Chapter 137 - 71: Madam, You Wouldn’t Want...

Chapter 137: Chapter 71: Madam, You Wouldn’t Want...

"Madam Su, now do you believe I can push Miss Linyin over the passing line?"

Hearing Jiang Xuan’s question, Su Wanyi first looked up, feeling the bone-chilling Frosty Winter Cold that filled the courtyard. Her gaze then fell upon the faint, wintry pattern on Jiang Xuan’s forehead. Finally, she nodded her head—a gesture devoid of any condescension—and said, "You have that power."

The words had barely left her lips when, without waiting for Jiang Xuan to speak or for Liu Hui to interject, Su Wanyi turned to Jiang Xuan herself, her gaze pleading. "Jiang Xuan, are you willing to help Linyin?" ℴ

Jiang Xuan shrugged. He neither agreed immediately nor refused outright. Instead, he stated frankly, "It’s difficult. True, I have the ability to push her past the qualifying threshold, but Madam Su should be aware that in the assessment, the rewards for the top ranks are vastly different from those that follow."

"Moreover, the assessment in two days is a joint examination for all three academies. This assessment will be more difficult than any before it, but the rewards for the top spots will be correspondingly richer. If I have to carry another person, my own ranking will drop by several places. The resulting loss would be... significant."

"And there’s something else I must consider—the number of slots for the three-academy joint exam is fixed and incredibly important. Each one is practically a ticket into the Inner Sect. If I push Miss Su Linyin up, it means someone else gets pushed down. That person will inevitably come to resent me."

At this, Jiang Xuan offered Su Wanyi a faint smile. "Take you, for example, Madam Su. I imagine you would hate to see Miss Linyin fail and lose her chance at an Inner Sect slot, wouldn’t you?"

*CRACK...*

As his last sentence landed, Su Wanyi’s expression darkened—the subtext in Jiang Xuan’s words already carried a hint of veiled coercion.

Of course, Jiang Xuan’s threat wasn’t that he would personally eliminate Su Linyin.

His arrogance was just a front; he would never be so foolish as to offend a Cultivation Clan.

The coercion he mentioned was his way of making it clear to Su Wanyi that the joint exam in two days was not just a simple assessment. It was like the imperial examinations of the mortal world, where every single rank was an admission ticket to become an Inner Sect Disciple.

Without his help, Su Linyin would almost certainly miss out on this ticket. And if that happened, she would very likely lose her status as an Inner Sect Disciple.

And in the Shenxiao Sect, where one must fight for every inch on the Great Dao, falling behind once meant falling behind forever, making it nearly impossible to ever catch up.

...

Su Wanyi understood the deeper meaning behind Jiang Xuan’s words. What made her expression grow even colder was the fact that she couldn’t refute his logic. This feeling of being at someone else’s mercy caused her fingertips to curl slightly as her thoughts turned to the worst-case scenario.

She stared at Jiang Xuan for several long breaths, her gaze filled with a dignified authority. Finally, she let out a cold snort and asked point-blank, "Are you using this as a condition to demand Linyin’s hand in marriage?"

"Huh?!"

This time, it was Jiang Xuan’s turn to be stunned. He stared blankly for a few moments before it dawned on him, and he quickly waved his hands in dismissal.

"Madam Su, you’ve misunderstood. That wasn’t my intention at all."

Jiang Xuan truly had no such thoughts. Everything he had said, including his sudden shift to an arrogant attitude, was merely a tactic to make Su Wanyi nervous and drive up the price for his services.

Realizing Su Wanyi had misunderstood, Jiang Xuan hurriedly explained, "My Heart is currently set on Cultivation; I have no intention of starting a family... If you want me to act, what Madam Su needs to provide are Spirit Stones and resources."

"Just some Spirit Stones and resources?!" Su Wanyi let out a long sigh of relief. Her gaze, as she looked at Jiang Xuan, shifted from icy to peculiar.

"It’s not as simple as ’some’," Jiang Xuan corrected. "The quantity of Spirit Stones and resources I require is not small. If we were to measure it purely in Spirit Stones, it would likely be as much as three thousand."

This was by no means a low price, but Jiang Xuan was certain Su Wanyi would be willing to pay it.

The upcoming second-round assessment wasn’t some ordinary monthly test; its importance was comparable to the prefectural examination in the mortal world’s imperial system. And if someone, right before that exam, could guarantee to help another pass and become a Scholar, there would certainly be people willing to pay 3,000 taels of silver.

In fact, that was exactly the case.

"Only three thousand Spirit Stones? Very well."

Hearing that Jiang Xuan only wanted Spirit Stones and had no designs on her daughter, Su Wanyi first breathed a sigh of relief.

But soon after, a flicker of disappointment ignited in her Heart, along with a touch of annoyance.

’He really has no interest in Linyin at all.’

Of course, she didn’t let this displeasure show on her face. Her tone remained steady. "The three thousand Spirit Stones, I can give them to you now—"

"Hold on a moment." Jiang Xuan stopped Su Linyin as she was about to take out the Spirit Stones, then said directly, "Madam Su, I’d ask that you exchange those Spirit Stones for some Cultivation insights from predecessors, ones rich in Dao Rhyme. Then, please help me find some Soul Soup Medicine to restore my spiritual senses. And finally, help me buy some high-quality Elixir Pills that are easy for Refinement. All expenses are to be deducted from the three thousand Spirit Stones."

"As for any remaining Spirit Stones, there’s no rush to deliver them. I may have other needs over the next two days, and I’ll have to trouble you for your assistance then as well."

At this point, Jiang Xuan’s true motive for making a deal with Su Wanyi was laid bare. He was clearly trying to borrow the Su Family’s power to pave the way for his own advancement beyond the Qi Cultivator realm.

He didn’t ask for the Spirit Stones directly because he himself didn’t know the specific requirements for advancing past the Perfection stage of a Qi Cultivator. Therefore, Jiang Xuan could only leave the resources in her hands for the time being.

And to ensure Su Wanyi would put her full effort into the task, Jiang Xuan added one more thing. "Please don’t think of this as a bother, Madam Su. To be frank, I am gathering these items to increase my own strength. The stronger I become, the smoother things will go for Miss Linyin during the assessment in two days, and the more secure her ranking will be."