575: Chapter 575 Trying to bargain with me? Then add more money.

The old man never expected that at an age where he was nearly in his grave, he would be hoisted up by his Juniors and roasted over a fire—so, on his first day in office, he had said, "This old body of mine, I don't know how many more days it can hold on."

"Hurry up and find a way to get the people back so I can go back to sleep."

At this moment, after he finished reading the Hehuan Sect's ransom note, he couldn't help but fall silent for a long time.

His withered fingers rubbed the stationery, and a sense of helplessness welled up in his heart.

Then he picked up the yingxi stone and channeled spiritual power into it. In the images, his Disciples were being shot at by Li Ergou one by one for fun.

He shot their hats, their scabbards, and their backsides, but never their vital points.

The scene looked like mockery, yet also like a demonstration of power.

One Disciple tried to run; after a few steps, he was shot in the heel, fell flat on his face, crawled up to run again, and was shot in the other heel.

It repeated over and over, like a cat playing with a mouse.

The old man watched for a long time, his cloudy eyes showing no discernible emotion.

Then he set down the yingxi stone, picked up a brush, and began to write a letter.

"Reply to the Hehuan Sect. Say that we will scrape together enough Spirit Stones."

"But ask them to treat our Disciples well, do not mistreat them, and especially do not insult them in this manner."

"Those children are innocent; they were merely following orders."

The Elder beside him grew anxious: "Sect Head, are we really giving it to them? That's millions of Spirit Stones!"

"Our Sect's treasury is nearly empty. If this continues, we won't even be able to issue the Disciples' monthly stipends next month."

The old man looked up at the Elder, his cloudy pupils shifting as his gaze suddenly became sharp.

"Not give it? Then you go fight? Can you defeat Xiao Nianyin? Can you break that Grand Array?"

The Elder opened his mouth but couldn't answer, his face flushing bright red.

The old man lowered his head and continued writing, his strokes slow but steady.

"We shouldn't have joined the siege against the Hehuan Sect in the first place."

"When the people from the Tianshu Sword Sect came to find me, I should have refused."

"All that talk of 'Righteous Path justice' and 'eradicating demons' was just a front."

"They wanted to use our blades to kill the people they didn't dare to kill themselves."

"We were fools, used as tools by others."

He paused, the tip of his brush lingering on the paper for a moment before he continued writing.

"Now look at us. We didn't manage to kill anyone, and instead, we've lost millions of Spirit Stones, not to mention losing so many Disciples to them."

"No matter how you calculate this debt, we are the ones at a loss."

The Elder beside him didn't dare to speak further.

Tianji Sect.

The new Sect Head was a middle-aged woman surnamed Li. She had a fiery temper and a loud voice, and was known within the Sect as the 'Thunderbolt Fire'.

After reading the letter, she tore it to shreds. The scraps of paper fluttered through the air like a fall of white snow.

Then she slammed the yingxi stone onto the ground. It didn't break, so she picked it up and slammed it again; it still didn't break.

Furious, she stomped on it. Her sole creaked and groaned, but the yingxi stone didn't budge an inch.

She then took a hammer and smashed at it for a long time until the hammer itself bent, yet the yingxi stone remained perfectly intact.

"Xu Ruyu, that beast, that bastard! May he die a miserable death!"

She cursed for the duration of a full incense stick, her throat going dry from the shouting.

She cursed everything from Xu Ruyu's ancestors for eighteen generations to the past predecessors of the Hehuan Sect, from Xu Ruyu's looks to his never-changing green robe; she even threw a few curses at Xiao Nianyin.

Having cursed herself out, she sat down and drank a cup of water.

After a cup of cold tea, her anger subsided slightly, but her voice still carried the scent of gunpowder.

"Tell me, what right does he have? A brat at the Qi Refinement Stage, relying on Xiao Nianyin's backing, dares to ride over our heads? What does he think he is!"

No one answered her.

Everyone kept their heads down, not daring to respond.

Suddenly, her eyes reddened. Unable to help herself, tears began to fall.

"My son is still inside... He's only eighteen... He's never suffered since he was a child, never even washed a bowl himself."

"How much suffering must he be enduring in there..."

