Immortal, but Stingy

Qi Xiaoman is the daughter of a tofu-selling family in Qingshi Town, Nanshan Realm. On the day her spiritual roots were tested, the whole crowd burst out laughing: she had all five elements, making her spiritual roots so mixed they couldn't be any worse. She was the cultivation world's “misfit.”

When every prestigious sect drove her away, only the poorest sect in the realm, the Jubao Sect, was willing to take her in. Sect Master Jia Banshan put it plainly: “Our Jubao Sect may not have much else, but we have plenty of rules. Renting a magic artifact requires a deposit, voice transmission talismans are charged by the word, and reading in the scripture pavilion is billed by the hour. But don't worry, girl. We're poor, but we're honest about it. We won't cheat you out of a single spirit stone.”

That very night, as Qi Xiaoman sat in meditation, she discovered she wasn't a useless spiritual-root wielder at all. Hidden in her dantian was an extraordinarily rare “Pixiu Spiritual Aperture”: spiritual energy could enter but never leave. Whatever she absorbed was stored away, and as it accumulated, it even generated more on its own, doubling every seven days.

From then on, while others cultivated to raise their power, she cultivated to grow her savings. While others cast fireball spells, she silently calculated the transaction fee. While others showed off their wealth in duels, she chased after them calling, “Fellow Daoist, that's a fine-grade spirit stone you've got there. I'll buy it off you at an 80 percent discount.”

This is the story of a stingy young woman who uses “compound interest” to defy the Heavenly Dao. Does Heaven reward diligence? No, it rewards diligence and saving, too.