Chapter 45: Repaying Debts and Settling Scores

  On the Tianyuan Star, the vast majority of Qi Refining stage cultivators actually cannot afford to own a magic tool. The reason is simple: they can't afford it. Cultivators cultivate in defiance of heaven's will, and there are many restrictions, among which the most difficult and deadly one is the restriction on lifespan.

  Generally, cultivators in the Qi Refining stage can live up to 150 years, while those in the Foundation Building stage can live up to 200 years. Cultivators in the Golden Core stage can live for around 400 years, and it's said that Nascent Soul stage cultivators can live for over 800 years. In any case, the higher one's cultivation level, the longer they'll live. Moreover, generally speaking, the younger one is when breaking through a cultivation level, the easier it is, so everyone is desperately cultivating.

  People with good qualifications want to reach a higher level, they need to practice desperately. People with average or even poor qualifications are even more afraid to delay, but even so, many people still feel that the progress is too slow. What can be done to improve the speed of practice? Setting up a spiritual array, taking spiritual pills that increase the speed of practice are all possible. However, the spiritual stones consumed by the spiritual array are not small, and the effect is not as good as taking spiritual pills, so taking spiritual pills has become the best choice.

  As a result, the vast majority of masters' hard-earned spiritual stones were almost all exchanged for elixirs to be consumed, and required continuous expenditure. Therefore, as long as they were in training, their spiritual stones would continue to be depleted. Because most masters had limited sources of spiritual stones, in order not to affect their progress, other things such as weapons and armor could only be accumulated slowly.

  And this is particularly prominent among cultivators in the Qi Refining stage, with low cultivation levels, unable to hunt and kill demonic beasts, nor can they enter deep into the mountains to gather high-grade spiritual herbs and minerals. Their income is meager, but their expenses are constant, although the price of Qi Gathering Pills is much lower than the small Yuan Dan pills used by cultivators in the Foundation Building stage, maintaining a basic dosage of one pill every three days still makes most cultivators feel strained.

  Liu Kai also had to borrow the Ling Stone from Qian Dele's gang for this reason, which led to today's situation. Lin Feng was also certain that Qian and Zhao did not have a high chance of possessing a law enforcement instrument, so he dared to scold them with such courage.

  "Little kid, looking for death? Dare to move your hands and feet in front of me." Qian Dele saw Lin Feng suddenly move after just softening up, his voice neither cold nor hot, immediately furious, but seeing Lin Feng's calm face, he hesitated, so his mouth shouted loudly, but didn't immediately take action.

  "Damn it, dare to move my boss, don't want to live anymore." Zhao You was a straightforward person and was about to rush up and fight.

  Liu Kai sighed silently to himself, knowing that it was too late to say anything now. Today's grudge had been settled. After this quarrel, not only did he have to quickly repay the owed spiritual stones, but also be on guard against the other party's secret calculations. In Yaoguang City, there wouldn't be much of a problem, at most just a threat or two. But once outside the city, it would be hard to say what might happen. However, since things had come to this point, he had no choice but to follow Lin Feng down this path until the end.

  "Two of you, slow down, let's talk." As expected, the drunkard didn't allow a few people to fight in his store. Just as he finished speaking, a figure flashed before Lin Feng's eyes, and a middle-aged man with a clear foundation period cultivation stood between Lin Feng and Qian Zhao.

  "Liu, you've seen it too. It's not that we brothers don't give you face by causing trouble here, but these two owe us spirit stones and yet they're still so arrogant. We can't help but teach them a lesson today. I've never seen anyone who owes money be so reasonable." Qian Dele saw the shopkeeper intervene and knew that the fight was not going to happen, but his tone became even more aggressive.

  Liu knew the background of Qian and Zhao, although he wasn't afraid, but as a businessman, it's always better to have one less trouble than one more. He didn't want to offend either of them, so he played the role of a peacemaker: "Since you all are here for dinner, why don't we eat first? After we're full and satisfied, we can find a place to slowly discuss the debt issue?"

  "We don't have a problem, the wine and dishes are ready, let's eat and drink our fill before talking, it won't be too late." By this time, Lin Feng also didn't dare to show weakness, with an air of nonchalance. In fact, he was hoping that they wouldn't have to fight, not because he was afraid of winning or losing, but once the fight started, his mid-grade spiritual sword would inevitably be exposed in front of everyone, and with his cultivation at the fourth layer of Qi Refining, it would easily attract the attention of other cultivators, which would really cause him trouble.

  "You'd better not think about leaving if you don't return the Spirit Stone today." Qian Dele had an air of nonchalance, but his heart was seething with rage, his teeth clenched in frustration. However, with Liu Zhanggui, a cultivator at the Foundation Establishment stage, standing in the way, he couldn't make a move. But having been mixed up in the affairs of Yangguang City for so long, how could he swallow this insult? He turned around and grabbed onto Liu Kai's debt, making a big fuss about it with an unyielding expression.

  Facing this kind of trouble, Liu Zhuang's foundation-building skills were useless, but since he had intervened, he couldn't just give up halfway. With the whole hall watching, if he didn't handle it well, today's business would be ruined, not to mention that he might encounter even more such incidents in the future.

  "May I ask, fellow Taoist, how many spirit stones do you owe him?" Liu Zhuang said this with the intention of helping to pay off the debt. Since Lin Feng and his friend could afford a banquet worth tens of spirit stones per table, they should also have some ability to repay their debts. As long as the debt was not too much, he would take over the account and slowly collect it later. The most important thing now was to get rid of this troublemaker.

