Edited by Lord Immortal
After leaving the quiet courtyard of Liu Qingyan, Granny Wind snorted, “Boy, I advise you not to have designs on my young lady, or you won’t be spared!”
Lin Xun complained helplessly, “Senior Granny Wind, why have you invited me here if you think I’m unreliable?”
“You should know what I am talking about!” Granny Wind rebuked sharply.
Lin Xun retorted, “Do you think I’m head over heels for Miss Yan?”
Granny Wind reproached with disdain, “There are many young men in the world who adore my young lady. It’s normal for you to feel crazy about her. But if you think that you can win my young lady’s heart by repairing the Ancient-rhythm Ocarina, you’re too naive.”
Lin Xun sighed in his heart. The old woman seemed to be a very wise person but once it came to Liu Qingyan, she immediately behaved like a cat with its tail stepped on. It really made communicating with her a headache.
“I’ll bear your words in mind.”
Lin Xun didn’t want to explain himself any more.
Although Liu Qingyan was a heavenly beauty, it was totally looking down on him to think he would be smitten by her.
“Remember your words. There are many youngsters in the empire who want to win Yan’s affection, but they all failed in the end. Even some practitioners who are far superior to you in birth, status and cultivation failed. I believe that you should also know the difference in your statuses. Wise people will never come out with an idea of failure.”
Granny Wind said slowly, with pride and arrogance in her voice.
Hearing this, Lin Xun felt uncomfortable and said quietly, “Excuse me, I’m here just to repair the Ancient-rhythm Ocarina. I’m not going to discuss your household problems with you. If you think that I’m not trustworthy, it’s better to part our ways. So, we will just pretend today’s visit has never happened, okay?”
Granny Wind gave Lin Xun a frosty look but found him calm and composed.
Eventually, Granny Wind harrumphed and said no more.
Lin Xun didn’t want to be perfunctory. Although Granny Wind was strong, and her identity was high, she dared not cause any trouble for him before the restoration of Ancient-rhythm Ocarina. Therefore, Lin Xun directly demanded, “Senior, restoring the Ancient-rhythm Ocarina needs some rare spiritual materials. I’ll list them now. The sooner you gather these materials, the sooner my master can start working.”
Lin took out a pen and paper, wrote a long string of names of spiritual materials and handed it to Granny Wind.
When she took a glance at the list, she suddenly became stiff. Even though she had tempered her state of mind for a long time, she could not help turning angry at this moment, “Boy, you sure have a big appetite. Aren’t you afraid to overeat yourself to death?”
The spiritual materials on the list were Silver-Quill Snow Whale Bone, Hades Lighting Grass, Green Cold Crystal Water, Nine Turns Core Iron…
Each and every one of them was a rare and precious spiritual material and had a sky-high price. Some treasures were not even on sale in the market at all.
For example, Hades Lighting Grass only grew in the cold areas of the Arctic, which was extremely rare. Even if it could be found, there were powerful and frightful beasts around guarding it. If one wanted to collect this spiritual material, one needed to send a Tao Insight Realm practitioner!
On this list, there were more than ten rare spiritual materials like Hades Lighting Grass!
Everyone would doubt whether Lin Xun was being obstructive deliberately, or he really meant to ask an exorbitant price.
After all, the values of all the spiritual materials on this list were outrageous!
Lin Xun calmly questioned, “Do you think that Ancient-rhythm Ocarina, a nearly lost musical instrument, can be easily repaired?”
Granny Wind’s eyes twinkled. To tell the truth, these spiritual materials might cost high, but she could still collect them with some efforts by her means.
She suffered a lot of pains calculating the human resources and wealth needed to gather these spiritual materials.
Eventually, Granny Wind took a deep breath. She agreed to this deal with her irrefutable chilling eyes, “Fine! It’s a deal. But if you dare to take these spiritual materials for your own needs, I’ll be the first one to come looking for you!”
Lin Xun nodded and assured, “Certainly I won’t.”
As he spoke, he smiled and quipped, “Now that the matter of spiritual materials has been solved, it’s time to talk about the rewards. After all, it takes a lot of energy and time for my master to repair this Ancient-rhythm Ocarina; we can’t let him work in vain.”
Granny Wind cursed in her heart with a long face, ‘Rewards? It’s not enough to supply these spiritual materials? This badass is still asking for other rewards. He’s too sly and crafty!”
She said expressionlessly, “Tell me how much you want.”
She had made a decision. If Lin Xun became too greedy, she ought to use some tough means to wise him up and make him understand his situation.
Lin Xun corrected Granny Wind’s question, “It’s not my reward but my master’s.”
