Chapter 229: The Star Sea and the Giant Centipede

“Alright, we’ve asked for your name and you know where we’re from. I suppose we’re acquainted now. Let’s all go our separate ways,” Qin Haoxuan said. He was anxious to break the restriction on the Qiankun Talisman and see what good things were inside and didn’t want to talk with Lan Yan any longer. They were just strangers who had met by chance; saving her was just a matter of convenience, not something for which he expected a reward.

Seeing that his attention had returned to the talisman, Lan Yan’s beautiful, curved eyebrows furrowed slightly. “I don’t know the way home. Why don’t you two take me back? I am a girl as beautiful as a flower; do you have the heart to let me go back alone?”

“Who was it just now that said we weren’t strong?” Xing, who had been holding it in for a long time, finally found his chance. He jumped in front of Qin Haoxuan and said sarcastically, “We’re not strong; we don’t have the ability to take you back. You can go back by yourself! Now you know to ask us for help? Too late!”

Qin Haoxuan found that Xing was becoming more and more amusing. He actually had such a proud side to his character. He smiled and said to Lan Yan, “May I ask which family’s disciple you are? If it’s on our way, we can give you a ride.”

“My home is on the other side of the Star Sea…” Lan Yan said, pointing a hand to the distant horizon.

Xing and Qin Haoxuan’s faces instantly stiffened.

The southern border of the Soaring Dragon Nation faced the sea. This sea was called the Star Sea. The Star Sea, as its name suggested, was an ocean like the stars. Its water was like the stars themselves; during the day, it was perfectly normal, but every time night fell and the sky was completely dark, the entire ocean would look as if it were made of countless stars, its starlight rippling, a beautiful and magnificent sight.

The Star Sea was beautiful, but no one knew how vast it was. It was said that even a Spirit Tree Realm cultivator, in their entire lifetime, could not fly to its other shore. Moreover, the sea was filled with countless powerful sea demons and sea beasts. For a Spirit Tree Realm cultivator to cross it was to court death.

Xing reckoned that even he was no match for a Spirit Tree Realm cultivator. How could he dare to agree to take her home? Wasn’t that just asking for humiliation? The most important point… was that according to the records of the Taichu Sect, the Star Sea was truly boundless, and no one from the other side had ever appeared here before.

“The Star Sea…” Qin Haoxuan shook his head with a wry smile. “That, I truly cannot do. How about this? You can come back with me to the Taichu Sect. Perhaps the Sect Master will have a way to send you back.”

Xing also grinned beside him. “Look at our combat strength. You want us to cross the Star Sea? Isn’t that more or less the same as courting death?”

Lan Yan nodded with a serious expression, propping her beautiful chin with her delicate fingers. “That’s true. With your strength, you wouldn’t even be enough to fill the gaps in the teeth of the sea beasts.”

Qin Haoxuan glanced again at this lovely yet somewhat difficult and very beautiful young girl, wondering how she had crossed from the other side of the Star Sea. But this was surely her own secret, so in the end, he did not ask.

“Since that’s the case, then for the time being, I can only follow you,” Lan Yan said, patting Xing’s shoulder with the air of an optimist. “There are too many bad people outside. It’s too troublesome and dangerous to tell them apart. At least you two are good people. I’ll just follow you back to your whatever-sect…”

“Taichu,” Qin Haoxuan corrected her with great seriousness.

Seeing his serious expression, Lan Yan temporarily put away her optimism and said, “Taichu.”

Qin Haoxuan nodded with satisfaction. Although there were some things he didn’t like about the sect, once you entered the Taichu Sect, you were a person of Taichu for life. If others were disrespectful towards it, he still felt very uncomfortable in his heart.

“Then shall we go?” Lan Yan had returned to her optimistic self. “You can see that my family is quite wealthy, right? There’s no need to hide that. So, when we find your Sect Master, I can discuss it with him. Of course, your benefits will not be lacking.”

Qin Haoxuan scratched his head. Saving someone had just been a small effort, but he never expected this young lady to be so direct about offering benefits. In that case… he really wouldn’t be polite.

“I wonder what our benefits will be?”

Xing, who had been holding his head high with an air of pride, now cast a surprised look at him, secretly praising him in his heart. As they say, he who touches pitch shall be defiled. Under the influence of this genius demon, this fellow Qin Haoxuan learns quickly.

