Chapter 38: Thanks for the Neighbor’s Dramatic Performance

“What junk are you selling here? You might as well pack up and close shop!”

Several burly men barged into the Treasure Pavilion, immediately smashing tables and chairs. Frightened customers scattered in all directions.

Outside, a crowd of curious onlookers gathered.

“Fighting and disturbances are prohibited in the store. If you have complaints, we can resolve them privately. Don’t involve other customers!”

Tantai Ming blocked their path at the entrance, his hand resting on his sword hilt. The pressure from his Golden Core cultivation intimidated the group, causing them to hesitate. They toned down their aggressive demeanor but still shouted angrily to the gathering crowd outside, “Everyone, listen! The magical tool I bought from this store broke after just two days!”

“They had the nerve to charge 30,000 spirit stones for this garbage! It’s nothing but a scam targeting honest folks like us!”

The onlookers responded with outrage: “This store is far too shady!”

While tens of thousands of low-grade spirit stones might not mean much to wealthy families, for ordinary cultivators it could represent a lifetime of savings spent on a cherished magical tool, only to be cheated by an unscrupulous shop.

This sentiment quickly stirred up public anger. Ruining a shop’s reputation could be that simple.

Tantai Ming grew anxious. “30,000 spirit stones is already the lowest price for a magical tool. Show me any other store with lower prices!”

“Moreover, we offer a warranty service. If the weapon suffers normal damage within a year, we’ll replace it with a new one!”

The leader ignored him completely, bellowing, “A replacement? You shop owners are always trying to cheat honest cultivators like us! What if you give us an inferior one? I don’t trust you. Refund! I want a refund!”

A refund was a minor issue, but if these cultivators continued to cause trouble, it would imply that their magical tools were indeed faulty.

Once a shop’s reputation was damaged, it would be hard to recover.

“Are these people here specifically to cause trouble?” Sikou Qiu stood with her hands on her hips, frowning. “Cheng Ying just told me that in the month since we opened, he’s been managing the accounts and remembering every customer’s appearance. He’s never seen these cultivators before. I think they’re here just to stir up trouble!”

Chu Sang stepped forward and said, “May I ask this customer to show us the damaged magical tool?”

The burly man glanced at Tantai Ming behind her, then haughtily snorted and casually produced a damaged broadsword. “Here it is!”

Chu Sang took the sword and examined it. The sword indeed bore their shop’s characteristic markings, they imitated them quite skillfully. However, imitation is just imitation – they had only copied the surface patterns without grasping the essence. The energy flow was completely wrong, making it an extremely poor counterfeit.

Layman might not notice anything amiss, but Chu Sang could tell at a glance.

“Do you even know how to use this?” Chu Sang flicked her finger against the blade, producing a clear, crisp sound.

“You don’t, do you?” She grinned. “Let me teach you.”

She swung the sword directly at the man’s face.

His expression changed drastically as he hurriedly dodged. If he’d been a second slower, he would have lost an eye!

“You- you dare to openly attack a customer—”

The men were furious. They thought they had been thuggish enough, but they didn’t expect the other side to be even more brazen, resorting to violence without a word!

“You don’t even know how to use it, yet you claim it’s broken? I was just trying to teach you. My hand must’ve slipped.” Chu Sang clicked her tongue, looking meaningfully at the men. “…Your reflexes aren’t bad.”

Before coming, they must have taken pills to conceal their auras, appearing no different from ordinary cultivators. But just now, when they hurriedly dodged, they inadvertently used spiritual energy, nullifying the pills’ effects and exposing their early Golden Core cultivation.

The crowd’s attitude suddenly shifted.

These men were actually early Golden Core cultivators?!

In the cultivation world, most practitioners spend their entire lives at the Qi Condensation or Foundation Establishment stages. Without great fortune, advancing further is extremely difficult.

Golden Core cultivators are comparatively rare.

Generally, those who can cultivate to the Golden Core stage have decent resources and talent, with status far above ordinary cultivators.

But these Golden Core cultivators came to make trouble over 30,000 low-grade spirit stones? This… didn’t match the image of wealthy Golden Core cultivators in people’s minds.

The onlookers weren’t fools. They more or less sensed something was amiss, and the tide began to turn in favor of Chu Sang and her group.

“Aren’t these Golden Core cultivators being too overbearing? Barging into someone’s shop and causing a scene? That sword almost hit me earlier!” This was likely a customer from the shop earlier. “It’s not a big deal, it could have been resolved privately. Why make such a fuss? It seems quite inappropriate…”

“Don’t you find it strange? These people clearly have Golden Core strength, but why did they deliberately conceal their cultivation earlier? And why disguise themselves as low-level cultivators?”

