Chapter 311: Deceiving the Nine Nether Sect is the Wen Dao Sect Tradition

"This 'Heavenly Court Sect' is not well-known, yet its foundation is so profound?" Fifth Elder gasped, having never heard of such a sect.

Seeing that Fifth Elder was startled, Lu Yang continued, "Besides the aforementioned resources, the Heavenly Court Sect will soon undergo a major expansion. We already have two candidates: one possesses an innate immortal body, like the ancient Nine-Layered Immortal, the first to achieve immortality, who ascended because of an innate immortal body."

"The other is blessed with the fortunes of their entire clan, with immense destiny, cultivating both martial and scholarly arts!"

"Fifth Elder, what do you say? Will you join us?"

"Originally, our Heavenly Court Sect planned for a long period of growth to truly dominate in the great competition, but the despicable Nine Nether Sect has targeted us. We need a protector to help us deal with them!"

Lu Yang clasped his fists and solemnly stated, "If Fifth Elder is willing to lend a hand to our Heavenly Court Sect this time, we will surely offer a generous reward in the future!"

Fifth Elder was silent for a moment. Just as Lu Yang thought he was about to agree, Fifth Elder slowly asked,

"Has your Heavenly Court Sect registered with the imperial court?"

Lu Yang paused, "Registered?"

"Yes, the laws of Great Xia stipulate that any organization must register with the local authorities. Those that do not register are operating illegally and are severely targeted. The former Four Demonic Sects, and now the Three Demonic Sects, none of them are registered."

Lu Yang was speechless.

Seeing Lu Yang and the others fall silent, Fifth Elder laughed heartily, "Alright, alright, just tell me what's going on. Stop with these deceptions. What is truly happening?"

As one of the renowned Nine Sons of Dao Inquiry, Fifth Elder would naturally not be fooled by Lu Yang.

What "ancient immortal heritage" or "aid from major aristocratic families"—weren't they just referring to themselves?

After the annihilation of the Undying Sect, Lu Yang inherited the Undying Immortal's legacy.

Meng Jingzhou, as the eldest son of the Meng family, had all his expenditures counted as aid from a major aristocratic family.

Li Haoran's previous life, Qin Haoran, was a half-step Tribulation Transcender.

Qin Yanran's father is Qin Haoran, naturally making her the first in line for inheritance.

Lu Yang, left with no choice, truthfully recounted the entire story, which left Fifth Elder astonished and his eyes gleaming.

"You all are quite clever! Inventing a fictitious Heavenly Court to deceive the Nine Nether Sect, thereby forming a cooperation, and if you're lucky, you might even find the Blazing Sun Sect and the Heartless Sect."

Fifth Elder's expression turned reminiscent, "I recall that about nine hundred years ago, we nine also did something similar to what you're doing."

"What happened?" Lu Yang and the other three looked at Fifth Elder with curiosity.

Fifth Elder picked up a stone and casually refined it into a table and chairs, inviting Lu Yang and the others to sit.

The table and chairs appeared thin, but having been refined by Fifth Elder, a grandmaster of artifact refining, they were sturdy enough to withstand several attacks from a Golden Core stage cultivator.

"It was about nine hundred years ago. Eighth Junior Brother, impersonating a low-level cultivator, was out performing heroic deeds when he stumbled upon a trace of a Nine Nether Sect cultist. He didn't expose him but rather followed his instincts and mingled with the cultist, spending days and nights gambling and visiting brothels. Most of the time, Eighth Junior Brother was paying, and this conduct quickly earned him the trust of the Nine Nether Sect cultist."

Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou hadn't interacted much with Eighth Elder, but they had a deep impression of him.

After all, Eighth Elder dared to sell Meng Jingzhou the entrance exam questions from twenty years ago, swearing they were the real questions.

"What happened next?"

"The Nine Nether Sect cultist then asked how Eighth Junior Brother, also a Nascent Soul cultivator, had so many spirit stones. Eighth Junior Brother replied that they had discovered a longevity-enhancing elixir formula. Although the improvement wasn't significant, it was enough to drive those cultivators nearing the end of their lifespan into a frenzy to buy it."

"Eighth Junior Brother also said it was inside information from their organization and that he wouldn't tell him if they weren't such good friends."

"However, the longevity elixir formula had a very low yield and couldn't meet demand. They needed a large number of spirit stones to purchase raw materials to scale up production."

"Eighth Junior Brother said their organization was short on funds and asked if he could borrow some money. It wouldn't be a free loan; they guaranteed to return the principal plus twenty percent interest after one year."

"The Nine Nether Sect cultist was tempted but still skeptical, initially investing only tens of thousands of spirit stones. A year later, Eighth Junior Brother returned the principal as promised, plus twenty percent interest."

"The Nine Nether Sect cultist tried this for three years, and it was the same every year."

"Later, this matter was discovered by the cultist's superior in the Nine Nether Sect. The superior also wanted to invest and asked Eighth Junior Brother if it was possible. Eighth Junior Brother said he needed to consult his superior, and then he brought out Ninth Junior Brother, your master."

"Your master said it was possible to invest. Afterward, the cultist's superior invested for five years, and his assets more than doubled, which delighted him."

"There are no secrets that don't get out. This matter eventually reached the Nine Nether Sect Leader. The Leader didn't tell anyone else but cautiously proposed to visit the alchemy process. Eighth and Ninth Junior Brothers called us over and had us fabricate an alchemy scene, with Big Senior Brother pretending to be a test subject who had consumed the elixir."

"After the Leader's visit, he found us nine quite reliable. He first invested his own spirit stones and made a considerable amount of money."

"Although he made a lot of money, the Leader felt it wasn't enough, so he set his sights on the Nine Nether Sect's treasury. He thought, if he used the treasury for investment and returned all the spirit stones to the treasury when he gained profits a year later, keeping the interest for himself, wouldn't that be perfect?"

"The Leader embezzled a portion of the treasury and made even more money. Still not satisfied, he ended up investing most of the treasury."

"And then we absconded with the funds."

"Don't tell anyone about this, not even your grandmaster knows about it," Fifth Elder warned.

Qin Yanran was puzzled, "Weren't the spirit stones you returned to the Nine Nether Sect as profits from the Dao Inquiry Sect? How could Grandmaster not know?"

Fifth Elder shook his head, "We didn't need the Dao Inquiry Sect's money at all. Throughout the entire process, only Eighth Junior Brother used his own spirit stones when he first deceived the cultist."

Qin Yanran was even more confused.

Fifth Elder was very patient with his grand-disciple, "Think about it, when we were returning profits, weren't there other Nine Nether Sect cultists coming to invest with us?"

Qin Yanran nodded.

"Then couldn't we just return the spirit stones invested by the new investors to the previous batch?"

Qin Yanran suddenly understood.

"Wait, isn't that fraud?"

"I asked Eighth Junior Brother that same question. Eighth Junior Brother said, 'How can this be called fraud? We simply experienced a business failure, and the invested funds went to waste. It's normal for business to have gains and losses.'

'If they feel wronged, they can report us to the imperial court. We are upright and fear no shadows.'

'And if there's any crime, it's the Nine Nether Sect Leader who committed it by embezzling property.'"

Qin Yanran was speechless.

Lu Yang noticed Li Haoran's expression was unusually strange. "What's wrong?"

Li Haoran looked at his master with a conflicted expression, "The sect leader who was defrauded became so enraged that he quickly died of anger. Then, Qin Haoran took over as sect leader and discovered major financial problems within the Nine Nether Sect."

"The previous sect leader died without ever knowing who had swindled him."