Chapter 457: Approaching Liu Chenxiang

They saw the inn ahead at a glance, and then headed straight toward the inn.

At this moment, Duan Fengyun, who was inside the very inn that Liu Chenxiang and the others were targeting, was watching with a smile as Liu Chenxiang and his group hurried toward this place.

Duan Fengyun had indeed guessed correctly; Liu Chenxiang and the others would indeed look for a place to stay, and his gamble that they would choose the first inn after entering the market had also been correct.

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Now that the timing, location, and people were all in his favor, it just depended on how Duan Fengyun would connect the line.

Duan Fengyun was in no rush to meet Liu Chenxiang and the others; he first sat on the bed for a while in Meditation, using the "Deceiving the Heavens and Crossing the Sea" technique to hide his cultivation base.

Duan Fengyun looked in the mirror, and after finding no issues, he opened the door and walked downstairs.

Duan Fengyun walked to the first floor and saw Liu Chenxiang and the other three burying their heads in their food and drink.

It seemed the four of them were starving, as they kept their heads down and ate voraciously.

Duan Fengyun sat at the table behind them, ordered two small dishes and a pot of wine, and began to drink alone, enjoying a rare moment of leisure.

After Liu Chenxiang and the four of them finished their gluttonous feast, they finally leaned back in their chairs, rubbing their bulging bellies, and Liu Chenxiang said:

"So full!

Waiter, bill please!"

Hearing that Liu Chenxiang and the others wanted to pay, the waiter trotted over and said:

"Guests, were you satisfied with the flavors and such?"

Liu Chenxiang nodded and said:

"Not bad, it was quite good.

How much is it?"

The waiter replied enthusiastically:

"One tael of silver!"

Liu Chenxiang looked at the table full of dishes in front of the four of them; one tael of silver was indeed not expensive, so Liu Chenxiang reached for his money pouch with a cheerful expression.

When his hand touched the money pouch, his heart skipped a beat; he had forgotten the most important thing—he had no money!

Liu Chenxiang looked toward Dingxiang and the others and said:

"I don't have any money left here. Does anyone else have money?"

Xiao Yu and Ao Chun shook their heads and said:

"I don't have any money here!"

Dingxiang readily took the money pouch from her waist and gave it to Liu Chenxiang, saying:

"Use mine, Chenxiang!"

Chenxiang took the money pouch from Dingxiang, and feeling the weight of it, he was filled with joy.

He opened it to take a look, only to find it was full of rouge and powder; where was there any money?

Chenxiang was stunned; he walked up to Dingxiang and muttered in a low voice:

"Dingxiang, did you make a mistake?

This is all rouge and powder, there's no money in here."

Upon hearing this, Dingxiang didn't believe him, took the pouch, and looked inside; sure enough, it was all rouge and powder.

Dingxiang patted her own head and said:

"Oh dear, I must have been in too much of a rush when I left the house and didn't put any money in."

Chenxiang, Ao Chun, and Xiao Yu were all speechless.

Duan Fengyun, who was drinking his little wine and amusing himself at the table behind them, was overjoyed at this moment.

This was a god-given opportunity; this was his chance to get close to Liu Chenxiang and the others. Duan Fengyun continued to drink his wine and amuse himself, watching to see what Liu Chenxiang and the others would do.

Liu Chenxiang walked up to the waiter and said with a smile:

"Brother Waiter, we don't have that much money on us.

Do you think we could run a tab for now?

Once we have money in a couple of days, we will definitely come back to pay you!"

When the waiter heard that the four of them had no money yet had eaten so much, he immediately flared up.

"I thought you four were children of some wealthy family, but it turns out you're just four beggars who can't even afford a meal.

You want to eat and run?

Keep dreaming!

Today, either you pay the bill in full, or you obediently call your elders over here.

Either way, if you don't settle the bill today, I won't let you leave."

The waiter turned his head and shouted at the cashier:

"Manager, there are some people here trying to eat and run!"

When the manager heard that someone wanted to eat and run, he immediately brought people over.

Seeing the manager approach, Chenxiang spoke up:

"Manager, it's not that we don't want to pay, it's just that we happen not to have that much money on us right now!

Do you think we could stay and work for a few days to pay off the debt?"

The manager shook his head and said:

"No, I already have enough people here.

Today, you either pay the money, or I'll break your legs and throw you out.

You want to eat and run? You should look at what kind of place this is.

No one has ever dared to eat and run on my, Zhao Pangzi's, turf."

Seeing this, the four of them, Chenxiang, knew that it seemed a dispute was unavoidable today.

Just as the atmosphere grew tense, Duan Fengyun finally stepped out to be their savior.

Duan Fengyun spoke up:

"Isn't it just a tael of silver?

I'll pay it for them!"

Duan Fengyun took a ten-tael ingot of silver directly from his bosom and tossed it to the innkeeper, then added:

"And then open four guest rooms for them!

Keep the change as a tip for you."

Since someone was paying the bill for Liu Chenxiang and the others, the innkeeper naturally had nothing to say.

The innkeeper said enthusiastically to Duan Fengyun:

"Very well, sir.

I'll have someone go arrange it right away!"

The innkeeper left directly with the waiter.

Liu Chenxiang turned his head to look at Duan Fengyun and said:

"Thank you for your help just now!

But how did you know we needed to stay the night?"

Duan Fengyun laughed:

"Seeing you all devouring your food, one could tell at a glance that you were weary from travel and starving.

You would surely need to find a place to rest next, so I simply helped you open four rooms to let you rest."

Upon hearing this, Liu Chenxiang suddenly realized.

