Taming Beasts and Cultivating Immortality from Two Realms

Chapter 9 The Harm of Immortal Loans
Walking up along the Sifang Bridge, a tributary of the Jingyuan West Lake with sparkling waters slowly came into Chen Beiwu's sight.

There were groups of monks gathered at the edge of the river. They ignored the signs that read "No Fishing" and secretly fished in the remote area covered with dense grass.

In the era of the Immortal Alliance, fishing was not a difficult task; the difficult part was finding a lake that held spiritual energy.

The Jingyuan River spans across three states, and it breeds countless spiritual fish. Even precious fish comparable to the Golden Elixir True Person can be seen from time to time. It is a holy place in the minds of many fish lovers.

Every year, some lucky people in Yunlong Mansion catch second-level spirit fish in Jingyuan River and achieve a class leap.

However, this holy land belongs to the Immortal Alliance. If ordinary cultivators want to enter it to fish, they must pay high fishing fees.

As far as Chen Beiwu knew, even fishing in the outer area of ​​Jingyuan River, that is, in Jingyuan West Lake, would cost at least one spirit stone (per hour), a price that ordinary people could not afford. This was also the reason why he had previously rejected Xu Ziqing's invitation.

Of course, the bigger reason was that he didn't want to trigger the Colorful Adventure (a trace) in the vast Jingyuan River, even if the probability of triggering it was not high.

Looking at the alert figures in the distance, Chen Beiwu thought to himself: "I'm lucky today, I can make some extra money."

Not every angler can afford the high fishing fees, especially in the poorer Yuankong County.

In order to take advantage of the loophole, some anglers went to the remote tributaries of Jingyuan West Lake, which is the area where fishing is prohibited by the Xianmeng Shiyi Palace, to fish secretly.

In order to curb the increasingly rampant phenomenon of illegal fishing, Shiyidian in Yuankong County launched a reward system for reporting illegal fishing a few years ago: residents can get official rewards by taking photos and uploading them to report other people's illegal fishing behavior.

The rewards from Shiyi Palace seemed neither too much nor too little, but Chen Beiwu was lucky. Occasionally, he would see others fishing illegally when passing by Sifang Bridge.

By reporting illegal fishing, he could earn about one spirit stone a month, which was equivalent to his mother's half-month salary from embroidering at home.

Chen Beiwu picked up his phone and took a photo in the direction of the grass, uploaded it to the official platform of Shiyi Palace, entered the detailed time and place to report it, then turned around gracefully and took a step forward.

"Plop." A pile of bird droppings fell right to the ground, landing where he had been standing before.

Seeing this, there was no surprise on Chen Beiwu's face.

Although the magical power he cultivated, the Nine Breaths Subduing Qi, was extremely powerful and could seize the fortune of heaven and earth and give birth to his own luck, it was not without some drawbacks.

Every time he triggers an adventure, he may encounter disaster.

What does that mean?

Good fortune and misfortune are interdependent. While he was using his supernatural powers to accumulate good luck, some bad luck and disasters were also brewing.

Normally his luck is pretty good, but once he turns the accumulated luck into a chance encounter, the bad luck and disasters that were suppressed by his luck in the past will turn into some catastrophes.

However, Chen Beiwu has the blessing of the supreme treasure Nine Breaths of Chaos. Even if his luck falls to the bottom a few times and disasters occur, the result will be unexpectedly lucky.

For example, Chen Beiwu was unlucky once and got into a car accident. He was injured and unable to go to school. Then that day he learned that a vicious murder had broken out in the school, with four dead and eighteen injured. One of the deceased was his deskmate.

Afterwards, Chen Beiwu felt very fortunate when he thought about it. If he had not encountered that car accident, he might have become one of the victims.

"Unfortunately, I can only slightly mobilize the power of the Nine Breaths of Chaos at the moment." Chen Beiwu glanced down at the bird droppings on the ground.

With a treasure in his possession, he would not sit idly by and watch his misfortune gradually brew and grow along with his luck.

After years of exploration, he was now able to draw upon the power of the Nine Breaths of Chaos, transforming accumulated disasters into a small amount of bad luck, essentially turning disasters into minor calamities. This was also why Chen Beiwu encountered the Furious Bird today. "Hey, fellow Daoist, do you need a loan for cultivating immortality?"

A flyer was suddenly handed over from the side, with eight large and bold characters on it standing out: "Easy Loans, Loans to Immortality!"

"No need." Chen Beiwu waved his hand, without even raising his head, and walked away.

Purchasing the Frost-Reducing Pill requires a large amount of spirit stones, but he is not yet willing to take out a Xiuxian Loan.

Nowadays, every cultivator knows one thing: you can touch anything in the Immortal Alliance except the Immortal Loan.

The interest rate of Xiuxian Loan is very scary, starting at 10%. If the borrower has bad credit, the interest rate may even soar to 25%.

The most important point is that unlike the Spirit Beast Loans offered by the Immortal Alliance to incentivize talented students, the Immortal Cultivation Loans compound interest, calculating both principal and interest together. The average person would be unable to repay the loan, and even after death, their descendants would have to continue repaying it.

To sum up the Xiuxian Loan in one sentence: one loan is passed down for three generations, and the loan remains even after the person dies.

Unless the borrower is lucky enough to break through the realm in a short period of time, the Xiuxian loan will be a hole that cannot be filled.

It is precisely because of this that some cultivators in the Immortal Alliance directly call the Immortal Loan "Untransforming Bone", meaning that this loan does not bleed from people, and even the bone marrow will be squeezed out cleanly.

However, in order to embark on the path of cultivation and achieve immortality, a large number of cultivators from the Immortal Alliance take chances and take out loans every year, ultimately ending up with their families broken up and their lives ruined.

When Chen Beiwu returned to the gate of the community, he saw a beautiful figure walking out of the elevator.

She was wearing a long dress, and her slender legs were faintly visible under the hem that swayed in the wind. In the sunlight, she glowed with a cold white luster, like a classical beauty walking out of a scroll.

"Long time no see, Xiaowu." Chen Qin was slightly stunned and greeted him.

Then she seemed to realize something was wrong, and her eyes were fixed on Chen Beiwu's flowing hair, and she looked a little dazed.

Seeing this, Chen Beiwu lowered his head and checked his clothes, "Sister Qin, what's wrong? Is there something on my face?"

The reason why he called Chen Qin "Sister Qin" was not because she was three years older than him, but because Chen Qin's family lived across the street from the Chen family. Their acquaintance could be traced back to infancy, so it was not an exaggeration to say that they were childhood sweethearts.

Hearing this, Chen Qin came back to his senses, his tone unconsciously rising as he asked in surprise, "You've broken through to the late stage of Qi training?"

"Yes, I just broke through not long ago." Chen Beiwu nodded with a complicated expression.

It's fate. If it weren't for the burden of her family, with Sister Qin's qualifications, she might have been a cultivator in the late stage of Qi training now.

They both failed to break through the foundation.

My mother chose to give up the path of cultivating immortals and leave the opportunity to the next generation, while Aunt Chen chose to borrow the immortality loan and continue to gamble.

As a time traveler, Chen Beiwu could understand Aunt Chen's desire for immortality, but unfortunately, she failed in her gamble and died of her injuries a few days later, leaving Sister Qin with a mountain of debt that was difficult to repay.

Under the suppression of this mountain, Sister Qin dropped out of school early and went from being a promising cultivator with the potential to establish a foundation to a musician at Yayunxuan, with basically no chance of becoming an immortal.

(End of this chapter)