Chương 89: 1.88 My immortal cultivation journey couldn't be without scamming as expected~

Ling Xin was having an absolute rollercoaster of a day. When she had seen Ning pushing himself past his physical limits in the previous trials, she was furious at his sheer recklessness, but secretly bursting with pride. And when he emerged as the very first to break free from the tower's illusion? She was on cloud nine.

Even though a few green-eyed elders muttered that while it was technically impressive, he hadn't broken the Sect Master's historic record or anything, Ling Xin knew they were just bitter that their own disciples looked like absolute chumps compared to hers. But right now, staring at the live projection of the third floor? She was absolutely incandescent with rage.

"That brat!" Ling Xin slammed her fist onto the table, her righteous fury vibrating through the elders' pavilion.

"How dare he put a bounty on my precious disciple! Tsk. Who cares if his grandfather is a Purple Mansion cultivator? How dare he bully my disciple! I'm going to brew a batch of Baldness-Inducing Bone-Corroding Slurry and feed it to him myself! No, better yet, I'll mix Five-Color Scalp-Rotting Powder with Qi-Stagnating Itch-Sap and ensure he loses every hair on his body, even his eyebrows! Let's see him act like a flashy young master when he looks like a shiny, blistered turnip!"

"Um... calm down, Ling Xin. You're terrifying everyone," Lang Feilang spoke, a massive sweatdrop rolling down her temple as she listened to Ling Xin casually list devastating, highly unethical alchemical war crimes.

"Calm down?! Don't you guys see what that brat is doing?" Ling Xin shouted, pointing aggressively at the scrying mirror.

"Not only did he smuggle an entire squad of lackeys into the tower to herd points for him, but he's actively paying people to jump my disciple!"

"For once, I completely agree. I've always despised spoiled, arrogant brats like that," He Shou boomed, standing up and crossing his massive arms.

"See? You get me, beard man!" Ling Xin flashed him an enthusiastic thumbs-up.

"Come by my pavilion later; I'll give you one of my pills as a reward." He Shou's boisterous grin instantly froze, and a cold sweat broke out across his forehead. He stiffened. Which elder didn't know about Ling Xin's 'special' pills? The last guy who took one spent a week coughing up purple bubbles and speaking in a high-pitched squeak.

"While technically it doesn't violate the explicit wording of the tower's rules, Lei Dong is definitely crossing a line here," Hong Ziling nodded, his expression darkening as he watched the screen.

"Exactly! Look how traumatized my poor, innocent disciple is!" Ling Xin wailed, gesturing dramatically to the projection. Every single elder in the pavilion collectively sweatdropped. Traumatized? They had all just watched through the scrying mirror as this "poor, innocent" young man absolutely dismantled two higher-stage cultivators using psychological warfare. Moreover, the terrifyingly calm, sadistic manner in which he had just interrogated that Liu kid was deeply unsettling.

"Ling Xin, was that sock really unearthed from a spirit ore?" Lang Feilang couldn't help but ask, seeing how Ning used a sock to interrogate a seventh-stage qi cultivator and succeeded.

"Yes, he showed it to me once," Ling Xin nodded, a reminiscent smile playing on her lips.

"He originally wanted to unravel the whole thing to harvest the spiritual silk threads, but I advised him against it. I told him there might be a far better tactical use for the 'Sock of Doom,' as he likes to put it. And, as always, I was completely right." Ling Xin puff out her chest slightly, speaking with immense pride. The surrounding elders collectively glanced at the proud woman, entirely speechless. A heavy, judgmental silence hung over the group. So she was the one enabling him the entire time.

Now, it was far too late. Ning had truly been molded in Ling Xin's exact image, especially considering how much the boy clearly enjoyed torturing his opponents by threatening to feed them diabolical stuff.

"It's always the ones with the prettiest faces who are the most completely unhinged," Lang Feilang muttered under her breath, shaking her head at the massive discrepancy between Ning's harmless, handsome appearance and his utterly devious methods. He really was just like Ling Xin. Ling Xin's eyes instantly narrowed into dangerous slits, her proud expression vanishing.

"I feel like you're thinking something incredibly disrespectful right now..."

"U-Um, you're just imagining things!" Lang Feilang squeaked, knowing full well her best friend's intuition was dangerously sharp sometimes. She quickly pivoted to save herself.

"So, anyway, what are we actually going to do about Lei Dong?"

