Pyramid schemes are the kind of thing where the speaker is passionate, and the listener even more so.
After returning to their residence, Chen Qin remained excited for nearly half the night.
It was not until the latter half of the night, when she finally coaxed the Little Ancestor to sleep, that Mei'er had time to report the matter to the Matriarch.
Even now, Mei'er felt that the matter was outrageous, because no one had ever thought of it that way before.
The Thousand Mechanisms Technique was considered a minor art precisely because it required a great deal of expense and consumed a great deal of time.
The materials required to make a Thousand Mechanisms Item usable by someone in the Golden Core Realm were enough to Forge more than ten Spirit Swords of the same grade.
Forging a Thousand Mechanisms Item also consumed tremendous amounts of time and brainpower. Once one devoted themselves to studying it, they had no time left to improve their own Cultivation Level.
At present, the most powerful Thousand Mechanisms Cultivator in the world was only at the Golden Core Realm.
The Beast Taming Sect was different. Taming beasts did not interfere with one's own Cultivation; in fact, human and beast could communicate spiritually and complement each other.
Even the Matriarch, a peerless genius, had been forced to give up the Thousand Mechanism Technique and devote herself wholeheartedly to the Sword Dao.
Can Young Lady really do it?
Mei'er lifted and lowered her brush several times, but in the end, she wrote down everything exactly as it had happened.
She felt that these matters were not hers to decide.
After finishing the letter, Mei'er summoned a bronze furnace Magic Tool and tossed the letter into it.
Before long, gray smoke billowed from the furnace, and another letter was spat out.
Mei'er opened the letter, and her face instantly flushed red.
No problem.
Just let Qin Qin do it.
Do not reply to this letter. The Sect Master and I are busy.
At Midnight, the Sect Master was busy, and Zhang Ze was busy too.
As the person who had proposed the entire plan, he had many things to attend to.
Figuring out how to make the two Elders happy and get them to set up a stage for him was a minor matter.
As for learning the Thousand Mechanisms Technique, Chen Qin could simply write to her father. Zhang Ze did not need to worry about materials or other such issues at all.
The most important matter was still his own Cultivation Level.
Originally, Zhang Ze's plan had merely been to draw out another Side Quest from Chen Qin and unlock the Main Pavilion's Map ahead of time.
He had not expected to make such a huge play and trigger an ultimate task.
The task was excellent, but it could not solve his immediate needs.
That Wooden Kite was still in Chen Qin's hands. The Young Girl loved it so much that she could not bear to part with it, so it seemed he would not be getting it back.
The rewards Zhang Ze currently had in hand consisted only of the rewards for changing the world's course and Developing a new Cultivation Method.
They were quite generous, but this time there were only cultivation points and attribute points, with no Exchange Points.
They were enough to raise his Cultivation Level to Qi Refining Level 7, but he had no way to acquire a Cultivation Method through exchange.
Zhang Ze now had only a little over 500 Exchange Points left.
It was not enough—far from enough.
Zhang Ze held his brush and scribbled for a long while, thinking about how to stretch every penny, until he saw the things Elder Wang had placed at the corner of his Table.
They were the Sect's rewards. When Elder Wang came by that evening and saw that Zhang Ze was absent, he had placed them on Zhang Ze's Table.
When he opened the booklet, he Discovered that he had been rewarded with more than 500 Contribution Points.
Of course, some of them had been added because Old Wang's hands were not entirely clean.
But even 100 Contribution Points could be exchanged for many things within the Sect.
Zhang Ze opened his own task System shop and compared it with the Sect's Exchange List.
After looking for a long while, he Revealed a smile that said he had found a bug.
“It is time for my favorite Electricity Meter Reversal.”
A single shop could naturally bully its customers by virtue of its size, but with two shops, there was room for a middleman's game.
Disciples of the Sword Sect could also issue tasks through the Sect, but they had to provide the corresponding rewards themselves. Whether those rewards were items, Spirit Stones, or Contribution Points did not matter.
Every time Sword Sect Disciples went out Slaying Demons and Eliminating Devils, they would obtain heaps of miscellaneous things after killing Rogue Cultivators who caused trouble.
Especially all kinds of Daoist Magic Secret Manuals.
To Demonic Path practitioners and Rogue Cultivators, these things were gifts from heaven.
But Sword Sect Disciples truly looked down on them, especially the Heavenly Talents of the Inner Sect.
Buying these Cultivation Methods, which were no different from wastepaper in their hands, would not cost many Contribution Points.
Using Spirit Stones as the equivalent currency and doing the conversion, they were much cheaper than exchanging for them in the System shop.
He could completely sift gold from the dung and then make use of the System's trial function to accumulate several new Cultivation Methods.
