Paying His Debt

After paying the vendor two hundred Demon Spirit Coins, Chang Ping bought up the entire pot of noodles.

Under the astonished gazes of the passersby, he lifted the scalding iron pot and slurped down every last noodle and drop of broth. He wasn't eating noodles anymore—he was drinking them.

The onlookers couldn't help swallowing. They were all getting hungry.

"Are his noodles really that good? So good that customers pick up the whole pot to drink?"

"Whose kid is that? What an appetite! That pot had dozens of pounds of noodles, and he polished it off in less than the time it takes an incense stick to burn."

"The craziest part is that after drinking all that broth, an ordinary person would be as stuffed as a woman seven or eight months pregnant. But this kid's belly hasn't even bulged. What an appetite! He's practically a humanoid demon beast."

The vendor stood dumbfounded at the side, watching Chang Ping polish off the whole pot. He was shocked and embarrassed. He'd been doing business on Academy Street for years, but this was the first time he'd ever encountered such an oddball.

The commotion in the street drew Lu Piao out of the pharmacy. He loved watching a crowd gather.

"What? What happened? Why's everyone gathered here?" Lu Piao bounced around behind the crowd. He was too short to see what was going on.

A kindhearted man told him, "A strange fellow came to the noodle stall and drank an entire pot of noodles in one go. He didn't even turn red or break a sweat, and he never so much as blinked."

A strange fellow? More like a glutton, wasn't he?

At the mention of a glutton, Lu Piao immediately thought of the impressive man he'd met before.

"Could that be Chang Ping, come out to eat?" His curiosity got the better of him. Gritting his teeth, he crawled through the crowd between people's legs and made his way to the noodle stall.

When he looked up and saw the strange fellow's true face, Lu Piao brushed the dirt off his hands and stood up, wearing an expression that said he'd known it all along.

Chang Ping was using his chopsticks to scrape the noodles left on the sides of the pot. When he saw Lu Piao approaching, he quickly set the iron pot down.

"Brother Lu, just in time! I was about to come find you!" Chang Ping beckoned him over, inviting him to sit and talk.

The vendor thoughtfully brought over a pot of tea on the house and poured some for the two men.

He was extremely grateful to Chang Ping. If not for him, he wouldn't have sold out so quickly. His back was aching today anyway, so he could head home early and get some rest.

With the noodle-drinking spectacle over, the passersby lost interest and soon dispersed. But Chang Ping's stunt had brought the stall plenty of attention. Everyone remembered it and planned to come try the noodles the next day to see if they really were that good.

"What did you want me for? Just so you know, I can't afford to treat you to breakfast again." Lu Piao picked up the warm tea and took a small sip.

He wasn't as much of a beast as Chang Ping, who could pour boiling water straight into his mouth.

"Good news!" Chang Ping smiled, then took thirty banknotes out of his Space Ring and slapped them on the table. He pushed them over to Lu Piao. "Here! Three thousand Demon Spirit Coins, not a coin more or less. I've felt bad ever since you treated me to a meal. This is to make it up to you."

That way, Lu Piao wouldn't keep telling everyone that he'd treated Chang Ping to a three-thousand-coin meal.

Lu Piao grabbed the banknotes and counted them. "Where'd you get so much money?"

"Yesterday afternoon, I went to the Trial Ground to hunt Horned Sheep. I got this by selling the spoils." Chang Ping answered honestly; there was no need to hide it.

Yesterday, capturing Black Fox had earned him a great merit, so Ye Sheng hadn't pursued the matter of him wiping out the Horned Sheep. There was no need to keep it under wraps anymore.

"Horned Sheep?" Lu Piao froze, then suddenly understood. "So that's why we couldn't find a single Horned Sheep last night! You wiped them all out? That's so unfair! You didn't leave a single one for us."

He was such a beast.

There had been at least eight hundred Horned Sheep in the Trial Ground, if not a thousand, and Chang Ping had taken them all out in one afternoon. He hadn't left them so much as a single strand of wool, making them waste half the night searching the Trial Ground for nothing.

"How was I supposed to know you were going to hunt Horned Sheep too? Nobody told me! Besides, if I hadn't hunted them, how would I have paid you back?" Chang Ping retorted without hesitation. He pointed at the pharmacy and asked curiously, "What are you guys doing at the pharmacy?"

Could they be buying Purple Mist Grass?

He'd eaten up Lu Piao's pocket money, and now he'd snatched all the Horned Sheep in the Trial Ground. Where had Nie Li gotten the money?

"Mm!" Lu Piao kissed the banknotes, didn't bother with any false modesty, and stuffed them straight into his pocket. Although he was a young noble, he still didn't have a Space Ring.

A Space Ring with a few cubic meters of storage cost tens of thousands of Demon Spirit Coins. There was no way he could afford one.

If he were as diligent as Du Ze, his Family Head father might've been happy enough to give him one. Unfortunately, he was lazy and always getting into trouble. One day he'd sneak a look at some girl bathing; the next, he'd steal another girl's underwear.

His father wanted nothing more than to beat the life out of the worthless little brat with a broom. There was no way he'd buy him such an expensive ring.

"I'm telling you, don't you dare tell anyone else." Lu Piao bent down and whispered mysteriously to Chang Ping, "Nie Li brought us to the pharmacy to buy Purple Mist Grass. He said he'd help us make a quick fortune."

"Don't you think he's crazy? He bought ten thousand Demon Spirit Coins' worth of Purple Mist Grass. How's this mosquito-repellent weed supposed to make us rich?"

Chang Ping paused. Just as he'd expected.

Nie Li was planning to manipulate the market for Purple Mist Grass and make a fortune.

Because Chang Ping had gotten involved, Nie Li hadn't been able to hunt Horned Sheep and, as a result, hadn't met Xiao Ning'er.

Without this wealthy young lady's help, even if Nie Li manipulated the market for Purple Mist Grass, he wouldn't make much.

Then again, what did it matter to him how much Nie Li made?

"Ten thousand Demon Spirit Coins? Where'd you get that kind of money?" Chang Ping asked, puzzled. Had Nie Li somehow gotten close to Xiao Ning'er another way?

"It was Shen..." Realizing he might have said too much, Lu Piao hurriedly covered his mouth. "I drank too much tea. I need to pee. Sorry, Brother Chang."

Lu Piao gave an awkward laugh, clutched his crotch, and dashed back to the pharmacy like a gust of wind.

He could clearly tell that he and Chang Ping were not cut from the same cloth. Chang Ping was too talented; his future achievements were sure to be extraordinary. A loser like him couldn't hope to measure up.

Compared to Chang Ping, Lu Piao preferred hanging around Nie Li. Their talents were equally lousy, and they were both young nobles, so there was no distance between them.

So he couldn't betray Nie Li by revealing that Nie Li planned to team up with Shen Yue against Chang Ping.

"Shen Yue or Shen Fei?" Watching Lu Piao hurry away, Chang Ping narrowed his eyes, a cold glint flashing in them.

Why were they funding that old geezer Nie Li? What did they stand to gain?

Could it be...