Volume 1, Chapter 48: Bringing Gifts to the Door

"This alchemy furnace..."

Looking at the alchemy furnace taken out by Li Hanzhou, Sun Yaoxian examined it closely, feeling a lingering sense of familiarity. However, with Li Hanzhou standing right in front of him, it wouldn't be proper to stare for too long.

"Then I must thank Temple Master Li. In that case, the rest of the materials for the Heavenly Vein Pill will be provided by the Medicine King Valley." Sun Yaoxian accepted the alchemy furnace gifted by Li Hanzhou.

After exchanging a few more courteous remarks, Li Hanzhou saw Sun Yaoxian off from the Longevity Temple.

"Phew!"

Li Hanzhou let out a long breath.

That Azure Dragon Hundred Flames belonged to Sun Yaoxian in the first place. His storage pouch had accidentally claimed the man's furnace, so returning it could be considered giving it back to its rightful owner. It was just that Li Hanzhou felt a bit awkward about handing over the Azure Dragon Hundred Flames directly, so he had smeared a layer of white oil all over it beforehand. Coupled with the late hour, Sun Yaoxian hadn't looked closely and had only found it vaguely familiar for the moment.

"Uncle-Master."

At that moment, Shi Ming stepped forward and said earnestly to Li Hanzhou, "I don't need any Heavenly Vein Pill. I'll just cultivate diligently. Even though the progress will be very slow, I will work hard."

"The Fountain of Youth is a supreme treasure of the Heavenly Mystery Academy. The Heavenly Mystery Academy is one of the top powers in the entire Dongyan Province; they won't simply hand that item over to us easily."

"Don't worry."

Li Hanzhou stroked Shi Ming's head and said with a smile, "Leave the rest to me. You don't need to fret. It's just the Fountain of Youth; there will always be a way."

"Alright."

Since Li Hanzhou had put it that way, Shi Ming simply nodded.

Right then, a servant approached and reported, "Temple Master, a guest is here to see you, claiming to be from God Peak Mountain."

"Please show him in," Li Hanzhou said with a smile.

"Understood!"

Shi Ming, standing nearby, looked puzzled and asked, "Uncle-Master, why are people from God Peak Mountain here?"

"To deliver gifts to our Longevity Temple," Li Hanzhou replied.

"Ah?" Shi Ming didn't understand why God Peak Mountain would send gifts to the Longevity Temple.

Before long, a representative from God Peak Mountain was led before Li Hanzhou, who cupped his fists politely and said, "Luo Zixia of God Peak Mountain greets Temple Master Li."

"Brother Luo."

After bringing Luo Zixia into the main hall and offering him a seat, Li Hanzhou had tea served. He then asked courteously, "I wonder what brings Brother Luo to my Longevity Temple so late at night?"

"I heard..." Luo Zixia lowered his voice and asked, "that Liu Dongyue was injured during his duel with the Martial Essence Sect. Is that true?"

"Brother Luo, you mustn't talk nonsense. Dongyue is doing perfectly well. Those people from the Martial Essence Sect couldn't even scratch him a bit." Li Hanzhou abruptly stood up, walked anxiously to the door to glance outside, and then turned back to say, "Brother Luo, please don't make such jokes. Nothing of the sort happened."

Seeing Li Hanzhou's expression, Luo Zixia became certain that his guess was true nine times out of ten.

He chuckled and said, "Brother Luo, there's no need to be nervous. I didn't mean anything else. I've simply been watching Dongyue's performances lately and grown very fond of the boy, worrying that he might have been hurt in today's match. That's why I made a special trip to check on him, and also to bring him something."

With that, he produced a box.

"Inside are the Xuanji Pills, unique medicinal pills of my God Peak Mountain. No matter how severe the injury, taking just a single pill will restore one quite well. I hope Brother Luo won't look down on it." As he spoke, he pushed the box forward.

"Brother Luo, you shouldn't have gone to all this trouble just by coming, yet you still brought a gift. I feel quite embarrassed," Li Hanzhou said quickly, while smoothly pocketing the Xuanji Pills without missing a beat.

