Chapter 159: The Girl in Red

In the bustling markets of the Southern Spirit Continent, there were quite a few shops that specialized in selling pill recipes.

They were scattered across the market like stars in the night sky. However, most of them were messy little shops, comparable to the tiny stores selling various exam review materials outside primary, middle schools, and universities in the modern era.

The largest pill recipe shop in the entire market was located at the East Gate. Entering through the East Gate and walking about a hundred meters, one could see a three-story, eight-sided wooden building with flying eaves, bracket sets, and cyan tiles. Above the main entrance on the first floor hung a red plaque with the three characters "Wanfang Pavilion" carved in gilded gold, making it extremely eye-catching.

Hu Li was a fastidious person. He headed straight for Wanfang Pavilion.

At the entrance of the first floor of Wanfang Pavilion stood a large black-oiled square table. On the table, half-foot-long sheepskin scrolls were stacked layer upon layer like Chinese cabbages, reaching a height of half a meter. Their waists were tied with silk knots of various colors. Those tied with red silk knots were pill recipes for Inedia Pills, those with yellow silk knots were pill recipes for Spirit-Restoring Pills... Feng Ke'er swept the pile with her divine sense and discovered that the stack of sheepskin scrolls surprisingly encompassed all the pill recipes needed by cultivators below the Pill Condensation Stage.

Beside the table stood a small wooden signboard with two lines of large ink-brushed characters: "Complimentary gift. Buy two, get one free."

What the heck? Were these all free add-ons? Feng Ke'er was utterly bewildered. Wuwuwu, back in the Barrier Sea, in order to trade a so-called mighty expert who was out training for a Qi-Refining Pill, she had exhausted every pleasantry and paid an exorbitant price! Yet in the Spirit Realm, this stuff was actually given away as a freebie, easily obtained by buying two!

Lining the walls of the first floor were several tall bookcases filled with animal skin scrolls—in the Spirit Realm, pill recipes needed by those below the Ascension Stage were all common recipes and did not warrant being recorded on jade slips. Their prices were very low, costing only a single spirit stone per scroll!

The decor on the second floor was noticeably much more upscale and elegant, overall resembling a modern jewelry store. Twelve long tables draped in red silk lined the walls. On each long table sat a large crystal cover. Jade slips engraved with pill recipes were systematically displayed inside them.

This floor sold various types of pill recipes required by pseudo-immortals.

There was no staircase leading to the third floor from the second floor.

Because the third floor was exclusively for descendants of noble clans. It was VIP-only, with a separate, dedicated access route.

The young attendant in Wanfang Pavilion was very observant and directly invited Hu Li to the second floor: "Immortal, please go on up." "Immortal" was the respectful form of address used for pseudo-immortals. Hu Li belonged to the category of demon immortals, while this clear-eyed and handsome young attendant was a proper human cultivator. Although his cultivation level was lower by a full three stages, in this Spirit Realm where bloodline reigned supreme, the attendant could very well, like anyone else, respectfully address Hu Li as "Young Master."

Therefore, this title of "Immortal" greatly pleased the fox in question.

Given the attendant's low cultivation level, he was not qualified to go up to the second floor. He stood respectfully to attention, lowering his gaze by the entrance of the staircase leading to the second floor.

Hu Li tossed two spirit stones to the attendant. Feeling refreshed, he lifted the hem of his robe and stepped up the stairs.

Behind him, the attendant's voice rang out crisp and clear: "This lowly one thanks the Immortal for the reward!"

As soon as he reached the second floor, a girl in red with a flying fairy bun came forward to greet him: "Fellow Daoist, this way, please."

Hu Li looked over. The smile on his face froze—a single red dot between this woman's eyebrows marked her as a beast-slave.

When he checked the woman's cultivation level, his good mood instantly scattered to the winds—he could not see through her cultivation level at all. In other words, her cultivation was higher than his.

