After Li Yundong had finished his words with a smile, Zi Yuan and Zhou Qin looked at him with confusion in their eyes. Ruan Hongling asked curiously, “Do you hold a grudge against him?”
Li Yundong smiled and said, “It’s not really a grudge, it’s just that this guy is rich but far from benevolent. He’s actually a total b*stard.”
As he spoke, Su Chan, who was next to him, interrupted him and told him all about what had happened before, including the matter of Zheng Youming saying that the houses sold by him were very shoddy. Zi Yuan, Zhou Qin, and Ruan Hongling all exclaimed in unison, “Damn it!”
Su Chan also said that Li Yundong had destroyed Zheng Youming’s building with just one punch. Zi Yuan raised her eyebrows and a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth as she looked at Li Yundong speechlessly. Zhou Qin smiled and looked at Li Yundong with admiration. Ruan Hongling clapped and laughed, saying loudly, “Well done. If I were you, I would also have torn down that shoddy building!”
Li Yundong smiled and said, “Speaking of which, I was afraid that Zheng Youming would come for me, but I ended up forgetting all about it as he did not take any movement for such a long time. Anyhow, Zheng Youming must have gone to jail when all that happened.”
Zhou Qin snorted and said, “Zheng Youming, this kind of rich but heartless guy, must have his a strong background which lets him behave as he does without punishment. Maybe he couldn’t do real estate anymore, so he just switched to the tea business.”
Li Yundong shook the leaflets in his hand and said, “I know why the Tieguanyin lovers used to be everywhere in my QQ group. It turns out that Zheng Youming is behind it all?”
Li Yundong smiled and turned to look at Zi Yuan. “Zhenren Zi Yuan, what do you think? For yourself and the sake of others, we shouldn’t miss out on this chance to make money from Zheng Youming, who is an utter asshole.”
Zi Yuan paused for a moment, then said with a rather helpless smile, “How can cultivators like us participate in such matters? It’d be a joke if anyone else found out.”
Li Yundong laughed and said, “Didn’t you say that everything and everyone in this colorful world are just like passing clouds to you? If that’s true, you shouldn’t care about other people’s gossip!”
Hearing this, a thought flashed through Zi Yuan’s mind. After a moment’s consideration, she nodded and agreed. “Okay!”
Ruan Hongling suddenly cheered and said, “Hooray, we won’t need to go to the streets!”
Zi Yuan was both angry and amused as she shot a glance at Ruan Hongling. She put on a show of being angry and said, “Remember that you’re still a cultivator. Looking at you, I fail to see the difference between you and a child. I’m only promising to participate in the tournament, but I can’t guarantee that I’ll win!”
Li Yundong smiled and said, “It doesn’t matter. I have faith in you!”
Zhou Qin said very cautiously, “That’s not necessarily true. Zhenren Zi Yuan is right. Since they are daring to host such an event and award such a high bonus, it is very likely that they have manipulated everything from top to bottom, and even the judges and referees have probably been bribed. If it were me, I would spend money on buying over all these people, and then secretly manipulate the competition in order to make my people come in first place. In the end, the two million would still fall into my pocket, and I would also get to use the social resources and eye effects to advertise myself for free.”
After hearing Zhou Qin’s full analysis, Li Yundong and the others gasped. Li Yundong said, “Damn, it’s too shameless. But what you say may be true, Zhou Qin!”
Ruan Hongling was so angry that she shouted, “Shameless! Shameless! This is a blatant violation of the rules!”
Su Chan said with an anxious face, “What should we do? How much is the prize for the second place? Let’s aim for the second prize, okay?”
Li Yundong laughed and pinched Su Chan’s pink cheeks. “You fool, the reward for second place is only 300,000 yuan. The gap between the first and the second place is too big. Just now, we may have felt normal when Zhou Qin didn’t say anything, but with what she has said and the huge gap between the bonus, we can already sense that there’s something fishy going on. However, I think we’d better give it a try. Maybe the judge’s eyes will be able to see clearly. Besides, even if we don’t get first place, it’ll still be good to get the second place and take 300,000 yuan!”