Seeing Li Hanzhou pocket the item with such ease, Luo Zixia was left slightly speechless.

How could this Li Hanzhou be so different on the inside compared to his outward demeanor?

After exchanging a few more pleasantries, Luo Zixia took his leave.

Not long after, several other high-ranking figures from various sects successively arrived at the Longevity Temple to pay visits, all of them coming to deliver medicine to Liu Dongyue. They were terrified that Liu Dongyue might lose to the Ruthless Valley tomorrow, leaving Qiu Zhangdao and the others with no chance at all.

This series of operations left Shi Ming completely bewildered.

After meeting with the high-ranking officials of various sects, Li Hanzhou finally went to see Liu Dongyue.

"Dongyue, don't push yourself too hard with cultivation. Tomorrow..."

Just as Li Hanzhou expected Liu Dongyue to be hard at work cultivating, upon stepping into the room, he found that Liu Dongyue had cleaned himself up until he was fragrant, changed into a brand-new outfit, and was admiring himself in the mirror.

Li Hanzhou: "..."

"Uncle-Master."

Seeing Li Hanzhou enter, Liu Dongyue hurriedly put down what was in his hands and greeted him respectfully.

"Are you admiring yourself?" Li Hanzhou asked speechlessly.

"Well, aren't I sparring with the Ruthless Valley tomorrow? I heard the Ruthless Fairy is peerlessly beautiful, so I figured I should tidy up and dress properly. We wouldn't want to disgrace the reputation of our Longevity Temple, right?" Liu Dongyue said with some embarrassment.

"Fussing over such useless things."

Li Hanzhou remarked speechlessly, "You are now firmly the undisputed number one below the Transcendence Realm. Once you've challenged the prodigies of all the sects, what kind of women won't you be able to have? Even if you wore ragged clothes, swarms of beauties would still throw themselves into your arms. Acting like this just because you met a beauty from the Ruthless Valley—that's what actually disgraces the Longevity Temple!"

"But Uncle-Master, my title as the number one below Transcendence relies entirely on your pills," Liu Dongyue said with a bitter smile.

He knew all of this was a facade. If they were to compare true strength, any random opponent he had encountered over the past few days could have pinned him to the ground and beaten him.

"Everything will come in time." Li Hanzhou patted Liu Dongyue's shoulder and said, "In the future, you might very well be the number one in the entire world. If you can trample them underfoot now, you can do the same in the future. Cultivate diligently, strive to ascend, and in the days to come, your Uncle-Master will still be relying on you."

After Li Hanzhou fed him these grand aspirations, Liu Dongyue was indeed filled with boundless confidence.

As the night grew darker, however, White Cloud City erupted into a commotion.

When those martial artists arrived at the Hundred Flowers Residence to buy advance tickets for tomorrow's duel featuring the Ruthless Fairy, they discovered to their shock that all the tickets were completely sold out!

Every single one of them had been bought up!

This left them dumbfounded.

How the hell were they supposed to watch the match without tickets?!

Yet, just as these people were trying to figure out what was going on, a few figures suddenly emerged from the crowd.

"Selling tickets! Selling tickets! VIP tickets for tomorrow's duel of the Ruthless Fairy, fifty thousand taels of silver each! Anyone interested?"

"I've got inner-court tickets right here, ten thousand taels of silver each! Fair prices for young and old alike!"

"Outer-court tickets for five thousand taels! Buy while stocks last, they'll be gone in a moment!"

As soon as these words were uttered, a massive uproar swept through the entire crowd!

The prices had actually been jacked up by this much!

Across the street on the second floor of a tavern, Jiang Yixuan sat looking down at the ticket-selling area, smiling faintly.

Seated opposite Jiang Yixuan was none other than Lu Tianxing.

"Holy Master, why have the ticket prices suddenly surged this much?" Lu Tianxing asked with a frown. "If the Longevity Temple finds out someone is maliciously inflating ticket prices, won't they step in to manage it?"

"Manage it?"

Jiang Yixuan smiled and said, "I'm afraid this is precisely the Longevity Temple's own doing!"