The facts proved that people’s potential was really limitless. As long as you could give someone a target that was easily obtained, they would unleash unimaginable power.

It was unknown whether it was due to the identity of the patriarch, or whether it was because Long Chen’s conning skills were simply so great, or perhaps it was a combination of both, but these Elders who had lost their chance to become the new sect leader all went crazy fighting for this chance. None of them wanted to give up a second chance.

After returning to their homes and gathering their things, they rushed off to sects that they had a decent relationship with.

As Elders of a sect, they all had their circle of friends. Some of these Elders were friends with Elders from other sects. Some were even close enough to certain sect leaders to call them brother.

After all, the Evil Spirit Sect was quite famous within the Eastern Xuan Region’s Corrupt path. Back when Long Chen had charged into the Corrupt path’s minor worlds to take their heaven and earth spirit spring, the Evil Spirit Sect had contributed greatly to the force that had managed to drive him away.

Those Elders immediately went to the sects that they had the closest relationships with and directly asked to borrow money. They were afraid others would take the initiative first.

In any case, the patriarch had already said that the Evil Spirit Sect would be filled with Netherpassage experts in just a hundred years. No matter how much they borrowed, they didn’t need to worry about it. Even an insane interest rate was no problem. In any case, they were borrowing the money under the name of the Evil Spirit Sect, with the backing of their patriarch.

As a result, practically all the Eastern Xuan Region’s Corrupt path’s sects ended up visited by at least one Elder of the Evil Spirit Sect.

Countless sects loaned money to them. One reason was because the Evil Spirit Sect was a top level sect, and they hoped to form a good relationship with them. Other than that, the Evil Spirit Sect promised to repay them with extremely high interest. They promised to double their investment in a hundred years. Not only could they form a good relationship with the Evil Spirit Sect, but they could also gain so much profit. Where would one even look for such a great thing?

Moreover, the Evil Spirit Sect’s Elders conducted their money-borrowing in absolute secrecy. They demanded whoever they borrowed money from to keep it secret as well. They were not to divulge a single word of what was happening.

Long Chen was sitting in the Evil Spirit Sect, with a large list hanging inside the palace. The list ranked the various Elders’ contributions. However much money they had gathered was listed beside their names. Yes, it was fair, very fair.

Those Elders seemed to have become insane as they borrowed as much money as possible, using any means necessary, from threats to promises, all to increase their own ranking. Some Elders even went to rob their close relatives and friends, while they also brought out all their own savings.

Long Chen sat there, spending each day counting money. He waited for the Elders to come by, kneel toward him, and offer him a spatial ring.

Each time, Long Chen would accept it without his face turning red at all. At the same time, he would encourage them to work harder, even saying that there was no need to be so rigid in their methods. The method by which they obtained the money didn’t matter. What mattered were the results, not the process.

When Long Chen said this, Evilmoon became speechless. “Are you telling them to steal and plunder?”

Long Chen shook his head. “That’s their own problem. I’ve given them a kitchen knife, but as for what kind of food they make, it has nothing to do with me.”

“Tch, you gave them a knife and then pointed them to other people’s heads. What kind of food are you expecting? Hmph, the only food you’re getting is pig heads!”

“A master can open the gates, but cultivation depends on the person. The Dao is limitless and depends on each person’s comprehension. Take me for example. I’m unlucky, and I have to fight for everything I get. However, I’m luckier than them, in that although I come from poor origins, I have a warm mother and a heroic father. They didn’t try to brainwash me. They gave me a blank sheet and let me paint what I wanted. As for these people, there’s already no saving them. They’ve been brainwashed by their so-called Corrupt God. They don’t even have their own thoughts. Not conning them would be letting down their years of brainwashing. I should tell you, the Corrupt path’s fellows are all very perseverant. They’re vicious to others and vicious to themselves. That’s why you should just watch. A shocking amount of money is about to come in.”

As Long Chen predicted, on just the second day, he received his first receipts. There were ten million spirit crystals, but it was just a start.

The first Elder who came to give him a spatial ring immediately rushed off after handing him the money. By the third and fourth days, Long Chen was barely keeping up with recording how much they had earned. He was making so much that he was almost tired of recording it all.

As Long Chen kept track of the money, the new sect leader kept track of the rankings. By the seventh day, Long Chen had taken in four hundred and eighty million spirit crystals.

“Fuck, I didn’t expect that the Corrupt path to be so rich!”

Long Chen was shocked inside, but he didn’t show it. He simply continued increasing the pressure on the Elders, saying that they could use the sect’s divine item as collateral. If the other side didn’t believe it, they could come to the Evil Spirit Sect and he would personally speak with them.

Once Long Chen threw that into the mix, there were dozens of new loans approved, and his wealth leaped to nine hundred and thirty million spirit crystals.

After another three days, Long Chen found that this was about the limit. The Evil Spirit Sect’s movements had not gone unnoticed. Although they had carried everything out secretly, there was no way such large movements could be made without raising suspicion. Long Chen was sure that it wouldn’t be long before people would come to investigate.

At this time, Long Chen made the wisest decision. On a moonless, stormy night, he patted his butt and left.

