Lu Changsheng and his companion had already left the immediate area.
They walked through the city streets. Ning Yuxin followed beside him, hesitating for a long time before she finally spoke.
“Senior Brother Lu, actually, I still have some Spirit Stones on me. If you want, you could have bought it!”
Lu Changsheng glanced at her. The feigned indignation on his face had long since vanished, leaving him as calm and indifferent as ever.
“Spend tens of thousands to buy something worth a thousand? Do I look brain-damaged to you?”
“But didn’t you say it was a Red Phoenix Grass? And it is something the Ancestor requires. If we cannot bring it back…”
“The Ancestor?” Lu Changsheng raised an eyebrow. “With my status, do you truly think I have any connection to the Ancestor?”
“This…”
At that moment, Ning Yuxin understood. Lu Changsheng had deliberately transmitted his voice to her so that the others would overhear their conversation. Realizing this, she couldn’t help but look at him, suddenly feeling that he was quite the cunning operator.
Yet she still couldn’t help but ask, “But you clearly wanted the Red Spirit Grass. Are you just giving up on it?”
Lu Changsheng chuckled softly and said nothing. The item would be his sooner or later. Since the other party had been so eager to provoke him, it would be far too cowardly to let such a slight pass without a response.
Of course, there was no rush to settle the matter right now.
Meanwhile, the young man had returned to his companions. After explaining the situation, the others produced the Spirit Stones. With a look of smug triumph, he purchased the herb.
But the moment the old woman caught sight of the herb in the box, her brow furrowed deeply.
“Elder, what is wrong? Is there a problem with the spirit herb?” the young man asked.
“This is merely a Red Spirit Grass,” the old woman rasped, her voice hoarse.
“What is wrong with that?” the young man asked, confused.
“You spent over twenty thousand Spirit Stones to buy a common Red Spirit Grass!”
“Smack!”
The box hit the ground as the old woman struck him across the face.
The young man’s body buckled, and he knelt on the street, staring at the herb in the box with an expression of utter disbelief.
“How is this possible? I clearly heard him say…”
Before he could finish, his pupils constricted violently, as if the reality of the situation had finally dawned on him.
The old woman closed her eyes and let out a long, heavy breath. “We have all been played by him!”
Her expression was terrifying, radiating suppressed fury. Although it was the young man who had been swindled, she had been watching the entire time. She had harbored doubts, but they seemed reasonable at the time, and she had sensed the extraordinary fluctuations coming from the herb, which had led her to tacitly approve the purchase.
Now, she realized she had been made a fool of as well. It was unforgivable.
“Bastard, I’ll kill him!”
“Return!” the old woman barked as the young man started to chase after them.
“If you dare touch him, not even the Shenxiao Sect will be able to protect you. Do not forget why we have come here!”
“I will not let him go!”
“Let’s go. We head to the Cangyun Sect first,” the old woman commanded.
The others followed. The young man picked up the box, his hands trembling with rage. He had never expected to be played for a fool by a youth, spending twenty times the value for a common herb.
Lu Changsheng was in no hurry to return to the Sect. Instead, he took Ning Yuxin to a local eatery.
After they had finished their meal, Ning Yuxin asked, “Are we returning to the Sect now?”
“No rush. First, come with me somewhere.”
Just as Ning Yuxin was wondering about his intentions, Lu Changsheng brought her back to the same shop.
The shopkeeper greeted them with a beaming smile.
“Young friend Changsheng!” The shopkeeper laughed, handing him a cloth pouch. “Thanks to you, that herb sold for a fortune. Here is your twelve thousand share. If there are any more good opportunities like this, do come again!”
“No problem at all.”
Lu Changsheng tucked the Spirit Stones away.
Ning Yuxin was stunned.
“Senior Brother, what is this?”
“Spirit Stones, of course.”
“Where did they come from?”
“My commission.”
“This…”
The young girl looked at him in utter disbelief.
