The Long Journey to Immortality

Han Lu gave a brief description.

Upon hearing the words "magical artifact," the Seven Flower Fairy felt completely relieved.

After all, most of the "elder's relics" that can be put into the secret vault are high-grade materials, top-grade magic weapons, spiritual weapons, or even spiritual treasures. The magic weapons that Han Lu mentioned are not worthy of being collected in the secret vault.

The Seven Flower Fairy showed a slight smile of relief, but quickly suppressed it.

After offering to treat her to a meal, Fairy Seven Flowers said, "Indeed, I have an impression of this treasure."

"Initially, that magical artifact was to be placed in the secret vault, but after my assessment, I determined that it would be difficult and even counterproductive to completely repair it, so it was instead sent to the inner vault of Nanshan Academy."

"After all, Elder Haoge is an elder of Nanshan Academy, and this arrangement is a customary practice."

"This treasure is broken and tattered. Although it has the foundation of a second-grade spiritual weapon and the appearance of a fourth-grade spiritual weapon, its supernatural powers are difficult to use. I suppose it will not be chosen by any disciple as a magic weapon."

"It is even more unlikely that it will appear in the East China Sea."

Although the Seven Flower Fairy didn't remain aloof from the matter, she could still easily analyze the inside story from an outsider's perspective.

Han Lu nodded slightly, agreeing with the Seven Flower Fairy's statement. "This matter is indeed strange. Xiang Hui, could you help investigate and find out the truth?"

"That robe is now in the hands of my disciple."

"Only after thoroughly investigating can my disciple use this treasure with peace of mind."

“No problem,” the Seven Flower Fairy readily agreed.

Of course, while it was called helping, it was really just letting the Seven Flower Fairy use her influence in the secret vault and inner vault to order her disciples under her management around.

A paper sword was sent, and a moment later, the answer was given.

A jade tablet containing the list of magical treasures in the secret vault of Nanshan Academy was presented to Han Lu and the Seven Flower Fairy by a disciple who had been serving her.

"Han Lu, come and take a look." Fairy Seven Flowers handed the jade tablet to Han Lu.

Clearly, while the Seven Flower Fairy was thinking about finding out the possible "mole," she didn't want to offend any of her colleagues.

Han Lu was understanding and did not refuse; she took the initiative to shoulder the responsibility.

After consulting the information on the jade tablet, Han Lu finally found the magic item called "Damaged Dark Cloud Pattern Taoist Robe" in the "Useless Magic Items for Sale" section.

"Does that mean it was treated as garbage?" Han Lu's lips twitched slightly as she held the jade pendant and asked in confusion.

The Seven Flower Fairy explained, "It's just that a magical artifact was deemed useless and disposed of through auction."

"After all, spirit stones are more useful than a magical artifact that gathers dust in a treasure vault."

Upon hearing this, Han Lu sensed a hint of conspiracy.

Han Lu said, "But this magic item only sold for a mere six hundred spirit stones, that's unreasonable!"

[Author's Note] Chapter 1030 was forcibly censored due to the newly updated censorship system on Shuke. I am now re-editing it. I apologize for the inconvenience.

Chapter 1049 The Mole

Han Lu analyzed the "ledger" in the jade pendant, saying, "This is not reasonable. As far as I know, this treasure sold for a full eight thousand spirit stones at an auction in the East China Sea."

"This is no small sum."

"Even if that was a second auction, the eight thousand spirit stones was the figure after the cultivator who won the bid resold it."

"But it shouldn't have sold only six hundred spirit stones at the first auction."

"Among them..." Han Lu gave a blunt assessment, "Someone must have lined their own pockets and played some tricks."

The Seven Flower Fairy's expression turned solemn. "Could it be that they're selling these magical treasures, which were chosen for disposal but whose prices are unclear, to their brothers and friends at low prices, and then reselling them at higher prices?"

“That’s right,” Han Lu realized she had been a little too radical, so she added, “but this is just a guess, and we need to investigate further to see if it’s true.”

