Chapter 9 | You Said You Only Wanted to Die

At this moment, Cang Dongqing was feeling annoyed to death. If not for Li Nanyi’s insistence on making a fuss over those few spirit stones, how could they have encountered such a situation? Yet, she couldn't let it show on her face.

Li Nanyi also felt incredibly stifled. In the past, disciples from major sects like theirs only needed to pay five low-grade spirit stones to enter the city. However, this time they were informed that due to reports of evil and demonic cultivators in the area, all preferential treatment for major sect disciples had been revoked to provide for the guards’ potential casualties. Like everyone else, they had to pay ten low-grade spirit stones.

Normally, he wouldn't have cared. But two months ago, his little junior sister had been injured upon joining the sect. At that time, Ling Xiao was still in a fit of rage. Fearing that her foundation might be damaged, Li Nanyi spent nearly all his savings to buy a Grade 3 rejuvenation pill. Thanks to it, his little junior sister successfully managed the process of drawing qi into the body, which led Ling Xiao to value Cang Dongqing once more.

Now, he had almost no spirit stones left. He had come to Qingyun City intending to exchange the demonic beasts he had hunted for money, so he naturally couldn't afford the entry fee right now.

But his little junior sister was right here, along with a direct disciple of the Shenmu Sect. No matter what, he couldn't admit he had no money. He could only try to negotiate with the city gate guards, but he clearly failed, leading to this disturbance.

If Li Nanzhu knew about this, she would definitely give Li Nanyi a round of applause. As expected of the heroine’s most loyal simp, he was already so willing to sacrifice everything for her.

"Junior Brother Li, if you don't have the money, you can just say so. Why waste time here?"

Jiang Zhi was also growing impatient. He had originally traveled with them because he was interested in this genius girl from the Sword Heart Sect, hoping to forge a good connection. He hadn't expected to lose face here so soon; he was even starting to regret coming along with them.

As a direct disciple of the prestigious Shenmu Sect, when had he ever received such treatment? He wanted to just take his other fellow disciples and leave immediately, but a mysterious feeling compelled him to stay.

The higher a cultivator's cultivation, the more accurate their intuition generally became. This instinct often helped cultivators avoid many dangers. So, after some hesitation, he planned to pay for Li Nanyi and end this farce quickly.

But Li Nanyi was unwilling. After hesitating repeatedly, he finally gritted his teeth and turned to Cang Dongqing.

"Little Junior Sister, regarding the medical fees I paid for you before you joined the sect... could you return them to me first?"

Cang Dongqing’s face was filled with disbelief. Li Nanyi was actually asking her for money? He had clearly given it voluntarily back then, and now he was asking for it back?

It wasn't that she didn't have those few low-grade spirit stones, but being asked by Li Nanyi in public made her feel humiliated.

"Senior Brother Nanyi, what are you saying? That day, you paid the money of your own accord, and I thought it was because you cared for me. But even if that wasn't the case, I would naturally have returned the money to you."

As she spoke, she took out a hundred low-grade spirit stones from her storage bag and handed them to Li Nanyi.

The surrounding onlookers were whispering. They were all saying how Li Nanyi, as a disciple of a major sect, was actually nitpicking over a few low-grade spirit stones—even demanding back money he had voluntarily paid for his junior sister. And he called himself a direct disciple.

Li Nanzhu watched with amusement from the side. That day, Li Nanyi had given her a mid-grade spirit stone, which was actually worth about a hundred and twenty low-grade spirit stones. Receiving only a hundred back meant he not only lost money but also ruined his reputation.

Li Nanyi looked humiliated, but he couldn't say anything. After all, that was indeed what happened that day. However, Cang Dongqing’s words made him feel quite uncomfortable. As disciples of the Sword Heart Sect, they should protect each other’s dignity at all times. His little junior sister could have just given him the spirit stones directly, but by doing this, she made him look like a petty man.

He felt that the Shenmu Sect disciples were looking at him with disdain. He could only pay the entry fee in humiliation and enter the city quickly, comforting himself that his little junior sister was just too innocent to understand these things; she was outspoken but meant no harm and hadn't intended to embarrass him.

Seeing the crowd disperse, Li Nanzhu finally pulled Duan Xianxing out to start exploring Qingyun City properly.

