Chapter 15: Impromptu Marketplace

The familiar faces finally arrived, and the junior brother's eyes lit up. He hurriedly stood up and waved, "Junior sister, junior sister, we're here!"

"Senior brother!" Qin Zhiyan didn't even glance at him, running straight to Chu Lin's side, her delicate face filled with anxiety. "Senior brother, what happened to you? Who hurt you like this?"

His enthusiasm met with indifference. The junior brother felt embarrassed, awkwardly lowering his hand as he explained, "We were ambushed while attacking the spider demon. Senior Brother Chu was injured while saving me and the children."

"It has nothing to do with you. I was too careless." Chu Lin closed his eyes, his voice still hoarse from the injury.

The spider demon already possessed six hundred years of cultivation, and having cultivated for a long time by consuming the essence of young boys, girls, and men, its power was already superior to other demons. He hadn't considered things thoroughly before acting, which led him into the trap and put himself in danger.

If Yun Wan hadn't appeared in time to save him, he probably wouldn't have survived until tomorrow.

Thinking of this, Chu Lin's gaze unconsciously passed over Qin Zhiyan and landed on Yun Wan. He only glanced at her briefly before looking away. "Ayan, how many spirit stones do you have?"

"I don't know. Why are you asking, Senior Brother?"

"That young lady saved me and Zixuan, and I need to give her some spirit stones as a reward."

Qin Zhiyan was only concerned about Chu Lin, and only then did she notice Yun Wan and Xie Tingyun behind her. She'd been humiliated by them before and held a grudge for a long time. She had a deep impression of Yun Wan's face, even dreaming of the scene of being humiliated that day.

Hearing that she'd saved Chu Lin's life, Qin Zhiyan was filled with resentment and anger. Gritting her teeth, she took out a few low-grade spirit stones from her storage ring and offered them to Yun Wan. "Here you go."

Yun Wan didn't take them. "Oh, is your senior brother only worth that much?"

Qin Zhiyan stomped her foot, angrily saying, "Don't talk nonsense! My senior brother is priceless!"

Yun Wan said, "You should put a price on your senior brother, so you won't accuse me of extortion."

Qin Zhiyan had witnessed Yun Wan's verbal skills before and knew she couldn't win an argument, her eyes reddening with anger. "How much do you want? Five hundred should be enough, right?"

Yun Wan gestured a number at her.

"One thousand?"

Thinking about it carefully, one thousand was still acceptable.

Just as Qin Zhiyan was about to take out spirit stones, she heard Yun Wan casually say, "Ten thousand, plus the spirit medicine, a total of fifteen thousand."

Fifteen thousand?!

This number almost made Qin Zhiyan and the others behind her choke. They wouldn't even spend fifteen thousand to have a sword forged by a swordsmith!

"In the dead of night, blatant robbery!"

"You... you're clearly extorting me!"

"Extortion?" Yun Wan raised an eyebrow. "Ask your fellow disciples if I've extorted you?"

What a joke! She went through all that trouble to rescue him, almost getting strangled to death herself, and she wasn't even asking for compensation for emotional distress—that was her kindness! And now she dares to accuse her of extortion?

"You..."

Qin Zhiyan wanted to argue, but Yun Wan interrupted her. "Or do you think your senior brother isn't even worth ten thousand? That's easy, give me ten spirit stones, and I'll consider it as if I rescued a box, a blade of grass, and a piece of firewood. If you can live with yourself, I naturally don't care."

Yun Wan knew perfectly well how important Chu Lin was to Qin Zhiyan and was certain she wouldn't only give ten spirit stones. Her arrogant and provocative smile made Qin Zhiyan's teeth itch with hatred.

In the end, she swallowed her anger and turned to pool her money with her fellow disciples.

The Pure Moon Sect is the wealthiest of the four major sects. Its headquarters are located atop Mount Heng, a place abundant with spirit stones. The spirit stones at the foot of the mountain are plentiful, so 15,000 spirit stones are nothing to them. Yun Wan felt she hadn't asked for enough.

Qin Zhiyan finally managed to gather enough spirit stones and handed them to her. "Is this alright?"

Yun Wan's mind raced. "The spirit medicine my senior brother uses seems pretty good."

Qin Zhiyan scoffed. "I don't care for medicine costing 5,000." The Pure Moon Sect has no shortage of medicine-making cultivators, nor medicine. It's better to have her senior brother refine it than buy it from her—it's effective and free.