Granny Wind grew angry in her heart. She was almost unable to control her temper since Lin Xun still dared to make a retort.
With her present status, even the powerful people in the aristocratic families treated her with courtesy when they met her. Lin Xun the brat was the only one who blackmailed her recklessly without fear. This made Granny Wind even more furious.
If it hadn’t been for the fact that her young lady cared too much about the Ancient-rhythm Ocarina, Granny Wind would have already chased away this ignorant little bastard.
However, Lin Xun’s next words made Granny Wind surprised.
Lin Xun took a deep breath and said seriously, “As for rewards, you can pay whatever you think reasonable. I’ll explain it to my master. What do you think?”
Granny Wind was stunned. She didn’t expect him to make such a suggestion at this moment. She snorted, “I’m not in any mood to haggle with you. You can state your price directly.”
In spite of that, she looked more relaxed.
Lin Xun nodded and said, “So how about ten thousand gold coins?”
Ten thousand gold coins!
Granny Wind stared at Lin in astonishment. She thought he would quote a smaller sum. But who would have imagined that she had been fooled by Lin. It was clearly taking one step back to take two steps forward! He had made a comprehensive scheme, just waiting for her to grab the hook!
Granny Wind bit her teeth in resentment. This little bastard dared to play a trick on her. It was absolutely brazen and audacious!
However, Lin Xun blurted in confusion, “Elder, you look a little livid. Do you think this price is too high? I’m afraid it is already very low. If my master were to come here in person, mere ten thousand gold coins would not work at all.”
Granny Wind really had the impulse to kill Lin Xun right now. She glared at Lin fiercely for a long time then took a deep breath and said, “Okay. Ten thousand gold coins. Deal!”
But in her heart, she secretly decided that after the repairing of the Ancient-rhythm Ocarina, she would fix this little bastard as a payback!
Lin Xun seemed oblivious to Granny Wind’s bad mood and laughed, “Senior Granny Wind is indeed a straightforward person. I admire you very much.”
Granny Wind also replied with a hollow laugh. “You’re also a very good boy. It’s my first time to meet such an impressive young man in my life.”
When it came to ‘impressive’, this word was barely squeezed out from her mouth.
Lin Xun chortled, “You praise me too much. I’m not good enough for such high compliments.”
Granny Wind didn’t want to continue disputing with him over trifles. She said directly, “Go back first. In seven days, I will send all the spiritual materials and payments to the Commune of Spiritual Tattooists.”
Lin Xun bowed, “I bid you adieu.”
Then he turned around and left.
Actually, cold sweat had exuded from his back. He seemed quite jovial and composed just now when confronting Granny Wind. But it was only clear to himself that he had almost been stifled by her invisible overwhelming aura.
Thank God! She hadn’t struck him.
Anyhow, Lin was cathartic calling to mind what happened just now. This old biddy always belittled him. It was his turn to teach her a lesson, otherwise she would always treat him as a low-hanging fruit.
Surely, Lin was playing with fire. After all, Granny Wind’s power was so fathomless that in case she was irritated Lin would be hoist with his own petard.
Nevertheless, he was confident enough to fly a kite because there were few able to repair an Ancient-rhythm Ocarina and even fewer comparable to Lin. Since Granny Wind loved Liu Qingyan so much, she naturally wouldn’t make it hard on him.
By dint of such a firm faith, Lin mercilessly asked so many spiritual materials and gold coins, which was even worse than “daylight robbery”.
Of course, Lin Xun wouldn’t admit to this. And it was very difficult for others to see through this trick. After all, how many people in the world had mastered the skill to restore Ancient-rhythm Ocarina.
That was, ‘When you have a skill, you eat your fill.’
Just a few steps later, voice of Granny Wind suddenly came from behind, “Boy, you just crippled Huang Jianxiong. You should be prepared for the upcoming disaster!”
It was clear that this was not a kind reminder since she had used a tone of euphoria.
Lin Xun chuckled after a short pause without looking back. “I believe that Elder Granny Wind would not want some mishaps to happen to me before the Ancient-rhythm Ocarina is completely repaired.”
With that said, he continued on his way while laughing and singing jubilantly.
Behind him, Granny Wind turned dull and wrathful. She breathed deeply to control the anger in her heart. This little bastard was so hateful that he even commanded her to sort out his mess!
Even worse was that in order to ensure Yan’s Ancient-rhythm Ocarina be repaired smoothly, she had no other choice but to safeguard him.
“Little bastard, don’t be too proud; we’ll see in the future!” Looking at Lin Xun’s gradually fading figure, Granny Wind gnashed her teeth in fury.