Whenever a new Cultivation Method was Born, the System would give him cultivation points and a small number of Exchange Points.
He could then either hand the Cultivation Method over to Old Wang or list it within the Sect for others to exchange for, earning Contribution Points once again.
One fish, two meals—Electricity Meter Reversal.
It could also serve as cover for the Cultivation Methods he exchanged from the System.
Previously, for the Blood Fiend Technique, Five Ghosts Transport, and Spirit Recognition Technique, Zhang Ze had claimed that they were family Spells passed down before he entered the Sect.
Although Old Li, Old Wang, and the Sword Spirit had said nothing, the look in their Eyes was practically no different from saying that anyone who believed him was a fool.
They had merely chosen not to pursue the matter because they treated him well.
After all, everyone had their own little secrets.
Once he understood the Crucial point, Zhang Ze put to use the junior-high mathematics knowledge he had not touched in more than ten years and let his brush fly across the paper.
“Two into five, nine out thirteen back. Eight eights are seventy-two, nine nines are thirty-one.”
The next day, during Morning Class.
Senior Li Guanqi dragged an Iron rod to the Martial Arts field to inspect the Disciples' Morning Class.
He stood at the Sideline and rubbed his Eyes.
Then, feeling that he had not seen clearly, he rubbed them again.
This time, he saw clearly.
He saw Zhang Ze and Chen Qin honestly practicing their lessons on the Martial Arts field.
Their movements were standard and perfectly uniform.
Such Strange Scenery was practically unseen in a hundred years.
“If you ask me, Old Li, you had better be careful. When things are abnormal, there is bound to be something strange going on.”
Elder Wang appeared Behind Old Li with a face full of vigilance.
“Can you not look on the bright side? What if my Disciple has undergone a complete transformation?”
“Do you believe that yourself?”
“Disbelieve.”
At noon, in Old Wang's room at the detached courtyard of the Library Pavilion.
“Master, lend your Disciple some money.”
Zhang Ze poured tea for the two Elders with the most obedient movements while saying the most embarrassing thing imaginable.
“How much do you want?”
“The more, the better.”
“How about giving you the money we saved for our coffin?”
“Really?”
“Of course not! First tell us what you want it for.”
Zhang Ze scratched his head and told the two Elders his idea, along with the matter of improving the Trial.
He wanted to use the two Elders' names to post a task on the Inner Sect's task board, purchasing useless Low-level Cultivation Methods at a low price.
Naturally, he would use the two Elders' Contribution Points and Spirit Stones.
He would then improve those Cultivation Methods and exchange them for Contribution Points.
Not only would he repay the two Elders' money in full, but he would also include interest.
“Then go do it yourself. Why do you need the two of us to appear?” Old Wang tapped the Table.
“Is it not because I lack the authority to issue tasks in the Inner Sect?”
“Besides, my Cultivation Level and status are too low right now. If someone demands an outrageous price, I will have no way to argue against that loss.”
“That is right, Master. When you collect Secret Manuals, you can also mention that Secret Manuals from other orthodox Sects are wanted as well.”
“You two Elders are highly respected, handsome as jade trees, suave and debonair, dignified and upright.”
Listening to Zhang Ze's flattery, Elder Wang was clearly tempted.
But just as he was about to agree, Elder Li shook his Iron rod.
“No.”
“Why not? We will not suffer any losses.” Zhang Ze was puzzled.
Elder Li Frowned and said, “You are a Sword Cultivator, not a merchant.”
“You spend all day fussing over these unorthodox pursuits. What about your Cultivation? You are only at Qi Refining Level 4 right now. In the Future—”
“Level 5, Master.”
“Hmm?”
Zhang Ze secretly added one of the cultivation points he had been saving and never used.
Elder Li looked at his good Disciple, whose Foundation had still been unstable at Qi Refining Level 4 the day before, with an expression as if he had seen a ghost.
What kind of Cultivation speed was this? He had not even seen the boy doing anything, so how had he broken through?
Was this what it had been like when I broke through back then?
“How about this, Master? By the end of this month, I guarantee that my Cultivation Level will reach Qi Refining Level 6.
You two Elders can issue the task first. If my Cultivation Level has not reached it by the end of the month,
you can beat me up. From then on, I will never bring this matter up again and will focus on Cultivation.”
Elder Li felt that this sounded ridiculous, but he remembered that Zhang Ze and the Sword Spirit had said something similar the day before yesterday.
Then the Sword Spirit had been tricked by this boy.
“Fine. I will give you one month, but you cannot neglect your Cultivation.”
“Then let us hook fingers and swear: for a hundred years, this promise will not change.”
“Get lost.”