Chapter 24
To an ordinary person, five years of confinement was indeed a very serious punishment.
After all, even for cultivators, five years was not a short time.
How many five years could a person have?
However, this punishment was exactly what Lu Yuan wanted.
Previously, he had been worried about how he could get rid of the demoness Meng Ruyan so that he could safely cultivate to the Foundation Establishment Stage.
All his planning was nothing compared to heaven’s plans.
Look, hadn’t the opportunity come by itself?
Now, the sect leader had personally requested for him to be confined.
No matter how dissatisfied the demoness Meng Ruyan was, she shouldn’t be able to go against the sect leader’s decision, right?
At this moment, Lu Yuan did not regret what he had done. Instead, he regretted that he had not done enough.
If he could be confined for 50 years, Lu Yuan would definitely burst out laughing.
Moreover, although his five years of confinement was a punishment on the surface, it was actually a reward in disguise.
Whether it was Sect Leader Mu Chen or Elder Han Yuanshan of the Pharmacist Valley, it was obvious that both of them now remembered Lu Yuan.
Even though Elder Han had come into contact with Lu Yuan before, it was more of an impulse at that time, and it didn’t take long for him to forget about it.
However, this incident made Elder Han remember Lu Yuan, the pill-refining genius.
An outer sect disciple who had the ability to refine so many cultivation pills while being someone who had just started learning the art of pill refinement was obviously a good seedling in pill refinement and must be protected well.
Never mind other things, but in terms of the cultivation and protection of talents, the Qingyun Sect was still very good.
In addition, Lu Yuan’s crime was not a problem of principle.
Therefore, his punishment this time was more of a warning.
It was a warning to Lu Yuan to not create trouble in the future and cultivate properly. The sect would not mistreat him in the future.
However, neither Elder Han nor Mu Chen had expected that not only did the punishment fail to make Lu Yuan turn over a new leaf, it even opened the door to a whole new world for him.
In the confinement room at the back mountain, Lu Yuan wasn’t doing his usual pill-refining tasks.
Instead, he was carefully reading a book called “Rules of Qingyun Sect”.
“Secretly learning the sect’s cultivation techniques and divine abilities without permission… The lightest punishment is to have your cultivation crippled. The heaviest punishment is to be executed in public. No, no, this punishment is too heavy. It doesn’t meet the requirements.”
“Those who go against the wishes of fellow sect members and force them to become partners will be grounded for ten years at best and executed in public at worst. This won’t do either. If the severity isn’t controlled well, I might ultimately die. Let’s change to another one.”
In the end, after Lu Yuan finished reading the Rules of Qingyun Sect, he finally found a rule that he could violate among the newly-added rules.
“Those who privately buy and sell the resources of the sect to their fellow sect members will be punished with a minimum penalty of having all their illegal gains confiscated and a fine. If it’s serious, on top of the previous punishment, they will be confined for more than ten years.”
This one, this one!
This was a good sect rule!
It was obvious that this rule had been added by Sect Leader Mu Chen after the marrow-cleansing pill incident.
After all, before this, there had never been such a situation where inner sect disciples sold their pills to fellow sect members.
There were only cases of inner sect disciples betraying the interests of the sect and selling the sect’s resources to outsiders. This was directly dealt with as betrayal.
As for the price of betraying the sect, crippling one’s cultivation was already showing mercy. Executing one in public was the normal punishment.
At this moment, Lu Yuan was obviously eyeing the rule of “buying and reselling the sect’s resources”.
In all the celestial cultivation novels, the confinement room in the back mountain was usually the safest place.
When no one attacked the mountain, few people would go to the back mountain, so it was not easy to offend others.
When someone attacked the mountain, those at the back of the mountain could stay far away from the main battlefield and find an opportunity to escape.
No matter how one looked at it, this was a place where one could both attack and defend.
It was the best place for the steady development style cultivators to cultivate.
Similar to confinement in most novels, Lu Yuan’s so-called confinement was actually just a mandatory cultivation mission.
Those who were confined could still exchange for cultivation techniques and divine abilities with the sect as usual to maintain their daily cultivation.
It could be said that other than the lack of freedom, there was not much difference between those who were confined and ordinary disciples.
However, being confined was not without its disadvantages.
This disadvantage was that the cultivation resources of those who were confined were not as abundant as that of ordinary disciples.
After all, ordinary disciples could earn contribution points or spiritual stones by completing various tasks, then exchange them for the corresponding cultivation resources with the sect.
