Chapter 18: The Victory of the Squirrel Party!

  An old saying goes: "One coin can defeat a hero." Wang Lu ridiculed himself, calling himself a professional adventurer, but he was indeed stumped by one coin.

  Wang Lu's sudden withdrawal was largely based on intuition, but he didn't regret it because he felt that he had made the right bet.

  What's the value of the boss's copper plate? Wang Lu couldn't explain it clearly, but its value shouldn't be limited to just Taoyuan Village... To be honest, before Heiying said a word about money, Wang Lu had only considered the copper plate as an ordinary one, but this nearly forced tuition fee had aroused his vigilance.

  In many games... oh no, in many adventures, there is such a setting. At the beginning of the adventure, if you can keep the items you get until the end, they often have an unimaginable magical effect. This copper plate seems to be one of those magical tools. If it's consumed carelessly halfway through, you'll definitely regret it and beat your chest in frustration at the end.

  The more Wang Lu thought about it, the more he felt that his guess was correct. However, the next problem was that they still had to get past the difficult pass of one piece of silver. Where could they find another piece of silver in the mountains?

  Of course, this kind of problem is also simple, just find the village chief directly, and the good feelings are all brushed to full, there's nothing wrong with opening your mouth.

  "Money?"

  However, when the village chief heard Wang Lu's request, he furrowed his brow deeper than the sea.

  "If you want anything else, that's easy, but this money... I've never seen it before. In our village, if we exchange things, it's always by bartering, not with something of equal value like you said."

  Wang Lu snorted and thought to himself: This good-for-nothing is indeed unreliable.

  So still rely on yourself then.

  "Village head, money is something that doesn't matter if we don't have it. If we don't have it, we can just invent it."

  "Huh?!" The village chief was perplexed.

  Wang Lu explained: "Although there are not many people in Taoyuan Village, the products are rich and the transactions are frequent. If there is no general equivalent, it's really inconvenient. Why not use your credit as a guarantee to issue a set of currency for everyone to use?"

  Village head was taken aback: "Issuing... currency?"

  "Not bad, use shells or precious metals, if you think it's troublesome, just print paper money, after all, credit guarantee. And once there is a currency system, the resource allocation in the village can be more efficient, productivity will also increase greatly, and people's living standards will reach new heights! And I, who have made such an economic miracle happen with one hand, only need you to give me one coin!"

  Wang Luyu became more and more excited, thinking that this **** task would still have to use this **** solution. Heaven knows where you hid the copper plate for that task in your belly button, I'm too lazy to guess and too lazy to find it, just do it yourself!

  But who would have thought that after Wang had talked for a long time, the village chief shook his head in silence.

  "Not allowed."

  Wang Lu almost jumped up: "What?! Do you know what you're saying?!"

  The village elder continued shaking his head: "Issuing currency is not feasible."

  "It's daytime, why can't we go? Did I just feed all that to the dogs? No big deal, let's start again..." Wang Lu showed surprising patience.

  "Wang Shao, I understand what you said," the village chief sighed. "But this matter is indeed not feasible."

  "Give me a reason first."

  "...This question seems to have stumped the village chief as well. After a long pause, he hesitantly said, "The laws of our ancestors cannot be changed."

  "Are you kidding me with the ancestral law? Are you constipated or something?! Wang Lu was so angry he jumped three feet high, "How dare you utter such a brain-dead excuse? Did my good feelings brush data overflow or something?"

  The village head also said: "I know they are all very good, but I just don't like them."

  "My god, you're a fifty or sixty year old man and you're still so cute, aren't you afraid of having a heart attack?"

  The village head may or may not have a heart attack, but Wang Lu is almost having one.

  As an adventurer with a tacit understanding of the designer's mind, he had an overwhelming advantage on the path to ascension. However, at this moment, the designer's thoughts suddenly diverged from his, causing unbearable pain.

  What's even more painful is that at this moment, it seems like the designer is playing a rogue, and the village chief usually has a normal level of intelligence, but now he can't even speak human language properly, looking like someone who has been poisoned by Liu Dama and He Lüshi to become an idiot. To say there's no trickery here...

  "Alright, let's stop beating around the bush. What do you want? Spell it out."

  The village chief looked bewildered: "What way?"

  Wang Lu furrowed his brow and remained silent for a long time, his gaze sweeping back and forth over the village elder, making the old man feel uneasy all over.

  "Never mind, let's just pretend I never came today."

  ——

  At the same time, on the cloud.

  "I think it's not quite right to do it this way?"

  A dark figure watched with a hesitant expression as the clouds of Peach Blossom Spring changed, and the conversation between Wang Lu and the village chief was clear at a glance.

