Chapter 72: Unexpected Harvest

"Two fellow Daoists, Su has other matters to attend to, so we shall meet again another time."

Upon reaching the entrance of the Market, Su Zhangqing spoke to the two of them.

Hearing Su Zhangqing say this, the brother and sister were slightly stunned; although they felt somewhat reluctant in their hearts, they were merely chance acquaintances, so it was not appropriate to insist on him staying.

"Meeting is fate; this item is of little use to Su, so you two take it as a keepsake."

After Su Zhangqing finished speaking, he flicked his right hand, and the demon core transformed into a streak of light, flying into Ouyang Long's hand.

"Fellow Daoist Su, how can this be?"

"Enough, just accept it since I told you to."

Su Zhangqing waved his hand, and then with a flash of light, he vanished, entering the Market; the brother and sister released their divine sense, but they could not find a trace of him at all, each of them wearing a look of shock.

"Big brother..."

"This Fellow Daoist Su is perhaps some senior who is hiding his true identity."

A thoughtful expression appeared on Ouyang Long's face; after all, this demon core was a valuable object, and if the other party were merely a Foundation Establishment cultivator, he certainly would not give this demon core away so casually.

"Then what should we do?"

"What to do? That senior saved us and bestowed such a heavy gift, so we can only be grateful; we shall simply keep this favor in mind."

The Market here, being temporarily constructed, was naturally crude to the extreme; there were no particularly fine pavilions, and it was mostly composed of street stalls. Although the Market was extremely simple, there were many cultivators coming and going, as they were idle anyway.

Luanxing Island was not large, and in this place where there were many people and mixed eyes, no one would cultivate here, so they simply came to the Market to stroll around, hoping to pick up something.

Su Zhangqing had now advanced to the middle stage of the Golden Core, and among those of the same rank, he was hard to find a match for; naturally, he did not believe that he could find any treasures in this Market.

However, worldly affairs are unpredictable, and there are too many accidents in the cultivation world; originally, Su Zhangqing was just looking around casually, when his gaze was instantly drawn to a stall.

His expression shifted slightly, a look of pleasant surprise flashed in his eyes, and then he returned to normal; after a flicker of his figure, he arrived in front of the stall.

"Senior, what would you like to buy?"

A pleasant and melodious voice rang out; the stall owner was actually a young girl of seventeen or eighteen, dressed in red.

"Foundation Establishment Stage?"

Seeing the girl's cultivation clearly, even with Su Zhangqing's composure, he could not help but be speechless. It was hard to imagine that such a low-level cultivator would have something he needed.

The next instant, his gaze swept over the stall: a few beast bones, a roll of tattered illustrations, and seven or eight low-level Spirit Talismans, which looked like the kind that were not worth much. Of course, what attracted Su Zhangqing's gaze was not these.

His attention fell on the corner of the stall, where there was a small bag.

"What is inside this?"

Su Zhangqing spoke with a calm expression.

"Sen... Senior, are you talking about this?"

The beautiful girl's face was full of nervousness, and even her speech became somewhat unnatural.

Although the girl's cultivation was too shallow to sense his specific realm, she knew in her heart that the other party was definitely a senior expert above the Golden Core stage.

For a moment, she could not help but become nervous; she did not believe that a dignified Golden Core cultivator would take a fancy to the few worthless Spirit Materials she was selling.

Could it be that he had ill intentions?

For example... taking a fancy to her beauty.

Upon thinking of this, the girl's face turned pale; although in the cultivation world, low-level female cultivators would sell their beauty and attach themselves to high-level cultivators as concubines or cauldrons in exchange for temporary comfort and protection, Li Xueyun did not think so. Speaking of which, her background was quite significant. She had deep ties to the Hehuan Sect, and her mother was once a personal Disciple of the Hehuan elder Leng Ruyue.

Although Li Xueyun's mother only had the cultivation of the early Foundation Establishment stage back then, she was considered one of the most promising Disciples, and as long as she cultivated diligently, it was very likely she would step into the Golden Core realm after a hundred years.

In terms of sect rules, although the Hehuan Sect allowed its members to form dual-cultivation partnerships with men from the outside, and even specifically held a Harmony Gathering once every hundred years.

Among the women at the Harmony Gathering, there was no lack of Foundation Establishment cultivators, but they were actually Disciples who were not highly valued, and their aptitude was generally not very good.

How could the true elite figures get married?

Although this rule was not explicitly stated, everyone understood what was going on.

The core elites of the Hehuan Sect were all chaste virgins, yet Li Xueyun's mother had made a mistake back then.

During a voyage to sea for adventure, she had actually fallen in love with a rogue cultivator.

The Hehuan Sect absolutely could not tolerate such a thing, and it just so happened that the man Li Xueyun's mother fell in love with was only a Foundation Establishment cultivator, and his talent was very ordinary; the chance of him stepping into the Foundation Establishment stage in this lifetime was also very slim.

When her master, the Hehuan Sect elder Fairy Leng Ruyue, heard this news, she was almost angered to death, and the other sisters of the Hehuan Sect also thought Li Xueyun's mother had gone crazy.

But when it comes to love, what reason can there be to speak of? If you love, you love; there is no road of regret to walk.

Of course, it was not that there was no way to remedy it; as a great cultivator in the late Golden Core stage, the number of people Leng Ruyue had killed in her life was by no means small.

As long as that man was killed, even if her beloved Disciple was sad for a period of time, as time wore on, she would eventually have a change of heart.

This thought was not wrong originally, but as the saying goes, no one knows a daughter better than her mother, and this sentence is the same when reversed.

Li Xueyun's mother knew the personality of the master she had served for over a hundred years very well, so she had long ago taken the Life-Sharing Fruit with her lover.

Life-Sharing Fruit.

This pill had a nice name, but it was a secret medicine refined by demonic cultivators. Generally speaking, even if a batch of pills was small, there would be dozens of them, but for this Life-Sharing Fruit, only two could be refined in each batch.

Once the Life-Sharing Fruit was consumed, the lives of the two would be linked together.

To live and die together, never to be separated.

If one is to live, they live together; if one is to die, they die together!

One yin and one yang, it could be taken by a husband and wife; after eating it, if one person died, the other would inevitably perish as well.

Upon learning this news, even with Leng Ruyue's strong-willed nature, she had no way to deal with her beloved Disciple; however, anger was anger, and the matter still had to be resolved.

Now there were two choices: either kill her beloved Disciple, or hold her nose and fulfill the good deed between her and that rogue cultivator.

After pondering for several months, Leng Ruyue finally could not harden her heart, and in the end, she drove her Disciple out of the Hehuan Sect, which could be considered fulfilling the pair of lovebirds.

Of course, unlike the Disciples married off at the Harmony Gathering, in the case of Li Xueyun's mother, it was impossible to receive any generous dowry, and it was even less possible to allow them to establish a cultivation family; after all, this matter was a disgrace to the Hehuan Sect.

When she was expelled from the sect, Leng Ruyue had told her Disciple not to let her see her again in this lifetime, otherwise, she would personally clear the sect's name.

Li Xueyun's mother kowtowed three times to her benefactor and master, and began her wandering journey with her beloved lover.

Although they dared not approach the Hehuan Sect, they did not leave this place; after all, both of them had grown up in these waters and were relatively more familiar with them.

Now that they had left their sect and become rogue cultivators, if the cultivation world was truly full of hidden talents, going there would only make things even more difficult.

To be fair, the two of them had a good life at the beginning, as they shared a very deep affection for each other.

But could love really replace everything?

(End of this chapter)