Yun Wan's tone was tempting. "One bottle for 5,000, two bottles for 8,000, three bottles for 9,000, plus a box of body-fragrant cream. Are you sure you don't want it?"

Hearing about the body-fragrant cream, Qin Zhiyan's eyes gleamed, but she disliked Yun Wan and didn't want her to profit. For a moment, her brows furrowed, deeply conflicted.

Yun Wan calmly took out the spider demon's body-fragrant ointment from the bag. The ingredients were unknown, but the scent was fragrant yet not cloying, with a long-lasting and lingering aroma.

Qin Zhiyan, always fond of beauty, was utterly powerless against such fragrant things. Forgetting that Yun Wan was a woman she disliked, her eyes lit up, and she readily agreed, "I want it!"

---

As expected, Yun Wan, anticipating this, also took out rouge, face powder, beauty pills, hairpins, jade bracelets, and gemstone bells—all items salvaged from the spider demon's treasure vault. In the chaos, she hadn't had time to choose, so she brought them all along.

Yun Wan had no use for these; rather than letting them gather dust in her storage bag, she'd sell them all and make a profit. "These are all unique items. If you want them, take them all for eight thousand."

See how kind she was, not even asking for ten thousand.

"Unique items?"

"Only one piece."

What girl could resist the temptation of something so rare?

Yun Wan had laid out a variety of items on the ground, at least sixteen or seventeen pieces. Normally, she would spend a considerable amount on a single garment, so eight thousand was not expensive for Qin Zhiyan; in fact, it was a bargain.

However... if she spent this eight thousand, plus the ten thousand for redeeming the person and the nine thousand for medicine, the total would be enormous. If her father found out...

Qin Zhiyan hesitated, but Yun Wan had already called out to the people behind her. "Come, come, fellow cultivators over there, come and see if you need anything. Don't be shy. It's fate that we met today—you'll get special treatment when you buy things from me."

Yun Wan simply laid out everything she didn't need from her bag on the ground—fasting pills, tempering stones, spirit-transforming herbs, all sorts of odds and ends.

A group of young cultivators who hadn't ventured out much had never seen anything like this before, and they immediately crowded around.

"It's alright if you don't have spirit stones—you can barter."

Having just been ripped off by her, they were already short of money, and hearing this, they immediately became bolder.

"Can I buy this Froststone? I'll trade it for my Jade."

"Can you really give me this Tempering Stone?"

"Can you also give me the Fasting Pill? It's so expensive to buy one outside."

"Sell, sell, sell everything! Take whatever you want." As she spoke, Yun Wan deliberately pushed the hairpin and jade beads forward. "Little fellow Daoists, you can also take a look at these and give them to your sweethearts. I guarantee they'll like them."

Just then, Qin Zhiyan spotted the jade hairpin she'd previously eyed. Startled, fearing her beloved item would be snatched away, she quickly pushed past her fellow disciples and grabbed everything, piling it into her arms. "I want all of these, but I didn't bring enough spirit stones. Why don't you come back with me to get some?"

"No need," Yun Wan replied. "You choose a place, and I'll have someone come and get it." She stood up and called to the junior cultivators, "If you need anything, just let me know in advance. I'll buy it for you personally and deliver it to your door. You'll only need to spend a small amount of spirit stones."

It was common knowledge that it was difficult for members of large sects to travel down the mountain. Normally, if they lacked something, they had to report to the steward, who would then make a list for unified procurement. By the time the items arrived, they were usually no longer needed.

If what she said was true, it could indeed solve a major problem for them.

The cultivators exchanged bewildered glances. "Then how will you deliver it to us?"

Yun Wan pointed behind her. "Look, they can run errands."

She was referring to the half-demon race, the most despised race in the cultivation world.

Even if the cultivators didn't say it openly, their eyes revealed a hint of repulsion. Rather than have the half-demons run errands for them, they'd rather go down the mountain themselves.

"Forget it, our sect has a barrier. The half-demons probably can't get in."

Yun Wan knew they wouldn't agree so easily, so she wasn't annoyed and smiled. "It's alright, come find me if you need anything."

---

The group chatted enthusiastically, completely ignoring Chu Lin and his junior brother, who were heavily injured, behind them.

The two weren't far away and heard the conversation clearly. The junior brother watched helplessly as his fellow disciples poured bag after bag of spirit stones into Yun Wan's pockets, clutching his chest in heartache. "A bunch of spendthrifts, can't they at least show some concern for us?"

