Even when it became clear Fang Xing was about to leave, Meng Xuanzhao still hesitated. It was obvious that he was unwilling to spend such a large sum of money.

　　“Wait!” the yellow-dressed female called out, slowly walking in front of Meng Xuanzhao before patting him on the shoulder. “It’s best that you decide quickly. The talisman cannot be allowed to get into the hands of the sect; not even your uncle would be able to protect you.”

　　Meng Xuanzhao clenched his teeth before replying a short moment later, “But I… I don’t have that many Spirit Stones right now!”

　　The dark-faced man also walked up beside him. “I know you don’t, and it’s not a small amount of Spirit Stones even for us. Why don’t you have a talk with him? Whatever happens, the talisman must be dealt with as soon as possible.”

　　Meng Xuanzhao gave a bitter smile. He had originally intended to take the talisman away from Fang Xing, but that was before he knew about Fang Xing’s cultivation level. The only thing Meng Xuanzhao could do now was have an honest negotiation.

　　Meng Xuanzhao struggled to keep his pride and hesitated for several moments before finally walking up to Fang Xing. “Shidi Fang, I admit it was a bit too hot-headed of me to suspect and doubt you. Pl… please do not take offense from my behavior. As for the price of the Ore Essence Powder, seeing as we had been friends… can we keep it as the original price? Of… thirty Spirit Stones?” he muttered quietly.

　　“Thirty?” Fang Xing laughed before turning to the dark-faced man. “Hey, brother, if I wanted to buy your Ore Essence Powder for thirty Stones, would you sell it to me?”

　　The dark-faced man looked on with unease before smiling bitterly at the yellow-dressed female.

　　“You incompetent idiot!” the yellow-dressed woman yelled with her brows locked. She looked at Meng Xuanzhao with resentment before turning her head away, spurning him completely.

　　To the two friends, Meng Xuanzhao had now become someone incapable of comprehending the current situation. Despite how dire things were, Meng Xuanzhao was still unwilling to spend money and even wanted to make Fang Xing leave with a mere thirty Stones; this was penny-pinching to the extreme! Even if the original deal had been for thirty Spirit Stones, that was in the past. Had Fang Xing broken through into tier four back then? Had Fang Xing known Shijie Linyun?

　　Most important of all, did Fang Xing have evidence that could have destroyed him back then?

　　After seeing the cold snicker from Fang Xing and the reactions from the dark-faced man and yellow-dressed female, Meng Xuanzhao soon realized what a fool he was making himself into. With a sudden burst of embarrassment, he began to hastily explain, “But I really don’t have that many Spirit Stones on me now…. Ever since I was robbed by that Black Market Bandit, I’ve been penniless, with not even thirty Spirit Stones left….”

　　Fang Xing laughed at such an answer. “That’s easy, then. Why don’t you just sign a promissory note?”

　　From the storage ring on his ponytail, Fang Xing took out a jade contract before placing it in front of Meng Xuanzhao. As Meng Xuanzhao looked it over, his expression changed several times between regret and loathing.

　　“Shixiong Meng, if you’re truly unwilling, then I won’t force you. I don’t want the Stones anymore if you’d prefer to wait for the elders to find you!” With that, Fang Xing seemed to be taking back the contract to leave.

　　Meng Xuanzhao quickly came back to his senses. “No, wait…. I’ll sign….”

　　Under duress, Meng Xuanzhao finally finished agreeing to his debt outlined by the jade contract. Within it, it was written that he had purchased a bag of Ore Essence Powder for the cost of three hundred Spirit Stones, and it was signed off with a mark of his Qi. Once that was done, Fang Xing took it over for careful inspection and nodded in satisfaction before turning to the dark-faced man and yellow-dressed female. “Since the two of you have been here from the beginning, why not become this contract’s eyewitnesses?”

　　The pair clearly looked dissatisfied by this, as neither wanted to be involved in this bog of muddied water.

　　Fang Xing smiled at Meng Xuanzhao. Without any other choice, he quietly spoke to the two of them before they finally agreed to be witnesses and marked their Qi into the jade contract as well. Only after that was finished did Fang Xing finally appear satisfied with a final nod. He tossed the Recollection Talisman towards Meng Xuanzhao before walking off with the plump Taoist, laughing loudly all the while.

　　Meng Xuanzhao sat down in dejection. After a few moments, he activated the talisman to see exactly what had been recorded within. Once the talisman was activated, however, Meng Xuanzhao was left in a state of disbelief, and the color of his face drained away so quickly that the dark-faced man took the talisman to have a look for himself. He was also left dumbstruck, and he handed it over to the yellow-dressed female as well.

　　After checking the contents, the yellow-dressed female could only smile bitterly with a sigh. “What a character he is….” It seemed that not only was the Recollection Talisman empty, it hadn’t even been activated to begin with. All of that talk about having recorded the entire conversation for evidence had been nothing more than rubbish.