After thinking for a while, Zi Yuan said, “That’s right. Man proposes and God disposes. If we don’t do anything, we will definitely accomplish nothing. However, since we are going to participate in the tea art competition, do you know what we need to do, Li Yundong?”
Li Yundong thought for a moment and suddenly smiled bitterly. “Anyway, top-grade tea leaves and a set of high-grade tea sets are always needed, aren’t they? I’m afraid that I will have to spend money on buying these things. Alas, as the saying goes, it takes money to make money. This is really a famous saying!”
To one side, Su Chan also sighed. “Right. Where can we get money now? These top-grade tea leaves and top-grade tea sets don’t come cheap.”
Li Yundong looked at Su Chan in surprise. “Yo, you know about this stuff?”
Su Chan was a little displeased. She stamped her feet and said angrily, “Don’t patronize me. I was the one who taught you how to cultivate!”
Li Yundong laughed, then rubbed Su Chan’s hair and said dotingly, “Well, my girl really is the best.”
Su Chan’s anger turned to joy, and her eyes became full of light again.
Looking at this, Zi Yuan also couldn’t help smiling slightly. It was as if she was in a kind of pure and warm atmosphere of love, and she also felt that her heart was very quiet and peaceful.
After a while, Zi Yuan said, “In fact, there is no need for us to worry about top-grade tea leaves and top-grade tea sets. There is a collection of top-grade tea sets in the cave residence of Linggong Sect, as well as some top-grade Huangshan Maofeng tea.”
Li Yundong asked curiously, “Huangshan Maofeng? What kind of tea is that? I can’t say I’ve ever heard of it. I’m only aware of Tie Guanyin, Biluochun, stuff like that.”
Ruan Hongling laughed and said teasingly, “You haven’t seen it before, have you? The Tie Guanyin and Biluochun are to tea what the BMW Volkswagen is to cars. Some of them are ordinary while some of them are high grade. Because there is more that is only ordinary and the output is high, everyone is familiar with them. However, even in the heyday of Huangshan Maofeng production, only a few hundred loads a year were made. Don’t think that this tea is not famous. In fact, it is the Rolls-Royce of the world of tea. Not long ago, at an auction, a hundred pounds of Huangshan Maofeng were sold at a high price of 85,000 yuan!”
Li Yundong gasped. “A couple of ounces for 85,000 yuan? The price is comparable to gold!”
Ruan Hongling snorted. “Of course. How else could we say that Huangshan Maofeng Tea is the best of the best? The last time I begged sister Zi Yuan to make me some Huangshan Maofeng tea, she didn’t even want to make it for me. You’re so lucky!”
Li Yundong said with a smile, “I’m not the judge who’ll be drinking it.”
When Zi Yuan saw that Ruan Hongling still wanted to talk, she quickly shot Ruan Hongling a glare. “All you’re doing here is running your mouth. Why don’t you hurry back to master to get it? We’ll go back to Tiannan City and wait for you.”
Ruan Hongling’s face darkened and she muttered, “Why does it have to be me again? My legs are too thin to run! There is no benefit for me in doing this either. What I’m always going to get are your lessons, sister Zi Yuan!”
Zi Yuan pretended to be angry and said, “Off with you!”
Ruan Hongling hurriedly said, “Okay, okay, I know I’m wrong. I know I’m wrong, okay?” Before leaving, she pulled a face at Li Yundong and cast an eye over the surroundings. When she saw that no one was looking, she turned into a blue light and rose into the air.
Ruan Hongling flew back to Mount Longhu at high speed and returned to her cave residence. She searched the cave where Zi Yuan was doing his closed-door training and found a closed porcelain jar and a tea set.
Ruan Hongling chuckled and took out a small pouch from her breast pocket. She pinched the opening of the pouch and it then opened it by itself. The pouch glowed colorfully and Ruan Hongling carefully placed the pot and teaware inside. Then, she closed the pouch and concealed it on her person. When everything was done, she stood up and strode out of the stone chamber.
When Ruan Hongling walked out of the stone room and passed by the pool full of lotus flowers, she turned her head and saw that there were two lotuses on the cusp of blooming floating within. There was a bright light around the flowers, and she could vaguely see the figures of two curled up human beings inside.
