NOVEL ONLINE FREE Ch. 9
Chapter 9: The Harm of Immortal Loans
Following the Four-Directions Bridge all the way up, a sparkling tributary of the Still Abyss West Lake slowly came into Chen Beiwu’s view.
At the river’s edge, a few cultivators had gathered in small groups.
They ignored the surrounding signs that read “Fishing Prohibited” and secretly fished in the secluded, grass-covered areas.
In the era of the Immortal Alliance, fishing wasn’t difficult—the hard part was finding lakes that contained spiritual essence.
The Still Abyss River spanned across three provinces, nurturing countless Spirit Fish within.
Even Treasure Fish comparable to Golden Core cultivators occasionally appeared, making it a sacred land in the hearts of many fishing enthusiasts.
Every year within the Falling Dragon Manor, a few lucky ones would catch Second-Tier Spirit Fish in the Still Abyss River, achieving a leap in status.
However, this sacred land belonged to the Immortal Alliance, and ordinary cultivators needed to pay exorbitant fishing fees to enter.
According to what Chen Beiwu knew, even fishing in the outer regions of the Still Abyss River—like the West Lake—required at least one Spirit Stone per hour.
That price was beyond what most people could afford, which was also why he had refused Xu Ziqing’s invitation earlier.
Of course, a bigger reason was that he didn’t want to trigger a rainbow-colored encounter (a trace) in the vast expanse of the Still Abyss River, even if the chance of that happening was low.
Looking at the patrolling figures in the distance, Chen Beiwu thought to himself, ‘Seems like my luck is good today. I can earn a little extra again.’
Not every fishing enthusiast could afford the high cost of fishing, especially in the relatively impoverished Yuan Kong County.
Some fishing lovers, trying to exploit loopholes, would sneak off to remote tributaries of the Still Abyss West Lake—areas where the Immortal Alliance’s Shiyi Hall had banned fishing.
To curb the increasingly rampant illegal fishing, the Shiyi Hall in Yuan Kong County had implemented a whistleblower reward system a few years ago.
Residents could report others’ illegal fishing behavior by uploading photos and receive official rewards.
Though the rewards from Shiyi Hall weren’t particularly high, Chen Beiwu’s decent luck meant that he often saw violators whenever he passed the Four-Directions Bridge.
Through reporting illegal fishing, he could earn about one Spirit Stone per month, roughly equivalent to half a month’s embroidery wage his mother earned at home.
Chen Beiwu took a photo toward the grass and uploaded it to the Shiyi Hall’s official platform.
He entered detailed time and location information to report it, then elegantly turned around and took a step forward.
“Splat.” A glob of bird droppings landed right where he had just been standing.
Seeing this, Chen Beiwu’s expression remained calm.
Although the divine ability he cultivated, Nine-Breath Chaos, was incredibly powerful—able to seize the fortune of heaven and earth and accumulate his own luck—it wasn’t without flaws.
After each triggered encounter, he was likely to face misfortune.
What did that mean?
Fortune and misfortune were intertwined.
While he gathered fortune with his divine ability, misfortune was also quietly brewing.
Usually, when his luck was still sufficient, it was manageable.
But once he triggered an encounter using accumulated fortune, the suppressed misfortunes would erupt as calamities.
Fortunately, with the Supreme Treasure Nine-Breath Chaos supporting him, even if his luck plunged and disaster struck, the result often turned out unexpectedly favorable.
For example, one time his luck was bad—he got into a car accident and couldn’t attend school due to his injuries.
Then he learned that same day a horrific murder occurred at school, with four dead and eighteen injured—one of the dead had sat behind him.
Looking back, Chen Beiwu felt grateful.
If he hadn’t been injured in the car crash, he might’ve been one of the victims.
‘Unfortunately, I can currently only draw out a trace of Nine-Breath Chaos’s power,’ Chen Beiwu thought as he glanced at the bird droppings on the ground.
With a Supreme Treasure in hand, he wasn’t going to let calamity grow unchecked as fortune accumulated.
After years of exploration, he had learned to channel the power of Nine-Breath Chaos and convert the accumulated misfortunes into small bouts of bad luck.
In other words, he transformed calamities into minor disasters—that was the reason he had encountered the poop-angry bird today.
“Hey, fellow cultivator, interested in an Immortal Loan?”
A flyer was suddenly handed to him from the side.
The eight bold, enlarged characters on it were especially eye-catching: “Easy Loan, Lending You Immortality!”
“No need,” Chen Beiwu waved his hand without even looking up, walking away directly.
Buying Frost-Purifying Pills required a large number of Spirit Stones, but he wasn’t desperate enough to touch an Immortal Loan.
These days, every cultivator knew one thing: in the Immortal Alliance, you could dabble in anything—except Immortal Loans.
The interest rate on Immortal Loans was terrifying, starting at 10%.
If the borrower’s credit was poor, it could spike up to 25%.
The worst part?
Unlike the Immortal Alliance’s Spirit Beast Loans that encouraged talented students, Immortal Loans compounded interest—both principal and interest were accumulated together.
Most people couldn’t repay them.
Even after death, their descendants would be forced to continue repayment.
In short, Immortal Loans could be summed up in one phrase: “One loan haunts three generations. Death doesn't cancel the debt.”
Unless a borrower miraculously broke through their cultivation realm in a short time, Immortal Loans were essentially a bottomless pit.
Because of this, some cultivators in the Immortal Alliance called Immortal Loans the “Unmelting Bone.”
It meant the loans devoured people silently, not even leaving their bone marrow behind.
Yet, in pursuit of the path of cultivation and eternal life, countless cultivators still took the gamble every year.
Most of them ended up with broken families and ruined lives.
When Chen Beiwu returned to the entrance of his residential complex, he happened to see a graceful figure stepping out of the elevator.
She wore a flowing long dress.
The skirt swayed gently in the wind, revealing glimpses of her slender legs.
In the sunlight, they glowed with a pale white shimmer—like a classical beauty walking out of a painting.
“Long time no see, Xiao Wu.” Chen Qin was slightly startled, greeting him.
Then she seemed to notice something strange.
Her gaze fixed intently on Chen Beiwu’s flowing, spirit-infused hair, and she appeared a bit dazed.
Seeing this, Chen Beiwu looked down and checked his clothes.
“Qin-jie, what’s wrong? Is there a flower on my face?”
He called Chen Qin “Qin-jie” not because she was three years older, but because her family lived across the hall from his.
Their acquaintance dated back to infancy—childhood sweethearts, one might even say.
Upon hearing that, Chen Qin snapped out of it, her voice unconsciously rising in surprise.
“You broke through to late-stage Qi Refining?”
“Yeah, just recently,” Chen Beiwu nodded, his expression complicated.
Fate was unpredictable.
If not for the burden of family, Qin-jie’s talent might have allowed her to reach late-stage Qi Refining by now too.
Both of them had failed to break through to Foundation Establishment.
His mother had chosen to give up the path of cultivation, leaving the opportunity to the next generation.
Chen-aunt, on the other hand, had chosen to gamble everything on an Immortal Loan to continue.
As a transmigrator, Chen Beiwu could understand her yearning for eternal life through cultivation.
Sadly, she had lost her gamble.
A few days later, she died from severe injuries, leaving behind a mountain of debt that Qin-jie had no way to repay.
Under the weight of that burden, Qin-jie dropped out of school early.
Once a promising cultivation seedling on the verge of Foundation Establishment, she had now become a music hostess at Yayun Pavilion, essentially severed from the path of immortality.