"I-I’m sorry, young lady, but I don’t think I heard you properly just now. How much Spirit Grass did you say you have?" The receptionist cleaned his ears with his pinky finger before asking.
"318 jins of Spirit Grass," Xiao Hua repeated in a calm voice.
"3-318 jins... that’s a whole year’s worth of supply! And you mean to tell me that you gathered that much in a few hours?" The receptionist stared at her with clear disbelief.
"Un." Xiao Hua retrieved her spatial ring before dumping out a small mountain of Spirit Grass onto the counter, crushing the entire scale flat.
"..."
The receptionist and everyone else in the store was beyond words, as most of them have never seen so much Spirit Grass in one place before, and even Yuan and Yu Rou were staring at her with wide eyes.
How on earth did she gather so much Spirit Grass? Unless she plucked the entire location of its Spirit Grass, there was no way she would have obtained so much!
"A-Anyway... No matter how you obtained these Spirit Grass, I will pay you for them." The receptionist spoke after snapping out of his daze.
"340 jins of Spirit Grass will be worth 3,400 silver, converted to gold coins will be 34 gold coins... Are you okay with this?" The receptionist said to them.
"Y-Yes, that’s fine," Yu Rou nodded.
A few minutes later, after the receptionist accepted the Spirit Grass, he handed 34 gold coins to Yu Rou.
«You have completed the Quest: Gathering Spirit Qi»
«You have been rewarded with: 34 Gold Coins»
"Congratulations on completing your first quest, Yu Rou," Yuan said to her with a smile on his face. "And you can keep the gold for yourself."
"Thank you, brother! This is mostly due to you and Xiao Hua!" Yu Rou said.
After leaving the medicine store, Yuan asked Yu Rou, "What do you want to do now?"
"Hmm... After seeing how you had defeated those players with such ease, I have realized just how important it is to have a skill, so I want to use the money we’d just earned to buy some techniques."
Yuan nodded and said, "Then let’s find a store that sells some techniques that can be used with a fan."
"I know just the place!" Yu Rou said, and she began leading Yuan and Xiao Hua through the city again.
About half an hour later, they reached this ordinary-looking building that gave the atmosphere of a library from the outside.
"Myriad of Techniques, huh?" Yuan read the sign above the door with a curious gaze.
"According to many players on the internet, one has a chance to obtain a free technique if they have perfect compatibility with it! Furthermore, this place sells the cheapest techniques in the entire city!" Yu Rou said as she has had her eyes set on this place ever since she learned of it.
"Let’s head inside," Yuan said.
Once they entered the building, they were baffled by the luxurious interior of the building that looked the complete opposite of the outside appearance, feeling like they’d entered some exalted individual’s expensive mansion instead.
They were then greeted by a beautiful young lady who was wearing what appeared to be disciple robes.
"Welcome to Myriad of Techniques, please place your hands on this crystal ball, as it will judge your qualifications." The young disciple said to them at the doorstep.
"Qualifications? Why must we qualify before we can buy techniques?" Yuan asked her, as he couldn’t comprehend the meaning behind their actions.
"We have three floors in this building with different quality and ranks of technique on each floor. Every guest will automatically have access to the first floor, but if they wish to buy techniques on the second or third floor, they must pass a simple test," she explained to him.
"I see... Yu Rou, you can go first," Yuan said to her.
"Un."
She nodded her head before placing her hand on the crystal ball provided by the disciple.
A few seconds later, the clear crystal ball began glowing a beautiful golden light.
"..."
When the beautiful young lady saw this, her eyes widened with surprise, and she spoke when the light disappeared shortly later, "You... You are quite the lucky one, young girl."
"Huh? What do you mean?" Yu Rou asked her.
"The Divine Crystal of Heavenly Fortune just measured your fortune and fate, and you are apparently deeply connected to someone with a heavenly destiny," said the female disciple.
"I’m sorry, but I still don’t understand..." Yu Rou spoke with an apologetic smile on her face.
"It’s okay, because I don’t understand it either, and I am only telling you what my Master told me to say." The female disciple said with a straight face.
"Your Master...?" Yu Rou looked around but there was nobody else there.
