Needle Point Against Wheat Awn

The amber-gold color made the old man's eyes light up. One high-grade Spirit Stones was enough for his trading income for several days. He grabbed it to verify its authenticity and immediately nodded repeatedly, saying, "I'll do as you say. Let me count it for you." As he spoke, he immediately picked up the white talisman on the stall to count it.

There were about a thousand white talismans, but only a dozen or so were level four. The rest weren't worth much to Yue Qianchou. In the end, he calculated that it would cost a little over seven high-grade Spirit Stones. Yue Qianchou threw eight spirit stones at him, stuffed all the white talismans into his Storage Bag, and then instructed, "Keep the Spirit Stone. You've taken the deposit. Remember to bring more tomorrow. Same price, I'll take as many as you have."

The old man nodded repeatedly, then suddenly paused, as if remembering something. He hesitated for a moment, then took out a high-grade Spirit Stones and said, "To be honest, I've given you everything I have. It will take a few more days to finish this, and some materials will need to be found outside Hundred Flower Valley. I won't be able to deliver the goods to you tomorrow, so please take back this deposit!"

Yue Qianchou frowned and asked, "How long will it take to get back?" The old man thought for a moment and said, "Two or three days at the shortest, five or six days at the longest, depending on the time it takes to collect the materials."

"Since that's the case, you can keep the deposit! I'll be staying in Hundred Flower Valley for a while, so you can prepare more goods and I'll come and collect them when I have time. I'm sure you wouldn't run away with the deposit," Yue Qianchou said in a deep voice.

"Oh! Look at what you're saying. I'm Dongguo Su, and I've been making a living in Hundred Flower Valley for decades. My whole family lives Hundred Flower Valley, and I can't let a single high-grade Spirit Stones of yours ruin my family's livelihood. Besides, I'm not blind; I can tell from your attire that you're a disciple of Fu Xian Island. I wouldn't dare to offend Fu Xian Island!" Old Man Dongguo said with a fawning smile.

"Good, it's settled then." Yue Qianchou said casually and left. Considering that the supply from Old Man Dongguo's family might not be enough to meet their needs, he wandered around the market and found several more stalls that made spirit talismans. After some haggling, he bought up a large quantity of them as well.

After wandering around for a while and checking the time, he realized it was almost time to meet Bi Zicong and the other three. When he arrived at the Bi clan Lineage's shop, Bi Zicong four of them were already smiling at him at the entrance. The five of them joked around for a bit and then discussed where to have a couple of drinks.

Yue Qianchou chuckled and said, "It seems Yan Zhuixing said that all the expenses I incurred at Hundred Flower Inn would be charged to him?"

Tan Fei asked in surprise, "Brother Yue, you don't really want to go to Hundred Flower Inn again?"

"Why not? Why not eat what's free?" Yue Qianchou retorted. The four immediately exchanged glances. After all, they came from prominent Lineage, and they really couldn't bring themselves to do something so shameless. Bi Zicong chuckled awkwardly, "They may be being polite, but we might not be comfortable taking it seriously. Let's go somewhere else!"

"That's just the kind of bad habit that comes from being spoiled by a big Lineage. They're so thin-skinned. Fine, I'll take the lead, you can just consider it my treat. Stop spacing out, let's go! Let's go!" Yue Qianchou said, shoving the four of them.

Unable to dissuade him, the four reluctantly followed him to Hundred Flower Inn, but upon reaching the entrance, they all deliberately kept a distance from him, pretending to be calm and looking around. Yue Qianchou felt something was amiss as soon as he stepped inside; there was no one downstairs today. Shopkeeper Chen, seeing him, quickly approached and respectfully asked, "Mr. Yue, are you here to see my young master?"

"Oh! No, I'm just treating you four brothers to a couple of drinks today." He casually pointed to Bi Zicong and his three companions. Upon hearing this, the four men were both amused and embarrassed, and quickly turned their heads away, seemingly captivated by some scenery.

