Chapter 169 Ping Gong

While Ping Gong was exhilarated by the taste of meat after a long time, he failed to realize the change that was happening throughout his body.

As for Hung Chao, his eyes nearly popped out by the change of Ping Gong.

'Is this for real? One beef jerky strip could help Ping Gong make a breakthrough?' Hung Chao wondered silently. His jaws dropped as he needed to rub his eyes numerous times to make sure he was seeing things correctly.

Suddenly, he recalled Jiang Ming mentioning that those weren't ordinary beef jerky strips that could be found in the common street vendor.

"C-Could those beef jerky really help a person's breakthrough?" He muttered in disbelief.

Ping Gong remained in a daze as he slowly seeped into an unconscious state where he visualized himself in another dimension.

'Ahh, I can feel the power running through my body. This is what it means to live your life to the fullest~' Ping Gong exclaimed inwardly.

Ping Gong's body started emitting a bright light as his aura slowly rose and directly broke through to the 4th Stage of the Spiritual Lord Realm.

He was energetic and brimmed with life, unlike his previous gloomy and exasperated look.

His hand clenched tightly on the last two beef jerky strips, unwilling to let them go at any cost.

"P-Ping Gong… you actually broke through." Hung Chao raised his finger and pointed at him with a shocked expression. His finger started trembling in fear at such a miraculous yet unbelievable scene.

"Heh, it's all thanks to these beef jerky strips." Ping Gong laughed heartily. Since he was the one to taste the meat personally, he could subtly tell the difference.

"C-Can I have a strip to try?" Hung Chao asked stutteringly. If eating a beef jerky strip could help him breakthrough, then he was willing to do anything for it.

"Get the fuck off me, Hung Chao. A man does not share his food regardless of who it is." Ping Gong held a fierce glint as he directly stored the beef jerky strip in his spatial ring.

"You-" Hung Chao could not believe his shameless attitude. "Hmph, a person hailing from the 6 powerful clans is such a shameless person."

"So what if I'm shameless or not? I traded a ruby crystal for three beef jerky strips." Ping Gong stuck his tongue out.

It was so hard for him to even get a taste of meat, let alone three mystical beef jerky strips that allowed one to break through. There was no way he would be willing to share it with anybody.

Meanwhile, Jiang Ming yawned casually on the side as he witnessed two clowns fighting over his beef jerky strips.

Thanks to his yawning, Hung Chao remembered the origin of the beef jerky strips came from Jiang Ming.

He quickly turned around and held a polite expression at Jiang Ming.

"Fellow cultivator Jing, may I have the pleasure to receive one beef jerky strip from you?" Hung Chao asked.

"No!"

"H-Huh?" Hung Chao was baffled by the swift rejection.

"The beef jerky strips are not free and cost me a fortune to cook. Do you think it's some cheap stuff?" Jiang Ming scoffed coldly.

Hearing that, Hung Chao understood what to do. He hurriedly scoured something valuables in his spatial ring to exchange for a beef jerky strip.

"Fellow cultivator Jing, over here is a 2nd rank healing pill refined by the renowned Alchemist Ren." Hung Chao offered, showing a confident smile.

'Heh, so what if your beef jerky strips have some miraculous effect or not. A pill refined by Alchemist Ren would definitely be worth more than what you can ever get in your life.' Hung Chao sneered inwardly, thinking his pill alone was more than enough to purchase one strip.

"Tch, the Hung Clan sure are a wealthy clan that extorted from the commoners. Only your clan could afford such expenditures without caring." Ping Gong snorted coldly.

"So what? Do you have any proof or evidence in your claim? It's just a hearsay at that point if you can't bring up any evidence to back it up." Hung Chao shrugged his shoulders.

He turned around and stared at Jiang Ming, extending his hand out. He was positive that his pill alone was enough to entice Jiang Ming to agree to his deal.

Alas, he couldn't be any more wrong since Jiang Ming despised pills that are below his standard to the max.

"Get your stupid hand off of me, Hung Chao." Jiang Ming snorted coldly.

"How dare you bring up something like hearsay? Irritating as hell, and you can keep the pill to yourself."

Hung Chao was shocked and speechless when it was the first time someone had rejected him after he offered a healing pill.

A healing pill is a precious item that every clan and household would want to have as much as possible in their storage. After all, a healing pill could save a cultivator's life even when they're in critical danger.

Therefore, everyone would be scrambling to get any kind of healing pill. Yet Jiang Ming acted like it was some sort of plague.

'What the hell is going on? Why isn't this following the script in my play?' Hung Chao showed a pitiful expression, seemingly depressed at the response of Jiang Ming.

Meanwhile, Jiang Ming ignored his fake acting and stood up, ready to leave the area.

Since Ping Gong's behavior and demeanor don't seem to be that of an arrogant young master, Jiang Ming would keep him alive for further investigation.

"Fellow cultivator Jing, please wait a moment." Ping Gong cupped his fist and called him out.

Jiang Ming raised an eyebrow.

"What do you want?" He asked in a stern tone. He was still in a hurry to find some valuables to brag to Yang Liqin.

Ping Gong swallowed some of his saliva nervously as he stuttered, "T-There was a huge commotion in the central area and we were just heading over there to check things out. Would fellow cultivator Jing wish to accompany us?"