Junior sister, I really need to control you

The female shopkeeper glanced around, then lowered her voice and said, "If you're placing an order, the deposit... can be a little lower..."

“Lowering the price won’t help. I only have 10,000 talisman coins right now, and I still can’t afford to pay even if it’s halved.” Li Yinsheng put the water chestnut cake into his Qiankun bag. “But I’ll be able to get more talisman coins soon…”

"A deposit of ten thousand is acceptable." The female shopkeeper picked up a calligraphy brush and stroked the brush handle with her slender fingers as she spoke.

"Huh?" Li Yinsheng was stunned.

“However… there’s a condition,” the female shopkeeper took another breath, “you must let me take this order, and I can waive the deposit…”

"This...isn't that a bad idea?" Li Yinsheng hesitated.

He's a little worried that the other party might be trying to take a kickback—the order should be taken by a skilled array master, but what if she's not skilled enough and wants to snatch the order with a discount?

Since he chose Yutan Temple, his primary concern must be quality!

To compromise quality just to save money is putting the cart before the horse.

Wait, that's not right.

At Yutan Temple, it seems they'll compensate you if the quality is poor...

"If you specify me to arrange the formation, the total price can be cheaper."

The female shopkeeper spoke again, interrupting Li Yinsheng's train of thought, her eyes fixed on his face as she spoke.

Li Yinsheng felt even more uncertain.

After hesitating for a moment, he said tactfully, "Shopkeeper, I'm just short of money right now. The money for setting up the formation isn't actually that much for me."

"Therefore, compared to whether it saves money or not, I actually care more about the quality of the formation after it is completed..."

The female shopkeeper pursed her lips and spoke again.

"The stewards only take orders within the temple, and the array masters in the shop are all direct disciples and true disciples of the stewards."

She took out a jade scroll that shimmered with precious light and pointed it at herself.

"I am the direct disciple of the abbot."

"I'm placing my order."

Li Yinsheng answered without hesitation.

Chapter 21 High-Grade Magical Artifact, The Thief Who Stole Spiritual Essence

In the shop of Yutan Temple.

Li Yinsheng placed the order decisively.

It's common knowledge that there are usually no stewards in the shops.

Given that all the disciples are direct descendants or true disciples, the direct descendants of the abbot are naturally the most reliable.

However, if the female shopkeeper hadn't revealed her identity, Li Yinsheng would never have considered her as a direct descendant of the abbot.

A direct disciple is to inherit the master's mantle and position. Each person can only have one direct disciple; this is a fixed rule written into the precepts.

She looked to be only twenty-five or twenty-six years old. For someone of that age to be chosen as a direct disciple from among a group of true disciples by the abbot, she must be exceptionally talented.

Li Yinsheng sighed inwardly.

Unfortunately, despite his nearly 100 years of profound cultivation, his methods were completely inadequate.

Otherwise, anyone with a similar cultivation level would have been able to easily discern the female shopkeeper's cultivation level.

He could only rely on his cultivation level to sense the flow of qi, and roughly estimate that the other party should have thirty or forty years of cultivation... right?

Shaking his head, Li Yinsheng stopped dwelling on these things.

Apart from the lost Zhenguan Gong technique, the Xuanzhen Temple's Sutra Repository still retains about 70-80% of its other inheritances. The missing techniques can be made up for with some time.

At that moment, he was more concerned about something else.

"Shopkeeper," he leaned forward slightly and asked seriously, "you just said that if I asked you to set up the formation, not only would the deposit be waived, but the total price would also be cheaper..."

"I wonder... exactly how much cheaper it will be?"

As Li Yinsheng approached, the female shopkeeper instinctively held her breath, then said, "How about 100,000 talismans?"

Li Yinsheng's eyes lit up, and he muttered to himself.

"One hundred thousand... is equivalent to the price of an ordinary array master setting up a small-scale spirit refining array."

What they received was the Tongming Refining Spirit Array, personally set up by the direct descendant of the Jade Altar Temple's abbot.

This is a huge profit!

But the female shopkeeper, hearing his mutterings, seemed to misunderstand something, and pinched her own earlobe: "If you still think it's too expensive, how about ninety thousand talismans?"

It can go down even further?!

Li Yinsheng felt that if he bargained a little more, there should still be room for negotiation, and he could lower the price even further.

But after all this, he had actually gained quite a bit of advantage, so after a little thought, he gave up the idea.

"Then thank you very much, shopkeeper," Li Yinsheng said.

In response to Li Yinsheng's thanks, the female shopkeeper nodded, paused, and then said, "My surname is Meng, Meng Yu. I will temporarily act as the shopkeeper, so please call me fellow Daoist."

“Alright, Fellow Daoist Meng,” Li Yinsheng readily agreed.

"How should I address you, fellow Daoist? Which Daoist temple do you cultivate in? Where do you plan to build the formation?" Meng Yu asked.

"I am Li Yinsheng from Xuanzhen Temple. As for the location of the formation, it is on Xuanzhen Peak of my temple," Li Yinsheng said.

Upon hearing Li Yinsheng mention Xuanzhen Temple and Xuanzhen Peak, a clear look of confusion flashed across Meng Yu's face.

Which Taoist temple is this? I have absolutely no recollection of it.