Those who were confined would no longer have such an opportunity.
However, this was not a problem for Lu Yuan!
With his mastery over pill refinement, he did not lack cultivation resources. The only thing he needed was a stable cultivation environment and time to work hard.
To others, confinement was a punishment, but to him, it was the best reward.
When he thought of this, Lu Yuan could not wait to break the sect rules again.
However, considering that he already had five years of “vacation”, Lu Yuan felt that it was better for him to restrain himself a little.
Otherwise, if he were to be driven down the mountain in the end, it would be throwing the helve after the hatchet.
Just as Lu Yuan was planning his happy life for the next five years, a hearty voice came from outside the confinement room.
“Junior Brother Lu, I’m here to see you!”
Hearing the commotion outside, Lu Yuan hurriedly kept the “Rules of Qingyun Sect” and walked out.
He saw Bai Dafei carrying a stack of food and smiling as he stood in front of the room where he was confined.
Looking at Bai Dafei, Lu Yuan teased, “Senior brother Bai, you caused me a lot of trouble yesterday.”
Upon hearing Lu Yuan’s words, Bai Dafei raised the basket of delicacies in his hand and the wine in his other hand. He smiled and said, “Junior Brother Lu, do you even hear yourself? Aren’t I here to apologize?”
Upon seeing this, Lu Yuan laughed as well.
“Alright, alright. I know that you didn’t mean it. This place is simple and crude. I hope that you won’t mind it later.”
“What are you saying, junior brother? I’m not the kind of person who likes enjoyment. Come on, let’s have a good drink today.”
As he spoke, Bai Dafei put his arm around Lu Yuan’s shoulder and walked into the confinement room.
As soon as he entered, Bai Dafei saw that there was only one pill furnace and one stone bed in the confinement room.
“Junior Brother Lu, it seems like you’re going to have to suffer for the next five years. This environment is really not something that a human can survive in,” He said with a sigh.
“It’s fine. I’m already very satisfied with this treatment as someone who made a mistake. By the way, I still have to thank you, senior brother, for speaking up for me yesterday.”
“Junior Brother Lu, what are you saying? I, Bai Dafei, am a righteous man. I would never do anything to harm you. To be honest, even if I didn’t say those words yesterday, the sect leader wouldn’t have done anything to you. After all, your talent in pill refinement is obvious to all in the sect. The sect leader has his own considerations.”
As he spoke, Bai Dafei took out a brand-new storage bag.
“Junior brother, these are the divine abilities that I’ve exchanged for according to your request. In addition, there are also medicinal ingredients you need for your pill refinement. Elder Han has instructed me to come every half a year to verify your pill refinement progress. We can’t let you give up on yourself.”
“To be honest, I think that both Sect Leader Mu and Elder Han think highly of you. On the surface, they’re putting you in confinement, but isn’t this also another kind of protection? Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to bring these divine abilities and cultivation techniques in so easily. Doesn’t this show how much the sect leader and Elder Han value you, Junior Brother? Junior Brother, don’t let down the sect leader and Elder Han’s efforts.”
Looking at Bai Dafei, who had come to be the peacemaker, Lu Yuan nodded and said, “Senior brother, don’t worry. I understand.”
“It’s good that you understand, Junior Brother Lu. Oh right, are you preparing to cultivate all five spiritual roots at the same time? Why do you want me to help you get so many basic divine abilities of the five spiritual roots?”
As he spoke, Bai Dafei took out four cultivation techniques from his storage bag.
These four cultivation techniques were “Metal Manipulation”, “Wood Manipulation”, “Water Manipulation”, and “Earth Manipulation”.
Lu Yuan’s eyes lit up as he looked at the four divine ability books.
As he put them away, he said, “Regarding the situation of my spiritual roots, senior brother, you should already have some understanding. I haven’t decided which type of spiritual root I want to cultivate yet, so I’ve decided to try them all out. I’ll decide later.”
“Then junior brother, you’d better make a decision soon. Let’s not talk about it anymore. Let’s drink. Today, we’ll drink to our heart’s content!”
Not long after, cheerful sounds rang out in the confinement room.
After drinking to their heart’s content for an entire afternoon, Lu Yuan personally sent Bai Dafei off.
When he returned to his confinement room, Lu Yuan looked at the simple and crude room and the corners of his mouth curled up.
Five years of happiness… Starting now!