Chapter 46: I Was Wrong

She stared into Su Yuanshan's eyes and suddenly asked.

"You are also a cultivator, aren't you? If you hadn't taken out this broken sword, I might have actually believed you, you guy. You disguised yourself quite well."

Seeing her depressed expression, Su Yuanshan smiled.

"Believe it or not, I said I am not a cultivator, so naturally I am not."

As he spoke, he unwrapped the cloth strips around the sword.

"Could you please help me take a look and see if this sword is worth repairing? If it can still be repaired, what kind of materials would be needed?"

Unexpectedly, Lotus Gatherer glanced at the broken sword, stammering with evasive eyes; at that moment, Su Yuanshan understood a little—this girl bragged a lot, but seemed to know nothing about artifact refining.

Sigh, that was reckless.

Su Yuanshan did not point it out, but smiled faintly and put the broken sword away directly.

However, this action made Lotus Gatherer feel a bit awkward, and she asked with dissatisfaction.

"You... what do you mean? Do you think I don't know how to refine artifacts? Bring it here and let me see!"

After Su Yuanshan handed the broken sword to her, she opened the cloth strips and looked at it pretentiously, saying.

"This broken sword of yours, the quality... is average... as for repairing it... this... it's not something that can be concluded in a moment. I have to take it back and carefully examine it for you. As for the fee..."

Lotus Gatherer counted on her fingers and steeled her heart to name a high price; she felt she had to shock him and make Su Yuanshan retreat in the face of difficulties to resolve the embarrassment of having bragged too much.

So she held up ten fingers and said fiercely.

"Five, oh no, at least ten spirit stones, not a penny less!"

Sure enough, Su Yuanshan seemed to be stunned by her, pausing for a full two seconds before asking with a strange look in his eyes.

"Ten... ten spirit stones? Did you make a mistake, Miss?"

Lotus Gatherer was somewhat smug, figuring that she had indeed said too much and scared the other party.

She said confidently: "How could I be wrong? If you think the price is too high, you can go ask someone else."

Su Yuanshan said faintly: "How could that be? Then I will trouble you, Miss."

Lotus Gatherer nodded and asked again.

"Is it alright to leave this broken sword with me? Are you at ease? If you are not at ease..."

Su Yuanshan smiled slightly.

"If I did not trust you, Miss, I would not have handed this item to you."

He thought to himself, the monk might run away, but the temple cannot, and besides, it was just a mere broken sword, nothing to worry about.

Moreover, when dealing with the centipede spirit in the future, he would rely more on the County City God's Mountain and River Seal; even if this broken sword were repaired, it would likely only serve an auxiliary role at best and could not shoulder the heavy burden.

As the two talked, they unknowingly walked to the gate of the Daoist temple.

This Daoist temple was not very large, a square courtyard with green tiles and red walls nestled in the autumn colors of ancient pines and red leaves.

Su Yuanshan looked up and saw a plaque on the brownish-red gate; the plaque seemed to be made of pine wood and painted with a layer of dark red lacquer.

The plaque was rectangular and engraved with large golden characters: "Qingyun Temple".

Cailian led them to the gate of the temple and tapped the bronze mythical beast ring on the door with her fair fingers.

Before long, a sound of footsteps came from inside.

Then someone was heard asking.

"Who is it? Is there something you need?"

Hearing this, Cailian replied: "Is that Junior Brother Lichen? It's Eldest Senior Sister!"

"Senior Sister?"

"Senior Sister is back!"

The door creaked open, and a young Daoist boy walked out from inside.

He wore a blue Daoist robe, white cotton socks, and a pair of black Daoist shoes on his feet.

He wore a black dome-shaped Daoist cap, and the hair bun on top of his head was dark and shiny, held in place by a wooden hairpin.

He held a horsetail whisk in his hand and looked still quite childish. Seeing Cailian, the little Daoist boy revealed dimples on his face and said, "Eldest Senior Sister, you have finally returned, Master..."

He seemed to notice Su Yuanshan behind Cailian and asked suspiciously.

"Who is this?"