The people around her looked at each other, none of them knowing how to comfort her.

This Sect Leader Li, who had been the first to raise her hand in support of the siege at the Sect Assembly, this 'Thunderbolt Fire' whose temper even men feared, was now clutching her water cup and weeping like an ordinary mother.

She was the Sect Head, the commander, the backbone of a Sect, but at this moment, she was just a mother worried for her son.

After she finished crying, she wiped her face, her eyes swollen like walnuts.

Her voice was raspy, but her tone was resolute: "Go gather the Spirit Stones. Inventory the items in the treasury; sell what should be sold, pawn what should be pawned."

"Take my set of Gold Silk Soft Armor and pawn it as well."

"Sect Head, that is a relic left to you by your Master!"

"Is a relic more important, or is a person more important?"

She asked in return, then turned and left.

Tianquan Sect.

The new Sect Head was a young man in his early thirties surnamed Wang. He was fair-skinned and clean-cut, looking like a scholar.

He had been in office for less than half a month and hadn't even had time to establish his prestige within the Sect before he was caught off guard by Xu Ruyu's ransom note.

After reading the letter, he didn't get angry; instead, he smiled.

He placed the letter on the table and flicked it lightly with his finger, producing a crisp snap.

"Fifty million? Ancestor Xuan Yin is only worth fifty million? Xu Ruyu underestimates our Tianquan Sect too much."

The Elder beside him was stunned.

"Sect Head, what do you mean by that?"

"It means we will give it, but there are conditions."

He picked up a brush and wrote a reply in an elegant, flowing hand. The content was unexpected—"The Spirit Stones can be given, but we demand that Xu Ruyu personally escort our people back."

"Since we are to bargain, let us do it face to face."

"With Xiao Nianyin there, what is Xu Ruyu afraid of? Since he dares to set a price, he must dare to show his face."

When this letter was delivered to the Hehuan Sect, Xu Ruyu was soaking his feet in the Ningyin Hall.

He leaned back in his chair, feet submerged in hot water, eyes squinted in comfort like a cat basking in the sun.

The Grand Elder handed him the letter. He took it, glanced over it, and laughed.

"Interesting." He handed the letter to Xiao Nianyin, who was nearby. "Take a look, someone is bargaining with me."

"He even specifically asked for me to go. This Sect Leader Wang has quite the nerve."

Xiao Nianyin took the letter and read it through, her face expressionless.

"What do you plan to do?"

"What to do?" Xu Ruyu lifted his feet from the hot water, stepped onto a foot towel, and wiped them leisurely. "Raise the price. Add another twenty million. If they don't give it, kill the people for me, or keep them in the Grand Array forever as target practice for our Disciples."

"Damn it, he dares to set conditions with me? Let's show them some color so they know that bargaining with me, Xu Ruyu, comes with a price."

"Does he think he's an auntie at a vegetable market? This is extortion, not a market."

"Wants to see me? Pay more first."

Xiao Nianyin didn't speak, but the corner of her mouth curled slightly.

The next day, the Tianquan Sect received a second letter.

The letter contained only one line of text, written in a much more scribbled hand than the first, clearly written on a whim—"Seventy million, no bargaining."

"Also, that new Sect Head of yours has a very stiff mouth; I like it."

"Add another five million, and I'll send his mouth back to you."

"Not a single tooth missing, tongue packaged in its original condition."

The new Sect Head of the Tianquan Sect's face finally turned green.

He gritted his teeth, his grip on his teacup making it creak and groan. Several cracks appeared in the cup, and tea seeped out, dripping onto his robes.

Those nearby thought he was about to explode in anger and retreated a few steps, preparing to cover their ears.

But he didn't explode. He just placed the teacup gently on the table, took a deep breath, and then said word by word: "Reply—say that we will give the Spirit Stones."

"Seventy million, not a single piece less."

"Sect Head, where would we get seventy million?"

"Borrow it."

"If you can't borrow it, sell things. If selling isn't enough, mortgage things."

"Lease out the Sect's Spiritual Veins, mortgage the mountain gate. We can always scrape together enough."

As he said these words, his eyes remained fixed out the window, looking in the direction of the Hehuan Sect.