The Art of the Deal and the Unexpected Challenger

The bone spike, a technique from the Jade Bone Heart Scripture that had previously pierced Luo Yingkong in the illusion, could sprout from the body with immense piercing power. However, it was incapable of changing its trajectory once launched.

One of the men suffered a puncture wound to his calf. The others quickly leaped back to evade the attack.

The bone spike plunged directly into the ground, burrowing deep into the earth. Yet, none of them witnessed its true destructive power, or they would have immediately abandoned the fight.

“We need to find a way to get close to her. Ranged attacks won’t stop her.”

“Easier said than done,” another retorted. “She’s so fast, how can we close the distance?”

“Brother Tie, you’re strong. I still have a Swift Spirit Talisman here. It’s yours.” The junior sister reluctantly produced a talisman, which appeared to be of considerable quality.

“Junior Sister, you’re willing to part with this talisman? Rest assured, I won’t let you down.” The body cultivator pressed the talisman onto his body, and his form instantly vanished from his original position. Luo Yingkong couldn’t even discern where he had gone.

A brief probe with her divine sense revealed the body cultivator’s aura to her left. He struck a horse stance and unleashed a forceful punch!

Luo Yingkong did not dodge. A layer of white bone solidified on the skin of her left arm, blocking the blow. Her body remained completely unshaken.

Instead, the body cultivator’s fist was left numb, as if he had struck a solid wooden post. He swiftly shifted his stance, sweeping a left whip kick toward Luo Yingkong!

“Crack!”

A sound of bone fracturing echoed. Luo Yingkong had merely raised her knee to meet the impact. The body cultivator’s face twisted in pain, but before he could even cry out, Luo Yingkong leaped into a spinning kick, sending him flying backward.

“I’ve held back. You should leave now.”

The body cultivator who had been sent flying didn’t even groan. His left calf was already fractured, bent at an unnatural angle. His companions quickly rushed forward to support him.

“What now?!”

“We can’t win. I didn’t expect her to be a body cultivator too. It’s safer to target outer disciples instead.”

The group, supporting their two injured comrades, began to retreat.

****

Afterward, two more individuals came to challenge her, but Luo Yingkong subdued them in just a few moves. While she drove them away, something still felt amiss.

Recalling the rules, she mused, ‘The examiner shouldn’t be so foolish as to accept every challenge.’

Just then, another participant emerged from the base of the hill—strangely, he was alone.

“Are you here to challenge me too? I advise you to bring more people.” Luo Yingkong released her peak Qi Condensation aura, hoping to intimidate him. The other party quickly responded:

“Wait, wait! Senior Sister, don’t be so quick to act. I’m not here to challenge you, but to discuss a transaction.”

“A transaction?” Luo Yingkong retracted her aura.

“Exactly. You must have quite a few tokens, right? I’ll give you five hundred spirit stones for one. How does that sound?”

Luo Yingkong pondered for a moment. “Wouldn’t that be cheating?”

“Oh, come on. There’s no one else here. If neither of us speaks, who will know? Besides, such transactions are implicitly allowed. Senior Sister, don’t be so rigid.”

“Hmm…”

Seeing Luo Yingkong hesitate, the stout young man pressed on, “Senior Sister, don’t think too much. How about a thousand spirit stones per token?”

“Deal!”

Upon hearing the price, Luo Yingkong agreed almost without hesitation. She still needed to raise money to buy more Foundation Establishment Pills.

“I have ten tokens here. How many do you want?” Luo Yingkong didn’t take out all her tokens; she had already realized the profit to be made from this selection process.

“I’ll take them all. Here are one hundred mid-grade spirit stones; please count them.” The cultivator promptly tossed the bag to Luo Yingkong.

After a quick check, she handed the tokens to the cultivator. “Junior Brother, you are indeed generous. But can you promise not to speak of this?”

“Of course. It wouldn’t benefit me to speak of it either. Farewell.” The stout young man affixed a talisman to his body, and his aura instantly vanished. Without visual confirmation, one would never know he was there.

‘So wealthy. I wonder which rich young master he is.’

Now, only five tokens remained. Luo Yingkong suppressed her cultivation to the seventh level of Qi Condensation, clutching the five tokens in her hand.

She planned to explore the rainforest. With her childlike appearance and low cultivation, she was certain to lure challengers. Then, she could legitimately seize their tokens.

Li Yao had only stated that she couldn’t hide tokens, but not that she couldn’t suppress her aura. If she could sell the tokens she acquired, even better.

As dusk approached, Luo Yingkong used her Primordial Spirit Star Compass to search for populated areas. Before long, a blue dot rapidly approached her, followed by four more blue dots.

