A Big Spree: Using the Rebate Card

Lu Yang glanced at Lin Ying, a little surprised.

When his clear eyes fell on her, Lin Ying's gaze drifted slightly away of its own accord, and her eyelashes fluttered.

Lu Yang didn't notice the subtle change. Smiling, he said, "You must be joking, Senior Sister. I still have some Spirit Stones, and I plan to buy them by the bottle."

Of course he did. He had come specifically to use the Rebate Card today, so he naturally had to spend as many of his Spirit Stones as possible. What was the point of buying pills one at a time?

Hearing this, Lin Ying felt that her own reaction had been a little excessive.

That made sense. Quite a few new disciples came from aristocratic clans, and plenty of them had money to spare.

Judging by this junior brother's bearing, his background was probably anything but ordinary.

With such good looks and an impressive background...

Lin Ying quietly pressed her red lips together, feeling her heart beat a little faster. Even the tips of her ears grew faintly hot.

Not daring to let her thoughts wander any further, she quickly composed herself and said in a soft voice, "Are you looking for cultivation pills, Junior Brother? I mostly have Qi Nourishing Pills and Qi Condensation Pills here. My alchemy skills are passable, and both kinds of pills are quite good."

Lu Yang nodded, his gaze falling on the porcelain bottles at the stall. "Senior Sister, may I take a look at the Qi Nourishing Pills first?"

Qi Nourishing Pills were a higher-grade pill than Qi Condensation Pills, and their price was higher too.

Now that Lu Yang had money, he naturally intended to buy the better ones.

"Of course."

Lin Ying deftly picked up a small white porcelain bottle from the stall, flicked the stopper off with her fingertip, and poured out a pale white pill. She held it out to Lu Yang in her fair, tender palm.

The pill was pale white throughout, like jade. Up close, he could smell a faint medicinal fragrance.

The moment Lu Yang saw its color, he believed what Lin Ying had said.

Poor-quality pills were usually grayish or blackish, with accumulated pill toxins and impure medicinal effects.

Only good-quality pills had such a clear, clean color.

As for the finest top-grade spirit pills, those were things one could encounter only by chance. They simply didn't circulate in ordinary markets.

Such pills had extremely powerful medicinal effects and were nearly free of pill toxins. Alchemists either kept them for their own use or sent them to auction houses to fetch high prices. Ordinary disciples simply couldn't buy them.

Lu Yang hadn't dared hope he would be lucky enough to run into top-grade pills.

He was already quite satisfied with the quality before him.

He looked up and asked, "Your pills really are good, Senior Sister. How much is a bottle?"

Lin Ying thought for a moment and said gently, "At market price, a good-quality Qi Nourishing Pill costs fifteen low-grade spirit stones. There are ten in a bottle, so that's one hundred and fifty low-grade spirit stones in total... But you're still in your assessment period, Junior Brother, and you have plenty of uses for your Spirit Stones. I can let you have it for one hundred and forty-five low-grade spirit stones."

This junior brother was likable at a glance, and she was willing to help him out.

As her words fell, the faces of the two young men beside them, who hadn't been able to get a word in, twitched at the same time. Their eyes were practically glowing green as they looked at Lu Yang.

Seriously?!

Every time they came to Junior Sister Lin for pills, they had dutifully paid the market price in Spirit Stones!

Yet Junior Sister Lin was giving such a big discount to a fellow she'd just met for the first time?!

A surge of pent-up frustration rose in both their chests, and they were on the verge of losing it.

Lu Yang was taken aback too. He hadn't expected this senior sister to be so generous.

He quickly did the math in his head.

He currently had three hundred and twelve Spirit Stones in all. Three hundred were the system's reward for eating that Spirit Cuisine yesterday, and the remaining twelve were his regular income from Tycoon's Confidence.

That was enough to buy two bottles of Qi Nourishing Pills, with some left over!

He smiled at once. "Then thank you, Senior Sister. I'll take two bottles and one extra pill, for a total of three hundred and five Spirit Stones. Is that all right with you?"

The two young men, who had still been on the verge of losing it, both raised their heads at the figure and stared wide-eyed at Lu Yang, looking as though they had swallowed flies.

This fellow could pull out three hundred Spirit Stones at once to buy pills?!

He was that rich?!

He had to be a scion of some great aristocratic clan, didn't he?

Lin Ying was slightly taken aback as well and looked at Lu Yang in surprise.

Her eyes soon curved into a beautiful smile. "No problem."

She took two more bottles of Qi Nourishing Pills from her Storage Bag, picked out a single pill separately, and handed them over.

Lu Yang accepted the pills, then took the Spirit Stones from his Storage Bag and poured them onto the stall with a clatter. Spiritual Qi spilled out in all directions, dazzling the eyes for a moment.

The transaction was complete.

Lin Ying put the Spirit Stones away, but her slender, pale fingers quietly rubbed the corner of her robe inside her sleeve.

She hesitated for a moment, her gaze drifting slightly before she finally looked up at Lu Yang. Her voice was soft and tentative. "Junior Brother, will you... be buying more pills later? Why don't we exchange sect voice transmission marks? If you need more pills in the future, you can come straight to me."

