As Yang Su and the rest were closely observing the Soul Art with curious eyes, meanwhile, Bai Xiaofung turned to Xi Shen who had sat next to him and in a bemoaning voice said, “Brother Shen, it’s so haaaard.”
Bai Xiaofung then broke down in tears to the utter dumbfoundment of Xi Shen.
Looking at his disheveled hair, ruffled close, and the dark circles under his eyes, Xi Shen gave Bai Xiaofung a strange look.
While in tears, Bai Xiaofung would take gulps of wine from his cup between his sobbing.
The expression on Xi Shen’s face didn’t leave as he turned from Bai Xiaofung to look at everyone else. He saw that they had bitter expressions on their face as if they had been dealing with Bai Xiaofung, who was like this, all afternoon.
Turning back to a distraught-looking Bai Xiaofung, Xi Shen forced a smile and asked, “Brother Fung, what has gotten you like this?”
Bai Xiaofung looked up, and with tears and an awful amount of snot coming from his nose, his lips trembled uncontrollably before he croaked out, “I-I-I… I’m not suited for this! My father left me in charge of the Alchemy Faction of the clan which is on Alchemy Division Mountain, but ever since we have fallen out with the Lin Clan it’s been hell trying to lead them. Numerous members of the Lin Clan have joined the various Factions of my Bai Clan across the different divisions. With them being so close to us, fights among our members are breaking out every single second. There is no end to this madness, I had no other choice but to escape from all of it. And what’s the worst part of this whole thing is that they refuse to pay the fine to leave our Factions. They're saying that our Bai Clan should be the ones to pay off those members' fines to have them leave. If my Bai Clan was to do that the number of Academy Points would be astronomical! If we were to convert the Divine Fire Spirit Stones that brother Shen has given us into Academy Points we would barely be able to cover 2/3 of the costs!”
Bai Xiaofung's nose sniffled, and his face contorted into a pitiful expression.
Xi Shen looked away from Bai Xiaofung to the sky. He also folded his arms as well.
Seeing the dark clouds in the sky, one could tell the rain that happen this morning was just the start of a lot of rain-filled days, possibly towards the end of the year.
After thinking for a moment, Xi Shen asked Bai Xiaofung without moving his gaze from the sky, “Brother Fung did you perhaps, come here so you could ask me to help out your Bai Clan?”
Bai Xiaofung sat up a bit and used the hem of his sleeves to wipe away the snot and tears while saying, “Brother Shen, I indeed had that thought in mind. I know brother Shen has already gifted us a considerable amount of Divine Fire Spirit Stones, so this request might seem very selfish of me. I’m sorry brother Shen.”
Xi Shen thought to himself, ‘Well, I hadn’t given them that much of the Fire Divine Spirit Stones. I received news from Li Minhua and the Weasel Gang that they haven’t done excavating even after almost three weeks at it. Hmm, if I had requested help from some other members of my family it would have been faster, but I don’t want any outsiders poking their nose in my business. I can trust Li Minhua and the others since they had become loyal to a fault over the years. Asides from that, this could be a good chance to get into the good graces of the Bai Clan. Either to have them lean to my family’s side in this hidden conflict or to avoid them suspecting me of stealing the pill furnace. They surely found out about my two God Beast as most of the top Major Clans have, though some are still skeptical about that fact. The problem is, I don’t want to give them too much of the Divine Fires Spirit Stones. Those words from that demonic disciple still had me thinking that he didn’t just want them because of their value, but rather something to do with that Hidden Fragmented Realm. Hmmm…’
Xi Shen closed his eyes and tilted his head to the side with his arm still folded, trying to find the best solution to this problem.
After a while, Xi Shen opened his eyes and turned to Bai Xiaofung before saying, “Brother Fung, unfortunately, these Fire Divine Spirit Stones are important to me, so I’m afraid I can’t spare any more.”
Hearing that, Bai Xiaofung became dejected but he had a feeling this would be the outcome.
However, Xi Shen continued to say, “But, what I can do is pay you in Spirit Stones. Is that fine with you and your Bai Clan?”
Bai Xiaofung blinked a few times before a wide smile appeared on his face as he said, “Brother Shen, that’s great!”
His Bai Clan could say to be in a place that’s not financially good. They had to cut back on a lot of costs in their Clan. For example, even Bai Xiaofung who was the son of the Clan Patriarch had to have his expenses cut significantly. This was also what led him to crawl to Xi Shen for a Sea Expansion Pill, as his father was unwilling to waste any more resources for his Alchemy practices.
However, Bai Xiaofung suddenly frowned and said, “Wait, brother Shen, the conversion rate of Spirit Stones to Academy Points is significantly more worst than Divine Fire Spirit Stones. The amount of Spirit Stones needed to be converted to Academy Points is…”
Xi Shen held up his hand and said, “No need to worry, I don’t lack Spirit Stones so all you need to do is get the amount on paper and then leave it to me."
'Though this is all thanks to that Tai always finding low and high-grade spirit stone veins rather than my status as the second prince. I wouldn't be confident in becoming the only financial support of the Faction if that wasn't the case.'
