Chapter 41: Brothers, Have We Struck It Rich?

"What brings you here?" Bai Feiyu was a little puzzled. After all, the brothers from the dormitory wouldn't come looking for him without a reason.

A sudden visit could only mean something was amiss.

"Well, Brother Fei, the brothers have gotten themselves into big trouble." The young man looked extremely embarrassed. "Earlier, while we were still in the outer sect, we heard a lot of slanderous rumors about you. So after you defeated Li Zikun, we couldn't hold back and got into a fight."

"As a result, we injured quite a few people, and some of them were even under the protection of inner sect disciples."

"Not only that, but to show our support for you, when you fought Li Zikun, we all bet some spirit stones. In the end, we made a fortune..."

"Some inner sect disciples who already had grudges against you, as well as those who lost their bets, started causing trouble for us."

"This matter even alarmed the elders, leading to many of our brothers from the dormitory being arrested and locked in the dark cells."

"They're certain you won't bother with us, so they're acting so brazenly." The brother's face was full of regret. "We're really sorry, Brother Yu. All we ever do is cause you trouble..."

"Enough!" Bai Feiyu waved his hand, feeling a warm surge in his heart. "Don't worry, I'll go with you right now and settle this matter."

"From today on, no one will dare bully you again!"

"In the outer sect, I want you all to walk with your heads held high!"

As he spoke, Bai Feiyu's voice grew heavier, even carrying a chilling edge.

Though these brothers might never amount to much, they were still his people.

He could easily guess the reason behind all this.

These brothers were at the very bottom of the sect. They had no idea how powerful Li Zikun truly was, but they believed in him from the bottom of their hearts and bet their money accordingly.

After his sweeping victory, their intelligence naturally led them to boast loudly.

Thus, the inner sect disciples who lost their bets shifted their resentment squarely onto these brothers.

After all, they didn't dare provoke Bai Feiyu himself, so they vented their anger on his followers.

Moreover, for most, once they advanced to the inner sect, they would no longer pay attention to the brothers who hadn't made anything of themselves.

That was why those people dared to take their frustrations out on them.

Otherwise, in the chaotic outer sect, no elder would seriously intervene over such a trivial matter.

There was no way so many outer sect disciples would be arrested over something so small.

Clearly, more than one inner sect disciple was pulling strings behind this, and likely quite a few of them.

Even though these brothers might never succeed, and they were no longer even on the same level, Bai Feiyu couldn't bear to see them bullied.

After all, he couldn't let them lose heart, especially when their loyalty was so genuine.

As he walked with this brother from the dormitory, Bai Feiyu suddenly remembered something and quickly asked the young man, whose name was Shi Fei, "By the way, Shi Fei, just how many spirit stones did you all win?"

Bai Feiyu suddenly had a feeling these brothers had made a tidy fortune, perhaps overnight becoming the nouveau riche.

After all, very few had bet on him at the time, while the amount wagered against him was enormous.

With those odds... even a small bet would have brought huge profits for these brothers.

When Bai Feiyu asked, Shi Fei looked a bit embarrassed. "Brother Yu, honestly, it wasn't that much... on average, each of us made about twelve hundred spirit stones."

Bai Feiyu was stunned on the spot.

Good heavens, he knew the betting had paid off, but he never imagined they'd made so much.

With so many brothers in the dormitory, the total sum must be enormous.

"So... how much did you all bet in the first place? You shouldn't have had that much money to begin with..." Bai Feiyu hesitated, an uneasy premonition rising within him.

"Heh, Brother Yu, you wouldn't understand. Ever since we became associated with you, if not wealthy, we've certainly done well for ourselves."

"There used to be people collecting protection money—henchmen of inner sect disciples—but as your men, how could we not think of you?"

"Not only did we collect protection money from the area on your behalf, but we also borrowed a good deal, using the right to collect protection money in our dormitory area as collateral with other inner sect disciples. That's how we got so much money to bet, and naturally, we made a killing..."

Shi Fei gave a sheepish smile. "But don't worry, Brother Yu. We know that much of this money isn't really ours."

"You've been too busy to bother with us, but we were just waiting for the right chance to give you a share of both the protection money and our winnings..."

Bai Feiyu nodded, still reeling from the shock.

Just one round of betting had turned into a bloody windfall.

This was also one of the reasons why, after entering the inner sect, Bai Feiyu hadn't abandoned these outer sect brothers.

Why did inner sect disciples keep a retinue of their own little brothers? It wasn't just for prestige—there was a lot of profit to be made.

There were only a few thousand inner sect disciples in the Gui Xu Sect, but the outer sect had several hundred thousand, nearly a million.

Each outer sect disciple received five spirit stones a month. The reason the sect kept so many was because the Gui Xu Sect needed to function—most of the dirty and exhausting work fell on these outer sect disciples. And inner sect disciples themselves had once come from the outer sect; without resources to cultivate, the sect's supply would dry up.

That's why so many outer sect disciples were kept.

However, most of them were good-for-nothings, simply eating and drinking their way through life.

The sect handed out so many spirit stones every year that, naturally, they weren't pleased to see them wasted. So they tacitly allowed inner sect disciples to dip into these resources.

Of course, not every inner sect disciple had the right to profit from this.

Generally, those who did had the backing of an alliance.

Most were simply thrust forward as figureheads.

The outer sect was so vast, with areas beyond even the reach of inner sect disciples. And while the Gui Xu Sect turned a blind eye to the exploitation, they occasionally stepped in with punishments. If they allowed unchecked plundering, the outer sect would be completely at the mercy of the inner sect, and even the promising would lose hope.

The area where these brothers lived hadn't seen protection money collected in a long time.

Because the last inner sect disciple in charge had already fallen from power.