At that, she hastily added, "Don't misunderstand, Junior Brother. I just want to save some time running my stall so I can focus on cultivation."

The faces of the two young men beside them cracked on the spot. "??????"

As though struck by lightning, they stared at Lin Ying in disbelief, their mouths hanging open for a long time without a word coming out.

Junior Sister Lin... had asked for his contact information herself?!

Was this really the Junior Sister Lin they knew, who was cool and distant with everyone?!

Lu Yang was stunned too.

He had been trying to figure out how to ask this senior sister for her contact information, and she'd brought it up first?

How could he refuse?

Never mind that the system's extra reward was waiting for him to claim it. Even without that, there was no way he could say no when such a beautiful senior sister asked for his contact information.

He wasn't some saint who shunned women.

Lu Yang immediately broke into a bright smile, a note of pleasant surprise in his voice. "I was planning to ask how to contact you too, Senior Sister, so I could keep buying pills from you. It seems our hearts are in tune."

Our hearts are in tune?

The tips of Lin Ying's ears burned red.

Junior Brother's words... weren't they a little too direct?

As soon as the words left his mouth, Lu Yang realized he'd spoken a little too freely.

The customs of the cultivation world weren't as open as those of the city in his previous life. Though they were considerably more liberal than those of mortal dynasties, that kind of direct teasing was still a bit much.

What he'd said was practically flirting here.

He could already feel the gazes of the two senior brothers beside him stabbing into him like knives. They looked ready to skin him alive and swallow him whole.

Fortunately, this was the sect market, where senior brothers from the enforcement team patrolled, so he wasn't afraid that the two would dare cause trouble.

Lu Yang coughed lightly and hurriedly changed the subject. Taking out his sect token, he held it up. "My name is Lu Yang. May I ask your name, Senior Sister?"

Lin Ying came back to her senses too. Suppressing her quickened heartbeat, she took out her own sect token and lowered her eyes. "My name is Lin Ying."

Each sect token was engraved with a personal mark. The marks could be exchanged through a voice transmission formation, after which their owners could communicate by voice transmission at any time within a certain range.

Once they had exchanged marks, Lu Yang put away his token and smiled at Lin Ying. "Senior Sister Lin, I have other business to attend to, so I'll take my leave."

Lin Ying gripped the sect token in her hand and nodded gently. "Mm."

Lu Yang turned and walked deeper into the market, his robes fluttering lightly. His figure soon disappeared into the crowd.

Lin Ying stood where she was, watching his receding figure.

At some point, the corners of her mouth had quietly curled up, and for some reason she felt lighthearted and happy.

Just then, the trembling voice of one of the young men beside her broke the mood. "...Junior Sister Lin, you have to watch out for that fellow! Look at his slick, pretty-boy face. You can tell at a glance he's no good!"

"Exactly, exactly!" the other hurriedly chimed in, his tone sour and anxious. "I think so too! Junior Sister, you're inexperienced in the ways of the world. Don't let a smooth-talking bastard like that fool you!"

Hearing this, Lin Ying frowned slightly, and the smile on her face faded somewhat.

She turned to them, a rare trace of displeasure in her voice. "Senior Brothers, does speaking ill of a junior brother from the same sect behind his back make you good people?"

The two young men instantly faltered, as though something had lodged in their throats.

They looked at each other, unable to squeeze out a single word for a long while.

Seeing Lin Ying uncharacteristically angry, both of them began to panic.

One hurriedly gave an awkward laugh and tried to smooth things over. "I... I was joking, Junior Sister. Don't take offense, hahaha... You just wanted a long-term customer, right?"

The other nodded frantically, his head bobbing like a pestle pounding garlic. "Right, right, right! He's just a customer buying pills. There's no way you actually fancy that fellow, is there, Junior Sister?"

Lin Ying looked at their forced smiles and recalled how they kept pestering her. Suddenly, a thought occurred to her.

She looked away and said softly, "I think Junior Brother Lu is quite nice. He's my type."

If those words could make the two senior brothers back off and stop pestering her all day, so much the better.

The two young men's expressions instantly froze on their faces. "?????"

Their faces turned white in a flash.

The air fell eerily silent for a moment. Then one of them gritted his teeth and spoke as though making a vow, or perhaps trying to convince himself. "I don't believe it!"

This time, it was Lin Ying's turn to fall silent.

Elsewhere.

After leaving Lin Ying's stall, Lu Yang walked deeper into the market, unable to resist glancing at the panel before him.

On the panel, the special reward notification was flashing faintly. It was ready to be claimed.

After some thought, however, Lu Yang decided to wait until he got back.

This was a market, after all, with people coming and going. If claiming it caused a big commotion, it would be hard to deal with.

His gaze shifted to the system's item inventory and sharpened slightly. He took a deep breath.

Now it was time to witness a miracle!

With a thought, Lu Yang acted without the slightest hesitation.

Use the Low-Level Rebate Card!