Just moments before, Lu Changsheng had transmitted his voice to her, but he had also secretly coordinated with the shopkeeper to set the trap.
“But how could you be sure he would spend so many Spirit Stones? Weren’t you afraid he would realize you were swindling him?” Ning Yuxin asked.
“That is the shopkeeper’s business,” Lu Changsheng replied.
Although she didn’t know the exact details, she remained anxious.
“But they are from the Shenxiao Sect. If they discover this, you have the Sect to protect you, but what of the shopkeeper?”
“This is property of the Heavenly Secret Pavilion. If they dare to stir up trouble here, they won’t be able to leave Cangyun City. The Heavenly Secret Pavilion is not any weaker than the Shenxiao Sect.”
“So you had this all planned out, with some ulterior motive?”
Lu Changsheng shook his head. “Heaven knows he would come looking for trouble. It was just a spur-of-the-moment idea.”
The two fell silent for a moment.
Eventually, Ning Yuxin sighed. “Senior Brother Lu.”
“Yes?”
“You are truly black-hearted.” You are reading on g.com, the official source.
“It’s not so bad.”
Lu Changsheng smiled and walked away.
Ning Yuxin watched his receding back, lost in thought. After spending this time with him, she felt he was becoming increasingly unpredictable.
At the very least, when it came to digging pits for others to fall into, his methods were ruthless.
“Luckily, he is on my side, and he has not tried to swindle me.”
Ning Yuxin felt a wave of relief. If he had set his sights on her, she wouldn’t even have known how she had been cheated.
However, the old woman, who had already left the city, suddenly halted at the gate. Her face turned livid, and the hand gripping her cane trembled uncontrollably.
“Elder, what is the matter?” the young man asked, puzzled.
“Smack!”
Another slap greeted him, knocking him directly to the ground. A sharp, throbbing pain erupted in his head, as if his skull were about to burst.
The old woman glared at him. “Idiot! This is all your doing!”
Her Divine Sense had been monitoring the area the entire time. Having perceived the events that transpired when Lu Changsheng returned to the shop, her mood had plummeted into an abyss of rage.
When the others learned of the situation, their faces turned just as unsightly.
A dignified Elder of the Shenxiao Sect, leading a group of disciples, had been completely fleeced by a mere youth.
It had all started because the young man wanted to provoke him.
They had thought victory was in their grasp, that they controlled the situation, but they had been played like puppets from start to finish.
“Lu Changsheng, I will have your life!”
After a long time, the young man crawled up from the ground and caught up with the group to head toward the Cangyun Sect.
Meanwhile, Lu Changsheng made a leisurely return to Azure Cloud Peak with Ning Yuxin.
The delegation from the Shenxiao Sect eventually arrived and were welcomed by the Sect, but observers were left puzzled as to why they all wore expressions as grim as if they had swallowed a dead child.
No one dared to ask.
Back at his quarters, Lu Changsheng looked at Ning Yuxin. “Junior Sister, rest for tomorrow. We will begin your training the day after.”
“Understood!”
Ning Yuxin acknowledged the instruction and returned to her room.
Lu Changsheng immediately began refining pills. His Sword Intent was too domineering for Ning Yuxin to withstand; she required physical reinforcement. Once she broke through to the Essence Condensation realm, her body would be capable of enduring the baptism of his Sword Intent.
It was the same method he used for Zhou Qingyu. While Zhou Qingyu cultivated and grasped the Sword Dao, he was constantly tempering his physical body for the same reason.
Lu Changsheng had devised the most effective cultivation path for him and, from time to time, donned the identity of the Night Demon to test his progress, providing feedback whenever he sensed a flaw. That was how the current Little Sword Immortal of Cangyun had been forged.
If he could cultivate someone like Zhou Qingyu, cultivating Ning Yuxin would not be difficult.
Moreover, as he worked on his pills, he noticed a pair of eyes staring intently at Azure Cloud Peak, not retreating until the dead of night.