novelapdf Chapter 21 The Essence of Earth
Chapter 21 The Essence of Earth
Qiang Gui and Chen Chunan both looked at the person who had spoken.
A young female cultivator dressed in a fiery red dress rushed over.
"I want this magical treasure box!"
Chen Chunan's expression changed slightly. He was a disciple of the Blazing Sun Sect!
He quickly snatched the mechanical treasure box from Qiang Gui's hand and said to the disciple of the Lieyang Sect, "Fairy, I just bought this treasure box."
The woman's face was arrogant: "Then sell it to me again. You just spent fifteen spirit stones? I'll give you 150 spirit stones!"
Qianggui felt his heart bleed upon hearing this, wishing he could immediately snatch the treasure box from Chen Chunan's hand and resell it to this female disciple of the Lieyang Sect.
As for Chen Chunan just paid 15 spirit stones?
I'll refund you three times! No, five times!
Unfortunately, this was a market town, so he could only think about it in his mind. If he actually dared to force his way out and break the rules, the market town would skin him alive.
Chen Chunan's pupils contracted slightly: Did the disciples of the Lieyang Sect also sense something?
I'd be willing to pay ten times the price to buy it!
At this moment, Chen Chunan did consider simply selling it.
Making nine times the profit by reselling is indeed quite impressive.
However, the faint aura of the Earth Guardian he sensed made him feel that the items in the treasure box should be more than 150 spirit stones.
"My lady, I have no intention of selling this treasure box."
Chen Chunan's tone was calm yet firm.
"150 isn't enough? How about 300? Judging by your appearance, you probably wouldn't earn 300 spirit stones in a year, would you?"
Chen Chunan was speechless. This was truly a disciple of a major sect, so extravagant, throwing spirit stones at people right away.
However, Chen Chunan was somewhat annoyed by that disdainful look on his face.
Even the Foundation Establishment stage disciples of Wanfang Chamber of Commerce treat you with utmost respect. Why are you, a Qi Refining stage disciple, so arrogant?
"The fairy is indeed wealthy and generous, but as the saying goes, money can't buy what you love. I really won't sell this treasure box, no matter how expensive or cheap it is."
The female disciple of the Blazing Sun Sect looked displeased: "Don't you know who I am?"
Chen Chunan was stunned for a moment: Is this about relying on one's father's connections?
"Judging from your attire, you're a disciple of the Lieyang Sect, a top-tier Golden Core sect. However, I've always heard that disciples of the Lieyang Sect never bully others with their power. You're not that kind of person, are you?"
The woman in red was put on hold by Chen Chunan's words, and her expression gradually turned ugly.
Just as she was about to lash out, a sarcastic voice rang out: "Who told you the Blazing Sun Sect never uses its power to bully others? The Blazing Sun Sect is the most domineering sect ever. Forced sales, deliberately inflating prices, and bribing people with money are all old tricks, right? Sun Yanling? Are you proud of bullying a child?"
Chen Chunan turned around and saw that it was the Lin family, a Golden Core family.
The newcomer was also a female cultivator, but she had a female body and a male appearance, with sword-like eyebrows and bright eyes, and a sharp temperament.
Chen Chunan wouldn't be able to tell if she was male or female if he hadn't heard her voice and seen that she had gained some weight in her chest.
Sun Yanling's face twisted in disgust upon seeing the Lin family's female disciple: "Lin Jing! It's you again, you damned tomboy! Today I'm going to use my power to intimidate you, what are you going to do about it?"
Lin Jing didn't care at all that Sun Yanling called her a tomboy; she nonchalantly dusted off non-existent dust from her sleeves.
"What should I do? Haven't you had enough of a beating? You dare to cause trouble in the market? If you're not satisfied, let's fight. If you don't dare to do it in the market, we can go out and fight."
Sun Yanling's face flushed red and then turned pale, but in the end she didn't have the courage to go out with Lin Jing.
"Damn Lin Jing! You just wait!"
After uttering those harsh words, Sun Yanling left without looking back.
