Cang Chen was completely dumbfounded. He had originally wanted to pull the Luo sisters into his plan, but the situation now looked entirely wrong.
"That's right, it's Master. I've already taken him as my master, so naturally he is my master."
Luo Yunbing didn't waste any breath and directly acknowledged it.
"What about you, Senior Sister?"
Seeing Luo Yunbing admit it, Cang Chen hurriedly turned to ask Luo Yunshuang.
"Since my elder sister has taken a master, I naturally have too. Little Junior Brother, listen to your Senior Sister's advice-this is your Fated Chance."
Luo Yunshuang also admitted it frankly, urging Cang Chen not to miss out.
"I must have been cultivating too long last night and woke up too abruptly this morning. Why am I hallucinating?"
Cang Chen shook his head, feeling as though he had stepped into the wrong room and landed inside an illusion.
Just how proud were the Luo sisters? They were renowned even within the Mysterious Yin Sect. Countless suitors had been completely ignored by them, and their standards were impossibly high. How could they possibly take Qin Xiao as their master? Even if Qin Xiao possessed extraordinary strength, surely it wasn't enough to meet their standards for a master?
"Little Junior Brother, listen to your Fourth Senior Sister. I guarantee you'll thank me later."
Luo Yunshuang pressed on.
She had no choice but to push him. Right now, Master only had four disciples: the First Senior Sister spot had been taken by Yun Man, the Second Senior Sister spot by Lin Shimeng, and the Third Senior Sister was her own older sister, making her the fourth. If she didn't trick Cang Chen into joining, she would truly be stuck at the bottom as the fourth. Once a fifth disciple arrived, she would officially become the Fourth Senior Sister.
"Just what kind of benefits did Qin Xiao promise them? Even they took him as their master? And judging by their expressions, they did it completely of their own volition?"
Cang Chen genuinely couldn't wrap his head around it. It was impossible! How could things turn out like this? He simply couldn't figure it out.
Could it be because of that ten million Spirit Stones and one hundred drops of Spirit Liquid? While that was certainly a decent stash of resources, didn't the Mysterious Yin Sect provide plenty as well?
"Could the food have been drugged? Were the two of them bewitched? That's too dangerous-thank goodness I didn't touch my chopsticks."
For a moment, Cang Chen remained silent, running through various theories and deductions in his mind. Yet, none of them yielded a rational explanation, leaving him with no choice but to suspect there was something wrong with the meal.
"Hey, what are you daydreaming about? Your expression changed half a dozen times in just a few moments."
Qin Xiao looked at Cang Chen with a puzzled gaze. Was this brat sitting there plotting against him in his head?
"Uh, nothing, nothing at all."
Startled out of his wild train of thought by Qin Xiao, Cang Chen hastily replied.
"Well, if you don't care to say, let's eat first. We only just started anyway, so we can talk after we finish."
Seeing how fidgety Cang Chen was, Qin Xiao didn't press him and simply told him to eat.
"Uh, no need. I typically don't eat in the mornings, and I'm not hungry either. You guys go ahead, eat, eat."
Seeing Qin Xiao urge him to eat, Cang Chen instantly locked in his previous suspicion. There was definitely something wrong with the food! Thank goodness he had figured it out ahead of time; otherwise, he nearly fell right into their trap.
"If you aren't going to eat, we will."
Qin Xiao couldn't be bothered with Cang Chen. Eat if you want, starve if you don't.
A quarter of an hour later, there wasn't much left on the table, and everyone was fully sated. Qin Xiao contentedly wiped his mouth.
"Alright, you can speak now. You've had plenty of time to think."
With his meal finished, Qin Xiao turned his gaze back to Cang Chen.
"It's not entirely out of the question for me to take you as my master, but I'm afraid you won't be able to afford my price."
Cang Chen had turned it over and over in his mind, realizing that no matter how he phrased his request, it sounded awkward. Therefore, he decided to demand an exorbitant price so that Qin Xiao would back out on his own. That way, the fault wouldn't lie with him-it would simply mean Qin Xiao couldn't foot the bill.
"Oh? Interesting. Let's hear what you want."
Qin Xiao had expected Cang Chen to come up with some elaborate excuse, but it turned out to be just this?
"My demands are extremely high. I'm afraid you can't afford them."
Cang Chen was still trying to calibrate a price that would force Qin Xiao to drop the matter.
"Cut the nonsense. Just give me a number."
Seeing that Cang Chen was still rambling, Qin Xiao told him straight out to name his price.
"Since you're so confident, I'll technique it out. The ten million Spirit Stones and one hundred drops of Spirit Liquid from our previous wager-that is what I want. But not just a one-time payout; I want that exact amount every single month. If you fail to produce it one day, our master-disciple bond becomes null and void."
