The vendor’s voice trailed off until he was practically whispering to himself, but his eyes never strayed from the small bottle. He stared at the crystal-clear liquid, his throat bobbing as he swallowed hard.
Damn it, this stuff is worth way more than any elixir!
Even better, the energy radiating from the spring water was far purer and vastly more concentrated than anything he had ever caught wind of before. She was clearly an outsider from another world—how on earth did she get her hands on something this exquisite?
Usually, items brought in by outsiders from other realms were novel, sure, but ultimately useless when it came to assisting cultivation or leveling up. People traded for them mostly for the sheer novelty of it.
This spiritual spring water Suzy brought out, however, was a completely different story. If word of this got out, people would go absolutely feral over it!
Why hadn’t this girl spoken up sooner if she had something like this on her?!
The vendor stared at the bottle in the young man’s hands, grinding his teeth so hard they nearly shattered. Damn it, that brat actually got to scoop up such a steal!
"Don’t even think about pulling anything! This is mine now!" Yeon blurted out in a panic, hastily shoving the protective jade pendant into Suzy’s hands.
He could tell from the old man’s reaction that whatever Suzy had traded him was a treasure of the highest order. Even if it wasn’t a spiritual spring, it was guaranteed to be top-tier stuff, and he needed to seal the deal immediately!
Xian didn’t even spare Yeon a glance. Instead, he kept his eyes locked onto Suzy, the flat, indifferent expression he had worn earlier instantly replaced by a flattering grin.
"Young lady, listen to me. That item of yours is far too precious—it’s worth way more than a mere protective jade pendant. This kid is ripping you off! Don’t trade with him. Trade with your old uncle here instead; I’ve got plenty of good stuff on me."
"Old Xian!!" Yeon erupted into a furious roar. The old man was trying to cut in and intercept his deal! Absolutely not, he wasn’t going to allow it!
Yeon reached for his storage pouch, only to freeze mid-motion. After a momentary panic, he quickly turned to her. "Young lady, we have to stick to our word here! You’ve already made the trade with me, and you’ve accepted the item..."
The deal was done. She couldn’t back out now!
Suzy looked at Yeon, then at the vendor Xian, feeling a quiet surge of satisfaction in her chest. You ignored me a moment ago, and now I’m entirely out of your reach.
Of course, she kept those thoughts strictly to herself, maintaining a composed, serious expression on the outside. Still, she was thrilled to discover that her spatial spring water could actually be used as currency here—and was practically treated like liquid gold!
Spring water was the one thing she possessed in limitless abundance. Ever since her spatial storage upgraded, the spring pool had been expanding steadily, and the eye of the spring had grown considerably larger. The tiny bottle she had produced was barely a drop in the bucket compared to her reservoir.
For someone who was still completely clueless about the local economy, trading a single small bottle of spring water for a protective jade pendant was an absolute bargain.
Xian was still desperately trying to win her over.
"Young lady, don’t listen to a word he says! What kind of decent loot could a greenhorn like him possibly carry? I have high-grade spiritual artifacts, elixirs, cultivation manuals on jade slips, and even spiritual beast eggs! I can give you whatever you want. Trading that whole bottle of spiritual spring water for his single lousy pendant is a massive loss on your end!"
"Old Xian! Have some shame!" Yeon’s face flushed red with indignation. He pressed the protective jade pendant deeper into Suzy’s palm, terrified she might change her mind. "My protective jade is a Tier 3 spiritual artifact capable of neutralizing three fatal blows! You can search all of Mountain Town—how many defensive spiritual artifacts of this caliber do you think you’ll find?!"
"Keep boasting! Didn’t you buy that very pendant from my stall in the first place?" Xian sneered. Reaching under his counter, he pulled out a palm-sized bronze mirror and clapped it onto the table. "Look here, young lady: a Tier 4 spiritual artifact, the Heart-Clearing Mirror! It neutralizes five attacks, settles the mind, calms the spirit, and aids in cultivation. Trading with me is a hundred times better than trading with him!"
Yeon’s eyes widened. He looked at the bronze mirror, then down at the protective jade he had just bought, his lip twitching. He truly didn’t have anything better on him than a Tier 4 spiritual artifact, but he refused to give up without a fight.
Taking a deep breath, he said to Suzy, "Young lady, we already had a deal. The exchange was settled. Backing out now would be going back on your word."
"I never said I was backing out," Suzy finally spoke up, her voice clear and even. "I’ve accepted the pendant, and you’ve taken the spring water. The trade is complete."
Suzy wasn’t the type to go back on her word. While Xian’s offer was undeniably tempting, she valued her integrity. Besides, she genuinely wasn’t short on spring water. To her right now, a bottle of spring water cost about as much as a dollar or two; she could easily pull out another bottle to trade with Xian later if she wanted to. There was no need to offend Yeon over it.
Yeon blinked, visibly catching his breath as his entire body relaxed. The way he looked at Suzy now held a newfound layer of respect, as if she had just passed an important test.
"You’re a person of your word, young lady! From this day on, I, Yeon, consider you a friend!"
"Bah! You’re just eyeing her spring water!" Xian spat. "Shameless!"
Yeon snapped, "...Screw off."
The moment the words left his mouth, Yeon went flying backward through the air, ending up hung upside down from a nearby tree.
A long moment passed before a distant roar echoed back: "Old Xian! You have no martial virtue!!"
Xian remained entirely expressionless. The nerve of that brat. Taking advantage of a steal and then daring to act smug right in front of him? He needed to be taught a lesson.
Suzy... Suzy didn’t dare utter a sound.
Is this what the cultivation world is like? How terrifying.
In the blink of an eye, Yeon had been hurled out, landing a absurdly far distance away. She hadn’t even seen Xian lift a finger; all she had felt was a brief gust of wind brushing past her cheek.
Simply monstrous!
Suzy stared at Yeon dangling from the ancient locust tree like a dried butterfly, his robes fluttering gently in the wind. She opened her mouth to say something, but swallowed the words back down.
Turning back to Xian, she saw that he had already pulled his gaze away and was calmly tidying up the odds and ends on his stall, looking for all the world like the man who had just blasted someone away had nothing to do with him whatsoever.
"Um... is he going to be okay?" Suzy pointed toward Yeon hanging from the tree.
"He won’t die," Xian grunted without even looking up. "The kid is tough as boots; a few drops won’t break him. Besides, if I don’t give him a little reality check, he’ll be strutting around in front of me again next time."
His tone was entirely casual, as if he had simply swatted away a minor nuisance.
Suzy’s lip twitched. I didn’t realize this vendor had such a short fuse...
Then again, I didn’t realize he and Yeon knew each other either. Seeing them now, it seemed they were actually quite familiar.
By this time, Xian had finished straightening up his stall and looked up at her. His gaze was noticeably different now—the previous flattering grin was gone, replaced by a much more genuine, measured assessment.
He observed her for a couple of seconds before speaking, his tone considerably softer than before. "Young lady, I didn’t scare you just now, did I?"
"No," Suzy shook her head. "I just... got a firsthand taste of the combat power in a cultivation world."
She hadn’t been frightened, but she was definitely shaken by the sheer scale of it. Truly.
Xian let out a small chuckle, which softened his features considerably. "Rest assured, I’m not an unreasonable man. That kid was getting way too rowdy, so I gave him a lesson—it wasn’t directed at you." He paused, then added, "You’re someone who keeps her word. Old Xian here respects that."