A Fortune of One Hundred Thousand, Confidence Upgraded

With a thought, Lu Yang closed the panel and slowly calmed his surging emotions.

He chatted with Qin Nanyue and Lin Ying as he watched the auction in full swing.

Before long, someone knocked softly on the private room door.

Qin Nanyue raised an eyebrow and leaned back in her chair, chuckling. "The pills should be here."

She turned to Lu Yang, a teasing hint of a smile in her eyes. "Do you have enough Spirit Stones? Don't tell me you've won the bid but won't be able to pay."

Lu Yang smiled at Qin Nanyue. "If I don't have enough, sorry for the trouble, but I'll have to borrow some from you, Senior Sister Qin. There's no shame in eating soft rice."

Qin Nanyue was momentarily choked by his words. She pursed her lips. "You're really thick-skinned... Come in."

The door swung open, and a maid stepped gracefully inside. She bowed respectfully. "Honored guests, the Supreme-Grade Yellow Dragon Pills you bid on have arrived. Please complete the transaction."

A white-haired elder in white Daoist robes trimmed with gold followed behind her.

The elder had a lean face and a steady, subdued presence. His gaze swept over the three people in the room, and a kindly smile appeared on his face when it landed on Qin Nanyue. "So it's the Qin Household's seventh young lady. You bought these Supreme-Grade Yellow Dragon Pills, didn't you?"

Qin Nanyue rose and bowed, her tone neither servile nor arrogant. "Greetings, Martial Uncle. I didn't buy the pills. My junior brother Lu Yang won the bid."

The elder turned his gaze to Lu Yang, a flicker of surprise in his eyes.

A new face. He had never seen him before...

Still, since he could sit in the same private room as a young lady of the Qin Household's direct line, his status presumably wasn't low.

The sect was so large that it was only natural for there to be a few faces from aristocratic clans he didn't recognize.

He smiled. "Martial Nephew Lu, let's make the exchange."

He brushed a hand over the Storage Bag at his waist, and five small white porcelain bottles appeared soundlessly on the wooden table. Their surfaces gleamed like jade, glowing softly in the light of the room's spirit lamp.

"Please inspect the pills first, Martial Nephew. If there's a problem, you can raise it on the spot."

Lu Yang nodded, picked up one of the porcelain bottles, and pulled out the stopper.

A wisp of pill fragrance drifted out, rich and potent, with traces of woody bitterness followed by a lingering sweetness. A single breath made the Spiritual Qi in one's meridians stir more freely.

He tipped the pills into his palm.

The Supreme-Grade Yellow Dragon Pills were an earthy yellow throughout, clear and lustrous like amber beads, with rings of fine pill markings winding around their surfaces.

He knew nothing about pills, so he turned to Lin Ying beside him.

Lin Ying leaned closer for a look, then nodded to Lu Yang. "They're supreme-grade. There's no problem."

Lu Yang opened the other four bottles in turn and inspected each one. Only then did he replace the stoppers and nod slightly to the elder. "The goods are fine."

"Since you've inspected them, Martial Nephew Lu, let's settle the payment in Spirit Stones."

Lu Yang reached out and patted his Storage Bag. Spirit Stones poured out with a clatter, piling into a glittering little mountain on the wooden table.

The concentration of Spiritual Qi in the room rose by a visible degree, and even the spirit lamp seemed to shine a little brighter.

The elder was a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator and could already extend his Divine Sense beyond his body. With a light sweep of it, he finished counting.

A trace of barely perceptible surprise flashed in his eyes, though his expression remained unchanged. "Twenty-five thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones, not one more or less."

Twenty-five thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones was no small sum.

He had assumed the Qin Household's young lady would most likely cover part of it, but the young man had actually produced the entire sum in one go. Judging by his unruffled manner, his Storage Bag clearly held far more than that.

Wasn't this martial nephew a little too wealthy?

Powerful figures and aristocratic clans surnamed Lu...

