An elderly man with white-gray facial hair suddenly appeared before Moyuan, looking at him with a gentle smile as he asked, "Who are you?"
Moyuan could immediately sense that the old man before him possessed extraordinary strength, likely having already reached the Ranxue Realm.
One had to know that a high-level expert at the Ranxue Realm could already be considered an overlord-like existence in Hecheng. If the man decided to make a move against him, things would get quite troublesome.
"Haha, little friend, there's no need to be nervous. I am Huang Rui, an Elder of this Treasure Pavilion, in charge of all matters here."
Sensing the wariness in Moyuan's eyes, Huang Rui offered a gentle smile, seemingly reading Moyuan's thoughts.
Hearing that the man belonged to the Treasure Pavilion, Moyuan relaxed his guard.
"I'm fine."
Moyuan shook his head, already forming some guesses as to why so many people had suddenly gathered.
He had heard what the crowd was saying earlier. If he could control the sword in his hand, the Treasure Pavilion would undoubtedly sell it to him. But that would also mean owing them a favor—assuming, of course, that he couldn't control it.
And look, the Elder had even stepped out himself. It was clearly to prevent any destruction caused by his inability to control the Demon Sword and to cut their losses in time.
"So, is my little friend planning to buy this sword?"
Seeing that Moyuan was unharmed, Huang Rui asked gently while secretly sizing him up.
"Yes."
Moyuan nodded, then changed the subject.
"However, I need to take care of a personal matter first."
With that, Moyuan finally spotted Li Mie in the crowd and walked toward him.
"Aren't you going to honor your bet?"
Moyuan stretched out his hand in front of Li Mie with a calm expression.
At that moment, Li Mie's face turned dark as a sudden wave of regret washed over him. Why on earth had he made this wager?
Those one hundred thousand Mystical Crystals were given to him privately by his grandfather to buy some top-tier weapons. Forking them all over at once made his heart ache fiercely.
"I didn't expect that kid to actually master that sword. Truly astonishing."
"Who's to say otherwise? But what's even more enviable is that the kid just made one hundred thousand Mystical Crystals for nothing! That's one hundred thousand! I might not even earn that much in a lifetime."
"The kid must have just lucked out."
"Wait, isn't the kid who made the bet the City Lord's son?"
"What? The City Lord's son? Oh, well then it's fine. A few Mystical Crystals are just a drop in the bucket for the City Lord's son. The City Lord skims way more than that with a flick of his wrist."
"Don't talk nonsense. Our City Lord is deeply loved by everyone here."
"I'm warning you, kid, don't you dare speak ill of the City Lord. If it weren't for the City Lord back then, heaven knows where I'd be wandering on the streets."
"Exactly. My family gets government assistance subsidies every single month, not a single one has ever been shorted."
"Such a good City Lord, how did he end up with such a good-for-nothing son?"
"If I had a son like that, I'd string him up from a tree and beat him for three days and three nights."
Listening to the crowd's comments about him, Li Mie's already dark complexion turned even worse.
His identity as the City Lord's son had been recognized. If he failed to honor the bet and word reached his father's ears, the consequences would be unthinkable.
"Hmph! Here, take it. But you won't be this lucky next time."
With no other choice, Li Mie had to honor the bet. He threw down the Spatial Ring and fled in humiliation, though he didn't forget to hurl a harsh threat as he left.
Moyuan ignored him. He first checked the ring to see if it contained enough Mystical Crystals, giving them a rough count.
Not only were they not short, but there might even be slightly more than one hundred thousand.
Moyuan happily slipped the Spatial Ring onto his finger. Instant wealth, how about that?
As the saying goes, killing people and setting fires brings golden belts—ah, pui! No, that's not right. This is called robbing the rich to help the poor.
"Little friend, might I trouble you to step aside with me for a word?"
Moyuan glanced at the surrounding crowd and nodded.
He still trusted the reputation of the Treasure Pavilion; they wouldn't stoop to doing anything too outrageous to a student.
He followed Huang Rui directly up to the sixth floor, where he was led into a small reception room stocked with tea and pastries.
Moyuan sat on the sofa, crossed his legs, and casually picked up a piece of pastry.
"What? Is the Treasure Pavilion going back on its word?"
Moyuan looked at Huang Rui and chuckled faintly. He still had no idea what scheme this old man was hatching.
