CHAPTER 43: CHAPTER 42: BUSINESS

"I have two clients looking for a rare plant, arriving tomorrow. They want to hire someone to guide them and are offering fifty thousand star coins as a reward."

"What plant is it? Do you have a picture? Send it over for a look."

Quick to make money sent over a picture. Over the years, under Hui Hui’s guidance, Li Xing’s understanding of Spirit Plants has deepened significantly. She immediately recognized it as a Spirit Fruit, a small and unremarkable berry about the size of a coffee bean. The fruit has the effect of soothing nerves and relaxing the body and mind. There are indeed such fruits in the Datang Forest, and Li Xing knows where they grow.

"Do you only need to guide them, and nothing else?"

"Yes."

"I’ll take this task. Send me the contract and tell the clients to pay me in equivalent low-grade Crystal Stones." This task is as simple as someone sending money her way.

"Alright! I’ll send you their contact information soon."

A few seconds later, Quick to make money sent over two business cards. Li Xing sent friend requests, and they quickly accepted. Li Xing arranged a meeting time and place with them and rode her small tricycle home.

Returning home, Li Xing flopped onto her bed, comfortably sinking into it, and rolled over. The bedding had the scent of the sun, freshly aired by Anna.

After lying down for a while, feeling that the gloom accumulated over the past few days due to farewell events had been dispelled by the scent of ultraviolet rays, Li Xing finally sat up and took out a bag of mid-grade Crystal Stones, pouring them onto the bed.

These Crystal Stones came from mid-level Star Beasts, but Li Xing could sense that the Elemental Power inside them was much less than that of normal mid-grade Crystal Stones, even comparable to the amount found in low-grade ones.

These Crystal Stones appeared perfectly normal on the surface, yet their quality had deteriorated. It was unclear whether this was related to the berserk state of the Wolf-headed Bats.

To be safe, these Crystal Stones couldn’t be used, let alone enter the market.

Li Xing dejectedly put away the mid-grade Crystal Stones and brought out the last batch of low-grade Crystal Stones from her Spiritual Pendant, piling them in front of her and sighed helplessly.

She has made quite a bit of money over the years. Besides daily expenses, she exchanged it all for low-grade Crystal Stones for cultivation. Others thought she was incredibly wealthy, but only she knew she was as poor as a church mouse.

The Eternal Green Technique is like an endless pit. Initially, the cultivation speed was fast, and the Chaotic Power in the air was enough to level up.

But upon entering the Body Tempering stage, the demand for Chaos Qi in the cultivation technique increased exponentially. Without sufficient Chaos Qi, the cultivation speed plummeted, even coming to a halt.

With this looming sword of bone age overhead, Li Xing had to work hard to earn money to exchange for low-grade Crystal Stones to absorb the Chaos Qi inside, so she could continue to advance her cultivation.

But the more her cultivation improves, the greater her need for Chaos Qi, requiring more Crystal Stones, necessitating earning more money. So Li Xing found herself trapped in a vicious cycle of earning more and getting poorer, unable to extricate herself.

Li Xing shook her head, unwilling to dwell on these bothersome matters. She closed her eyes, gathered her thoughts, and immersed herself in cultivation.

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The Qianyuan Continent is vast and sparsely populated. The distance between towns is quite far, and each city has Teleportation Ports constructed with Space Rune Arrays, undertaking the task of transportation between cities.

In the Teleportation Port of Datang City, two strikingly handsome youths stood to one side of the waiting hall, attracting many admiring glances from the girls around.

Cui Tianxiao complained, "Why aren’t they here yet? No sense of punctuality at all, a bad review!"

Ye Qingting, calmer than him, replied indifferently, "There are still five minutes until the agreed time. We came early, can’t blame others."

"Look, look, look! Have you never seen good-looking guys before? Truly, this is such a backwater, haven’t even seen dual-black, so annoying!" Cui Tianxiao irritably pulled his hat brim down further, hiding his wolf-tail black hair.

He hated the feeling of being scrutinized openly and secretly. It seemed beauty was a sin he had to bear.

"Hello." A crisp young woman’s voice rang out. Cui Tianxiao frowned, thinking she was there to ask for a contact number again. How many times has this happened? When will it end!

Without even looking at the newcomer, Cui Tianxiao replied gruffly, "Not interested! I’m married with three kids! Hurry and leave!"

