The attendant twitched his lips at the sight of Yunxi's scrunched-up, distressed expression before finally suggesting,
"Then how about this Hongyun Cauldron?"
"How many spirit stones?"
"Two thousand five hundred mid-grade spirit stones."
Yunxi still looked heartbroken. She pointed to the Ziyu Panlong Cauldron she had taken a liking to and asked,
"What about this one?"
"That one costs two thousand mid-grade spirit stones. But among the three, it's the lowest grade and is only considered a low-tier spirit treasure."
The attendant had hoped to sell Yunxi the most expensive furnace, but it was obvious she had a mind of her own. After giving the prices, he simply waited patiently for her to decide.
Yunxi examined the three alchemy furnaces again, one by one, then finally gritted her teeth and said,
"I don't have enough spirit stones. Can't you give me a little discount on the cheapest one?"
"Well..."
"Why don't you go ask your manager? I even agreed to take your shop's clearance item. At least give me something back for that. Otherwise, I'll have to give one of them up. I just broke through to Foundation Establishment, and my storage pouch is basically empty."
She spread her hands helplessly.
"Alright, Daoyou, please wait a moment. I'll go ask the shopkeeper."
"Sure, I'll wait."
Yunxi lit up with a hopeful smile the moment she heard there might be a way.
The attendant returned after a short while and said,
"Little Daoist, the shopkeeper said since you're a disciple of Haoran Sect and this is your first visit here, if you purchase both the Ziyu Panlong Cauldron and the Seven Stars Soul-Shattering Staff, we'll give them both to you for a total of two thousand eight hundred mid-grade spirit stones. That's as low as we can go."
"Your shopkeeper is generous. Deal."
Yunxi agreed without hesitation. After all, a shop had to make some profit. That price was well within what she could accept.
She quickly paid and stored both items in her pouch, then walked out of the private room with a calm and satisfied air.
By the time she got downstairs, only Du Yuling was there. The others were still finishing up their transactions.
"Senior Sister Du."
"Junior Sister Wei, you finished so quickly?"
"Yes. I hadn't been in the Baohua Mountains long, so my gains were modest. Naturally, it didn't take much time."
Yunxi replied with perfect poise.
Du Yuling smiled and said,
"I noticed your bone age is quite young, yet you've already reached Foundation Establishment. You must have remarkable talent."
Yunxi waved her hands quickly.
"Senior Sister Du flatters me. I'm a three-spiritual-root cultivator. Breaking through was pure luck. If I hadn't come to the Baohua Mountains to find a friend, I probably wouldn't have reached Foundation Establishment for another five years."
She then casually mentioned the chance encounter of falling into the bird's nest. Whether Du Yuling believed it or not was none of her business.
After hearing her explanation, Du Yuling smiled and said,
"Junior Sister Wei, luck is a part of strength too. There's no need to belittle yourself. At your age, I was still stuck at the late Qi Refining stage."
Yunxi just chuckled and didn't respond.
Then Du Yuling changed the subject.
"Are you close with Senior Brother Sheng?"
"I'd heard of Senior Brother Sheng's name back when I was still in the outer sect, but this is actually the first time we've met. He really is a role model among our peers. If I managed to survive this time, it's all thanks to him and you senior sisters. Otherwise, I'd have been snake food already."
Yunxi cleanly distanced herself from Sheng Yuhong while also offering praise to Du Yuling.
That seemed to soften Du Yuling a bit. Her smile grew more genuine, and she could tell that the girl before her held only admiration for Senior Brother Sheng, nothing more.
Yunxi then smoothly changed the topic again.
"Senior Sister Du, did you manage to gather any intel? What exactly was the anomaly deep in the Baohua Mountains? A rare spiritual herb growing to maturity? Or did some ancient beast awaken?"
"It seems to be a newly formed secret realm," Du Yuling replied, though she didn't sound entirely certain.
"A secret realm? Do we have a chance to enter it?"
