How much?

"Big brother, are we really going to join the Falling Star Sect?" Lin Li Zi asked with wide open eyes filled with excitement.

From the moment that I told her that we were going to join the Falling Star Sect, she had been acting this excited.

She was so excited that I couldn't help being a bit surprised.

When I asked her about it, she said, "Of course I would be excited! That is a cultivator sect, it's a place that I never would have even dreamed of going! How could I not be excited?"

A faint smile appeared on my face when I heard this since…I couldn't deny that I was also excited and it was for the same reason as her.

A cultivation sect, that was where one's path to immortality started.

In a cultivation world like this, naturally one would choose to become immortal if they could.

But it was just that most people didn't have the chance to step onto this path to immortality.

For me, that wasn't a concern since I had something that others didn't.

If I was talented, then they would accept me.

If I wasn't talented, I would shove money down their throats until they accepted me.

That was my way of the prodigal!

Luckily for me, the system had given me this quest right when the Falling Star Sect was about to hold a sect recruitment test. So they were coming to pick up people that wanted to join the Falling Star Sect from the surrounding towns.

Though I was disappointed to see that it was only a bunch of carriages instead of using flying swords or spiritual boats like one might expect from cultivators.

When we arrived at the sect, we found that there were many people who had been brought for the sect recruitment test. These were people that had been brought from all the towns and cities near the Falling Star Sect, so there were at least fifty thousand different people of varying ages that were here.

There were those that hadn't even reached ten years old and there were those that were pushing close to twenty. However, there seemed to be no one that was past twenty that was accepted.

That wasn't strange since cultivation was something that depended on one's foundation.

Unless they started early, it was impossible to achieve anything.

After everyone was gathered, we suddenly heard a voice ring out.

It seemed like this voice was coming from the sky above us and rang out all around us.

"Those that wish to join the Falling Star Sect, enter the gates and take our trials. Though if you fear for your life, turn back now. The Falling Star Sect cannot guarantee that you'll pass these trials alive."

There were many people that revealed worried looks when they heard this, but there were still many that charged through the gates without any hesitation.

I could feel Lin Li Zi's hands gripping my sleeve and I turned to pat her hand with a smile on her face.

She put on a firm look and gave a nod to me before starting to move forward, but I pulled on her hand to stop her.

Lin Li Zi looked back at me with a confused and concerned look as she said, "Big brother, what's wrong?"

I didn't say anything as I just looked up at the sky and said, "Elder, may I ask a question?"

There was silence that followed as everyone that was left turned to look at me with shocked looks. There were even a few people who moved aways from me, as if they were afraid of being implicated because of what I had said.

There was nothing that happened at first, but then the same voice as before said, "What is it that you wish to ask?"

A figure slowly floated down from the sky and landed in front of where I was standing.

This was an old man with white hair and a long white beard that landed in front of me.

After landing, he stroked his beard and looked at me with a curious look, as if he was interested in what I had to say.

I just revealed a smile as I said, "How much will it be to buy my way into the sect? I don't want to take the test since it sounds dangerous."

The elder looked at me with a shocked look as if he couldn't tell if I was being serious or not. But after seeing that I was serious about this, he gave a sigh in a disappointed manner and said with a wave of his hand, "If you're not serious, then leave. Our Falling Star Sect does not lack disciples."

He was about to turn and leave, but I stopped him by saying, "I'm serious, name a price. I'll satisfy any price that you have."

The elder turned around to look at me with a slightly annoyed look on my face, but I didn't back down as he looked at me. Rather, I just looked back at him with a calm smile on my face which seemed to annoy the elder even more.

After a long silence, he said with a snort, "Alright, since you want to buy your way in, then I'll let you. A hundred low grade spirit stones, that's the price for one spot in our sect."

The way that he said this was almost as if he was looking down on me.

But there was a reason for that.

As soon as he said this, everyone around us took a cold breath and revealed shocked looks. It was as if they couldn't believe the price that he had given me.

Low grade spirit stones were the currency of cultivators and as such, they were very valuable.

Each low grade spirit stone was worth more than a hundred taels of gold, so what this elder was asking for was ten thousand taels of gold.

There were some rich young masters and young missus from large families in the surrounding towns and cities, but even they wouldn't dare say that they could pay this price.

That was because ten thousand taels of gold would be equal to their entire family fortune.

The only ones that could pay this kind of price were the large families in the capital of this empire that they lived in…

I looked at the elder with a surprised look before asking, "Are you serious?"

The elder took this as a sign that I wouldn't be able to pay, so he said with a snort, "What? Is that too expensive? Then you can just…"

Before he could finish, I suddenly said, "Expensive? Not at all. I think that it's too cheap."

Everyone looked at me in shock when they heard this.