45: Internal forces of the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion

Gu Changan quickly explained, "We paid the protection fee!"

"Senior Brother, I was just curious!"

"If you won't let us ask, then we won't!"

The tall, thin Outer Sect Disciple from before returned once more: "Do you think just because I'm joking around with you..."

"...that I'm easy to talk to?"

Then he turned to his companion: "They've all paid the protection fee, why bother getting physical with them?"

"If something goes wrong, how will we explain it?"

"It'll just be a whole lot of trouble!"

"It's not like we didn't receive the protection fee, right?"

The tall Outer Sect Disciple glared, pointing a finger at Gu Changan's nose as if silently saying, 'Just you wait.'

Then he turned and left.

The tall, thin Outer Sect Disciple also turned and walked out the door.

However, his voice drifted back: "Those people either died during missions or left the Sect!"

"Not a single person could stay in the Sect for more than two years!"

Gu Changan and the others gasped upon hearing those words.

Facing retaliation from these organizations and being ostracized by the entire Sect's disciples—it made sense!

Who could survive in such an environment?

Every day spent either being robbed or targeted!

Gu Changan felt alright; he had the treasure gathering basin, so he didn't lack Cultivation resources. What he lacked was time and the right environment to Cultivate.

Shen Yan and the others weren't so lucky. They had just joined the Sect and were already experiencing this.

Now that their resources were halved, Cultivating would be even more difficult!

Zhao Ye suddenly slammed his hand onto the stone table with a loud 'bang'.

"These damn scumbags!"

"Are they even going to let us live?"

Gu Changan made no comment. Was he this angry just over losing half his resources?

Although Shen Yan was very angry, he could still suppress it.

But his grim expression betrayed him: "What's the use of being angry?"

"We can't win in a fight!"

"We can't win if we report them!"

"Others must have resisted before, and they must have reported it too!"

"But since they're still collecting protection fees, it means none of those paths work!"

Ye Wei was quietly wiping away tears to the side, making the others' hearts soften.

Zhao Ye's angry voice rang out: "That's not what I'm angry about!"

"What I'm angry about is that there's more than one group collecting protection fees!"

"There are three in total: this one is the Heavenly Being Institute, another is the Hall of Saints, and the last one is the Qiankun Workshop!"

"What?" Gu Changan and the other two asked in unison!

Gu Changan muttered to himself, "How is that possible?"

"If there are three, how are the New Disciples supposed to survive?"

"One group already takes half of the distributed resources!"

"With two, there's nothing left. What does the third one take?"

Zhao Ye said angrily, "I don't know either!"

"I went out today originally wanting to see the world."

"I didn't expect to hear people talking about protection fees. They were discussing whether the four newly entered Outer Sect Disciples would be exempt!"

"I chimed in and asked what was going on."

"They asked if I was a New Disciple of the outer Sect."

"I said yes, and someone curiously told me!"

"They wanted to see how I'd react!"

"But as soon as I got back and was about to tell you, I ran into those two collecting the protection fee!"

Gu Changan gestured for the others to sit: "Since you've gathered information..."

"...explain it to us!"

"Let's see how we should handle this!"

Shen Yan was still angry, but he also knew the most urgent thing was to understand the situation!

Ye Wei also forgot to cry, staring intently at Zhao Ye's face to hear what he had to say.

Gu Changan: "How about starting by introducing these organizations in the Sect?"

"I'm also curious about how many of them there actually are."

Zhao Ye organized his thoughts: "The entire Tianji Pavilion has nine major peaks, you know!"

"Almost every peak has an organization!"

"However, each organization has different philosophies and functions!"

"For example, Heavenly Spirit Peak and Tianshou Peak—these two peaks manage Spirit Medicine and Spirit Beasts."

"With just a little attention to their daily duties, they can make a fortune."

"They don't care at all about these protection fees from the outer Sect New Disciples!"

"Similarly, Heavenly Pill Peak, Heavenly Artifact Peak, and Tianzhen Peak—these three peaks have their own ways of making money, so they don't care for this pittance either."

"The Menial Service Peak is at the bottom. As long as we don't provoke them, it's fine; would they even dare provoke us?"

"That leaves three peaks: the main peak, Xuanji Peak; the Heavenly Human Peak where we Outer Sect Disciples are; and the Trading Peak."

"These three peaks have the most people and no fixed livelihood, so three organizations formed there."

"On the main peak, Xuanji Peak, there are the Saint, Saintess, Elders, and so on."

"The Saint gathered a group of people to form the Hall of Saints, bullying others and acting tyrannically throughout the Sect, and no one dares to stop them."

"The only ones who can keep them in check are those Elders and Peak Masters!"

"But they pick their targets carefully and won't provoke those Elders and Peak Masters."

"So they've been fine all these years, and those Elders and Peak Masters just turn a blind eye!"

Gu Changan and the others nodded repeatedly; they could imagine how arrogant the Saint was.

Zhao Ye continued: "Another organization is from the Trading Peak. As you know, it's filled with various shops and craftsmen."

"There are also some Elders with profound Realms there!"

"They don't get along with the people from the main peak, so they spontaneously settled on the Trading Peak!"

"Some of these people have no livelihood, so they gathered shop owners or freelance craftsmen."

"For instance, those who practice freelance Alchemy, Artifact Refining, or Talisman Crafting."

"Those seeking protection join these Elders' organizations, and the Elders provide protection and act as their backers."

"No one in the Sect dares to provoke this organization either!"

"They not only monopolize some scarce resources but also control the prices of certain items!"

"This organization is called the Qiankun Workshop!"

"They couldn't care less about our protection fees!"

Everyone nodded as they listened to Zhao Ye's narration.

"The last organization is from our Heavenly Human Peak!"

"It's the Heavenly Being Institute, founded by Xie Chengze, the biological grandson of the Heavenly Human Peak Master, Xie Yuanshan!"

"You could say the Heavenly Being Institute is just a local bully; its background isn't as deep as the Hall of Saints, and they can't win in a fight against them!"

"They don't have as many resources as the Qiankun Workshop, and the workshop even throttles them occasionally!"

"This Heavenly Being Institute sticks its nose into everything!"

"If you provoke them, you'll definitely have a hard time!"

"You saw it yourselves; they came to collect the protection fee today!"

Gu Changan asked in confusion, "But you just said more than one group collects protection fees?"

"From your analysis, it seems there aren't any others?"

Zhao Ye said angrily, "How could that be?"

"For example, that Saint—he might not care for our few Spirit Stones!"

"But his subordinates do!"

"His subordinates will use the name of the Hall of Saints to collect protection fees!"

"Will you pay or not?"

"You don't even know if it was ordered by the Saint!"

"If you don't pay, they'll deal with you, saying you look down on their Hall of Saints!"