After the fight with Qiong Qi,
Chen Xia was also seriously injured. His right hand's energy channels were severed, blocking his spiritual energy, so he couldn't use it for a while.
He bandaged his entire right hand and applied some medicinal herbs that could regenerate flesh and heal meridians. With the supplementary elixir from Zhang DaoMing, he would recover in no time.
Zhang DaoMing estimated that it would take about half a year for Chen Xia to fully recover. It's not too long, but he would need to recuperate and take medicine consistently.
Fortunately, Chen Xia could still use his left hand with no issues. The only inconvenience was holding a teacup while drinking tea, since he was used to using his right hand.
To address this, Chen Xia whittled a straw and started sipping tea through it. It looked quite fashionable.
Besides recuperating, Chen Xia was borrowing money from everyone he knew, pawning his flying swords as collateral.
For sums under 5,000 Spirit Stones, he would pawn a Spirit Sword. For higher sums, he would pawn a Dao Sword.
So far, he had pawned one Dao Sword - the Fire Dao Sword pawned to Zhang DaoMing. He had pawned 3 Spirit Swords and borrowed 1,800 Spirit Stones.
"When can I pay this back?" Chen Xia mumbled while lying in a rocking chair, sucking on a straw.
With his injury, he couldn't refine pills either, so he could only rely on borrowing to pool together 300,000 Spirit Stones.
But the borrowing was rather slow. After several days, he had only borrowed 11,800 Spirit Stones.
Perhaps he should borrow from the wealthy, Chen Xia thought, and immediately took action.
There weren't many rich preparatory disciples, but those two imperial scions definitely had money. Born into prestigious families, the cultivation methods and materials they used were all top-notch, so they surely had ample funds.
Chen Xia knocked on the grotto door of Emperor Capital's abode and waited quietly.
There was no response from inside, just a consciousness sweeping over.
Then the door immediately opened, and Emperor Capital stood at the entrance, smiling heartily and beckoning to Chen Xia, "Brother Chen, what brings you here today without letting me know in advance? I was sleeping and didn't hear you."
With his bandaged hand unable to move, Chen Xia simply stretched out his left hand and laughed, "I'm here to borrow some money from you."
"No problem." Emperor Capital let out a hearty laugh. Although unsure why Chen Xia wanted to borrow money, he had ample funds and immediately asked, "How much do you need?"
"How much do you have?" Chen Xia's words instantly made the atmosphere awkward.
From his tone, Emperor Capital realized Chen Xia wanted to borrow all his Spirit Stones.
"I have about 20-30 thousand Spirit Stones," Emperor Capital vaguely responded.
"Okay, then lend me 25 thousand," Chen Xia nodded in agreement.
Emperor Capital frowned slightly, hesitating. 25 thousand Spirit Stones wasn't a small sum for him, and Chen Xia had requested to borrow so much right off the bat, making him somewhat doubtful. He probed further, "What do you need so many Spirit Stones for?"
Chen Xia pointed to his bandaged hand and casually said, "I'm injured and need money for recuperation."
That seemed reasonable since cultivators did require ample funds for treatment and recovery.
But the key was, Chen Xia only had an injured hand!
How could one hand need 25 thousand Spirit Stones for treatment?
Even if you added an extra hand, it still wouldn't cost 25 thousand.
Emperor Capital hesitated briefly before deciding not to pry further. He straightened up and said solemnly, "I can lend it to you but will need an IOU as an agreement between us."
Chen Xia nodded. As the borrower, he naturally had no objections.
Moreover, an IOU was purely based on the lender's integrity for enforcement. If Chen Xia didn't want to repay, it would be powerless against him.
Things that could truly bind cultivators were covenants and the like.
It was evident Emperor Capital had good character, requiring only an IOU.
He rummaged in his storage treasure for a while and took out a crystal jade bottle, handing it to Chen Xia.
"There should be 26 thousand Spirit Stones inside. Consider the excess your welcoming gift from me."
Chen Xia nodded, feeling Emperor Capital was quite open-minded regarding lending money.
After lending the money, Emperor Capital crossed his arms and suddenly suggested, "I remember Qiu Li is quite wealthy too. Why don't you go borrow from him as well?"
They were indeed good brothers, even reminding each other about borrowing money.
Chen Xia accepted the crystal jade bottle and nodded in agreement, "I'll head over right after this."
"I'll go with you," Emperor Capital rubbed his hands eagerly, looking excited.
This made Chen Xia feel he didn't intend to accompany him borrowing money, but rather robbing money.
However, thinking it was Qiu Li, Chen Xia didn't refuse and brought Emperor Capital along.
Noon.
The skies were somewhat gloomy with sparse, scattered clouds, indicating unfavorable fortunes today.
Qiu Li withdrew his gaze from the sky and looked at Emperor Capital and Chen Xia before him, his expression tranquil. He shook his head with a faint laugh.
"Even if you want to fight, it should be one-on-one. What's the meaning of both of you coming together?"
Seeing the wicked grin on Emperor Capital's face, Qiu Li knew a fierce battle was imminent today.
He just didn't expect Emperor Capital to even bring Chen Xia along, leaving Qiu Li quite apprehensive.
Even if unwilling to admit it, Chen Xia was undisputedly the number one among the preparatory disciples, especially after fighting Qiong Qi. This position was even more unshakeable.
No one could or dared to shake it.
Unless you wanted to taste 300,000 flying swords.
Qiu Li didn't expect Chen Xia to come looking for him so soon after the great battle with Qiong Qi, and seeing his heavily bandaged right hand, the injuries were clearly far from healed.
What was the implication? Did he think he could defeat Qiu Li single-handedly?
Hmph!
Qiu Li silently fumed, yet had to concede Chen Xia could probably suppress him easily with just one hand, without even needing that.
"While you've both come, I can only fight one person. Given Chen Xia's injuries, I won't take advantage of that.
"Die, Emperor Capital!"
Qiu Li suddenly roared fiercely, his fingers shooting out spiritual energy bursting from his head, sweeping his hair back.
He had already decided, he would fight Emperor Capital for a while, then concede mid-battle. This way, his and Emperor Capital's reputations would remain equal.
Moreover, he would gain an additional honor - that Chen Xia took the initiative to challenge him!
For preparatory disciples, this was a tremendous glory; even for formal disciples, it was something to boast about.
With this, he could certainly suppress Emperor Capital after!
"What nonsense are you spouting, we've come to borrow money!" Emperor Capital frowned and scolded.
"Huh?" Qiu Li froze, his spiritual energy dissipating as he gazed at them in confusion, carefully scrutinizing them for a while before asking,
"How much do you want to borrow?"
Chen Xia and Qiu Li spoke in unison.
"How much do you have?"