"Well... it technically is a valid strategy, even if it's a bit underhanded," a younger elder cut in hesitantly. Having only achieved the Foundation Establishment stage ten years ago, he was a fresh addition to the council and had zero desire to antagonize a powerful Grand Elder over a rookie trial. Ling Xin shot the young man a glare that could have melted spiritual iron.

"Oh, please. It's not like we don't have connections of our own. If that old fossil tries to shield his grandson, my master will gladly seek justice." The room fell quiet. It was an undeniable fact that the only reason Ling Xin could get away with half her unhinged shenanigans and still live a leisurely life was due to two things: her own terrifying alchemical genius and her massive backing. Her master, Grandmaster Yu Xuan, was the only upper-tier, third-stage alchemist in the entire sect.

And as far as the rumor mill was concerned, Yu Xuan absolutely doted on her chaotic youngest disciple. If Ling Xin complained, the old grandmaster would happily cut off the medicine supply to entire factions.

"Ahem." Hong Ziling stepped in, realizing he needed to take control of the conversation before it spiraled into a sect-wide political war.

"Forming loose alliances upon encountering acquaintances has always been a common occurrence in this trial. However, Lei Dong has admittedly taken his coordinates a bit too far."

"It's because Elder Lei Fu never disciplined that brat properly," He Shou rumbled carelessly.

"You talk too much! Shut your mouth!" Lou Ren hurriedly hissed, elbowing He Shou hard in the ribs. While the two of them bickered constantly as frenemies, Lou Ren didn't want He Shou's reckless mouth accidentally offending a Grand Elder. Grand Elder Lei Fu was a heavyweight in the sect, one of the oldest Purple Mansion cultivators alive.

Rumor had it that ever since his biological brother was captured during the Pure Qi Sect's historic crisis back when they lacked a Golden Core guardian, Lei Fu had become completely taciturn, withdrawing from sect affairs and indulging his grandson entirely.

"Alright, let's stop focusing on the politics for now," Hong Ziling commanded, raising his hand to silence the room.

"Let's continue to watch the trial unfold. We will handle Lei Dong appropriately once he steps out of the tower. For now, let's see how the trial progresses." Ling Xin grumbled, but still accepted. Well, surely no one would point to her when Lei Dong's hair mysteriously vanished, right?... [Ji Ning: 48 Points] [Rank: 13th] After dropping that highly eloquent, deeply heartfelt "Dafuq?" onto the frozen and thoroughly traumatized Liu, Ning casually finalized the man's elimination and melted back into the shadows.

Sure, it was an absolute pain to discover that some trust-fund asshole had put a literal hit out on his head, but honestly? It was to be expected. This was a brutal Xianxia world, after all. If you didn't have at least three arrogant young masters trying to turn your spine into a decorative flute by your second year of cultivation, you were probably doing something wrong. Actually, now that he thought about it, the math tracked perfectly. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road.

Support the author by reading it there. It was mathematically impossible for a guy like Lei Dong not to be a jealous, thin-skinned brat. Ning even had a grand unified theory as to why this exact psychological profile was so rampant among the sect elite. In this world, anyone born with a shred of status or high-grade spiritual roots had an entire entourage of sycophants bending backward to coddle them from infancy.

Grow up in a vacuum where your word is absolute law, and naturally, your brain turns into an arrogant mush that genuinely believes the universe revolves around your ego. Simply put, these people had never experienced the corrective, ego-shattering discipline of a traditional Asian household slipper.

"I wonder if once Xiao Fan inevitably scales the heavens and becomes the supreme god of this realm, he'll pass a cosmic law outlawing young masters," Ning chuckled under his breath, leaping onto a sturdy cedar branch. In reality, he wasn't particularly losing sleep over the bounty. Aside from Lei Dong's immediate core circle, the vast majority of the disciples currently scouring the outer zones were at the seventh stage or the early eighth stage of Qi Condensation.

While Ning was realistic enough to know he'd likely get crushed in a raw, head-on brawl against a veteran eighth-stage fighter, a standard seventh-stage disciple didn't scare him at all. It all came down to the absolute absurdity of his foundation. Under normal circumstances, a seventh-stage cultivator dominated a sixth-stage rookie through three distinct evolutionary advantages: spiritual sense, qi volume, and qi quality. But fortunately, these were the domains Ning excelled at.

Where others relied on spiritual sense, he bridged the gap with his own hyper-developed spatial awareness and the supernatural clarity of his Pure Eyes. While a seventh-stage opponent possessed a larger pool of spiritual qi, Ning's absurdly precise, micro-managed control allowed him to stretch a single unit of energy further than an ordinary cultivator, ensuring he would never run out of gas in a war of attrition.

