CH 89

Chapter 59 – Marketplace

“Xu Disheng!” Bai Zhehua welcomed him back with a smile. “5,675th place! Congratulations!”

Bai Zhehua had long expected Xu Disheng’s placement. After all, he knew that Xu Disheng had some Spirit Gathering Pills on hand. The first match of the Internal Disciple Tournament was extremely simple and crude. As long as you had enough medicinal pills, it was easy to enter the top 10,000.

Xu Disheng was holding the jade bottle in his hand. From beginning to end, he had been moving the wooden boat forward at top speed, periodically tossing Spirit Gathering Pills, which cost 20 spirit stones a piece, into his mouth. However, at the beginning, he had wasted a bit too much time. But this placement was still within his expectations.

“Many thanks, Senior Martial Brother,” Xu Disheng responded. He was only looking at the two shimmering ranking lists on high.

“Sea of Qi division, First Match Ranking. First place, Yu Yangyao.”

“Dao Foundation division, First Match Ranking, Mu Rongsi.”

The first place genius in the Dao Foundation division was actually female!

The top 100 of the Dao Foundation division had long finished the first match, but the Sea of Qi division was still flashing as it updated past the rankings of the top 7,000 or so.

“Not bad!” Lu Changge, seated on high, said with a smile as he glanced over.

Bai Honghua, who was seated next to him, also smiled faintly as he looked at Xu Disheng, giving him a slight nod.

After a while, a peak Sea of Qi stage disciple standing by Lu Changge’s side came up to Xu Disheng and said, “Junior Martial Brother Xu, take out your storage pouch. The Peak Master has spirit stones to reward you.”

Xu Disheng looked into his own storage pouch at the big pile of storage pouches. He randomly took out one of them.

That disciple portioned out 100 spirit stones and put them into Xu Disheng’s storage pouch. Then, he smiled and said, “Congratulations, Junior Martial Brother Xu.”

Nearby, Bai Zhehua spoke up. “Senior Martial Brother Lu, why did you not participate in the tournament this time?” he asked.

Lu Zimo was a direct descendent of the Peak Master, Lu Changge. With a wry smile, he responded, “You might not be aware, but the Peak Master doesn’t allow any of us direct descendents to participate in the tournaments. The reasons are a bit difficult to speak about, so let’s just not talk about it.”

When he finished speaking, he turned around and went over to another disciple who had just returned, similarly handing him his spirit stones.

That disciple was called Ge Sheng, and he had earned 7,820th place. While receiving the spirit stones from Lu Zimo, he glanced at Xu Disheng out of the corner of his eye and said, “Senior Martial Brother Lu, this early Sea of Qi stage guy got 5,000th or so? Are you sure there’s no mistake?”

Lu Zimo nodded and replied, “That’s right. What’s the matter, Junior Martial Brother?”

In a somewhat passive-aggressive manner, Ge Sheng said, “The Peak Master said that the top 5,000 would be rewarded 100 spirit stones. How come he didn’t place in the top 5,000 and still got 100 spirit stones? We’re missing 50 spirit stones here, aren’t we? Then as someone who placed 7,000th or so, shouldn’t I also get 100 spirit stones?”

Of course, this disciple wouldn’t have dared to say this directly to the Peak Master.

Lu Zimo normally helped Lu Changge carry out various tasks in the Peak, so he still had some degree of prestige. But at the moment, there were a lot of disciples nearby watching, so Ge Sheng summoned the confidence to stand his ground and speak up.

Lu Zimo’s expression turned cold as he looked at Ge Sheng. “What? Junior Martial Brother Ge, could it be that you aren’t satisfied with the Peak Master’s decisions?”

Ge Sheng cupped his fist and replied, “I don’t dare to say that. It’s just that according to what the respected Peak Master had said, only those in the top 5,000 would receive 100 spirit stones. I was just a little bit unconvinced, that’s all.”

As he spoke, he intentionally raised his voice a little so that all of the disciples of Morning Dew Peak could hear.

There were also some people who had placed after 5,000th who had similarly received 50 spirit stones. Seeing that there was someone taking the initiative, they began to agree repeatedly, taking a united stand in criticizing Xu Disheng and Lu Zimo.

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Bai Zhehua stood to the side, his complexion ugly. He wanted to speak up, but he didn’t quite know what to say.

These spirit stones were indeed added on as a bonus, but it was only because of Xu Disheng’s early Sea of Qi stage cultivation.