"By the way, Xianghui, you are an expert in appraisal and know the value of magical treasures better than I do. Why don't you take a look at this jade tablet? Is there any other magical treasure among these that is worthless, ambiguous, but has been undervalued?"

"If so, then it means there is definitely something fishy going on."

This matter is of great importance, and this time the Seven Flower Fairy will no longer try to stay out of it.

She said "okay" and took the jade tablet, flipping through its contents.

A true expert's skill is immediately apparent.

On ordinary days, the secrets hidden in the dark corners are seen through at a glance by the Seven Flower Fairy, who uncovers them all and exposes them to the sunlight.

"This ledger contains three magical artifacts that were auctioned off at unreasonable prices."

"Even without considering the premium that should have been paid in the auction, the sect has lost at least ten thousand spirit stones."

Magical treasures with vastly different upper and lower limits, like Elder Haoge's robe, are few and far between.

The other two magical artifacts, which were sold off at low prices using the same method, were of average quality and were resold, involving only a little over two thousand spirit stones in total.

For a behemoth like the Zhengyi Sect, a mere ten thousand spirit stones is nothing; it's barely enough for a day's expenses.

However, this act of rummaging through the warehouse infuriated the Seven Flower Fairy, who was in charge of managing the secret vault.

Han Lu took the jade tablet and asked the Seven Flower Fairy to point out each item.

Han Lu noticed that although these records did not specify who handled them, they all occurred within the last two years.

"It seems that this incident may have been caused by a disciple who has only recently taken on the responsibility of assisting in the management of the Nanshan Academy's treasury becoming greedy..."

Han Lu told the Seven Flower Fairy what she had observed, which calmed the Seven Flower Fairy's anger slightly.

"Yes, that should be the case. I'll go investigate and see which greedy fellow is neglecting his duties and undermining the sect after getting the cushy job of managing the internal treasury."

"Han Lu, I will send you a message when I have more specific information."

"You have a close relationship with the Qingxu Sect Master, so please help report this matter to the sect master for a decision."

Although it was the first time the Seven Flower Fairy had encountered such a situation, she still managed to come up with the best solution in an instant.

Han Lu nodded and said, "Okay, let's do as the Seven Flower Fairy arranges."

The reason they came to find the Seven Flower Fairy was because Han Lu had such a guess.

Now that she was getting closer to the truth, she naturally didn't mind putting in extra effort to explain the matter to Daoist Qingxu.

Most cultivators in the Central Plains are not good at plotting or scheming.

Naturally, this time, by a twist of fate, Han Lu discovered the tattered Taoist robe that shouldn't have been in the East China Sea, and all the mysteries were easily solved.

That evening, the Seven Flower Fairy sent Han Lu a paper sword, explaining the whole story.

Everything was not much different from what Han Lu and the Seven Flower Fairy had imagined.

In fact, this matter has a lot to do with Gensei, who is committed to streamlining the organization.

Because of Xuan Chengzi's plan to streamline the organization, the internal treasuries of each mountain academy are now only nominally managed by the vice deans of each academy, while the actual affairs are handled by a few Foundation Establishment disciples.

Although these disciples worked hard, their cultivation was still shallow and their spiritual attainment insufficient, and they occasionally made mistakes in management.

The seemingly unprofitable task of dealing with "useless magic treasures" was discovered by a disciple of Nanshan Academy who had only been appointed to manage the inner treasury five years prior, who saw potential for profit in it.

The method is not complicated: find those magical items with ambiguous prices that meet the "junk" criteria and classify them as "useless magical items".

After completing this task, he would purchase the magical artifact at his own expense and disguise it as being auctioned off.

They would steal the treasure, whose price was vastly different from its actual value, and then have someone deliver it to the Western Regions or the Eastern Sea for sale.

In this way, one can earn a large amount of spirit stones, exploiting the sect without being noticed, and enriching one's own storage bag.