And though his raw qi quality should have been outclassed, his complete mastery of the Pure Qi Sutra compressed his energy into an explosive, unblemished purity that was comparable to those who had not mastered any qi purifying technique. All of this was the hidden strength Ning had accumulated slowly and surely. And now, the bill was due.

"In a way, a bounty is actually a two-way street," Ning murmured, a faint, razor-sharp smile cutting across his lips as he began smashing the beast sap, producing more traps.

"There's a very thin line between being the prey and being the predator. If they want to sprint directly into my meat grinder, who am I to deny them the experience?"... Xiao Fan launched a heaven-shattering punch, instantly taking out the cultivator before him. Right beside him, Qiu Han did the exact same thing, his fist moving in a flawless blur to incapacitate his own opponent. With the threat neutralized, Xiao Fan and Qiu Han turned their attention to the young woman they had just saved.

"Thank you for helping me," the beautiful girl said sincerely, her eyes locking onto Xiao Fan. He had materialized at the exact moment one of the thugs was trying to eliminate her from the trial.

"It's nothing. I saw the way their greed shifted toward me the second I walked up, so I was really just doing myself a favor," Xiao Fan said, pursing his lips.

"Goodbye." Qiu Han gave a terse nod.

"Yes. Moving on."

"B-but...?" the girl stammered pitifully, stepping forward to stop them. Her eyes were wide, clearly drawn to Xiao Fan after his timely, heroic intervention. Xiao Fan, however, was already looking for an exit strategy. For him, saving a damsel in distress was nothing new. By now, he had far too much experience with this exact type of scenario.

Briefly reflecting on his life, he finally realized why a guy like Ning always managed to live such a peaceful life, even when facing the exact same situations, like during the ranking challenges. Ning was an absolute expert at ignoring this kind of drama to focus entirely on his own cultivation. Just as Xiao Fan turned to slip away from the girl, the nearby bushes shook violently. A man suddenly burst through the thicket, stumbling blindly.

"An enemy?" Qiu Han snapped, immediately dropping into a low stance as his qi flared defensively. Xiao Fan braced himself as well, but they quickly realized the newcomer wasn't tracking them. The man was completely terrified, throwing frantic glances over his shoulder and muttering under his breath, "An ambush... unseen... there's nowhere to run..." Then it happened. Even with Xiao Fan's advanced, hyper-sharp senses, he couldn't detect how or from where the arrow appeared.

It flashed through the air with terrifying swiftness, striking the man dead-on and instantly triggering the tower's fatal-shot emergency teleportation. The man vanished in a flash of light.

"Something is out there," Qiu Han muttered, clenching his fists. His knuckles turned white. Anything capable of frightening a seventh-stage cultivator that badly had to be incredibly dangerous. The girl they had saved suddenly lunged forward, clinging tightly to Xiao Fan's arm. Even though it was eternally day inside the Heavenly Origin Tower, a sudden, unnatural chill swept through the clearing.

Xiao Fan felt the temperature plummet as well as an icy, thick white mist began to roll out from the dense treeline, swallowing the grass. Then came the footsteps echoing softly through the dense fog. Xiao Fan and Qiu Han raised their guards, ready to launch a preemptive strike the moment a hostile silhouette parted the vapor. Slowly, the vague outline of a figure materialized.

"Yo!" Ning stepped out of the mist, standing there in all his glory with a cheeky grin plastered across his face. Seeing that stupid face, Xiao Fan let out a long, heavy sigh, lowering his fists.

"Heavens, did you really have to go through all that drama? It's just Ning." Qiu Han snorted loudly, adjusting his robes.

"If you had appeared a single second later, I would have punched you directly in the face."

"And that is exactly why I timed my appearance for the perfect moment," Ning replied smoothly, winking.

"Tsk. I should have known," Xiao Fan snorted, shaking his head at the shameless answer.

"Out of everyone in our batch, your archery is the only one with that kind of precision and unpredictability."

"So, um... he is your friend?" a squeaky voice asked from behind them.

"Friend? Calling him a friend might be pushing it a bit too much," Xiao Fan scoffed. Ning clutched his chest dramatically, acting wounded.

"Ah! You are piercing my very heart with those words, Brother Xiao."

"Enough with the theatrics," Qiu Han interrupted, crossing his arms.

"Are you here to fight us, or what?"