Cang Chen felt he had come up with the ultimate counter. With a price like that, forget about Qin Xiao-even the Pure Yang Sect wouldn't dare agree to it! Ten million Spirit Stones plus one hundred drops of Spirit Liquid, month after month without fail-who could possibly sustain such a drain?
"Are you sure?"
Qin Xiao asked with a hint of skepticism.
"I'm entirely sure."
Cang Chen caught Qin Xiao's expression and felt a surge of triumph. Clearly, the other party was hesitating. Even he couldn't shoulder such an outrageous condition, right?
"This condition is indeed rather harsh, but I already have a master within my sect. If you want me to acknowledge you as my master, this price is non-negotiable; otherwise, I won't be able to justify it to my sect master."
Cang Chen pressed on, convinced that his reasoning and excuses were airtight.
"This really puts me in a tight spot."
Qin Xiao furrowed his brow. He had given his other disciples so much, yet offering this kid less than one percent of that would make him look entirely too biased. But then again, the demand Cang Chen raised was actually pitifully small. Should he just lay the cards on the table?
"If Brother Qin finds it too difficult, we can simply cancel the bet. I don't mean to make things hard for you. To be honest, I lost the wager fair and square, and I was willing to honor it and take you as my master, but well... you see how it is."
Seeing that Qin Xiao was genuinely troubled, Cang Chen grew even more confident and his tone turned much more polite. It wasn't that he was unwilling; it was simply that Qin Xiao couldn't afford him.
"How about this? Such a meager condition is genuinely something I cannot offer. After all, none of your Senior Sisters settled for so few resources. If I gave you that little, it would make me look terribly biased. If you take me as your master, you will enjoy the exact same treatment as your Senior Sisters. How does that sound to you?"
Qin Xiao didn't mind telling him how many Spirit Stones or how much Spirit Liquid he could provide, but the Saint Origin Spirit Fruit could only be revealed after the master-disciple tie was established; otherwise, there was no security guarantee.
"What?"
This time, it was Cang Chen's turn to be utterly dumbfounded. He had thrown out an astronomical price tag-did this Qin Xiao even comprehend what he was saying?
"It really is far too little. Back in the day, that amount might have passed for market rate, but things are different now. As your master, I simply cannot give you such a paltry sum. Let's do this: we'll multiply the Spirit Stones and Spirit Liquid by tenfold, and add a variety of other treasures every single month. How about that? Can you take me as your master now?"
After a moment of thought, Qin Xiao decided to reveal a fraction of the perks. Otherwise, Cang Chen seemed a bit slow-witted, and without dangling some real bait, the kid might never take the hook.
"Did he... did he seriously just say that?"
Cang Chen asked the Luo sisters with a bewildered expression.
"Little Junior Brother, your Senior Sister can't say too much, but I can tell you this: what you stand to gain far exceeds anything Master just mentioned. Why do you think we agreed to this otherwise? Do you really think Master could force us? We are all in the mid Nascent Soul stage, after all."
Even Luo Yunbing deigned to offer a brief explanation.
Cang Chen had no idea how he had ended up performing the master-acknowledgment ceremony; the entire process felt hazy and completely unreal.
It wasn't until Qin Xiao took his cup of tea and drained it in a single gulp that Cang Chen snapped back to reality. The ritual was already complete.
[Congratulations, Host achieved...
[Chaotic Immortal Qi: Produces one streak of Immortal Qi every three months. Immortal...
[Congratulations, Host...
[Spirit Stones increased by 6,000 per second, Spirit Liquid increased by 5 drops per minute, Saint Origin Spirit Fruit increased by...
Hearing what sounded like the activation of another new achievement, Qin Xiao hurriedly dived into the System Space.
Opening the Achievement System, he confirmed that a new achievement was indeed waiting to be claimed: reaching a total of five disciples.
Upon clicking activate, the reward effect materialized.
[Heavenly Spirit...
Qin Xiao hastily exited the space to check. Sure enough, the production rate of Spirit Liquid had surged to five hundred drops per minute.
"Good grief. Following this pattern, the next achievement should unlock at seven disciples, likely granting a tenfold multiplier on the Saint Origin Spirit Fruit."
Qin Xiao felt like he had figured out the underlying rule. However, geniuses with Heavenly Spirit Roots weren't exactly easy to trick; he had exhausted every trick in the book just to reel in three of them. Future opportunities like this probably wouldn't come easy.
After stepping out of the System Space, Qin Xiao tossed a Storage Bag straight at Cang Chen.
"Your four Senior Sisters already got theirs, so this one is yours. You can collect your share once every month from now on, but you'll have to come pick it up yourself-I don't offer delivery service."
Qin Xiao delivered the exact same line he always did.
Cang Chen opened the Storage Bag and took a peek, leaving him utterly speechless. What on earth had he been blabbering on about earlier? He had gone out of his way to demand what he thought was an exorbitant price, only to make a complete fool of himself. It was pure clown behavior.