Aside from being sympathetic to the School of Blue Jade, Miao Yi's mood wasn't much affected by their fate. They were merely using each other for their own gains. He was now more concerned about his excursion to the Sea of Constellations a few years from now. Miao Yi turned to enter his residence and asked the two ladies, "How did the trading go for you two?"

The ladies revealed to him the results of their deals. They had sold everything for a total of five million Gold Crystals. The priciest items of all were the spiritual herbs that Tong Renmei had given him.

Miao Yi couldn't help but exchanged a few glances with Yan Xiu. This was probably the last gift that the School of Blue Jade would give to him.

As for the demonic beast skins that Miao Yi required, the ladies didn't manage to buy them as there wasn't enough stock in the branch at South Edict Manor.

There were essentially not very many cultivators in South Edict Manor, and even less of them them who would use Yao Cores to refine disposable talismans. These items hadn't been bought for a few hundred years, which was why the branch in South Edict Manor would generally not prepare a stock of them.

However, Wen Fang had already gone to gather the skins. She said she would delivery them personally once she returned.

Since the branch in South Edict Manor didn't have any stock, it was little wonder that the ladies couldn't finish their job successfully. However, there was no rush to get those skins yet.

Turning back, Miao Yi was worried that the School of Blue Jade disciples would grow unsettled, and so he ordered Yan Xiu to inspect every corner of Mount Calming Sea.

After Yan Xiu received the order and left, Qian'Er and Xue'Er decided to show a bunch of souvenirs to Miao Yi. Some of them were edible, and some were for playing; it seemed like both of them had gone all out in the city and bought back quite a lot of items.

Miao Yi didn't know whether to cry of laugh after he took a glance at the items. These were all souvenirs sold in the marketplace. The girls weren't interested in the lavish items they had received from their followers, but they were quite amused with these little inexpensive souvenirs they bought themselves. One could imagine the life they had gone through when they lived in a confined environment long ago.

Miao Yi wasn't interested in these peanuts and trinkets. He didn't disturb the ladies from their play and allowed them to carry on by themselves. In the meantime, he would go off and continue his cultivation...

A few days later, Tian Qingfeng and the others returned with solemn faces. By then, news of the destruction of the School of Blue Jade had already reached the two manors. The disciples of the three main schools were delighted with their misfortune; the disciples of the School of Blue Jade, on the other hand, were depressed and sorrowful about the news.

Regardless whether it was Yang Qing at the top or Miao Yi at the bottom, both of them only looked on coldly from the sidelines. They could not possibly ask for justice on behalf of the School of Blue Jade, as there was none to begin with in the world of cultivation. Only those with more power would be able to win. Besides, both of them didn't have the means of doing such a thing.

As the ringleader of this incident, Yang Qing would not be concerned with it. As for Miao Yi, if he died, would the School of Blue Jade avenge him? The answer was most certainly a no.

In any case, Miao Yi was the same. Their relations.h.i.+p hadn't reached a point where one would risk their lives for the other.

Most importantly, the Sea of Constellations Subjugation Crusade was drawing near. Each great school would send their candidates to partic.i.p.ate as well. If he tried his hardest to offend the people of the three main schools now, they would surely have a merciless death for him once they were all in the Sea of Constellations. As he was a person of office, no one would dare to do anything to him now. However, if he were to offend anyone, the repercussions of that would be apparent when it came time to head to the Sea of Constellations.

The most logically way to handle it was to turn a blind eye to this matter. He would have to consider it a personal grudge between two cultivation sects...

It seemed like around this time of the year, there would always be heavy snowfall when it came time for the tributes of the Orbs of Will.

Each respective Cave Master came over with their troops one by one. He paid them the Orbs of Will in full, but there were no expressions of joy visible on their faces. 

Miao Yi's earnings had significantly increased. He had complete freedom to do as he wished with a hundred Orbs of Will harvested from the va.s.sal city. Additionally, his followers would offer him with another hundred more.

Even though Mount Calming Sea was housing so many Blue Lotus experts right now, the total population hadn't increased at all. After paying the Orbs of Will to the original number of experts, he had to use more of the tributes to cover the wages of the new Blue Lotus experts too.

Yet at the end of the year, Miao Yi still had some surplus of Orbs of Will on his hands. One must know that during his years in the East Arrival Cave, he hadn't even supported this many Blue Lotus experts. However, each year he had to fork out another one to two hundred orbs from his personal funds. Now, he was earning more instead. This was a good thing. The advantages and disadvantages of becoming a Mountain Chieftain were slowly becoming more apparent to him.

