Chapter 28: Exchanging Goods for Spirit Stones

Chapter 28: Exchanging Spirit Stones

"What's the matter? Are you planning to jump ship to the News Department?"

Qin Zhe asked a question unrelated to the previous topic, walking toward the dormitory as he tossed these words over his shoulder.

"Don't ask what you shouldn't. The Dean has issued a gag order on this matter."

Clearly, the guy knew some inside information but was unwilling to share it, which immediately piqued Gu Ming's interest. He trotted after Qin Zhe, wearing a fawning grin as he teased, "Old Qin, I'm just curious! Look, I don't have many virtues, but I'm great at keeping my mouth shut! Tell me privately, won't you? What could possibly be so serious that the Dean had to issue a gag order?"

"You, someone who keeps their mouth shut?" Qin Zhe curled his lip and shook his head. "Don't ask. Even if you do, I won't tell you."

"Hey! That's not very brotherly of you!" Gu Ming was unrelenting, chasing after him to try and wheedle the information out of him.

Seeing this guy made Qin Zhe’s head ache. He simply took out a storage bag and tossed it at him. "Inside are one hundred medium-grade spirit stones that Zhou Wentong gave me earlier. Take them and help me find some fellow students to trade for spirit items that martial artists can use. We’ll split the haul fifty-fifty."

When Gu Ming saw the storage bag flying toward his face, he instinctively reached out to catch it. His eyes lit up upon hearing the offer. "Damn! So when Zhou Wentong came to see you this morning, it was to give you spirit stones? You've struck it rich! Why are you only telling me now?"

"Do I need to report my affairs to you?" Qin Zhe retorted impatiently. "Did you hear me? Find people to trade for items. Or do you not want your half? If you don't, I can go do it myself."

"I want it! How could I not?" Gu Ming decisively tucked the storage bag away and turned around, heading back while shouting, "Wait for me in the dorm! I'll be right back! We’ll split the loot when I return!"

"..." Qin Zhe pressed a hand to his forehead. Pretending not to know this guy, he walked quickly toward the dormitory.

Compared to the Gu Ming he remembered, the one "living" with him now always seemed to exude a certain shameless air. Perhaps it was because he had grown taller and was no longer a shut-in, making his personality more outgoing?

...

Back in the dorm, Qin Zhe took a hot shower, pilfered a bottle of "Happy Water" from Gu Ming's private stash, and sat comfortably at his computer desk.

He opened the academy forum and browsed for a while, surprised to find that Liu Botao was completely finished.

While the students were in the secret realm, the Dean had handed Liu Botao over to the Supervisory Bureau, simultaneously submitting a mountain of evidence regarding his abuse of power and personal gain. These pieces of evidence had little to do with Qin Zhe personally, but they involved over a hundred incidents, both large and small, during Liu Botao’s tenure. It seemed the former head of the Student Affairs Department had done quite a few foolish things.

What caught Qin Zhe’s attention was that he saw Zhou Wu’s name linked to the evidence. A significant portion of it had been provided by this very member of the academy’s board of directors!

This was rather intriguing. Zhou Wu clearly had an alliance with Liu Botao, and the latter had been desperate to curry favor with him, even standing against the Student Union. Why would Zhou Wu choose to kick a man while he was down? To cut off a limb to save the body?

Qin Zhe pondered it for a moment, then gave up. He wasn't particularly good at conspiracy theories. Whatever Zhou Wu was planning, it wasn't for a small fry like him to worry about, as long as the other party didn't come looking for trouble.

Closing the forum, Qin Zhe opened a search engine to look up the information the department head had mentioned about cultivators attempting the martial path. There was indeed plenty of information online, but it was disorganized and lacked any real substance. Many "marketing accounts" were just muddling the waters, using clickbait titles to host completely irrelevant content.

After searching for a long time without finding anything useful, Qin Zhe gave up and shut down his computer. At the very least, he could confirm that cultivators had indeed tried to circulate martial arts techniques in the past, but it had nothing to do with "immortal-martial" integration; instead, it confirmed that spirit energy and true energy were mutually exclusive.

Not long after he closed his computer, Gu Ming pushed open the door to the dormitory, his face glowing with excitement.

"How are you back so fast? Did you trade all the spirit stones?" Qin Zhe raised an eyebrow, perking up.

"You can always trust me when I'm on the job!" Gu Ming said triumphantly. He took out the storage bag and gave it a shake, spilling a pile of spirit items onto the dormitory floor.

"Not bad, the quantity is decent." Qin Zhe nodded slightly, though he felt a bit disappointed. One hundred medium-grade spirit stones was not a small sum. For martial artists, it was practically an astronomical figure. Compared to the items needed for immortal and demonic cultivation, the spirit items used by martial artists were generally of lower value—plus, if they were too expensive, they wouldn't sell.

Practitioners of the immortal and demonic paths were a special group; they received monthly spirit stone subsidies from the Dragon Kingdom government commensurate with their cultivation levels. Martial artists had no such benefits. Furthermore, martial artists couldn't fly or travel through the earth like the other two paths, and their gains from exploring secret realms were limited. Thus, "poverty" was practically written on the forehead of every martial artist.

That was exactly why Qin Zhe had asked Gu Ming to use the spirit stones to trade for items while other students were returning from the secret realm. The items had been secured, but their quality... it was hard to describe. Looking at the pile of fruit-like objects, Qin Zhe was unimpressed. Now that he could sense spirit energy, he could feel that these oddly shaped fruits contained pitifully little of it. He had a feeling that not a single one was more valuable than a Green Spirit Fruit.

Garbage. It was all garbage. Those hundred medium-grade spirit stones had gone to waste!

Gu Ming didn't know what Qin Zhe was thinking, nor did he know what he truly needed. He rubbed his hands together and chuckled, "Just like we agreed, fifty-fifty?"

"Suit yourself." Qin Zhe lost interest and lazily climbed onto his top bunk. "Keep the storage bag. Take whatever you need from the pile. Put my share somewhere; I'll eat them like fruit."

"Eat them like fruit?" Gu Ming paused, leaning in with a strange expression. "Old Qin, tell me honestly—did you strike it rich recently? This pile of items is worth at least a million Dragon Coins, if not more. Aren't you going to be a little happy?"

"They were bought with my own spirit stones to begin with. Why would I be happy?" Qin Zhe pushed his face away with one hand, wondering if it was possible for him to switch to the Immortal Dao Department. If he were in the Immortal Dao Department, he wouldn't just get subsidies from the government; the academy also provided plenty of benefits. By then, what would a hundred medium-grade spirit stones even mean?

However, after giving it some thought, Qin Zhe quickly dismissed the idea. For one, the spirit energy currently in his body was pitifully thin, and for another, whether "immortal-martial" could even gain recognition was a question. As for learning actual immortal techniques, Qin Zhe didn't even consider it. With a level of spirit energy no thicker than a single hair, his simulated martial techniques were already lacking in power; immortal techniques were definitely not something he could attempt at the moment.