"Not really. I just happened to spot you two and wondered whether you even know about the bounty hanging over your heads right now," Ning said. He then tilted his head, looking past them.

"Also, how did you three even end up teaming up?" He offered a polite nod to the female disciple standing behind Xiao Fan. Xiao Fan shrugged.

"I don't know much about her. I just stepped in to help when she was ambushed. As for Qiu Han, he's been sticking to me like glue, claiming he doesn't want me getting eliminated before he gets a chance to fight me himself."

"I... I just want to ensure the person who defeated me doesn't lose to some random weakling first," Qiu Han muttered defensively.

"U-um..." the female disciple cut in before they could bicker further.

"What did you mean by a bounty?"

"Yes, the bounty," Xiao Fan said, his expression turning serious as he and Qiu Han looked back at Ning.

"It's exactly what it sounds like," Ning explained, his playful demeanor vanishing.

"Lei Dong has placed a five-thousand-spirit-stone bounty on our heads. Haven't you guys been relentlessly targeted by groups of hunters yet?"

"How awful..." the female disciple muttered, horrified.

"We were attacked," Qiu Han said, the pieces finally clicking together.

"But we assumed they were just after our token points. A faction bounty makes much more sense given their desperation."

"Why would Lei Dong go to such lengths?" Xiao Fan asked, his brow furrowing.

"Besides the obvious fact that he holds a massive grudge against you from the entrance trial, it's a numbers game based on our placements," Ning answered.

"You and I currently hold the highest rankings. From what I've gathered, the final-round rewards are heavily dependent on our standings. If he can orchestrate our elimination in this stage, we walk away with nothing, and his own relative ranking skyrockets. Of course, that's just my main theory." The trio listened intently, nodding along. Xiao Fan, having dealt with the petty machinations of arrogant young masters before, found the explanation entirely believable.

"So," Ning asked, a sharp glint returning to his eyes as he looked at them, "what do you want to do about it?" Xiao Fan's lips slowly curved into a cold, confident smile.

"Well, if the notice says the bounty can be collected by anyone who brings us in... why don't we just collect it ourselves?"

"Duh. I had the same thought. But don't you think it would be too obvious?" Ning rolled his eyes. Xiao Fan frowned.

"How?"

"First, we need someone who can convincingly play the role of the hunter. While you're only at the sixth stage, we need someone at least at the seventh stage to play the role so they can convincingly defeat you. Second, they need to be someone unrelated to us, since Lei Dong likely knows our friends. Third, you need to play the role of the defeated convincingly. Fourth, it needs to happen in front of a crowd so word spreads naturally. Fifth, we need an escape plan." Qiu Han nodded slowly.

"That is true. Lei Dong may be shameless enough to place such a bounty, but he is not careless." Xiao Fan's smile faded slightly. For a moment, everyone fell silent. Then the female disciple who had been standing awkwardly behind Xiao Fan raised her hand.

"Um... I may have a way." Ning turned toward the girl. He didn't know much about her besides the fact that Xiao Fan had heroically saved her and that she had been making googly eyes at the guy because, of course, she was.

"You are still here?" Qiu Han asked.

"U-um, you guys have been ignoring me for a while..." the girl said weakly. The clearing fell silent again.

"..."

"..."

"Sorry about that," Xiao Fan coughed into his fist. Ning nodded solemnly.

"In our defense, there was a bounty and a potential fraud scheme involved."

"That doesn't sound like much of a defense," the girl muttered.

"That's fair." Ning nodded. After a brief pause, Xiao Fan gestured for her to continue.

"You said you had a way?"

"O-oh. Right." She seemed to regain her composure and quickly reached into her pouch. A pale mask emerged from within. It was thin enough to seem almost weightless, its surface covered in faint shifting lines that flowed like water beneath translucent skin.

"As my allotted magical weapon for this trial, I chose the Ten-Faced Mask," she explained.

"It can temporarily disguise the wearer's face, body shape, and aura." The girl's gaze moved between Ning and Xiao Fan.

"Would this help?" Ning stared at the mask. Then he looked at the girl. It was almost too perfect. Xiao Fan saves a girl, and she just happens to be carrying the ultimate get-rich-quick scam tool.

"Fate," Ning murmured, a wide, predatory grin returning to his face.

"She really does love a good hustle."... Thanks for reading~ A/N: Xiao Fan's Master: "A disciple is just a financial investment you haven't milked yet." Ling Xin: "So, would you like your fate to be 'completely incinerated' or 'traumatized beyond recovery'?"