Han Jiuqiu and Qiu Fuchun exchanged glances, each picking up a jade dew papaya. With a slight press of their fingertips, they took a big bite.

  The sweet juice exploded on their tongues instantly, flowing slowly down the corners of their mouths—sweet and fresh, neither greasy nor plain. The flesh was black and red, covered with a thin layer of translucent fruit frost, round and plump, looking a little cute and naive.

  Looking at the thousand-year-old cordyceps on the table, it was even more extraordinary—one-third was a tender green grass body, full of vitality; one-third was a brown and shiny insect body, with clear textures and firm texture; the last one-third was topped with a delicate and dripping pink flower bud, with layers of petals wrapping the tender yellow stamen, exquisite and moving.

  Even though it had been picked for a long time, the flowers and leaves were still fresh and straight, lingering with a faint spiritual energy. Getting close, you could smell a clear and fresh grassy fragrance, which was definitely not comparable to ordinary mortal things.

  Each of them took a thousand-year-old cordyceps and chewed it carefully in their mouths. After chewing for about half a minute, they felt a light sweetness sliding down their throats into their stomachs, which then turned into two distinct streams of heat, spreading slowly in their bodies. One stream, like tiny ants, crawled along the meridians to all parts of the body, and a numb and itchy feeling swept over the whole body in an instant, but it also carried a sense of comfort; the other stream, like tenacious weeds, took root firmly in the dantian, warm and nourishing the qi and blood around the body. After a while, the two streams of heat slowly dispersed in the internal organs, creating a transparent and comfortable feeling like flowers blooming, making people feel inexplicably happy, and even the spiritual power around the body became smoother.

  "What profound cultivation you two have!"

  Bruce suddenly grinned, showing two yellowed front teeth. His tone was mixed with a hint of temptation and an imperceptible sense of awe. "If it were someone else, the powerful martial soul of this thousand-year-old cordyceps entering the body would probably make them either die or bleed from seven orifices, their cultivation regress by 30%, and become a useless person! Such a fierce and overbearing treasure—aren’t you afraid that I will tamper with it and kill you?"

  Han Jiuqiu slowly licked the remaining papaya fragrance from his fingertips, a faint, ambiguous smile curving the corner of his mouth. His eyes were deep, but he smiled without saying a word—neither defending nor responding, but exuding a calm confidence.

  Qiu Fuchun, however, pretended to be unwell. He raised his hand to stroke his chest and kept coughing, his face turning slightly pale, his brows furrowed, as if he was really choked by the strong medicinal power of the cordyceps. In fact, he was secretly circulating his spiritual power to quickly digest the medicinal power in his body, and at the same time, he was putting on a show to cover his tracks.

  Seeing this, Bruce slammed his fat hand on his thigh with a "pop" sound. A look of understanding flashed in his eyes, and he pointed out the truth sharply: "Now I believe it—you two are not from the Southern Dynasty at all! You are clearly distinguished guests from the Beiyue Imperial Palace, crossing the Six You Abyss! Hehe, I’ve lived half my life, and I’ve never seen such generous foreign guests who can chew five thousand-year-old cordyceps in one go. With such profound cultivation, I can’t help but believe it!"

  Although Bruce looked slick and cunning, with a face full of the shrewdness of a profiteer, his small, wandering eyes were full of shrewd calculations—he would not suffer the slightest loss. The temptation just now was nothing more than an attempt to find out the details and origins of the two.

  Han Jiuqiu clapped his hands slowly, as if still savoring the sweet taste of the thousand-year-old cordyceps, and praised repeatedly: "Truly a rare treasure in the world! Lord City Master is indeed bold and generous! Why don’t you reward us with another eighty or a hundred? My brother and I can have our fill, and it won’t be in vain for us to travel ten thousand miles just to visit you, Lord City Master!"

  "That’s absolutely not allowed!"

  Bruce waved his hand repeatedly, his face instantly filled with a look of distress. His fat face wrinkled into a bun, and he shook his head like a rattle, his tone urgent and reluctant: "Even I, old man, can’t bear to eat too much of this thousand-year-old cordyceps on weekdays! If an ordinary family can find one, it’s enough to ensure three generations of wealth and no worries about food and clothing! I regretted not sleeping at night when I took out ten to test you two just now—how dare I reward you with another eighty or a hundred?"

  "Oh? Then the ten we ate are equivalent to the three generations of peace and prosperity for ten families?"

  Qiu Fuchun stopped coughing, raised his eyebrows and smiled, his tone with a hint of playfulness, but there was a sharp glint in his eyes, taking the opportunity to test Bruce’s bottom line.

  "Now, we have shown our sincerity, but it seems that your sincerity, Lord City Master, is still lacking—there is still a gap of ten thousand. How do you plan to test our sincerity? A literary contest or a martial contest?"

  His tone suddenly changed, the playfulness on his face faded, and his eyes suddenly became as sharp as a knife. Every word was clear and forceful: "No matter what the way is, I, Qiu Fuchun, accept it—"

  "A literary contest or a martial contest? Too tacky! Too tacky!"

  Bruce waved his hand repeatedly, waved his fat hand, and the cunning smile reappeared on his face, his tone with a hint of complacency. "We have our own rules in Pisha Palace. To test sincerity, we have to follow the **‘local rules’**!"

  "What are the local rules?" Han Jiuqiu finally spoke, his voice as light as a pool of clear water, showing no emotion at all, but exuding an undeniable calmness.

  "Simple!" Bruce pointed to the rolling mountains outside the palace, a cold glint of calculation flashing in his eyes. "Thirty miles outside Pisha City, there is a Black Wind Valley. There is a nest of Crystal Armored Scorpions hidden in the valley. These scorpions feed exclusively on crystal veins. Their shells are harder than fine iron, and the poisonous stingers at the end of their tails are extremely sharp, which can easily pierce a cultivator’s protective aura—it’s very powerful!"

  He paused, then continued, his tone with a hint of temptation and a touch of viciousness: "Go destroy that scorpion nest, and bring back eighty to a hundred catties of scorpion shells—if you can do that, I will readily allocate the mine to you; in addition, I will give you another two hundred thousand-year-old cordyceps at the market price. How about it?"

  As soon as these words were spoken, a cold glint flashed in Qiu Fuchun’s eyes instantly, and he sneered secretly in his heart.

  He had heard rumors about the Crystal Armored Scorpions in Black Wind Valley before coming to Pisha City—they were a group of social exotic beasts, often hundreds or thousands in number, and extremely ferocious and aggressive. If an ordinary cultivator broke into Black Wind Valley rashly, they would probably never return. This old man clearly wanted to use the Crystal Armored Scorpions to kill them, and at the same time, completely test the true strength of the two—what a good plan he was playing!

  Han Jiuqiu, however, seemed not to notice the vicious calculation in his words. He picked up the teacup on the table, took a slow sip, and when he put down the teacup, a faint smile curved the corner of his mouth. His tone was calm but with a hint of sarcasm: "Lord City Master is really good at making a good deal. My brother and I go to destroy the scorpion nest, which not only helps you get rid of a thorn in your side, but also brings you scorpion shells for forging weapons—in this way, my brother and I have become your free laborers?"

  "Don’t say it like that!" Bruce slammed his thigh and shouted, with a wronged expression of "I’m at a big loss", his voice hoarse. "Two hundred thousand-year-old cordyceps! That’s a treasure that can make ordinary cultivators break through their realm and reach the sky in one step! Besides, when you mine in the future, aren’t you afraid that the Crystal Armored Scorpions will come out to cause trouble and destroy the mine? This is called mutual benefit and win-win! Yes, mutual benefit and win-win!"