Generous Hand

"Coincidence?"

Luo Qingran did not believe it.

In fact, she had been observing Li Jun all day. During the first half of his work continuing the zither score, he had indeed been extremely focused.

But during the latter half, he had clearly grown somewhat casual.

Looking at it now, he had probably already had the answer in his heart back then.

Luo Qingran's brows and eyes curved, and she did not press him.

After all, everyone had secrets. For Li Jun to have done this much, it was clearly no coincidence.

Luo Qingran was a smart person. She still wanted to maintain a good relationship with him, so she did not intend to dig deeper.

Besides, he clearly needed cultivation resources, and as the eldest young lady of Myriad Treasures Pavilion, they would have many opportunities to cooperate in the future.

Whether in life or in business, only those who could keep their patience could have the last laugh.

"It's fine if you don't want to say it. In any case, you did me a huge favor, so I have to thank you properly."

"Many thanks for your understanding, Eldest Young Lady. If Eldest Young Lady has any need in the future, you may simply send someone to find me."

Li Jun cupped his fists. Since she could stop entangling herself in this matter, he was naturally happy to see it.

"That's exactly what I wanted to hear. Come with me. I'll give you the things you wanted."

Luo Qingran brought Li Jun to a secret chamber underground.

Li Jun looked at the secret chamber. This place was dozens of meters below the surface, and the surrounding walls were made from sturdy Basalt Stone, able to withstand a full-force strike from a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

"This secret chamber is worth quite a lot." Li Jun sighed inwardly. Having money really was good!

"Li Jun, I've already prepared the things you wanted. Take a look and see if anything is missing."

Luo Qingran pressed down on a stone table against the wall. A mechanism was triggered, and a square stone tray rose from the center of the stone table.

Li Jun swept his gaze over it, and his eyes froze for a moment.

This stone tray was actually filled with talismans!

"There are twenty Fireball Talismans and twenty Water Arrow Talismans here; twenty Flight Talismans and twenty Diamond Talismans; twenty Insect Repellent Talismans and twenty Spirit Gathering Talismans. These are all elementary high-grade talismans. They should be enough to meet your requirements, right?"

Luo Qingran lifted her chin slightly and looked at Li Jun with a smiling face.

"Enough, they're definitely enough. It's just that Miss Luo, I don't have that many Spirit Stones..."

Li Jun wanted to cry but had no tears.

Originally, he had thought that if Luo Qingran could prepare around twenty talismans for him, that would already be very good.

Who would have thought she had actually prepared a full one hundred and twenty!

"I never said I wanted your money. You helped me continue the zither score, so I'm giving these talismans to you directly. Consider it me making a friend of you."

Luo Qingran waved her hand, with no intention of collecting money at all.

As the eldest young lady of Myriad Treasures Pavilion, she still had this bit of money.

Li Jun was stunned for a moment. He had not expected her to give all these to him.

These one hundred and twenty talismans were worth at least over four thousand low-grade Spirit Stones in total.

With his current monthly stipend, even if he did not eat or drink, it would take him over thirty years...

But when Luo Qingran said it, she did not even blink.

Cultivation was hard, cultivation was hard; for the poor to cultivate, it was harder than hard!

Li Jun took a deep breath and cupped his fists with both hands. "Many thanks, Eldest Young Lady. If there is any need in the future, I will naturally do everything in my power."

Faced with Luo Qingran's show of goodwill, Li Jun did not put on airs and directly accepted everything.

These talismans were very important to him. In addition, he believed that there would still be many opportunities for cooperation between them in the future.

These gifted talismans were a good beginning for increasing mutual trust between them.

"I thought you would be polite about it for a bit. I didn't expect you to be so direct."

Luo Qingran chuckled softly and pushed the talismans in front of Li Jun.

Li Jun solemnly put the talismans away and said with a faint smile, "I believe Eldest Young Lady is also that kind of person."

"Not bad, not bad. This young lady is in a good mood today. Brother Li, why not accompany me for a drink?"

Li Jun shook his head and cupped his fists. "Eldest Young Lady, I have to leave tonight. Otherwise, I'm afraid I'll be caught by the Young Prefecture Master tomorrow."

Luo Qingran froze for a moment, then also sighed helplessly. "You're right. That fellow is capable of doing anything."

"This time, I didn't arrange things properly and caused you to suffer disaster along with me."

She beckoned with her hand, and the human-skin mask she had used earlier for disguise appeared in her hand.