Cailian did not explain too much, just replied casually: "He is a pilgrim who wants to stay in our temple for the night. By the way, is Master in the Scripture Hall?"

The little Daoist led Cailian and the others inside and said.

"Yes, Senior Sister. Master is practicing in the Jingtang. He was just asking about you earlier."

Cailian nodded.

"Mm, I see. I will go find Master now.

You take this gentleman to wash up first and arrange a place for him to stay."

The little Daoist nodded, flicked his horsetail whisk, and said to Su Yuanshan.

"Please follow me, benefactor."

After Cailian parted ways with them, she headed straight for the Scripture Hall to find her master.

The master of this Qingyun Temple, named Lv Qingshan, was a cultivator with quite a bit of Daoist attainment.

Cailian walked to the entrance of the Scripture Hall and reached out to knock on the door, but hesitated and pulled her hand back.

She wanted to knock, but was afraid of disturbing her master's practice.

Unexpectedly, just as she was hesitating, she suddenly heard someone inside say.

"Is that Cailian? You're back?"

Cailian breathed a sigh of relief and replied respectfully.

"Yes, Master."

A soft "Mn" was heard from inside.

"Is there something you need from your master?"

Cailian hesitated for a moment before answering.

"No... nothing, er, no, Disciple just obtained a broken sword. May I ask Master to see if it can be repaired?"

Only the voice from inside was heard saying.

"You girl, when did you break your own sword?"

Cailian answered with a guilty conscience.

"It is not that, this is not Disciple's sword. Disciple was entrusted by a friend to see if this sword could still be repaired."

Only the voice from inside was heard saying.

"Very well, come in and bring it for me to see."

Only then did Cailian push open the room door and walk inside.

She saw Lv Qingshan sitting on a prayer mat, his back to her, facing a statue of a deity.

Cailian waited respectfully to the side until Lv Qingshan opened his eyes and turned around.

Only then did she present the broken sword and say.

"It is this broken sword; could you please take a look and see if it can be repaired?"

Lv Qingshan opened the cloth wrapping and drew the broken sword; feeling the biting cold, his eyes lit up, and he could not help but praise it.

"A fine sword! Such a good item, I fear it is not from any friend of yours, is it? This is a mid-grade treasure tool. Where did you obtain it? Confess honestly!"

Cailian was startled and stuck out her tongue in embarrassment.

"As expected, nothing can be hidden from Master."

Soon, she recounted the entire story of how she met Su Yuanshan.

Upon learning that Cailian had only charged Su Yuanshan ten spirit stones as a repair fee.

Lv Qingshan seemed to be stunned for a moment; he was so amused by his own naive disciple that he could not help but let out a cold snort and say.

"You silly girl, you clearly suffered a loss yet act as if you found a great bargain. This is a mid-grade treasure tool; to repair it, let alone ten spirit stones, even one hundred spirit stones would not be enough. What do you have to be so pleased about?"

Cailian seemed to be startled, her eyes instantly widening as she exclaimed.

"What? One hundred spirit stones are not enough?"

Lv Qingshan huffed in annoyance.

"What do you think?"

Cailian seemed anxious, and she asked with a tearful voice.

"Master, then what should I do?"

Lv Qingshan let out a cold snort.

"What else can you do? You spend your days not thinking of cultivation, your worldly heart is too heavy; this is the cause, and today's matter is the effect. What do you say should be done?"

Cailian looked like a pear blossom in the rain, her voice very soft.

"Then can I not just return it to him?"

However, Lv Qingshan sighed.

"How can things be as simple as you say? It is said that one who accepts a task must see it through to the end.

Forget it, forget it, let this master repair this broken sword for him."

He pinched his fingers to calculate, his brows furrowing tighter and tighter, and suddenly he asked.

"I wonder where the guest is now? This master wishes to meet him." Cailian was stunned, feeling that Master was very unusual today; usually, Master was focused solely on cultivation and rarely asked about pilgrims or donors.

What was wrong with him today?

Although she was puzzled, Cailian did not ask, only answering.

"I had Junior Brother Lichen take him to the Xiufang in the backyard."