Li Xing was stunned. Is this guy seriously ill?

"Not going to Datang Forest?"

With that sentence, Cui Tianxiao immediately realized his misunderstanding. Embarrassed, he slightly blushed and looked up at Li Xing.

"Oh, you’re dual-black?" Cui Tianxiao’s eyes lit up. Such pure dual-black is rare even in the Upper Town.

Li Xing raised her eyebrows and retorted, "Aren’t you as well?"

This person has a face that can only be described as stunning, paired with a slender and upright youthful figure that bears an ambiguous beauty. The other young man had sharp eyebrows and bright eyes, exuding an air of nobility; the epitome of a noble family scion’s demeanor.

Cui Tianxiao: "How did you know we were the clients?"

Yang Dawei said he didn’t know what the little white flower looked like and couldn’t provide a picture, so Cui Tianxiao, half in a huff and half reserved, didn’t let Yang Dawei send their pictures to the little white flower. Despite that, she managed to find them among so many people, which was surprising.

Li Xing laughed, "Quick to make money told me two young masters from Upper Town were coming. Among all these people, only your attire and demeanor fit the young master profile, so it wasn’t hard to find you."

Cui Tianxiao huffed through his nose, somewhat satisfied with Li Xing’s explanation.

Ye Qingting nodded towards Li Xing and said, "I’m Qingtian." Then he pointed at Cui Tianxiao, "He’s Ah Xiao."

Clearly, they didn’t want to disclose their real names, so using online names was just fine.

"Hello, I’m the frail little white flower."

Cui Tianxiao lifted his eyelids, looked at Li Xing with a haughty expression, and said, "Your name indicates you know yourself well."

Ye Qingting: "Yang Dawei told us you know where to find what we need?"

"Yes."

With a confirmed answer, Ye Qingting finally felt at ease.

"You should have read the contract, but I feel it’s necessary to reiterate: every Star Beast Forest on the Qianyuan Continent is full of danger. No matter how familiar you are with Datang Forest, there’s no guarantee our journey will be without risks.

Ah Xiao and I will do our best to ensure your safety, but if we encounter particularly powerful Star Beasts, we may not be able to protect you, and you’ll have to take care of yourself. I hope you understand.

To put it bluntly, if you get bitten or killed by a Star Beast, we won’t be held liable. You have a final chance to back out now. If you leave now, I’ll pretend you never took on this task, and you won’t have to pay any penalty fees."

The contract didn’t specify that the clients were responsible for her safety. Helping her would be a kindness, but not helping would be expected. Even without Qingtian’s explanation, Li Xing had no objections and immediately agreed.

The trio left the Teleportation Port, each pulling out their Flying Device.

Cui Tianxiao and Ye Qingting each had a new model all-terrain flying device. Handsome youths with eye-catching mounts made quite the impression.

Looking at Li Xing, she sat in a short children’s version tricycle, her long legs sticking out, looking quite amusing; yet she seemed totally unembarrassed.

Sitting on his flying device, Cui Tianxiao had to tilt his body and lower his head to see Li Xing, quipping:

"I had a flying device like that when I was a child."

Li Xing, casually flipping through her energy stones, nonchalantly replied, "Unexpectedly, Young Master Xiao’s taste and finances are equally brilliant as mine."

Cui Tianxiao was exasperated; couldn’t she detect his blatant sarcasm?

"As I recall, the user manual suggests it’s for children aged three to six."

"Oh, I don’t accept its suggestions."

"..."

Cui Tianxiao was too stung to retort. He turned to seek some consolation from his friend, only to find Ye Qingting gazing at him, amused by seeing him momentarily stumped, which annoyed him immensely.

Li Xing rummaged for a while, discovering her stock of primary energy stones nearly depleted. Since they weren’t in a rush, why waste money? Might as well ride over.

"You two young masters haven’t been to Datang before, right? I’ll take you for a ride through the city to the forest’s edge. Along the way, you can take in Datang’s local customs and culture. Let’s go!"

The little tricycle leisurely drove off. Looking at Li Xing’s departing figure, Ye Qingting said to Cui Tianxiao, "Ah Xiao, I think you should learn from her. Only by not caring too much about others’ opinions can you live freely."

Cui Tianxiao pursed his lips but didn’t argue.