“This Heavenly Court Sect, despite its low profile, has such a profound foundation?” The Fifth Elder gasped in surprise, having never heard of such a sect before.

Seeing the Fifth Elder taken aback, Lu Yang continued, “In addition to the aforementioned foundation, the Heavenly Court Sect will soon be expanding its recruitment. We already have two candidates in mind. One is a natural-born celestial body. The first immortal from ancient times achieved immortality precisely because of his natural-born celestial body.”

“The other is blessed with the fortune of an entire clan, with an overwhelming destiny, and cultivates both the barbarian and Confucian paths!”

“Fifth Elder, what do you think? Would you like to join us?”

“Originally, our Heavenly Court Sect planned to grow over a long period of time, so as to stand out in the grand competition of the world. However, the detestable Nine Nether Sect has set their sights on us. We need a protector to help us deal with the Nine Nether Sect!”

Lu Yang bowed his fist and said solemnly, “If the Fifth Elder is willing to lend a hand to our Heavenly Court Sect this time, we will be deeply grateful in the future!”

The Fifth Elder fell silent for a moment. Just when Lu Yang thought he was about to agree, he slowly asked:

“Has your Heavenly Court Sect registered with the imperial court?”

Lu Yang was taken aback: “Registered?”

“Yes, according to the laws of the Great Xia, any organization must register with the local government. Those who fail to register are considered illegal and are severely cracked down upon.”

“The previous Four Great Demon Sects, and now the Three Great Demon Sects, none of them have registered.”

Lu Yang: “……”

Seeing Lu Yang and the others fall silent, the Fifth Elder burst into laughter: “Alright, alright, just tell me what’s going on. Don’t beat around the bush, what’s the real story?”

As one of the renowned Nine Sons of the Seek Tao Sect, the Fifth Elder naturally wouldn’t be intimidated by Lu Yang.

What ancient immortal inheritance, great clan support, isn’t it just you guys?

The Immortal Sect was destroyed, and Lu Yang obtained the inheritance of the immortal.

Meng Jingzhou, as the eldest son of the Meng family, his expenditures can be considered as support from a great clan.

Li Haoran’s past life, Qin Haoran, was at the half-step Tribulation Crossing stage.

Qin Yanyan’s father is Qin Haoran, naturally making her the first in line to inherit.

Lu Yang, feeling helpless, could only honestly recount the whole story, which left the Fifth Elder marveling and his eyes shining.

“You guys are quite capable, creating a nonexistent Heavenly Court, deceiving the Nine Nether Sect, achieving cooperation through this, and if you’re lucky, you might even find the Sunlight Sect and the Ruthless Sect.”

The Fifth Elder showed a nostalgic expression: “Back in the day, the nine of us did something similar.”

“What happened?” Lu Yang and the others looked at the Fifth Elder curiously.

The Fifth Elder picked up a stone, casually refined it into a table and chairs, and invited Lu Yang and the others to sit down.

The table and chairs looked thin, but after being refined by the Fifth Elder, a grandmaster of artifact refining, they were sturdy enough to withstand several strikes from a Golden Elixir stage cultivator.

“It was probably about nine hundred years ago. The Eighth Junior Brother pretended to be a low-level cultivator, went out to do good deeds, and accidentally discovered the trace of a disciple from the Nine Nether Sect. He didn’t make a fuss about it, but instead went along with his nature, mingling with the disciple from the Nine Nether Sect, indulging in debauchery and gambling day and night. Most of the time, it was the Eighth Junior Brother who paid for the entertainment, and such behavior quickly won the trust of the disciple from the Nine Nether Sect.”

The Eighth Elder, Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou didn’t have much contact with him, but they had a deep impression.

After all, the Eighth Elder dared to sell the entrance exam questions from twenty years ago to Meng Jingzhou, and even swore that they were the real questions.

“What happened next?”