“Could they be thugs hired by other shops?” A discordant voice emerged from the crowd. “This Treasure Pavilion has been doing good business lately. Maybe some jealous competitors hired people to cause trouble.”

“Who would do such a despicable thing? Could it be the nearby Wandian Trading House?”

“Can Wandian afford to hire Golden Core cultivators? If you ask me, it might be…”

The gossiping crowd’s information-gathering abilities were indeed impressive. After just a few exchanges, they had already come close to seven or eight tenths of the truth.

The Golden Core cultivators’ faces darkened with anger. They had originally planned to disguise themselves and cause trouble, but they didn’t expect to be exposed.

Since they had been recognized, they might as well go all out. The men unleashed their Golden Core pressure without restraint.

The lead thug drew a large broadsword.

Tantai Ming lowered his brows, about to draw his sword, when Chu Sang stepped forward and pressed down on his hand on the scabbard. She drew out several talismans instead. “You want to make a big scene, right? You should have said so earlier. I’ll help you.”

“???”

The thugs were all stunned for a moment, unable to guess what this female cultivator was planning.

The lead cultivator gripped his sword hilt tightly, narrowing his eyes dangerously. “Everyone, attack!”

The scene descended into chaos, the commotion growing louder and attracting more and more onlookers.

Five burly early Golden Core stage men versus one late Foundation Establishment female cultivator – by all logic, the outcome of this battle should have been a foregone conclusion. But to everyone’s surprise, the men didn’t gain any advantage at all. In fact, they were repeatedly forced back by the talismans in the woman’s hand.

“Those talismans in her hand are Explosion Talismans. I bought a few a month ago. A few days ago in a secret realm, I almost lost my life to a monster. Fortunately, I had an Explosion Talisman that drove back a Golden Core stage beast!” An excited cultivator in the crowd exclaimed. “And the talisman she used earlier to dodge that sneak attack was a Speed Talisman. It can increase a cultivator’s speed tenfold! It was thanks to these two talismans that I escaped from the beast’s jaws.”

“Did you see earlier? One of the Golden Core cultivators attacked her from behind with a two-meter-long broadsword, but she was completely unharmed!”

“I know about that one. It’s the Varja Talisman^[1]Golden Armour. I snagged one the other day. The varja Talismans they sell are incredibly effective, capable of withstanding a full-force attack from a Golden Core cultivator!”

“And this one is a Binding Talisman. I heard it works on all realms!”

“A talisman that works on all realms? Is that for real?” Most talismans have strict cultivation level restrictions due to the creator’s limited cultivation or inherent limitations in the talisman script. If the target’s realm exceeds the limit, the talisman becomes useless. But an all-realm talisman could save your life when facing a powerful enemy!

Someone grew restless. “I want to buy a hundred of those!”

“Don’t fight me for them. They only sell a hundred of these talismans each day. If you buy them all, what will I buy?”

“First come, first served. Whoever grabs them gets them.”

The cultivators finally sensed something was wrong. They came to cause trouble, but how did they end up becoming walking advertisements?

Damn it.

They had been doing this job for decades but had never suffered such humiliation!

The lead cultivator’s face twisted for a moment. He bypassed Chu Sang and swung his sword heavily towards the shop.

But his blade didn’t even touch a piece of wood. It seemed to hit some invisible barrier, making a crisp “crack” sound. Under everyone’s watchful eyes, the sword shattered into two pieces.

“Defensive Array, capable of completely nullifying attacks from Golden Core cultivators and below. Currently priced at 2 million medium-grade spirit stones. Only one left, first come first served.” Chu Sang dodged a sneak attack, whistled, and started advertising on the spot.

“I want it! I’ll pay 3 million medium-grade spirit stones!”

“You think you can buy a defensive array that can block Golden Core attacks for just 3 million medium-grade spirit stones? What are you dreaming about? I’ll pay 5 million!”

“6 million!”

“Back off, I’m offering 10 million. Don’t any of you try to compete with me!”

“I’ll pay 15 million. Who doesn’t have a few coins to throw around? What are you so proud of?”

“You— 20 million!”

“30 million!”

Tantai Ming and the others were dumbfounded. Really, they had just been worried that their little junior sister might get hurt on her own, and even thought about secretly helping her.

They never expected her to be so at ease with this series of moves, even finding time to promote products, turning a big disturbance into an on-site auction.

This was too outrageous, wasn’t it?

Who else but their little junior sister could pull off something like this?

Apart from giving her a mental thumbs up, Tantai Ming didn’t know what else to say.

