Chapter Twenty-Nine: I Will Surely Return It

"You borrowed a hundred spirit stones and now you have to pay back five hundred?"
"This man is truly ruthless!"
"Could it be he borrowed them for several centuries... But even so, how could the interest be so steep?"
...
Everyone who heard Li Fusheng's words felt he was being skinflint—borrowing a hundred spirit stones and demanding five hundred in return with interest! That was five times the original sum!
Even the disciples of Cloud Palace Peak, Gong Yu, and Guan Danian thought Li Fusheng was being outright extortionate.
"Wait a moment!"
Just as Li Fusheng’s blade was about to fall, Wang Changsheng shouted desperately. To his surprise, it actually worked—the blade stopped.
"Do you have anything else to say?" Li Fusheng asked in a deep voice.
"Fellow Daoist Li, this... this is just too much!" Wang Changsheng said helplessly. "I only borrowed a hundred spirit stones from you, not even for a year, and now you demand five hundred! Where am I supposed to find so many stones to repay you?"
Wang Changsheng had figured it out—though Li Fusheng claimed he wouldn’t hold a grudge about being tricked before, he was now trying to recover his loss from Wang Changsheng, and even make an extra hundred stones off of him!
"When I lent them to you, didn’t I say there’d be interest?" Li Fusheng asked, voice low.
Wang Changsheng nodded. "But I never imagined your interest rate would be so terrifying!"
"I lent the spirit stones, so I set the rate. It’s your fault for not clarifying at the time!" Li Fusheng said gravely. "In any case, today you must pay me back. Otherwise, I’ll show you that I, Li the Great Benefactor, am not just skilled in virtue, but in killing as well!"
"I truly don’t have the spirit stones," Wang Changsheng said helplessly. "But as soon as I get some, I swear you’ll be the first one I pay back—five hundred stones, I accept!"
Under someone else’s roof, one must bow their head. If Wang Changsheng were stronger than Li Fusheng, he wouldn’t agree even to five stones, let alone five hundred.
Besides, Wang Changsheng suspected Li Fusheng didn’t care about the earlier slight or the spirit stones. He simply wanted to kill him—just for the sake of killing.
As for the reason, Wang Changsheng could easily guess.
"Enough, that’s enough,"
Just as Li Fusheng was about to strike again, Cailing stepped forward, her gaze cold as she looked at him. "Brother Li, let this matter end here!"
"End here?" Li Fusheng tightened his grip on the blade. "Who’s going to compensate me for my loss? Is Cloud Palace Peak going to pay for him?"
"Fine. Since Fellow Daoist Wang is my guest, I’ll cover it for him."
With a sweep of her sleeve, Cailing produced a pile of spirit stones and flung them at Li Fusheng.
Li Fusheng was stunned for a moment, then his expression turned to joy. With a grand gesture, he swept all the stones into his possession.

"Thank you, Sister Cailing!" Li Fusheng’s face instantly bloomed with smiles.
Wang Changsheng was equally stunned, then clasped his fists to Cailing. "Thank you, Senior. When I have the spirit stones, I’ll repay every bit!"
He truly hadn’t expected that Cloud Palace Peak would step in and repay his debt for him.
"Repay? With what?" At this moment, Gong Yu spoke. "You two are from different worlds. You’ll never see Cailing again, so you don’t have to repay her."
"And besides, it’s only five hundred spirit stones. Only people like you make a fuss about such things. Well, and Li Fusheng too, apparently."
Wang Changsheng was speechless after hearing Gong Yu’s words.
Indeed, for someone of Cailing’s cultivation and background, what did five hundred spirit stones matter? Even for Li Fusheng, if it weren’t for his nature, he probably would scoff at that sum.
Gong Yu’s words were true, not meant for Wang Changsheng in particular—perhaps she was using the opportunity to mock Li Fusheng as well.
Still, to Wang Changsheng—and perhaps most cultivators present—the words stung.
It was pure disdain!
"Rest assured, Senior," Wang Changsheng said to Cailing. "I will repay you in full."
Cailing nodded. "You’re my guest; I won’t let you die here. Don’t think too much—focus on your cultivation."
With that, Cailing turned and leapt onto the Cloud Ark.
At first, when she’d heard the name Wang Changsheng, it sounded familiar. When he stood up, she finally remembered—wasn’t he the cultivator who’d climbed over the wall? The memory still amused her. As for paying back the five hundred stones, it was merely a gesture—just as Gong Yu had said, such a sum meant nothing to them.
Li Fusheng sheathed his blade and walked over to Wang Changsheng, patting him on the shoulder. "Hey, Fellow Daoist Wang, what’s wrong? Never mind, after today, we’re even. You don’t owe me any spirit stones."
Wang Changsheng looked at Li Fusheng, helpless.
He changed his attitude faster than flipping a page—ready to kill moments before, and now acting like an old friend. Wang Changsheng was speechless.
"Alright, quiet down!"
A Cloud Palace Peak cultivator stepped forward and spoke loudly. "Those who chose spirit stones earlier, you may now come to me to make your selection. Those who chose techniques will need to wait a bit longer."
With a wave of his sleeve, a pile of spirit stones—at least tens of thousands—appeared on the platform.
As the glittering stones appeared, all the cultivators present held their breath.
"My god, that’s so many spirit stones... Enough for me to squander for who knows how many years!"
"But we each can only take ten. It’s agonizing!"
"I almost regret not choosing spirit stones instead of techniques!"
...
Faced with the mountain of stones, many could barely breathe. To cultivators at the Foundation Heaven stage, seeing so many spirit stones at once was overwhelming. If it weren't for Cloud Palace Peak’s authority, there would have been a brawl for them.
In the end, roughly four thousand people chose spirit stones. Once they’d made their selection, Cloud Palace Peak’s disciples guided them down the mountain.