No one cared. Not even Qin Zhiyan—she was engrossed in shopping and wouldn't even glance at them.

Yun Wan gave half of the spirit stones she earned to Xie Tingyun. The junior brother, seeing this, gritted his teeth in envy and couldn't help but complain to Chu Lin beside him, "So he's a freeloader."

Every word reached Xie Tingyun's ears. He only paused slightly before accepting the windfall without a shred of guilt.

The junior brother was furious.

Damn it, why do these good things always fall on sword cultivators? Is it because they, the array cultivators, are few in number and ugly and therefore unworthy?

Yun Wan's items were quickly sold out, and the Pure Moon Sect disciples finally remembered their business.

Qin Zhiyan contentedly put the large bag of items into her ring and walked up to Chu Lin. "Senior brother, are you feeling better?"

"Mmm."

Chu Lin looked pale, his lips dry and parched, clearly indicating that his condition wasn't as good as he claimed.

Qin Zhiyan secretly hid the balm, feeling guilty. "Let my master treat you when we get back. Senior brother, hang in there for now."

"Okay."

"Then..." Qin Zhiyan remembered their mission objective. "Was the spider demon eliminated?"

"Eliminated."

Qin Zhiyan's eyes lit up. "Where's the demon core? The spider demon has six hundred years of cultivation. If Senior Brother takes the demon core, he'll break through to the Golden Core stage in no time."

Her tone was full of excitement, while Chu Lin seemed extremely silent in comparison.

At this moment, the junior brother shrank back, his voice lowering. "...Junior sister, when Senior Brother Chu and I were captured, it was these two who killed the spider demon."

Qin Zhiyan's smile froze, her incredulous gaze fixed on Yun Wan and Xie Tingyun.

They'd met not long ago.

One was at the Qi Refining stage, the other had no Qi—their cultivation was no different from that of ordinary people. Could they really have eliminated a spider demon with six hundred years of cultivation?

Qin Zhiyan found it hard to believe. If she didn't trust Chu Lin, she would have seriously doubted that this was a lie they were telling!

She scrutinized Yun Wan for a long time, then, with her back to the others, secretly released a wisp of spiritual energy to probe her abilities.

Yes, still at the Qi Refining stage.

Was it the pretty boy next to her? Impossible, how powerful could a gigolo be?

"I'm asking you, did you kill the spider demon?"

She had to get to the bottom of this today.

---

Thoughts on Chapter 15:

The opening emphasizes the one-sided crush dynamic. The junior brother excitedly waves to Qin Zhiyan, who completely ignores him to rush to Chu Lin's side. This establishes Qin Zhiyan's singular devotion to her senior brother while also showing the junior brother's unfortunate position as the forgettable sidekick.

Chu Lin's acknowledgment that Yun Wan saved his life sets up the payment negotiation. His request for Qin Zhiyan to compensate Yun Wan with spirit stones is proper cultivation world etiquette—life-saving grace must be repaid.

Yun Wan's negotiation tactics are brilliantly manipulative. When Qin Zhiyan offers a few low-grade spirit stones, Yun Wan's sarcastic "Oh, is your senior brother only worth that much?" puts Qin Zhiyan in an impossible position. If she pays too little, she's admitting her beloved senior brother isn't valuable. Yun Wan's suggestion that she'll "consider it as if I rescued a box, a blade of grass, and a piece of firewood" is particularly cutting—reducing the precious Chu Lin to worthless objects.

The impromptu marketplace scene is delightful. Yun Wan lays out all the spider demon's treasures—rouge, face powder, beauty pills, hairpins, jade bracelets, gemstone bells—and creates a shopping frenzy among the Pure Moon Sect disciples. Her marketing pitch ("unique items... only one piece") appeals to the scarcity principle that drives luxury purchases.

The ending sets up conflict. Qin Zhiyan, having just spent a fortune and laden with shopping bags, finally remembers the demon core—the actual prize from defeating the spider demon. When she learns that Yun Wan and Xie Tingyun killed it, her disbelief is palpable. She probes Yun Wan's cultivation (still Qi Refining stage) and dismisses Xie Tingyun as a "pretty boy/gigolo" who couldn't possibly be strong enough.

The chapter brilliantly balances comedy, commerce, and social commentary while advancing the plot and deepening character relationships.