Chapter 36: If You Want the Soul Infant Fruit, Take Three Moves from Me
The knock on the door made Chu Yao frown. She still had much to discuss with Gu Qing. To her, Gu Qing was like a walking treasure of opportunities, and she enjoyed talking cultivation with him.
She had no desire to entertain outsiders now.
"Let him in," Gu Qing said, his eyes flashing with a strange light. Something about this alchemist outside, said to be a true disciple of Medicine King Valley, gave him a peculiar feeling—almost as if he carried something Gu Qing needed.
"All right. Come in."
Chu Yao didn't even look back. She simply rose and leaned forward to pour tea for Gu Qing and Su Qingyue.
The fragrance filled the room. Watching her graceful waist and full curves, Gu Qing's throat tightened and his blood stirred.
"Shameless vixen… she must be doing this on purpose."
Su Qingyue ground her teeth, cursing Chu Yao inwardly.
"Fairy Chu Yao."
Xiao Yi stepped in and froze. He hadn't expected someone of Chu Yao's high status to be personally pouring tea. When he spotted Gu Qing's striking appearance, his heart filled with irritation.
He despised those so-called second-generation geniuses who looked perfect on the surface. But when his eyes fell on Su Qingyue's cold, stunning beauty, his heart thumped violently. She was breathtaking. He quickly forced himself to look away.
"Alchemist Xiao, what business do you have with me?" Chu Yao asked coldly.
She didn't even offer him a seat, making her dismissal obvious.
Feeling belittled, Xiao Yi's anger rose, but since he needed something, he sat across from her. With no care for the others present, he spoke bluntly: "Fairy Chu Yao, I am a fourth-rank alchemist. Do I have the qualifications to become a consecrated alchemist of your Pavilion?"
"Impossible."
Chu Yao refused without hesitation. Xiao Yi's identity was already suspicious, and this request confirmed her doubts. She was now certain his token was stolen. He likely wanted her Pavilion's protection while being hunted by Medicine King Valley.
"Won't you hear what benefits I can bring you?" Xiao Yi's face darkened.
"What benefits? Spare me useless words. My time is valuable." Chu Yao's fox-like eyes gleamed. If he truly had something she wanted, she might protect him for a while.
"My pill success rate is seventy percent. If Fairy Chu Yao gives me thirty percent more compensation, and—"
"Enough. Alchemist Xiao, please leave."
Chu Yao's patience was gone. He was exactly what she thought—petty, small-minded, and unworthy. A fugitive hiding behind a stolen identity dared to act as if he were a respected master.
Seeking her protection while making demands? Did he think she was a fool?
Even speaking to him made her uncomfortable.
"Fairy Chu Yao, if it's not suitable, we can—"
"If you don't want to be thrown out, leave now."
Her eyes were cold as she secretly sent a message to Medicine King Valley. She hadn't planned to report him, but since he came to disgust her, she would.
"You—"
"Stay silent if you want to live," the old man in the ring cut in sharply. His tone was full of suppressed fury.
He had once admired Xiao Yi's cunning and ability to always profit in the end. But now, seeing him against true geniuses, he realized Xiao Yi couldn't measure up.
"Teacher, I—"
"Go."
"No, I can't. The Pavilion holds my fortune."
"Then you must pay ten sixth-rank pill formulas, five seventh-rank formulas, three eighth-rank formulas, and your piece of Black Veined Celestial Gold," the old man said flatly.
"What? Impossible!"
Xiao Yi's face twisted. He didn't want to part with even a formula, let alone the precious fragment of Celestial Gold he had nearly died for.
"Then leave now. Another word and Chu Yao will throw you out."
The old man's tone was final.
Xiao Yi's expression shifted again and again. Finally, he prepared to leave—but he couldn't walk away empty-handed.
His eyes fell on Su Qingyue. Taking a deep breath, he asked, "Fellow Daoists, the Soul Infant Fruit is of great use to me. Fairy, would you be willing to part with it?"
At his words, Gu Qing smiled faintly.
[Detected: Xiao Yi harbors malice toward the host. Counterattack triggered. One thousand luck points plundered from Xiao Yi.]
"System, show me his status panel."
[Name]Xiao Yi.
[Realm]Mysterious Dan Realm, ninth level!
[Constitution]Fire God Body (34%).
[Talents]Alchemist's knack, Fire Control Master.
[Fate Designation]Child of Fortune.
[Life Fate]Turning calamity into fortune, finding blessings in misfortune, Fortune Devouring Halo.
[Fortune Value]Eighty-six thousand.
"Is there a difference between a Child of Destiny and a Child of Fortune?" Gu Qing asked in surprise.
[The Child of Destiny is born bearing heaven's mandate, destined to accomplish a great achievement in the future.]
[The Child of Fortune is one with immense fortune, able to turn danger into safety. No matter the peril, they always meet benefactors and countless opportunities, but their limit is bound to this world, and their halo of fortune may vanish at any time.]
"I see…"
"Then what is this Fortune Devouring Halo of his?"
[As the name suggests, the Fortune Devouring Halo can actively consume an enemy's fortune.]
