Bad News from the Cultivation World

"A drop of kindness should be repaid with a gushing spring."

Su Ji never considered himself a good person, but he knew right from wrong.

Before he could even repay Su Jiu with that "gushing spring," she was already trying to distance herself?

Not a chance.

He had made up his mind.

From now on, whenever someone asked, he would say, "If not for Su Jiu, I might still be wasting away as an outer disciple in some sect..."

Su Ji couldn’t be bothered to entertain her remark.

He bent down, arms moving swiftly, sweeping up all the scattered magical artifacts and storage pouches into his embrace.

Without so much as a glance at Su Jiu, he cradled his loot and hurried straight toward the pawnshop at the market’s entrance.

Su Jiu stood where she was, watching Su Ji’s frantic, money-grubbing antics with a trace of helplessness flickering across her cool, composed face.

She followed him.

The pawnshop was empty, save for a counter taller than a man.

On either side, two lines of text were inscribed:

"You chase wealth, blind to the face above the counter."

"I chase wealth, deaf to the suffering below."

A small opening sat atop the counter.

Without ceremony, Su Ji dumped his armful of junk into it with a loud clatter.

A faint glow shimmered from the hole, and moments later, a cascade of golden coins engraved with cloud patterns came clinking out.

Su Ji caught them directly in a storage pouch.

For some reason, it felt like playing an arcade game and cashing in tokens…

This process repeated four or five times.

By the end, the battlefield had been picked clean by Su Ji.

Only when the last Heavenly Dao Coin was safely tucked away did he finally pause, rubbing his hands together in excitement as he tallied his gains.

Including himself and Su Jiu, there had been fifty-five cultivators who entered.

The initial Heavenly Dao Coins totaled five hundred and fifty.

As for the pile of artifacts—just as Su Ji expected, not a single one was fit for a Golden Core cultivator.

No surprise there. Those who reached the Golden Core realm were all shrewd veterans, long past the age of recklessly charging into secret realms.

Otherwise, Su Ji wouldn’t have slaughtered them so effortlessly.

In the end, all the magical tools and spirit artifacts exchanged for one thousand two hundred and ten Heavenly Dao Coins.

Total: one thousand seven hundred and sixty.

Su Ji couldn’t suppress his grin.

Su Jiu simply watched him in silence.

After a long pause, she finally spoke, her voice soft.

"Senior Brother, I’d like a thousand."

Su Ji looked up, eyebrows raised.

"To trade for the Nine Luminaries Moon-Devouring Scripture."

Su Jiu turned, her gaze drifting toward the jade pedestal at the market’s center, bathed in radiant light.

After a beat, she added, "I’ll owe you a favor."

"You can use it to ask anything of me."

Anything?

Those words carried weight.

Su Ji’s heart stirred, but his expression remained indifferent. Instead, he quipped,

"Why would a fox need a Moon-Devouring Scripture?"

"Isn’t that more of a celestial hound thing?"

Su Jiu: "…"

She took a deep breath, visibly restraining herself.

[Conversation with Su Jiu aligns with aesthetic preferences. Romance options triggered.]

[Option 1: "Then, Junior Sister, could you bark like a dog for me? I’d love to hear it." (Reward: Su Jiu’s favorability -3. Later, in an illusion she weaves, you hear her bark.)]

[Option 2: "Junior Sister, there is something I’d like to ask. I’ve been studying alchemy and need a rare herb—vanilla mud." (Reward: Su Jiu doesn’t understand. After much effort, she fails to find "vanilla mud" and offers spirit stones as compensation.)]

[Option 3: "A thousand coins? Take them! Even without me, you’d have gotten them easily." (Reward: Su Jiu’s favorability +5, plus a favor owed.)]

[Permanent Option: "With your meager life, sacrifice to my peerless sword path!" (Current kill count: 0)]

No question—Option 3 was the obvious choice.

It might sound a bit like simping, but the truth was, Su Jiu could’ve easily obtained a thousand coins on her own.

If anything, Su Ji was the one who’d shamelessly tagged along.

Walking away with seven hundred and sixty was already a great haul.

Still, while Option 3 was correct, the wording had a slight simping vibe.

Su Ji couldn’t bring himself to say it.

Instead, he slid a thousand coins from his pouch and pushed them toward Su Jiu.

"Deal."

Su Jiu looked at the coins, then at Su Ji’s face, before finally nodding.

She pocketed the coins and strode toward the market center.

Soon, she returned, clutching the Nine Luminaries Moon-Devouring Scripture, a rare glimmer of genuine joy on her usually impassive face.

But when she came back, she found Su Ji crouched before a nondescript stall, frowning at something.

Curious, she approached.

On the stall lay a single, unassuming stone—jet-black, yet swirling with faint, iridescent light.

[Fate-Shattering Stone: Upgrades any innate destiny by one tier.]

[Price: 800 Heavenly Dao Coins.]

The moment she saw the price and remembered Su Ji only had seven hundred and sixty, she understood his dilemma.

Su Jiu patted herself down.

For her, the Foundation Establishment stage was just a brief transition.

Rather than waste time on temporary artifacts, she focused on awakening her bloodline.

So, at the moment, she had nothing of real value on her.

Finally, as if steeling herself, she bit her lip and pulled out a small jade pendant, pressing it into Su Ji’s hand.

"Senior Brother, pawn this. It should cover the remaining forty."

Su Ji took the pendant—warm to the touch, still carrying her body heat.

See? This is the benefit of high favorability.

Now he didn’t even need to ask.

Su Jiu was proactively solving his problems.

Casually, he asked, "What’s this? Dowry for the future?"

Su Jiu’s mood visibly dimmed.

"My mother’s memento."

As if worried he’d refuse, she added,

"It doesn’t matter. Objects are just triggers for memory. True remembrance isn’t tied to things."

"If you don’t remember, keeping relics is pointless."

Her words sounded like an explanation—or perhaps an attempt to convince herself.

Su Ji stood and pressed the pendant back into her hand.

"Keep it, Junior Sister. Some things are worth holding onto."

He turned, as if heading back toward the corpse-strewn battlefield.

Su Jiu thought he was still desperate for coins.

"Don’t bother. You’ve scoured the place clean. Aside from this pendant, there’s nothing left of value in this realm."

Before offering the pendant, she’d scanned the area with her divine sense—not a wisp of spiritual energy remained.

Su Ji had picked the bones bare.

Just then, a heavy coin pouch flew toward her.

"Hold this for me."

Su Jiu caught it reflexively.

Then, she witnessed something she would never forget.

Tragedy struck the cultivation world!

Su Ji marched into the mountain of corpses, bent down, and grabbed two bodies by their ankles—one in each hand.

He actually dragged those two corpses behind him, leaving two glaring trails of blood on the ground, and just like that, headed straight for the pawnshop.

Su Jiu: ???

"Maybe... you should just pawn the jade pendant instead."

She was afraid that from now on, every time she saw the pendant, she wouldn’t think of her mother—but of Su Ji hauling corpses to exchange for money...