Cultivation Is Money-Grabbing C18

Chapter 18: Too Shameless. It’s Settled.

Pink Is the Trendy Color for Cultivators

Almost at the exact moment the gong rang, the talisman cultivator on the other side moved his foot slightly. With a flick of his fingers, a talisman burned up at his fingertips, and the next instant, he suddenly vanished.

In the blink of an eye, the talisman cultivator reappeared behind the body cultivator, who was eighteen years old. Another talisman ignited in his hand, condensing into power.

The talisman cultivator threw a punch at the body cultivator, seemingly intending to end the fight in one move.

The body cultivator tilted his head to dodge, then turned to strike the talisman cultivator’s face. However, before his fist could land, the talisman cultivator activated a defensive talisman, nullifying the attack before disappearing again.

“Ugh, you talisman cultivators are so annoying.”

The body cultivator grumbled loudly on stage, drawing discontented looks from the talisman cultivators in the audience. He paid them no mind, staying focused on the fight.

The talisman cultivator soon reappeared above him, using a technique akin to Mount Tai Crushing Down, seemingly aiming straight for his neck.

But the body cultivator wasn’t just for show. He let the talisman cultivator land on his shoulders, yet no matter how many strikes the talisman cultivator threw, he remained completely unscathed.

From outside the arena, Lian Mu watched the battle and noticed that the body cultivator had never taken the fight seriously. Instead, he was toying with his opponent like a cat playing with a mouse—letting the talisman cultivator land a hit first before slapping him back with sheer power, messing with his mentality.

Body cultivators typically didn’t use weapons. Their cultivation centered around their own physical strength, and when they fought, they relied solely on their fists.

Years of tempering their bodies made body cultivators naturally more durable than other cultivators. But this particular eighteen-year-old body cultivator… was on a whole other level.

The talisman cultivator had been attacking nonstop, burning through nearly twenty talismans. In contrast, the body cultivator hadn’t moved a single step since the match began. He simply stood in place—completely unharmed.

“Damn it, is he wearing spirit armor?” A spectator below clenched his teeth in frustration.

A nearby artifact refiner explained, “He probably isn’t. When ‘Qinglong’ attacked just now, I didn’t sense any spiritual fluctuations from an artifact.”

“Qinglong is a dual-spirit-root cultivator, the best talisman cultivator in our tier. He’s just testing things out—for sure, he’ll win soon.”

The battle raged on. Qinglong had already burned through thirty talismans, yet the body cultivator still hadn’t moved his feet. The stark contrast inevitably unsettled Qinglong.

Gritting his teeth, Qinglong burned his final Teleportation Talisman and closed his eyes for a moment.

The body cultivator watched him but didn’t attack, as if waiting for Qinglong’s next move.

Many in the audience knew that Qinglong had come prepared, and this was his last Teleportation Talisman. Once used, he would have no more left.

Where would Qinglong appear this time?

The crowd held their breath, eyes locked onto the stage. Even Lian Mu was drawn in, squeezing into the front row for a better view.

Qinglong vanished for a moment. The next second, he reappeared—directly beneath the body cultivator—his Fire Talisman transforming into a Blazing Fire Fist, aimed straight at the body cultivator’s groin.

“Whoa—!”

Gasps of shock erupted from the audience. No one had expected things to take this turn.

For the first time, the body cultivator moved his feet. He furrowed his brows and cursed, “You pervert!”

He no longer held back. Lifting his foot, he stomped down on Qinglong’s abdomen, and a crisp sound of bones fracturing echoed throughout the arena.

Most thought that was the end of it, but to their surprise, the body cultivator raised his foot again—this time, ruthlessly kicking Qinglong straight in the crotch, sending him flying off the battle platform.

Qinglong’s face turned green. A massive hole was smashed into the wall of the Star-Plucking Tower behind him, and he spat out blood continuously.

The black-robed referee immediately declared, “Body cultivator, eighteen years old—victory!”

Brushing the dust off his clothes, the body cultivator wrinkled his nose in distaste and looked at Qinglong, who was embedded in the wall. “I thought you had some real skills, but turns out you only rely on sneak attacks. Next time I run into you, you better watch out.”

He made a gesture of breaking with both hands in the air.

Everyone: “…”

Lian Mu: “…”

This was such a strange development.

After the bounty competition ended, the body cultivator, who was eighteen years old, received all the bounty money, a total of 200,000 spirit stones, making Lian Mu feel envious.

To kick out 200,000 just with two feet—Lian Mu wanted that too.

However, as she was still an obscure demon hunter, no one would specifically put up a bounty for her.

It seemed like in the future, she couldn’t be too low-key and needed to provoke more people to earn big money.

Of course, she also had to improve her strength. Otherwise, in the end, she would be the one stuck on the wall.

…

Gui Xian Sect.

After spending the entire day in the Star Plucking Tower, Lian Mu was heading back to the Ya Sui Peak. She planned to go back to her room and sleep for a bit, but as she approached her house, she found someone squatting at the entrance.

“Xu Xianxing?” Lian Mu kicked his butt with her foot. “What are you doing squatting here?”

Could it be that there was something valuable for crafting hidden in the ground near her house?

Lian Mu instantly became alert. “This area is mine. Don’t mess around.”

Xu Xianxing woke up from the kick and, seeing her, slowly stood up. “You’re back? I accidentally fell asleep… Strange, my butt hurts.”

Lian Mu was silent for a moment and silently retracted her kicking foot, pretending not to know anything. “Do you need something?”

Xu Xianxing said, “Actually, there is. The sword Senior Brother Ye entrusted me to repair suddenly broke again a few days ago. I thought about it all night, tried various spiritual materials for repairs, but it was still useless.”

Lian Mu said, “Then why are you looking for me? I’m not a Refiner.”

