Yun Wan'er stared intently at the handsome face before her, her teeth almost drawing blood from her lower lip.
However, no matter how unwilling she was, she couldn't think of a single word to refute it.
Moreover, the person in front of her seems to be at the Foundation Establishment stage... Ordinary demonic beasts are one thing, after all, they are just mindless animals, but if she wants to challenge a proper cultivator who has been poor, suffered, and never been weak...
Thinking of this, Yun Wan'er took a deep breath, forcefully adopting an unyielding and resolute posture, refusing to bow to the forces of evil, and straightened her slender back.
"Very good! Very good!"
Her voice trembled slightly, as she tried to maintain her composure: "Since this fellow Daoist insists on this, then my Heavenly Evolution Sect... will remember you!"
After uttering these harsh words that were all bark and no bite, Yun Wan'er suddenly flung her sleeves, turned around and left. The "protectors" who had just been cheering for her looked at each other, and for a moment no one dared to follow her and risk getting into trouble.
The crowd's attention instantly shifted to Shen Zhaozhao and the thick stack of mission jade slips she had just removed from her hand.
The lower-level cultivators stared at each other in disbelief as the once-abundant task list suddenly became bare, and a sense of absurdity, like "lifting a rock only to drop it on one's own foot," quickly spread through them.
"What...what should we do?"
A cultivator, with a long face, muttered under his breath, "I'm almost out of cinnabar and talisman paper for making talismans. I was counting on taking on a gathering quest to recover some of my resources, and now look what's happened! I'm going to starve!"
"I was thinking of getting a Qi-replenishing pill to break through to the seventh level of Qi Refining..."
"I also……"
The complaints were like the buzzing of mosquitoes, filled with despair.
Shen Zhaozhao's ears twitched, and she accurately picked out the key words from the wailing.
She slowly turned around, her gaze sweeping over the group of dejected cultivators. As if by magic, she pulled out another cyan mission jade slip from her bosom and twirled it nimbly between her fingers.
"What a coincidence!"
She held the jade slip between two fingers and waved it in front of the cultivator, her tone somewhat seductive: "Fellow Daoist, I happen to have a ready-made escort mission here. It's very simple: escort a batch of ordinary medicinal herbs to the neighboring town. Fifty low-grade spirit stones. Would you like to consider it?"
The cultivator was stunned at first, then his eyes widened, pointing at the jade slip in Shen Zhaozhao's hand, and then suddenly at the empty task board next to him, his voice cracking: "You?! This jade slip, it was hanging there just now! I saw it with my own eyes! The reward was clearly one hundred and fifty low-grade spirit stones!"
"You're making a hundred yuan off the difference?! You're so greedy! Besides, didn't you just say you'd give it to other sword cultivators at half price?! Even at half price, it should still be seventy-five!"
Shen Zhaozhao clicked her tongue: "Hey, you can't say that. The half-price outsourcing to sword cultivators is a friendly discount based on our camaraderie."
"Besides, you lot were all so arrogant and domineering when you were confronting this deacon. No, how dare you?"
"Don't you know that within Lingzhou, from the capital city to the small border towns, the entire cultivator mission list is monopolized by the Hundred Knowledge Pavilion?"
These words struck the hearts of all the low-level cultivators with a resounding clang, like an invisible giant hammer.
Their faces turned deathly pale in an instant, their eyes filled with belated terror.
Shen Zhaozhao watched their sudden change in expression with satisfaction, and continued to slowly add insult to injury: "Now it's probably not just Canglan City, even if you pack your bags and run to the neighboring Qingyan City overnight, or even further to Luoyue City..."
"I'm sorry, but for the time being, your names will most likely be blacked out on the task lists of all the branches of the Hundred Knowledge Pavilion."
At this point, she shrugged and said, "It's just that I'm kind-hearted. I think that we are all low-level cultivators struggling to make a living, so I'm willing to give you a hand and provide you with food, even if it means holding grudges."
boom!
These words were like a thunderclap from a clear sky, instantly causing an uproar among the low-level cultivators!
"What?!"
"Bai Xiaoge, give us an explanation! Why aren't you giving us any tasks?!"
The crowd erupted instantly, their anger turning sharply towards the unfortunate disciple. Startled by the sudden attack, the Hundred Knowledge Pavilion disciple shuddered, cold sweat pouring down his back. His lips trembled as he tried to explain—
"On what grounds?"
Shen Zhaozhao's voice was faster than his, carrying an undeniable certainty that completely overshadowed all the questions.
She pointed at the group of pale-faced cultivators: "You lot are all easily fooled by a little girl, and you get all hot-blooded and want to follow her Qi Refining stage cultivators to fight against Foundation Establishment stage demonic beasts."
"He is the personal disciple of the sect leader of Tianyan Sect. He has so many life-saving talismans and magical artifacts in his pocket that he could kill someone. If he encounters danger, he can summon a Golden Core stage senior brother to save him with a single sound transmission talisman."
And you?
Shen Zhaozhao scoffed: "Who can you possibly recruit? What if you brainless idiots take on the mission and crash into it? What will happen to the reputation of Baixiaoge, which has been built up over hundreds of years?"
"You're all grown up now. You have to bear the consequences of your words and actions. Do I have to teach you this simple principle?"
Immediately, she pointed precisely at the cultivator from before: "You, deduct another twenty low-grade spirit stones as teaching fees!"
Cultivator: "???"
His vision went black, and he almost fainted on the spot.
Fifty becomes thirty?!
Seeing that if he continued talking, those thirty spirit stones might also be lost, how could this cultivator dare to utter another word?
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