Chen Chunan looked at Lin Jing, who had unexpectedly helped him out of a predicament, and stepped forward to bow and thank her, saying, "Thank you so much, Fairy Lin Jing, for helping me out of this predicament~"
Lin Jing looked a little strange when Chen Chunan called her "fairy": "What, what did you call me?"
Chen Chunan asked, puzzled, "A fairy."
"Haha, this is the first time someone has called me a fairy, how interesting! I think you're quite pleasing to the eye, so how about I treat you to a meal?"
???
Chen Chunan looked completely bewildered. "If you like me, shouldn't you treat me to a meal?"
Why am I the one treating you?
Never mind, she just helped me out of a tight spot, so it's no big deal to treat her to a meal.
Just as Chen Chunan was about to agree, he suddenly remembered something: "Ahem, Fairy Lin, I'm a bit poor. Let's eat something simple and not order anything expensive, otherwise I'll have to sell myself to pay off my debts."
Lin Jing is a member of the Golden Core family. Chen Chunan was worried that she might not have a good sense of money, so he made sure to pay in advance to avoid the embarrassment of not being able to pay for the meal.
Lin Jing looked at her with surprise: "Do you know how many people are begging to treat me to a meal? You're actually worried about how much it costs? Never mind, you're young, so you probably don't have much pocket money. I see you bought a lot of spirit pork. Although spirit pork isn't very useful, it tastes pretty good. Just treat me to spirit pork."
Chen Chunan's expression relaxed: "That's great! Speaking of which, my cooking skills are not bad. I'll cook for Fairy Lin in a bit and let her taste my skills, how about it?"
Lin Jing clapped her hands and laughed, "Alright, alright, I'll see how your cooking is, you little rascal!"
Without paying attention to the gazes of the surrounding cultivators, he pulled Chen Chunan out of the Wanfang Chamber of Commerce.
Right after the two left, a female receptionist quietly went up to the seventh floor.
"Miss~"
"Cui'er's back? What? So Lin Jing and Sun Yanling won't fight, will they?"
"Miss is truly a prophet. They really didn't fight. Just as Miss predicted, Sun Yanling from the Lieyang Sect backed down and ran away."
The young lady seated in the main seat smiled and said, "This market is jointly owned by our three families. Although Lin Jing from the Lin family is combative, she won't make a move here. Sun Yanling, on the other hand, is reckless, but she's been terrified of Lin Jing. That's why I'm so sure the two of them won't fight."
"However, the magical box you were interested in, Miss, has been bought. Didn't you say it contained the essence of Earth? Why won't you let me go and buy it back?"
The young lady smiled and said, "The essence of Earth is just a Foundation Establishment spiritual item. How much is it worth? Isn't it more comical to see a cultivator buy it as a bargain? Maybe he can really become a great cultivator like the protagonist in a storybook, relying on a bargain. Wouldn't that be interesting?"
Cui'er sighed, "Miss, you really should give up those storybooks; they're all lies!"
"Of course I know it's a lie, but wouldn't life be much less interesting if all I knew was to cultivate to death? By the way, keep an eye on that lucky guy who bought the Essence of the Earth Guardian; I want to see what his fate will be."
Cui'er said dejectedly, "Okay, I'll keep an eye on it."
Cui'er was quite helpless about her young mistress's perverse sense of humor.
...
Chen Chunan, unaware that he had bought a Foundation Establishment spiritual object, the Essence of Earth, worth a thousand spirit stones, was currently processing the spirit pork.
Since the old man's rented pigeon coop was unsuitable for cooking, Chen Chunan naturally went to Lin Jing's house with her.
As one of the shareholders of Fangshi, the Lin family did indeed leave some nice houses for their children.
The quiet courtyard, about 200 square meters, is small but has everything you need.
Furthermore, a small spirit-gathering array was set up.
Chen Chunan felt that the concentration of spiritual energy here was much higher than that in Chen Hongxian's meditation room.
It's a pity I can't cultivate right now.
Since he was going to treat everyone, Chen Chunan naturally planned to prepare a proper meal.
The two bought a lot of side dishes on the way.
Chen Chunan planned to cook four dishes and a soup.
