Yang Qing began perusing the details of the case, while in the background, Mao Yunru loudly ground her teeth and occasionally sent him death glares, which he deftly pretended not to notice.
"Mm, let's see... The Mountain Spring Pavilion, a rank 4 merchant organization, has filed a complaint against the Yellow Lotus Sect, a rank 4 sect. The complaint is failure to make repayments on the agreed-upon repayment schedule. The loan was to be repaid in 8 years, however, they only serviced it for three, but for the past year or so, they haven't made a single repayment.
The remaining debt owed to the Mountain Spring Pavilion is 6,450,208 middle-grade spirit stones, to be repaid within five years with a 10% interest rate. That brings the total amount due at the end of five years to 8,222,871 middle-grade spirit stones.
These merchants really know how to make money... But a monthly repayment of 137,000 shouldn't be difficult for a rank 4 sect. With all their businesses, lands, and resources, scraping together that amount shouldn't be hard, especially considering their monthly expenses must be at least a hundred times more than that.
Is something going on with the sect?" Yang Qing paused, silently mulling it over. Then he shook his head and resumed reading. It was better to hear the situation directly from the parties involved than waste energy imagining scenarios that might end up far from the truth.
"Mmmh... From Su Jinjing's findings, it seems the Yellow Lotus Sect has debts with other merchant organizations as well, but interestingly, they've been honestly servicing those debts, with none in default.
That must be why the Mountain Spring Pavilion decided to escalate the matter to the Order. With their information network, it wouldn't have been difficult to discover they were the only ones not receiving payments.
mmh....Apparently, when they confronted the Yellow Lotus Sect about the outstanding dues, the sect didn't own up. Instead, they did something the Mountain Spring Pavilion didn't expect. What's this?" Yang Qing muttered in surprise.
"They offered one of their core disciples as collateral for the debt under the auspices that he was the cause of it.
This makes no sense."
Yang Qing looked even more puzzled by the matter.
A sect being unable to repay its debt was already a red flag, but using a core disciple as collateral was even stranger.
Core disciples were highly prized figures in any sect. To earn that title, one had to possess talent that far outshone their peers. They were the future leaders of the sect, groomed and nurtured with great care and resources. Considering how valued they were, it made no sense for any sect to risk losing one, especially in such an absurd and reckless manner as using them to pay off a debt.
Yang Qing was dazed for a moment before deciding to continue reading, hoping the report would reveal some reason behind the sect's odd choice.
"It seems the Mountain Spring Pavilion was just as dumbfounded when they were told to take the core disciple away as repayment for the loan, prompting them to question the Yellow Lotus Sect's motives.
The Yellow Lotus Sect's response was a simple 'Huuuuuh? What's going on.. You should be honored that we are repaying the debt using our core disciple. In terms of value, he exceeds the amount we borrowed.'
According to them, the disciple had been the reason they took the loan in the first place, which was to support his cultivation. But he turned out to be a bottomless pit who devoured resources without showing any notable signs of improvement that matched the resources that were spent on him. In their frustration, the sect decided to use him as repayment for the loan they had taken on his behalf.
Since the entire debt was incurred for his sake, the sect felt it was only fair that he shoulder the responsibility. So, they offered him up to the Mountain Spring Pavilion to be dealt with however they wished, and considered the matter of the debt resolved.
Naturally, the Mountain Spring Pavilion took this as a grave insult. They viewed it as a shameless attempt by the Yellow Lotus Sect to weasel out of their financial obligation. However, with their limited strength as a newly promoted rank 4 organization, boasting only five core formation experts, three of whom were the organization's leaders, they lacked the power to enforce repayment. With no other recourse, they brought the matter before the Order."
Their decision to bring the matter before the Order was understandable, given the disparity in strength between them and the Yellow Lotus Sect. The Mountain Spring Pavilion had only five core formation experts, while the sect had nearly twenty. And in terms of history, the Yellow Lotus Sect held a clear advantage, having been established for at least 20,000 years.
"Mmmh, by those standards, they should be considered a high-tier sect among rank 4 organizations. A 20,000-year history means a deeper foundation and access to long-established resource channels. Repaying that debt shouldn't have been an issue for them."
The more Yang Qing read, the more puzzled he became, with new questions emerging by the second.
"Maybe the last party in this case might shed some light on things," Yang Qing murmured as he moved on to the details of one of the key figures at the center of it all—the core disciple in question.
