The black-robed man doubted his ears: ââŚhow many?!â
âThree ninth-grade, and five hundred eighth-grade spirit stones.â The Golden Core cultivator repeated patiently.
The hand holding the brocade bag instantly frozen. It was truly an awkward situation: he couldnât throw the bag to those debt collectors, nor did he could take it back. If it was before he got injured and was forced to flee, not to mention three ninth-grade spirit stones, even three hundred was just a trivial amount for him.
But now, there were only two hundred eighth-grade spirit stones inside this bag. He escaped from that place almost empty-handed. Except for three live-saving magic tools and a few hundred eighth-grade spirit stones, he brought nothing. After he escaped, he needed to spend quite a lot of spirit stones, and the remaining was not much. Moreover, even if all of them were taken out, it wouldnât be enough to pay one-fifth of Lu Qingranâs debt. Although he still had three magic tools, they must never be seen by the people from Cultivators Alliance.
The black-robed man was frozen in place. Under the black gauze, his originally sickly pale cheeks began to flush with anger. His hand gripped the brocade bag tightly. He couldnât take it back, nor could he throw it away.
The man glanced at Lu Qingran. âYou junior sisterâŚâ After a long time, he gritted his teeth and said: âShe is truly good at earning money.â
Tears rolled again on Lu Qingranâs cheek, and she nodded desperately.
The black-robed man took a deep breath and threw the brocade bag in his hand to the people from Cultivators Alliance. âTake these first, and the restâŚâ
âIâm sorry.â The Golden Core cultivator said with a smile: âFellow Daoist Meng has paid us extra fees, and we must collect fellow Daoist Luâs debt before tomorrow evening.â
The black-robed man instantly became irritable: âWe donât have so many spirit stones.â
This was probably what they meant by âa dragon who goes playing in the shallow river got caught by small shrimpsâ. He never thought that one day, he would be forced to be like a rascal who wanted to renege a debt of merely a few ninth-grade spirit stones!!
Meng Qi, right?! He will remember her name!
âThenâŚâ The Golden Core cultivator smiled and said: âWe wonât push you too hard. According to the procedures, we can pay in advance what fellow Daoist Lu owed to fellow Daoist Meng when she comes to collect her money tomorrow.â He then took out a small porcelain bottle. âThis is soul marking pill. Fellow Daoist Lu, please take it. Afterward, we will appoint some tasks for you until you earn enough spirit stones to pay back what you owed us.â The man paused, âAt that time, we naturally will give you the antidote.â
Lu Qingran held the porcelain bottle. Her body trembled all over. The soul marking pill left an imprint in a cultivatorâs spiritual sea, and only the refiner of the pill could remove the imprint afterward. If she took this pill, it meant that from now on, she would be under Cultivators Allianceâs control and must obey their every command.
Lu Qingranâs grip on the black-robed man became tighter. She was so afraid! Tears fell even more. She didnât want to take the soul marking pillâŚ.she was so afraid!
The man sighed softly. He has calmed down, and his gaze was even sharper than before. âGive me one pill.â He said to the Golden Core cultivator. âIâll do the task with her.â
âAlright.â The Golden Core cultivator nodded and took out another small porcelain bottle.
The black-robed man swallowed the soul marking pill without hesitation. âGive us the task.â He said coldly. âIâm in the seventh realm of Nascent Soul stage. Give us the highest paying task you have.â
âThen we will trouble you.â The Golden Core Cultivator smiled slightly. He watched Lu Qingran swallowed the soul marking pill, then took out a bamboo slip: âXuanyun Villa put out a request for help. Demon cultivators are roaming around Huajiang Manor, attacking people. We need you to subdue those demon cultivators. For this task, the reward is counted by the number of demon cultivators you killed. For each fourth-rank demon cultivator, we will pay one hundred eighth-grade spirit stones.â
The black-robed man snorted coldly. Lu Qingran looked over him in worry. He turned around and walked away slowly. âI know.â He said coldly: âIâll kill them.â
âThanks for your hard work.â The Golden Core cultivator cupped his hands politely. After smiling for the last time, he turned around and returned to the direction of Huajiang Manor with his colleagues.
âYouâŚâ Lu Qingran waited until those people disappeared from her sight before slowly walked to the black-robed man. Her eyes were still red: âIâm sorry. Itâs all my fault. But I never think that junior sister MengâŚwill treat me like this.â
Once again, Lu Qingran began to cry sadly.
âDonât cry.â The black-robed man said coldly. âSooner or later, I will go to take a good look at this Meng Qi.â
ââTodayâs humiliation, he will definitely make her repay it a hundred times.
âŚ
Until the evening of the next day, Meng Qi stayed inside her room and finally made nine pills. She sighed in satisfaction, then put the dark brown pills into nine different porcelain bottles. It was too late to sell it now. She could only bring these pills to the auction site and asked the staff if they could be counted directly as spirit stones and bid for the Blazing Feather.
Seeing the time was almost up, she turned around, took Xiao Qi back into the beast house, and walked quickly towards the Cultivator Alliance.
Meanwhile, at Beyond The Heaven. The nameplates of all people eligible to enter Heaven Auction House suddenly shook. After checking the message that had just been delivered, their face changed in surprise.