, the Tu Family could likely endure for a generation. After that, it would depend on the talent of their descendants.

Zhao Chun herself received credit for reporting the matter and for battling the enemy, helping bring about the kill. She also appeared before the Sect Master once more.

The sect was generous in reward. Bottles of pills arrived in heaps. She received 10 spirit jades. Most precious of all, she was granted the right to choose one top-grade Mortal-rank technique—proof of how great her merit had been.

Delighted, she went to Myriad Vault Pavilion the very next day.

Before, she had always entered through the east wing. This time, she was directed to the west wing.

It was still a three-story, courtyard-style building, open at the center and straight in its layout. But the furnishings were more luxurious, and the patrolling guards were all cultivators of deep strength.

Zhao Chun headed straight for the top-grade Mortal-rank manuals. In the world of Heng Yun, she had learned enough to understand: the Qi Refining Stage relied on Mortal-rank methods, while only at the Foundation Establishment Stage could one begin to glimpse Yellow-rank arts.

Once pills, weapons, or techniques reached Yellow rank, they shed mortal limitations entirely. Standards grew far stricter. Even a Yellow-rank upper-grade or supreme-grade method could draw the covetous gaze of Essence Condensation Stage and Profound Division Stage cultivators.

By comparison, Mortal rank’s four grades were a rough division; the differences were not heaven and earth.

Even so, for Zhao Chun, obtaining a top-grade Mortal-rank technique while still in the Qi Refining Stage was already exceptionally rare. As far as she knew, many late-stage Qi Refining cultivators never touched such an art in their lives.