"Little friend is joking. Business is all about mutual consent. Since you came to our Treasure Pavilion to choose a weapon, it shows you think highly of us. How could our Treasure Pavilion ever do something as shameless as going back on our word?"
Moyuan thought about it, and indeed, that was true.
Part of the reason the Treasure Pavilion was able to spread across the entire country was the quality of the goods they sold, but another part was their stellar reputation.
In his previous life, he had bought many things at the Treasure Pavilion, and he did place a fair amount of trust in their credibility.
"This is a Gold VIP Card of the Treasure Pavilion. Any purchases made here will be discounted by twenty percent."
Huang Rui smiled warmly as he produced a card crafted of pure gold and placed it on the table in front of Moyuan.
"Unearned rewards bring nothing but trouble. Elder, if you have something to say, spit it out first."
Moyuan wasn't going to fall for that trick. Though he felt a slight tug of temptation looking at the gold card on the table, he knew there was no such thing as a free lunch in this world. Excessive hospitality always hid ulterior motives.
Seeing that Moyuan didn't bite, Huang Rui was somewhat surprised.
He had previously investigated Moyuan's background and learned that the boy had grown up in an orphanage and had just graduated this year. He hadn't expected him to have such strong self-control.
It seemed Moyuan not only possessed astonishing talent, but his composure was also not to be underestimated. Furthermore, Huang Rui sensed a maturity in him that far exceeded his years.
"Hahaha, little friend truly is someone destined for great things. Since that's the case, this old man won't beat around the bush anymore."
Since the temptation tactic hadn't worked, it was time to lay his cards on the table.
"I know that you've just graduated from No. 11 High School and are preparing for the national exams. Our Treasure Pavilion can cover all your expenses during your university years—cultivation techniques, weapons, and martial skills will all be provided by us. Furthermore, upon graduation, we will grant you a sum of cultivation resources sufficient to reach the Chiyang Realm. If you perform exceptionally well, we might even bestow upon you a Divine Ability. However, all of this is contingent upon you agreeing to one condition: join the Treasure Pavilion."
Seeing Huang Rui finally show his true fox tail, Moyuan thought to himself that it was just as he had expected.
He had known Huang Rui had a reason for calling him here out of nowhere; as it turned out, the man had set his sights on his talent.
With a nine-star talent, if one went to university and followed the normal graduation path, they could reach at least the Middle Three Realms. As for which specific stage within the Middle Three Realms, that was hard to say.
"I'm sorry, Elder Huang, but I currently have no intention of joining any faction."
Moyuan directly refused with polite firmness. The conditions Huang Rui offered were indeed tempting.
Awakened were divided into Nine Realms. The Lower Three Realms consisted of the Xuanling Realm, Diling Realm, and Tianling Realm. The resources consumed at this stage were still manageable, and most people could reach these levels with enough hard effort.
However, realms beyond the Tianling Realm became extremely difficult to cultivate, and breakthroughs grew even harder.
The Middle Three Realms were divided into the Ranxue Realm, Soul Fusion Realm, and Hexu Realm. These were realms for polishing oneself. Once entered, the consumption of resources was astronomical, and relying on oneself alone made progress nearly impossible.
As for the upper tier of realms—the Star Realm, Bright Moon Realm, and Chiyang Realm—let alone mentioning them, the resources they consumed were an astronomical figure. Moyuan had experienced this deeply in his past life.
As for the Saint Realm and Deity Realm above the upper realms, they could no longer be reached simply by piling up resources; that required a certain fortuitous opportunity.
Yet the Treasure Pavilion could afford to sponsor him all the way to the Chiyang Realm in one go, which showed just how fabulously wealthy they were.
However, those resources weren't so easy to accept. In his previous life, he had heard people say that once you joined the Treasure Pavilion, you lost your personal freedom—and that was certainly not what Moyuan wanted.
"Little friend, perhaps you should think it over again. You might not realize how difficult it is to cultivate to the Chiyang Realm. Even with your nine-star talent, without a massive amount of cultivation resources, your future progress may not completely stall, but you will certainly find every step an uphill battle."
Moyuan's refusal surprised Huang Rui even more. He hadn't expected that such generous conditions still wouldn't tempt Moyuan.
"No need to think about it. I truly have no such intentions at the moment. As for the matter of my cultivation, I'll deal with it when I reach that step."