"Oh, that's right," Sun Lingtong continued to remind.
"Don't forget about the Fetal Breathing Spirit Boat. If you ever want to negotiate and purchase this heirloom treasure, the price... I can hardly dare to think about it."
Sun Lingtong suggested, "Otherwise, let's make a move together and turn Ten Thousand Medicine Sect upside down!"
"Pluck all their medicinal herbs, sell them on a grand scale, and we'll definitely make a large sum of money."
"Then find an opportunity to steal the Fetal Breathing Spirit Boat and that will settle everything!"
Ning Jiufan shook his head and remained silent.
Sun Lingtong said, "Relying on the Ten-Thousand-Li Travelling Dragon, we still have a very good chance."
"Right, I'll take action myself. You, Little Zhuo, should be active elsewhere at that time, fabricating an alibi."
"You still need your reputation."
Ning Jiufan shook his head and sighed, "Big Brother, let's talk about this later. Let's wait for our family elder to come over first."
Yesterday, he had already received the letter sent by Ning Jiufan before he set out.
The letter, passed on through post stations, arrived at Ten Thousand Medicine Valley even faster than Ning Jiufan himself.
Several days later.
At Little Struggle Peak, in the Martial Arts Arena.
Ning Jiufan's sparring session with Hanzhou had ended.
Drenched in sweat, Ning Jiufan stared at Hanzhou, his gaze slightly blank.
The thought occurred to him—what if he treated Hanzhou as a treasure material for making mechanisms, how much cost could he save?
"I truly am horribly poor," Ning Jiufan chuckled to himself, shaking his head to dismiss this ridiculous idea.
"Human life is precious! To use Hanzhou in such a way would indeed be a huge waste."
Since the last reminder from Sun Lingtong, he had been feeling the financial pressures lately, pondering what he could do to make a large sum of money.
Exhausted, Hanzhou asked with curious and some kind of expectant tone, "Daoist Fellow Ning Jiufan, the day of Little Struggle is approaching, who do you plan to challenge this time?"
Ning Jiufan shook his head, "In the short term, I plan to consolidate a bit. To me, the only ones worth challenging now are Zheng Xingchen and Lai Wuying."
Hanzhou nodded.
He had sparred with Ning Jiufan several times, gaining a fuller understanding of the latter's combat strength.
Despite Ning Jiufan's mere early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivation level, his combat strength was quite formidable thanks to his Mechanical Fist and Feet, definitely first-rate among those at Little Struggle Peak.
Chang Yan, Hua Guzi, and Ning Jiufan were already acknowledged to be in a class of their own.
And subtly above this class were only two individuals, whose past achievements left the others far behind. Zheng and Lai, even when fighting against Chang Yan, Hua Guzi, Luo Xiao, and others, were seldom defeated.
The two left the Martial Arts Arena and walked side by side.
Passers-by who saw them would all actively salute and greet them.
Whether it was Ning Jiufan or Hanzhou, both were well-known figures within Little Struggle Peak.
Hanzhou's strength was remarkable. The low ranking of his Cave Mansion was mainly for two reasons:
One was that he cultivated the Suffering Scripture, which required him to endure hardship. Even without hardships, he had to deliberately seek them out to maintain the Bitter Cold True Intent in his Upper Dantian.
The other was so he could easily challenge other Cave Mansions from below and then deliberately "lose" to others, earning related profits.
The Suffering Scripture was one of the cultivation techniques Ning Jiufan knew of that required the least resources.
Even so, Hanzhou still had to work hard to earn Spirit Stones and the like, to facilitate the accumulation of mana and maintain his cultivation.
After all, cultivation is nothing but converting the material and energy of the outside world into one's own strength through certain methods and cultivation techniques.
As for Ning Jiufan, his renown had now spread throughout the whole Ten Thousand Medicine Valley.
His fight with Hua Guzi had completely displayed his combat ability, silencing the doubters.
With his combat ability recognized, Ning Jiufan's life became much more peaceful, with no more public opinion targeted at him.
Ning Jiufan understood in his heart: apart from his own display of strength, the eldest brother of Ten Thousand Medicine Sect, Linghu Jiu, must have also made a move, causing his junior brothers to restrain themselves and stop troubling Ning Jiufan.
