Cohabitation with Sword Spirit

Chapter 531 - 32: Private Deal

The woman from the money shop started with an aggressive interrogation and simultaneously took out a loan contract signed by Sang Yue with the Holy Sect’s certified seal, successfully lowering the temperature in the Assembly Hall by several degrees.

The dean’s signature and the seal of the Holy Sect Envoy are things that the Cyan Lotus Scholars absolutely wouldn’t mistake. And with these two things, the situation becomes very tricky. Several Elders sitting at the conference table visibly showed difficulty in their expressions, while other attendees were even more worried and distressed.

Wang Jiu took this opportunity to carefully examine the loan contract, discovering that while the framework was simple, the key clauses were logically precise and reasonable in content. The Sang Sisters borrowed thirty thousand Spirit Stones, to be repaid with principal and interest totaling thirty-one thousand Spirit Stones upon the conclusion of the exploration activity or three months after the loan payment is received, or provide equivalent spoils from the Primordial Ruins.

Judging from the content, the loan contract conditions are very fair; the three-month interest is ten thousand Spirit Stones, and the annual interest rate is only ten percent, making it practically the conscience of the money shop world. On the other hand, precisely because the conditions are so relaxed, the breach of contract liabilities are particularly severe, and the late fees increase rapidly almost every hour, causing financial ruin with some delay, and from looking at the loan contract, Dean Sang is already overdue by more than three days.

With his excellent math skills, Wang Jiu quickly calculated that the current amount owed is close to a million Spirit Stones, more than three times the principal, and repayment options are fraught with difficulties... Moreover, when chatting casually with Shang Lanfei in the past, he had learned about similar loan contracts.

In essence, such unreasonably high compensation combined with sudden claims can typically be directly associated with fraud, with the best solution being to tear up the contract and send the tattooed debt collectors to the hospital.

However, the Anping Money Shop’s loan contract bears the Holy Sect Envoy’s certified seal, and tearing it up would mean slapping the Holy Sect in the face, an act against the entire market order maintained by the Holy Sect, which would be a cost far greater than a million Spirit Stones for the Cyan Lotus Academy.

Therefore, Wang Jiu contemplated for a moment and directly used his Divine Techniques to contact the Sect Leader of the Holy Sect.

"I have a question to ask."

In the Myriad Forms Garden, the Sect Leader of the Holy Sect perked up in surprise, feeling very delighted by Wang Jiu’s sudden communication.

Before this, the Sect Leader had been worried that the Celestial Sword Spirit lacked interest in managing human organizations, but it seems he does have a subjective enthusiasm for his position as a dean!

"Please speak."

"What’s the deal with this Holy Sect certification?"

As he spoke, Wang Jiu sent the image of the loan contract before him to the Sect Leader, who glanced at it and closed his eyes in thought for two seconds before saying, "I have already inquired with the Envoy who issued this certification; from the situation at the time, there was nothing inappropriate about this certification. He had fully informed Sang Yue and Sang Jing of the potential risks involved in signing this loan contract, particularly regarding the claims process, yet they repeatedly confirmed they wanted to sign it."

Wang Jiu asked, "Does the loan contract itself not violate the regulations of the Holy Sect?"

The Sect Leader replied, "Although the spirit reflected in the loan contract is not advocated by the Holy Sect, it does not clearly violate market order. Although the compensation amount is unreasonably high, on the other hand, there are no unexpected breach traps in the loan contract. Generally, borrowers can completely avoid triggering the breach clauses and enjoy very low-cost loan conditions. So overall, the risk and reward essentially counterbalance each other, and the loan contract itself is valid."

Wang Jiu asked again, "Were there no other loan contracts available at the time?"

The Sect Leader thought for a moment, helplessly saying, "This was recommended by insiders of the academy, and the loan terms were relatively favorable, so they didn’t think much. Moreover, the circumstances at the time did not allow them to think ahead. The exploration of the Golden Cloud Peak ruins was not strongly supported internally by the academy, their proposal did not pass several Elder Council votes, so they couldn’t get full support from the academy, even the basic funding had to rely on self-funding. Those two sisters are not good at financial management, always living in poverty, where could they self-fund the cost of exploring the Primordial Ruins? But those two sisters have strong and competitive personalities, thus signed the loan contract to overcome the opposition within the academy, and as a result, this eagerness for success ended up harming them."

Wang Jiu corrected, "To put it accurately, it’s the academy’s long-standing neglect of the Sword Manual that led to their downfall."

"That’s why I hope the Celestial Sword Spirit senior can use extraordinary leadership to correct the academy’s mistakes... So what would you like me to do?" the Sect Leader said, "Although I can’t directly revoke the certification—after all, it was confirmed with full awareness from both parties. But I can help you contact several money shop owners to jointly persuade Anping Money Shop to give up the claims."

Wang Jiu pondered a bit: "Claims are the other party’s legal rights, this kind of domineering behavior does not comply with the Holy Sect’s established principles."

The Sect Leader said, "Then what do you intend to do?"

Wang Jiu contemplated again: "How much money does the Holy Sect have?"

The Sect Leader was taken aback: "You want me to cover the compensation for you? That’s absolutely impossible! The Myriad Forms Garden is impoverished and has no spare money to cover payments for you! Recently entertaining Zhao Chenlu and Shen Qingming has gotten me close to abstaining from meat!"

Wang Jiu said, "I recall there are several ancient trees, very rare species, in the Myriad Forms Garden..."

