Chapter 93: Feedback
The merit hall had a whole mountain to itself. One site was built on the mountainside, and the other on the summit. The site on the mountainside consisted of several interconnected main halls that formed an imposing complex. Dedicated to Dao Foundation stage cultivators, all inquiries, verifications, and exchanges of merit had to be conducted here. People were constantly flowing in and out of the halls, creating a bustling atmosphere.
In the Palace of Absolute Beginning, merit was the primary source of cultivation resources for the vast majority of disciples. Even descendants of noble clans and aristocratic families sought ways to obtain merits after forging their Dao Foundation. After all, it was all too easy to garner scorn and criticism if they relied solely on their clan to support them.
The merits ranking was completely public. The middle ranks often got overlooked, but everyone paid equal attention to the top and the bottom ranks. Even the most shameless individuals couldn’t stand lingering at the bottom of the list and enduring the public scrutiny that came with it for long.
When a cultivator had forged their Dao Foundation, their need for cultivation resources would increase dramatically. Their need for precious items would increase as well. Unless they hailed from a top-tier aristocratic family such as the Bao Clan and the Cui Clan, it was quite difficult for a middling clan to cover the full expenditure of a Dao Foundation stage cultivator. As for the minor clans, it was all they could do to support a descendant until they reached the Dao Foundation stage.
Prior to entering the merits hall, Wei Yuan took a moment to check his total merit.
At this moment, he was still the top scorer on the major exam ranking. In fact, his total merit had jumped to over fourteen thousand after he traded the golden axe and the horse tack to the Palace. However, in second place, Bao Yun’s total merit had sneakily climbed to eleven thousand during this time. Somehow, the young woman had earned another three thousand plus merits in the past two days. Clearly, she had fought another great battle.
The new second runner-up was a man named Xiao Chonglou. The guy had appeared out of nowhere and earned a whopping seven thousand plus merits in one go. Just two days ago, he wasn’t even on the merits ranking. As expected, one should never underestimate a disciple of the Palace of Absolute Beginning.
Despite all the excitement, the major exam was over for Wei Yuan. After all, he had ventured deep into Liao territory, slain the young chieftain of the Agula tribe, and survived the Snow Hawk Avatar long enough to escape back into the human realm. He had basically given the entire Agula tribe a loud and resounding slap. If Wei Yuan were to appear on the frontlines once more, heavens only know the kind of madness the Liao barbarians would enact to get revenge against him. Sure, it would be quite unseemly for an Avatar to ambush a junior, but then again, a war between two races was hardly a martial spar. There was no such rule where only equals could fight against each other.
Wei Yuan felt much more confident after checking his total merit. First, he went to the immortal silver changer and converted seven thousand merits into immortal silver. It was a huge sum of money, so of course the money changer could not hand them over in physical form. Instead, the working Daoist handed Wei Yuan an exquisitely crafted jade paper imbued with a trace of the merit hall’s Dao essence. Anyone holding this paper could redeem exactly seventy thousand taels of immortal silver from the Palace of Absolute Beginning at any time.