NOVEL NEXT Ch. 1
Chapter 1: Useless at the Start, but Managed to Bluff Them All!
Qingyun Sect, Disciplinary Hall.
The cold bluestone floor shimmered faintly with a ghostly light, while the air was thick with a heavy mix of sandalwood and oppressive spiritual pressure.
Chu Feng knelt beneath the hall, his mind buzzing as he struggled to digest the despairing memories left behind in this body.
He, Chu Feng, in his previous life, had been the top leader of a financial fraud conglomerate codenamed “The Reaper.”
He was a master of P2P scams, virtual currencies, and pyramid schemes—psychology and oratory were carved into his very bones.
Now, upon waking up, his soul had transmigrated into the body of another man with the same name and surname.
That unfortunate soul had been an outer disciple of the Qingyun Sect, with mediocre aptitude and mixed spiritual roots—a genuine cannon fodder in the Cultivation World.
Even worse, he had accidentally witnessed the disgraceful act of an inner disciple, Li Aotian, and had been falsely accused of stealing sect pills.
Now, this was his trial.
“Chu Feng.”
From above, the presiding Law Enforcement Elder, Wang Xuanfu, spoke slowly. His voice carried no warmth—it was like two stones grinding together.
Beside him sat two other elders. On the left, Elder Qian’s eyes darted shiftily, while Elder Liu Changqing on the right looked impatient, clearly finding the trial of an outer-sect nobody a waste of time.
“Do you admit your guilt?” Wang Xuanfu’s voice echoed through the spacious hall.
Admit guilt? Admit your ass!
Chu Feng cursed inwardly but managed to squeeze out an expression of fear and confusion on his face.
He knew very well that, with the original host’s meager cultivation and zero influence, any attempt to argue would be a one-way ticket to death.
Here, evidence didn’t matter. Power and status did.
He sneaked a glance at the three elders seated above him, his mind spinning rapidly.
His experience facing countless crises and furious “investors” in his past life told him one thing when conventional paths failed, he had to break the rules, create new value, and redirect their attention!
Liu Changqing had already lost patience. He curled his lips.
“Senior Brother Wang, why waste words on a doomed thief? Such scum brings shame to our Qingyun Sect! In my opinion, we should immediately cripple his cultivation, expel him from the mountain, and make an example of him!”
Elder Qian nodded in agreement.
“Junior Brother Liu is right. Let’s end this quickly and return to our cultivation.”
Wang Xuanfu’s face remained expressionless, seemingly accepting this verdict.
Just as he was about to raise the decree that would decide Chu Feng’s fate—
the air in the Disciplinary Hall seemed to freeze.
Now!
Chu Feng suddenly raised his head, his eyes bursting with a brilliance utterly incompatible with his “useless disciple” status.
“Three Elders, please wait!”
His shout, powered by the chest resonance he had perfected through countless speeches in his past life, wasn’t loud—but it carried such penetrating power that it forcibly halted Wang Xuanfu’s movement.
All three elders froze, their eyes like lightning as they turned to Chu Feng, shock written all over their faces.
A lamb about to be slaughtered—where did he get such nerve?
Liu Changqing immediately barked,
“Presumptuous! How dare you raise your voice in the Disciplinary Hall, you petty thief!”
Chu Feng ignored him. He shuffled forward two steps on his knees, his face taking on an expression of frenzied enlightenment, trembling as he spoke:
“Disciple… disciple has understood!”
“Disciple did not steal the pills. Last night, in the face of despair, my mind was stirred, and I unexpectedly glimpsed a trace of Heaven’s Dao’s true meaning! I have comprehended… an unprecedented Great Dao!”
The three elders frowned at his nonsensical words.
“Raving nonsense!” Liu Changqing sneered. “You’ve clearly gone mad with fear!”
“No! It’s not madness!”
Chu Feng shook his head violently, his eyes blazing with unshakable conviction—the kind of power that only came from belief.
He stared fixedly at the three elders, pronouncing each word with solemn gravity:
“What I have comprehended… is the ‘Dao of Immortal Wealth Division’!”
“This Dao can make the Qingyun Sect’s resources multiply tenfold out of thin air!”
“It can make every disciple’s cultivation soar!”
“And it can even… help the Sect Master himself break through his bottleneck and ascend in one step!”
Boom!
His words exploded like thunder in the silent hall.
The three elders were dumbfounded.
They had seen people beg before death, refuse to confess, or even curse to the end—but this was the first time anyone had claimed enlightenment before execution… and even promised to make the sect rich!
Wang Xuanfu frowned deeply, staring at Chu Feng as if trying to find a hint of deception on his face.
But Chu Feng’s expression was too sincere, too fervent—radiating the power of unshakable faith.
Elder Qian looked doubtful, muttering inwardly:
Could the boy really have had some sort of miraculous encounter?
Only Liu Changqing, after his initial shock, revealed a flicker of greed deep within his eyes.
Tenfold resources?
Helping the Sect Master ascend?
This pie he was painting… was far too big!
So big that it was absurd—
but what if it were real?
Chu Feng caught every flicker of emotion in their eyes and sneered inwardly.
Got them.
The fish had started to nibble the bait.
He knew he had successfully shifted the focus of this trial—from “pill theft” to the tantalizing mystery of the “Dao of Immortal Wealth Division.”
“Nonsense!”
Wang Xuanfu finally snapped out of it, shouting coldly, “Chu Feng, do you take this seat for a three-year-old? ‘Immortal Wealth Division’? Then tell me—how does this division work?”
He had meant to expose Chu Feng’s lie—
but that was exactly what Chu Feng wanted!
The trap was set.
Chu Feng’s heart settled, though his face showed a look of reluctant secrecy, as if struggling with the weight of heavenly secrets.
Finally, he seemed to reach a decision and bowed deeply to the three elders.
“This Dao concerns a new interpretation of Heaven’s Dao itself.”
“May I ask, Elders—what is our Qingyun Sect’s greatest dilemma right now?”
Before they could answer, Chu Feng continued passionately:
“It’s resources! Every disciple fights over limited pills, manuals, and spirit lands! Too many monks, too little porridge—isn’t that so?”
The three elders fell silent. That was an undeniable truth.
“And my Dao is to solve this very problem!” Chu Feng’s eyes gleamed. “I call it—‘The Immortal Equity Allocation System’!”
He paused deliberately, giving them time to digest this unfamiliar term.
“Immortal… equity?” Liu Changqing repeated unconsciously, utterly confused.
“Precisely!” Chu Feng nodded firmly. He knew—the real performance had just begun.
“Immortal equity?” Liu Changqing mouthed the words again, finding them mysterious and profound, as though they held a truth beyond his understanding.
Wang Xuanfu and Elder Qian both looked solemn and puzzled.
They had cultivated for centuries, yet had never heard of such bizarre terminology.
That was exactly the effect Chu Feng wanted—to stun them with a concept so advanced they couldn’t comprehend it, breaking their existing frame of thought.
“May I ask, Elder Liu,” Chu Feng turned to the greediest of the three, “what do you think is our Qingyun Sect’s most valuable asset?”