Chen Yan's first reaction was that Fu Qian had betrayed him.
Since Wei Mian of Yuanhua Mountain died, anyone who had a grudge with the claws of the Supreme Imperial Law Court lineage, or was connected to He Furen or Wen Hongli, could almost be said to be living in fear.
If even the top seat of Yuanhua Mountain, the dignified Sword Master Elder, could die just like that, how much more so someone like himself?
Among these people was Fu Qian.
Qiguan Jin, as the Transmitter of the Mingxiao Peak dock, his cultivation level was certainly above the Qi Sea Realm.
Logically speaking, Chen Yan was definitely no match for Qiguan Jin.
But the Hidden Immortal Art and the Great Derivation Art didn't play by logic.
It wasn't like Chen Yan hadn't killed Qi Sea Realm cultivators on Heavenly Summit Mountain before.
Using the characteristics of the Hidden Immortal Art as cover, Chen Yan had already begun circulating the true qi in his meridians, ready to strike at any moment.
Yet he pretended to have noticed nothing.
"Chief Disciple Chen, what do you think of the construction around the dock at Mingxiao Peak?"
Qiguan Jin simply smiled as he asked Chen Yan.
"Very good, orderly and methodical," Chen Yan replied.
Then, Qiguan Jin chuckled. He turned to look out the private room window at the bustling street beside the dock, teeming with people.
They all looked very busy, rushing about the street in various styles of daoist robes.
It seemed that most of these rushing cultivators were not disciples of the Kongshan Sect.
They came from various sects across the Chenping Continent.
The dock area of Kongshan Sect's Mingxiao Peak was open to all cultivators across the entire Chenping Continent.
"The dock at Mingxiao Peak can provide the sect with over eight hundred thousand spirit stones in profit every year... I'm referring to high-grade spirit stones."
Eight hundred thousand, high-grade spirit stones?
Martial Uncle Yue Chi had once told him that the annual salary of the Alchemy Hall Elder of Kongyuan Mountain was only two hundred high-grade spirit stones.
"Of course, such an amount of spirit stones might just be a number in the eyes of a prodigy like Chief Disciple Chen,"
the middle-aged man before Chen Yan said with a smile.
"But for us cultivators with mediocre talent, who have no hope of ever breaking through to the Passable God Realm in this lifetime, the wonderful uses of spirit stones are many indeed."
"Transmitter, you are too modest," Chen Yan said.
Hearing this, Qiguan Jin raised his hand and waved it dismissively, chuckling again.
"Chief Disciple Chen, you are mistaken. I, Qiguan Jin, have never been a humble man."
The door to the private room was pushed open from outside. Several young disciples wearing the daoist robes of the outer court walked in, respectfully placed the dishes on the table, then retreated, gently closing the private room door behind them.
The dishes on the table were all quite rare delicacies. One glance told you the price of the raw ingredients alone must be considerable.
Yet Qiguan Jin merely looked in the direction of the private room door and slowly spoke again.
"Speaking of which, compared to you, Chief Disciple Chen, I do share a somewhat similar experience."
"I'd like to hear the details," Chen Yan replied.
"It was about forty years ago. I was still working in the External Affairs Hall of the outer court back then, just a small Qi Circulation Realm manager."
Qiguan Jin said.
"Compared to cultivation, I probably had more talent for making money. The Supervisor of the outer court's External Affairs Hall appreciated me back then. The dock at Mingxiao Peak happened to be short-handed. The Supervisor valued talent, so he recommended me for the position."
Of course, the Supervisor's real purpose couldn't have been that simple.
Because recommending talent to the inner sect was also a form of investment, was it not?
"When I first arrived at the dock, the annual profit it could generate for the sect was only about twenty thousand high-grade spirit stones."
As he spoke, Qiguan Jin proudly raised four fingers towards Chen Yan.
"That is to say, in forty years, I used forty years to increase the dock's profit for the sect fortyfold."
Indeed, it was a remarkable achievement.
"Later on, in this territory of the Mingxiao Peak dock, whenever anyone mentioned the word 'Transmitter', the face that came to mind was always mine, Qiguan Jin's."
Even the Peak Elder in charge of the dock was merely a nominal title.
Essentially, all major matters of the dock were handled single-handedly by Qiguan Jin.
Of course, as long as most of the credit was written on the dock Elder's record, the Elder naturally had no objections to Qiguan Jin playing local ruler in his little fiefdom of the sect dock.
"Then, about ten years ago, a certain big shot suddenly sought me out. He wore the water-pattern collar daoist robe of Yuanhua Mountain, looked to be in his sixties or seventies, and introduced himself as a Supervisor of Yuanhua Mountain. As for his name, Chief Disciple Chen, you should have heard of it too..."
A Supervisor of Yuanhua Mountain from ten years ago.
Chen Yan certainly knew who Qiguan Jin was referring to.
"Pei Qingshan," Chen Yan uttered the name in a low voice.
"Correct, it was Supervisor Pei,"
Qiguan Jin said with a smile, but his smile quickly faded, replaced by a look of regret.
"What a pity about Supervisor Pei... How could he not see it..."
Pei Qingshan was dead.
He was also implicated in the Heavenly Summit Mountain calamity and was ultimately ordered executed by the Imperial Law Court.
"Anyone can stray onto the wrong path at times. As long as there's still a chance to turn back, it's not too late," Chen Yan said.
"Hahahaha, Chief Disciple Chen is not old, yet speaks with such profound philosophy. Truly admirable. Cough, cough!"
As he spoke, Qiguan Jin coughed a few more times.
His cough was fake, as if he was coughing for someone to hear.
"I'll go fetch tea for you and Chief Disciple Chen,"
the young disciple who had brought Chen Yan to the Mingxiao Tower quickly said from the side.
"Go on," Qiguan Jin said without looking up.
After the young disciple left the private room and closed the door, Qiguan Jin smiled at Chen Yan again, then raised his hand and pointed towards the door.
"That kid is very clever, but he's always flustered and does things carelessly,"
Qiguan Jin said, then continued.
"Where was I?"
"You were talking about Pei Qingshan," Chen Yan replied.
"Right, Supervisor Pei. Since we're talking about Supervisor Pei, I really must discuss the dock's accounts properly."
Qiguan Jin said.
"Last year, the profit I reported to the sect was eight hundred thousand high-grade spirit stones."
"And then?"
"The actual income was one million one hundred thousand."
This meant that in just last year alone, three hundred thousand high-grade spirit stones had vanished without a trace.
"Where did the discrepancy go?"
Chen Yan frowned.
"Since we've come this far, there's nothing left for me to hide from you, Chief Disciple Chen."
Qiguan Jin paused for a moment.
"Naturally, it ended up in Supervisor Pei's hands."