An invitation with ill intentions
In the context of the Xuan Tian Sect, my friendship with Ruan Qingyu is far too superficial. It's truly remarkable that she remembered it for so long and even readily agreed to help.
After this battle, the three of them tacitly floated to the surface of the sea.
Ruan Qingyu gently waved her sleeve towards the sky, and the spirit boat responded and set off.
At this moment, Zhang Zitao seized the opportunity to say, "Since the mission has been accomplished and Junior Sister Lü is no longer going to train, why don't we just go out?"
While mentioning Lü Liangke, Zhang Zitao's eyes never left Ruan Qingyu.
Nodding, Lü Liangke said, "Today's battle with that deep-sea monster was enough. By turning in the mission early, we can take the contribution points back to the sect and exchange them for some good things."
Seeing that the two were about to return, Ruan Qingyu pointed her fingers and the three of them flew out of the secret realm.
The spirit boat vanished abruptly as soon as it left the secret realm. The three landed steadily on the open ground outside the secret realm, immediately attracting many gazes.
After discovering the three people's cultivation levels, most of the people stopped investigating. Two Golden Core cultivators coming to this small secret realm to join the fun—they're incredibly poor.
Unaware that they were being treated like paupers, the three were quickly surrounded by a group of cultivators who regularly traded there.
Having observed the situation for a long time, Zhang Zitao immediately said, "Fellow Daoist Ruan, if you are not good at refining weapons and medicine, you can trade those spirit beads here. The price of spirit stones here is about the same as in the city."
Ruan Qingyu took Zhang Zitao's flattery to heart.
He divided the storage bag into two parts, handing one to Lü Liangke: "Take these to complete your mission, and the rest is for you."
The cultivators watching from the sidelines exchanged glances, but seeing that the three of them were all disciples of the Xuantian Sect, they naturally dared not do anything to Lü Liangke now. If they saw her alone, they might really try to snatch her away.
"This fellow Daoist must have reaped quite a harvest, and he is exceptionally caring towards his junior sister. He is truly a kind and beautiful fellow Daoist," a shrewd-looking cultivator said, but his eyes remained fixed on the storage bag in Ruan Qingyu's hand.
Other cultivators who had come up early to trade spirit pearls also spoke up upon seeing this.
“Fellow Daoists of the Xuantian Sect, the price of these spirit pearls is the fairest on my end. If you have enough, I will offer you an even higher price!”
"The best price for spirit stones in this area is still from our Yuwen family. Every cultivator we trade with praises it."
"Since the spirit pearl is going to be sold anyway, why not sell it to me!"
"Don't worry, not only are my prices fair, but I can also provide you with information on spirit pearl products!"
These cultivators who dared to surround us were no small fry; they were all backed by powerful forces or large merchant guilds.
Their daily task was to guard the exits of various secret realms and directly recruit cultivators who needed to sell resources. Many cultivators who were too lazy to go to the city would trade nearby.
Seeing that Ruan Qingyu remained silent, the group of talkative shop assistants all fell silent.
The group exchanged a silent glance, all agreeing that this person was not easy to deal with.
“Alright, I’ll make the deal with you.” Ruan Qingyu reached out and handed the storage bag in her hand to the cultivator in the middle, who was the one who spoke the least and was the most sincere.
Having experienced being deceived in her past life, Ruan Qingyu is extremely averse to those who are two-faced and use sweet talk.
I tend to trust those who are not very talkative or quiet a little, but only a little.
The storage bag was right in front of him. The man was slightly taken aback, but then his face lit up with joy: "Thank you, thank you. Fellow Daoist, please come over here and let's talk in detail."
She was originally just a shop assistant at a newly opened trading company, and her cultivation level was only at the early stage of Foundation Establishment. In order to earn some resources, she waited here every day to attract customers for the trading company.
She usually speaks slowly, and others often snatch her up first. Today, these three seniors, whose cultivation levels clearly indicate they are not ordinary Golden Core cultivators, made her think she had no chance, but unexpectedly, they chose her.
Seeing that the people around her were unwilling but did not step forward to stop her, Ruan Qingyu felt slightly relieved. She had originally planned to say that she had chosen it based on first impressions if asked.
Following the merchant's clerk, the group of four quickly arrived at the merchant's location. Using a magical artifact, they constructed a small building at the entrance to this secluded area in the Huangshan wilderness.
Ruan Qingyu scanned the small building with her divine sense but sensed no danger. She calmly walked in, with Zhang Zitao and Lü Liangke following closely behind.
Inside the small building, a shopkeeper was flipping through account books on the counter when he heard footsteps and quickly looked up.
He said very warmly, "Welcome, distinguished guest. Please have a seat here for the spirit pearl transaction."
As he spoke, the shopkeeper gave a wink to the waiter who had brought Ruan Qingyu in, and the waiter quickly handed over the storage bag that Ruan Qingyu had given her outside.
The shopkeeper tapped the table, and three cups of tea appeared on it.
"Please have some tea, esteemed guest. I will now count the spirit pearls for you."
After speaking, the shopkeeper deftly poured the spirit pearls from his storage bag into the golden hourglass that suddenly appeared on the table.