A favor of a drop of water should be repaid with a gushing spring.

Liu Chenxiang asked:

"My name is Chenxiang, thank you for your help just now, brother.

May I ask for your honorable name?"

Duan Fengyun waved his hand and laughed:

"It's just a matter of ten taels of silver, nothing worth mentioning, don't take it to heart.

My name is Guyue!"

Liu Chenxiang nodded and said:

"Very well, Mr. Guyue, thank you again for just now!"

At this moment, the waiter also brought over the room tags for the four of them and said:

"Guests, these are your room tags!"

The four of them, Liu Chenxiang, took the room tags and went straight upstairs.

Just as Duan Fengyun had said, the four of them, Liu Chenxiang, had been traveling and were already exhausted; they all wanted to take a good bath and then get some sleep.

Duan Fengyun smiled and continued drinking his wine.

He hadn't been in a rush to get to know Liu Chenxiang just now; he wanted to play hard to get. If he appeared too enthusiastic the first time, it would easily arouse suspicion.

After drinking to his heart's content, Duan Fengyun stood up and headed toward his own room.

Standing before his room door, Duan Fengyun looked at the room behind him and shook his head with a smile.

The room behind him was exactly the one where Liu Chenxiang was staying; he hadn't done it on purpose, but everything was just that coincidental.

Duan Fengyun returned to his room and began Meditation.

Time was precious; he could not waste time and had to seize every moment to cultivate.

Duan Fengyun sat on the bed and practiced Meditation like this for the entire night.

Meanwhile, Liu Chenxiang and the others had long since entered dreamland, sleeping soundly.

The next morning, Duan Fengyun opened his eyes and ended his Meditation.

Duan Fengyun could already feel that Liu Chenxiang and the others had also woken up. Thinking that they must be hungry, if he invited them to breakfast, they would surely take the initiative to talk to him.

Thinking of this, Duan Fengyun deliberately listened for movement in Liu Chenxiang's room. Upon hearing Liu Chenxiang begin to open his door, Duan Fengyun immediately came to his own door and also put on the appearance of opening it.

Liu Chenxiang opened his door and saw Duan Fengyun opening his door opposite.

Liu Chenxiang laughed:

"What a coincidence, Mr. Guyue!"

Duan Fengyun replied with a smile:

"Indeed, what a coincidence!

Meeting is fate; why not call your companions and have breakfast together?"

Liu Chenxiang had woken up precisely because he was hungry, so he had originally intended to find Dingxiang and the others to figure out a way to get breakfast.

Now that he heard Duan Fengyun wanted to treat them to breakfast, Chenxiang was overjoyed.

Liu Chenxiang ran to the doors of Xiao Yu, Ao Chun, and Dingxiang, knocking on them one by one:

"Hurry up and get up for breakfast!"

Ao Chun poked his head out and said:

"We don't have any money, how can we eat breakfast?"

Dingxiang and Xiao Yu also poked their heads out and looked at Liu Chenxiang in confusion.

Liu Chenxiang pointed at Duan Fengyun and said:

"I was just talking to Mr. Guyue, and he said he would treat us to breakfast."

"If you are hungry, then hurry and follow me!"

Upon hearing there was breakfast to eat, Dingxiang and the other two immediately perked up.

Duan Fengyun brought the four of them to the first floor and called the waiter to bring over a table of breakfast.

After the breakfast was fully served, Duan Fengyun pointed at the snacks and said:

"Hurry and eat while it's hot!"

Immediately, a new round of wolfing down food began.

After being fully satisfied, Chenxiang rubbed his head and said to Duan Fengyun with embarrassment:

"Mr. Guyue, I'm sorry, we were too hungry, I've made you laugh at us!"

Duan Fengyun laughed:

"It's nothing, it's perfectly normal to eat more when you're hungry.

Looking at you all, you don't seem like people from impoverished families.

You were perfectly fine, so how did you end up like this?"

Liu Chenxiang naturally would not tell Duan Fengyun the truth.

After thinking for a moment, Liu Chenxiang said:

"We snuck out from home to seek a master and learn arts.

Our goal since we were small has been to ride the clouds and mist, and to slay demons and eliminate devils!"

Hearing this nonsense from Liu Chenxiang, Duan Fengyun felt a wave of contempt in his heart.

However, on the surface, he pretended to have a like-minded attitude and said:

"You are also going to seek a master and learn arts?"

Hearing Duan Fengyun's question, Liu Chenxiang asked in return:

"Could it be that you also want to go seek a master and learn arts?"

Duan Fengyun nodded and said:

"That's right, ever since I was small, I have loved listening to the mythological stories told by storytellers.

When I was little, I started secretly saving money, waiting for the day I could leave home to seek a master and learn arts.

Later, my home was destroyed by a fire, and I was the only one left.

That is why I embarked on the path of seeking a master and learning arts.

Where are you planning to go to seek a master?

Let's see if we have chosen the same person?"

Upon hearing that Duan Fengyun was actually also going to seek a master and learn arts, Liu Chenxiang immediately became interested.

Liu Chenxiang spoke up:

"We are going to Jingtan Temple to find the Jingtan Envoy Zhu Bajie to seek a master and learn arts!

Mr. Guyue, are you also going there?"

Duan Fengyun laughed heartily:

"Then this is truly fate.

I am also going to Jingtan Temple to find the Jingtan Envoy Zhu Bajie.

However, I am not going to find him to seek a master; I want him to take me to see the Douzhanshengfo Sun Wukong.

I am going to take the Douzhanshengfo Sun Wukong as my master to learn arts."