The only downside was...
"Young Master Ning Jiufan, we meet again by chance!" Around the corner, Hua Guzi rushed out like a blaze of fire.
Ning Jiufan and Hanzhou were taken aback.
"By chance?" Ning Jiufan's mouth twitched, "A chance meeting three times a day... Daoist Fellow Hua, I've already made it clear to you, there's no need for your apologies or your dumplings."
Ning Jiufan sighed, feeling utterly helpless.
As for Hanzhou, he marveled in his heart that such a scene was actually taking place right before his eyes!
A few days ago, Hua Guzi came to apologize and brought Spirit Food Dumplings, which Ning Jiufan rejected on the spot.
Hanzhou had thought Hua Guzi would make a scene.
Instead, the next day, she came to apologize again, bringing a different set of dumplings, which was quite surprising to Hanzhou.
What surprised him even more was that Ning Jiufan still refused, avoiding her as much as possible.
Hanzhou privately advised Ning Jiufan to drop his guard a little, after all, Hua Guzi was a formidable fighter who had already apologized, there was no need to turn a potential friend into an enemy.
Instead, Ning Jiufan just told him, "You don't understand."
What followed shook Hanzhou's understanding of the world profoundly.
No matter how much Ning Jiufan refused, Hua Guzi did not get upset but licked her face and continued to apologize incessantly. From once a day before, now it was three times a day, with increased intensity!
The colder Ning Jiufan was towards her, the more energetic she became, her attitude towards Ning Jiufan becoming almost ingratiating!
"Is this really necessary?!" Hanzhou always thought that even if Hua Guzi lost to Ning Jiufan, she was still considered in the same league on Little Struggle Peak, a high-level Foundation Establishment expert.
But she lost all the bearing of an expert and was like a dog.
Of course, she remained the same to others. It was only when facing Ning Jiufan that her attitude abruptly changed, becoming extremely humble and ingratiating.
After much puzzlement, Hanzhou finally turned his gaze to Ning Jiufan's face.
He had an epiphany.
"Has Hua Guzi reached the point where her heart is overflowing with spring feelings?"
This was the only answer that could somewhat ease Hanzhou's bewilderment.
"Young Master Ning Jiufan obviously sees Hua Guzi's feelings and doesn't want to lead her on, so he keeps refusing her coldly."
Ning Zhuo's peculiar behavior suddenly had an explanation.
"How did I not think of that?"
"Looking back, Young Master Ning Zhuo's reaction was quite spirit sensitive. That very day, he noticed something was off and was utterly indifferent towards Hua Guzi."
Hanzhou secretly admired Ning Zhuo. If it were him, he most definitely would not have noticed the shift in Hua Guzi's mindset.
"As expected of a son carefully cultivated by a cultivator family."
"Presumably, such pursuits by women are something Young Master Ning Zhuo has encountered many times. Hence, Hua Guzi's behavior immediately triggered his response."
"When comparing people with each other, it really is..."
Hanzhou looked at Ning Zhuo, then surveyed himself, shaking his head incessantly, his heart a mix of emotions.
"Young Master Ning Zhuo, this is my meticulously cultivated gold-plated phoenix tail flower. I earnestly pray that you will accept it, please!" Hua Guzi's eyes widened as she stared intently at Ning Zhuo, her face full of longing and hope.
Her pitiable look, as if she were about to burst into tears the next moment, made Hanzhou, a cultivator who practiced Buddhist scriptures, reluctant to refuse.
But Ning Zhuo still rejected her mercilessly.
"How many times have I said that I need your apology? I bid you farewell, Daoist Fellow Hua."
Ning Zhuo walked past Hua Guzi, continuing on his way.
"Young Master Ning Zhuo!" Behind him, Hua Guzi turned around, calling out sadly, her tears rolling down, stirring a sense of desolation in the hearts of those who witnessed it.
Ning Zhuo walked even faster, all because through Life Hanging Thread, he sensed a strong excitement and joy in the depths of Hua Guzi's heart.
Yuanlai Mountain.
Lin Shanshan stared at the intelligence in her hands, her expression ugly: "What's with this Hua Guzi?"
"Ever since she was defeated by Young Master Ning Zhuo, she has been clinging to him, with absolutely no regard for her dignity!"
