Xun Ling the tower maiden was about to drink from her cup of tea when she heard Zhi Rui"s sudden statement and froze midair.She sipped on her delicious smelling tea and sighed.
"I didn"t expect a saint, but I felt that you"d be more than a bad con artist." She said, with an expression of defeat.
Zhi Rui laughed.
"I doubt you had any hope in the first place, but yes, in fact, I"m more than a con artist. Half an hour ago I increased my chances of taking over this sect by fifty percent."
Zhi Rui said and a storage pouch fell in front of Xun Ling"s teapot.
She didn"t mind the unruly action, these days after Xun Fengyun was stripped from his eat was the best for her and she only focused on enjoying this freedom that might be temporary.
She was a mortal and couldn"t use inner energy, she looked at Xun Lee and the girl looked inside.
Her eyes widened, and no words came out of her mouth. trembling, she took one white crystal from inside and let it fall on the small wooden tea table "A Hundred t-thousand."
Xun Ling heard and was stunned even though she was a mortal, but she had heard of the value of these crystals.
She looked as Zhi Rui drunk her tea.
"Hm, spirit tea. it"s good that you can finally enjoy these kinds of things." Zhi Rui said with a smile.
"But, even if you"re the Tower maiden, people won"t easily teach you cultivation, when one of those geniuses take over, they"ll just let you die like a mortal so they can put someone else on your place. While it"ll feel good, you"re nearing thirty, you"ve been malnourished and tortured in your time here, your life expectancy can be prolonged with these spirit trinkets, but that"s only if the ones with strength don"t grow annoyed with your presence. Once Zhang Wei goes back to wherever he came from and the winner is left alone to do as he pleases in this small place who can guarantee that he"ll keep his morals?"
The shock from the crystals went to the back of Xun ling"s head, and a somber look clouded her expression.
Xun Lee, for the first time, felt anger towards Zhi Rui. Trembling she opened her mouth
"How coul-"
*Thud*
Xun Ling slapped her hand on the table and smiled.
"That"s been on my mind for a while too. So what solution do you have?"
"That"s simple, If I win against those five geniuses, I"ll have enough power to keep you safe and teach you cultivation, you"ll live long and comfortably."
Zhi Rui then explained how the sect would go about their compet.i.tion in the underworld, and how she took those crystals from the ex-sect leader.
Tower Maiden Xun Ling visibly trembled at the mention of his name. Xun Lee had fire spitting through her eyes.
"I know who he is, and don"t worry if my plan works out, I have him alive." Zhi Ru said and turned to Xun Lee, "And as per the oath, you"ll have one hour to do with him as you please too."
"B-But even so, to do business with the enemy..."
Xun Ling relaxed and nodded, "You have to be willing to dirt yourself to catch pigs after all."
Then she looked at Zhi Rui with a gloom dead smile. "The only thing I have is my t.i.tle as tower maiden, I don"t know how much authority I have but I"ll use it all. rather than half, to that end, you can use everything on me."
Zhi Rui smiled. "Good then." She adjusted her sit and looked into the tower maiden"s eyes.
"As the Tower Maiden, you"re ent.i.tled to a monthly allowance of one thousand white crystals for personal use. And is you also have the right to use ten percent of the sect"s treasury every six months for the sake of the sect. Any more than 10 percent and you"ll need approval from the main Sect branch."
Not minding the shock on their faces Zhi Rui continued after clearing her throat.
"Your allowance"s been taken by the sect leader since you started as tower maiden. Talk to Zhang Wei and he"ll take it from him and hand it over to you with interest. I won"t need that, what I want is ten percent.
"In the underworld"s temporary base, I"ll build a disciplinary division. You"ll invest that ten percent solely in that, regardless of what others say, you"ll invest everything. I"ll accept.
The Dao protectors and the geniuses will think you have influence over me. They"ll approach you, then you"ll betray me, and sell my information. My plans, resources, location, where I"m going, companions, abilities and strong and weak points. Everything! But, you"ll only accept information as currency. They"ll then sell the information of the other four compet.i.tors. And you"ll have more information to work with."
The room turned silent.
"Are you crazy!? My elder sister just got out of a whole month of h.e.l.l and you want her to become an information dealer? even worst you want her to feed high profile people, fabricated information! What if they find her a nuisance!? what if you don"t win!? she"ll be executed!"
Xun Lee yelled with a red face.
Zhi Rui observed tower maiden"s eyes. From what she observed till now, the small defiances against the Sect leader in the tournaments. all indicated the woman in front of her was not afraid of danger.
Xun Lee"s was still ranting on the side.
Xun Ling, the tower maiden, smiled. Zhi Rui could feel madness behind it.
"I accept," she said. Xun Lee looked shocked.
"I had my family killed, with only this small brother of mine left alive, I was sent here as tower maiden and since day one, I was tormented. I can"t accept it. Since karma is a fantasy, I"ll have the power of my own and become karma."
She cackled
"The tower Maiden is supposed to be saintly and just. And that"s exactly what I"ll be" Her eyes were clouded with something murky and malevolent.
Zhi Rui smiled She handed over some basic cultivation technique and turned around.
"Take your time, don"t be anxious, there"s still four months until the gate opens practice that, get Xun Lee to use her popularity to create a few moles on the forming factions. I hope we have a good partners.h.i.+p then."
Zhi Rui"s voice echoed and disappeared with the sound of the doors closing behind her.
Xun Lee glared at Xun ling with teary eyes.
Xun Ling only sipped her tea, "There"s no more place for us, I can"t live normally with a life plagued by fear. So I decided." She smirked. "I"ll dive face first on this pool of Madness."