“What does where I got my Ore Essence Powder have to do with you?” Fang Xing felt somewhat resentful, as he had originally believed that showing his actual cultivation tier would frighten them into timid little rabbits; he had not expected that Meng Xuanzhao would question him even further. What Fang Xing had forgotten was that these disciples all had friends within the inner court, so even though his display of power had given them a bit of a fright—and none of them dared to fight with him head-on—to say that they had truly become scared just because he had reached tier four would be misleading.

　　With hate in his voice, Meng Xuanzhao began his reasoning, “The quota for the Ore Essence Powder is very strict and cannot be easily obtained. Within these couple years, except for the bag you gifted to me earlier, I have not heard about anyone else getting their hands on some. I only managed to barely touch it before the Black Market Bandit took it away from me, yet you’re here today after having broken into tier four. You want to tell me it has nothing to do with you?”

　　Fang Xing laughed at this. “The Poji Pellet I consumed was crafted by Shijie Linyun herself. All of the ingredients were purchased by her, including the Ore Essence Powder, so what does that have to do with the Ore Essence Powder I gave to you? If you don’t believe it, I can make a promise to you right now: if I have told even a single lie just now, Shijie Linyun will be struck by lightning and become a disgustingly ugly monster….”

　　Everyone was stunned at such a vow. It was surely the first time a person had used someone else in their vow, and such a vile vow at that….

　　However, the look on the boy’s face was solemn and sincere, and people began to hesitate since it did not appear as though he had lied at all. They would never have imagined that although Fang Xing did not lie about the specific Poji Pellet he had consumed, he himself did prepare another set of the ingredients; the ingredients had merely been confiscated by her at the time of exchange.

　　People naturally believed Ore Essence Powder wasn’t a hard item for Shijie Linyun to get. It was often alchemists that were able to accumulate the greatest amounts of these rare crafting materials and ingredients.

　　“I don’t believe you. Shijie Linyun… why would she be so good to you? Even gifting you the precious Poji Pellet?” Despite Fang Xing’s convincing story, Meng Xuanzhao’s instincts had always been rather keen and he still did not believe him.

　　Fang Xing, on the other hand, was too lazy to argue further. He casually took out several glazed vases filled with all kinds of medicinal pills, all of which had been taken from Linyun Valley before he left. He placed them neatly in a line one by one on the stone table. “See, these are all from Shijie Linyun. Some are to improve cultivation, some are for wounds, some… sh*t, what’s this? Oh, right, skin moisturizer. Heh, no wonder she smells so good….”

　　After Fang Xing had gone through them all, he picked up the vases and showed everyone what was on the bottom. “Look at this, these vases all have the character ‘Lin’, the symbol for Shijie Linyun. I can’t make a forgery of this! And this is the vase that had the Poji Pellet.”

　　Fang Xing slowly showed the vases’ bottoms one at a time, and on each one there was indeed Shijie’s symbolic “Lin”, showing they were all her creations. The atmosphere filled with a nervous silence; with so many bottles given to him as a gift, people now began to realize that the relationship between Fang Xing and Shijie Linyun was perhaps far closer than they had imagined it to be. With this, even if it was confirmed that Fang Xing did have some sort of connection with the Black Market Bandit, who would dare to anger Shijie Linyun by having a go at Fang Xing?

　　“Everything finished?” Fang Xing swept his glance across before finally settling it on Meng Xuanzhao with a satisfied expression.

　　The finger marks on Meng Xuanzhao’s handsome face had now begun to swell, and his expression was filled with suppressed rage, wrath, and antagonism. The way he looked at Fang Xing was definitely not friendly.

　　Fang Xing noticed Meng Xuanzhao’s gaze and yawned. “You know, now that I’ve broken through tier four, I should technically be going to check myself in at the inner court. I didn’t need to come and have this chat and drink with you here, since our status within the sect is already different. But you see, I’m someone who does not easily forget about old friendships, so I decided to come for a last drink with you. I would have never thought the purpose of your invite was so you could question and accuse me….”

　　As Fang Xing spoke, his glare became even colder. “Since you’ve only done me ill, it would only make sense for me to return the favor. Meng Xuanzhao you son of a bi*ch, you took my Ore Essence Powder last month, but I couldn’t afford to offend you back then and had to hold myself back. Now then, how about some math? A bag of Ore Essence Powder is worth three hundred Spirit Stones, and I expect all of it to be returned to me!”

　　What was happening?