Lin Shanshan clenched her teeth in anger.
The good news of Ning Zhuo's victory over Hua Guzi had pleased her for not even a few days before she received such an intelligence report.
"Young Master Ning Zhuo rejected her again?"
"I'm so glad he did!"
"Young Master Ning Zhuo, with such insight, naturally knows of your sinister intentions, how could he be easily deceived by you?"
Lin Shanshan's gaze was cold.
Her personal maid, Xiaoju, stretched out her hand fearfully and waved it in front of Lin Shanshan: "Miss, please come to your senses, don't look at me like that, I'm Xiaoju, Xiaoju, not Hua Guzi."
Lin Shanshan was startled, then came to her senses and hastily apologized to Xiaoju.
Little Struggle Peak.
Ning Zhuo's cave mansion.
"What's with this Hua Guzi?" Sitting cross-legged on a cushion, Ning Zhuo also felt troubled.
He had not expected that a direct cold refusal not only failed to deter Hua Guzi, but instead made her even more excited and persistent.
"Boss, what should we do under these circumstances?" It was the first time Ning Zhuo had encountered such a person and, unwilling to harm her lightly, he sought Sun Lingtong's opinion first.
Sun Lingtong laughed heartily from within the Mechanical Dragon.
It was just too amusing.
As Ning Zhuo aged, Sun Lingtong saw fewer instances of him being put in a spot.
Sun Lingtong really wanted to see more, so he held back his laughter and pretended to be serious: "Little Zhuo, in fact, Hua Guzi is a pitiable person."
Ning Zhuo: "?"
Sun Lingtong continued, "Do you think her temperament is normal?"
"It's a twisted temperament, indicating that she suffered more and more terrible traumas in her childhood."
Ning Zhuo was silent for a while: "Hearing you put it like that, I now feel differently about Hua Guzi."
Sun Lingtong struck his palm with a fist: "So, you should take action to save her."
Ning Zhuo: "Ah?"
Sun Lingtong added, "Such a temperament makes it easy for her to become extreme. If you keep rejecting her like this, what if one day she becomes desperate and seeks her own death?"
Ning Zhuo still had his own ideas: "That's unlikely, right? Every time I reject her, she seems secretly pleased."
Sun Lingtong shook his head: "You can't be certain with such people."
"Just fear that from love she may come to hate, and if she can't have you, she might seek to destroy you!"
Ning Zhuo frowned and sneered: "The only reason I haven't made a move on her is that I'm concerned about the rules here and value my reputation. If in the future she..."
"No, no, no," Sun Lingtong interrupted, "Little Zhuo, you've misunderstood me."
"What I mean is, instead of letting her potentially come to hate you out of love, it'd be better for you to preemptively make your move and win her over."
"Her temperament is usually cultivated into that of a death soldier."
"This is a crazy blade that needs to be carefully used. If handled poorly, it can harm oneself."
Ning Zhuo shook his head repeatedly: "She's too crazy, to think that there are such people in this world! Alas, I actually don't want to have any interaction with her."
Sun Lingtong: "If you truly leave her be, it's very dangerous. Even if she doesn't go after you, what about the branch family you're creating? What then?"
"Given her current attitude towards you, tell me, when we leave, won't she go looking for you in the Fire Persimmon Immortal City?"
Ning Zhuo's frown deepened.
"Boss, you're right. But I have a premonition that if I agree and partially accept Hua Guzi, it will likely not end well."
At that moment, a flying message arrived.
Upon unfolding it, it was a note from Hua Guzi.
Ning Zhuo's complexion went slightly pale with a tinge of panic in his voice: "Boss, what do I do? Now she's coming directly to my cave mansion!"
Sun Lingtong scanned the letter with his divine sense: "Little Zhuo, don't panic. Look carefully at the content of the letter, Hua Guzi is actually offering to apologize with the cultivation methods of seven exotic flowers."
"This is good stuff. If you give it to the family for use and it can scale up to become a business in the future, wouldn't our resources for cultivation be guaranteed?"
"These are priceless treasures."
Ning Zhuo took a careful look, and indeed it was as such.
He fell into a brief silence.
A moment later, he let Hua Guzi into his cave mansion.