The Qingyu Mystic Realm had just ended. Huang Siqi and Li Chengzong didn't want to stay a moment longer and left with their people one after another.
As for the bet between their disciples... neither sect had made the rankings. The bet was treated as a casual joke between youth and deemed completely void.
Before leaving, Xie Huairen patted Su Mingyuan's shoulder. “Junior Brother, think carefully about what I told you.”
Wu Lianfeng snorted and left a sentence behind him as he followed. “Even for the sake of this new disciple you've taken, you should think it over carefully.”
The two of them looked at Su Mingyuan in confusion. Su Mingyuan only smiled. “Let's go back to the inn first and get some rest.”
Hearing this, they didn't ask further.
Back at the inn, Xue Mingzhao and Su Ye closed the door and immediately began calculating today's harvest.
The spirit plants would be taken back for Martial Uncle Mu to look at; they would keep what was useful and sell the rest.
The demon beast materials would be left for Martial Uncle Wen to forge artifacts.
They had collected a total of seven million five hundred thousand low-grade spirit stones. Converted to high-grade, that was seventy-five thousand. Adding the ten thousand high-grade spirit stones left from selling talismans, they had a total of eighty-five thousand high-grade spirit stones.
She counted on her fingers and fell silent for a moment—she had charged too little.
Only when watching her count the spirit stones did Su Ye remember. “Junior Sister, I forgot to give Master the spirit stones you told me to.”
“It's fine to give them to Master now. Let him buy whatever he wants.” Xue Mingzhao suddenly remembered the important matter for tonight and added, “Senior Brother, we're going to the black market at the Hour of the Rat tonight.”
Su Ye nodded, a trace of curiosity appearing in his eyes.
He had heard of black markets; every place seemed to have one, but in all his years, he had never actually been to one.
Back in his room, Su Mingyuan was transmitting a message to Wen Shuxian.
Seeing Su Ye return, he set the transmission jade pendant aside and handed over a bag of spirit stones. “Your Martial Uncle Wen sent a message. The sect is currently short on talisman paper and talisman ink. Remember to bring some back for him before we head back tomorrow.”
Su Ye took the bag of spirit stones. In his mind, he pictured the mountain of supreme-grade talismans piled on his junior sister's table.
Short on talisman paper and ink?
Martial Uncle Wen's inventory had probably been completely squandered by his little junior sister.
He pushed the bag of spirit stones back to Su Mingyuan and took out another bag from his storage ring to hand over. “Master, Junior Sister asked me to hand this over to you. She said you should allocate it as you see fit to buy whatever the sect needs.”
Su Mingyuan swept his divine sense inside, his fingers pausing slightly.
Thirty thousand high-grade spirit stones.
Su Mingyuan felt both touched and guilty.
This child, having just made her first fortune, turned around and handed over more than half of it to him.
She cultivated fast and was about to establish her foundation. Buying pills and magical weapons—which of those didn't cost money? Instead of saving it for herself, she thought of the sect first.
Su Mingyuan suddenly felt the bag of spirit stones in his hand grow incredibly heavy.
A supreme-grade spiritual root—no matter where she went, she would be pampered and provided for, yet she had ended up in his decaying, desolate sect.
The spiritual energy was thin, and resources were pitifully scarce.
Su Mingyuan had lived for hundreds of years, but for the first time, he felt he was failing as a master.
He fell silent for a long time before pushing the bag of spirit stones back. “Tell her to keep it for herself. She's about to establish her foundation, and there will be many places where she'll need spirit stones in the future.”
Su Ye didn't take it back, showing a rare stubbornness. “Master, when Junior Sister and I were at our wits' end, you took us in and accepted us as personal disciples. We all know what state the sect is in, but you and Martial Uncles have never let us lack anything. Junior Sister was still a mortal back then, unable to even test her spiritual root, yet you never looked down on her. Now that she's earned some spirit stones, she thinks of you first. This heart of hers is more precious than anything. If you don't accept it, it will make us feel like strangers.”
Su Mingyuan didn't speak, but his heart churned with complex emotions.
He remembered the day he had just opened his eyes in Sunset Valley. Xue Mingzhao had squatted beside him, calling him “Master” with a face full of worry. That “Master” had been so sweet and crisp, as if he really was a family member she had been searching for.
He had seen through her back then—she was just a mortal, and starting her cultivation at that age was already a bit late. But when she looked up and said, “There's no one left in my family,” his heart softened anyway.
Later, when it turned out she had no spiritual root, he didn't show it on his face, but he had already made up his mind—at worst, he would just support her in the sect for her entire life. Although the Grand Primordium Sect was poor, it wasn't lacking a pair of chopsticks.
Who would have thought that in such a short time, this girl had not only established herself but was now supporting him in turn.
He suddenly felt his eyes grow warm. Turning his head, his gaze fell out the window as he recalled what Xie Huairen had said to him outside the mystic realm.
Su Ye didn't disturb Su Mingyuan's contemplation and quietly stepped out of the room.
Xue Mingzhao was already waiting in the hallway. Seeing him come out, she pointed toward the counter downstairs and winked at him.
The two went downstairs and leaned against the counter. Xue Mingzhao wore an innocent, harmless smile as she casually chatted with the worker about the city's shops and talisman materials. After laying down enough small talk, she asked as if casually: “Daoist, I'd like to ask you something else. Is there any... special market in this Yunque Heavenly Capital?”
She emphasized the word “special,” and her meaning was self-evident.
The worker was originally getting impatient with her chatting, but when he heard this last sentence, he stopped what he was doing and glanced at her.
He smiled faintly and advised: “Daoist, that's not a place someone in the Qi Condensation stage should go.”
Hearing this, Xue Mingzhao understood. The other party wasn't ignorant; he was just unwilling to speak easily.
She slipped a high-grade spirit stone from her sleeve and pushed it gently to the center of the counter with a smile.
The worker cast his gaze down at the spirit stone, then looked up at Xue Mingzhao's smiling face. He quickly swept the spirit stone into his sleeve and lowered his voice: “At the Hour of the Rat, walk straight down this street until you reach a stone bridge. The entrance is right under the bridge.”
Perhaps because the weight of a high-grade spirit stone was too heavy, he kindly added another warning: “Once inside, a black market manager will be selling breath-concealing jade pendants. If you two have enough funds, it's best to buy one. The black market is a mixed bag. No one dares to easily make a move inside the market, but once you leave the black market, your safety is hard to guarantee.”
...
At the Hour of the Rat, Xue Mingzhao and Su Ye made their way to the bottom of the stone bridge the worker had mentioned.
The river surface was calm and placid, with the moonlight reflecting on the water without a single ripple.
The two paced around the riverbank several times, completely unable to find any clue.
Xue Mingzhao poked her head over the water: “Could this black market be under the river?”
Just as she was wondering, the river surface suddenly split open from the middle without a sound. The water parted to both sides, revealing a stone staircase extending downward.
The two exchanged a look. Xue Mingzhao was the first to step onto the stairs, with Su Ye following closely behind.
Behind them, the river water slowly closed back up, as if nothing had ever happened.
Rate on N.U.
