Chapter 724: The Jiangshi Token

Chu Yi’s departure had indeed caused significant trouble for Chu Liang.

When Chu Liang first took charge of Red Cotton Peak, many affairs were still in their early stages. In truth, he had merely laid the groundwork—building a foundation from nothing and taking the Red Cotton Peak from level zero to one.

However, during the years of Chu Liang’s absence, Chu Yi had taken Red Cotton Peak from its foundation to new heights, advancing it from level one to level ten. Under the protection of Di Nufeng and the Four Overlords of Mount Shu, he had managed both internal and external affairs with full authority. When Chu Liang returned and saw how well everything was handled, he chose not to reclaim those responsibilities.

But now that this little rascal was gone, all the burdens of Red Cotton Peak had once again fallen onto Chu Liang’s shoulders.

Chu Liang had no choice. While they had outwardly claimed that Di Nufeng had been in charge during those years, it was merely for show. Chu Liang couldn’t fool himself. If his esteemed teacher had truly been in charge, Red Cotton Peak would have been in ruins by now.

As for Lin Bei and the others, their loyalty was unquestionable, but their four brains put together would not even make up one competent mind. Expecting them to suddenly develop outstanding management skills was nothing more than wishful thinking.

Chu Liang wanted to find another capable assistant, but where in Mount Shu could he find someone both trustworthy and competent? Such individuals were hard to come by.

He had even considered asking Yuan Zhuo to step in. However, after some thought, he realized that while Yuan Zhuo excelled at calculations and record-keeping, he wasn’t necessarily suited for the more dynamic responsibilities of management.

It was better to let him remain a quiet, square-headed accountant—someone to call upon when bookkeeping or audits were needed.

Fortunately, Chu Liang didn’t have any missions for the time being, allowing him to stay at Red Cotton Peak and focus on managing its affairs.

Yet, after long hours of work, he would often look up at the sky outside, questioning life itself as he wondered,

I just wanted to earn some money… How did I end up with a full-time job? Where is the justice in this?

It was only after taking over that Chu Liang truly realized how exceptionally well Chu Yi had managed things.

Over the years, he had kept Red Cotton Peak running like a well-oiled machine, seamlessly organizing everything. Most people hadn’t even realized he was the one pulling the strings. Such talent was downright monstrous.

Chu Yi probably was genuinely devoted to Red Cotton Peak. If not for the sudden attack on Taotie City by the rebels of Mount Mang, Chu Liang might not have pieced everything together so quickly.

For the rebels of Mount Mang, recklessly targeting one of the Terrestrial Ten sects was an utterly irrational move.

Had their sole aim been to rebel against the Yu Dynasty, the Divine Nine and Terrestrial Ten might not have aided the imperial court in suppressing them with full force.

But by making themselves a direct threat to the Terrestrial Ten, they had thrown these powerful sects into a state of alarm, potentially drawing intervention from various factions.

Chu Yi had clearly made this decision of attacking Taotie with the Red Cotton Peak’s interests in mind.

Unfortunately, Chu Liang could never stand by that stance. With the world in a relatively stable state, even if his own father wanted to start a rebellion, he wouldn’t support it.

Chu Liang glanced worriedly toward Silver Sword Peak and thought,

Esteemed Teacher, I really hope you're just making empty threats. Silver Sword Peak only has three human members. If two out of three rebel, there’s a very high possibility we’ll all get the the punishment of having nine generations of our families wiped out.

After a brief break, he refocused on the tasks at hand, hoping to finish quickly so he could leave early. The daily desk work was suffocating. At times, he found himself questioning whether the modest income of being Mount Shu’s richest man was really worth the five-hour slog every single day.

…

After a moment, a sudden knock on the door broke the silence.

Chu Liang called out, "Come in."

Wen Yulong hurriedly entered and exclaimed, "Senior Brother Chu! I made another major breakthrough in our Circle of Immortal Friends Token!"

"Aiya!" Chu Liang slapped his thigh. "Why didn’t you say so earlier?"

"Huh?" Wen Yulong froze for a moment. "You already know what the breakthrough is?"

"I have no idea," Chu Liang replied. "It’s just that you’re a bit late. I was about to clock out and head home."

"…" Wen Yulong was speechless. He thought,

You sure don’t have this strict clock-in and clock-out mindset when you're making others work overtime for you.

"How about we, uh… just do a little bit of overtime?" he asked hesitantly.

"Red Cotton Peak doesn’t do overtime!" Chu Liang responded instinctively with a sweeping gesture. "We work here out of pure dedication, not obligation!"

"Then let’s, uh… dedicate just a little more time."

Chu Liang had no choice but to agree. After all, if he insisted on leaving now, how could he expect Wen Yulong to help him with anything in the future?

Wen Yulong explained, "A while ago, you asked me to find a way to enable private chats in the soul domain. So, I tried adding more branches to the inscription formations. It turns out that while the extra branches aren’t enough to enable private chats for everyone, they do allow us to expand the current soul domain.

"Our Circle of Immortal Friends Token can now accommodate even more people! Considering the current number of cultivators in the immortal realm, even if every righteous sect member had one, there would still be plenty of space left."

"That’s fantastic!" Chu Liang’s eyes lit up. "We can mass-produce them now! Soon, every cultivator in the immortal realm will have a Circle of Immortal Friends Token! Oh, by the way, did you finish making that batch of Jiangshi Tokens I asked for?"

"They’re done, but… what exactly are you planning?" Wen Yulong asked in confusion.

As it turned out, when the Circle of Immortal Friends Token was first developed, Chu Liang had already asked Wen Yulong to create some anonymous tokens. Since each token was bound to a soul flame, they were intrinsically tied to individual identities.

The Jiangshi Tokens, on the other hand, were tokens without a bound soul flame. Their identities were fabricated, and in reality, each one was under Wen Yulong’s control. These tokens could seamlessly blend into the Circle of Immortal Friends, but every message they posted was dictated by Wen Yulong himself.

"Obviously, it’s to control the narrative," Chu Liang replied. "Otherwise, if too many people are inside, how will anyone notice our messages? With this batch of tokens, we can guide public opinion whenever we want…"

Under Chu Liang’s direction, the tokens were used to quietly spread carefully crafted messages in the more overlooked corners of the network.

For example, statements like

"Red Cotton Peak offers the best quality at the best price,"

"Mount Shu has breathtaking scenery,"

and

"Penglai Supreme Sect is arrogant and domineering"

began to subtly circulate within the Circle of Immortal Friends.

And whenever an unknown user posted such a message, another wave of unknown users would immediately flood in, fervently agreeing with what had been said.

…

After Chu Liang had been busy for some time, Venerable Wen Yuan suddenly sent word, summoning him to the Boundless Palace once more.

Initially, he thought Venerable Wen Yuan had discussed matters with Baize and reached a conclusion, and he was summoned to hear about it. However, upon arriving, he found an old man who appeared rather disheveled.

The elder was short and stout, with a round face and a long beard. He wore a grayish-white robe. With his hands tucked into his sleeves, he stared at Chu Liang with a kind smile.

It was none other than Sword Saint Old Li Ba of the Endless Sword Sect.

"Esteemed Sword Saint, Venerable Sect Leader," Chu Liang said, greeting them respectfully. Then he looked at the two of them in confusion, uncertain about the purpose of his summons.

Venerable Wen Yuan turned to Old Li Ba and said, "Sword Saint, you may explain it to him yourself."

GLTD Alternate Universe's Thoughts

TL: GT