"Those are sacred artifacts left by the First Generation Sect Leader; you can’t imagine targeting them!"

"Then the few unoccupied residences in the east of the Myriad Forms Garden have been vacant; if sold..."

"The Sect has never sold Myriad Forms Garden’s properties in its two thousand years of founding!"

"Never sold? Isn’t this behavior considered hoarding?"

"...That is prepared for the families of those Holy Sect members who unfortunately perished during the exploration of the Primordial Ruins."

Wang Jiu said, "The Sang Sisters precisely happened to perish during the exploration of the Primordial Ruins, isn’t it the right time to sell the house and help them repay their debt?"

"...As for this matter, please consider other solutions, take it as an assessment task during your probation period as the Sect Leader." The Sect Leader said, "Although asking the dignified Celestial Sword Spirit to handle such mundane affairs seems demanding, in reality, as the head of a sect or the head of the Holy Sect, most of the time they need to handle these mundane affairs."

Wang Jiu pondered for a while and nodded in agreement with this statement.

For the Celestial Sword Spirit at this time, dealing with these mundane affairs is indeed a kind of pleasure, as well as a necessary practice.

The threat of the Demon Race lingered in his mind, even though several confirmations—including personally exploring the Golden Cloud Peak Ruins—led to the conclusion that the Demon Race had been completely annihilated and would no longer threaten human civilization.

Yet Wang Jiu could never let go of the thought: Has the Demon Race civilization, which once dominated the Myriad Realms, truly perished completely? According to the understanding of the Demon Race during the Immortal Demon Wars, the fall of the Demon Emperor would lead to the disintegration of the Demon Race, leading to endless internal strife until its demise, but that was just the trend at the time. A thousand years later, any civilization could undergo a mutation. Moreover, even without the Demon Race, there could be other hostile civilizations within the Myriad Realms.

If a thousand years ago, the strongest known civilizations in the Myriad Realms were the human Immortal Dao civilization and the Demon Race civilization, is the human civilization that has just awakened from slumber still considered the strongest after these millennia? Perhaps in the near future, the sky of Xiangzhou will be torn apart by unfamiliar demonic claws, and then a new disaster will descend from the breach.

At that time, can the Xiangzhou Continent, which has just recovered its vitality, withstand the disaster invasion? With a Celestial Divine Sword that has recovered less than one percent, how much hope is there to turn the tide?

As the Guardian God of human civilization, Wang Jiu feels the heavy burden on his shoulders.

And taking on this responsibility cannot rely solely on individual combat.

Even in the Jiuzhou Era, it was the entire Jiuzhou Continent—the Jiu Immortal Venerables who collected resources from all of Jiuzhou—that enabled the initiation of a blood sacrifice to create the magnificent and splendid Sword World. But now, the Xiangzhou Continent’s resources are completely insufficient to support the complete reconstruction of the Sword World.

According to Wang Jiu’s estimation, perhaps the entire Xiangzhou Continent needs to be sacrificially refined just to barely restore to the peak period of the Celestial Divine Sword... but how easy is it to sacrificially refine a continent? To support such a large-scale sacrificial refining ceremony, Xiangzhou civilization needs to advance two or three more steps.

Therefore, the current task isn’t just to focus on building the Sword World—that undoubtedly is a solitary endeavor—but to step forward and fully utilize the intellectual advantage of the Celestial Sword Spirit to lead human civilization to develop quickly.

This is the win-win strategy and the reason why Wang Jiu earnestly accepted the position of the Sect Leader, because only by becoming the Sect Leader of the Holy Sect can he most efficiently lead human civilization.

So, now residing as the Academy Dean, facing unexpected events, Wang Jiu considers how to solve the events within the framework of human civilization and hone his management skills.

After pondering for a long time, Wang Jiu disconnected from the Sect Leader and returned to the Assembly Hall.

"Paying debts is a matter of course; since the loan contract is confirmed correct, then compensate accordingly. According to the terms, the amount we need to repay is 1,045,521 Spirit Stones, and the remaining funds in the academy’s account are..."

Before Wang Jiu could finish his sentence, someone interrupted.

"Dean, this debt is purely a subjective decision by the previous dean, and the signature on the loan contract is her personal signature instead of the academy’s official seal, so shouldn’t the debt be paid by the academy?"

Wang Jiu glanced at the speaker, who was the leader of Group Four of the academy, the holder of the Cyan Lotus Illusionary Manual, Tan Luo.

The information indicates that this person is usually quiet, yet at this time, in the Assembly Hall under the gaze of all, he speaks up, becoming flushed with just two sentences, yet his expression is focused and determined, showing an unyielding momentum.

Wang Jiu considered Tan Luo’s words and found them reasonable: "Then let’s sell the former dean’s estate."

Shang Miaoyu sighed, "If they had any assets back then, they wouldn’t have needed to borrow money."

Tan Luo added, "Based on the Cyan Lotus Academy regulations, if the previous dean passes away, her estate and debt are inherited by the succeeding dean, so..."

Wang Jiu nodded, "I understand, unless I relinquish the position of dean, otherwise the debt must be borne by me personally."

Shang Miaoyu said, "This regulation indeed seems quite unfair to you, so if you resign now..."

Before finishing the sentence, the lady owner of Anping Money Shop gently coughed, drawing everyone’s attention.

"This, newly appointed Dean sir." The woman, with an evidently not quite accustomed gentle tone, said with a blush on her face, "I do have a personal suggestion regarding this compensation. I think, between you and me, we can make a private, personal transaction."