Chapter 80: Playing With Mud, Huh

That sword cultivator insisted on giving Lin Yuchu the bag of ore as an extra. Lin Yuchu could not refuse, but he did not want to accept it for nothing either.

He thought for a moment, then took a bottle of pills from his sleeve and handed it to the young sword cultivator before him. With a serious expression, he said, “I can’t take your things for free. I’ll trade you this for it.”

The young man glanced at the pill bottle in his hand, thought about it, and said, “That works too.”

Then he reached out and accepted Lin Yuchu’s bottle of pills. After thinking it over, he casually took another item from his sleeve and handed it to Lin Yuchu. “Since you won’t accept my ore for free, then take this instead.”

Hearing this, Lin Yuchu raised his eyes and looked over. What the young man was holding was… a lump of mud?

At the sight, he immediately widened his eyes in surprise. A line instantly surfaced in his mind: I’m playing with mud in the Northeast…

In the young man’s fair, long-fingered, broad palm lay a lump of yellow-brown mud, soft yet very resilient, like modeling clay. He said to Lin Yuchu, “I don’t know what this thing is. It looks like some kind of soil. I happened to obtain it in a secret realm.”

“I don’t know what use it has. I have no use for it, and I can’t sell it because no one wants it, so I’ll give it to you,” the young man said. Then he raised his eyes to look at Lin Yuchu and smiled. “You’d better not refuse this time. You’ve already refused me once.”

Hearing this, Lin Yuchu could no longer politely decline.

Besides, he was very interested in this strange lump of mud. Although he did not know what use it had, he somehow felt it might come in handy. He could take it back and study it properly.

So he said to the young man, “Then I’ll accept respectfully rather than decline. Thank you, Senior.”

The young sword cultivator laughed when he heard this and said no more.

He truly liked the youth before him. He had watched this youth’s Sword Path arena competition. He was an extremely formidable and outstanding young sword cultivator. Moreover, putting aside his strength and talent, the youth himself was born with an exceptionally beautiful appearance, full of spiritual brilliance.

He naturally made people feel fond of him at first sight.

The young man was more than happy to be generous.

Lin Yuchu reached out and took the strange lump of mud. In his hand, it felt soft and cool, with a very pleasant texture. It made one unable to resist kneading and playing with it, giving off a strangely addictive pleasure like crushing an instant noodle cake.

In front of outsiders, he could not knead and play with it for too long. It would damage his image. So Lin Yuchu only squeezed it a few times before preparing to put it away. But just as he was about to put the lump of mud away, a voice suddenly cut in.

“Fellow Daoist, wait!”

Hearing this, Lin Yuchu looked up.

Ahead of him stood a beautiful young girl wearing a plum-red long dress. Her face was anxious, and her gaze was fixed nervously on the lump of mud in his hand as she hurried toward him in large strides.

Behind her followed two young male cultivators.

The girl came before Lin Yuchu. From beginning to end, her eyes remained fixed on Lin Yuchu’s hand, as though she were confirming something, staring intently at the lump of mud Lin Yuchu was holding.

Only after a long while did she seem to let out a breath of relief. She raised her head and looked at Lin Yuchu. An apologetic expression appeared on her fair, beautiful face as she said, “I was reckless to disturb you so abruptly, Fellow Daoist.”

“But to be honest with you, Fellow Daoist, I am Zhao Lan of the Zhao family of Yizhou,” the girl said.

Hearing this, Lin Yuchu did not speak. He only looked at her expressionlessly, his face cold.

Lu Qingyuan, who was standing beside him, had a slight shift in his expression when he heard this. He looked meaningfully at the girl before him who called herself Zhao Lan.

The Zhao family of Yizhou excelled at spiritual plants and possessed very large spiritual plant gardens. From spiritual tea, spiritual grain, and spiritual vegetables used in daily life to all kinds of spiritual grasses and spiritual herbs, they planted them all.

The people of the clan were also skilled at tending and cultivating spiritual plants. Although they were not good at martial combat, they were an extremely wealthy family.

In Yizhou, the Zhao family could be considered a local powerhouse.