Those cultivators were about to go mad with anger. They came to cause trouble, not to help her drum up business!

“…You’re asking for death!”

The men changed formations, jointly unleashing the Thousand Mountain Sword Array. Once this array was deployed, its power was comparable to a full-force attack from a half-step Nascent Soul cultivator!

Even if this late Foundation Establishment female cultivator used every trick up her sleeve, she couldn’t escape being ground to paste!

“Who do you think you are, daring to harm my little junior sister!”

The young man flashed in front of Chu Sang. His crimson greatsword hadn’t even left its scabbard, but its terrifying pressure nearly made the cultivators’ legs give out and kneel on the spot.

With a flick of his wrist, Tantai Ming’s sword shattered the seemingly indestructible sword formation. The cultivators were sent flying, all coughing up blood with a loud “Wa!”

Seeing them attempt to take out magical tools to escape, Chu Sang stepped out from behind Tantai Ming. She made a hand seal, and her bracelet shot out hundreds of silver threads that pierced through the men’s limbs and torsos, fixing them to the ground, unable to move.

She walked up and squatted down, patting the lead thug’s face. “You worked hard today, huh? Very lively, I’m quite satisfied. Keep up the good work next time!”

The man’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. His dao heart wavered, and he spat out another mouthful of blood.

This was purely from anger at her words.

Although this commotion wasn’t Chu Sang’s original intention, she had always been skilled at turning disadvantages into advantages. She thanked the neighboring competitor for sending this free show, giving her a chance to promote their business well.

This brawl attracted cultivators from half the city. Originally, with old established shops like the Treasure Forging Pavilion around, they didn’t have much interest in this new store.

But after today’s battle, people were thoroughly convinced.

Chu Sang kicked one of the men. “Go tell your superiors to send more people next time. I have plenty of talismans. Let’s try to demonstrate each type.”

“You—”

Tantai Ming kicked him again. “What ‘you’? When you’re told to deliver a message, just deliver it. If you don’t leave now, don’t blame this young master for changing his mind and finishing you off with one stroke!” As he spoke, he drew his sword, a cold gleam flashing across the blade.

The cultivators swallowed their grievances and scrambled away. As arrogant as they had been when they arrived, they were equally pathetic as they left.

Unable to accept this, they exaggerated the story when telling Zhao Xun, who was so furious he crushed the cup in his hand. “Arrogant, absolutely arrogant! I’ve never seen anyone more arrogant than me!”

“Young Master, you don’t know the half of it. That woman even called you as stupid as a pig, saying you tried to steal a chicken but ended up losing the rice instead^[2]This idiom means “to fail to gain an advantage and end up worse off than before” or “to attempt something bad and fail, hurting yourself in the process.” It’s equivalent … Continue reading. She swore she’d teach you a good lesson next time she sees you!”

“Yes, yes! Her words were so offensive, so vulgar! I’m too embarrassed to even repeat it!”

Zhao Xun was about to die from anger. As the young master of Treasure Forging Pavilion and the chief disciple of the Alchemy Sect, no one who had crossed him before had ever come out unscathed. This was the first time he had hit such a stumbling block, leaving him with nowhere to vent his fury.

“The Cloud Abyss Secret Realm will open in three days. Do we need to make any preparations in advance?” a servant reported.

The Cloud Abyss Secret Realm, a massive ancient realm that opened once every hundred years, was filled with countless heavenly treasures and even legacies left by ancient powerhouses. It was rumored that a cultivator who had been stuck at Foundation Establishment for a long time entered once and, within just a month, broke through to the Nascent Soul realm. Now all major sects and family forces had their eyes on the Cloud Abyss Secret Realm, which showed how important this journey was.

“It’s just a small shop after all. If I want to crush them, I have plenty of methods. No rush.”

Zhao Xun quickly put this matter out of his mind. The hundred years old secret realm was no small affair. The core disciples from the Eight Immortal Sects would definitely all show up. It would surely be a bloody battle then, who knows who would come out on top?

…

“Little junior sister, I heard that a hundred year old secret realm will open in three days. Shall we go take a look?”

Tantai Ming couldn’t sit still and often went out to wander around, so he was always up-to-date with various rumors.

Su Chen’an frowned, “This secret realm is not like those ordinary small realms we’ve explored before. Although there are many treasures and opportunities inside, it’s equally fraught with danger.”

“The level of danger is far beyond those small secret realms you’ve ventured into. If you encounter danger…”

His gaze swept over Chu Sang. After a moment’s pause, he sighed and said, “Alright, you can go. Just take care of yourselves and don’t cause trouble for others.”

“…”

(End of Chapter)