But she quickly put that question out of her mind.

Of the dozens of Taoist temples under the Zhengyang lineage, only about a dozen have become renowned, all because they excel in certain skills or techniques.

This Xuanzhen Temple... it's probably a rather small and unremarkable Taoist temple, which is why she doesn't remember it.

Meng Yu asked, "When would you like to begin constructing the formation, Fellow Daoist Li?"

"The sooner the better, it just depends on when Fellow Daoist Meng has some free time," Li Yinsheng said without hesitation.

“I can go right now,” Meng Yu said immediately.

"Now?" Li Yinsheng was somewhat surprised. "But Fellow Daoist Meng, aren't you the manager? Are you free to leave now?"

"It's alright, I'll go set up the formation, and someone will temporarily take my place," Meng Yu said.

“Oh…” Li Yinsheng didn’t dwell on it and said, “Then, Fellow Daoist Meng, shall we set off now? I’ll take you to Xuanzhen Peak.”

"I'm going to the storeroom to get the materials for setting up the array. Setting up the Spirit Refining Array is complicated, so I'll need to call two more assistants. Fellow Daoist Li, please wait for me a moment."

Meng Yu then served Li Yinsheng a plate of water chestnut cakes and hurriedly went into the back room.

Li Yinsheng ate and drank, and a moment later Meng Yu led two people out of the back hall.

The two people behind her, a man and a woman, looked a little older than her, but they followed her with a very respectful expression.

Moreover, Li Yinsheng noticed that in addition to her original Qiankun bag, Meng Yu had an extra Qiankun bag with the name of Yutan Temple printed on it, presumably for official accounting purposes.

Li Yinsheng exchanged greetings with the two disciples brought by Meng Yu, and then left the shop under Meng Yu's guidance.

Standing on the bluestone road, Li Yinsheng was a little troubled.

He was going to take these three array masters to Xuanzhen Peak to set up an array, but his only means of flying was the Wind-Riding Technique.

Are we supposed to just grab a gust of wind and blow these three all the way to Xuanzhen Peak?

Fortunately, just as Li Yinsheng had the idea, Meng Yu stepped forward, and a jade chessboard flew out of his Qiankun bag. In the blink of an eye, it grew from the size of a palm to a square foot, hovering quietly on the ground for a foot.

Meng Yu was the first to step onto the chessboard, followed closely by the other two.

“Fellow Daoist Li, please show us the way. We’re going to your Xuanzhen Peak,” Meng Yu said.

Li Yinsheng stepped onto the chessboard, a look of surprise on his face.

One of the functions of a magic weapon is to enable cultivators to fly on objects, but only high-grade magic weapons can have this function.

Low-grade magic weapons like his Frost Leaf Sword, and even mid-grade magic weapons of a higher grade, do not have this effect. Otherwise, he could have flown over on the sword and wouldn't have needed to generate wind.

But what surprised him was not the superior-grade magic weapon itself.

Rather, this magical artifact did not fly out of the Qiankun bag with "Yutan Temple" written on it on Meng Yu's waist, but rather from another of her own private Qiankun bags.

In other words, this superior-grade ritual implement was most likely not a "business vehicle" provided by the Jade Altar Temple, but rather Meng Yu's own.

This made Li Yinsheng very envious.

A high-grade magic artifact can easily cost tens of thousands of talisman coins, more than the money he spent building the spirit refining array.

Even the stewards of various Taoist temples do not all have high-grade magical artifacts with them.

As expected of the direct descendant of the abbot of Yutan Temple, he is truly wealthy.

As Li Yinsheng sighed inwardly, he pointed out the direction of Xuanzhen Peak.

Without Meng Yu making any move, the chessboard below naturally rose into the air, carrying the four people and soaring through the air in the direction Li Yinsheng pointed.

Li Yinsheng stepped onto the chessboard and felt as if he were walking on flat ground. He looked down at the chessboard with great interest, observing the patterns and restrictions on it.

This was the first time he had ever come into close contact with a high-grade magic weapon; before this, he had never even seen a mid-grade magic weapon.

"Fellow Daoist Li, are you interested in my 'Azure Jade Scale'?" Meng Yu took a step closer to Li Yinsheng and asked.

"Is the Azure Jade Scale the name of this magical artifact?" Li Yinsheng asked.

“Yes,” Meng Yu nodded, “Because my name contains the character for jade, and I enjoy playing chess, I asked a master craftsman from the Casting Furnace Temple to forge this magical artifact.”

Custom-made! They must be really rich...

Li Yinsheng was once again filled with emotion.

Before Li Yinsheng could speak, Meng Yu took the initiative to tell him about the time she commissioned the magic artifact, and Li Yinsheng nodded in agreement.

Although Li Yinsheng only responded to Meng Yu occasionally, Meng Yu continued her storytelling, a stark contrast to her initial taciturn demeanor.

The two of them stood in the front half of the chessboard, while the two disciples whom Meng Yu had called to be his assistants stood in the back half.

Watching Meng Yu constantly talking to Li Yinsheng, the male disciple lowered his voice and said to the female disciple next to him, "What's wrong with Senior Sister Meng? She's usually very quiet and never chats with anyone. It's really strange..."