Meanwhile, the red-robed girl's gaze swept across his brow, and she paused slightly, her eyes brimming with envy. Recovering her wits, she immediately lowered her eyelids, turned sideways, bowed respectfully to the side, and asked in a soft voice: "I wonder what kind of pill recipe Fellow Daoist is looking for?" Beneath her wide sleeves, a pair of jade hands were unconsciously twisting into knots.

Hu Li awkwardly clenched his fist and gave a dry cough: "Uhm, just browsing." With that, he even strode ungracefully toward a nearby long table, leaving behind a panicked, fleeing back.

The red-robed girl bit her lip and followed closely behind step by step, making a soft-spoken recommendation: "Fellow Daoist. The long table in the middle of the west side has the recipe for the Soul-Protecting Pill."

Soul-Protecting Pill? That was precisely the main spiritual pill Hu Li needed at his current stage.

"Many thanks." Hu Li stopped, turned around, and cupped his fists slightly.

The red-robed girl raised her head, cast a fleeting glance at him, and smiled: "Fellow Daoist, please wait a moment." With that, she walked toward the west wall, leaving him with an elegant, graceful retreating figure.

Hu Li sighed softly, turned around, and with his hands clasped behind his back, actually began to admire the auspicious clouds outside the window.

"Fox, that is a very pretty Phantom Fox. Seventh-stage, third-tier cultivation." Feng Ke'er sat cross-legged inside the spatial sphere and scratched her head—the romantic glint in that red-robed girl's eyes was so alluring. Oh Fox, Fox, can you please not be so utterly devoid of romance?

Hu Li snorted and shot back a single thought via his divine sense: "Thanks a lot."

Cheeky thing, the guy was actually getting angry! Feng Ke'er rolled her eyes.

At that moment, the red-robed girl returned, holding a palm-sized jade slip in both hands.

Seeing Hu Li's upright back, a wry smile appeared at the corner of her lips: "Fellow Daoist."

Hu Li turned around, his gaze falling upon the jade slip in her hands, and smiled lightly: "Sorry to trouble you."

The pill recipes on the second floor also had a uniform price: eight points of merit per copy, or eight hundred and fifty spirit stones—one hundred spirit stones traded for one point of merit was the official rate. Because going to the Alliance to exchange spirit stones for merit incurred a one-percent processing fee, the actual exchange rate in the market was usually twenty percent higher than the official rate.

Being able to acquire the Soul-Protecting Pill recipe for just eight hundred and fifty spirit stones was something he wouldn't even have dared to imagine before. Hu Li readily paid the spirit stones.

With the transaction of goods and money completed, just as he was about to leave, the red-robed girl anxiously called out: "Fellow Daoist, please stay your steps."

"What is the matter?" Hu Li stopped, puzzled.

The red-robed girl stepped forward and unceremoniously grasped his hand: "Thank you for your patronage, Fellow Daoist."

"You're welcome." Hu Li was completely baffled and attempted to pull his hand away. At that moment, the red-robed girl covertly transferred a strand of divine sense, sticking it to his palm.

Hu Li knitted his brows.

The red-robed girl still wore a smile on her face as her slender hand swiftly traced the character for "plead" or "seek" in his palm.

Unfortunately, it was written in the seal script commonly used in the Spirit Realm.

Hu Li could not read seal script. To him, this action felt exceedingly ambiguous—it was no different from taking advantage of him or flirting.

The red-robed girl's actions were no different from making eyes at a blind man.

Fortunately, Feng Ke'er was single-mindedly waiting for a romance to unfold. Seeing that Hu Li was about to throw a fit, she hurriedly poked his sea of consciousness to translate: "Seek, Hu Li, those were 'seek' characters. The girl is asking something of you."

"Very well, very well." Hu Li coldly withdrew his hand and walked away.

This meant he had agreed.

Feng Ke'er saw it clearly—the red-robed girl's pair of beautiful eyes instantly lit up.