The joy of receiving Orbs of Will was more or less mitigated by the dark clouds that hung over the School of Blue Jade disciples.

According to the custom in years past, each respective Cave Master would have to escort Miao Yi to South Edict Manor for the tributes.

However, due to the urgency of the s.h.i.+p's construction in the East Arrival Cave, all of the Cave Masters were dismissed and sent back to their own territories. Should East Arrival Cave encounter any problems, the other Cave Masters would be able to send reinforcements in time.

Miao Yi called out to Tian Qingfeng and two Deacons. In addition, he brought along Liu Qian from the Jade Lady Sect, Ma Hu from the School of Imperial Beasts, and an ex-Deacon from the Sword Deviate Sect at Mount Calming Sea. Altogether, he called a party of six to accompany him to South Edict Manor.

When he reached South Edict Manor, he would have to meet with the three main schools. Doing so would send a message to them, allowing the three main schools to see his goodwill.

He had no choice. There would be a hundred and fifty thousand cultivators raging war in the Sea of Constellations. There was no need to explain the harsh conditions they would have face. Yang Qing had already warned him beforehand, allowing him to build a good relations.h.i.+p with the three main schools. Yang Qing's warning made sense. He didn't wish to battle with a hundred and fifty thousand cultivators all by himself; doing so would only seal his fate. If he could form a team with the disciples from the three main schools partic.i.p.ating in the crusade, then he would have a greater chance of resisting danger and boost his own survivability. 

Liu Qian and the others had a mischievous expression on their face when they knew of Miao Yi's arrangement for them, and exchanged glances with each other. It seemed that this Mountain Chieftain was still quite sensible after all.

Tian Qingfeng and the others were more or less dour when they realized Miao Yi plan. They weren't aware that Miao Yi was going to the Sea of Constellations, and only felt that that human relations.h.i.+ps were a fickle thing indeed.

Noticing their expressions, he called Tian Qingfeng to stand behind him, and gave him a reminder, "Don't think too much of it. Every year, Manor Head will set aside some of the tributes as rewards and allow the every Cave Master a chance to earn them. With your current situation, it is not recommended for all of you to bask in this limelight just yet. Please understand my struggle. Go down and explain this to your disciples." 

Tian Qingfeng felt better after he received a satisfying explanation from Miao Yi. Suddenly feeling enlightened, 'So that's how it is.'

He had heard about part of the tributes being used as rewards before. Based on their overall power as Blue Lotus cultivators, they wouldn't have to worry too much about grabbing the rewards for themselves. However, this was indeed a bad time to do that. If they insisted, wouldn't that mean they would have to intentionally throw the towel and admit defeat to prove themselves wrong? Not partic.i.p.ating in that would be the best way to handle it.

"Your subordinate understands." Tian Qingfeng cupped his hands together and gave his thanks.

Miao Yi turned around and led six subordinates on mounts out from the gates of Mount Calming Sea. However, they were faced with a person riding a mount on the mountain path. This person was no stranger—it was Wen Fang.

With one look , Miao Yi immediately what she intended with her arrival. He knew that she came to deliver the demonic beast skins to him. However, he was busy right now. Besides, he already handed over the matter of dealing with trades over to Qian'Er and Xue'Er.

When Wen Fang saw Miao Yi, she was delighted and immediately halted her mount in the snow.

However, Miao Yi simply greeted her with a smile and nodded, before saying, "Go find Qian'Er and Xue'Er."

After tossing a few words at her, he left and pa.s.sed her by; his men cutting through on either side of her. In an instant, they were already miles away.

Wen Fang turned her steed around to watch their silhouette disappear from the horizon. She bit her lips as her black hair blew against the falling snow. Her eyes had turned slightly red as she felt a little insulted. She breathed heavily atop her mount, with white mist billowing out through her mouth.

Previously, Qian'Er and Xue'Er had sought her out after they reaching South Edict City. When she learned that it was Miao Yi's transaction, her spirits were instant lifted by a tremendous amount. Even though Miao Yi hadn't give her a big deal like she was expecting, this was a good beginning. She must let Miao Yi see her most professional att.i.tude in handling his business.

Unfortunately, South Edict City did not have the skins that Miao Yi wanted. At the time, Wen Fang quickly a.s.sured the two ladies that she would definitely delivery them as soon as possible.

The amount of skins that Miao Yi wanted weren't very expensive. Hence, the superiors would not bother to send Red Lotus cultivators for the sake of personally delivering such inexpensive items. After waiting for her message to reach Suppressing Second Hall, their response was that they had some supply, but it wasn't sufficient to meet her demands.

