Master Luo, You're Still Awake? (Please Keep Reading and Vote with Monthly Tickets)

The Treasure Pavilion, a private room on the third floor.

After watching Luo Fanchen leave, Yun Mo finally loosened the hand she had pressed to her chest.

"My lord finally accepted it."

Yun Mo let out a long breath. She had truly feared Lord Ling would look down on such a trifling gift.

Now that he had accepted it, he must have at least some goodwill toward the Treasure Pavilion. They had a foundation for future cooperation.

Once an Orthodox Profound School rose to prominence and gained control of Profound Sects resources, it would soar like a roc riding the wind or plunge forward like an azure dragon entering the sea. It could oversee an entire vast region. A few mineral veins slipping through its fingers would be enough to make their branch a fortune.

The pavilion master had warned her time and again, treating this as the most important investment of his life.

"The pavilion master truly has eyes like torches and sees far ahead."

Yun Mo sighed softly. Giving away a copy of the Heavenly Heart Art had secured her a meeting with Lord Ling. However she looked at it, the bargain was sure to pay off.

"Xiao Cui."

"Your servant is here."

Xiao Cui lowered her head, folding her two thin hands over her stomach.

"You did well this time. Go collect three portions of Spirit Dust later. Also, I heard Old Wang holds your Master-Servant Blood Contract?"

"Thank you, Fairy Yunmo. Your servant's master is indeed Lord Wang."

Yun Mo nodded slightly. Old Wang had ties to the Clear River Sect and served as a front for several inner disciples who had lost their power struggles.

She had no wish to get entangled with him unless necessary.

But if Xiao Cui could continue to serve as a valuable link between the Treasure Pavilion and Lord Ling, buying her freedom would do no harm.

The Treasure Pavilion might show the Clear River Sect some caution, but a few disgraced inner disciples and an old man would not dare provoke it.

"Keep up the good work. If you can earn Lord Ling's trust, put in a few good words for the Treasure Pavilion."

"Perhaps we can buy your freedom someday."

Yun Mo tossed out the promise casually. Xiao Cui's lips trembled, and her breathing quickened.

Her bruised arms shook with excitement, making it difficult even to bow. Fairy Yunmo was willing to buy her freedom?

All because she had guided Lord Ling once? First Tier high-grade spirit tea and the finest bear meat had been given away as gifts. Just who was this Lord Ling?

As she hesitated, a knock sounded at the door. A Niu announced the reason for his visit, his deep, muffled voice coming from outside.

"Sister Xiao Cui, Uncle Ling invites you to his residence for dinner tomorrow."

"Me?"

Xiao Cui stared blankly, so excited she felt faint.

She paid it no mind, assuming her vitality was depleted. The spells had started two weeks ago, and after the beatings and abuse, dizziness and breathlessness had become commonplace. Without True Essence protecting her, she might not have survived this long.

"He invited you?"

Yun Mo murmured, forgetting for the moment to fault A Niu for overstepping. Delight lit her beautiful eyes, and she clapped her hands. "An unexpected gain!"

"M-Master Luo, are we leaving Flying Cloud Market for good?"

"Why would you ask that?"

At the residence, Luo Fanchen entered the courtyard. Mo Xue, who had been practicing her swordsmanship, trotted over and obediently took the brocade boxes from his arms. She began sorting through them with Qiu Yun, but the moment she opened a jade box, her expression froze.

"Master Luo, if you didn't take out a high-interest loan and plan to run after buying up every Spirit Stone you could find, how could you afford these treasures?"

Mo Xue pressed her lips together and drew her face tight, as though she wanted to be angry. But the bear meat in the jade box made her swallow, and she could not keep it up.

Three plump, perfectly round Breath Concealment Pills bore pill markings. They were clearly superior pills refined in a furnace, of First Tier mid-grade.

Then there were the fragrant Spirit Sprouts of an unknown kind. A faint sniff cleared her mind a little. They were far better than the Jade Shoot tea she had drunk at the Treasure Pavilion last time, and were probably First Tier high-grade spirit tea.

As for the beast meat... it was the finest of the fine. Its vitality and spiritual power surpassed that snake meat from before several times over.

"Uncle Luo... should I pack our belongings now?"

"...Did they give me the wrong boxes?"

Luo Fanchen's pupils contracted. He had assumed the jade box held Golden Roar Bear offal, worth a Spirit Stone or two at most. Instead, it contained the most prized cuts: Bear Paw and choice meat. And those Breath Concealment Pills—how were they defective goods that would not sell?

On the way home, so many cultivators had asked him for Golden Roar Bear meat that he had not dared open the jade box for a closer look.

