My Master Knows It All

87: Chapter 83 Each Has Their Own Ideas_1 87: Chapter 83 Each Has Their Own Ideas_1 Yi Sheng faced the actual power holders of the Hundred Peaks Sect — the Peak Masters — without the slightest hint of panic or fear, a touch of haughty confidence on her face.

She glanced around at everyone before continuing, “What my fellow Disciples have promised me are all future benefits, such as what advantages they will provide to their Disciples and the strength of their Peaks’ foundation, and so on…”

The Peak Masters nodded in unison.

Isn’t this what one should do when recruiting a genius disciple?

What’s the point?

A mischievously charming smile crossed Yi Sheng’s confident face, “Peak Master Cao didn’t make any promises about the future to his Disciple.

He showed the Disciple the future of the entire Four Treasures Peak!

That’s the ability to make money!”

Yi Sheng bent down, picked up Cao Zhen’s plan from the stone table beside her, and held it high above her head, “This is it!

The other Peak Masters might be richer than Four Treasures Peak!

But, no other Peak has a systematic way to develop!

The other Peak Masters I asked offered nothing more than their acres of good farmland.

However, you can’t become the richest peak with just agriculture…

to trade…”

“My Peak follows the path of commerce…” The Peak Master of Mental Arithmetic Peak, Nangong Suanpan, quickly raised his hand, showing off five fingers adorned with rings of Divine Skills, “My Peak is the top commercial force in the Hundred Peaks Sect!

If Cao Zhen knew business, Four Treasures Peak wouldn’t be as poor as it is now.

Whatever he showed you, it’s all lies!

Cao Zhen, speak for yourself!

Do you know how to make money?”

Cao Zhen already felt the resentful and hostile glares coming his way.

He wasn’t afraid of these Peak Masters; rather, he found it unnecessary!

It was pointless to have so many people concerned about the addition of one disciple.

His goal was ascension, to ascend to the heavens with his family, not to amass a group of disciples and reign supreme in the mortal world.

“You’re right, I’m not interested in money,” Cao Zhen said, refuting Yi Sheng’s prior praise in one sentence, thinking, Even if you don’t mind being embarrassed, I’m humiliating you in public now, how can you bear it?

Nangong Suanpan’s face first showed a mocking sneer, which then stiffened and his pupils began to contract.

His face soon revealed sudden enlightenment, and his body shook slightly as a strong surge of Spiritual Energy shot up into the sky, even causing the air around to tremble slightly.

Enlightenment!

The other Peak Masters initially reacted with surprise, but soon their eyes were filled with envy and jealousy.

Enlightenment…

is something that cultivators might not encounter even once in hundreds of years, something they might only experience a few times in their lifetime.

Enlightenment is especially important for cultivators, the higher their level, the more critical it is.

Nangong Suanpan’s enlightenment made a few Peak Masters, who were ranked slightly higher than him, nervous right away, as the day of the new ranking of the Hundred Peaks was approaching.

This enlightenment could lead to changes in the upcoming Peak rankings.

For a moment, several Peak Masters even felt the urge to disrupt each other’s enlightenment.

Of course, this thought was a fleeting one in their minds.

All were cultivators of the Hundred Peaks Sect, and though from different Peaks, they were still one family.

They might entertain such thoughts, but they couldn’t truly act on them.

The period of Nangong Suanpan’s enlightenment appeared very short to the onlookers — merely a few breaths’ time.

However, to him, it felt like an eternity, as if decades had passed.

When Nangong Suanpan’s eyes opened again, the brilliance of stars shimmered within his pupils.

Each Peak Master present, being an expert in their own cultivation, immediately understood that Nangong Suanpan had unlocked a significant potential.

His progress in the near future was expected to be substantial.

Nangong Suanpan’s gaze towards Cao Zhen was complex, as if he was grateful but couldn’t bring himself to thank him openly, stricken with pride.

After struggling for a moment, he still stood up, cupped his fists towards Cao Zhen, and bowed deeply, saying, “Thanks to Peak Master Cao for the teaching, which led to my enlightenment.”

Teaching?

Enlightenment?

When Cao Zhen saw Nangong Suanpan enter into enlightenment, he wondered if borrowing a pompous statement from someone else could really enlighten such a significant figure in commerce among the Peak Masters.

As Nangong Suanpan bowed, Cao Zhen couldn’t help feeling amused upon confirming it was indeed the case, thinking to himself, So that guy’s skills could be used like this?

Someone muttered quietly, “You don’t really have to be thankful, do you?

Often, an unintentional remark from another can indeed help with enlightenment, but that doesn’t mean they’re truly strong in that area.”

When Cao Zhen saw the speaker was a bald man, he immediately thought of teaching him the Way of the Sword like Monk Xuan Zang.

But then, remembering that his goal was to get rid of Yi Sheng, not to show off, he promptly suppressed his anger.

Nangong Suanpan too suspected that Cao Zhen might have been speaking off the cuff, but a favour received is still a favour.

Petty traders cheat and play tricks; great merchants are to be honest, trustworthy, and grateful.

Seeing Nangong Suanpan achieve enlightenment from a single sentence from Cao Zhen, a devilish smile curved on Yi Sheng’s lips.

She congratulated herself inwardly on her discerning eye, realizing this Peak Master of Four Treasures Peak was different from the others she had met before.

No wonder he had caught her attention.

“Peak Master Cao…” The Head of Taoist Academy coughed once to break the awkward silence and said, “According to the rules of the Hundred Peaks Sect, now that Yi Sheng has kowtowed to you, she is your disciple, and you can’t go back on it.

If you retract your acceptance, according to the rules of the Peak, you must abolish her cultivation, destroy her Qi Sea and Dantian, seal all her memories of immortal cultivation, and then return her to her worldly family as an imbecile.”

