Chapter 56: Rejecting Illegitimate Transactions

Waves washed over the beach as Wang Chu picked up the iron pot, placed it on the small wooden table, and began to eat the fish with a soup spoon.

Behind him, An Xinjie watched with eager eyes, swallowing hard like a refugee in the midst of a famine.

Right now, she considered herself the ultimate fool under the heavens.

Such a magnificent opportunity had been laid out right before her. Even a revered elder of the sect had offered kind advice, practically feeding the opportunity directly into her mouth.

Yet she, in her self-righteousness, had dismissed it with utter contempt, believing the elder to be utterly foolish and deceived by others.

Thinking about it carefully now, how could a dignified elder—a sect leader who had nurtured and expanded the Horizon Pavilion—possibly be more foolish than her and fail to foresee these things?

She should have trusted the elder unconditionally and gone along to gather firewood with her.

If she had, perhaps that pot of fish soup would have included her share as well...

Unfortunately, there is no medicine for regret in this world, and everything has already become the past.

An Xinjie’s ambition and rationality told her that this was not yet the time for regret and complaints.

Inside the pot, there was still fish soup and fish; she still had a chance to mend the fold after the sheep had bolted.

"Um..."

Unable to speak for a long time yet reluctant to leave, An Xinjie finally mustered the courage to open her mouth.

With her head lowered, she pinched her delicate, jade-like right fingers with her left hand, looking somewhat nervous and flustered.

"Young master, I'm sorry."

An Xinjie raised her head and spoke to Wang Chu’s back.

Wang Chu wiped his mouth and turned around.

"Are you apologizing to me?"

An Xinjie nodded and abruptly sank to her knees on the beach.

"Yes. Previously, I was blind and mistook the young master for a fraud. Now that I think about it, I was truly unimaginably foolish."

Wang Chu smiled slightly.

"Young lady, what are you doing? Are you trying to perform wedding bows with me?"

If this had been any other day, confronted with such a frivolous tone, An Xinjie would have flown into a rage. But at this moment, she flushed and spoke like a maiden whose heart had been stirred:

"Please do not mock me, young master. With my status and background, how could I ever be worthy of someone like you? I am doing this solely to express my most sincere apologies to the young master."

Wang Chu收敛 a little of his smile, walked slowly up to An Xinjie, and looked down at her from above.

"You want to drink that fish soup too, don't you?"

An Xinjie’s eyes darted away, not expecting Wang Chu to change the subject so abruptly and question her directly.

"Hehe, young master, please do not misunderstand. This humble cultivator is truly only trying to express her apologies."

Wang Chu rubbed his chin and said:

"So you're saying you don't want it after all? In that case, I'll just have to finish the fish soup and eat all the fish by myself. Alas, I was already a bit full, and was thinking of sharing some with someone else."

These words made it impossible for An Xinjie to keep up her act any longer. She hurriedly raised her eyes to look at Wang Chu, her gaze brimming with entreaty.

"I beg the young master to share some with me."

Wang Chu feigned confusion.

"Didn't you say you didn't want it?"

An Xinjie explained with a trace of awkwardness:

"It is true that I offer my sincere apologies to the young master, but it is equally true that I wish to drink that fish soup and eat that fish."

Wang Chu nodded slightly.

"So that's how it is."

He asked:

"Then what are you willing to use in exchange?"

"Ah?"

An Xinjie was stunned for a moment before snapping back to reality. She bit her lip and said:

"I am also willing to trade the cultivation resources I have accumulated up to now!"

Wang Chu shook his head and said indifferently:

"That is clearly not enough."

The lifetime wealth of an elder and the lifetime wealth of An Xinjie were simply not on the same level.

Moreover, even the elder's lifetime wealth was not actually enough to trade for that bowl of fish soup.

Wang Chu had only agreed to the elder's request because he found him somewhat pleasing to the eye.

As for An Xinjie...

A woman who had been arrogant from the very beginning and regarded him as a charlatan—how could he possibly hold a favorable impression of her?

Wang Chu’s ruthless rejection left An Xinjie feeling somewhat lost, anxious, and panicked.

No!

The opportunity was right within reach.

She absolutely could not let this opportunity slip away right before her eyes!

"Then what else does the young master desire?"

An Xinjie pushed out her chest, her tone growing slightly soft and alluring.

"As long as you let me drink that fish soup, I am willing to do whatever the young master asks."

Wang Chu looked An Xinjie up and down with considerable interest.

"Anything at all?"

An Xinjie nodded heavily.

"Yes!"

To pay a certain price in exchange for her own future—An Xinjie felt it was entirely worth it.

Furthermore, ever since she learned that Wang Chu was no fraud, her view of him had long since changed.

Now, the more she looked at Wang Chu, the more pleasing to the eye he became. Trading with him meant she suffered no loss whatsoever, and she might even obtain an opportunity far more precious than the fish soup.

"Hehe, then my condition is this: you yourself are forbidden from drinking this fish soup or eating this fish."

Wang Chu stated the requirement for the transaction to take place.

This was not the kind of condition An Xinjie had imagined; it was a demand she never could have anticipated.

Using the price of forbidding myself from drinking this fish soup and eating this fish in exchange for the qualification to drink this fish soup and eat this fish?

What kind of logic was this?

An Xinjie felt that her brain could no longer process it.

Aside from that, she felt a lingering sense of frustration.

Her appearance and temperament certainly could not compare to the great beauties on the renowned flora rankings, but in this Laizhou region, she was undoubtedly a celebrated figure.

The number of male cultivators who wished to become her dao companions and roam the world together could form a queue stretching from the east of Laizhou all the way to the west.

In the past, hardly any male cultivator who laid eyes on her failed to be captivated by her looks and temperament.

Yet before Wang Chu, who appeared so dissolute and unrestrained, her visage seemed to possess not a shred of charm, to the extent that even when she offered subtle hints, Wang Chu remained entirely unmoved.

"Young master, are you being serious?"

An Xinjie feigned sorrow, looking up at him with a pitiful and touching expression.

She was unwilling to resign herself to this and wanted to make a final struggle.

Yet Wang Chu remained entirely unmoved, and even involuntarily thought of another lingering, graceful figure.

Having once appreciated the charm of the mists of Mount Wu, gazing at mists anywhere else always left him with a sense that they paled into insignificance.

Perhaps it was precisely because of this that when that mist watched him stroll through mists elsewhere, she appeared so indifferent and carefree...

"What is missed is missed, and there is no possibility of redemption. If delusional thoughts run too deep, even a breakthrough in cultivation will only plant the seeds of disaster early on. You are not qualified to drink that fish soup. Leave."

The casual expression vanished from Wang Chu’s face as he turned serious and uttered these meaningful words.

Having spoken, without waiting for An Xinjie to respond, a thought flickered in his mind, and he directly banished the kneeling An Xinjie away.

With that done, Wang Chu returned beneath the parasol to continue sipping his soup and eating his fish, while casually keeping an eye on Chuxue within the different spatial dimension.

Having consumed the fish soup and eaten the fish, she too was on the verge of a breakthrough, about to step into the Integration Realm.

"Without chili peppers, it still lacks a bit of flavor."

During this time, Wang Chu gave a fair evaluation of the fish he had cooked, then muttered to himself:

"However, Minghui and Xiaoyan should like it. I should have a chance to make it for them to eat."