Ruan Hongling thought to herself with a smile, “Good girls, I haven’t seen you for a few days, but you’ve been growing pretty fast!”
She was about to turn and leave when she suddenly heard footsteps coming from outside. Then, a woman shouted, “Seal up this place!”
Ruan Hongling was shocked. When she walked out, she saw Zou Ping and The Lady of the Earthly Fire, Zhang Ling, standing in front of the cave and loudly barking orders at the disciples of the Zhengyi School around them.
Ruan Hongling saw these disciples of the Zhengyi School holding all kinds of seals and wooden boards in their hands. Before long, they had thoroughly pasted the Taoist temple with seals, and even the door was nailed shut. Shock and anger overcame her as she yelled, “What are you doing!”
Zou Ping snorted and cast a sideways glance at her, her eyes full of disdain. “What are we doing? Are you blind?”
Ruan Hongling was so angry that she was trembling. “This is the territory of the Linggong Sect. How dare you be so presumptuous!”
Zou Ping laughed loudly and said, “This is the main territory of our Zhengyi School, so how can you even call what we’re doing ‘being presumptuous’?”
Ruan Hongling was furious and shouted, “It’s enough that you froze our account, and now you’re sealing our Taoist temple? Why?”
Zou Ping burst out laughing and took out a stack of photos from her sleeve. She threw them at Ruan Hongling, who blocked it with her hand. With a snap, the photos flew everywhere. Ruan Hongling saw that the photos were all of Li Yundong and Zi Yuan together.
Ruan Hongling suddenly flew into a rage. “How dare you follow us!”
Zou Ping sneered and said, “If you don’t want people to know about this kind of thing, then don’t do it in the first place! How can the future Sect Leader of the Linggong Sect be so shameless as to fool around with the head of the Fox Zen School? Don’t they know what shame is?” After that, she waved her arm and said, “Seal everything. Seal this filthy sect away for me!”
Ruan Hongling was so angry that she could feel herself losing control. She moved her hand and was about to take out a magical item when she saw Zhang Ling pointing at her and shouting, “Swoosh!”
Ruan Hongling’s body stiffened all of a sudden, and she could no longer move at all.
With a wave of her hand, Zou Ping said, “Seal off the cave residence inside as well!” Following her command, the other disciples of the Zhengyi School barged in. The Lady of the Earthly Fire followed along and entered behind them. When she caught sight of the two budding lotuses in the pond, she couldn’t help but let out a gasp of surprise. “These Bingdi flowers look exactly the same, but there’s actually people inside them with the same soul! How can there be people with the same soul inside? This is really rare!”
Zou Ping, who was standing to one side, had a fawning smile on her face. “Master, if you like these, then take them with you. Wouldn’t it be a waste for you to store such a good thing here in the Linggong Sect?”
The Lady of the Earthly Fire chuckled, but as she was a proud woman, she hesitated a little. However, Zou Ping simply waved her hand, lifting the two Bingdi Lotuses into the air and using Zhenqi to prop them up. She smiled and said, “Master, if we bring them back to the Zhengyi School to recuperate, won’t that be better than them staying here?”
Zhang Ling, the Lady of the Earthly Fire, smiled and looked at the two Bingdi Lotuses with joy. She nodded and praised them, saying, “Well, your Shibo’s Three-death Sword Formation lacks two Sword Spirits with extreme Lingqi. I think when they grow up, it will be the perfect time for them to be the Sword Spirits of Left and Right!”
Zhang Ling held the Bingdi Lotuses in her hand. The more she looked at them, the more she loved them. Ignoring the disciples who were busy with sealing Linggong Sect, she took the Bingdi Lotuses with her, then turned into a green light and flew away.
Ruan Hongling watched helplessly as the Linggong Sect was sealed up and the Bingdi Lotuses, which she had cultivated for a long time, were taken away. She was so angry that she went mad. When she broke through the imprisonment and was finally able to move again, all the disciples of Zhengyi School had already left. She rushed to the gate of the Taoist temple of Mount Longhu and was about to head out when she suddenly stopped. She glared at the tightly guarded Taoist sect with hatred in her eyes and ground her teeth together.
She gnashed her teeth for a long time before eventually stomping her feet in anger and turning into a green light to leave.