Thinking of this, Lu Qingyuan glanced at the strange lump of mud in Lin Yuchu’s hand, a thoughtful expression appearing on his face.

This girl had clearly come for the lump of mud in Lin Yuchu’s hand. Considering the Zhao family’s old trade, Lu Qingyuan instantly thought of one thing: this strange lump of mud of unknown origin was probably far from ordinary.

However, no matter how Lu Qingyuan looked at it, it was only a strange lump of mud. There was nothing special about it.

He was probably too blind to recognize it.

Otherwise, Lu Qingyuan thought, this Zhao family girl would not be so nervous, urgent, and even eager to obtain it.

What he was thinking was exactly what Lin Yuchu was thinking.

Zhao Lan, who had rushed in impatiently, and that heated gaze fixed on the lump of mud in his hand made Lin Yuchu glance a few more times at the mud in his hand too. But like Lu Qingyuan, he could not see anything special about it.

If he could not tell, then he would stop looking. Lin Yuchu withdrew his gaze, lifted his eyes, and looked at Zhao Lan before him with his dark, deep eyes. In an indifferent tone, he said, “And?”

You are from the Zhao family. So what?

Zhao Lan froze for a moment at his cold attitude. A moment later, her face and bearing immediately returned to normal, and she smiled as she said, “Since childhood, I have received my family’s instruction. I am skilled at cultivating and planting spiritual plants.”

“Although this may be presumptuous, I hope, Fellow Daoist, that you can transfer that piece of spiritual soil in your hand to me,” Zhao Lan said.

At her words, Lin Yuchu did not speak. He merely looked at her.

His dark, deep gaze was cold and devoid of even the slightest emotion.

Zhao Lan, however, seemed not to notice his gaze or expression. Her eyes stared unblinkingly at the lump of mud in his hand. Her tone appeared courteous and polite as she said, “This spiritual soil is useless to you, Fellow Daoist, but if it were in my hands, I could draw out and make full use of its greatest potential, allowing it to benefit all living beings in the cultivation world.”

“So I sincerely ask you, Fellow Daoist, to give it up to me. Any amount of spiritual stones will do!” Zhao Lan said.

She raised her head, looking at Lin Yuchu before her with a fervent, longing gaze. “Consider this as me owing you a favor. If you ever have any trouble in the future, you may come to the Zhao family to find me.”

Hearing this, Lin Yuchu did not speak. He only looked at her.

His cold face was expressionless.

His wordless attitude made Zhao Lan even more unable to restrain herself. “Please grant me this, Fellow Daoist. From now on, you will be an honored guest of my Zhao family.”

Hearing this, Lu Qingyuan, who was standing beside Lin Yuchu, could not help laughing aloud. He looked at her meaningfully and said, “You keep bringing up the Zhao family. Can you make decisions on behalf of the Zhao family?”

Hearing this, Zhao Lan raised her eyes and looked at him.

Her beautiful brows furrowed. A moment later, she relaxed them and said, “I am the daughter of the Zhao family’s Family Head. My father will naturally listen to what I say.”

“So the Zhao family’s Family Head is your father,” Lu Qingyuan said with a smile.

“…”

Zhao Lan.

Her brows immediately furrowed in displeasure. She felt this person was truly ill-mannered.

But at this moment, she was determined to obtain the spiritual soil and had no desire to waste extra thought on other irrelevant people.

So she did not speak further with this unfamiliar male cultivator. Instead, she turned and looked at Lin Yuchu before her, her tone burning with intensity. “As long as you are willing to part with it, Fellow Daoist, I will agree to any condition.”

“…”

Lin Yuchu.

Hearing this, he became even more certain that this lump of modeling-clay-like mud in his hand was a rare treasure.

The girl before him was full of suspicious points.

Far too suspicious.

Lin Yuchu looked at Zhao Lan, who was trying her utmost to conceal the intent in her eyes but, because she was far too excited, had exposed it to everyone present anyway. He thought to himself.

The girl before him was only sixteen or seventeen years old. Her cultivation was merely at Qi Refining, and her realm was average. The spiritual energy around her was shallow, and her aura ordinary. She was only an ordinary female cultivator. Her aptitude and talent in cultivation were average.