He searched his memory but came up empty.

The elder said no more. With a sweep of his long sleeve, he put away every Spirit Stone on the table.

Lu Yang also put the five bottles of pills back into his Storage Bag.

With the transaction complete, the elder gave Lu Yang another look and smiled kindly. "Martial Nephew Lu, since the transaction is complete, this old man will take his leave."

The three cupped their hands. "Farewell, Martial Uncle."

The elder and the maid withdrew from the room, and the door closed gently behind them.

Qin Nanyue sat down again and casually explained, "That was Sun Shouzheng, a senior inner-sect deacon of our sect's External Affairs Hall. I heard he was quite talented back in the day, but unfortunately, he ran into demonic-path cultivators while he was out gaining experience, and they damaged his foundation. Otherwise, he should have had a chance to break through to the Golden Core Realm."

Lu Yang and Lin Ying were both a little surprised. That amiable-looking elder had once had a chance to become a Golden Core True Person.

Lin Ying sighed softly. "Mishaps are inevitable on the path of cultivation. This martial uncle really had bad luck."

Lu Yang nodded.

Foundation Establishment and Golden Core were only one realm apart, but their statuses were as different as heaven and earth.

With his foundation damaged by Devil Cultivators, his great Dao had been cut short halfway. Perhaps only cultivators themselves could understand that kind of regret.

Fortunately, he now had five Golden Core Realm puppet bodyguards at his side, so he didn't need to worry about running into Devil Cultivators or the like.

Even if he did run into them, they would be the unlucky ones.

The transaction was complete, so he could use the Rebate Card.

Without letting anything show, Lu Yang silently designated the transaction for the Low-Level Rebate Card.

[Purchase designated successfully. Random reward multiplier: 4. Congratulations, Host, you have obtained 100,000 Low-Grade Spirit Stones!]

The moment the number appeared on the screen, Lu Yang couldn't help the corners of his mouth from rising.

It wasn't the maximum of five times, but four times was still substantial.

He had spent twenty-five thousand and immediately gotten a full hundred thousand back!

Next, he could make another big purchase and use the Mid-Level Rebate Card. Even if it only triggered the minimum fivefold multiplier, he would get a full five hundred thousand!

That was five hundred thousand!

Even the entire wealth of many Peak Foundation Establishment cultivators might not add up to that much.

His gaze fell on the Tycoon's Confidence entry on the panel again.

Having spent twenty-five thousand, he had met the upgrade requirement and could upgrade it at any time.

With a thought, Lu Yang promptly chose to upgrade.

[Tycoon's Confidence (Level 5): Obtain 16 Low-Grade Spirit Stones every shichen. (Money is the confidence to become a tycoon. Spend 50,000 Low-Grade Spirit Stones to upgrade.)]

Sixteen every shichen, twelve shichen a day—that was one hundred and ninety-two a day, or nearly seventy thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones a year!

Even without relying on Rebate Cards, his annual passive income was already on par with that of wealthy Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators.

On top of that, he still had a hundred thousand Spirit Stones and a Mid-Level Rebate Card in hand.

After another round of spending, his confidence could rise again, and he would get another rebate. With luck, he might even be able to rise two levels in a row!

He quickly ran the numbers in his head. If everything went smoothly, he might even be able to push his confidence to level eight in the near future!

By then, his passive income alone would be comparable to the rate at which a Golden Core True Person earned money, wouldn't it?

At the thought, Lu Yang even felt that it was a little unreal.

A Golden Core True Person, of all people!

To the Lu Household of before, such a person was a lofty existence who wouldn't even spare a small lineage like the Lu Household a glance!

Even in a top-tier sect like the Golden Rainbow Sword Sect, a Golden Core True Person was an elder-level figure!

He was just a minor mid-stage Qi Refining cultivator, yet he would soon be able to earn almost as many Spirit Stones as a Golden Core True Person!

If he told anyone, they probably wouldn't believe him, would they?