　　Fang Xing was still just a child, after all. No matter how calculating he might appear, he had never actually made any arrangements beforehand to record their conversation; it had all been nothing more than a bluff after Fang Xing heard Meng Xuanzhao admit to killing Liu Feng. Meng Xuanzhao, the dark-faced man, the yellow-dressed female, and everyone else had actually believed the bluffs and lies Fang Xing spun. Nobody had expected this turn of events, where Meng Xuanzhao had actually signed a promissory note!

　　After a long while had passed, Meng Xuanzhao finally let out a deep howl but was forced to admit his defeat, even if unwilling. “Nngh! Don’t you dare think that you’ll be safe just because you’re at tier four! I… I will tell my uncle!”

　　—

　　“Quick, run!” After Fang Xing had swaggered his way out of the black bamboo forest, he’d grabbed the plump Taoist and was ready to dash off in a hurry. The plump Taoist, however, only looked confused until Fang Xing revealed that the Recollection Talisman had been nothing more than a hoax and that it was possible Meng Xuanzhao might come chasing after him soon.

　　The plump Taoist smiled with bitterness. “But now that you’re in tier four, you don’t have a reason to be scared of them?”

　　“It has nothing to do with my tier!” Fang Xing replied, “You just always have to run away after you’ve done something bad!”

　　The plump Taoist was at a loss for words after hearing Fang Xing’s answer but ran close behind. He could feel that this little monster was not actually afraid of them chasing after them, but that he simply enjoyed the adrenaline rush of running away after knowingly doing something bad.

　　Fang Xing had never answered Meng Xuanzhao’s questions in a direct manner and had spoken such blatant lies, yet no one had been able to completely invalidate his answers no matter how indignant or resentful they were. After witnessing the entire event at the black bamboo forest, the plump Taoist felt as though he had never had such a strong admiration towards someone before.

　　When Fang Xing said that the reason for his great increase in cultivation level was due to the mysterious herb, for instance. How could there be so many mystical herbs just readily available, right there when he needed it? Most of the spirit herbs used by cultivators had been grown within the sects and clans. Although there might be one or two herbs that were occasionally found in the wild, their prices would be sky-high; the price of wild spirit herbs was at least ten-fold those of cultivated spirit herbs.

　　Furthermore, consuming these wild herbs without any refinement truly did more harm than good. When the boy said he had indeed eaten a spirit herb that just so happened to not cause any harm to the body, however, nobody was able to do anything to prove him wrong, as the only surefire method would have been to slice open his stomach. Perhaps Meng Xuanzhao really would have done so if Fang Xing hadn’t reached tier four and didn’t have Shijie Linyun as a form of protection, but now that he had both, all of those privileged second-generation disciples no longer dared to provoke him further.

　　Fang Xing could have achieved similar results by directly checking in at the inner court as soon as he reached tier four, but even though Meng Xuanzhao and his friends would not have dared to provoke him afterwards, there may have been rumors about him having ties to the Black Market Bandit. Even if it was only within the outer court, such a thing would not be beneficial to Fang Xing’s reputation; this trip to the black bamboo forest was not all for the sake of showing off, but was more for the sake of setting a clean slate and publicly proclaiming his innocence.

　　Of course, the three hundred Stone note was a welcome source of extra income.

　　“Shidi Fang, are you going to… to check in with the inner court now?” Once the pair had arrived at the foot of the mountain, the plump Taoist looked towards Fang Xing with a meaningful expression. It had been less than a year since the plump Taoist had first kicked this little beggar flying at the Recruitment Ceremony, yet today this little beggar had become the single largest umbrella of protection for him. That same beggar had also reached tier four before anyone else in the current collection of outer court disciples; he was the “genius” that would be the first of them to join the inner court.

　　The two of them definitely had the same D-Ranked zi’zhi, yet the difference was so large. Even if they were both human, they could not be compared to each other.

　　“Of course! A long night is filled with dreams, and that includes nightmares. The earlier I become an inner court disciple, the earlier I get the sect’s full protection!”

　　Fang Xing tapped Yu’s shoulder, standing up on his tiptoes to reach. A year had passed, and even though Fang Xing had grown slightly taller, he was still quite a ways away from the plump Taoist Yu’s height. “When I’m in the inner court, I give you permission to bully anyone you want to inside the outer court while using the name of me, your grandfather!” Fang Xing then laughed before passing Yu a storage bag. “This bag and all of the resources inside are for you to keep. Don’t let me down!”

　　With a wave of his small hands, Fang Xing took a large step towards one of the seven tallest peaks within the Qing-Yun Sect: the Peak of the Flying Stone.

　　When the plump Taoist opened the storage bag that had been given to him, he saw just over a hundred Spirit Stones, all shining brightly with a red radiance. There were even a few bottles of medicinal pills and pellets, as well as a Flying Sword of good quality. In this moment, tears of joy spilled down his chubby face.

　　It was Yu Sanliang’s eighth year in the outer court, and for seven full years he had struggled with cultivation resources. It was this eighth year that he could finally see the light shining on the next step in his path of cultivation.