There was nothing especially powerful or extraordinary about her.

Yet whether it was Lu Qingyuan, the lump of mud’s original owner, that young sword cultivator with an extraordinary bearing, or Lin Yuchu himself, none of them had seen what was special or powerful about this lump of mud.

This was the first suspicious point.

The second suspicious point was that this girl had practically rushed straight over. It did not seem like she had come by chance, but more like she had come with a purpose. And what she was after was precisely this lump of mud.

It was as though she had known in advance that this lump of mud would be here, as though she could foresee the future.

Compared with the girl accidentally discovering this lump of mud and seeing that it was extraordinary, it seemed far more like she knew this lump of mud would appear here, and also knew how extraordinary it was and what use it had. That was why she had deliberately sought it out.

Lin Yuchu frowned, feeling somewhat concerned.

He put this matter in his heart. Then he raised his head, looked at Zhao Lan before him, and refused in an indifferent tone, expressionless. “No trade. Not giving it.”

“…”

Zhao Lan.

Hearing this, her eyes immediately darkened, and she secretly gritted her teeth.

Unwilling to give up, she said, “Fellow Daoist is a sword cultivator, yes? This spiritual soil is useless to sword cultivators, so why not give it to me? How about this, Fellow Daoist? Tell me what metal spiritual ore you want. I can find it and exchange it with you.”

Hearing this, Lin Yuchu looked at her and said in a strange tone, “Do I look like someone lacking spiritual stones?”

“…”

Zhao Lan.

The expression on her face was strained as she said, “Naturally, Fellow Daoist does not lack spiritual stones. It is only that some rare metal ores are not things that can be bought with spiritual stones. My Zhao family has many channels. Rare treasures that ordinary people cannot easily obtain, I can find for you, Fellow Daoist.”

Hearing this, before Lin Yuchu could speak, Gu Chun, who had been standing behind him with a bored expression since earlier, immediately let out a contemptuous laugh and said disdainfully, “What, your family’s the only one surnamed Zhao?”

At these words, Zhao Lan instantly raised her eyes to look at him. Her expression was unfriendly, her face ugly.

After being made to lose face again and again, how could someone as proud and arrogant as her endure it?

If not for this piece of spiritual soil, why would she have lowered herself so much?

These people were really too unable to appreciate kindness!

Zhao Lan was furious in her heart. She was someone who had been reborn. In her previous life, she had been suppressed at every turn by a paternal cousin in her family who was inferior to her.

Clearly, she was the daughter of the clan leader, yet in the end, it was that paternal cousin of hers who inherited the position of Zhao family Family Head.

He was the one who stole her status!

The Zhao family was hers!

Zhao Zhao was nothing but a good-for-nothing who did not understand planting at all! The reason he had been able to rise was merely because of that miraculous piece of spiritual soil in his hands.

Zhao Lan hated him bitterly. She hated Zhao Zhao for stealing everything from her, the status that should have belonged to her, her glory. The entire Zhao family should have been hers!

Since Zhao Zhao liked the Sword Path so much, why did he not go cultivate the Sword Path? Why did he have to come back and steal her things?

Having been given a second chance, Zhao Lan decided she would eliminate Zhao Zhao, this rival, so the first thing she had to do was steal Zhao Zhao’s opportunity.

That miraculous spiritual soil he had accidentally obtained at the sword cultivator trade fair.

Zhao Zhao had relied entirely on this piece of spiritual soil to later achieve success in spiritual plant cultivation. After being reborn, Zhao Lan had exhausted every scheme and method before finally framing Zhao Zhao and causing him to be confined by the clan, unable to come out and watch this Bright Moon Capital Sword Path Grand Competition.

Naturally, he also had no chance to attend today’s sword cultivator trade fair.

As for Zhao Lan herself, she had been impatient and found a way to come up here.

As soon as she arrived, she began searching everywhere for that piece of spiritual soil, but she had not seen it even after a long time. Just as doubts began rising in her heart, she saw Lin Yuchu obtain that piece of spiritual soil, and she was instantly both shocked and delighted.

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