But maybe she would be one in the future; she had already decided to learn crafting.

“It’s like this. Later, I went to the library Pavilion to check some books and found a potentially viable method. It doesn’t require purely magical beast materials, but instead, it combines other things to create a new spiritual material,” Xu Xianxing explained. “I remember five years ago, when you went down the mountain to buy something, you brought back a piece of glowstone, right? I want to borrow your glowstone.”

Lian Mu didn’t expect him to still remember this. “It’s gone.”

“Impossible,” Xu Xianxing said. “It’s not gone, and it’s right in your room.”

Lian Mu: “…Are you a real immortal?”

How could he know this?

Xu Xianxing smiled slightly. “With your stingy nature, don’t even think about throwing away something, let alone something you didn’t pay for. You wouldn’t throw it away.”

Lian Mu, who had been exposed: “…”

Sometimes, a person needs to save some face.

“You can use it, but it’s 10,000 spirit stones each time,” Lian Mu said, getting straight to the point.

Xu Xianxing pulled out a Spatial Pouch. “I guessed you would say that, so I prepared it in advance. There are 20,000 spirit stones inside.”

Lian Mu took the Spatial Pouch, impressed by his thoughtfulness. “No wonder you’re my good friend, you understand me.”

Xu Xianxing leaned over, smiling happily. “Right, I think so too.”

They both went into the room. Xu Xianxing said, “But this time, I’m not borrowing; I need to take some powder back.”

He pulled out a magical crystal dagger and a white porcelain bottle from his bag.

“The remaining 10,000 spirit stones are for scraping the powder.”

Lian Mu took out the tower-shaped glowstone and placed it on the table, sitting to one side to watch him scrape the powder.

This glowstone was very hard. The reason Lian Mu had kept it for five years wasn’t just because it was a gift; she often used it for other hard tasks, like hammering nails, cracking walnuts, and even sharpening knives.

Over these five years, the glowstone had remained unchanged.

But Xu Xianxing’s magical crystal dagger was more powerful. With a light scrape, he removed a layer from the surface of the glowstone.

After collecting the powder, Xu Xianxing turned the dagger blade and shaved off a piece of the small tip at the top of the tower, wrapping it in a handkerchief.

Looking at the pink handkerchief, Lian Mu couldn’t help but recall the eighteen-year-old physical cultivator in a pink mask she had seen today.

“…”

Do cultivators nowadays all love pink?

So flashy. Wrapped up.

After finishing with the glowstone, Xu Xianxing looked around. “Where should I sit?”

There wasn’t even a stool in the room.

“You still want to sit?” Lian Mu retorted. “You took what you wanted, why are you sitting here?”

Xu Xianxing: “The wind and snow outside are too heavy… Lian Mu, you’re not concerned about your friend at all.”

“Do I look like someone who’s concerned about money?”

Xu Xianxing pulled out another Spatial Pouch. “I’ll pay. I’m concerned about myself.”

Lian Mu patted the bed beside her. “I’ll allow you to sit on my bed for a bit.”

“By the way, Gui Xian Sect has six peaks. Why is Han Lai Peak the coldest?” Lian Mu asked a question she had been wanting to ask for a while.

Xu Xianxing, sitting next to her, shivered as the wind blew in from the window. His hands and feet were shaking as he replied, “Han Lai Peak is located at the northernmost point, facing the northern cold air, so it’s naturally the coldest. Yin Xiang Peak is the warmest. It’s said that it used to be cold too, and a master alchemist died there. The scattered spiritual energy now surrounds Yin Xiang Peak, making it feel like spring all year round.”

“Our Qian Ling Peak is the hottest because it gathers many weapon smiths, consuming a lot of spirit stones every day, and the released spiritual energy blocks the cold. Sui Qiu Peak, as the name suggests, feels like autumn all year round.”

Lian Mu: “Qian Ling Peak is the hottest, but you still hand out fox fur cloaks for initiation!”

Shouldn’t it be the coldest Han Lai Peak that needs it the most?

“Who told us we’re weak weapon smiths, not good at withstanding the cold?” Xu Xianxing laughed, pointing at himself. “Sword cultivators can take hits, their lives are rough, so naturally, we were arranged to Han Lai Peak.”

Lian Mu: “Do weapon smiths spend a lot of money?”

“A little,” Xu Xianxing said. “Mainly because magical beast materials burn money. Weapon smiths with lower talent also need to use spirit stones to infuse spiritual energy into their spirit tools.”

That amount of money wasn’t much for him.

Hearing this, Lian Mu was relieved. After all, she only wanted to forge a sword for herself, not do anything else, so it shouldn’t cost too much.

Taking this opportunity, Lian Mu asked him many questions about crafting, and Xu Xianxing patiently answered, occasionally chatting about other things.

The wind and snow outside stopped after an hour. Lian Mu had finished asking everything she wanted to know, and feeling satisfied, she raised her hand. “Master Xu, you should go now.”

Xu Xianxing smiled widely. “It’s always nice to chat with you. When I’m done with my busy work, I’ll invite you for a meal.”

He wrapped himself in the fox fur cloak, gathered his things, and walked to the door. As he was about to leave, he glanced around and suddenly stopped.

Lian Mu saw him standing at the door for a long time without moving, letting the cold air in. She urged, “If you don’t leave, I’ll turn into a snowman.”

“…”

Xu Xianxing blinked and looked at the tower-shaped glowstone on the table, which seemed normal, as though the dark energy he had seen earlier was just an illusion.

His gaze turned toward Lian Mu, who was staring at him in confusion, with no abnormalities.

“Then I’ll leave, see you later.”

Xu Xianxing left and closed the door.

Maybe he had been mistaken. It seemed like he shouldn’t stay up late anymore.

—