Chapter 55 — About to Make a Fortune?

Li Ying opened the shop door in a drowsy haze. Her master had come charging back to Wukong Mountain a few days ago and still had not returned. These past two days, with her master gone, she had simply kept the shop closed. The recent stock had mostly been sold off anyway, her Fourth Martial Aunt's next batch of spirit pills was not yet out of the furnace, and there was nothing much left in the shop to sell.

Wukong Yan was only a Qixia Sect with no output of its own. In Dongfu it had just this one small shop, and what it sold was mostly the spirit pills refined by her Fourth Martial Aunt and the magic treasures forged by her Second Martial Uncle. With nothing to do, she had simply taken to sleeping. After reaching the Foundation Establishment stage, one needed very little sleep—but for a woman, sleep was no longer merely a need; it was more of a luxury. Li Ying was no exception. She often slept until her eyes were bleary and her head muddled, a far cry from the shrewd, generous woman she was on ordinary days.

Eh?

In her daze, Li Ying seemed to see a great many people outside the door. She gave a violent start, and her sleepiness vanished in an instant. When she could finally make out the dense, packed crowd before her, she stood rooted to the spot, dumbstruck.

So many people... What on earth has happened...

"The shop's open!"

"It's finally open!"

"Hey, boss, I want to buy..."

...

Pushing open the shop door was like lighting a fuse. The formerly calm scene suddenly turned clamorous and chaotic. Staring at the tide of heads before her, Li Ying stood frozen in the doorway like a stone statue.

Zuo Yan felt as though his whole body had gone numb; there was not a spot that did not ache.

Barely controlling the spiritual power within him, the ice-crystal sword hovering in midair wobbled as though about to fall. His eyes were wide with fury as he strained to command the last thread of spiritual power left in his body.

"Go!"

His voice came out hoarse and harsh.

The ice-crystal sword, swaying unsteadily in midair, abruptly transformed into a streak of white light, leaving a faint trail of cold mist in the air.

Crack!

The white light struck squarely the wooden target thirty feet away. Looking closely, one could see a portrait painted on the target—none other than Luo Li, whom Zuo Yan had cursed countless times in his heart every single day.

The wooden target instantly burst into splinters, and every fragment was coated in a thin layer of ice crystals.

"Try to fight me! I'll beat you to death!"

...

Opening his eyes, Zuo Yan could not help but groan. How it hurt! He struggled to sit up, and only after he had made out the surroundings did he remember: he had been practicing the *Lishui Sword Formula* when his spiritual power ran out and he fell unconscious. Looking at his mud-caked body, then recalling how in his dream just now he had smashed the wooden target painted with Luo Li's face to pieces, he could not help but laugh aloud. How utterly absurd!

One thousand and six times!

That was the number he had recorded before losing consciousness. The spiritual power throughout his body was at a dangerous level—he had drained it far too clean before passing out. He decided to go to the stone chamber to recover his spiritual power. Every ache made even a single step agony; he looked like a turtle as he inched his way toward the cave mouth, groaning and moaning all the while.

"Junior Brother! Junior Brother!"

Zuo Yan heard someone suddenly shouting from outside the valley. The voice sounded somewhat familiar, and he stopped in his tracks. Inwardly he counted himself lucky that he had not gone into the stone chamber.

Xu Yi Shixing came flying in. When he saw Zuo Yan's bedraggled state, he was first taken aback, then laughed. "Junior Brother, how did you end up in such a state?"

Zuo Yan smiled bitterly. "I wasn't careful while practicing my sword and took a tumble."

"Junior Brother is truly diligent and hardworking!" Xu Yi exclaimed in admiration, then said with great generosity, "As for this business between you and Luo Li Shixing, it's not my place to say anything. I heard Junior Brother is short on crystals. I have a few to spare, so let me tide you over." With that, he produced two third-grade crystals.

Zuo Yan was stunned. He had a decent impression of Xu Yi, but the two of them could hardly be called friends. He had never imagined that Xu Yi Shixing would take his side in this matter. And now the man had actually come running over to press crystals on him—how strange.

Yet what Xu Yi Shixing did next caught Zuo Yan even more off guard.

Xu Yi Shixing took out a silver bracelet and handed it to Zuo Yan. "This Star-Silver Bracer is a defensive magic treasure I forged myself. Second grade—it can block three attacks from a cultivator at the Condensed Meridian stage." Without leaving room for refusal, he stuffed the bracer into Zuo Yan's arms.

Zuo Yan was utterly bewildered, unable to make heads or tails of what was going on.

"By the way, does Junior Brother still have any of those Strength Pills in stock?" Xu Yi asked with great familiarity.

"Strength Pills?" Zuo Yan had no idea how Xu Yi Shixing even knew about the Strength Pills. Staring at the two third-grade crystals in his hand and the gleaming silver bracer, he felt utterly dazed, as though a pie had fallen from the sky and struck him on the head. He answered instinctively, "No stock."

"Then I'd like to place an order with Junior Brother for one hundred pills, at fifty second-grade crystals apiece. How does that sound?" Xu Yi said, fixing his eyes on Zuo Yan.

Fifty second-grade crystals for one pill, one hundred pills...

Was he dreaming? Had the dream not ended yet? He stared blankly at the spot nearby—there was no wooden target painted with Luo Li Shixing's face there!

So he was not dreaming...

"One hundred pills... fifty second-grade crystals apiece..." he murmured to himself.

"That's right. What does Junior Brother think?" Xu Yi was somewhat nervous.

Had the world gone mad?

Zuo Yan stared at Xu Yi Shixing, who was watching him intently, and thought numbly.

"Does Junior Brother find something difficult about it?" Xu Yi could not help asking when Zuo Yan did not respond for a long while.

"No problem." His voice was feeble and listless. Somehow, he felt not the slightest excitement—perhaps it simply felt too unreal.

"Wonderful! I knew Junior Brother would do me this favor." Xu Yi beamed, then produced from somewhere five third-grade crystals and pressed them into Zuo Yan's hand. "Consider these five third-grade crystals a deposit. Junior Brother's health comes first—don't overwork yourself. There's no need to deliver all one hundred pills at once. Hmm, and after the sect trials, there's no rush either."

Zuo Yan nodded woodenly in assent.

He watched Xu Yi Shixing leave, thoroughly satisfied, his own expression still vacant, and for a long while he did not react at all.

Could anyone tell him what on earth was going on?

It really might be a dream, Zuo Yan thought. Perhaps the very next moment he would wake, and the things in his hands would vanish in a flash.

"Is my martial nephew in?"

Martial Uncle Yan Le's voice rang out from outside the valley. Before Zuo Yan could answer, Martial Uncle Yan Le came flying in.

The moment Yan Le saw Zuo Yan's appearance, he too was first taken aback, then laughed. "Hmm, my martial nephew is indeed diligent and hardworking! It seems there's great hope for him in this sect trial."

"Martial Uncle!" Zuo Yan did not dare be remiss. Though his whole body ached, he hurriedly made his salute.

Martial Uncle Yan Le caught sight of the things in Zuo Yan's arms, thought of the Xu Yi he had just encountered outside the valley, and could not help cursing inwardly. That Xu Yi usually seemed so unruffled, but he moved fast enough, didn't he.