C116-2 : The Grieving Mu Ran

"That is such a precious opportunity to slap some faces and leave the biggest impression on everybody else ! Incredible ! You truly are a godsend Xuhan. How do you even think of these ideas ?"

"I uh-" Han Xuhan wanted to say that it was Kong Ye who had refused to cut down a portion of his work despite knowing Xuhan had a pretty low chance of completing it. That man was still seething over the 'small' incident where Han Xuhan had squeezed out several precious cultivation techniques from him in one go. How childish ! Han Xuhan could only choose to be the mature, understanding disciple in that incident and carry the weight of his master's childish antics, as well as the weight of those heavy, priceless scrolls; a small price to pay for cultivation.

"Hehehe~ my peers in this entire planet, just you wait, just you wait...."

While Mu Ran creepily muttered to himself with a manic grin, Han Xuhan decided to throw in a few spices of his own into the mixture.

"Boss! I have an even better idea! What if we disguise this area as the ugly, low tier region of our peak using the third minor realm's proficiency?"

"What ?" Mu Ran asked in confusion.

"Think about it, boss. We shall enter the tournament with everybody else, sporting this ugly area intentionally in order to attract ridicule. But then we're going to stun those snobs by revealing that this area too is actually covered by third level formations. We're just too lazy to modify it and make it pleasing to the eye ! How cool would that be ?"

"....Woah...."

A dreamy look appeared on Mu Ran's face as he stared up at the sky, seemingly immeresed in Imagining the epic scene. Xuhan nodded eagerly. He could almost sense the cogs and wheels turn slowly in Mu Ran's rusty mind.

Come on, boss. Find out that gargantuan flaw in that proposition....

"But underling, your proficiency is obviously at the first minor realm. How are you going to reach the third realm of this technique within three days and execute this grand plan ? I admit I'm the best teacher around here but even I can't help you learn it so fast," Mu Ran finally spoke, discovering the problem Han Xuhan had handed to him.

"Yeah, but you can easily reach the third realm and do it instead of me, can't you ?"
Han Xuhan replied, a shark like grin growing on his face.
Finally, the fish had been hooked. Now he could just sit and enjoy himself while the fish did what it would naturally do. It was going to rush around, jump up and down, struggle instinctively while Xuhan's only job was to keep a firm grip on the rod....No, something seemed crooked about that metaphor.

"BRILLIANT !" Meanwhile, awash with the impactful realization, Mu Ran leapt upwards and threw a fist in the air.
"This tiny area of land ? I could modify it within a few hours ! Let's start right now !"

Han Xuhan threw him a dirty look.
"I thought you were at the second minor realm, boss."

"No, when did I-oh, right, right. But don't worry, underling. I'll definitely break through to the third layer in time and execute our brilliant plan. Our glory, our superiority, will dazzle this world in one fell swoop right at the entrance !"

"Definitely, yeah. Definitely." Han Xuhan nodded along like a chicken.

Mu Ran was about to turn around and leave in order to keep up his act. After all, he had to pretend to make a breakthrough soon and show his expertise in the third minor realm. But then he seemed to remember his original intentions for coming to meet Xuhan.

"Hey underling, do you remember that whole credit earning system we had in the sect ? What's the amount of credits we've amassed so far ?"

Han Xuhan scratched his head, trying to remember the relevant information. Piling up credits was the only known method for outer court disciples to reach the inner court without cultivating to any particulay high realm. But the amount of trauma his first attempt at earning credits had left him was enough to cut down most of that enthusiasm. He was doing just fine as an weakling in the outer court. The inner court would definitely be a more dangerous place full of treacherous, experienced cultivators who are hard to scam.

"Give me a second, boss," Xuhan nodded confidently as he sat down in a meditative pose and closed his eyes.

A couple of seconds later, Tun Shi Tian flew out of his back like a bullet and disappeared from their sight. Natural owls were definitely not that fast. But Tun Shi Tian was a cultivator owl with the intelligence of a human, albeit not a very smart one. But its speed could even match the fastest of birds after training.

Mu Ran followed the skeleton owl's trails with his eyes, puzzlement apparent on his face.
"Underling, what's your minion supposed to do? Isn't investigation of credits of others forbidden? Moreover, the senior disciple who handles the calculation of credits is someone who got into the sect using his uncle's connections. Just half an hour ago, I myself visited his residence and enquired about the credits myself. The rumours about that guy actually turned out to be accurate. He is a disrespectful, lazy, greedy asshat. When I snorted in annoyance at his wishy washy work ethics and released my full aura, he actually stopped looking for our information and straight up threatened me with his uncle's name ! The guy had the nerves to not return the bribe I gave him earlier for tresspassing the rules and learn about the amount of credits you've amassed so far too !"

Mu Ran got extremely worked up as he vented the anger in his heart. Han Xuhan could only shake his head at the stupidity of the guy in charge of credit calculations. It was one thing to take bribes and break the rules, but not doing your job even after taking the bribe was a big no-no. This guy wouldn't survive long in that business.

But that was actually a good thing for Xuhan.

Tun Shi Tian flew back soon by the time Mu Ran had finished his rant about killing the senior disciple, his uncle, as well as their families including chickens and dogs if that's what it took.

"It would be great if you just left the dogs alone, boss. And we could even start a farming business if we just gather all the chicken and use the dogs as guards. We'd be able to dine on some decent meals every now and then instead of being reliant on the sect's kitchens."

With that morbid suggestion to a man swearing he'd commit genocide, Han Xuhan turned to look at little Tian who had just landed disastrously on the ground after catching the conversation about the massacre of its avian siblings.

"Report," he said to the shaken owl with an evil grin.

"Wha-right, reporting to m-master. As of now, your credit score is 300. It was a bit higher earlier, but your constant absence in daily tasks and occasional mandatory missions had a negative impact on it despite your punctual fines."

"Three hundred? How the hell did it get that high? I only did one botched mission that offered one tenth of that amount." Xuhan was quite surprised.

"Big brother Lin mentioned that the entirety of your credit score comes from the changed rewards of that mission," Tun Shi Tian answered immediately.

"Who the fuck is big brother Lin? How did he get this information ?" Mu Ran asked, dumbfounded.

"Boss, did you forget that senior who used to work in the archives ? He handled the sales and purchases of our cultivation techniques,"
Xuhan answered.

"Why would I bother to remember him?"

"....Right. We established a pretty good relationship with him back when we sold the law technique to the sect. He is one of the few disciples who handle these calculations. Since I kept in touch with him all this time, I can occasionally ask him for favours like this, hehehe."

"Nice ! So what's my credit score ?" Mu Ran asked eagerly, giving Xuhan a thumbs up.

"Seven hundred," Tun Shi Tian answered.

"....Isn't that a bit too small ? Underling Xuhan did only one mission, that too with me. I myself completed at least five more missions of similar calibre-"

"But I saw the register. Your account revealed that apart from the first mission with master, all of the missions you completed were shady, vague and pretty average...."

". . . . "

Mu Ran opened his mouth to say something, but in the end, he simply seemed to swallow a torrent of emotional tales. His eyes reddening in grief, he stomped away, leaving inches deep footprints into the hard, rocky mountainback.