Chapter 86: The Cooked Duck

And Chang Yongnian's elder generation had an even greater background—he was the Loose Immortal Chang Weizi, who had followed the first-generation sect master, Dao Heng.

After one stick of incense, Wei Yuning finally opened his eyes.

He swept his gaze around, only to find no one beside him. Looking into the distance, behind a massive boulder about a hundred meters away, a cluster of familiar heads was faintly visible.

It was Chang Fei and those miscellaneous workers, looking at him with terrified eyes.

He puzzledly looked down at himself—everything seemed perfectly normal: upright stature, white robes fluttering, spotless, the very picture of a spirited young man.

"Nephew Chang Fei, what's going on?" he called out loudly.

Seeing Wei Yuning back to normal, Chang Fei trotted over. The other miscellaneous-worker disciples, however, remained where they were.

"Uncle Master Qing Mo, what just happened to you?"

"I was just about to ask you lot—I close my eyes for a little rest, and you all run off!"

"Resting your eyes? But... just now... a suction force suddenly came from your body. Two disciples who were close by got pulled onto you, and it took everyone a great effort to drag them apart. We were all scared out of our wits!" Chang Fei said, still shaken.

"That... is way too scarring!" Wei Yuning thought to himself. "Two grown men throwing themselves on my body, and they couldn't even be pulled apart!"

Seeing Wei Yuning standing there in a daze, Chang Fei cautiously asked again, "Uncle Master Qing Mo, what exactly just happened to you?"

"I... was practicing a spell!" Wei Yuning had a rough understanding now—this must have been caused by star power. As for how it had happened, he had no idea.

"A spell that pulls people right in front of you? That's a first for me!" Chang Fei said curiously.

"I... just invented it!" Wei Yuning said. "As you saw, the Moon Lice are just too hard to catch!"

"By the Dao Ancestor above, you created a spell on the spot just to catch Moon Lice?" Chang Fei was utterly shocked.

"Time is running short, let's get back to work!" Wei Yuning patted Chang Fei on the shoulder, saying with exceptional calm.

After repeated persuasion from Chang Fei and Wei Yuning, the miscellaneous workers timidly returned to continue their unfinished work. Seeing this, Wei Yuning felt a bit disappointed. He had originally hoped his image before the younger generation would be approachable and friendly, but from the looks of it, he had been a little too "enthusiastic."

The work that followed went exceptionally smoothly.

With the combined coordination of Celestial Nose Perception and star power sensing, the hiding spots of the Moon Lice were located far more accurately, and the miscellaneous workers' digging became much more efficient.

Likewise, under precise control, the vine spell adjusted its points of force, forming the thickest barrier around the Moon Louse's head while essentially abandoning interception elsewhere—achieving the same result while saving considerably more spiritual power.

Watching Wei Yuning operate as though he had a pair of X-ray eyes, Chang Fei and the miscellaneous workers were dumbfounded, their admiration bordering on worship.

Every disciple who helped out received a tip of five low-grade spirit stones. Spurred on by the material reward, the miscellaneous workers seemed to have entirely forgotten the bizarre incident earlier, and toward Uncle Grandmaster Qing Mo they felt nothing but reverence and gratitude.

Wei Yuning hastily bade farewell to Chang Fei and the others, heading to Wind Lotus Courtyard to complete the final "bottling" work.

Before the sun set and vanished, Wei Yuning finally completed the Moon Louse sauce as he had hoped.

Upon arriving at the Secret Medicine Pavilion, Xue Duoduo and the middle-aged burly man were already waiting in the shop.

"Here's the Ten-Mile Fragrance you wanted—ninety-seven bottles in total!" Wei Yuning lined up all the sauce on the table.

Xue Duoduo beamed. "Young Master Yuning is indeed as good as his word. Uncle Da, take receipt of the goods!" she instructed the burly man beside her.

"Yes, Eldest Miss!" the middle-aged burly man said.

"Hold on—you're just going to take it like that? Where are the spatial stones and seven-colored crystals?" Wei Yuning reached out an arm, blocking the two of them. The words "Eldest Miss" alone gave Wei Yuning a headache; for that reason alone, he couldn't let the two of them buy the goods so easily.

"You only want space stones and rainbow crystals?" Xue Duoduo frowned.

"Accepting spirit stones wouldn't have been out of the question originally, but since you're not short on spatial stones and seven-colored crystals, of course we want those two items."

"Eldest Miss, this..." The middle-aged man shot frantic glances at Xue Duoduo.

"I was planning to recommend you for admission to the Hundred Alliance Trade Guild. How much do you think that recommendation is worth?" Xue Duoduo suddenly smiled.

"In business, we talk business. A transaction is a transaction, a recommendation is a recommendation—the two are not the same thing. As for how much the recommendation is worth, I don't know and I don't care, because that is not part of the transaction!"

Even as Xue Ying frantically waved his hands beside her, Wei Yuning said dismissively.

"You're acquiring space stones and rainbow crystals at the same time. As far as I know, those two materials are key ingredients for memory stones and advanced warning charms. I'm very curious—what is your purpose in acquiring them?" Xue Duoduo dropped her smile and spoke with unusual seriousness.

"What does that have to do with you?" Wei Yuning shot back.

It wasn't exactly a huge secret, but Wei Yuning didn't want to casually tell an outsider.

"It has nothing to do with me—I'm merely curious. However, if you tell me your intended use, I can consider paying for the Ten-Mile Aroma entirely with space stones and rainbow crystals. Otherwise, I'll just have to pay entirely with mana stones. Either way, buying with mana stones is still a fair trade, so it wouldn't count as me breaking my oath. If you're unwilling to sell, heh, the worst case is I just don't buy it!" Xue Duoduo said with a sweet smile.

Wei Yuning's surface remained unruffled, but inwardly he panicked a little: "This girl is sharp—she actually managed to spook me. I know perfectly well her words are just a bluff, but I can't afford to gamble on it. Otherwise, what if the cooked duck flies away? These kinds of big spenders who treat spirit stones like dirt are hard to come by!"

"Fine, I'll tell you. I'm acquiring spatial stones and seven-colored crystals to make image-recording stones."

"What do you need to make so many memory stones for?" Xue Duoduo's face was full of curiosity.

"Obviously, image-recording stones are for recording images! Alright, I've said what I needed to say. Miss Xue, please honor our agreement! The more spatial stones the better, seven-colored crystals at your discretion. At market price, spatial stones are twenty-five high-grade spirit stones each, seven-colored crystals are five high-grade spirit stones each. Top-grade sauce is one high-grade spirit stone per bottle, one hundred bottles in total, triple price—three hundred high-grade spirit stones!" Wei Yuning held out his hand.

Xue Duoduo fell silent for half a second, then turned to the middle-aged man and said, "Uncle Da, give it to him—ten space stones, ten rainbow crystals!"

"Yes, Eldest Miss!" The middle-aged man looked thoroughly reluctant, but had no choice but to produce the items from his storage ring.

In no time at all, the two completed their transaction, each storing the other party's goods in their storage rings.

Xue Duoduo's lips curved slightly upward as she produced a jade plaque the size of a playing card, tied with a red cord, and handed it to Wei Yuning.

On the black jade base was carved a white sailing ship gliding across the sea. Beneath the ship, a dragon carried it on its back; the vast majority of the dragon's body was hidden beneath the seawater and invisible, with only half a head and portions of its scaly armor faintly discernible. Yet this in no way diminished the dragon's spirit—the single dragon eye that was visible was vividly lifelike, its majesty laced with cunning.