The remaining spirit stones were quickly swept up by a Cloud Palace Peak disciple.
"Let’s negotiate, let’s talk!" Li Fusheng couldn’t help it any longer. Swallowing, he rushed to the Cloud Palace Peak cultivators. "How about you give me the leftover spirit stones? I’ll forego the techniques—it’s obvious your techniques are worth more than these stones!"
"No," the Cloud Palace Peak cultivator refused without hesitation.
There were nearly twenty thousand stones left—how could they just hand them over to Li Fusheng? That would be madness!
"How about this: you give me the spirit stones and I’ll sell you some information instead, how about that?" Li Fusheng swallowed again. "You know my reputation—I, Li the Great Benefactor, always provide value!"
"If it’s information about the missing item, we might consider it," Cailing’s voice suddenly sounded from the platform. "But if it’s just trivial rumors, don’t bother."
"Well... um... Actually, I don’t have any news about that..." Li Fusheng said awkwardly.
"Then there’s nothing more to say," Cailing replied coldly. "Brother Li, you’d best focus on comprehending a technique. No matter what you comprehend, Cloud Palace Peak can afford the loss."
Li Fusheng sighed helplessly. "But I haven’t cultivated your sect’s methods—I’ll never grasp the invincible techniques of Cloud Palace Peak. What a loss..."
Others might not know, but Li Fusheng understood: the Hall of Techniques was wondrous, but only those who had cultivated Cloud Palace Peak’s methods could resonate with the hall and comprehend the truly unrivaled techniques. The rest, he disdained.
Not only did he disdain them, but he also had to spend time to comprehend them—it was not as profitable as simply getting spirit stones. And ten stones were too few!
Cailing ignored him and turned to address the remaining cultivators.
"Now that those who wanted spirit stones are gone, let me be frank. This gathering is not just about catching a criminal. Cloud Palace Peak has many affairs to attend to and is looking to recruit some outer disciples!"
"If, in your comprehensions at the Hall of Techniques, you achieve remarkable insights, you will be accepted as outer disciples of Cloud Palace Peak!"
Her words sparked a wave of astonished exclamations.
"Cloud Palace Peak’s outer disciples? Can that be true?"
"Even as outer disciples, that’s Cloud Palace Peak!"
"Exactly! Their outer disciples are more impressive than many inner disciples elsewhere."
"Yes, and if you make it from the outer to the inner sect, you’ll have as many cultivation resources as you could ever want..."
...
The crowd buzzed with excitement. None had expected that this assembly was also a recruitment for Cloud Palace Peak’s outer disciples. Those who had chosen to stay felt reassured—they had made the right decision. If they had chosen spirit stones at the start, they would have lost this chance entirely.
To be accepted as a disciple of Cloud Palace Peak, even as an outer disciple, was to be a cut above others in the Foundation Heaven realm!
"How ignorant," Gong Yu sneered quietly, seeing the elation in the crowd. "You think you’ll enter the inner sect? Almost all inner disciples of Cloud Palace Peak are women. If a man is accepted, he must be a peerless genius. Ordinary men aren’t accepted, unless they’re the very best."
Fortunately, Gong Yu’s voice was low—only a few nearby heard her. The rest were still lost in their fervor, not hearing her at all.