Volume 1, Chapter 61: Drawing a Sword to Help the Impoverished

A blood ginseng of such exceptional quality could never be bought for a mere low-grade spirit stone; trying to do so was nothing short of a pipe dream.

It was obvious that this young cultivator was shaking down the old man, and doing so quite blatantly.

However, since he was an immortal cultivator, the surrounding mortals could easily see through the act, yet they dared not speak a word of their anger.

Seeing that no one dared to utter a sound, the old man's expression gradually turned into one of bewilderment and despair.

The young cultivator folded his arms, looking at the scene with smug satisfaction, and then laughed triumphantly:

"Well? Are you finally willing to sell the blood ginseng to me now?"

The old man gritted his teeth, placed the blood ginseng back into its box, and snapped:

"I won't sell it! You are going too far! I'd rather not sell this blood ginseng at all!"

A flash of murderous intent crossed the young cultivator's eyes. If they were not currently in the bustling marketplace with so many people around, he would not have bothered wasting his breath and would have simply taken it by force.

Yet, for the sake of the blood ginseng, he squatted down, stared face-to-face with the old man, and threatened him in a voice audible only to the two of them:

"Old thing, I'm warning you, you'd better sell me this blood ginseng right now. Otherwise, don't blame me for intercepting you when no one is around. By then, you won't get a single spirit stone, and you'll get a severe beating for nothing."

The old man instantly turned pale with fright. He hesitated for a moment, but finally forced himself to swallow his humiliation and said:

"Fine, I..."

"Wait!"

Just as the old man was about to agree to the sale, Zhou Yao and Lu Chen stepped forward.

All eyes instantly converged on the two of them. The young cultivator looked them up and down, and asked with disdain:

"What are you two brats up to? Looking for trouble here?"

Lu Chen let out a cold snort and exposed him without hesitation: "This old grandpa's blood ginseng is clearly of the finest quality. You couldn't even buy it with a top-grade spirit stone, yet here you are, trying to buy it with a single low-grade spirit stone."

"Even extortionists aren't as ruthless as you. I can't just stand by and watch. I'll buy this old man's blood ginseng."

A gleam of joy flashed through the old man's ashen eyes, but upon seeing that they were merely two children, he sighed and said:

"Little ones, forget it. This is none of your business."

The old man was speaking out of genuine kindness; after all, given the eight-year-old bodies of Lu Chen and Zhou Xiao, they carried virtually no deterrent presence.

However, Lu Chen let out a cold laugh, pulled out his spirit stone pouch, and shook it, causing the spirit stones inside to clink together with a crisp sound.

"I'll buy it with spirit stones. Grandpa, name your price."

The old man raised his head in astonishment, then asked in disbelief, "Are you truly willing to buy it?"

Lu Chen scoffed, "Cross my heart and hope to die, when I say I'll buy it, I buy it."

Seeing the duck about to fly out of his mouth, the young cultivator's smug expression instantly twisted into displeasure.

"You two brats, I advise you not to ruin my plans, or I won't mind stepping in to teach you two ignorant fools a lesson."

Faced with this undisguised threat, Lu Chen sneered:

"Weren't you just the one saying that the highest bidder wins? My bid is higher, so this grandpa has chosen to sell the blood ginseng to me. Is there a problem?"

The young cultivator gritted his teeth and continued his threat: "Let me tell you, I am a disciple of the Supreme Sword Sect! If you don't have a powerful backing, you'd better crawl away right now."

"Backing? Hah." Lu Chen chuckled scornfully, speaking with utter contempt:

"If you had used your strength to threaten me, I might have respected you a bit. But it's clear I overestimated you."

With that, Lu Chen tossed a full pouch of spirit stones directly to the old man.

"Grandpa, these spirit stones are yours. I'll be taking the blood ginseng."

As Lu Chen reached out to take the blood ginseng, the young cultivator roared angrily: "You dare ruin my plans! Think again!"

He lashed out with a kick toward Lu Chen, but Lu Chen's gaze sharpened.

"Swoosh—"

Before anyone knew when he had drawn it, Lu Chen had already pulled out the wooden sword strapped to his back, and with a single slash, instantly severed the young cultivator's heel tendons.

Overwhelmed by excruciating pain, the young cultivator immediately collapsed to the ground, clutching his broken tendons and wailing miserably.

Splattering blood landed on the surface of the blood ginseng, making the root appear even more vividly crimson.

"You! How is this possible?! I am a Foundation Establishment cultivator!" the young cultivator asked with a face full of utter shock and bewilderment.

Lu Chen casually sheathed his wooden sword back behind him and sneered dismissively:

"Foundation Establishment? How dare a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator act so arrogantly in front of me? Go home and practice for another two hundred years."

The young cultivator gritted his teeth, knowing full well that these two little monsters were not people he could afford to provoke.

He struggled to his feet, gritted his teeth, and hissed a final threat:

"You dare touch me! Just wait! I'm going back to fetch reinforcements! Today I'm going to finish off you two ignorant little runaways!"

With that, the young cultivator limped away.

Once the young cultivator had departed, the vendor finally snapped out of his daze. He kowtowed repeatedly, expressing his deepest gratitude:

"Thank you, benefactor! Thank you, benefactor!"

Right at that moment, Zhou Xiao, who had been dazed all this while, finally snapped back to reality, because he sensed that he had absorbed a massive wave of goodwill.

Qi Refining Third Layer... Qi Refining Fifth Layer... Qi Refining Seventh Layer... It wasn't until his breakthrough reached the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining that Zhou Xiao's cultivation realm slowly ceased its rapid advancement.

He realized then that the goodwill he had received came not only from the old man he had helped, but also from the surrounding onlookers.

Lu Chen helped the old man to his feet and comforted him:

"Grandpa, you don't need to kowtow to me. I'm buying your goods, and you're selling them to me; we owe each other nothing."

With that, Lu Chen picked up the blood ginseng and smiled, "Alright, Grandpa, we'll be leaving now."

Saying this, Lu Chen pulled Zhou Xiao along as they departed, while the old man gazed after them with a face full of profound gratitude until their figures vanished from sight.

Once they were far away from the crowd, Lu Chen's mood seemed much lighter. Seeing this, Zhou Xiao asked in confusion:

"Senior Brother, you seem to be in quite a good mood?"

Lu Chen nodded matter-of-factly and explained, "Of course. Being able to help others—doesn't that put you in a good mood?"

"Oh, and Junior Brother, you did very well just now."

"Me?" Zhou Xiao asked in disbelief, scratching his head with a slight sense of embarrassment.

"But... Senior Brother, I didn't actually do anything. Why are you praising me?"

Lu Chen shrugged and explained:

"You pulled me forward the very first second trouble arose. Even though you froze up afterward, I believe that even if I hadn't acted, you would have stepped in all the same.

"After all, as righteous cultivators, when we encounter such matters, we ought to draw our swords to help the oppressed and never let scumbags like that get their way."

Zhou Xiao fell silent. He might indeed have drawn his sword to help, but certainly not out of any sense of justice—merely to gain cultivation progress. The motives behind the two were entirely different.