Chapter 96 - 61: Cultivation Aspiration, Don’t Bully a Poor Young Girl!

Chapter 96: Chapter 61: Cultivation Aspiration, Don’t Bully a Poor Young Girl!

"That Flying Ship belongs to Shouyi Temple, right?" Wu Mingke curled his lips. "It’s covered in cinnabar talismans. Only they would be so ostentatious."

"They’re just drawing cinnabar talismans on their own Flying Ship. What’s so ostentatious about that?" Lu Kuan asked, confused.

"Shouyi Temple monopolizes the cinnabar trade among the many Daoist Temples under the Dharma Vein, causing endless headaches for countless Daoist Temples," the young man from Huang Bamboo Temple said coldly. "But they would rather use cinnabar to decorate their Flying Ships than sell more to other Daoist Temples."

"Can’t they refine cinnabar themselves?" Mu Xiaoyu asked.

"They can. Refining cinnabar itself isn’t particularly difficult." Wu Mingke shook his head. "The problem is that Shouyi Temple won’t allow it. Whichever temple refines cinnabar gets targeted by them. Let alone selling it to outsiders, you can’t even refine it for your own use. You have to buy from them!"

While they spoke, the Flying Ship had already swept past overhead, heading straight for the mountain peak. By the time the young man from Huang Bamboo Temple harvested all the valuable parts from the stag, the sky had grown dark. The Flying Ship from Shouyi Temple had long since landed on the peak, out of sight.

"Have you packed everything up?" Li Yinsheng walked over and asked.

"Greetings, Senior!" The three of them hurriedly stood up and bowed. Although Li Yinsheng’s attitude had been quite easygoing along the way, they were all well-versed in the rules of seniority and hierarchy from their respective Daoist Temples. Even though he looked only a few years older than them—perhaps even the same age as the youth from Huang Bamboo Temple—the gap in their Cultivation was clear. They wouldn’t dare be disrespectful.

"Looking at the sky, today’s patrol should be over. Let’s head back." Li Yinsheng waved his hand, summoning the Talisman Crane. "Get on. I’ll give you a ride."

Holding Li Yinsheng’s hand, Mu Xiaoyu was the first to jump onto the Talisman Crane. In the afternoon, she had asked her senior brother if she could use talismanic coins to buy some of the limited-edition Cultivation Fruits sold by Huang Bamboo Temple. He told her to buy as many as she could, saying that eating more Cultivation Fruits was good for her. So, she couldn’t wait to go back and buy them. If she was late, they might be sold out!

The other three carefully climbed onto the Talisman Crane, looking quite nervous and reserved. The Talisman Crane took off, soaring toward the resting area.

A moment later, the Talisman Crane landed in the resting area.

Wu Mingke and the other two scrambled off the Talisman Crane, their knees trembling slightly. The Talisman Crane flew extremely fast and steady, without causing any discomfort from bumps or swaying. However, for the three of them who were experiencing such breakneck speed for the first time, the velocity alone was enough to be nerve-wracking. Because she was already used to Li Yinsheng’s Flying Sword and Talisman Crane, Mu Xiaoyu didn’t feel any of this psychological pressure.

After the Talisman Crane landed, she greeted Li Yinsheng, then hopped off and dashed straight to the place selling Cultivation Fruits. On the main road in the resting area that separated the male and female dormitories stood a large flag. Beneath it was a temporary stall with neatly arranged Cultivation Fruits. However, only half of the Cultivation Fruits remained at this moment.

"Phew, good thing I got here fast!" Mu Xiaoyu ran over excitedly, waving a handful of talismanic coins. "I want all the Cultivation Fruits here!"

The female cultivator behind the stall smiled slightly. "Each person can only buy five pieces per day."

Mu Xiaoyu’s head drooped. She disappointedly handed over five hundred talismanic coins and picked up five pieces. It turned out the limit wasn’t just on the total amount sold each day; there was also a limit on how much each individual could buy. Holding the five Cultivation Fruits in her hands, she was about to head back and share them with her senior brother.

"I’ll take all these Cultivation Fruits. Wrap them all up!" a somewhat shrill voice rang out.

The speaker was a female cultivator wearing a Shouyi Temple Daoist Robe. She looked to be in her twenties with ordinary features, but her expression carried a hint of meanness.

"Give up, Fellow Daoist. There’s a limit of five per person," Mu Xiaoyu reminded her from the side.

The female cultivator from Huang Bamboo Temple behind the stall smiled and nodded.

"I’m bringing them for my fellow disciples." The female cultivator from Shouyi Temple didn’t even look at Mu Xiaoyu, staring fixedly at the stall vendor instead. "There are thirty-four pieces left here. I have seven fellow disciples. Including me, I need to buy forty pieces in total. What you have here isn’t even enough!"

"I’m sorry, Fellow Daoist. The cultivator must be present in person to buy them," the female cultivator from Huang Bamboo Temple said, offering a polite, apologetic smile.

The Shouyi Temple female cultivator’s eyebrows instantly shot up. "Are you being unreasonable?! You won’t even allow someone to buy on behalf of their fellow disciples?!"

The female cultivator from Huang Bamboo Temple pursed her lips and politely explained, "I apologize, Fellow Daoist, but we truly do not have a rule allowing purchases on behalf of fellow disciples."

"Look closely, I am from Shouyi Temple! I am Fu Shuo, a Direct Disciple of Steward Yang from the Proverbs Hall of Shouyi Temple! Do you understand what a Direct Disciple is?!" the female cultivator surnamed Fu demanded aggressively.

Seeing that the other woman wore a Daoist Robe different from that of an ordinary Shouyi Temple disciple, the female cultivator from Huang Bamboo Temple hesitated for a moment before forcing a smile. "Since you are a Fellow Daoist from Shouyi Temple, we can make a slight exception..."

The female cultivator surnamed Fu nodded in satisfaction.

"You just need to present the Daoist Certificates of the fellow disciples you are purchasing the Cultivation Fruits for, so I can record them. If you don’t have them with you now, I can record your Daoist Certificate first, and you can provide the others later..."

Before the female cultivator from Huang Bamboo Temple could finish, the female cultivator surnamed Fu flew into a rage, shouting in a shrill voice, "What do you mean?! Are you suspecting that I’m pretending to buy Cultivation Fruits for my fellow disciples?!"

Startled by her shouting, the female cultivator from Huang Bamboo Temple instinctively shrank back, at a loss for words.

Having watched the whole exchange from the side, Mu Xiaoyu couldn’t help but speak up. "Wouldn’t having the Daoist Certificates prove that you’re buying them for your fellow disciples?"

The female cultivator surnamed Fu immediately glared at Mu Xiaoyu. "Where did this Lower Cultivator come from? Which Daoist Temple are you from?!"

"I’m from Xuanzhen Temple," Mu Xiaoyu replied.

"Xuanzhen Temple?" The female cultivator surnamed Fu paused, then seemed to think of something. She sneered at Mu Xiaoyu. "Perfect. I’m buying the Cultivation Fruits in your hands too!"