" I have a proposition", Ye Longtian seriously stated as he stopped poking the poor steak. His subordinates quieted down as Di Xueyan looks at him curiosly while tilting her head, mouth full of steak.
" What is it?", she asks curiously, scratching her head, confused as to what she can offer to this handsome boss.
" Give me the acupuncture technique, and I will give you a book", he said with a straight face. The whole place went silent again. The morning breeze passed through them, carrying some leaves and dust with it.
Di Xueyan looks at him doubtfully. She knows that he will likely try to get the technique, but to exchange it with a book? How precious that book might be that it can be compared with his comfortable life!? A greedy itch in her heart makes her wanna succumb, but her mind says to make the best out of thw situation.
" Just for a damned book? You want to exchange my mother's hard earned acupuncture technique that can suppress your relapse just for a book? Are you daydreaming or what?", she raises her chin while smirking.
' He surely is rich, what wrong will I do to the world if I will rob him in return of a piece of paper that I already memorized?', she though slyly.
Ye Longtian saw the greedy flash in her eyes. He rolls his eyes inwardly, this girl is the only one, aside from his family, who has the guts to try to negotiate to him. As long as it is not some secret techniques of his sect, he decided to humor her. It is not as if he is already poor to not be able to satisfy this greedy creature.
" What else do you want?", he coldly stare straightforwardly, making Di Xueyan blush a little. She just shrug it off and lean forward.
" First, give me that book. Second, five hundred thousand purple spirit mineral and third, you have to eat this", she said while taking a little porcelain jar in her storage ring and shakes it. A little tinkling sound echoed through the silence, coupled with the girl's smug face, the surrounding became strangely eerie, as if something ominous will happen.
Di Xueyan knew that he will surely fulfill the conditions except the third one, 'who in their right minds will eat a stranger's food?' Then something dawned on her mind as she stares at the black clothed men,
' this idiots', she smiles as she inwardly shakes her head, finding them cute, unlike their master.
Never would she imagine that the people she called idiots are the continent's top notch mercenaries that can kill people as if they are just some weeds that needs to be cut in a lawn. How would she know that her cooking style is different from the people in the central region? If in the four kingdoms their cuisine can be leveled as ordinary in Di Xueyan's palate, the foods in the central region will be considered very bland and plainly uneatable for her.
To preserve the spirit qi in the ingredients, the people in the central region will delicately chop, mix and spice their foods up to prevent the conflicts of the different elements of the of the food that may lead to spirit qi loss.
Though cultivators already has different body constitutions than those of the ordinary people, they still need to eat food to stay alive, though the higher the cultivation level, the less likely they have to eat. Only gods are exempted of that kind of mundane needs.
To prevent spirit qi loss, the people in the central region disregarded their sense of taste to make the most out of the food.
That is how crazy they are in cultivating.
As expected, Ye Longtian looks at her skeptically. Though his face remains cold, you can see that his brows frown very lightly, lightly in a sense that if she is not observant enough, she can't even distinguish the difference.
" No worries, this is not a poison, I am not that crazy to poison someone that I just saved right? And besides, I am very certain that you are rich, don't tell me that you can't bear to part with your five hundred thousand purple spirit mineral?", she taunted while looking at him up and down, trying to make herself believable by looking as if she is offended and has no choice but to mock him.
Ye Longtian is observant enough to know that she is just acting and is just trying to incite him, else, he would not be where he is now. A strange glint flashed in his eyes before it vanished into nothingness.
Actually, he is skeptical. He has never encountered someone who sells a priceless treasure so cheaply as her. It is not that he is complaining, but he was just used at his mother and sister's exhorting method. The girl never even realized that she is in the losing end in this deal.
" Deal', he lightly replied as if her conditions never bothered him In the first place.
Di Xueyan is genuinely surprised that she does not have to speak a lot of nonsense to make him agree. She raises her right brows and stares at him with her head held high before smirking like a little devil that she is. She looks at his shadow guards who seem to have no reactions at their master's decision.
' Shouldn't they stop their brainless master in agreeing to this ridiculous risk?', her stare is mocking every time their eyes met. She can't help but to remember those cute little shadow guards of hers who were the only few who has the guts to question her decisions whenever her life is already on the line.
' Luckily, even if those cuties have the guts to nag me, at least they are concerned ', she smiles inwardly at the thought of them.
Never would she imagine that the rigid faces at her sides are already trying their best to curb their urges to warn her about their master's cunningness. Even though they are basically strangers, they still are a little fond of the girl who can cook delicious foods without wasting the natural spirit qi of the ingredients. As people who only eat beneficial food, they were all shocked at how delicious her foods were just like the way it smells. In central region, delicious smells are everywhere in the streets, but those are all just for 'attracting costumers' purposes only. It is not even exaggerated to say that the people there taste with their noses instead of their tongues.
The shadow guards saw her mocking stare. They really want her to realize that their master is just scamming her but when they saw their master's cold face, they can only swallow their urges.
' Young miss, we can only let you swallow a grievance for now', they all thought, swearing in their hearts that if they saw her again in the future, they will treat her right.
" Here is your five hundred thousand purple spirit mineral", Ye Longtian rudely tosses an extravagant looking storage ring making Di Xueyan twitch her lips.