Walking out of Wanfang Pavilion, Hu Li tightly grasped that strand of divine sense in his right hand, concealing it within his wide sleeve. While acting as though nothing was amiss and strolling through the market, he used his divine sense to ask: "Master, why did you speak up for that Phantom Fox?"

"Wh-what?" Feng Ke'er failed to react for a moment. My dear, big sis did it entirely because that pretty fox was interested in you, alright! You've been single for over thirty thousand years, and when you finally bump into someone your heart beats for, why are you being so coy and hesitant?—Normally, she wasn't a gossipy person. But when Hu Li and the red-robed girl met face-to-face, huge waves had actually surged in her sea of consciousness. She had thought this was the demonic beast version of "love at first sight." Alas, her own pet was thin-skinned, so she had reluctantly lent a hand and moonlighted as a matchmaker.

Hu Li possessed a shrewd and perceptive mind, so he naturally guessed her little thoughts and asked irritably, "Master, do you know that Phantom Foxes are hermaphroditic?"

Upon hearing this, Feng Ke'er choked on her own saliva, clutched her chest, and coughed violently. What the heck, her information source hadn't mentioned a single word about this!

So she hadn't known. Hu Li's mood improved for no apparent reason as he continued, "However, once a Phantom Fox finds a mate, its gender becomes fixed."

Feng Ke'er finally managed to stop coughing and asked with curiosity, "Fox, look here—does the Phantom Fox from just now have a mate?"

"I'm not of the same species, how would I know!" A fresh wave of annoyance welled up in Hu Li's heart.

Feng Ke'er scoffed: "If you won't say, forget it!" After all, the one missing out on a passing connection wasn't her!

Hearing this tone, Hu Li knew his master had misunderstood. Suppressing a smile, he mumbled in a muffled voice in explanation: "It is said that after a Phantom Fox finds a mate, it leaves its scent on its partner. Members of their own kind can smell it instantly. At the same time, foreign races cannot smell it; only their own kind can detect this scent." Pausing for a moment, he added, "Also, Phantom Foxes never mate with outsiders." So, humph, Master, you can give up on that thought. Of course, he would never say that last sentence aloud unless his brain had water in it. Because a natal guardian beast had no right to interfere with its master. Seeing the red-robed girl earlier, he had genuinely felt shaken—had it not been for his master taking him in, his current situation would be nothing more than that of a beast-slave. Therefore, he cherished his current identity very much and did not dare to overstep his bounds by even a fraction.

Mate? My dear, don't be so blunt. Clearly a very wonderful thing, how did it become so vulgar in your mouth? Feng Ke'er stroked her forehead: she finally understood why her pet had been single for over thirty thousand years. He was utterly dense!

"Uhm, hurry up and see what she wants to ask of you!" Our protagonist decided to implement heuristic education. In her view, as long as it was a fox, they belonged to the same clan.

Clenching his fists, Hu Li teleported back to his immortal cave—in the Spirit Realm, abducting someone else's beast-slave was a grave crime. Nowhere was safer than his own cave abode.

Opening his hand, the strand of divine sense in his palm drifted upward, transforming into the red-robed girl standing gracefully before him.

"Fellow Daoist." She actually prostrated herself fully on the ground, paying deep homage, "I beg you, save me."

Hu Li didn't even lift a finger as he looked at the other party, his face as dark as water.

"What is going on here?" Feng Ke'er was startled.

Hearing her voice, Hu Li then said lazily, "This fellow Daoist is bestowing far too much praise upon this lowly one."

The red-robed girl raised her head, her palm-sized face streaked with tears as she made a supremely plaintive plea: "If Fellow Daoist does not help me, my three thousand years of cultivation will be completely ruined."

Were the two of them actually speaking in code? Feng Ke'er was utterly confused. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendation tickets or monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)

Tongtian Baodian 159_Tongtian Baodian Full Text Free Reading_Chapter 159 The Red-Robed Girl Completed!