One braised pork rib, one braised pork belly, and one stir-fried pork.
A stir-fried white jade vegetable dish, and finally a spiritual vegetable soup.
There should be enough food for the two of us, with both meat and vegetables.
Three catties of spirit rice were also steamed in the pot.
The rice was provided by Lin Jing, and it looks to be of very high quality.
Lin Jing also requested that three catties of rice be steamed, as she herself said she eats two catties of Lingmi per meal.
This left Chen Chunan speechless.
It was precisely because of Lin Jing's large appetite that Chen Chunan directly cooked ten catties of spirit pork.
Otherwise, he was afraid that Lin Jing's appetite wouldn't be enough.
"The fruit and vegetable soup is here! Dinner's ready!"
Chen Chunan served the last soup, preparing to invite Lin Jing to eat.
But then she pulled out two wine glasses from somewhere.
"Such delicious food deserves a drink! Chu Nan, will you have a drink with me?"
"Since a fairy has invited me, how could I dare refuse?"
Chen Chunan took his seat and raised his glass to toast Lin Jing.
The aroma of the wine alone was enough to tell that it was something special.
He had just raised his head to ask a question when he saw Lin Jing's smug expression: "You figured it out pretty quickly! This wine of mine is monkey wine brewed by the white ape demon monkey from Falling Dragon Ridge, it's quite a rare wine! This wine is very beneficial to cultivation, you really hit the jackpot by treating me to dinner. Cheers!"
Before Chen Chunan could finish his surprise, he quickly raised his glass and said, "Cheers!"
The wine went down my throat, and the sensation was truly smooth and silky.
The crisp aroma of the liquor blends with the fragrance of fruit. The liquor is not spicy, but rather has a mellow and rich taste, like drinking fine wine.
After swallowing, a gentle spiritual energy flowed directly into the lower dantian.
Without even telling Lin Jing, Chen Chunan quickly sat down cross-legged to digest the spiritual energy.
After a long while, Chen Chunan let out a long breath.
"He broke through to the seventh level of Qi Refining in one fell swoop, and even took a giant leap towards the eighth level! He said he was treating people to dinner, but I'm the one who ended up benefiting. Now I owe him even more favors!"
I didn't want to drink before, but now I think: it's really delicious!
Chen Chunan slowly opened his eyes, inwardly marveling at how extraordinary the disciples of the Golden Core families were, possessing such fine items so readily.
Seeing that Chen Chunan had finished his cultivation, Lin Jing put down her chopsticks and said, "You broke through? You have quite the talent. At this age, to cultivate five spiritual roots to the seventh level of Qi Refining, tsk tsk tsk. Speaking of which, which family do you come from?"
Chen Chunan felt a chill run down his spine; his breakthrough this time had actually exposed his talent!
I don't know what Lin Jing really meant.
Chen Chunan chuckled lightly: "It was just luck. I'm just a first-level rogue cultivator, I can't compare to you scions of great clans."
A rogue cultivator?
Lin Jing scoffed, but since Chen Chunan didn't want to talk about it, she was too lazy to find out.
"You're not being honest! I even treated you to drinks, but you can't have them!"
Chen Chunan was speechless as he watched Lin Jing retract the gourd that was half-out, ready to pour wine.
This girl is really straightforward and has a clear sense of right and wrong. She just brushed it off and immediately stopped inviting him for drinks.
Chen Chunan apologized, "Miss Lin, please don't be offended. It's not that I'm trying to hide anything, but if I really came from a powerful family, I wouldn't be this poor, would I?"
As he spoke, Chen Chunan shook the cloth bag that only contained 39 spirit stones.
Lin Jing tilted her head: "That's true. Although I'm poor too, I still have a storage ring and a magic weapon. You seem to have nothing."
Chen Chunan quickly replied, "That's why I'm a true rogue cultivator. How can a member of a family be this poor?"
"Alright, you pass. Since your cooking was pretty good, I'll take pity on you and buy you another drink!"
Soon after Chen Chunan's "explanation," Lin Jing put aside her doubts, and the two began to drink together.