The disappearance of their patriarch went unnoticed for three days before all the Evil Spirit Sect’s experts were thrown into a panic.

It was just at that time that the Corrupt path’s higher-ups from the Central Xuan Region came to investigate. Clearly the Evil Spirit Sect’s movements had been reported by others.

This investigation revealed that the patriarch had vanished. As for the story Long Chen had come up with about creating countless half-step Netherpassage experts, it was also exposed.

The entire Eastern Xuan Region’s Corrupt path went crazy. Only at this time did they realize that they had been tricked.

Practically, all the Corrupt sects in the Eastern Xuan Region had loaned money to the Evil Spirit Sect. When the Central Xuan Region’s experts came to investigate, they were stunned to find that all this money had been whisked away by the patriarch.

Many people were now holding IOUs in their hands and had no idea who they were supposed to find to get the money. All the Evil Spirit Sect’s money had vanished as well.

The entire Corrupt path was enraged. Ever since the Corrupt path had been established, they had never encountered such a thing. The higher-ups were infuriated and went all-out to find Zhao Mankun.

Unfortunately for them, Long Chen had long since disguised Zhao Mankun’s body and headed off to the Heaven Splitting Battle Sect.

When he was close to the Heaven Splitting Battle Sect, he took out his Yuan Spirit and burned Zhao Mankun’s body to ashes with the Heaven Incinerating Flame. He left behind no traces.

Later, the Corrupt path’s higher-ups asked Heavenly Fate Island to calculate the fate of Zhao Mankun, only to find that he had long since died. After a careful analysis, they found that he had been dead even before he had come out of seclusion. The Corrupt path was shocked.

No matter how amazing Heavenly Fate Island was, they could only read the fates of living people. Dead people, especially matters relating to the Netherworld, couldn’t possibly be calculated.

In the end, this matter was added to the ranks of the four mysteries of the Corrupt path. Even countless years later, no one managed to figure this mystery out.

However, due to the patriarch, one of Pill Valley’s Grand Elders had been killed. As for how Pill Valley and the Corrupt path settled that bill, only they knew.

...

Long Chen took a deep breath and slowly opened his eyes. The old man was sitting calmly in front of him. Their palms were still pressing against each other. The old man’s eyes were still closed, and his aura had vanished. It was like he had died.

“Old man, you have to come back.”

Long Chen made a prayer inside. The Netherworld was truly dangerous. The slightest mistake would cause someone to lose their life.

Long Chen carefully retreated from this place. This was a private room, and the Heaven Splitting Blade was protecting it. There was even a formation outside isolating it. This was the safest place in the Heaven Splitting Battle Sect.

Long Chen exited. The bosses were guarding the entrance and immediately began to ask him what had happened. “Little fellow, what happened? How did your Yuan Spirit come from outside?”

Long Chen’s movement arts might be able to conceal his Yuan Spirit from the regular disciples, but there was no way he could have snuck into this room with the seven bosses guarding it. Long Chen hadn’t explained at that time and had entered to return to his body before saying anything.

Now that he came out, the seven bosses crowded him. The matter of Long Chen entering the Netherworld was only known by them. Not even Bao Buping and Chang Hao were told.

It wasn’t that they didn’t trust them, but that the two of them were still young. They weren’t experienced enough, and who knew what would accidentally come out of their mouths?

“Everything went smoothly.”

Long Chen didn’t dare to tell them everything. All he said was that he and the old man had gone through everything up to the Gates of Hell smoothly. On the way back, he had encountered someone from the Corrupt path called Zhao Mankun, slain him, and then entered his body through his gate. He gave a simple explanation of what he had done in the Corrupt path to con money.

Whenever he wanted to mention what exactly happened in Purgatory, Long Chen felt a faint sense of unease, so he didn’t mention it in the end.

This kind of unease didn’t stem from himself, it was unease for the seven bosses. He now realized at least one restriction binding him, the existence known as karma. If he told them about everything, it would very likely harm them.

“Hahaha…”

“Little fellow, you have some talent…”

“The Corrupt path really has been conned…”

The seven bosses cried tears of laughter when they heard about how Long Chen had conned the Corrupt path. It was definitely satisfying. Perhaps only someone like Long Chen would think of such a con.

“This is even better than hacking them with a blade,” praised the fourth boss. Although Long Chen’s con wouldn’t cause the Eastern Xuan Region’s Corrupt path to collapse, it could count as at least giving them a serious blow. The new disciples would definitely end up falling far behind the others. Money really was the most frightening thing.

“Hehe, the Xuantian Dao Sect needs money to rebuild. I had no choice!” Long Chen laughed mischievously.

“Don’t let it get to your head. Hurry and go back. You’ve been in seclusion for two months. The day before yesterday, I heard that the Xuantian Dao Sect’s construction already came to a stop. They probably ran out of money,” said Boss Bao.

“Alright, then I’ll leave for now.”

Long Chen said his goodbyes to the bosses. Without saying goodbye to Chang Hao or Bao Buping, he began rushing over to the Xuantian Dao Sect.