****

“Help!” A female disciple in yellow robes ran toward Luo Yingkong.

Upon seeing the white-haired girl ahead, carrying a compass, her face lit up with joy.

“Senior Sister, save me!”

Luo Yingkong hadn’t quite grasped the situation when the four cultivators from behind rushed out. “Hm? Is she her companion?”

“No, this person is an examiner, but why is she only at the seventh level of Qi Condensation?”

“Senior Sister, we are taking her tokens, which is within the rules. Please do not interfere. We will challenge you later.”

Luo Yingkong nodded, but the female disciple in front of her quickly hid behind her.

“Hiding behind me won’t help, unless you forfeit. Then I can protect you.”

The female disciple gritted her teeth and ran off into the distance again.

“Trying to run after stealing our tokens?!” The leading young man flung out a golden spiritual net, ensnaring the girl.

This spiritual net appeared to be of a high grade. The female disciple, entangled and on the ground, quickly drew a magical dagger to tear the net, seemingly on the verge of escape.

“This brat dares to damage my magical artifact?!” The leading young man immediately charged forward, raising his spiritual sword and bringing it down in a vertical chop toward her neck!

“Clang!”

Luo Yingkong suddenly appeared, grabbing the sword’s edge with her bare hand. A layer of white bone manifested on her palm, leaving her completely unharmed. “If you had brought that blade down, she would have surely died.”

The delay allowed the girl to break free from the golden net and use a spell to desperately flee. The young man stomped his foot in frustration.

“Chase her!”

Luo Yingkong also followed them. These individuals seemed to possess quite a few tokens, and losing track of them would make them difficult to find. At this point, very few participants still held tokens.

With the rainforest’s dense foliage, the girl vanished from their sight within moments, and soon even her aura became undetectable. They had lost her.

Confused, the four looked around, then angrily turned back toward Luo Yingkong. “You’re an examiner, right? Hand over your tokens!”

“Oh? You can have them if you defeat me.”

“Just you? We crippled two examiners earlier. Hand over your things if you don’t want a beating!”

****

…One minute later…

“Senior Sister, please stop! We surrender, we surrender!”

Luo Yingkong held a bone staff, having beaten the four until their faces were bruised and swollen, making them beg for mercy.

“I lost some tokens, and according to the rules, I can reclaim them from challengers.”

Upon hearing this, the four could only resign themselves to their bad luck. ‘Who on earth could possibly take tokens from this person? She can subdue us with brute force alone; if she used spells, she could probably defeat a Foundation Establishment cultivator.’

“You have quite a few tokens, eleven in total. You could easily pass the assessment. Do you perhaps want to gather ten tokens each?”

The four hung their heads, saying nothing.

“I have an extra token. Do you want it?” Luo Yingkong could only carry fifteen tokens; otherwise, the compass would issue a warning.

“Yes, of course!”

“Alright, give me two thousand spirit stones, and I’ll return it to you.” Luo Yingkong began selling on the spot.

“Two thousand? No thanks, we’ll just go steal more.” The four were not rich; they didn’t have that many spirit stones, and even if they did, they wouldn’t buy. Their annual basic income was only five hundred spirit stones.

“Hey… wait, how about one thousand?”

****

“Five hundred, then?”

The leader turned back. “Fine, five hundred it is…”

Selling the token for as little as five hundred felt like a loss. Luo Yingkong considered it, then took out the ten tokens she had just seized from them.

“Five hundred each.”

The four’s eyelids twitched. ‘Stealing our items and then selling them back to us—what a businesswoman.’

After some thought, the leader slowly said, “It’s not worth it. I’ll lead the others to steal more; we’ll each get ten for sure!”

Seeing that the business deal wouldn’t materialize, Luo Yingkong prepared to find other buyers. One of the youths, who seemed rather timid, spoke up, “Forget it, Senior Brother. Ten tokens aren’t that easy to get. We might as well just keep two and hide until the selection ends.”

He pulled out an unassuming storage bag, which contained some low-grade spirit stone fragments. Luo Yingkong’s divine sense scanned it, revealing exactly one thousand pieces.

He appeared somewhat impoverished.

“You have some insight, but you probably won’t pass the next round of tests in your current state. I have a magical artifact I don’t need; you can have it.” Luo Yingkong produced a flying sword, one Zhang Yu had used on Mount Mufu, which was now useless to her.

“This… Thank you, Senior Sister!” The young man’s face lit up with surprise, and he quickly nodded his thanks.

“What about you all? Are you buying?”