Chapter 14: The Fool with Too Much Money? Then Let’s Be Poor Together!

Su Ruoxi frowned, feeling as if the way Ye Qingning was looking at her made her feel looked down upon.

“What do you mean? What does me looking at a brush have to do with a poor thing like you?” Su Ruoxi snapped.

Ye Qingning gave a slight smile, clicked her tongue, and said, “This Cold Jade Brush is carved from cold jade, its appearance crystal clear, imbued with ice attribute spiritual energy. It helps calm the mind when drawing talismans. But, it’s just an upper-grade brush.”

“And it costs 1,800 upper-grade spirit stones, which really doesn’t match the status of Miss Su, the eldest daughter of the first family.”

“Instead, over here, the Illusory Tail Brush, made from the most beautiful feathers of the rare magical beast, the Illusory Tail Phoenix, is not only dazzling in color but also enhances the power of talismans when drawn. Although it’s expensive, at 10,000 premium spirit stones, it’s nothing for someone like Miss Su. It’s only fitting for your identity.”

In the cultivation world, spirit stones were divided into four levels: low-grade, middle-grade, upper-grade, and premium. The exchange ratio between the levels was 1:10, except between upper-grade and premium stones, where the ratio was 1:100.

A premium spirit stone was extremely valuable, with purer spiritual energy than upper-grade spirit stones. One premium spirit stone was worth a hundred upper-grade spirit stones.

A mere 10,000 premium spirit stones was equivalent to 1,000,000 upper-grade spirit stones.

The price of this Illusory Tail Brush was five hundred times more expensive than the Cold Jade Brush. It was an exorbitant amount.

Coincidentally, the night before Ye Qingning left the Ye family, the system had overheard a conversation about the true eldest daughter, Ye Han Yue, and found out that Ye Xin had given her 10,000 premium spirit stones. Ye Qingning knew that Su Ruoxi had 10,000 premium spirit stones, which is why she was recommending the Illusory Tail Brush so eagerly. After all, Dao Yuan Pavilion didn’t offer credit.

This speech had indeed put Su Ruoxi in an awkward position.

The female disciple in charge of sales was also stunned.

She knew how difficult it had been for her to become a sales disciple and earn a fixed monthly salary. On top of that, she got a commission for each item sold.

For every 100 upper-grade spirit stones, she would earn 1 upper-grade spirit stone.

One could imagine how many spirit stones she would earn from selling something worth 10,000 premium spirit stones.

And it was clear to everyone that Su Ruoxi was actually eyeing the Cold Jade Brush, not the exorbitantly priced Illusory Tail Brush.

But the clever disciple caught on, and immediately suggested, “Although the Illusory Tail Brush is expensive, it’s the highest quality brush in Dao Yuan Pavilion. If Miss Su is interested, I can offer you a 2% discount!”

“Which means you’d only pay 9,800 premium spirit stones, and I’ll throw in a set of talisman paper.”

“Each set contains 100 sheets, made from top-grade spiritual wood and imbued with spiritual power. It costs 1 upper-grade spirit stone per sheet, and the set is priced at 100 upper-grade spirit stones. You must know, everything in our pavilion never has any discounts.”

Su Ruoxi’s fingers clenched in her sleeve, feeling more furious than when she was scooping manure.

9,800 premium spirit stones—what was the difference between this and 10,000 premium spirit stones?

10,000 premium spirit stones was all the money she had, given to her by her parents before she left the Su family to come to the Penglai Sect.

Though the Su family was the first family, and they could afford to give her 10,000 premium spirit stones, they also expected her to grow strong through her own efforts in the sect, not by constantly asking her family for more.

Though her parents dote on her, even if she asked them for more spirit stones, they would give it to her. But the sect had strict rules. Disciples were not allowed to leave without reason, nor could their families visit without permission.

If she spent all 10,000 premium spirit stones, she wouldn’t be able to get more from her family for quite a long time.

If she bought the Illusory Tail Brush, how would she live with no spirit stones for the rest of her time here?

And the thing was, she wasn’t even a talisman master—she only came here because she knew that today, Senior Brother Shen Xuanli would be teaching, and she wanted to meet him.

But now, this poor little thing, Ye Qingning, had come along and forced her into a corner.

If she didn’t buy it, she would look like the Su family couldn’t afford it.

“Miss Su, the senior sister has already offered you a discount, so how about you buy it?” Ye Qingning chimed in, “Miss Su, are you sure you won’t buy it? Could it be that you didn’t bring enough spirit stones? In that case, it seems that the Su family doesn’t dote on you enough to even give you 10,000 premium spirit stones.”

“I heard that my true sister, Ye Han Yue, was given 10,000 premium spirit stones by my parents just before leaving for the Falling Cloud Sect. I thought you, Miss Su, would have even more than that, considering that the Su family is the first family.”

Su Ruoxi felt like all eyes were on her, and she couldn’t bear to let them think that the Su family was poorer than the Ye family.

Her pride burned, and she snapped, “You’re poor, so don’t think everyone is as poor as you! What’s the big deal with 10,000 premium spirit stones? I’ll buy this Illusory Tail Brush! Let me show you what a top-tier brush looks like!”

Ye Qingning clapped in appreciation. “As expected of Miss Su, always so generous. Since you’re willing to pay the full price, how about the senior sister quickly wrap this up for you?”

Su Ruoxi’s eyes widened. The way she was being made fun of was unbearable!

The female disciple quickly wrapped the Illusory Tail Brush and presented it with a set of talisman paper.

Su Ruoxi bit her teeth, trying to endure the humiliation, but now she had no choice but to pay the full 10,000 premium spirit stones.

As she handed over the spirit stones, Ye Qingning couldn’t help but find the whole situation ironic. Su Ruoxi, the proud daughter of the first family, had just paid an absurd amount for a brush she didn’t even need, just to keep her face.

“Well, Miss Su, the brush is yours. Let’s see how you’ll get by without any more spirit stones.”