After all, there weren't many people who would use talismans in Suppressing Second Hall. Particularly, it was too wasteful to use Yao Cores for talismans that could only be used once. Not many people would use them in such a small place like that.

When she was informed that the branch in Traversin Moon Palace would immediately delivery some of their stock to them—for the sake of delivering the skins to Miao Yi and saving some time—Wen Fang rushed to Suppressing Second Hall through the night. A lone woman relentlessly journeying whether it was day or night; even braving through violent snow storms without rest before finally delivering the items to Mount Calming Sea in haste. She did this so that she could express her sincerity to Miao Yi.

Against her expectations, her wholehearted sincerity was only met with Miao Yi's casual greeting. Such a minor character like herself was not held with much regard by him. She felt her nose growing sore after having her bitter hard work completely ignored. 

Taking note of her mount's condition, Wen Fang saw that it was already weary from the journey. Wiping away the tears in her eyes, she took a deep breath and gave herself an encouraging smile. She believed that as long as she continued to work hard, Miao Yi would one day summon her through the use of her name card—just like how he had done for Luo Ping.

She swept back her hair that was dishevelled by the wind and snow behind her fair-skinned earlobes, and turned her exhausted dragon steed around toward Mount Calming Sea once again...

After leading his troops to South Edict Manor, Miao Yi met up with Yang Qing and paid his tributes. When he was done reporting the situation of Mount Calming Sea, he then headed straight to the waiting room.

Most of the respective Mountain Chieftains had already arrived. The majority of them had odd expressions on their faces as they gazed at Miao Yi. Inside everyone's mind, Miao Yi had given the impression that his rise to his position was all due to the School of Blue Jade. Now that they had been destroyed, Miao Yi was deprived of foreign aid. Many of them were delighted with his misfortune.

However, no one dared to show it on their faces. If this lunatic was able to lead his men and charge into Thriving Ten-Thousand Manor in Suppressing Second Hall's territory to kill Xiong Xiao—what else was he wouldn't he do? Because of that, when they saw Miao Yi enter the waiting room, they cupped their fists together and greeted him.

However, this was just a courteous greeting. Facing a newcomer like Miao Yi, each respective senior Mountain Chieftains maintained just the necessary niceties around him. It was apt to say that they were quite jealous of Miao Yi's abrupt rise to his post. If it wasn't for his fierce reputation of being a person not to be trifled with, some would have most likely ridiculed Miao Yi by now. 

Miao Yi could read the thoughts in their eyes. However, he didn't take it seriously as they hadn't done anything to him yet. Would he be able to control the thoughts of others? He wouldn't be able to control the Six Sages either. One should take it easy when the situation allowed; otherwise, the others would only grow frustrated, and he would be the only one to become enraged.

Qin Weiwei was here as well. Undoubtedly, she was quite well-respected by the all the Mountain Chieftains. When she saw Miao Yi, she smiled and gave him a nod. After that, she walked toward him, and keeping her smile on her face, said, "Would you like to go out for a walk?"

Miao Yi hesitated for a moment. Wouldn't it be bad if Yang Qing were to see them walking together? However, in the end, they still walked out together.

As the two of them walked alongside each other, they pa.s.sed by a gallery with ornamented beams and painted ridges while having some light conversations; each exchanging queries on their situation after they being promoted to their respective positions. As the mountain ridge piled with snow, they continued chatting amicably as they gazed about the snowy ridge.

c.o.c.king his head slightly, Miao Yi took a peek at Qin Weiwei's charming appearance amidst the snow. Seeing that she wasn't angry about the previous matter, Miao Yi smiled and said, "Mountain Chieftain Qin. There is something I need your help with."

Qin Weiwei turned to him and said, "It seems you will only treat me as a friend whenever you need my help. However, I still treat you as my friend. How about you?"

"Alright, Weiwei." Miao Yi changed his form of address to her.

Curious, Qin Weiwei asked, "You are already a Mountain Chieftain now. If there's any matter, you can always look for Manor Head directly. What do you still need me for?"

"This is unrelated to Manor Head. I have a friend who's under you. His name is Chen Fei. If it isn't an inconvenience, please help me take care of him."

"If you want to transfer him over, I can let him go."

"It is be better for him to stay at your side than at mine." Miao Yi shook his head. If he didn't have to go to the Sea of Constellations, he would have asked Qin Weiwei to transfer that person to him earlier. However, having Chen Fei transferred over could possibly exposed him as Miao Yi's trusted follower. If Miao Yi didn't make it back from the Sea of Constellations, it might not be convenient for Chen Fei at all.