  "On the other hand, a woman in white clothes sneered: 'For this kind of kid who likes to cheat, not directly killing him is already considered mercy.'"

  "That black shadow really can't be looked at: 'You have the nerve to say that someone cheated? It's clearly a design flaw in this Peach Village that was discovered by others.'"

  The woman in white robes said awkwardly: "What defect, Xiao Ling, you don't understand, don't talk nonsense... The elder's defect, is that also a defect?"

  "Hei Ying merely sneered: 'Arbitrarily altering the Ascension Path, boasting to the elder that this trial's rigor and precision are unmatched by the sect's thousand-year-old legacy of Yun Bo Tu, You Ming Dao... only to quietly come back and forcibly intervene in the process when problems arise...'"

  "Hey, hey, little Ling, how can you speak to him like that? Have you forgotten our sisterly bond of many years?"

  "Hmph, it was he who helped me win that bet, of course I'll speak up for him. And as for you, if you can't play then don't play, the great Sky Sword Sect elder, doesn't even have this bit of backbone?"

  That white-clothed woman suddenly became angry: "Tianjian Hall? Ha! The leader has never given me a subsidy from Tianjian Hall until now, why should I take responsibility for Tianjian Hall? I'm just being lazy! When will they give me the bonus, that's when I'll change jobs and become a righteous high-ranking official!"

  "...The Ling Jian Sect is large, but probably only you can say such a thing." The black shadow couldn't help but admire the white-clothed woman's shamelessness.

  As they spoke, the woman in white had already instructed the head of Taoyuan Village to drive Wang Lusen away, clapping her hands and laughing, "Let's see what tricks you have up your sleeve this time."

  Then a cold voice from behind him rang out: "I'd like to see how you plan to explain this to the Head of Punishment."

  The smile on the white-clothed woman's face froze instantly, and as she turned around with a quiver, her smile had become extremely awkward: "Ah, isn't this Master Shixiong? Honored guest, I'm so sorry for not welcoming you from afar..."

  "Get out of my house!"

  "Really? I thought it was my home, lately my sense of direction has been getting worse and worse. Brother, do you want to lend me a few tens of thousands of spiritual stones so I can go get treated?"

  "Before curing your road idiocy, let's cure your audacity first! You randomly modified the Ascension Road earlier, but this time you dared to tamper with the Ascension Chart while I was away. Tsk tsk, forget about getting a raise this year."

  "You've got to be kidding me!"

  "Moreover, you said that as a senior elder of the Tianjian Hall, you have never received any subsidies, which is indeed not good."

  "So...?"

  "So you'd better not pretend to be a senior anymore, and focus on your cultivation at Wuxiang Peak. When you reach the Yuanying stage, I'll reopen the Tianjian Hall, and I'll definitely give you a full refund!"

  "Oh no! Big brother, I'm actually doing it all for the sake of our sect and also thinking of you!"

  "Besides, I'll even deduct your sect's basic offerings!"

  "Big brother, you are unfair and indulgent towards this rascal, you will definitely regret it later!"

  ——

  After driving away the white-clothed woman who was making trouble, the supreme leader of the Ling Jian Sect turned his head again, only to find that the black shadow had disappeared.

  The sect leader sighed, knowing that it was impossible to think about it again, and shifted his attention back to the Ascension Chart. The sect's artifact that controlled the entire Ascension Road had been messed up by the white-clothed woman, but when the sect leader reached out and stroked it, the marks left behind by the white-clothed woman disappeared completely.

  However, Zhangmen hesitated for a moment and added something to the Ascension Chart.

  "Although Shizhi likes to make trouble, since there really is a loophole, it's indeed better to seal it up. However... isn't that copper coin a bit familiar? Never mind, I'm not wearing my glasses, won't look at it."

  ——

  On the other hand, Wang Lu, who had been forced to seal off his path to certain victory, also realized that this road was impassable.

  Although he was very dissatisfied with the Lingjian Sect's despicable methods, if taking a shortcut didn't work, Wang Lu wouldn't die clinging to one tree.

  "Then, let's think carefully about the positive method... To get the money in the mountain, is there any other way? To get the money, at least this money must exist first, could it be that there is still some clue in this village that I missed? ... Obviously impossible! I'm a professional!"

  Wang Lu slammed his hand on the table, showing full confidence in his professional abilities.

  In Taoyuan Village, he had prepared for a whole month, although he didn't leave the house, but all the details in the village were under his control, it was impossible to have any omissions, otherwise, he wouldn't be able to create the Flowing Attack Strategy. However, now it seemed that he had reached a dead end, if he couldn't find a way out from this predicament, his path to ascension would also come to an end.