Qingyun City truly lived up to its name as a major city. Whether it was the rogue cultivators setting up stalls on the streets or the shops within the city, it made Li Nanzhu feel that this trip was truly worth it.

At a glance, there were many things she didn't recognize, but through Duan Xianxing’s introductions, she could understand most of them. She couldn't help but lament how little she knew. Once she returned to the sect, she would have to spend some time in the Library Pavilion to study properly. Otherwise, if she ever encountered a great treasure but missed it because she didn't recognize it, she would truly cry herself to death.

After wandering for a while, Duan Xianxing excitedly pulled Li Nanzhu to a weapon shop. It sold some of the lowest-tier spiritual tools. Li Nanzhu then watched as Duan Xianxing pulled out the corpses of several second-grade demonic beasts, including their inner cores, preparing to sell them for a price of three hundred and fifty mid-grade spirit stones.

Li Nanzhu hurriedly stopped Duan Xianxing. Are you kidding? Even if she didn't know much about the cultivation world, she knew that a second-grade demonic beast was equivalent to the human foundation establishment stage, and their combat power often exceeded that of cultivators at the same level. She hadn't read those novels for nothing. Besides, there were inner cores included; how could they be worth so little? It was obvious that her seventh senior brother was being scammed!

Directly putting the items into her own storage bag, Li Nanzhu pulled Duan Xianxing and ran. As long as she was there, she wouldn't let this happen!

She also roughly guessed why the other senior brothers and sisters wouldn't lend money to Duan Xianxing. With the way he sold things without bargaining and got scammed, he probably got scammed when buying things too. At this rate, when would he ever pay off his debts?

Her own ten high-grade spirit stones were likely never coming back.

Duan Xianxing was still dazed, not knowing why his little junior sister wouldn't let him sell the items. But after spending the past two days together, he knew his little junior sister was decisive, so he didn't ask further and followed her obediently.

Li Nanzhu instead found another shop that seemed to have good business and directly bought two mid-grade magic robes. She gave the purple one to Duan Xianxing and wore a cyan-green one herself.

Wearing these, the two of them finally didn't look like poor rogue cultivators.

Li Nanzhu had wanted to change out of the blue disciple uniform for a long time; she really thought it looked bad and offered no defensive capabilities.

Duan Xianxing was even more moved. Not only did his little junior sister give him money, but she also gave him clothes. He would follow her for the rest of his life!

This time, Li Nanzhu took Duan Xianxing directly to the Qingyun Auction House. This was a large auction house found in every city, which usually also purchased things like demonic beast corpses from cultivators. They had a good reputation and one didn't need to fear being scammed.

Changing their clothes was also because Li Nanzhu feared people might look down on them. Sure enough, after entering the auction house, Li Nanzhu and Duan Xianxing were greeted very warmly by the staff.

After all, their appearances were there for all to see. Duan Xianxing was at an age of seventeen or eighteen, full of youthful vigor, and combined with his good looks, he looked more like a young master from a prominent family out for fun.

Although Li Nanzhu was young, her eyes revealed a hint of steadiness. The spiritual energy around her and her charming face made people feel at a glance that she was also a disciple heavily cultivated by a family or sect.

No matter how one looked at it, this duo seemed to have a significant background.

And when they saw that the demonic beast corpses Li Nanzhu brought out were at the late foundation establishment stage, their attitude became even more respectful. They immediately called over a minor manager to attend to them.

To be able to kill demonic beasts of such cultivation and even sell the inner cores, they must have at least a peak golden core stage cultivator backing them.

Although their auction house was backed by nascent soul stage cultivators, no one would needlessly offend a golden core cultivator.

To foster a good relationship, they even raised the price slightly for Li Nanzhu, buying the four demonic beast corpses and inner cores at a price slightly higher than the market average. In the end, Duan Xianxing actually received six hundred mid-grade spirit stones.

Duan Xianxing felt lightheaded. He finally understood Li Nanzhu’s purpose in changing his clothes. Once their status was elevated, he could actually earn so much money at once.

He finally realized that the previous shop owners probably thought he was a lowly rogue cultivator because of his outfit and deliberately suppressed the prices. Since almost every shop did that, he hadn't thought much of it.