Senior Brother Can Write You an IOU

The Flying Rainbow Mountain Range stretched for over a thousand li, and the sect had set a limit of seven days.

Over the first five days, Xiao Chen covered more than seven hundred li, spending most of his time hunting in every direction.

On the sixth day, he first encountered Su Wanqing, then ran into a Ghost Face Spider, leaving him with only a little over a hundred li traveled.

It was not until noon on the seventh day that he finally reached the exit at the northern end of the mountain range.

This was a relatively narrow little valley. After leaving it and turning right, the sect's designated gathering point was twenty li away.

Yet the mouth of the valley was already occupied by several familiar faces from Branch 2.

Because Xiao Chen was wearing the Stealth Cloak, he was not recognized at once. As he passed by, Li Shidi, who stood at the front, reached out and stopped him.

"What? Is there something you need?"

Hearing this, Li Shidi was about to open his mouth and berate him when Wang Shixiong behind him held him back. "Wait. This senior brother must be tired from the road. Please, come have some Yellow Wine to quench your thirst."

As he spoke, he actually took out a wine gourd and handed it over with a smile.

Li Shidi did not understand, but he obediently took a step back.

Xiao Chen shook his head in refusal and pulled out a handful of Jade Tokens. "I won't be drinking, but I do have a business deal. Are you junior brothers interested?"

"So many Jade Tokens!"

Li Shidi cried out from behind, then hurriedly covered his own mouth.

Wang Shixiong was startled as well, then quickly waved his hands. "This senior brother must be joking. We're only waiting for someone here. We don't know anything about business."

"One point for three Spirit Stones. As long as you're willing, all these points are yours. What do you say? This deal isn't a loss, is it?"

Xiao Chen shook the Jade Tokens in his hand, patiently tempting them. "Waiting here in this scorching weather isn't easy either. Think it over."

Since these people were waiting here with Malicious Intent, they must be short on points and have a corresponding need for them.

He had more points than he could ever spend anyway. Since he had run into them, he might as well sell some first.

Soon after, the five senior and junior brothers present each each took out three Spirit Stones and pooled their money to buy a Jade Token worth five points from Xiao Chen.

It was clearly a transaction, yet it somehow felt more like they were paying Xiao Chen a toll.

Wang Shixiong in particular remained standing there foolishly after handing over the Spirit Stones, seemingly unaware that he should take the Jade Token himself.

Xiao Chen placed the Jade Token marked with five points into his hand. "Hold onto it. I told you, it's a transaction. What are you so scared of?"

After Xiao Chen left, Wang Shixiong immediately let out a breath of relief. "Oh my, we finally muddled through that. You scared me half to death."

Li Shidi behind him asked, "Wang Shixiong, that person had so many Jade Tokens. If we split his Jade Tokens among ourselves, wouldn't we all have enough points?"

Wang Shixiong snapped, exasperated at his stupidity. "Are you an idiot? Use that wooden block you call a brain and think. He can casually pull out such a huge handful of Jade Tokens—do you think you can beat him?"

"Besides, the Spirit Beasts in the mountain range have been slaughtered clean. Who knows what happened? That man was wearing a cloak. It's hard to say whether he's even an Outer Sect Disciple."

Li Shidi shuddered at once. "Good thing you stopped me, senior brother. Otherwise, I nearly caused trouble."

After leaving the Valley, Xiao Chen took off his cloak at the corner and went straight to the stalls outside the Camp as agreed.

Senior brothers from the Inner Sect had already gathered here as well, along with some Rogue Cultivators from the market districts.

They specifically came to buy the Spirit Beast materials gathered during the Trial or the Spirit Herbs picked along the way.

The things disciples collected were often a mixed bag, making them difficult to register and store. The sect did not care for such meager profits either—the Spirit Beasts themselves were far more valuable than their materials.

But there were always people willing to earn a little pocket money.

Others had ulterior motives, such as Chen Guangyu, who had set up a stall in the southeast corner.

Though he appeared to be selling goods, his stall contained only a few Talismans with outrageously high prices, along with a sign saying he bought materials. It was nothing more than a facade.

After some thought, Xiao Chen took out only the extra seventy-two points, packed them separately into a bundle, and walked over.

"Senior Brother Chen, I'm here. Take a look—do you want these materials?"

"It's Junior Brother Xiao. Let me see." Chen Guangyu accepted the bundle, and his hand sank under its weight. Even his brows furrowed slightly.

This Junior Brother Xiao was a little too tactless. He was only pretending to buy materials; it was not as if he really wanted that junk.

Still, he said nothing. He simply opened the bundle first, preparing to count the Jade Tokens.

"Holy shit! You! You, you?"

Seeing that his cry had drawn the attention of the others, Chen Guangyu's mind flashed. "This fox pelt of yours is quite good. Haha, quite good."

"Then Senior Brother Chen, are you still buying the materials inside?"

"Uh, well, Junior Brother, wait a moment. Let me inspect them. Just wait a moment."

Chen Guangyu secretly counted them. There were a full seventy-two points in the bundle, worth two hundred and sixteen Spirit Stones.

He was stunned again, though this time he restrained his cry and only stared with his eyes widened slightly.

Speaking of which, he had been terribly unlucky.

In the mountain range over the past few days, aside from running into a Twin-Tail Scorpion at the beginning, he had not encountered another two Spirit Beasts until the final two hundred li the day before yesterday.

For some reason, all the Spirit Beasts in the central region that were even slightly easy to find had been slaughtered clean.

As the young master of the Chen Family, he could not exactly burrow into the deep mountains and old forests. There might be real danger there, after all.

As a result, he himself had only gained a pitiful fourteen points. Since setting up his stall that morning, he had only bought another forty points, leaving a considerable gap in his score.

According to the earlier estimates, competing for the top ten required around seventy points, while the top three needed at least a hundred.

Chen Guangyu had already felt that there was little hope of charging up the rankings this time. He had simply been too unlucky.

Who would have thought he would run into a lucky general?

This seemingly ordinary Junior Brother Xiao had brought him seventy-two points, filling his shortage in one stroke.

But on second thought, that seemed like a little too much. That was two hundred Spirit Stones, not a small sum.

In any case, unexpected circumstances had arisen this time. From what he had heard, the other competitors were also rather short on points.

He already had fifty-four points. He only needed another fifty or so, and he should be able to secure a spot in the top three without a hitch.

Chen Guangyu's eyes rolled. "Junior Brother Xiao, your luck this time has truly been excellent. You actually encountered so many Spirit Beasts."

"But this senior brother didn't bring that many Spirit Stones with him. How about this—would you let senior brother take fifty points?"

Xiao Chen had originally worried that Chen Guangyu could not take all the points. He had not expected that, even after deliberately reducing the amount, the man would still try to renege. "Senior Brother, didn't you say you wanted however many I had?"

"Ah, of course senior brother keeps his word. It's just that I truly don't have the money on hand. If Junior Brother is willing, senior brother can write you an IOU for the remaining Spirit Stones. What do you say?"