“Master, take her in,” Ling Xi whispered from the side, “With her talents, the sect will allocate more resources to her, and our Peak can earn more.”

Cao Zhen lightly patted his somewhat endearing foolish senior disciple’s head and said softly, “Silly child, a genius like her will need even more resources, and the ones given by the sect might not be enough.

In the end, we may have to contribute quite a bit ourselves.

Besides, I think there might be something wrong with her head…”

“Master, whose brain at our peak isn’t messed up?” Bei Yan chimed in snidely from the side, “Apart from me, from Master down to Third Junior Brother…

From the looks of it, this little junior sister really is a disciple of our Four Treasures Peak.”

Cao Zhen knew at that moment there was no way to send this kid packing, so he could only sigh reluctantly and say, “Then, let’s take you in as part of our Four Treasures Peak.”

Yi Sheng beside him kowtowed again, overjoyed, while a large number of peak masters cast disdainful glances at Cao Zhen, all thinking that this peak master was behaving like a smug upstart who had snagged a bargain.

Chen Shizhi, thinking about how his chance to go to the Five Elements Peak was gone and Cao Zhen had snagged all the benefits here, suddenly felt a rush of frustration that made his vision darken, and with a thud, he fainted right in front of everyone.

Cao Zhen didn’t bother to help Yi Sheng up and instead leaped forth to pinch Chen Shizhi’s philtrum, pressing so hard that it seemed he would push the man’s front teeth in, before Chen Shizhi slowly came to.

“Old Chen, what about you!

I take in a disciple and you’re happy, but how come you’re so happy you faint?” Cao Zhen reproachfully looked at Chen Shizhi in his arms and said, “You’re great in every other way, but you just take our camaraderie as students way too seriously!”

Chen Shizhi wanted to retort but couldn’t find the words to defend himself, so he could only force a dry laugh and say, “I don’t have many friends, so I cherish them greatly…”

Before Chen Shizhi could finish his sentence, he felt a chilling gaze enveloping his body.

He quickly looked in the direction of the sensation and found it was coming from Qiu Wuxing, the peak master of Five Elements Peak.

Qiu Wuxing was furious!

It turned out Chen Shizhi had deceived him!

He had taken the benefits and bargained with conditions, all just to stabilize himself and vie for an opportunity for his fellow student!

No wonder he had assured with such confidence that he could convince Yi Sheng; it turns out he really had the ability!

But this ability wasn’t used on the Five Elements Peak!

Feeling Qiu Wuxing’s resentful stare, Chen Shizhi really wanted to explain, but how could he explain himself?

His heart was filled with bitterness!

There was just no explaining this!

“Congratulations, Peak Master Cao…” Nangong Suanpan, although not having gained Yi Sheng as a disciple, still received a big favor from Cao Zhen and was the first to offer congratulations.

But his congratulations had barely begun when Deng Qixing’s gong-like wails cut him off.

“Oh, the ancestors of Seven Star Peak!

I’m sorry, I’ve let you down!” At that moment, Deng Qixing couldn’t care about his status as peak master or the circumstances, for if he had lost to one of the top ten peaks, he could have grudgingly accepted the heavy toll on his mood.

But to have Yi Sheng taken away by Cao Zhen, he simply couldn’t withstand such a blow.

Had he known this would be the outcome, he would have been better off trading his treasures for benefits from other higher-ranking peaks, at least to make Seven Star Peak wealthy and improve the resources for the other disciples, possibly enhancing them greatly in the future.

But now, even if he exchanged them, perhaps some Fire System Peaks would still make a decent offer, but certainly not as lavishly as before.

Cao Zhen was speechless at Deng Qixing’s reaction; if it were anyone else, he would have ignored it, but the man was unfortunately another good friend of his, Chao Zi Zai’s master.

The other peak masters didn’t want to witness Deng Qixing’s melodramatic display.

One by one, they turned and left with disappointment, while the masters from peaks below the top fifty regarded Cao Zhen with guarded expressions.

The position of the Hundred Peaks would soon be reshuffled, and though the rank of Four Treasures Peak might not climb much this time, what about next time?

Or the time after that?

When Yi Sheng fully grows into his potential…

Four Treasures Peak might indeed threaten many other peaks’ positions.

Seeing everyone starting to leave, Qiu Wuxing also stood up and walked toward the courtyard exit.

However, as he passed by Chen Shizhi, he left behind a fierce glare, and he gave Cao Zhen a look of displeasure as well.

Not only did he lose his private stash of money in the duel between the two peaks, but also took a public loss by acquiring a genius disciple!

What kind of situation was this?

Qiu Wuxing knew that he couldn’t actually deal with Cao Zhen because they were of the same branch, but letting him off scot-free was also unsatisfying.

But to actually seek revenge?

Qiu Wuxing felt he really couldn’t do that—how could inner strife occur within the Hundred Peaks Sect?

Wouldn’t that break the rules?

Anything that harmed the foundation of the Hundred Peaks Sect was forbidden.

Get someone to beat him up?

Qiu Wuxing pondered back and forth and decided to just do it!

Beat him up—don’t kill him or cripple him, just enough to cause pain and loss of face!

Having confirmed his plan, Qiu Wuxing began thinking about whether to find someone to give Cao Zhen a beating in the open or to ambush him in a secluded spot.

Forget it!

Let’s do it openly!

Qiu Wuxing suddenly saw the light and planned to exploit Cao Zhen’s naivete and righteousness to arrange another duel between two peaks!

That way, another wager would arise!

This time, he could win back everything he lost last time!

Whom to choose?

Qiu Wuxing decided to go back to Five Elements Peak to study this carefully, while also considering how to nab some private funds; otherwise, how would he place his bets?