  "Twenty-Five Spirit Stones!"

  "You're talking nonsense, there are clearly only twenty spirit stones." Liu Kai's face turned bright red.

  "Did I get my spiritual stone for nothing? You borrowed it from me without paying interest?" Qian Dele said to Liu Keke without any reserve, his tone full of momentum, obviously used to bullying people.

  "Twenty-five pieces of low-grade spirit stone, or medium-grade spirit stone?" Liu Zhuang had the intention to transfer the debt, so he must get things clear. Generally speaking, when people talk about spirit stones, they refer to low-grade spirit stones, which are considered as basic currency units in the cultivation world. However, spirit stones actually have four grades: low-grade, medium-grade, high-grade and top-grade, with an exchange ratio of 1:100, meaning one piece of medium-grade spirit stone is equivalent to 100 pieces of low-grade spirit stone, while 100 pieces of medium-grade spirit stone are only worth one piece of high-grade spirit stone. As for top-grade spirit stones, they are basically just a legend in Tianyuan Star.

  "Of course it's a low-grade spirit stone, Liu Zhanggui, you're a big shot, can't even tell the difference? You think just because he's a trashy loose cultivator at the third layer of Qi Refining, he dares to borrow twenty mid-grade spirit stones? Even if he dared to borrow, I'd be afraid he'd run off with them!" Qian Deli was still fuming, not even noticing that he was facing a Foundation Establishment cultivator, and shot out a sarcastic remark.

  Liu Zhanggui was so arrogant, I was humble to you, a cultivator in the refining stage, for the sake of business, but you really thought you were superior.

  "That's enough, Chandel! It's just twenty-five pieces of low-grade spirit stone. Look at the commotion you've caused in my Drunken Guest Fragrance, do you think that with dozens of people from the Dragon Slaying Gang, you can come to my place and show off your might? In the Cultivation Realm, strength is what speaks, and being insulted by a Qi Refining stage cultivator like this, Liu Zhuanggui has never experienced before. Now he's truly furious."

  Qian Dele was also flustered, and as soon as he spoke, he regretted it. Although the Tui Long Hui had twenty or thirty people, there were only three foundation-building cultivators, making them one of the smallest gangs in Yao Guang City. They could only bully lower-level Qi-refining cultivators, and even when facing ordinary cultivation families, they had to be careful.

  Now he had offended a foundation-building cultivator of the Drunken Fragrance sect in Youguang City, and it was unlikely that even his master would be able to help him. Thinking about this, he suddenly felt a chill run down his spine, and hastily apologized: "Master Liu, please don't take offense, I was just confused by these two people earlier, which is why I had some harsh words. I'm here to apologize." As he spoke, he repeatedly bowed.

  Liu Zhuanggui snorted coldly and didn't say anything more. Lin Feng burst out laughing, saying: "Being arrogant first and then humble is also a characteristic of petty people."

  "Ah... Ah...!" Qian Dele was so angry that he almost vomited blood. Earlier, when he apologized to Liu Zhuangui, he had already shown mercy to Lin Feng and the other two, but he didn't expect Lin Feng to take advantage of the situation and go further. However, since he had offended Liu Zhuangui first, he was afraid that if he scolded again, it would provoke Liu's anger once more. So, after a long while, he still couldn't say another word.

  "This Daoist friend, since Money Daoist has stopped arguing, I think this matter can be considered settled, right?" Liu Zhuanggui was after all a businessman, as long as there was no more argument, he didn't want to offend anyone for nothing.

  "Whatever......?" Lin Feng glared at Qian Zhao and the others, taking advantage of their weakened momentum, how could he let go of the opportunity to show off his power.

  "What else do you want, if it weren't for giving face to Manager Liu... Hmph, when did we ever really fear you?" Zhao You had been watching from the side, his anger simmering, but he didn't dare vent it out due to Manager Liu's authority. Now that their side had already given in a step, Lin Feng still wouldn't let up, and suddenly he exploded.

  "Haha, why are you so excited? As the saying goes, 'Yan Wang Ye doesn't owe small ghosts money', my meaning is that you bring the IOU here, we'll return the spirit stone to you, and that's settled, so as not to disturb my appetite for dinner." Lin Feng had reached this point and was also unable to back down, so he could only put on a show of being a rich young master.

  "You...! Twenty-five pieces of spirit stone don't require a receipt, our Dragon Slaughter Sect isn't afraid of a small scattered cultivator daring to cheat us?" Lin Feng was mocking himself, but now Money De Lei also didn't want to continue arguing. Today he had been repeatedly humiliated by a Qi Refining Fourth Layer cultivator, and this person had already lost enough face.

  Lin Feng turned his head to look at Liu Kai, whose face was somewhat pale. Seeing him nod, he cursed in his heart: damn it, not even a receipt for the loan, I should have known better than to return it. However, he just thought about it and didn't say anything, as the other party's power was there, and pressuring him too hard would be disadvantageous to himself.

  "Here, twenty-five spirit stones, not one less. I'm giving them to you in front of all these people, so don't come looking for me again next time." As Lin Feng spoke, his hand swept across the table, and the twenty-five spirit stones were arranged neatly on its surface.

  "You're ruthless... Kid, watch out! Let's go!" At this point, neither of them was in the mood for dinner anymore. He put away the spirit stone into his storage bag and turned to leave the hotel.