“The disciple from the Nine Nether Sect asked, since they were all at the Elemental Infant stage, where did the Eighth Junior Brother get so many spirit stones? The Eighth Junior Brother then said that they had discovered a longevity pill formula. Although the improvement was not significant, it was enough to make those cultivators whose lifespan was nearing its end go crazy for it.”

“The Eighth Junior Brother also said that this was insider information from their organization, and if it weren’t for their good relationship, he wouldn’t have told him.”

“However, the production of the longevity pill was too low to meet the demand. They needed a large number of spirit stones to purchase raw materials in order to expand production.”

“The Eighth Junior Brother said that their organization was short of money and asked if he could borrow some. It wouldn’t be a free loan, and he promised to return the principal plus twenty percent interest after a year.”

“The disciple from the Nine Nether Sect was tempted, but still skeptical. He initially only invested a few tens of thousands of spirit stones. After a year, the Eighth Junior Brother returned the principal as promised, along with twenty percent interest.”

“The disciple from the Nine Nether Sect tried this for three years, and it was the same every year.”

“Later, this matter was discovered by the superior of the disciple from the Nine Nether Sect. The superior also wanted to invest and asked the Eighth Junior Brother if it was possible. The Eighth Junior Brother said he needed to ask his superior, and then brought out the Ninth Junior Brother, who is your master.”

“Your master said it was possible to invest, and then the superior of the disciple invested for five years, and his assets more than doubled, much to his delight.”

“There are no walls in the world that don’t leak. Eventually, this matter was discovered by the leader of the Nine Nether Sect. The leader didn’t tell anyone, but cautiously proposed to observe the pill refining process. The Eighth and Ninth Junior Brothers called us over to fake the pill refining scene, and the eldest brother pretended to be the one who took the pill.”

“After the leader’s visit, he felt that the nine of us were reliable, and first invested his own spirit stones, earning a lot of money.”

“Although he earned a lot of money, the leader felt it was not enough, so he set his sights on the treasury of the Nine Nether Sect. He used the treasury to invest, and when he received the profits after a year, the spirit stones in the treasury would be returned to their original place, and the interest would be his own. Isn’t that perfect?”

“The leader embezzled a part of the treasury and earned even more money. He was still not satisfied and simply used most of the treasury for investment.”

“Then we ran away with the money.”

“Don’t tell anyone about this, even your master doesn’t know about it.” The Fifth Elder reminded.

Qin Yanyan was puzzled: “Aren’t the spirit stones you returned to the Nine Nether Sect from the Seek Tao Sect? How could the master not know?”The Fifth Elder shook his head, “There’s no need to use the money from the Seek Tao Sect at all. During the whole process, only the Eighth Junior Brother used his own spirit stones when he first deceived the believers.”

Qin Yanyan was even more puzzled.

The Fifth Elder was very patient with his disciple, “Think about it, when we give rebates, aren’t there other believers from the Jiuyou Sect investing in us?”

Qin Yanyan nodded.

“Then, can’t we just return the spirit stones invested by others to the previous batch of people?”

Qin Yanyan suddenly understood.

“Wait, isn’t this fraud?”

“I asked the Eighth Junior Brother the same question. He said how could this be considered fraud? We just failed in our business, and the invested capital was lost. It’s normal to have gains and losses in business.”

“If you feel guilty, you can sue us in the court. We are innocent and have nothing to fear.”

“Moreover, if anyone is guilty, it’s the leader of the Jiuyou Sect who misappropriated the property. That’s a crime.”

Qin Yanyan: “……”

Lu Yang noticed that Li Haoran, who was standing aside, had an indescribable weird expression on his face, “What’s wrong?”

Li Haoran looked at his master with a troubled face, “The leader who was deceived was so angry that he died of rage. Then, Qin Haoran took over the position of the leader and found that there was a big problem with the finances of the Jiuyou Sect.”

“The leader before the last one died without knowing who had deceived him.”

I worked late, the second update will be around eleven o’clock.

(End of this chapter)