"Ah, my Master is on the third floor, and he is speaking to me using his Divine Sense. Anyway, you are qualified to buy techniques on the second floor." The disciple said to Yu Rou before turning to look at Xiao Hua and continued, "You are next."
Xiao Hua did not immediately place her hands on the crystal ball and stared at the female disciple with narrowed eyes, seemingly in a deep ponder.
"Is something the matter?" Yuan asked her.
"No, Xiao Hua is fine," she quickly responded before placing her small hands on the crystal ball.
The Divine Crystal of Heavenly Fortune glowed a similar golden color a few seconds later, perhaps even a little brighter than Yu Rou’s result, but there was a hint of black within the center of the light.
"..."
The female disciple spoke after the light disappeared, "Just like the previous young lady, you are deeply involved with someone with a heavenly destiny, however, you also..."
When the female disciple noticed the subtle killing intent in Xiao Hua’s eyes, she immediately stopped speaking with a mysterious smile on her face.
After a moment of silence, the female disciple turned to look at Yuan and continued as though Xiao Hua did not exist, "It is very rare for someone to have connections to someone with a heavenly destiny, much less two of them at once. Although it may not seem like it, my heart is beating in anticipation for your results, young man."
"Heavenly destiny... You have mentioned this word a few times now, but what exactly does that mean?" Yuan asked her.
"Well, to put it in simpler terms, they are people who are destined to create massive waves that will greatly affect the world one way or another. There are multiple ranks of destiny like minor destiny that will only affect the lower realms and major destiny that will affect the higher realms, and the highest level of destiny is the heavenly destiny. Only powerful individuals that will affect every realm under the heavens will bear such a destiny." The female disciple explained to him.
"Is that so?" Yuan nodded. While he understood the concept behind it, he didn’t understand the real meaning behind having such a destiny.
’So both Yu Rou and Xiao Hua will be involved with someone like that, huh? I wonder who this person is...’ Yuan pondered to himself as he placed his hands on the Divine Crystal of Heavenly Fortune.
The moment Yuan touched the Divine Crystal of Heavenly Fortune, the crystal ball trembled violently before exploding into many pieces.
"Ah!?" The female disciple cried out in a startled voice when the Divine Crystal of Heavenly Fortune suddenly exploded.
"A-Are you okay?! What happened just now?" Yuan asked her in a surprised voice.
"I-I am not injured, but the Divine Crystal of Heavenly Fortune..." The female disciple looked at the shattered crystal with a terrified look on her face, as she has never experienced something like this before.
"M-Master... the Divine Crystal of Heavenly Fortune... it exploded..." The female disciple lifted her head towards the ceiling and spoke to the empty air.
A moment later, the female disciple spoke again and with a dazed expression on her face, "R-Really? You want me to bring him to you?"
"I-I understand!" The female disciple nodded before looking at Yuan again.
"Umm... My Master would like to speak with you..."
Hearing her words, Yuan rubbed his eyes and sighed in a depressed voice, "I am going to have to pay for destroying the Divine Crystal of Heavenly Fortune, aren’t I?"
"Eh? N-No! That’s not it. It wasn’t your fault that the Divine Crystal of Heavenly Fortune exploded... I think. Anyway, I don’t know why, but my Master would like to speak with you." The female disciple said to him.
"Can we go with him?" Yu Rou suddenly asked.
"I’m sorry, but my Master only asked for his presence..." she responded with an apologetic smile.
However, Xiao Hua grabbed Yuan’s sleeves with a stern look on her face.
Seeing this, the female disciple said with a smile on her face, "You can relax, little girl, we won’t do anything to him."
But alas, Xiao Hua did not move a muscle and continued to grab onto Yuan’s sleeves.
"It’s okay, Xiao Hua. I want you to protect Yu Rou in my stead when I am gone." Yuan said to her. "Make sure nobody bullies her, okay?"
"Okay..." Xiao Hua eventually released his sleeves and watched Yuan disappear with the female disciple shortly later.
"Are you okay, Xiao Hua? You have been acting weirdly ever since we entered this building," Yu Rou asked her.
"Xiao Hua is fine..." she said to her, and she continued a moment later, "But that girl... she’s a very powerful Cultivator that shouldn’t exist in this Lower Heaven..."