The Attack of the Wastrel

“I heard that among the items to be sold today, there is one item that can compare to the Yuli Snow Lotus, the Spirit Cleansing Pill. This pill can thoroughly improve a Martial Student’s Spiritual Roots, to the point that it feels completely different. I don’t know if the rumors are really true or not, but if the price of it is reasonable, then just buy it. That child, Haoyue, is going to become a Martial Practitioner soon.”

This was said by a middle-aged man dressed in an azure robe to another person beside him. They were in the Jubao Pavillion.

“Yes, Great Elder, I have already looked into this matter. The Spirit Cleansing Pill truly does have this sort of effect, but it is unclear whether it really is that amazing. Still, even if the rumors are exaggerated, we can still buy it to let the higher-level alchemists in our clan do research on it, to try to reverse engineer its components so we can mass produce it for ourselves,” Beicheng Lan responded respectfully.

As a distant relative of the Beicheng Family, he would not have the right to stand on equal grounds with the clan’s elders. However, his daughter, Beicheng Haoyue, was beyond talented. This gave him a massive boost to his status, giving him the right to attend the auction with the clan’s Great Elder.

“Mmm, you are indeed thorough. I feel relieved letting you handle this matter,” the Great Elder praised approvingly.

At this auction hosted by the Jubao Pavilion, there were in fact many other families with a similar idea as the Beicheng Clan. All of them had their eyes on the Spirit Cleansing Pill.

Even though most of them had no use for the Spirit Cleansing Pill, it was still extremely beneficial for their juniors. After all, medicines that could improve one’s potential were extremely rare, and those that had a similar effect to the Yuli Snow Lotus was almost non-existent. When the Jubao Pavilion released the news of the Spirit Cleansing Pill two days ago, claiming that it had an even better effect than the Yuli Snow Lotus, it piqued the interest of many people. Even though the Jubao Pavilion had a great reputation, they had to see the pill for themselves. Who knows whether the Pavilion had been hoodwinked by someone?

It was not the first time something like this had never happened before. There were occasions when some Martial Artist would bring something claiming that it was from the ancient era, touting its wondrous effects. In the end, most of these items were just ordinary. Maybe it would be the same this time with the Jubao Pavilion.

“I’ll bet that the final price for the Spirit Cleansing Pill will be at the very least, three million spirit stones,” Ye Fei estimated.

“Hmm, I think it’ll be closer to five million,” Qin Xinran gave her opinion.

“Eight million,” Tianfeng Jin joined in.

Gu Lingzhi’s face twitched, and she wanted to tell them that in fact, the Spirit Cleansing Pill was merely a low grade Black-Level medicine. She thought that a starting price of one million was already much too high, and she was afraid that people would not be interested in it. However, one after another, each of them guessed a value much higher than the previous one.

Seeing that Gu Lingzhi did not offer her own prediction, Ye Fei probed, “Lingzhi, how much do you think the Spirit Cleansing Pill will sell for?”

“… I think two million might be appropriate,” Gu Lingzhi ventured, under Ye Fei’s urging. However, when she heard that, Ye Fei instantly bumped her on the head, scolding, “Unbelievable! This is something that the Black Thorn made, how could you have so little confidence in it? We all gave such a high estimate, you should have at least said something like ten million!”

“Ouch…” Gu Lingzhi rubbed her head and looked extremely wronged. This pill was something that she had made herself, how could she be so shameless as to quote an astronomical price for it?

Seeing Gu Lingzhi rubbing the spot where she was hit, Qin Xinran pressed her hand onto the spot and rubbed gently, as she cooed, “There, there, it’ll be okay if you just blow on it.”

When Gu Lingzhi felt Qin Xinran really blowing on her head, she shivered and immediately batted at Qin Xinran’s hand, stopping her, “I’m not a child, you don’t have to blow on it.”

Qin Xinran looked aggrieved as she said, “You cast aside your friends after finding a lover.”

Gu Lingzhi felt her mind go blank, as she exclaimed, “What?!”

Really, wasn’t this jump in logic a little too extreme?!

“From the day school reopened, you hardly hung out with us. Even when we’re with you, we’re always being pushed aside by those flower boys of yours.”

Gu Lingzhi felt guilty for a moment as she replied, “Trust me, I’m not having a good time myself…”

“Oh really? But when you’re with the Third Prince, you don’t seem unhappy at all!” Qin Xinran retorted, rubbing where Gu Lingzhi had hit her. “You’re already engaged, you know. If I don’t take the chance now, after you get married to the Third Prince, I won’t have the chance to mess around with you anymore.”

In fact, though Qin Xinran was the last person in the Royal School that students would cross, on the other hand, Qin Xinran did not dare to bring trouble to the Third Prince. Indeed, ever since Rong Yuan had started showing up around Gu Lingzhi, Qin Xinran had essentially stopped appearing. As for the reason…it had to be traced back to when she first entered the palace with her father, a long time ago.

At that time, Qin Xinran had just awakened her Spiritual Roots and learnt a few simple Martial Skills techniques. That competitive streak within her that was the complete contrast of her sweet appearance surfaced, and she was constantly looking for people to compete with. It did not matter how high the other person’s cultivation level was. As long as she was interested in that person, she would pester them until she could thoroughly beat them.

This obnoxious behaviour continued until she met Rong Yuan, who at that time had just graduated from the Royal School.

On that day, Qin Xinran was behaving as she normally was, going about challenging all the guards within the palace. Given her status as the beloved daughter of the Qin household, she had already given most of the guards in the palace a hard time. Then, Rong Yuan showed up, instantly catching her attention. No matter what, she wanted to fight against him.

How did Rong Yuan react at that time? Was it a mocking smile? Perhaps a cold one? Or maybe a smile full of mischief? She couldn’t remember anymore, but she did remember thinking that the Third Prince was extremely dashing, more so than any other man she had seen before. If she could beat him up, would he become obsessed with her? Wouldn’t that be absolutely great? In fact, even if she made him detest her, that would be great too.

Therefore, young Qin Xinran domineeringly walked up to Rong Yuan, pointing a finger at him, before saying the words she had regretted ever since, “I want to challenge you.”

Rong Yuan had heard about this girl from his subordinates, and hearing her issue her challenge, he felt extremely amused. At the same time, he wanted to teach her a lesson on what it meant to know her limits and not overestimate herself.

And that was how Qin Xinran was flogged.