"Give me some time to think about it, alright?"
Lu Li did not refuse outright. He feared that cornering Qin Feng with a firm rejection might drive the man to desperate measures.
Qin Feng's eyes lit up. At least the brat knew his place and understood that such a heaven-defying treasure was beyond his ability to keep. He nodded. "Very well. I think highly of you, so I'll give you one month to consider it."
After speaking, he turned and walked back.
Seeing Qin Feng no longer following him, Lu Li finally breathed a sigh of relief and then headed toward the Sect square.
When Lu Li arrived at the Hundred Treasures Pavilion, the fat steward was serving several inner disciples. The moment he saw Lu Li, his face brightened. "Hurry up! You're haggling this long over a few hundred contribution points? How embarrassing!"
The disciples flushed with anger. In the end, they turned and stormed out. "What kind of attitude is that? Forget it! We'll exchange our points for True Essence Pills instead!"
"Exactly!"
"..."
"Hmph! Buy it or don't." The fat steward came around the counter and shut the door. Rubbing his hands together, he asked eagerly, "Well? Did you get it?"
Lu Li smiled faintly, waved his hand, and the cyan stone appeared in his hand. "Is this it?"
"Yes! That's it! Hurry, give it to me!" The fat steward did not care how Lu Li had obtained it. Trembling with excitement, he reached for the cyan stone.
"Hey!" Lu Li raised his eyebrows and put the cyan stone away. "Senior Brother hasn't forgotten something, has he?"
"Forgotten what?" The fat steward was stunned for a moment, then laughed heartily, "You kid...!"
As he spoke, he took out ten gold cards and handed them to Lu Li. "One hundred thousand contribution points. Count them?"
Lu Li's eyes gleamed. He examined the ten cards, each worth ten thousand contribution points, then nodded. "Exactly one hundred thousand."
After a pause, he feigned confusion. "Senior Brother, what is so special about this cyan stone that you're this obsessed with it?"
"Hey, I don't know either, but I think this thing is extraordinary. Don't talk nonsense, hurry and give it to me." The fat steward said impatiently.
Lu Li said nothing more and handed over the cyan stone. He was not worried that the fat steward would expose him. By the rules, everything found inside the Qingyang Mansion had to be surrendered to the Sect. The steward's attempt to claim the stone privately was already a serious offense.
If he were to expose Lu Li, he wouldn't benefit either.
The fat steward, having obtained the cyan stone, didn't even look at it and directly put it away. Then he urged Lu Li to leave quickly.
Lu Li gave the steward a long, curious look and teased him for a few moments before mentioning that he still needed to purchase Talismans.
During this trip to the secret realm, he had basically used up all the talismans he bought last time. Only three Earth-Snare Talismans remained unused. Now that he had provoked Qin Feng, this huge trouble, he had to prepare.
After some bargaining between the two, Lu Li bought thirty Explosion Talismans and twenty-five Swift Travel Talismans for eleven thousand contribution points.
That exhausted all the contribution points he had obtained from the secret realm, leaving only the hundred thousand he had just received from the fat steward. He planned to exchange them all for True Essence Pills, cultivate for a time, then find a chance to shake off Qin Feng and search for the Lightning Fire Orchid and other spirit herbs.
"Wait, wait!"
As Lu Li turned to leave, the fat steward's eyes flickered. He drew a yellow-covered book from his robes and said mysteriously, "Junior Brother, when your life is at stake, nothing matters more than your own strength. Look at this movement technique: High Earth Grade, a rarity seen perhaps once in a century..."
Movement technique!
Lu Li was shocked. Movement techniques were extremely rare! Forget High Earth Grade, even a Yellow Grade movement technique would be a rare sight in a place like the Qingyang Sect.
Ordinary movement techniques had no attribute restrictions, so anyone could cultivate them. Compared with combat techniques, they were also far better for preserving one's life. If he could not win, he could always flee.
He grabbed the ancient book. The first thing that caught his eye was the three characters 'Gale Steps'.
Opening the first page, Lu Li's expression immediately turned strange.
Written across the page were the words: 'Take wind as spirit and lighten the body. Move like wind and shadow, leaving no trace...'
This was a wind-attribute movement technique.
No wonder the fat steward was willing to sell it. In the entire Qingyang Sect, there was probably no one besides Lu Li and Chen Zhong who possessed the wind attribute.
But this fat steward couldn't possibly know he possessed the wind attribute. Could he be trying to scam him?
Thinking this, Lu Li pretended not to understand. Pointing at the characters 'Take the wind as spirit' on the first page, he said, "Senior Brother, what does this mean?"
Hearing this, a trace of evasion involuntarily flashed in the fat steward's eyes. He gave an embarrassed laugh, "This... this should mean... making a person as free as the wind. Enough to show this technique is extraordinary...!"
Go on. Keep making things up!
Lu Li held back his laughter inside and didn't expose the other party. Instead, he nodded earnestly.
Seeing Lu Li nod, the fat steward grew even more enthusiastic. "Junior Brother, I won't hide it from you. If your Senior Brother weren't too fat to fly, I would never sell this technique. You have no idea how rare movement techniques are. Forget High Earth Grade; even Profound Grade movement techniques are scarce throughout the Eastern Wasteland..."
"Really?"
"If I'm lying, may my son be born without an ass!"
Lu Li's face twitched. He glared at the fat steward, "How much?"
"Te... one hundred thousand contribution points!" The fat steward thought to himself: This technique is good, but I've never seen anyone with the wind attribute. If I can rip you off, kid, it can only be considered your bad luck.
"One hundred thousand? Why don't you just rob people!" Lu Li directly threw it back and pretended to leave.
"Don't, don't go! You name a price! We're brothers, you name a price!"
The fat steward immediately panicked. He had shown the movement technique to many inner disciples, but every one of them had rejected it after a single glance. Now that he had finally found a fool, he had to unload it.
Hearing this, Lu Li stopped. He stretched out three fingers, thought about it, and stretched out one more. "Forty thousand. Not a single point more."
Seeing Lu Li first stretch out three fingers, then change to four, the fat steward thought forty thousand might really be this fool's limit. He gritted his teeth, "Done!"
The fat steward's willingness to sell Gale Steps so cheaply stemmed from how he had obtained it.
He had been swindled into buying it back when he was still a miscellaneous disciple.
Back then, he had known nothing and desperately wanted to learn a movement technique. He found the dust-covered Gale Steps in a corner of the Technique Pavilion's first floor. When the old caretaker saw his choice, not only did the man fail to warn him, he even smiled and said, "Young man, you have an excellent eye!"
That one sentence had cost him three thousand contribution points.
Even now, the memory made him grit his teeth.
"Many thanks!" Lu Li was already laughing with delight inside. What a fine day this had turned out to be. He thanked the steward and headed for the door.
"No need to thank me. I just hope you won't hold a grudge against me later."
The fat steward muttered under his breath. Recalling what had happened to him in the Technique Pavilion, he was suddenly seized by a wicked impulse and shouted after Lu Li, "Little Junior Brother, you have an excellent eye!"