Lan Yan, however, looked at him with a puzzled expression. She never thought that after she had offered to follow him, his first reaction wouldn’t be ecstatic joy and a vow to protect her with his life, but to ask what benefits he would get. Am I not beautiful enough? For the first time, she began to doubt her own charm. Back home, those handsome men who considered themselves geniuses of peerless talent would swarm around her like flies, and she couldn’t even shoo them away. Now, she had offered to travel with him, yet he was acting so materialistic.

She looked at him again and confirmed that he was indeed very materialistic.

“When the time comes, I will take you to my family’s treasure vault. You can take whatever you like,” she said, puffing out her cheeks and shooting him a disdainful glance. “In my family’s treasure vault, even the worst item is better than anything you have on you.”

“Alright then. Seeing as you are a lone girl, you can come with us,” Qin Haoxuan said, his gaze sweeping over her face before returning to the Qiankun Talisman in his hand. He added nonchalantly, “But I must remind you, you have to be very careful if you come with us, because we could run into danger at any time.”

Lan Yan shrugged and spread her hands. “I can see that. You two seem to be in a wretched state from being hunted. But… where else can I go now? Following you is at least safer than traveling alone, right?”

Qin Haoxuan also smiled with a bit of embarrassment. “Traveling with us really might not be safer than traveling alone. And… we’re relatively poor. If you go hungry, just try not to complain.”

Lan Yan gave him an “I don’t care” expression and said to the two of them, who were about to set off, “You’re leaving just like that? Why aren’t you riding a Talisman Horse? Don’t you even have one?”

A Talisman Horse was something he had heard of. It was a high-grade item, rare even in their Taichu Sect. He turned his head and answered honestly, “No.”

Lan Yan nodded with a look of understanding. “So, you’re even worse off than I thought… you don’t even have a street-stall item like a Talisman Horse.”

Hearing her perception of them, Qin Haoxuan was very pleased. She was finally starting to understand that he really wasn’t rich. And Xing, after being choked by her words a few times, had also learned to be smart. He just pouted and held his tongue.

Qin Haoxuan thought for a moment and said to her, “I have a centipede Talisman Beast. Do you want to ride it?”

Lan Yan’s brow furrowed tightly, an expression of disgust on her face. “No way, no way! That disgusting thing, I wouldn’t touch it! Do you have any spirit stones? Give me some, and I’ll just refine a Talisman Horse.”

“Oh, how many do you need?” Qin Haoxuan looked at her with some surprise. He never thought she would also know how to refine one.

She waved her hand. “Not many. Just give me eighty or a hundred thousand, and that will be enough.”

Qin Haoxuan rolled his eyes repeatedly, while Xing laughed with schadenfreude. “Eighty or a hundred thousand? Are you robbing me? Where am I going to find that many spirit stones? If I had that many, would I be in this state?”

Lan Yan waved her hands anxiously and explained, “No, no, you misunderstood me. I’m not asking you for high- or mid-grade spirit stones. Just give me eighty or a hundred thousand of the low first-grade ones, and that will be fine…”

Low first-grade spirit stones…

These words, spoken in her clear, crisp voice, struck him like a bolt of lightning. He was completely stunned. He stood there for a long moment and then said with a wry smile, “Sister, where do you think I’m worth eighty or a hundred thousand low first-grade spirit stones? Find a buyer and sell me. I don’t ask for much; just give me a fifty percent cut.” There was one more thing he didn’t shout out: I haven’t even seen what a low first-grade spirit stone looks like yet!

Lan Yan sighed again. She felt that her understanding of his poverty had reached a new, deeper level. From the looks of it, he had never even seen a low first-grade spirit stone. This person who had saved her was truly poor to the bone.

Qin Haoxuan quietly asked Xing, “Does it really take that many spirit stones to refine a Talisman Horse?”

Xing sneered. “Why would it take that many? Either her refining skills are terrible, or she’s trying to scam you out of your spirit stones.”

Qin Haoxuan had a sudden realization.

Lan Yan never thought that he would whisper about her right in front of her face. So, she no longer bothered with the “poor” Qin Haoxuan. She turned her head to the snickering Xing and said, “Xing, right? How did you two kill that Mountain Hermit Yunhe?” At the mention of him, a layer of anger covered her face, and she looked extremely indignant.

Xing didn’t want to offend this sharp-tongued, difficult young lady. Besides, it wasn’t a secret. So, he answered honestly, “We lured him out. Although he was injured, he was still very formidable. We used a half-finished Talisman Beast, which we had infused with a lot of spirit stones, and intentionally detonated it, seriously injuring him. And then he ran away. Aigh, it’s a pity we couldn’t ambush him, or we might have been able to kill him directly.”

“What a pity,” she said with a look of regret. “Next time you see him, just kill him directly.”