The actions weren't exactly secretive, but because they were compliant with regulations, they naturally went unnoticed by others.

However, it was precisely because of this that the Seven Flower Fairy, who was determined to catch the "warehouse rat," found it in just half a day.

Everything has been investigated, and even the Seven Flower Fairy has figured out how to catch the accomplice who was waiting outside the Zhengyi Gate.

"All we need to do is control that warehouse-moving rat, make it send out a message to call its companions, lure the accomplices over, and we can wipe them all out in one fell swoop."

The Seven Flower Fairy had almost finished preparing everything, so Han Lu naturally went to Qingxu Daoist's place overnight as soon as possible.

Just like when the Seven Flower Fairy first learned of this news, Daoist Qingxu was very surprised and nervous. He only breathed a sigh of relief after hearing that it had only caused a loss of 10,000 spirit stones.

"Fortunately, fortunately."

The damage was not significant, but that does not mean that the sect leader, Qingxu Daoren, will be lenient with the "mole."

Master Qingxu skillfully found suitable clauses in the sect rules and set two punishments for the Nanshan Academy disciple who was still completely unaware that his bad deeds had been exposed.

He was stripped of all his cultivation and imprisoned for thirty years.

Such punishment is a bit harsh, but for the Zhengyi Sect, which has always maintained internal harmony, it is still necessary to play the "kill the chicken to scare the monkey" trick.

Han Lu had anticipated this outcome. Only after inquiring and learning that the robe did not need to be returned did she feel completely relieved and take her leave.

Although the criminals have not yet been brought to justice, the matter is about 70% understood.

The remaining 30% is a problem that the Qingxu Sect Master and the Seven Flower Fairy need to worry about: how to plug this exposed loophole and prevent such a thing from happening again.

Of course, a thorough investigation of the other four mountain temples is also needed to see if there are similar cases.

Just as Han Lu inexplicably helped the sect achieve another merit.

A trend of thought that "persecutes" democratic and progressive monks is slowly spreading within the sect.

After more than a month of fermentation, the rumors carefully fabricated by Qingxu Daoren and Han Lu were spread far and wide.

During daily meals, many disciples began to discuss these false reports from the Great Yu Dynasty, wondering whether this new system that would grant them "democratic power" was a tonic or a poison.

Chapter 1050 Talk at the Table

It took half a month to craft a story, arrange manpower, and plan the intensity and methods of the publicity campaign.

After nearly a month of fermentation, with the official support of the Zhengyi Sect, the topic of "Western democracy," which was frequently discussed by the disciples at the dinner table, was finally allowed to incorporate the elements that Qingxu Sect Master and Han Lu wanted to see, in accordance with the "principle of freedom of speech."

More disciples stopped discussing whether to adopt "Western-style democracy" or its advantages and benefits. Instead, they exchanged stories they had heard from various sources and began to think for the first time about the potential disadvantages or even drawbacks of "Western-style democracy."

On this day, four disciples of the Zhengyi Sect, whose cultivation levels were all below the fifth level of Qi Refining, gathered together during their meal to discuss the interesting stories they had heard.

“I heard,” a disciple who looked no more than thirteen or fourteen years old, but had actually been cultivating in the Zhengyi Sect for four years, mentioned the story he had heard about the Dayu Dynasty, “that in one of the prefectures of the Dayu Dynasty, there is a sect called Duanhun Sect that practices an election system. Disciples and elders each have one vote, and a new sect leader is elected every thirty years.”

"This story comes from Elder Zhenfeng. It is said that there was once a disciple in the Qi Refining Realm who won the vote with his personal charm and served as the sect leader for a full thirty years, leading two Golden Core cultivators, nearly thirty Foundation Establishment cultivators and five hundred Qi Refining disciples."

"But it's very impressive."

This disciple was not a mouthpiece planted by the Qingxu Sect Master; he simply enjoyed gossip and liked to share interesting news he heard with his friends and fellow disciples.