Chapter 175: Old Lolita, private meeting in tea house
Day and night rotation swiftly passed, time slipping away like a fleeting white horse. After arriving at Chilong Mansion, Ye Anping, due to his golden finger, found himself stuck between the bottlenecks of the early and middle stages of the foundation building.
Among cultivators, there was a saying.
Life relies on fate for the significant bottleneck and money for the minor bottleneck.
He was well-spent in money now. Moreover, it was a period of abundant spiritual energy in the Xuanxing Sect’s land.
Ye Anping bought some elixirs and treasures from the market, spending half a month to smoothly overcome the small realm bottleneck and successfully advance to the middle stage of foundation building.
To avoid drawing attention, he went to the market and purchased two jade charms at a high price for himself and his junior sister to conceal their cultivation.
According to the shady merchant, these charms could prevent detection by late-stage Nascent Soul cultivators, but Elder Qin, a mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, quickly saw through them.
In Ye Anping’s testing, the charms could only resist cultivators in the late stage of core formation. Even cultivators in the early to mid-stage of pill formation with sharp eyes could see through them.
As the saying goes, it is easy to go from frugality to luxury but challenging to go from luxury to frugality.
He felt somewhat uneasy without Liang Zhu around to help with errands and shopping. It was mainly because he was too vulnerable. If one were to draw a comparison, buying magical items and talismans from informal shops was similar to his experiences in antique markets in his past life.
And because cultivators had a better ability to discern the quality of items, counterfeiting methods were even more sophisticated.
Simply put, the higher the cultivation, the greater the challenges. He rolled the “anti-peeping jade charm” on the back of his hand with five fingers. However, looking at the jade charm now, Ye Anping felt increasingly irritated.
He had inquired and found out that the profiteer who sold him the charm had already fled…
A wise person ended up falling into the hands of a profiteer.
“Heh, tsk tsk tsk...”
Ye Anping lightly flicked his finger, causing the jade charm to fly into the air before catching it and placing it in his storage bag. Then, he looked around.
Junior sister had been in seclusion, and by the time they went to Moon Shadow Sword Sect, she should have reached the middle stage of the foundation building.
With nothing better to do, Ye Anping was killing time in the market, optimizing his thoughts on the Moon Shadow Sword Sect incident and searching for ways to replace the critical position.
Unfortunately, there was no progress for the time being. After about the time it took to drink a cup of tea, a man suddenly rushed up from the first floor of the tea house, his face covered in cold sweat, and his steps seemed to want to shatter the floor.
Dong dong dong——
“Hmm?”
Ye Anping turned to look and saw a familiar person on the second floor, glancing around, their eyes met.
The profiteer! The one who sold him the jade charm!
He suddenly opened his eyes slightly, feeling the urge to draw his sword and strike, but before he could stand up, he saw the profiteer rushing towards him.
Dong dong dong——
Footsteps thundered like a storm. Ye Anping was momentarily stunned, his eyebrows furrowing slightly. Was this a trap he was walking into? Or did the person want to kill and silence him?
Still wearing the attire of a Xuanxing Sect disciple, would he dare to make a move? Just as he was puzzled and cautiously preparing his sword, he saw the profiteer bend his knees, and with a smooth kneel, he landed by Ye Anping’s tea table.
?
Immediately after, “Bang bang bang——,” three crisp sounds of a head hitting the floor echoed.
The profiteer held up a bag of spiritual stones,
“Fellow Daoist! Fellow Daoist! This humble one has eyes but fails to recognize Mount Tai. I’ll return these spiritual stones to you and ask for a fellow Daoist’s forgiveness. Although this jade talisman may not meet the humble one’s description, it’s still a decent magical item. Consider it as an apology and a gift to fellow Daoist.”
“… …”
Ye Anping was utterly bewildered. He glanced at the bag of spiritual stones, it contained precisely the amount he paid initially. Although he was somewhat perplexed, he noticed that many other tea patrons on the second floor were looking his way due to the commotion, and he decided not to bother with the issue.
“Alright.”
“Thank you, fellow Daoist!! Thank you, fellow Daoist!! This humble one won’t trouble fellow Daoist anymore. I take my leave!!”
“…Well, take care.”
Watching the profiteer jump out of the window next to him as if retrieving clothes from home, Ye Anping remained stunned for a long while.
Could such bizarre things happen in the world? Would a scammer voluntarily admit his mistake and apologize?
Had his conscience finally kicked in?
“What a strange and chaotic situation…”
In no time, the second floor of the teahouse regained its calm. The tea patrons acted like nothing had happened, going about their business. Ye Anping reorganized his thoughts and, leaning on his chin, looked out the window.
Golden mountains, dazzling and radiant. A golden bird circled in his line of sight, occasionally dropping a snow-white bomb.
“…”
“…”
“…”
Ye Anping stared at the golden bird, squinting as if he had suddenly understood something. It dawned on him, and he realized what had happened just now. A tender little hand rested on his shoulder in the moment of his realization.
After contemplating for a moment, he pretended to be surprised and looked back, only to find no one standing behind his chair. However, when he turned around, the table opposite, initially empty, now had a girl with black and white hair and yin-yang eyes sitting there.
“Wow~!!”
Si Xuanji, like a playful young tiger, opened her tiny mouth, baring her teeth and claws, and loudly shouted. Ye Anping felt it was better to go along, so he quickly displayed a horrified expression and pulled his head back.
“Oops!”
Si Xuanji narrowed her yin and yang eyes, placed her elbows on the table, supported her cheeks, tilted her head, and asked, “Master Ye, scared!”
“Ah…” Ye Anping hurriedly patted his chest and said, “It turns out to be Miss Xuanji. You startled me.”
“Hee – It’s been a long time since we met. Master Ye is getting more and more handsome. Good-looking.”
“Miss Xuanji is still as beautiful and sweet as last time.”
“Why did it become so boring?”
Ye Anping shrugged slightly, brushed his hand over the table, and an empty teacup appeared. Si Xuanji looked a bit surprised.
She tilted her head, looked around at the teacup, and asked, “No spiritual power used. How did you make it appear?”
“Just a little trick of mortals, nothing impressive.” Ye Anping made a sword gesture with his hand, used spiritual energy to lift the teapot, and poured tea for Si Xuanji. “Miss Xuanji, please enjoy. Consider it a token of gratitude.”
“Thank you for what?”
“For the incident with the merchant who sold me the jade charm just now.”
“Just a small favor. I heard there was a swaggering scammer in the market. The old… little girl happened to pass by and took care of it. Didn’t expect he deceived Mr. Ye’s spirit stones. I’ll make sure to give him a good lesson.”
Hehe…
That profiteer was indeed fortunate. He cheated 40,000 spirit stones and got kicked by a Void Returning cultivator. He vaguely recalled that there was something like, in the mortal realm, even an emperor’s booger could be considered a family heirloom.
“That’s quite a coincidence.”
“Better to say it’s fate.”
“I don’t dare to claim that.”
“Staying here is boring. How about strolling on the street with the little girl? Last time we had a night tour of Tian Jie, this daytime trip might bring a different experience.”
Ye Anping remained silent for a while, then nodded and said, “Since it’s Miss Xuanji’s invitation, I’ll gladly accept.”
…