Despite the large quantity of spirit beads, the hourglass never seemed to overflow after being placed inside. However, seeing the surprise on the shopkeeper's face, Ruan Qingyu knew that she could probably make a profit from these spirit beads.
The shopkeeper had been lurking in this new secret realm for two months, and he had encountered many large transactions. However, he had never seen so many as today.
This hourglass is a counting artifact; no matter how many spirit orbs are thrown in, it will never fill up. It only calculates the exact number of spirit orbs and whether they are usable.
His gaze swept across the front of the hourglass, where it flashed for a moment, displaying: 14,070.
The shopkeeper suppressed his joy and looked at Ruan Qingyu with an even more intimate expression: "My esteemed guest, you have a total of 14,070 spirit beads. The current price of a finished spirit bead is 110 mid-grade spirit stones, for a total of 1,547,700 mid-grade spirit stones."
Lu Liangke, who was sitting to the left of the innkeeper, had just taken a sip of tea when he immediately coughed. He patted his chest and looked at the innkeeper, his eyes full of surprise.
Zhang Zitao, who had remained motionless until now, clenched his fists upon hearing the actual number of spirit pearls. If only he could have snatched more spirit stones while underwater!
He had thought he had only missed out on a few hundred spirit pearls, but he never expected that he had actually missed out on at least three years' worth of spirit stones. Zhang Zitao closed his eyes to avoid making his jealous gaze too obvious.
If we were to name the most composed person in the entire building, it would undoubtedly be the person in question, Ruan Qingyu.
Upon hearing the number of spirit pearls, she merely raised an eyebrow slightly. As for the large sum of spirit stones, she might have been overjoyed before, but now it was just adding a small fraction to the already meager amount of spirit stones she already possessed.
"Alright, then that's 1,547,700 mid-grade spirit stones. Please put them directly into this storage bag, shopkeeper." Ruan Qingyu's calm voice rang out as she pointed to the empty storage bag on the table.
The shopkeeper felt a little relieved and smiled as he counted the spirit stones into his storage bag: "Although our Xuanhua Trading Company is a newly established company, we have branches in various continents. Since you have made such a large transaction with me today, I will take the liberty of promoting you to an internal customer of Xuanhua Trading Company. In the future, you will receive a 20% discount on anything you need."
As he spoke, a clever waiter handed over a round token, pure white with the character "轩" (Xuān) engraved on it.
Upon hearing this, Ruan Qingyu readily nodded: "Thank you, shopkeeper. If I have such good business again in the future, I will naturally come to you first."
Although he didn't know when this good business would come, the shopkeeper really liked customers like Ruan Qingyu who were easy to talk to.
On the way back to Xuantian Sect, Lü Liangke looked very excited, hoping to get a lot of contribution points when he returned.
Ruan Qingyu's gaze fell on Zhang Zitao, who had been silent ever since he came out of the trading company.
After thinking for a moment, two storage bags appeared out of thin air in Ruan Qingyu's hands.
“Since we’re fellow disciples and do missions together, we should share the good fortune. Naturally, some of these spirit stones should be given to you.” As Ruan Qingyu spoke, she tossed the storage bag in her hand to the two of them.
Both of them were taken aback when they received the storage bag. Lü Liangke was about to refuse, but she kept quiet when she saw Ruan Qingyu sitting in meditation with her eyes closed.
Qingyu is such a kind person, but if we weren't from the same clan and sect, she would probably be greedy for money and turn against me with swords drawn.
On second thought, this also showed that Qingyu trusted her a lot. If there was anything she could do to help her in the future, Lü Liangke made a silent decision.
"Thank you, Qingyu!"
Zhang Zitao's eyes flickered, but his greed only intensified. His gaze, fixed on Ruan Qingyu, was filled with lust and covetousness.
"I never expected Fellow Daoist Ruan to be so generous. It's truly my good fortune."
Ten thousand spirit stones, to give to a beggar? This Ruan Qingyu is just a new disciple, and he looks stupid and clumsy. If it were me, I definitely wouldn't give him a single one.
No, if it were up to me, I would definitely make the transaction secretly and not let anyone know how many spirit stones I got. I thought that after handing the person over to Chen Tian, I would then get all the spirit stones from Ruan Qingyu.
He seemed to be thinking about the day he would succeed, and he narrowed his eyes, a greedy smile appearing on his lips.
After distributing the storage bags to the two men, Ruan Qingyu quietly released her divine sense. She naturally caught Zhang Zitao's gaze and understood that he had completely taken the bait. He would soon devise a scheme to scheme against her, hoping to sell her to Chen Tian for profit.
Previously, he was probably still waiting and planning, but today's gift of spirit stones has accelerated Zhang Zitao's determination to obtain it.
Ruan Qingyu's lips curled up slightly. Zhang Zitao, you'd better slip up as soon as possible so I can kill you quickly.
The spirit boat flew swiftly towards the Xuantian Sect, with the three people on board each harboring their own thoughts.
Just when Ruan Qingyu thought that Zhang Zitao's plan would not begin until after they returned, she heard him speak again.
"Fellow Daoist Ruan, do you know that there is an underground trading fair in the city at the foot of Xuantian Sect Mountain?" Zhang Zitao's voice transmission quietly rang in Ruan Qingyu's ear. He did not intend to let Lü Liangke, a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator, know about this matter.
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