Brian Carter sighed. He had planned to get some spirit coins from these kids to bet more at the gambling house, but now it seemed he was overthinking it.

Robert Harris saw Brian Carter sigh and thought he was about to fly away on his sword, so he hurriedly said, “I have ten spirit coins. If we pool ours together, we should have about fifty.”

Brian Carter did the math in his head. A hundred spirit coins could be exchanged for one tael of spirit stone, so fifty was about half a tael. Better than nothing.

“But if we give them to the Peak Master, we won’t have any spirit coins left.” Robert Harris looked timidly at Brian Carter and whispered, “If we don’t do well in tomorrow’s assignments, the teacher will still scold us.”

Brian Carter couldn’t help but laugh. This kid shouldn’t be cultivating immortality—he should be doing business! He was clearly bargaining!

“I’ll help you with your assignments for a whole month.” Brian Carter spread out his palm.

Robert Harris collected the others’ spirit coins, but when he handed them over, he still asked uneasily, “Does the Peak Master keep his word?”

“My Sibao Peak is wealthy and powerful. Would I care about your little bit of spirit coins?” Brian Carter happily took the coins, then grabbed a brush and quickly wrote down six pill recipes on one of their assignments, saying, “I’m just helping you out because I feel sorry for you.”

The six kids thought this made sense. A dignified Peak Master must be rich—there’s no way he’d cheat them out of fifty spirit coins.

“But… the teacher said these herbs can only be used to make four kinds of pills at most.” Robert Harris looked worriedly at the six pill recipes written in his assignment book. “Peak Master, can you really make six? The teacher hits pretty hard.”

“The teacher said four because he thinks that’s your limit.” Brian Carter looked again at the herbs on the scroll. “Actually, the correct answer is seven, but the seventh is too hard to make. If I told you, the teacher would suspect you of cheating. Six should be fine!”

The kids looked at each other for a moment. Seeing Brian Carter’s serious face, they also felt a Peak Master wouldn’t lie.

But the teacher’s authority still made them a bit nervous.

“Peak Master… if—just if,” Robert Harris rubbed his hands and said, “if the teacher says this answer is wrong, what do we do? That’s all our pocket money for the year…”

“If you really get punished for this, just tell him it was the Sibao Peak Master who helped you.” Brian Carter weighed the spirit coins in his hand. “Let him come find me.”

Hearing this, Robert Harris immediately felt reassured. He also thought the Peak Master was right—the teacher probably thought four pill recipes was their limit, but if they handed in six, the teacher would probably be very pleased!

“My ride is here, I’ll be off.” Brian Carter skillfully jumped onto the immortal cloud carriage, handed the driver a spirit coin as fare, and quickly left as the carriage sped away.

The kids watched the departing immortal cloud carriage and all marveled that someone of the Peak Master’s status would actually take public transportation! They’d only ever heard the teacher say that important people were usually low-key, but they never expected them to be this low-key! If the teacher knew they’d gotten guidance from the Peak Master, even though he was an elder of the Hundred Peaks Sect, he’d still envy their good fortune!

Sitting in the immortal cloud carriage, Brian Carter pondered: whether it was helping kids with homework or making spirit talismans, neither brought in money fast enough! Before the duel with Xingyao Peak, he wouldn’t be able to scrape together much to bet at the gambling house!

Chapter 7: The Disciple Who Drew His Sword, The Peak Master Who Ran Away

The Sibao Peak Master’s side residence was as open as usual, except there was now a dark-skinned burly man in the courtyard.

From a distance, Brian Carter found the man looked familiar. Searching quickly through inherited memories, he realized who it was.

James Parker! The only friend of Brian Carter’s previous self! Ranked ninety-ninth among the Seven Star Peak’s top disciples! Cultivation: four Dao Platforms! Special immortal cultivation physique: Crimson Underworld Blazing Body! But his physique’s purity was very low—less than ten percent. Otherwise, the higher-ranked peaks would have fought over him long ago!

“You kids, don’t you have any manners?” Brian Carter stepped into the courtyard and said to the disciples, “Uncle Parker is here, and none of you thought to serve tea?”

All the disciples looked in unison at Second Senior Sister Emily Morris, who managed Sibao Peak’s finances.

Brian Carter immediately remembered that he’d mentioned to Emily Morris a few days ago that the tea was finished, and the disciples had just replied with two words: ‘No money.’

“I’m not here for tea!” James Parker suddenly stood up and walked toward Brian Carter, his tower-like figure blocking the setting sun behind him, making Brian Carter feel as if he was suddenly in shadow.

“I know, you’re here to persuade me not to duel with Xingyao Peak, right?” Facing someone who cared about him, Brian Carter couldn’t bring himself to act cold. He just pulled him over to sit at the table and said, “I just went to see Elder Tongdie, and he tried to talk me out of it too.”