If he had known the gifts were this precious, he would never have dared accept them.

"Uncle Luo... could anyone mistake treasures like these?"

Qiu Yun's voice was gentle. Fortunately, she had kept the Soul Banner's Spirit-Gathering Formation running without interruption. Otherwise, the smell of the meat might have drifted across half the Shantytown.

"I was careless..."

Luo Fanchen pressed his lips together and paced back and forth.

He had been poor for too long and had seen too little. He had grossly overestimated the value of a hundred-odd Spirit Stones.

For a purchase of just over a hundred Spirit Stones, a gift of old, low-grade tea and Demon Beast offal would have been reasonable. It had never occurred to him that Yun Mo would give him anything so valuable; a manager simply did not have the authority.

At the very least, the pavilion master, a Foundation Establishment cultivator, would have had to approve it personally.

He was merely at the Fourth Level of Qi Refining. It had seemed impossible that a true Foundation Establishment cultivator would take notice of him, so he had dismissed the thought without realizing it.

"Put everything away for now. Would you believe me if I said the Treasure Pavilion's master gave these to me?"

"Master Luo... the Treasure Pavilion's master is a true Foundation Establishment cultivator, isn't he?"

Mo Xue swallowed, her lips moving uncertainly as she carefully put the brocade boxes away.

She almost wished Master Luo had broken into the Treasure Pavilion's storeroom. If a Foundation Establishment cultivator had truly given them gifts this valuable, the price they would have to pay might be beyond imagining.

Nothing cost more than a gift, and with the giver being a Foundation Establishment cultivator, they had no choice but to repay him.

"Yes. I think I know why. I'll handle this."

Luo Fanchen sighed. He took out the crisp sweets he had bought on the way home, tucked them into Mo Xue's arms, then rubbed each sister's head.

Neither girl looked pleased. They watched Luo Fanchen leave, then anxiously discussed what they could do.

"Someone recognized my Yi Wood True Essence."

Luo Fanchen's head ached. At a time like this, the disadvantages of being a backwoods Rogue Cultivator became painfully clear.

He knew too little. He knew high-grade Mystic Methods were powerful, but not how powerful. He had never expected someone in this remote corner of the world to identify a cultivation art from its Yi Wood True Essence alone.

No, they had not identified the art. Otherwise, they would have come to his door, tied him up, and delivered him to the Dao Sect instead of treating him so well.

"Could they have mistaken me for a prodigy traveling on behalf of the Dao Sect?"

Luo Fanchen gave a wry smile and dismissed the idea. What Dao Sect prodigy would be only at the Fourth Level of Qi Refining?

"I'll take it one step at a time. They're wary of my cultivation art. Before they confirm my identity, they won't dare act rashly."

Luo Fanchen let out a long breath. After turning the matter over in his mind, he left the residence. Sure enough, A Niu was waiting outside.

At the sight of him, A Niu hurried over. Ever since Luo Fanchen had rejected the boy, A Niu had said nothing more and simply let himself be ordered about like a servant.

"Take a message to the Treasure Pavilion for me. Invite Xiao Cui to dinner at my residence tomorrow."

With that, Luo Fanchen returned to the residence without looking back, while A Niu ran eagerly toward the Treasure Pavilion.

"Now it looks like Yun Mo instructed Xiao Cui to act as a go-between. I might as well ask her directly tomorrow."

After much thought, Luo Fanchen decided against contacting Yun Mo again.

He needed time to learn more from Xiao Cui before weighing his options. If all else failed, he could do as Qiu Yun and Mo Xue had suggested: ride the Soul Banner and flee. The pavilion master was far away in Heavenly Star Market, after all.

There was still time to run.

Late that night, Luo Fanchen's mind was so troubled that he could not settle into meditation or draw in spiritual energy. Just as he lay down fully clothed in frustration, the bedroom door was quietly pushed open from outside.

In the moonlight, a timid little face peeked through the gap. Wrapped in a fluffy fur quilt, Mo Xue tiptoed toward Luo Fanchen, all soft and fuzzy. After hesitating a moment, she quietly climbed onto his bed.

The faint fragrance of gardenias lingered at his nose. Mo Xue wriggled up to his chest like a caterpillar. Only after resting her chin lightly against him did she lift her head in satisfaction, hoping to admire Master Luo's sleeping face.

Instead, her almond-shaped eyes met Luo Fanchen's bright, helpless gaze.

"M-Master Luo, you're still awake?"

Mo Xue's pretty face flushed. Embarrassed, she lowered her head, her little fists resting against Luo Fanchen's chest. She could neither bring herself to move nor bear to retreat.

Monthly tickets—I think I owe about six extra chapters so far.