The young man glanced at Li Tan, “I’ll pay double for his room.”
“That’s not quite right. This gentleman came first,” the innkeeper nervously wiped the sweat from his forehead.
He was just an ordinary man who had run this inn for many years. Naturally, he understood very well that groups consisting of an elder leading a group of young people were from cultivation families, and none of them were people he could afford to offend.
“Then I’ll pay triple!”
Without hesitation, the young man spoke, completely disregarding the innkeeper’s intention to emphasize who had come first.
“But, this…” “Four times the price.”
“Look, sir, this puts me in a very difficult position.” “Ten times the price!”
Suddenly, the innkeeper felt his mouth dry and his throat parched. Not wanting to offend anyone, he simply said, “Alright then, you two gentlemen can discuss it between yourselves.”
“Dequan, hurry up.”
The white-bearded elder urged from behind.
“Coming, coming. Please wait a moment, Elder.”
The young man called Dequan responded, then turned around, scanning Li Tan and Li Jiaying beside him from head to toe, a flash of disdain crossing his eyes. He then proudly said, “You two are here to observe the Feiyu Sect’s recruitment, right? I’m from the Wang family of Qingyue City. If you know what’s good for you, hand over the room, and I’ll compensate you double the rent.”
Li Tan glanced at him and said, “I refuse.”
The young man threatened, “Make sure you think this through before you answer.”
Without hesitation, Li Tan replied, “I’ve already thought it through clearly.”
A flicker of displeasure crossed the young man’s gaze. “Really?”
“Really, what do you intend to do about it?”
“If you change your mind now, I can still compensate you double the rent.”
Li Tan glanced at him indifferently, “I don’t need your money.”
“So you prefer punishment over a toast!”
As the young man spoke, he clenched his fist. Li Tan stood there expressionlessly but subtly channeled a bit of true energy into his right hand.
At that moment,
“Dequan, don’t cause trouble.”
The white-bearded elder said gently as he stepped forward and directly tossed a gold coin onto the table, addressing the innkeeper, “Is this enough to buy his room?”
The innkeeper stared blankly at the gold coin on the table.
Clang! “How about this?”
As he was dazed, the elder tossed another gold coin onto the table.
Coming to his senses, the innkeeper didn’t react as the elder had expected—grabbing the coins in excitement. Instead, he became even more restrained, standing there with a conflicted expression.
“Don’t be greedy.”
The elder cast him a calm glance, and the innkeeper immediately felt a chill run down his spine. He trembled slightly and explained nervously, “I can’t accept your money right now. Please go and discuss it with that gentleman.”
Then the elder turned to Li Tan and said, “Give up the room, and these two gold coins will be yours.”
Li Tan looked at the elder and then at the innkeeper.
To be honest, he was slightly surprised that the innkeeper hadn’t accepted the old man’s money. A gold coin—what did that signify? If spent carefully, it could sustain an ordinary person in comfort for an entire year. Consequently, his opinion of the innkeeper had risen considerably, and he didn’t wish to impose on him. So, from the second floor of the Desolate Tower space, he retrieved a purple-gold coin left over from his last transaction at the Nuolan Auction House and placed it directly on the counter.
“The gentleman offered one purple-gold coin.”
The purple-gold coin lay quietly on the counter, refracting a dark metallic luster. The innkeeper’s eyes widened in astonishment, and he suddenly felt dizzy and overwhelmed. One purple-gold coin could allow him to live comfortably for the rest of his life.
Dequan, behind the elder, was also startled and nearly fell over, staring at Li Tan as if he were some kind of monster.
The elder furrowed his brows, looked at Li Tan with suspicion, murmured an apology, then waved his hand and left the inn with others.
Anyone with a sound mind could guess that Li Tan’s background was not simple if he could casually produce a purple-gold coin. It would be extremely unwise to offend someone whose strength and status were unknown.
After Dequan and his group left, the inn became quiet again. The innkeeper wiped the sweat from his forehead, picked up the purple-gold coin on the table, and respectfully yet nervously handed it back to Li Tan.
“Young sir, I cannot accept this money.”
“Grandpa, please take it,” Li Jiaying kindly urged.
The innkeeper shook his head with a bitter smile. “Don’t laugh at me, but I really want to take it—I just don’t dare.”
“Why not?”
Li Jiaying asked in confusion.
Li Tan retrieved the purple-gold coin, returned it to the desolate tower, then took out an ordinary gold coin and tossed it onto the table before leading Li Jiaying upstairs. As they climbed the stairs, he reminded her, “Don’t forget about my meal.”
In the second-floor room, Li Jiaying sat on the edge of the bed, puzzled. “Why did Grandpa refuse the purple-gold coin and instead take the regular gold coin?”
Li Tan sat at the table, brewing tea as he replied, “An ordinary man is blameless, but possessing treasures can bring misfortune. Hmph, giving him the purple-gold coin would only bring harm.”
Li Jiaying nodded, half-understanding. “So you mean, if Grandpa had the purple-gold coin and some bad people found out, they would come to rob him?”
Li Tan nodded slightly, his thoughts drifting to his own difficult past.
At that time, he had just broken through to the Xiantian realm and accidentally obtained a fourth-grade elixir. Unfortunately, the news leaked, and after leaving the sect, he was pursued and hunted for over a month.
Similarly, if a commoner like the innkeeper got hold of a purple-gold coin, it could easily bring him life-threatening danger. Having lived for so many years, Li Tan understood this principle well, which was why he hadn’t accepted the purple-gold coin just now.
Li Tan sat quietly, cultivating his spirit, while Li Jiaying imitated him for half an hour before starting to get restless again.
Li Tan sighed, thinking to himself that he was fortunate not to have brought Xiaobai along; otherwise, he would have been driven mad by the noise.
The evening passed quickly. Not long after Li Jiaying grew restless, she fell asleep. When she opened her eyes again, it was already morning.
At dawn, Li Tan ended his cultivation. Since he had already paid for the accommodation the previous day, he directly went to the agreed location to meet with Li Hantian and the others.
When Li Hantian saw Li Tan, whether out of fear or another reason, he consciously kept a distance. Even the report was delivered by Li Xiu.
After the report concluded and everything on their side was confirmed normal, the group headed directly to the Feiyu Sect’s recruitment venue.
This was one of the Feiyu Sect’s properties in Shuishui City—a stone structure over ten meters tall. Typically, it functioned by offering cultivation chambers, spirit stones, and elixirs to cultivators, thus all necessary facilities were fully equipped. For this reason, the annual recruitment was always conducted here.
Now, the place was already packed with people.
Li Tan held Li Jiaying’s hand, looking at the sea of people before him. He glanced at the barely lightening sky and muttered in disbelief, “These people didn’t actually spend the night here yesterday, did they? How could they move so quickly?”
In fact, he had deliberately left earlier to get in quickly, only to find a crowd already ahead of him.
This was partly because there were too few inns in Shuishui City. About half of those participating in the recruitment the next day had no choice but to sleep on the streets. Since they were sleeping outside anyway, naturally, they preferred to do so right here.
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