They originally thought that Xu Disheng would only manage to barely enter the top 10,000, but they didn’t imagine that he would actually be able to place somewhere in the middle ranks. Lu Changge managed to earn back the face that he lost in his banter with the Peak Master of the neighboring Falling Snow Peak, Shi Jiayu, so in a moment of excitement, he instructed Lu Zimo to give him an additional 50 spirit stones as bonus.

However, as the Peak Master and a Dao Foundation stage powerhouse, how could he be allowed to easily go back on his word?

Lu Zimo pondered for a moment before replying, “The Peak Master only rewarded him 50 spirit stones, no more, no less. The other 50 spirit stones were given to him because he personally favored Junior Martial Brother Xu. What’s wrong with that? Does that inconvenience you all in any way?”

The several disciples looked angry, as if they didn’t expect Lu Zimo to say this.

However, he didn’t even know Xu Disheng beforehand, so who would believe that he would give him an extra 50 spirit stones out of nowhere?

No one said anything.

But in the face of a justifiable pretense, the momentum behind these several disciples disappeared.

“You still won’t stand down? What are you all surrounding us for? Are you trying to make a joke of us for no reason?” Lu Zimo reprimanded, his tone cold and strict.

The disciples all retreated, embarrassed. But among the crowd, there were many people silently sizing up Xu Disheng.

“Thank you, Senior Martial Brother Lu,” Xu Disheng said. Just now, he only played the role of a bystander and hadn’t said anything.

After all, just now Lu Zimo was speaking on behalf of the Peak Master. As the one standing to benefit from all of this, it wouldn’t be good if he were to hastily butt in. It was better for him to stand silently off to the side and leave it to Lu Zimo to handle it.

Lu Zimo nodded and said, “Junior Martial Brother Xu, in the main tournament, you’ll be fine as long as you weigh your abilities and act accordingly. Just remember, you’re still at the early Sea of Qi stage right now, so there’s no need to rush.”

With that, he returned back to the seats of honor in the circle of light and went to stand by Peak Master Lu Changge’s side once more.

These words of caution were spoken out of good intention.

Bai Zhehua looked at Ge Sheng and the other disciples who had spoken up just now and snorted coldly. Then, he brought Xu Disheng along with him out of the Morning Dew Peak’s circle of light.

“Junior Martial Brother Xu, there are still 3 days until the main tournament. Is there anything you still need to prepare? If you don’t have enough spirit stones, just let me know,” Bai Zhehua said after the two of them walked to the lakeside of Lotus Lake.

Xu Disheng nodded and replied, “Are there any marketplaces near here? I accidentally came across some possessions while I was in the Mirror Ocean. I want to get rid of those things and exchange them for spirit stones as soon as possible.”

Astounded, Bai Zhehua said, “You obtained some things while in the Mirror Ocean? It couldn’t be that you picked up some disciple’s storage pouch or something like that, did you? If you have more than enough spirit stones, you can buy some puppets. They can raise your combat power by a lot in a short time. Or you can purchase some talismans, which can also help you achieve the same effect. Although they can only erupt with instantaneous power, they’re extremely effective.” Bai Zhehua thought for a while before continuing, “The biggest marketplace in the Mingxin Mountain Range is nearby. It’s on Passing Sin Peak, on one side of Mingxin Peak. If you want to go, I can bring you there.”

Xu Disheng nodded curtly and said, “Then I’ll have to trouble you, Senior Martial Brother Bai.”

He took out his own black Spirit Cloud from his storage pouch, and was about to hop on.

Bai Zhehua shook his head, taking out his own purple flying sword. “Junior Martial Brother Xu, now that you have some wealth on hand, it’s really about time you get a new flying-type Spirit Tool.”

His black Spirit Cloud had mysteriously disappeared when he entered the Mirror Ocean, but when he exited the Mirror Ocean from the blue gate of light, it once again appeared by his side. The Mirror Ocean was extremely profound and mysterious. Although flying-type Spirit Tools couldn’t be brought in, it could conveniently return them to their appropriate owners based on their jade identity tablets.

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Passing Sin Peak was ranked 58th in the Mingxin Mountain Range, but because of its marketplace, it was extremely famous. The Peak Master, Yi Yuanming, was at the half-step Divine Core stage, and he was just a little bit away from being conferred a title as Spirit Master.