1452 Unlimited Money

"Since it's already late, we will leave for now and give you another night to think through it, Bai Lianhua! If you do not give us a response by tomorrow evening, we will put in an official request with the Cultivators' Association! If you don't respond or show up to our challenge, your faction's rank will drop by another ten ranks! How many ranks have your faction already dropped these past few months? 30? 40? Hahaha!" The robust young man laughed out loud as he pointed at the Bai Lianhua and the others.

"Both choices will require us to participate in the ranking match, you shameless bastard!"

"Yeah! Do you think you can start bullying us because you have the other families' support?! If you want a fight, you've got it!"

"Senior Sister Bai, let's teach these bastards a lesson!"

Bai Lianhua merely shook her head in silence before turning around and walking back into their headquarters.

Seeing this, the Fiery Locust Swarm left shortly after.

Once things calmed down and everyone returned to their residence, Yuan descended with Yu Rou and went to find Bai Lianhua.

"Welcome back. Did you enjoy your day?" Bai Lianhua said with a smile after seeing them, acting like the drama at their front gate had never even happened.

"Senior Sister, we saw what happened at the front gates." Yu Rou went straight to the point.

"Oh… sorry you had to witness that, Yuan." Bai Lianhua sighed.

"Fiery Queen sent those people to challenge your faction? Why?" he asked.

"Just to provoke and mess with us, I suppose. Our families have been rivals for generations—even long before we attained our current position, so we've been butting heads with each other for as long as I can remember. However, they have never been this aggressive before. I guess what happened last time had triggered something in Fiery Queen."

"So I am partially responsible for this?" Yuan muttered with a bittersweet smile.

"What? Of course not!"

"But it is true that I flipped that trigger."

"And who told Fiery Queen to conspire against you with the other families? She's one hundred percent responsible for her own actions, so don't you dare blame yourself for this, okay?"

"I understand, but I have to ask, what are you going to do now? From what I've seen, it seems like you don't want to fight them, even if it'll affect your ranking. Why? Are you not confident in defeating them? Eternal Lotuses should be pretty high up in the rankings, right? I doubt you've achieved such a rank without proper qualifications."

"You're right; we've managed to reach the top 10 in the world. However, that was before the system update. Now that people can acquire cultivation resources from Cultivation Online, we've been surpassed by many factions, as we do not have the resources to feed all of our members with treasures." Bai Lianhua sighed.

"And before you say anything, let me explain. While it's true that my family is quite resourceful—enough to increase all of our members' cultivation to remain in the top 10, I promised myself that I would not rely on my family's resources to assist my own faction. I created the faction because I wanted to achieve something with my own capabilities, after all. Most of our funding comes from my own wallet, which I earned through my own effort, and while I can afford a few treasures here and then, it's not nearly enough to keep our faction in the top 10 any longer."

"Moreover, the Bai Family has another faction, which is being led by its patriarch—my father. Even he does not have the resources to fund two large factions at once."

"I didn't know you funded the faction alone. That's very impressive." Yuan said.

Bai Lianhua shook her head and said, "While that was true in the beginning, and I still contribute about 75 percent of our overall funds, the others are also contributing to the faction by donating some of their own earnings from Cultivation Online. It's a group effort, so I cannot claim all of the credits alone."

"What about the Demon Sealing Faction? How are you guys being funded?" Yu Rou suddenly asked.

"Well…" Yuan had to ponder for a minute before responding, "Honestly, I am not sure. Meixiu used to handle all of the faction's affairs, but she was replaced by her mother, who handles everything now. The other members are fully capable of funding their own cultivation, and they've never approached me for funding. While I do assist them with treasures and techniques here and there, I don't think it would've made too much of a difference in their growth. With that said, we're not your ordinary faction, so we don't have the same routine as most."

"What about their cultivation techniques? Do you all cultivate the same techniques as we do?" Bai Lianhua asked.

"No, we all have our own cultivation technique. Besides Meixiu and Chu Liuxiang, I had nothing to do with how they acquired their techniques."

"Really? Even though you can acquire as many techniques as you want for free?" Yu Rou said with a doubtful look on her face.

"Huh? What do you mean by that?" Bai Lianhua looked at Yu Rou after hearing her words.

Yuan answered with a smile, "I have some connections with the owner of Myriad of Techniques, and I can pretty much take any technique from there without paying…"

"You what?!?!" Bai Lianhua nearly fell off her chair after hearing this shocking information.

"A-and you can share these techniques with others…?" she then asked.

"Yes."

"Are there any limits?"

"Not that I know of. I can even sell them if I want."

"That's ridiculous and totally unfair! You essentially have unlimited money!" Bai Lianhua stood up in sheer shock.

Yuan chuckled and asked, "Not really. I don't want to break the economy by selling too many techniques."

He continued after a slight pause, "Do you want some techniques? I can donate some to your faction."

Bai Lianhua's eyes widened with disbelief after hearing his offer.

After a moment of silence, she sighed, "As much as I want to, I cannot accept your offer. That'd be no different from relying on my family's wealth."

Yuan shook his head and said, "You don't have to be so strict with yourself. You're just going to hinder yourself at this rate

—not to mention your members. And you've already done more than enough and proven your own capabilities. Nobody would blame you for needing assistance now, nor is it shameful."

"Even if you say that…" Bai Lianhua turned silent with a serious, pondering expression on her face.