"Hard to say. These newly emerged secret realms are usually very dangerous. Who knows what's inside? And there's almost always a cultivation limit. If it's one that appeared deep inside the Baohua Mountains, then it probably requires at least Nascent Soul cultivation to enter. I doubt we'll get the chance."
Du Yuling was being honest.
"I see. Well, this is the first time I've witnessed the birth of a secret realm, so I suppose this mission still ended up being fruitful."
Yunxi consoled herself. It looked like this time, Foundation Establishment cultivators like her wouldn't get a ticket in.
Just as the conversation ended, the rest of their Haoran Sect companions trickled back into the main hall, clearly having finished their transactions.
Once everyone had gathered, Sheng Yuhong spoke.
"Let's go have a seat at the teahouse."
No one objected. Everyone knew this meant it was time to dig for information, so they followed Sheng Yuhong out of Lintai Pavilion.
The shop attendant saw them off warmly. Thanks to those five, he had just met his sales quota for the day.
Yunxi glanced at the three-story teahouse ahead, which looked not much different from one in the mortal world. Her interest quickly waned. She followed the group up to the second floor, ordered a cup of spirit tea like everyone else, then sipped quietly, doing her best to look like a sensible and well-behaved junior.
Sheng Yuhong had already started passing messages to the tea-serving attendant through spiritual voice transmission. Meanwhile, Mu Ningzhu leaned closer to Yunxi and asked in a low voice,
"Junior Sister Wei, you've completed your mission in Baohua Mountain. What's your next plan?"
"I'm planning to return to the sect. Coming out this time really made me realize how lacking I am. My strength is low, and I needed help from my fellow disciples just to survive. I don't want to keep embarrassing myself outside.
Now that I've unexpectedly reached Foundation Establishment, I want to go into seclusion for a while. Once I've stabilized my cultivation, I'll come out before the sect's tournament."
Yunxi replied seriously.
"That's a good mindset to have. But now that you've built your foundation, have you considered going home to visit your parents? If I remember right, Kunyu City isn't far from Baohua Mountain."
Mu Ningzhu mentioned it casually.
Yunxi shook her head.
"Not this time. I reached Foundation Establishment while I was outside, and my identity jade token hasn't been updated yet. If I go straight to Kunyu City like this, it'd be against protocol.
Besides, my siblings back home would just worry about me. I'd rather wait until they've also broken through, and we can return together."
"As long as you've thought it through."
Mu Ningzhu didn't have a bad impression of the Wei family, apart from Wei Yunqing. At least the others had principles.
As they were talking, another group came up to the second floor. The four newcomers—two men and two women—were dressed in bright colors. All were at the Foundation Establishment stage, and each had their own distinct charm. They were unusually attractive.
Yunxi gave them a second glance, then turned to Mu Ningzhu with a questioning look.
Mu Ningzhu sent her a voice transmission.
"They're cultivators from Baihua Tower. The tower accepts disciples who cultivate orthodox dao methods as well as demon cultivation arts. Outwardly, they claim to embrace all rivers, but in truth, as long as someone is beautiful, they'll take them."
"Oh, got it. Beauty-based recruitment."
Yunxi immediately understood.
"Everyone loves beautiful things. People from Baihua Tower are usually quite popular wherever they go. But they tend to act with arrogance and do whatever they please. They're also hard to deal with. If you run into them, best to keep your distance."
Mu Ningzhu warned her.
Yunxi touched her now-slimmed-down, oval-shaped face and said with a grin,
"Hehe, don't worry, Senior Sister. I know I'm a beauty. I'll be sure to protect myself."
Mu Ningzhu's mouth twitched. This little girl was really confident.
Du Yuling, sitting nearby, couldn't hold back a chuckle. Honestly speaking, Yunxi and the word "beauty" weren't quite there yet.
Just then, one of the new arrivals grinned and called out,
"Oh? Little girl, with confidence like that, why not join our Baihua Tower?"