Su Ming had just completed a cycle of circulating the Like Water Art. The water spiritual energy within his body surged like a great river, finally converging into the deep, dark blue pool of his Dantian.

He slowly exhaled a mouthful of turbid air. The white vapor shot out like an arrow, condensing in the air without dispersing, only gradually fading away after traveling three feet.

“The fourth layer of Qi Refining is now completely stable.”

Feeling the smooth, unimpeded sense of power within his body, Su Ming’s mind settled slightly.

Just then, a series of urgent yet suppressed knocks shattered the night’s tranquility.

Three long, two short, extremely light—if not for Su Ming’s keen divine sense, he would have barely heard them.

“Hmm?” Inside the ring, Lin Yu’s phantom image yawned. “Who has such poor manners in the middle of the night? That knocking sounds like a thief.”

Su Ming frowned slightly, swept his divine sense outward, then stood up. With a light flick of his finger, he deactivated the door restriction.

A round, plump figure rolled in like a ball, turned around with surprising agility to close the door, then leaned against the door panel, panting heavily. His forehead was covered in a fine sheen of oily sweat.

“Steward Wang?” Su Ming was somewhat surprised.

The visitor was none other than Wang Defa, the supervisor of the Accounting Office in the External Affairs Hall.

The usually smiling, Buddha-like Wang the fat man now had not a trace of a smile on his face. His small eyes, narrowed to slits by fat, were filled with anxiety and panic.

“My little ancestor! You still have the mind to cultivate!” Wang Defa didn’t bother wiping his sweat, lowering his voice in a rushed tone. “Something huge has happened! The sky is falling!”

Su Ming’s expression remained unchanged. He turned and poured a cup of cold tea, handing it over. “If the sky falls, the tall ones will hold it up. Steward Wang, sit and speak.”

Wang Defa took the teacup and gulped it down. The cool tea calmed him slightly.

He glanced at Su Ming’s unnervingly calm face, and miraculously, the anxiety in his heart subsided a few degrees.

“Steward Liu has made his move.”

Wang Defa took a deep breath and dropped a bombshell. “Steward Liu has teamed up with those people from the Vessel Hall, armed with a ‘Resource Verification Order,’ claiming they want to thoroughly investigate all the ledgers and material consumption of the Repair Hall over the past three months. This happened the moment Elder Ma left for closed-door cultivation.”

“The pretext is ‘preventing sect resource loss, eradicating corruption.’ But in reality…” Wang Defa sneered, a flash of ruthlessness in his eyes. “They’re coming for us! And they’re coming for your ‘Quasi-Outer Sect Disciple’ status!”

“The Vessel Hall has long been eyeing the Repair Hall’s efficiency and that staggering flow of contribution points with envy. Now that Elder Ma has entered a life-and-death seclusion, that bastard Liu wants to take advantage and swallow this fat piece of meat… or… ruin your reputation and kick you out of the game!”

After speaking, Wang Defa stared intently at Su Ming, hoping to see panic or anger on this young Hall Master’s face.

But he was disappointed.

Su Ming merely gently rubbed the teacup in his hand. A faint layer of water mist swirled around his fingertips, as if he hadn’t heard this news concerning his very life and livelihood.

“Is that all?” Su Ming looked up.

Wang Defa was stunned. “Huh?”

“I thought demonic cultivators were attacking the mountain, or the Sect Grand Protective Formation had cracked.” A faint curve appeared at the corner of Su Ming’s mouth. That smile carried a hint of something Wang Defa couldn’t quite grasp… contempt?

“Checking the accounts?” Inside the ring, Lin Yu let out a derisive snort.

Su Ming put down the teacup, stood up, walked to the window, and looked out at the dark night in the distance.

“Steward Wang, who handled the Repair Hall’s accounts?”

“It was… Old Wang from our Accounting Office, Wang Ming.” Wang Defa answered instinctively. “And Li Hou and the others cross-checked each other.”

“And the procedures?”

“They all followed the ‘Su Standard’ you established. Every spirit stone, every tael of material has inbound and outbound records, signatures from the handlers, even categorized and weighed records for waste materials.”

“Then what are you afraid of?” Su Ming turned around. His gaze was like water, yet weighed a thousand pounds.

Wang Defa opened his mouth, suddenly feeling his throat go dry.

Yes, what am I afraid of?

In the past, he feared audits because the accounts always had ambiguous areas, always had loopholes from personal favors. But the current Repair Hall was like a precision machine. Every component operated under the sunlight, clean to a terrifying degree.

“But… those people from the Vessel Hall are experts. If they make a fuss about the material loss rate, insisting we’re wasteful…” Wang Defa was still somewhat worried. “If they want to condemn, they will never lack a pretext.”

“Then let them come.”

Su Ming’s voice turned cold. “Help me relay a message to Old Wang: proceed as usual. Work as they should, eat as they should. If they want to investigate, open the doors wide and let them investigate. Place all the original documents, repair records, waste material charts, everything on the table.”

“Additionally,” Su Ming paused, a glint of sharp light flashing in his eyes, “tell Old Wang to prepare that ledger. Since guests have come, we must have a return gift.”

Seeing Su Ming’s confident demeanor, Wang Defa’s hanging heart finally settled back into place.

“Got it!” The fat on Wang the fat man’s face trembled, regaining its usual shrewdness. “With your word, I know what to do now. Damn it, that bastard Liu thinks he can squeeze me like a soft persimmon. This time, I’ll make sure he loses a few teeth!”

After Wang Defa left, the room returned to silence.

“Disciple, that was a decent act.” Lin Yu applauded inside the ring. “Unmoved even if Mount Tai collapses before you, you have the bearing of your teacher in his youth. But, what’s that ‘ledger’? How come I don’t know about it?”

Su Ming sat back down cross-legged, closed his eyes, and said calmly, “Master, don’t you often say the best defense is a good offense? They want to investigate our losses. Then we’ll help them investigate the true quality of those ‘raw materials’ delivered by the Vessel Hall.”

Lin Yu was taken aback for a moment, then burst into a burst of laughter like clanging bells.

“Hahahaha! Holy shit, you’re going to expose the Vessel Hall’s dirty secrets!”

…

The moon reached its zenith.

Tonight was a full moon. The silver disc hung high, pouring down cold, silvery moonlight like a waterfall, dyeing the Cloud Hidden Sect’s sea of clouds a silvery white.

Su Ming did not continue cultivating inside his room. Instead, he quietly arrived at a sheer cliff in the back mountain.

This place faced the direction of Teachings Peak, with an open view and the most abundant moonlight.

He took out from his chest the non-metallic, non-wooden token given by the old library keeper. The token’s surface had no patterns, only a simple, ancient, weathered texture. It felt slightly cool in his hand.

“This is the VIP admission ticket.” Lin Yu sighed. “Disciple, give it a try. That old man said it could stir the starlight of the Transmission Pagoda. I want to see just how powerful this otherworldly ‘star link’ is.”

Su Ming nodded, took a deep breath, and slowly channeled the water spiritual energy from his body into the token.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep