Chapter 46: Wait Until No One Is Around...

Yangx Kai really didn’t have a good way to deal with this woman’s pestering, so he could only ignore her. Hu Mei’er could see his coldness, so naturally, she didn’t dare to tease him anymore, but merely shadowed him closely.

Following the direction sensed by the Yang Source Seal, Yangx Kai walked for a moment before stopping in front of a stall. After a brief glance, his eyes lit up. He found that the items at this stall were genuinely quite good, and most of them suited his taste. Those round stones, each about the size of a baby’s fist, emitted a rich, scorching Yang Qi. It was much stronger than the ones at the previous stall, though they were smaller in size.

Yangx Kai wondered, "Is the price more expensive than the previous one?"

As he hesitated, the stall owner greeted him with overflowing enthusiasm. "What catches your eye, young man? The items here are of excellent quality and reasonably priced. Don’t miss out on this opportunity as you pass by! Whether you use them yourself or resell them, it’s a guaranteed profitable transaction."

Bracing himself, Yangx Kai asked, "How much for this kind of stone?"

The stall owner looked down and chuckled. "You mean the Sun Flame Stone? It’s not expensive, five hundred taels a piece!"

Yangx Kai’s face darkened. Even though he knew this price was fairly reasonable, he still shook his head. "That’s a bit expensive." He only had a total of about five hundred taels on him.

The stall owner smiled and shook his head. "You must be joking, young man. My items are clearly priced, and I would never demand an exorbitant amount. Just go take a look at the other stalls and see their prices, then you’ll know how affordable it is here."

His words were quite honest. As Yangx Kai had walked along this path, although he hadn’t bought anything, he had inquired about quite a few prices and knew this man’s asking price wasn’t high. But since it was a trade, bargaining was, of course, necessary. Left with no choice, Yangx Kai engaged in a verbal battle with the stall owner, hoping to get the other party to yield a bit of profit. However, the stall owner kept shaking his head. In the end, even the stall owner grew frustrated and reluctantly said, "Young man, the items here aren’t mine; I’m selling them for the gang. When it comes to the price, I can only sell for more, absolutely not less. Otherwise, I’d have to pay out of my own pocket to make up the difference. Please don’t make this difficult for me."

"The gang?" Yangx Kai paused in surprise, turning his head to look at Hu Mei’er standing to the side. There was only one gang in this vicinity—the Blood War Gang!

Hu Mei’er smiled sweetly. "That’s right, this is my family’s stall. Do you want these stones?"

Yangx Kai nodded.

"Agree to one condition, and you can have all dozen or so stones here!" Hu Mei’er’s eyes gleamed with calculation.

"Miss..." The stall owner’s expression changed drastically. If this batch of goods was lost on his watch, he would be in massive trouble.

"It’s fine, I will tell my father," Hu Mei’er reassured him. Hearing this, the stall owner immediately shut his mouth.

"How about it? You just need to agree to one thing." Hu Mei’er beamed with joy. "For you men, it’s a very simple matter."

"Don’t even think about it!" Yangx Kai flatly refused. He could figure out what Hu Mei’er was plotting with his eyes closed.

"You..." Hu Mei’er glared at him, puffing her cheeks in anger, her eyes looking as if they wanted to devour him alive.

Truth be told, her interest in Yangx Kai wasn’t actually that great. It was just that she had failed to conquer him even after taking the initiative to offer herself and seduce him the other day. This made her quite frustrated. Not only that, but she had even suffered a small loss!

Hu Mei’er had always firmly believed, "No man can resist my beauty!" She just wanted to make Yangx Kai submit. The moment he surrendered, she would pull away and enjoy watching him make a fool of himself. If Hu Mei’er wanted a man, she could beckon a whole crowd with a simple wag of her finger. If she didn’t have other motives, why would she subject herself to such grievance? She appeared coquettish and loose, but that was merely a facade—an illusion to confuse outsiders.

"I refuse to believe I can’t conquer you!" Hu Mei’er thought fiercely. Her eyes darting around in thought, she told the stall owner, "Sell it to him for cheaper!"

The stall owner put on a miserable face. "That wouldn’t be good!"

"I said, sell it to him for cheaper!" Hu Mei’er lightly bit her lip, a chill surfacing in her charming eyes.

Just as the stall owner was about to nod, Yangx Kai waved his hand. "No need. Five hundred taels it is." If he bought it for five hundred taels, he wouldn’t profit, but he wouldn’t lose out either; it was the market price. As he spoke, he took out the bottle of Replenishing Essence Pills. "Can I trade with an Elixir?" The trade market here also had a rule for bartering, and finished Elixirs were generally accepted as currency.

"You can," the stall owner nodded.

"This bottle of Replenishing Essence Pills contains ten pills, worth about five hundred taels. Count them." Yangx Kai tossed the Replenishing Essence Pills to him and then picked up a Sun Flame Stone from the stall. The moment it touched his hand, Yangx Kai felt a surging wave of Yang Essence Power. A surge of joy instantly filled his heart, knowing he had made the right deal.

Hu Mei’er gritted her teeth in hatred. This action of Yangx Kai’s was undoubtedly to avoid owing her a favor, meaning her earlier gesture of goodwill had been entirely wasted.

Observing their expressions, the stall owner realized that his family’s ill-reputed young lady was likely scheming against Yangx Kai. Although this transaction was fair, he knew the young lady was somewhat displeased. After thinking for a moment, he picked something up from the stall and said, "Young man, if you don’t mind, I’ll give you this seed. It wouldn’t sell for much money anyway."

"What kind of seed?" Yangx Kai took it and actually felt a trace of Yang Qi from within the seed, though this Yang Qi was very faint.

"A Three Yang Fruit seed, found when our gang was mining Sun Flame Stones," the stall owner answered truthfully. "The fruit produced by this tree is an Earth-Level Lower Grade Spirit Fruit, but its growth cycle is a bit long."

Yangx Kai chuckled in surprise. He thought, "What do I need a seed for?" If planted, this thing wouldn’t bloom and bear fruit for perhaps more than ten years. However, it was a gesture of goodwill, so he couldn’t very well refuse. Besides, the item wasn’t of great value; accepting it wouldn’t hurt.

"Thanks." Yangx Kai stood up and tucked the seed and the Sun Flame Stone into his robes. Since the bottle of Replenishing Essence Pills was gone, Yangx Kai didn’t bother lingering here. After looking for Su Mu and the others for a while without spotting them, he headed toward the Heifeng Forest alone.

Behind him, Hu Mei’er refused to leave, following him like a tail with a hint of annoyance on her face. He thought, "I have to find a way to shake her off. Otherwise, if she follows me to Lingxiao Pavilion, who knows what others will think of me. This woman’s reputation isn’t exactly good."

Formulating a plan, Yangx Kai suddenly deviated from the Great Dao and walked deeper into the Heifeng Forest. As he walked, he turned back and directed a cold, sinister chuckle at Hu Mei’er. The implication was self-evident, as if to say, "If you dare to follow me, I’ll ravage you then kill you, then ravage you and kill you again." A strong sense of pure evil arose spontaneously.

Hu Mei’er was slightly chilled by his laughter. Seeing Yangx Kai actually walking into the dense forest, she began to hesitate. Truth be told, she wasn’t familiar with him. What if she followed him in and was actually subjected to something unspeakable? She had witnessed his strength that day and knew she wasn’t his match. If his beastly nature flared up, she might end up covered in bruises.

After hesitating for a moment, Hu Mei’er suddenly stomped her foot and swayed her hips as she followed him in. She was eighty percent sure that Yangx Kai was merely trying to scare her.

Seeing that Hu Mei’er had actually followed him, Yangx Kai immediately grew irritated. His whole reason for doing this was to scare her away, but he hadn’t expected this woman to be so bold, causing his plan to fall through. Anger flared in his heart, giving rise to wicked intentions. "Once we reach a deserted spot, I’ll show you what I’m capable of," he resolved inwardly.