"I didn't even say a word, and I already became his enemy?" Gu Qing muttered, speechless at how unreasonable a Child of Fortune's hostility was.
"Since it's useful to you, why not bid for it?" Su Qingyue asked coldly.
Hearing this, shame welled up in Xiao Yi's heart. Though her tone was plain, it was almost the same as calling him a pauper, a beggar.
Was it not true? Unable to win the bid, yet brazenly begging for it—was that not the act of a beggar?
"I am currently a fourth-rank alchemist. If Fairy is willing to give me the Soul Infant Fruit, I can refine three furnaces of pills for you free of charge in the future."
At his current level, three furnaces of pills would only be worth a few million high-grade spirit stones at most. But he was confident he could one day become an eighth or even ninth-rank alchemist.
By then, each furnace would be priceless. Promising three furnaces now felt like a great loss to him, but he had no choice—the Soul Infant Fruit was too important to the old man in the ring.
"Pfft!"
Chu Yao burst into laughter, looking at Xiao Yi with the gaze one would reserve for a fool.
Su Qingyue reacted the same, unable to comprehend how Xiao Yi could say something so absurd. Was he mad?
Only Gu Qing found it perfectly normal. After all, the thought process of a Child of Fortune or a Child of Destiny was not the same as that of ordinary people.
You might mock him as worthless, yet he might be mocking you as ignorant.
"The Soul Infant Fruit is with me."
Gu Qing's thoughts moved quickly, and he soon devised a way to deal with Xiao Yi.
"I think alchemy won't be necessary. If you can withstand three of my moves, I'll give you the Soul Infant Fruit. How about it?"
"What?"
Such good fortune?
Xiao Yi looked at Gu Qing in disbelief.
A mere sixth-level of the Mysterious Dan Realm, yet he dared to boast of killing him within three moves?
Xiao Yi almost laughed from anger. Since his debut, it was always him challenging those stronger than himself. This was the first time someone weaker dared to challenge him.
"Xiao Yi, he's hiding his strength. Do not accept."
The old man in the ring glanced at Gu Qing, but could not see through him at all. On the surface, Gu Qing was only sixth-level Mysterious Dan Realm with ordinary aura, yet the more he looked, the more terrifying he felt.
For Gu Qing to speak so confidently, he surely had certainty.
"Teacher, don't worry. As long as he's in the Mysterious Dan Realm, killing him will be like slaughtering a chicken."
Xiao Yi was brimming with confidence.
He looked at Gu Qing and asked, "You really are in the Mysterious Dan Realm, not hiding your cultivation?"
"Of course," Gu Qing replied with a smile. "In fact, I haven't even reached nineteen years of age."
"Teacher, is that true?"
Xiao Yi secretly transmitted his voice to the old man in the ring.
"From his face, he truly looks only seventeen or eighteen. But precisely because of that, he must be a divine body. His battle strength will not be weak."
The old man's unease deepened.
A nineteen-year-old at the Mysterious Dan Realm was definitely no ordinary divine body.
"As long as that's all. Who cares what divine body he has? I too am a Fire God Body. Though mine is an upper-grade divine body not yet fully transformed, in terms of battle strength I am certainly no weaker than any divine body. And besides, don't I still have you, teacher?"
Xiao Yi was already impatient to duel Gu Qing outside. Not only could he seize the Soul Infant Fruit, he could also humble one of these arrogant so-called prodigies.
"Fellow Daoist, if I win, will you truly give me the Soul Infant Fruit?"
"Hmph, my senior brother is a peerless prodigy unmatched through the ages. How could he ever break his word?" Su Qingyue said coldly.
Peerless prodigy unmatched through the ages?
Xiao Yi sneered. How many such so-called prodigies had he already defeated?
They were nothing more than frogs at the bottom of a well, amusing themselves.
He would very much like to see what expression Su Qingyue would wear after he defeated Gu Qing.
Thinking this, Xiao Yi's lips curled into a smirk. "Good. Let's go outside now."
"Fine."
Gu Qing cast a glance at the ring on Xiao Yi's hand, then walked out of the private room calmly.
"Wonder how strong that brat actually is." Chu Yao's foxlike eyes blinked, and she followed without hesitation.
Though she suspected Gu Qing was a legendary Supreme Divine Body, he had been born in a small place and only joined the Star Temple three years ago.
No matter how strong his battle strength, it likely had limits.
"So you finally came out?"
Xu Tiefu also opened his room and stepped out calmly.
His gaze fell on Gu Qing, and inwardly he rejoiced.
So, some ignorant young prodigy dared fight him for the Soul Infant Fruit?
Truly heaven's favor.
He followed slowly after them.
"Strange, why is Chu Yao following as well? Are these four planning a duel outside the city?"
"Heh, a bunch of brats, only knowing how to duel for fame every day, ignorant of the true cruelty of cultivation. Today, this seat shall give them a lesson."
Xu Tiefu sneered in his heart.
As the sect master of a great demonic sect, it was indeed shameful to act against juniors.
But as one of the demonic path, he felt no shame at bullying the weak.
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