"I'll give you this mask. Once you wear it, even Foundation Establishment cultivators won't recognize you. Also, tonight, our Myriad Treasures Pavilion has a merchant caravan leaving the city. Go with them."

At the gates of Fire Cloud City.

Though it was the middle of the night, the merchant caravans inside the city had already formed a long line.

Li Jun stood beside Myriad Treasures Pavilion's carriage. At that moment, he was a young servant in Myriad Treasures Pavilion's caravan.

"What's going on today? Why does it feel like they're checking more strictly than before?" someone asked in confusion.

"Don't tell me you don't know what happened yesterday? Several hundred people at Drunken Immortal Pavilion were all killed, not a single one left alive!"

"Really? Didn't they say only a few dozen died? They actually all died!"

"Dead, dead, all dead. It was miserable beyond words!"

Li Jun listened to everyone's discussion. As someone who had experienced it firsthand, he knew just how tragic that night had been.

In the flick of a finger, human lives were as worthless as grass.

"I originally wanted to take a look at Dark Fragrance Hall, but I'm afraid I won't have the chance this time."

As for the incident at Drunken Immortal Pavilion, Dark Fragrance Hall had openly admitted to it.

It was said that City Lord Su Linxing had personally visited Dark Fragrance Hall and had not come out until noon the next day.

What puzzled people was that the matter of Drunken Immortal Pavilion seemed to have been brushed aside just like that.

Several hundred lives, and the City Lord's Mansion, which represented the Fire Kingdom, did not even issue a single announcement.

"This Dark Fragrance Hall isn't simple. For now, I'd better avoid getting involved with them as much as possible."

Li Jun made up his mind. The matter of the scented sachet would have to wait until later.

The caravan moved slowly, and finally, it was Myriad Treasures Pavilion's turn.

Although the guards searched them extremely strictly, Li Jun had the mask on him and the "Mortal Concealment Art" in hand, so naturally, they found nothing unusual.

In the end, Myriad Treasures Pavilion's caravan left the city smoothly.

"Young Master Li, I'll see you off here. Eldest Miss asked me to tell you that if you need to find her in the future, go to Myriad Treasures Pavilion's Zhen Pavilion and find the manager there."

Luo Qingran's maid said.

"Thank you for the trouble. Please pass this bottle of wine to Eldest Miss for me. Tell her that I have important matters to attend to, and that this bottle of wine is my apology gift."

Li Jun took out the fine wine he had brewed with ox milk, and at the same time, stuffed five Spirit Stones into the maid's hand.

After that, he turned and entered the dense forest, hurrying in the direction of the Azure Cloud Sect.

An hour later, he arrived at the place he had arranged to meet the Mystic Swan.

After paying a large sum of spirit herbs, the Mystic Swan carried Li Jun into the sky, vanishing into the clouds above the Hundred Thousand Mountains.

At noon the next day, Li Jun crossed over Wild Mountain and returned to the cowshed.

"Senior Sister Yin, I'm back."

He pushed open the door and looked around, only to find no sign of Yin Caiwei.

"Strange. Did she go to assist with alchemy?"

He went to the cowshed and inspected it again, only then discovering that twenty Spirit Oxen were missing.

Li Jun frowned slightly. Logically speaking, today was not a day for letting them out.

He carefully inspected the cowshed and, after confirming there was nothing wrong, hurried toward the meadow behind the mountain.

When he arrived, only then did he discover that today's meadow was unusually lively.

Aside from the Spirit Oxen from the cowshed, there were also some other spirit birds on the meadow today.

Feather Sparrows, Cloud-Patterned Doves, and the like were actually all being let out on his patch of meadow.

"You've gone too far! This meadow is specifically for Eldest Senior Sister's Spirit Oxen. Don't you know that?"

Yin Caiwei looked at the two outer sect disciples in front of her and spoke in great anger.

"Hey, of course we know this is Eldest Senior Sister's place. But Senior Brother Jiang said he'd speak to Eldest Senior Sister personally."

"That's right. You don't need to worry about it. Besides, you only have a few dozen Spirit Oxen. You can't use up this whole meadow anyway."

The two of them did not care at all and simply did not take Yin Caiwei's warning to heart.

To one side of the meadow, Li Jun narrowed his eyes slightly.

These two clearly had someone backing them. Just what was the background of this Senior Brother Jiang they were talking about?