' Looking at this storage ring, this must worth a huge sum of money. Is five hundred thousand purple spirit mineral so little in his eyes that he can just toss it as if it does not even worth anything to him?', she muses internally, debating with her inner self. Just looking at his reaction, she felt stupid for exhorting a little money out of him. If only she knew.
" Can you please stop that annoying expression of yours?", she frowned irritatedly like a child, forgetting to keep her smiling face in full view.
The shadow guards looks at her and their master back and forth.
' Missy, our master is expressionless, how can he stop something that he does not even done?', they all thought simultaneously.
Ye Longtian stares at her curiously, a tinge of feeling wronged surfaced in his heart before shrugging it off.
" I am not even doing anything. Anyway, this is the book I told you", again, he rudely tosses a thick ancient looking book at Di Xueyan's face, making her face red in anger. Ye Longtian thought that she looks cute when she is angry, so he smirks lightly to piss her off more.
Di Xueyan's rage intensified as she saw his mocking smirk, trying to stop herself from ripping his face out of his head. Luckily, he is a patient and as a physician, she should take a good care at him and she should try to stretch her patience, because a patient like him is very prone to mental problems, so she should try to understand him. She tried to calm herself with that logic until she can finally muster a smile.
' Never mind, I still has the third condition in place. Let us see who has the last laugh', she finally smirks eerily, making the people around her, except Ye Longtian, feel goosebumps at how easily her expression changed.
She randomly tosses the book inside her storage ring as if it just a bunch of old school papers that should not be seen, lest you want to be ridiculed at how poorly written they are.
" Anyway, this is the third condition. Eat it, and I will give the technique to you", she smile slyly before tossing the porcelain jar rudely, in which he just caught with ease, way graceful than she did, making her grit her teeth in silence.
The shadow guards already have a lot of speculations in their heads. Somehow, their gut feelings knew that the girl, who is smiling creepily in their side, won't poison their master. She very likely will just let him consume laxative or just some minor drugs, worse, aphrodisiac.
The thing is, their master was bathed in thousands of herbs that they can't even recognize since he was a kid by his mother, making him immune to any kind of poisons in the world. Thus, their master is not even worried that he will be poisoned by larger sects, what more by a mere girl? If only he was not inflicted by moon curse, he would have been free of any sickness all his life, that is the perk of having a godly doctor and alchemist mother.
Thus they all knew, that whatever her childish plans are, they are doomed to fail.
Ye Longtian stares at the porcelain jar and opened it. Inside, he saw a yellow colored crystal like stones that seems to be broken into tiny pieces. He takes a sniff and can only smell a light mango and sugar fragrance, making him confused as to what in the world this little girl wants him to consume. In his eyes, this is considered new.
" What is this?", Ye Longtian can't help himself and asked. He is genuinely confused as to what she is planning to do.
Di Xueyan prevents herself from showing a laughing face, she straightens her expression and stares at him seriously.
" This is a broken magic crystals in one bottle. It can energize you whenever you are just from a sick bed. I am a physician and I care for my patients deeply. No worries, as someone who saves life, I won't take a life in an unjustifiable mean", she righteously bluffs with all seriousness.
No one buys it.
" Why does it smells like a mango?", Ye Longtian asks, finding it strange for something like this to smells like food, unless it is food.
" Seriously? Of course it is mango flavored, duhh?", she rolls her eyes before converting her expression into somewhat serious again.
" Anyway, all you have to do is to let it stay in your tongue without chewing or swallowing it. Just let it sits in there until it melts. That is the correct method", she stares straightly at Ye Longtian's eyes, trying to convince him with her serious face. Ye Longtian stares at her back, he does not know why but he stupidly stuff the broken crystals in his mouth without further ado.
Di Xueyan closely watches his expression without even minding how she can easily bluff him. Unlike his shadow guards who seems to mind it seriously, making them look at awe at the oblivious young lady who looks so excited at their master's expression, thus they turned their full attention to their blanked face master who also can't believe at what he just did.
Di Xueyan's little crystals never failed her when she saw Ye Longtian suddenly jolting, making her laugh out loud. Even Ye Longtian's subordinates tries their best into curbing their smiles when they saw their master jolting in shock for a second before turning rigid, a popping sounds can be heard from his mouth.
Ye Longtian glares at the laughing girl across from him, whose eyes already tears up while pointing at him like he is the biggest idiot in the world. Even he, can't believe that he just fell from this unbelievably stupid and childish trap. He expected anything but this. He unconsciously swallows his saliva and a burst of mango flavor envelops his mouth but the big popping sound annoyed him to no end, making his expression as black as pot.
Seeing that she successfully pissed him off big time, she laughed for the last time, took a piece of paper from her storage ring and tossed it carelessly on the table, before running like a madwoman.
" Oh, yeah, let me introduced you to what you just ate. It is called popping candy! Hope to never see you again!!", she loudly shouted before dashing into the deepest part of the forest, her laughter echoes throughout the place.
A shadow guard is about to chase her when Ye Longtian waves his hand while looking at the little porcelain bottle that is half empty, making the shadow guard stay rooted in place.
Ye Longtian keeps the bottle in his storage ring, without even realizing that a geniune amused smile surfaced on his face, making his subordinates unconsciously shivers.
Who would imagine that this is the first trick that he never anticipated?
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Happy reading!