  "Damn it, mountain money, mountain money... where the hell would there be mountain money? This village has clearly been searched thoroughly, could it be..."

  Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck Wang Lu's mind.

  "Good grief, I actually forgot about that person, my professional spirit is weeping."

  Afterwards, Wang Lu walked out of the courtyard with a self-mocking smile and happened to see two defeated dog cultivators passing by in front of the gate.

  "What a coincidence, you two are close relatives..."

  Before he could finish speaking, a dark figure descended from the sky, grabbed Wang Lu and rushed back into the house like the wind.

  "I'm telling you... that's enough. Don't deliberately use dirty language to provoke others every time we meet."

  "It's not like I wanted to, but who made the task design of Peach Village have a flaw?"

  Heiying nodded in agreement: "So, this time you're looking for me, isn't it because you want to open up?"

  Wang Lu smiled and said: "It's okay to say it's open-minded, I've already found the money in the mountain."

  "Oh?"

  "Hmph, at first I was indeed misled, thinking that the money in the mountains could only be found in Taoyuan Village. Later, I discovered my own foolishness - the key to the hidden task was actually you, an outsider from the village! It's unbelievable that I didn't think of such a simple truth. Even if Taoyuan Village doesn't have the concept of money, you, who are asking me for tuition fees, must certainly have it."

  The black shadow also smiled: "Indeed, this is the truth."

  "So my task is to get that one cent from you."

  "Hmm, your thinking is correct, but this article of money is not easy to get, even if you take out 10,000 taels of white silver, I won't exchange it with you."

  "Don't worry, even if I sell a kidney, I won't be able to get 10,000 taels of silver, but..."

  Wang Lu said with a smile, then reached under the bed and pulled out an object.

  A delicate red wooden lunch box.

  When he saw the lunchbox, the black shadow seemed to be stunned in surprise, and when Wang Lu saw this scene, his confidence changed from 80% to 100%.

  This level is finally passed.

  The lunchbox was not an ordinary one, although its workmanship was superb and the materials used were exquisite. Even if it were a single lunchbox from the ancient dynasty, it would not be worth more than ten thousand taels of white silver, let alone enough to exchange for a single coin in Lingjian Mountain.

  In fact, the one coin in Lingjian Mountain is priceless. Let alone the gold and silver of the mortal world... Even if Xie Qianlong, a young master from a family of immortal cultivators, took out his own treasure, would Heiying exchange it for that one coin?

  Obviously not.

  It suddenly occurred to Wang Lu that probably only things from the mountains could be exchanged for mountain money, and they couldn't be ordinary objects, because ordinary objects were worthless here.

  The food box, however, was no ordinary object. Its function was not extraordinary: the food inside, no matter how long it had been there, would not change in color, fragrance or taste. In short, it was just a super preservative box. It wasn't worth a fortune, nor could it be exchanged for a thousand taels of silver. After Wang Lu finished eating the food inside, the box didn't have any practical value, but it happened to be the key to passing through Peach Blossom Village.

  The boss's wife had given him the lunchbox, he hadn't realized the subtlety it contained at first, but later on, he remembered that the boss's wife's hint was simply naked - a box of meals to last for a week... If there wasn't a preservation function, would they have to eat mold as a side dish?

  Not to mention that after completing the task chain, he also helped the boss's wife cut a lot of money, and the things the boss's wife gave him were not ordinary products. The one-wen coin that seemed like a joke now seems likely to be related to the hidden task of the entire ascension path, and how could the food box behind it just be an ordinary food box?

  With a casual pat on this extraordinary food box, Wang Lu smiled and said: "This thing is cheap for you, a good price of one cent, you won't say no to it?"

  The black shadow remained silent for a long time, and since its body was hidden in the dark fog, it was impossible to discern its expression at that moment.

  After a while, the black shadow asked: "I didn't think you could really find it, this food box... I'll take it."

  Since he had accepted it, Wang Lu considered this hurdle cleared. At this point, the self-proclaimed professional adventurer couldn't help but burst out laughing.

  "Heiying also laughed: 'I just find it strange, you anticipated this step from the very beginning?'"

  "Of course not, I'm just a professional adventurer, not a spoiler, didn't look at the strategy beforehand, who would have thought that this lunchbox also had secrets - the food inside was finished in two or three days, and for the remaining few days I just lay on the bed starving."

  "That black shadow asked: 'Oh? Since you didn't discover the secret of this lunchbox before, why did you bring it with you for so long?'"

  "Because every qualified professional adventurer is a Squirrel Party."

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