Xi Shen then said again, "However, this deal is of course me lending this money to your Bai Clan, I do intend to get it back.”
Bai Xiaofung wasn’t surprised at that, but he was starting to feel slightly embarrassed right now. For a Major Clan to be borrowing money to pay off their debt was nothing short of humiliating. Though this just goes to show how far their Clan was beginning to fall as a Major Clan.
Swallowing his embarrassment, Bai Xiaofung said gratefully, “Brother Shen, I’m grateful for the generosity you're showing us. I’ll go speak with my father about this and we’ll have the number of spirit stones written down for you.”
Bai Xiaofung then stood up and cupped his fist and bowed to Xi Shen.
The others then watch as he left the main dining area completely in a different mood than when he had come.
Lihua suddenly began paying closer attention to Xi Shen after seeing his exchange with Bai Xiaofung.
She was rather taken aback, to say the least. Up until now since she had met him a few days ago, she had thought of him as a dumb prince who didn’t know anything. That he was just recruiting people to join his Faction as a means to fool around, but from his conversation with Bai Xiaofung a moment ago she started to second guess her first impression of him.
‘He just made the Bai Clan, one of the Seven Major Clans, owe him. This might be a simple him give them money and they pay him back, but with the Bai Clan in the situation they're in now, the money they owe him could become a leash in the future. And he’s even planning ahead by making them put it in writing, my guess is that he’s going to make them sign a Blood Contract. This-this… this prince is really not as dumb as I thought! This should have been impossible, the Bai Clan would never stoop so low as to borrow money from someone, especially from the Li Royal Family. But that’s the thing, they're thinking that since he’s the infamous second prince, they can use him without getting entangled with the entire Li Clan itself. But they have no idea that there underestimating him, and had started digging a hole for themselves by trying to use him.’
The more Lihua thought about Xi Shen making the Bai Clan owe him, the more twist and turns she found that could lead to some bigger schemes. To be fair, this leash Xi Shen placed around the Bai Clan was small, but this could lead to more circumstances in the future where the leash got larger and tighter.
As Lihua looked at Xi Shen, she couldn’t help but feel he might be playing out the famous proverb, "a wolf in sheep’s clothing." Certainly, that notion would be unimaginable, but if one were to look at his talents that were revealed, albeit he can't cultivate, it would be reasonable for any smart person to not want to draw any attention from the Major Clans given how weak he was now.
That thought appeared in Lihua’s mind, and it made her suddenly turn her head to look at Fei Yin and Yang Su, Fang Chen also came to her mind.
Her heart trembled.
She just come to realize that the circumstances of Xi Shen creating a Faction weren’t so simple!
‘Is he… trying to develop his own force?’ Was the thought that plagued Lihua’s mind.
Even though it was an obvious observation to everyone, the meaning behind her question changed significantly when she placed her previous speculations in the mix.
‘He’s actually trying to develop his own loyal force using the Celestial Academy as a scouting ground for talented disciples!’
Xi Shen sensing something turn to see Lihua staring at him in shock.
‘Huh? What’s up with her? Why is she looking at me so shocked?’
Doubt appeared in Xi Shen’s mind, but he soon ignored it and went back to his thoughts.
For him, the Bai Clan owing him would become something he could exploit in the future. Xi Shen had long come to realize that individual power was something he needed to gain a lot of, but with his current condition and the environment he was in, if he didn’t acquire some insurance chips then he might get nipped in the bud as soon as he starts showing his talents.
He had to set the stage so when he does reveal any sort of talent, those in the dark would have to think twice before making a move against him. Of course, there was his Li Family, but for him to rely on them now, if he went outside of the Maple Continent in the future then who would he rely on then? Xi Shen have to create a force that can stand behind him as he made waves in this new life.
However, he still had his doubts about how he was going about things. He knew there were a lot of things he didn’t know about this Era, given what he saw in the Bai Clan and in the Conclave Academy. Because of that, he couldn’t take them into consideration when making decisions.
Xi Shen let out a sigh in his heart.
‘Sometimes I wonder if it would have been best if I had reincarnated as an ordinary mortal, in a normal family. Then I wouldn’t have the means to go down this path and instead live the peaceful life I always wanted. A normal life…’
Reaching here in his train of thought, Xi Shen dazedly stared at the dark clouds in the sky. He found himself doing this quite often recently, maybe he was expecting something, sOmEoNe, to show up to comfort him and ease his thoughts.
‘Why did I reincarnate? Is it one of the Empyrean Laws that govern this Domain? If so, why were my memories still intact? Did others go through something similar?’
Questions without answers.
Xi Shen’s face scrunched up into a frown as he hated getting like this.
He should be focusing on things happening now. If not then he’ll never get past this stage to find out the answers to those questions.
In times like these when his emotions got the better of him, the only thing he can do is drink! Get so blackout drunk that the thoughts are drowned out by the alcohol!
*******
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Word Count: 2120
The source of this c𝐨ntent is freewe(b)nov𝒆l