Trouble at the Alchemy Hall

A pair of icy eyes stared at Ye Xiu before him.

"Have you never heard of the Alchemy Hall's rules? If you want the goods, pay first!"

Ye Xiu only felt the chill around him deepen. The immense pressure even made the spiritual power flowing through his body sluggish.

Facing the man in white before him, so gaunt he looked as though a gust of wind could blow him over, Ye Xiu could not summon the slightest contempt.

Whether it was the huge, bizarre white skeleton behind him, the blue flames floating around him, or the warning in Ye Xiu's divine sense, all of it told Ye Xiu that this man was absolutely not an opponent he could contend with at his current level.

"Senior Brother, this Foundation Establishment Pill truly is fine merchandise. Your junior brother is in urgent need of one as well. I wonder how many spirit stones it would take for you to part with it?"

Taking a deep breath, Ye Xiu forced himself to remain calm as he spoke.

After making inquiries, he had come all the way to the Alchemy Hall. Only after paying a five-hundred-spirit-stone deposit had he finally been shown the real goods.

Since the other party was willing to open for business, it was nothing more than a matter of negotiating the price.

"Twenty thousand spirit stones. Not a stone less."

The man in white spoke coldly. When Ye Xiu heard the price, his eyes widened at once.

"H-how much?"

His startled reaction made the man in white somewhat impatient.

"Buy it if you can afford it. If you can't, get lost."

Ye Xiu was so angered by that attitude that he laughed. Twenty thousand spirit stones—an outer sect disciple would need twenty or thirty years of savings to amass that sum, and that was only if nothing went wrong along the way.

After killing that group from the Divine Firmament Sect, even excluding the few treasures on Yun Tingxiao, he had barely scraped together two thousand spirit stones.

Twenty thousand spirit stones—was that something a Qi Condensation cultivator could possibly gather?

"Senior Brother, your junior brother truly cannot pay twenty thousand spirit stones. How about this? I won't buy it. Please return the deposit I paid earlier."

He had originally thought that since the other party accepted a deposit of several hundred spirit stones, a Foundation Establishment Pill would cost no more than two or three thousand.

Who could have known that the price of this thing had been inflated twenty or thirty times over? How was he supposed to accept that?

Since he could not afford it, he naturally had to give up on the idea.

"Return it to you?"

Upon hearing this, the man in white looked as though he had heard something amusing.

"Once money enters the Alchemy Hall, you think you can take it back?"

Ye Xiu's expression immediately darkened. The other party was clearly planning to renege.

"Senior Brother, when one opens a shop for business, whether a deal is made or not depends on mutual consent. Doing things this way, aren't you afraid of ruining your reputation in the future..."

He did not finish speaking, because that enormous skeletal claw had already clamped down over his head.

"Since when could an outer sect disciple at the ninth level of Qi Condensation teach inner sect members how to conduct themselves?"

The white-robed senior brother's expression was calm, but his voice was icy.

"What, do you need me to teach you the rules?"

Noticing the commotion here, the people passing by turned their gazes toward them as well.

"What's going on? How did that kid provoke Senior Brother Zhou?"

"Hah? That kid doesn't want the pill anymore and still wants the money he paid back?"

"Which mountain is he from? He's already at the ninth level of Qi Condensation. Since when could idiots like this cultivate to such a level?"

After hearing others recount what had happened, the passing disciples all began to mock him.

From the corner of his eye, Ye Xiu could even see the few people who had enthusiastically shown him the way earlier, grinning in delight.

Clearly, from the moment he had stepped into the Alchemy Hall, people had set their sights on him and prepared to fleece him thoroughly.

As more and more disciples gathered around, Senior Brother Zhou seemed to have had his appetite for amusement stirred.

Ye Xiu felt the grip of the huge skeletal claw over his head tighten further. The pain made his entire body shudder uncontrollably.

"What, cat got your tongue? You had the nerve to show no respect for your elders, but not the nerve to answer?"

Faced with Senior Brother Zhou's interrogation, Ye Xiu took a deep breath and forced a smile onto his face.

"Senior Brother's reprimand is correct. Your junior brother was too presumptuous."

His swift surrender left the disciples watching nearby deeply dissatisfied.

"Senior Brother Zhou, this kid is only admitting his mistake with his mouth. There's not a trace of sincerity in his eyes."

"Exactly. If anyone who broke the rules could just lower their head afterward and be done with it, what use would the rules be?"

Seeing that the matter was about to end like this, people nearby immediately began fanning the flames.

Hearing them, Zhou Fan merely leaned leisurely against the skeletal puppet.

"Kid, what our fellow disciples say isn't without reason. It's one thing that you're new to the sect and don't understand the rules, but this matter of offending..."

"Senior Brother Zhou, your junior brother is willing to offer another five hundred spirit stones as an apology."

Ye Xiu put on an expression of heartache. The smile on his face became somewhat forced, and his body trembled as though he could barely withstand the pressure of that massive claw.

Hearing Ye Xiu say this, the sinister smile on Senior Brother Zhou's face immediately eased considerably.

He had not expected that a casual squeeze like this would let him extort another five hundred spirit stones from Ye Xiu.

A disciple at the ninth level of Qi Condensation—these thousand spirit stones were probably his entire fortune. Remembering the sect's rules, Zhou Xuan did not intend to keep making a scene over this matter.

He waved his hand, just about to control the puppet and release its claw, when an angry shout suddenly rang out from behind him.

"What are you doing? Release my junior brother!"

Everyone followed the voice and saw a group of people striding toward them.

Ye Xiu looked up and saw Fang Qiong, whom he had not seen for some time, hurrying over with a stern expression.

"Senior Brother Zhou, disciples at the ninth level of Qi Condensation are protected by the sect. What do you mean by attacking him like this?"

Fang Qiong stared at Zhou Xuan before him, his face filled with intense dissatisfaction and concern, as though he truly intended to stand up for Ye Xiu.

Zhou Xuan's expression turned cold upon hearing this. "Fang Qiong, since when could a dog like you bark and howl in front of me?"

The skeletal claw that had been about to loosen tightened once more, and ghostly blue flames rose from above it.

Ye Xiu felt the pain surging through his body explode all at once. Even his physique, far stronger than that of cultivators at the same level, could barely endure it.

"Ah!"

The immense pain made Ye Xiu cry out. Hearing his scream, a flash of delight passed through Fang Qiong's eyes, though he quickly concealed it.

"Junior Brother!"

He glared furiously at Zhou Xuan, yet showed no intention of making a move whatsoever.

"You defied your superior. The sect's rules are here for all to see. Even if Xu Tongming behind you came, what could he possibly say?"

Seeing Fang Qiong like this and hearing Ye Xiu's screams, Zhou Xuan felt his mood improve considerably.

As though provoking them, he increased the strength of the bone fire overhead again. A faint scorched smell even began to spread through the air.

"Today, even if I roast this kid until he has only one breath left, so long as he doesn't die, what can you do?"