Shopkeeper Chen was taken aback at first, then his face twitched slightly as he forced a smile and said, "In that case, the five of you should go to the private room upstairs!"

"No need for that!" Yue Qianchou waved his hand and said, "The five of us will just find a table downstairs and have a simple meal." Even with his thick skin, he was too embarrassed to keep coming to eat other people's best banquets.

"Well..." Shopkeeper Chen hesitated for a moment before explaining, "Mr. Yue, I'm really sorry, the downstairs area is closed and we're not accepting any more guests. Please, gentlemen, go upstairs to our private room!"

"Cleared out? Did someone book the whole place?" Yue Qianchou asked in astonishment. No wonder there wasn't a single customer downstairs.

Just then, a commotion Yue Qianchou peeked out and was immediately taken aback. Yan Zhuixing and Yan Zixia were leading a large group of people from afar. The person in the middle was none other than Chou Wuyuan from the Myriad Demon Palace. Many people on either side looked vaguely familiar to him.

What's going on? Just as he was wondering, Shopkeeper Chen explained, "The Demonic Path Organization has formed a 'Demonic Path Alliance' and they also want to be stationed permanently in Hundred Flower Valley. My Hundred Flower Palace is going to host a welcome dinner for them at Hundred Flower Inn, so we cleared the place out. Please, Mr. Yue, do me the honor of having a private room upstairs!"

The Righteous Path formed a "Cultivation Alliance," and the demonic path formed a "Demonic Path Alliance"—damn! They're going head-to-head now. This is going to be interesting. I was wondering what these old guys have been up to today! Yue Qianchou shook his head and sighed, "Shopkeeper Chen, we didn't know you had something to do today. We were being impetuous. We'll come back another day."

"No disturbance, no disturbance..." Shopkeeper Chen was still being polite when Yue Qianchou and left. He didn't want to stay and greet Qiu Wuyuan and the others. The righteous and Chou Wuyuan Righteous and Demonic paths were already at odds, and it was better for a mere disciple like himself not to get involved. He told Bi Zicong and the other three to find another place. The four of them hadn't wanted to come here in the first place, so they naturally had no objections.

"That's Brother Yue Qianchou ahead!" Chou Wuyuan, who had sharp eyes, shouted after only a few steps.

"Yue Qianchou? Where is he? Where is he?" Chou Wuyuan immediately caused a stir among the disciples of the Myriad Demon Palace, the Blood Demon Palace, and the Corpse God Sect. Many disciples from the three sects had long heard of Yue Qianchou's great name in the Demon Ghost Domain, but most of them had never seen him. Now that they heard of Yue Qianchou, they naturally longed to meet him.

"Old man, will you die if you don't yell?" Yue Qianchou forced a smile, turned around, and cupped his hands to Chou Wuyuan, who was walking quickly towards him, saying, "Senior Qiu, it's been many years since we last met. Your demeanor is still as impressive as ever. Congratulations!"

Bi Zicong and his companions, not knowing what was going on, stopped to watch. Wasn't Yue Qianchou a disciple of Fu Xian Island? How come he was so familiar with people from the Demonic Path? And they seemed to have a very close relationship.

"Haha!" Chou Wuyuan turned around and glanced at his fellow demonic cultivators, laughing heartily, "I knew I wouldn't be mistaken, it really is Brother Yue Qianchou."

People from the three major sects of the demonic path also gathered around, as if they had seen some rare animal. Many of them cupped their hands and said, "We have long admired your name." Yue Qianchou cupped his hands back to them in return.

Although Yan Zixia tried her best to appear as if she didn't recognize Yue Qianchou, she couldn't help but be somewhat surprised. When had he gotten involved with the demonic path? The demonic cultivators seemed to show him no malice, especially Chou Wuyuan, who treated him like an old friend. This was simply unbelievable in the Cultivation World. Yan Zhuixing's eyes darted back and forth between Yue Qianchou and the demonic cultivators, her heart filled with shock. She wondered to herself, just who was this Yue Qianchou...?

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