Chapter 123: New trouble.

Chapter 123: New trouble."I don’t really want to involve my uncle in this." Xiao Lian said, after hearing Lee’s idea.

"You misunderstood me!" Lee laughed, "I’m suggesting we go to the Refining Hall on the way back to find out how much it costs to make the two items I need. I could do it without you, but I have no clue which way to go!"

"Oh? I thought you wanted to use me to get an artifact from my uncle." Xiao Lian said, heaving a sigh of relief.

"Who actually is your uncle?" Lee got curious.

"Well ... he’s the elder of the Refining Hall." Xiao Lian said, almost whispering and at the same time throwing wary glances around, afraid someone might’ve overheard him.

"One of the nine elders of the sect?" Lee stopped in his tracks, looking at the guy in disbelief, but Xiao Lian nodded with a downcast expression. Apparently he wasn’t happy about it.

Obviously the head of the sect was the sect master, but under him were the nine sect elders who each managed one of the halls. All of them were powerful elemental lords, but just because someone was an elemental lord, they couldn’t become one of the elders. The number of elders was set and after acquiring the position, it was for life.

If an elemental master fused their consciousness with their spark, becoming an elemental lord, they could only acquire position of a junior elder. Later, if one of the elders died, they could compete with others for the free position.

"Don’t stress about it!" Lee said, "I only need a simple bag and a weapon. How much could that cost?"

"No idea." Xiao Lian said, "We’ll have to ask Han Li."

Lee expected this person also be a junior like them, but turns out it was someone in their seventies at least. More importantly, Han Li was a woman.



She lived in the Refining Hall’s inner sect part, in a large villa, with spacious front yard. In the right side there was a smithy, to the left – a tanning area for leatherworking, with drying rack and cutting table. There was also a small space for woodworking, at least judging by the piles of splinters, but Lee couldn’t see any half finished or finished products to evaluate her work.

"Xiao Baijin is not in the sect." The moment the two boys approached, the old lady, busying herself around the smithy, said.

"Hi, we actually came to you." Xiao Lian said, "Brother Lee wanted to place an order ..."

"And use the elder’s name to get a discount?" The madam wrinkled her nose in displeasure, as though the natural wrinkles she already had weren’t enough.

"No madam!" Lee cupped his fist and bowed, "I’d like to play full price for your services. If you are busy, I would appreciate if you could suggest one of your colleagues. We came to you because Xiao Lian said you’re the best!"

"Aren’t you a sweet talker!" Han Li said, but her expression didn’t change much, although her tone became much softer, "What do you need?"

"A bag and a weapon." Lee said, and explained in detail how he imagined the two items.

"You look like a pauper." She said, after hearing him out, "I doubt you can afford a spatial bag of that size or an elemental weapon."

"Sorry, madam Han Li! I only need those as regular items, not artifacts. If I someday become an elemental master I will think of something more advanced." Lee said.

"So you want me to waste my time to craft something basic? You’ve got to be kidding me!" Han Li said, and Lee finally realized his clueless fried brought him to the wrong place. They should’ve gone to one of the regular disciples instead of a master, but apparently Xiao Lian didn’t know anyone else.

The guy didn’t notice the ridicule in Han Li’s tone, and excitedly said, "Yes, please! I also want a similar bag and short staff! And ... can you make me linen clothes like Brother Lee has?"

Not only the old lady, even Lee stared at him with wide eyes. The unexpected man-crush was too sincere, but what they didn’t realize was that after their scheme in the arena Lee became an idol in the boy’s eyes. And it was to the point nothing Lee did could be considered wrong.

Han Li stared at Xiao Lian for a moment, but then a cold smile crept on her face.

"Five thousand contribution points!" She said, and the expressions of two boys also changed.



To Lee was clear she was telling them to piss off, but the naive Xiao Lian blushed, and stuttered, "I ... I don’t have that much ..."

"Then what are you doing in my yard!" Han Li barked at him.

Lee was confused, though. The guy clearly didn’t lie, but shouldn’t he have over twenty thousand points left? And then it struck him. Even though he considered Xiao Lian to be his partner in crime, the boy only took the contribution points he needed for the cultivation technique instead of splitting everything fifty-fifty!

Not only he was naive, he was so green he had no clue how the world worked!

Suddenly Lee felt a strange, warm feeling inside. He couldn’t remember when was the last time a stranger treated him with such pure sincerity. In that case, he was not against teaching the boy a thing or two! And if he was going to take Xiao Lian under his wing, there was no way Lee would allow anyone to abuse him.

"Great!" Lee said, "I’ll throw in another thousand, but the things have to be ready by tomorrow morning! And, if I may ask, please craft Brother Xiao’s items in a different color, let’s say ... black. Is that possible?"

"Y ... yes?" It was time for Han Li to stutter, but seeing her expression made Lee certain that throwing away a pile of money was the correct choice.

Obviously, it was against the common sense, but it felt really good. He had earned a lot, and he’ll find more ways to become even richer. It was not a big deal.

***

"Brother Lee ... why would you ... " On the way Xiao Lian was still lost.

"You know, I thought we were friends." Lee said with a faint smirk, changing the subject, "But you giving me all the contribution points is kind of insulting."

"But ... but you did all the hard work! All I did was ..." Xiao Lian tried to argue, but his timidness didn’t allow him to even complete the sentence.

"Alright!" Lee said, "From now on we’ll split everything equally. But if you think you owe me something, you can teach me how to read and write. How about that?"

"Deal!" Xiao Lian’s eyes lit up.

Unfortunately his joy was short lived.



When the two arrived back to the Ascension Hall’s outer district, there was a small crowd waiting for them. Close to twenty people hung out Xiao Lian’s place and all sprung to their feet, seeing him arrive.

"Brother Xiao, I hereby challenge you to exchange of pointers ..."

"No, we agreed, I was the first to challenge ..."

"Brother Xiao, I’m challenging you ..."

Lee never thought that even someone with Xiao Lian’s backing could attract too much attention, but apparently the greed of others was directly proportional to the wealth one had. All of these people thought Xiao Lian still had the seventy thousand contribution points, or at least the majority even if he spent some in the library during the day.

Xiao Lian threw a terrified glance at Lee, not knowing what to do, but the latter already thought of a way out.

Lee said, "It’s already to late to appoint so many matches, and Brother Xiao still has to help to carry me back after my spar later. You guys should first make a list, otherwise Broher Xiao is not able to pick whom to fight first."

"Who the fuck are you?" The appearance of a lawyer didn’t fit few of the challengers.

"He’s Brother Lee!" Xiao Lian said, "Let’s do the way he suggested!"

No one was happy to hear it, but the problem of these guys was that there were too many of them and every single one thought he was supposed to get Xiao Lian’s contribution points. In addition, there were few who lost their points to Xiao Lian yesterday and wanted to get them back, or simply beat the shit out of the boy.

"What should I do!" Xiao Lian whispered when Lee pulled him away, towards the arena.

"We’ll think about it tomorrow." Lee said. First he had to deal with his obligation to spar with Xie Wuking – the three months were not up yet.