　　Hadn’t everyone gathered at the black bamboo forest for the sole purpose of helping Meng Xuanzhao find his lost Ore Essence Powder? Wasn’t it so they could all force Fang Xing to confess? Since when did the situation reverse, where it was now Fang Xing that was asking Meng Xuanzhao to hand over his Spirit Stones in compensation for the Ore Essence Powder?

　　On this matter, they would not intervene.

　　Meng Xuanzhao’s face colored purple as he screamed out, “Nonsense! You gave me the Ore Essence Powder for free! As a gift!”

　　Fang Xing scrunched up his brows. “What is Ore Essence Powder, again? Do you know how precious it is? Do you really think I’m so stupid that I would be willing to hand it over to you for nothing? If I wasn’t afraid for my safety within the sect thanks to your privileged background and connections, why would I give it to you? However, that’s all changed now that I have my own connections, so of course this exchange must be calculated properly; you either return me my Ore Essence Powder or hand over three hundred Spirit Stones to pay for it. Your choice!”

　　The dark-faced man and yellow-dressed female both looked awkwardly towards Meng Xuanzhao while furrowing their brows. Both of them knew what Fang Xing said was most likely the truth, for they knew that Meng Xuanzhao had always been a bit of a penny-pincher. All other things aside, it definitely did sound like Meng Xuanzhao to do something like taking other people’s Ore Essence Powder for free if he was given the chance. If he had paid Fang Xing some Spirit Stones in the first place—even if it was only ten or twenty Stones—he could have then said he bought them, but if he had truly taken it for free then it was only natural that Fang Xing had now come back to settle the score.

　　In the eyes of an outer court disciple, three hundred Spirit Stones was a rather large amount. To get from tier one to tier two would require approximately ten Spirit Stones, from two to three would require thirty, and the beginning of tier three to its peak would require around one hundred. Put simply, three hundred Spirit Stones was enough for two disciples to cultivate all the way from tier one to the peak of tier three.

　　“That Ore Essence Powder was taken by the Black Market Bandit and I’m certain you two have some sort of connection, so how dare you ask me for payment?” Meng Xuanzhao accused with anger, even though he was noticeably embarrassed and the dark-faced man and yellow-dressed female were looking on with a touch of disdain. Meng Xuanzhao was positive now that Fang Xing had been the one to orchestrate everything with the Black Market Bandit, the person who had not only taken the Ore Essence Powder, but even the seventy Spirit Stones from his storage bag. How dare Fang Xing now ask for even more money? Meng Xuanzhao felt such anger and hatred that he would have gladly taken a bite out of Fang Xing’s flesh if he could.

　　Fang Xing, on the other hand, simply sneered. “That the Ore Essence Powder I gave to you was taken away by someone else only proves your own uselessness. I only want the Stones that I was supposed to receive. Heh, heh, if you really decide to not pay me back, I can’t do much since you have your uncle who is in charge of the Duty Talisman Hall, but since I’m going to check in at the inner court soon, I will make sure to hand this Recollection Talisman over to the elders there as well.” Snickering, he then tossed the jaded plate into the air a couple of times before putting it back into his pocket.

　　Meng Xuanzhao was so angry it looked as though he was about to spit out a mouthful of blood. “You…”

　　Fang Xing interrupted immediately, “If you really want to blame it on someone, blame it on yourself. If you didn’t try to swindle me today, I probably wouldn’t have even remembered this.”

　　Meng Xuanzhao had already bitten through the surface of his lips by now. Although the dark-faced man showed some slight hesitation, he soon moved to placate the situation.

　　Fang Xing suddenly waved his hand and halted the dark-faced man in his tracks. “Don’t you even think about pleading on his behalf. If I wasn’t at tier four with Shijie Linyun to back me up, you would probably have already helped take me down for questioning and punishment with that friend of yours. If that happened, let alone if I pleaded with you, would you let me go so easily even if I begged for forgiveness?” As he spoke, his gaze once again swept across, while everyone present seemed to avoid his eyes. Fang Xing had only spoke the truth; this was exactly what Meng Xuanzhao had planned in the first place.

　　“Looks like you’ve decided not to pay the money you owe for my Ore Essence Powder, huh? Well, I guess I will just have to speak to the elders about this, then!” Fang Xing harrumphed with disdain and grabbed the nearby plump Taoist to leave.

　　The disciples surrounding them had all left open a road for the pair; they did not have enough guts to block the path of a tier four cultivator.