"Oh! Fellow Daoist Li! Have you settled in comfortably here at our Yellow Ridge Gate?" Fairy Cang asked Li Xiaoya with a cheerful smile.
"Well enough," Li Xiaoya replied coolly, showing little enthusiasm. "Gate Master Huang, Fairy Cang, come in and sit."
"Certainly!" Fairy Cang and Huang Huatian exchanged a glance and hastily agreed.
Once host and guests had seated themselves, Li Xiaoya took the initiative. "Fairy Cang, judging by your appearance, you must have finished refining the Earth Demon Dragon's essence blood?" As he spoke, he stared straight into her eyes, making her feel an invisible pressure!
But Fairy Cang was no easy mark either. "Yes! It took quite some effort, but we finally finished refining it!" she replied calmly. After a pause, she hurried on, "We truly owe this to you for killing that Demon Dragon, Fellow Daoist Li. Otherwise, our Yellow Ridge Gate would have suffered grievous losses!" With that, she stood and respectfully offered him a gesture of thanks unique to the Demon Race...
"Oh! There's no need for more thanks!" Li Xiaoya said, deliberately putting on a cold, arrogant air. "I only managed to kill that Earth Demon Dragon by catching it off guard!" He seemed unwilling to claim the credit. Then, as though it were of no particular concern, he asked, "How much essence blood did you refine altogether?"
"A fair amount!" Naturally, Fairy Cang would not tell him. Wearing a faint, ambiguous smile, she tapped her Storage Pouch and took out a small bottle shimmering with green light. She handed it to him. "Fellow Daoist Li, this is the reward our Yellow Ridge Gate promised you. Originally, we promised one drop per person, but since you contributed the most, Li Xiaoya, we're giving you twenty drops as your reward. Please accept them!"
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