Zhao Qi.
He was the one being used as collateral, and the unwitting source of the entire mess. Once the Mountain Spring Pavilion filed their suit against the Yellow Lotus Sect, they dragged Zhao Qi into it as well, making him an official part of the case.
"I can see he joined the sect when he was six years old. His performance during the entrance examinations was average. It was not particularly poor, but nothing noteworthy either," murmured Yang Qing as he read through Zhao Qi's profile in the sect.
His unassuming trend continued after he joined. He kept a low profile, was diligent in completing his sect-assigned tasks, and never undertook any tasks that were beyond his abilities. He had a mundane steadiness to him. He was a person who never tried to stand out, and from what Yang Qing read of him, it even seemed like Zhao Qi deliberately sought to avoid the limelight, given that it was noted not once had he ever participated in the sect competitions or any high-profile event.
About the only thing that stood out about him was his solid grasp of the basics, particularly his proficiency with the entry-level cultivation art given to new disciples for body refinement and qi refinement.
It was during this period that one of the outer sect elders discovered Zhao Qi had already reached the gold body stage in the body refining realm. The revelation sent ripples through the sect. As a result, he was directly promoted to core disciple status, bypassing the inner sect entirely.
He became the disciple of one of the core elders, a man named Wei Peng. From then on, Zhao Qi's talent began to shine. He displayed a natural aptitude for cultivation and quickly developed skill in various cultivation arts, especially with the sword. By sixteen, he had reached the peak of the qi refinement realm, and after two years of stabilizing his foundation, he broke through to the foundation establishment realm. His first pillar was a blue-grade pillar, a feat that attracted the attention of even the sect master and some of the retired elders who had long gone into seclusion in hopes of breaking through to the palace realm.
With the level of talent he showed, the sect decided to pour the bulk of their resources into nurturing him, hoping he would one day reach the palace realm.
Yang Qing's eyes gleamed slightly as he read through an excerpt on the sect attached to that part of Zhao Qi's story.
"Interesting…"Yang Qing softly muttered.
The Yellow Lotus Sect once had three palace realm experts, but they were all presumed dead when they disappeared in a mysterious realm they were exploring 400 years ago, and hadn't been heard from since. When news of their absence spread, rival organizations began circling like wolves.
Given the pressure that immediately fell on them from the long-term absence or death of their most powerful experts, it wasn't surprising that the sect's next actions were centered on desperately trying to shore up that weakness.
So when Zhao Qi displayed such talent, first with his gold body and then with a blue-grade foundation pillar, the sect pinned their hopes on him. He was given special treatment and access to top-tier resources. Despite being only at the first level of the foundation realm, he received top-grade sky-rank herbs and potions. The arrays in his cultivation abode were upgraded to a level that would satisfy even a core formation expert. He also received specialized instruction from nearly all the core elders, including the sect master.
"Mmh... Yet despite all of that, after seven years, Zhao Qi hadn't made a single breakthrough. He remained stuck at the first level of the foundation realm."
At first, the sect suspected there was a hidden bottleneck or problem with Zhao Qi. But they later discovered it was Zhao Qi's own doing. He claimed he was deliberately holding back, aiming to reinforce his foundation so that it would be firmer and more robust.
The sect, however, found this claim hard to accept. They questioned what kind of "solidified foundation" required over six million spirit stones' worth of resources. They even joked that if a normal pig had received the same treatment, it would have reached the peak of the core formation realm by now.
Their concern only deepened. Just how much more would they have to invest before Zhao Qi deemed his foundation "stable enough"? They had already gone far beyond what was typical for a core disciple, given that what they spent on him nearly matched what their core elders received.
Zhao Qi remained stubborn as he refused to advance his cultivation despite the mounting pressure from the sect. He maintained his stance and used the resources afforded to him to "solidify his foundation" until the sect finally had it and decided to cut off his support, despite the pleas from his master.
When the Mountain Spring Pavilion came to collect on the debt, the sect, driven by anger and frustration, threw Zhao Qi at them as repayment. Some of the elders had even sacrificed portions of their own monthly resource quotas so Zhao Qi could receive them. To see him squander it all left them feeling deeply betrayed.
It was only because of the sheer amount of resources already invested in him that they didn't go as far as crippling his cultivation altogether.
"What an interesting kid," Yang Qing said, pushing the white jade talisman to the side. A curious glint flashed in his eyes as he smiled.