Xiaohe Valley was indeed designated for Gu Chengshu by Uncle Wushang himself. But wasn't he away?
For all these years, aside from a select few, who else knew?
With Senior Brother Dantai pointing it out like this...
Yin Zhenghai felt his heart skip a beat and hurriedly nodded. "Naturally!"
Had he known that turning a blind eye this time would stir up such a massive mess, he...
"Chengshu, your master has failed you." Glaring savagely at his own good-for-nothing son, Yin Zhenghai said, "I'll deal with this beast right now—"
"Master..."
With True Monarch Feng Lan standing right beside her, Gu Chengshu felt much bolder. "Please, Master, do not punish Senior Brother Yin on my account anymore. Every time you punish him, I... end up being talked about for days on end. Although the innocent remain innocent, rumors are like knives, every single one cutting to the bone. For my father's sake, and for the sake of our master-disciple bond over all these years, I beg you, Master, not to punish Senior Brother Yin because of me."
Yin Zhenghai: "..."
The expression on his face grew even more ashen.
The Cliff of Reflection, the Cliff of Reflection...
Why on earth would Geng Shu send her to the Cliff of Reflection?
Had he discovered something?
"Fine! Your master won't punish him."
In an instant, Yin Zhenghai's mind raced through countless thoughts. "I haven't been a good master, and I don't know how to teach you both. Senior Brother, as for the Poison Dragon Shoals, I will go. Let Chen Jing return to Tianxiang Peak..."
Dantai Shuo glanced sideways at Junior Sister Feng Lan, pondered for a moment, and said, "...Agreed!"
"These items..."
Yin Zhenghai bent down and saw the meticulously recorded rewards and transfers, among which several items belonged to the Yin Family. The muscles on his face twitched uncontrollably a few times.
"Your master will compensate you..."
"Master," Gu Chengshu interrupted once again, "I don't want to be ambushed in the middle of the night."
"..."
Yin Zhenghai was left speechless. Everyone present, apart from his foolish son, was a seasoned schemer; anything he said now would likely be wrong.
"If you truly want to give me something, then in my father's name, convert it into spirit grain and donate it to the sect's dining hall!"
"As you wish!"
Yin Zhenghai concealed the fierce glint in his eyes.
He never expected this brat to hit him with such a demand.
Yet, with everyone watching, he could no longer pretend ignorance.
The items rewarded to his disciple had been requisitioned by his own biological son under various pretexts, and now he had to return them doubled...
Even now, Yin Zhenghai could sense divine senses probing in to inspect the pile of ledgers on the ground.
This was simply...
If his constitution hadn't been so robust, he would have wanted to vomit blood.
Though he didn't vomit blood just now, his chest felt terribly oppressed!
Yin Zhenghai clutched his chest. "Senior Sister Feng, I leave Chengshu... in your care."
"Spare me the pleasantries!"
True Monarch Feng Lan pulled Gu Chengshu up. "Senior Brother, I'm taking Chengshu back to Mingfeng Valley first. Whenever you have free time, I'll invite you for tea!"
"Go on!"
Before the words had faded, Dantai Shuo watched as the little girl made to bow in farewell, only to be yanked away by Feng Lan as they rushed out of the Lingyun Hall.
Ha!
She was truly still that same Feng Lan; she simply didn't want the little girl to pay her respects to Junior Brother Yin again!
Dantai Shuo certainly wouldn't admit that he, too, had been caught in the crossfire of his junior sister's irritation.
"Linglong, collect these account books, calculate the exact value, and have them delivered to Junior Uncle Yin later."
Even a mosquito's leg was meat.
No, how could this be a mosquito?
This was clearly a spirit ox that could feed him for a whole year.
Though he had just said that past matters were best left unmentioned, the little girl had a fierce temper and had turned the tables back for him. "As for the output of Xiaohe Valley... Junior Brother Yin, you can provide five hundred medium-grade spirit stones as compensation."
Seeing how terrible his junior brother's complexion was, and considering the girl had eaten thirteen years of meals there, he would keep the amount modest.
"Five hundred isn't enough? Make it six hundred!"
No matter how broke he was, he couldn't pinch pennies at a time like this.
Though it wouldn't salvage much of his image now, he still had to put up a struggle.
Once the compensation was settled, going to guard a dangerous place like the Poison Dragon Shoals on behalf of the sect meant that when he returned in ten or twenty years, people wouldn't keep holding this over his head.
Yin Zhenghai immediately retrieved a spirit stone pouch from his Storage Ring. "Linglong, please help me hand this to Chengshu. And the accounts here... also deliver them to me as soon as possible. At the latest, I'm leaving the day after tomorrow."
"Understood!"
Wan Linglong took the spirit stone pouch containing six hundred medium-grade spirit stones. "I'll have the accounts calculated and sent over later."
Yin Zhenghai nodded. "Senior Brother, farewell!"
He grabbed his son by the arm and departed at top speed.
Only then did Yin Cheng feel as though he had come back to life.
Inside the Lingyun Hall, the way everyone looked at him...
"Dad..."
"Shut up!"
Yin Zhenghai's chest heaved violently. "I don't want to speak to you right now. From today on, do whatever you damn well please!"
He had schemed painstakingly to plan for him, to plan for the Yin Family, yet this fool...
Didn't he like Geng Ruoqi?
If he had the ability, he should marry her back; then he would truly admire him.
Otherwise, he might as well just disown this son.
"But there is one thing you will engrave in your mind: never go provoke Gu Chengshu again."
The brat had been docile in his hands for over a decade, yet in the blink of an eye, she had dug a pit for him and his father from which they might never crawl out.
"She already hates you now."
If you go provoke her again, heaven knows...
"From now on, whenever you run into her, stay out of her way."
It was also his own carelessness.
Had he known, he should have given more guidance to this pampered, brain-addled idiot.
Yin Zhenghai was filled with endless regret.
Those three months at the Cliff of Reflection were going to be damn near fatal.
"Dad!"
Tears instantly welled up in Yin Cheng's eyes. "At the very beginning, she was clearly the one who gave them to me voluntarily. I... I couldn't possibly have used that many..."
"...Did you forget that you also keep a pack of lackeys?"
Suppressing the fury in his heart, Yin Zhenghai glared at his foolish son. "Your lackeys were originally just ordinary outer disciples. Don't you think their cultivation levels have been skyrocketing ever since they started following you?"
Gu Chengshu was loose with her wealth, and his son was no less extravagant.
In the past, he couldn't be bothered to correct it; after all, the beneficiaries were his son and the Yin Family.
But now...
"I've truly spoiled you rotten, Yin Cheng. Do you have any idea how spirit stones are earned?"
He was genuinely on the verge of being angered to death.
Junior Brother Gu's Storage Ring was still sealed within the sect, after all.
If he wanted to make a move in the future...
Yin Zhenghai gnashed his teeth. "From now on, I won't give you another single spirit stone in allowance, and don't even think about getting anything from the clan."
Yin Cheng lowered his head. "...Understood!"
He knew this was a grave problem.
However...
His dad hadn't given him an allowance in a very long time anyway.
As for the clan...
Thinking of how the spiritual weapons and magical instruments wielded by several of his older cousins had all been gifts he had transferred to them, Yin Cheng couldn't help casting a glance toward the direction of Mingfeng Valley.
Had he... had he really taken everything his dad had given Gu Chengshu, and on top of that... made her chip in even more?
Those accounts...
Yin Cheng's complexion turned even more ashen.
If word got out, how could he ever show his face in public?
Ruoqi...
Would Ruoqi still pay him any mind?