Chapter 27: Unable to Vindicate Himself
Translator: / KurazyTolanzuraytor Editor: Lucas
Giving the little fatty a stare, Duan Ling Tian angrily said, "Damn fatty, do you think inscriptions are worthless, and that you can get one whenever you please? I still haven't even asked you for compensation. Do you know that just this Thunder Flame Inscription costs thirty silver worth of materials?!"
The inscription technique is an art that burned through money.
Inscriptions like the Thunder Flame Inscription are still considered low grade inscriptions.
Inscriptions that are of a slightly higher grade would easily cost thousands, ten thousand, or even more silver...
Duan Ling Tian originally expected the little fatty to back out after he heard of the expenses.
After all, even the little fatty’s dad, Fifth Elder Li Ting, only received not even twenty silver coins a month, so it would be impossible to allow him to pour money down the drain like this.
Unexpectedly, after hearing what Duan Ling Tian said, the little fatty abruptly started laughing.
He put his hand into his pocket and withdrew a stack of silver bills. Each of the bills was of the one hundred silver denomination. He passed them over to Duan Ling Tian. “Boss, isn’t it only silver? Anything that can be solved by silver is not a problem at all! There should be around seven or either hundred silver here; take it all and get that Inscription Master to make me some inscriptions.”
Duan Ling Tian was struck dumb.
He was absolutely sure that the silver bills in the little fatty’s hands were not from Fifth Elder Li Ting.
Li Ting earned five hundred silver the other day by betting on him.
But even then, Li Ting’s entire net worth wasn’t more than 1,500 hundred silver.
Otherwise, during that time when he battled with Li Jie, Li Ting would have been able to use five hundred more silver to bet with Li Kun.
Duan Ling Tian received the silver bills from the fatty and quickly weighed them before asking, “Li Xuan, where did you get all this money from?”
The little fatty smiled widely and his little eyes narrowed. “My grandfather gave it to me before I returned to the Li family estate. Boss, please don’t tell my dad, or else I won’t even be able to keep the balance of my money.”
“Besides these silver bills, you still have more?”
Duan Ling Tian was stupefied and his eyes started to glow. He didn’t expect the little fatty to be this loaded.
“He he, I still have some.”
The little fatty had an carefree expression on his face. “My grandfather told me that I can send him a letter whenever I’ve used up all of this silver and he will send me more.”
The corners of Duan Ling Tian’s mouth twitched. It would seem that the little fatty’s grandfather was no ordinary person, though he had never heard of him before.
In the memories of the past Duan Ling Tian, he only knew that the little fatty’s mother died of an illness around seven or eight years ago. After that, the little fatty went away with his grandfather.
“With silver coins, anything can be discussed…”
Duan Ling Tian’s eyes narrowed and he started patting the little fatty on the shoulder. “How about this: I’ll write down the materials needed for the Thunder Flame Inscription and you go buy them yourself. We’ll consider the money here as my compensation. From now on, I will inscribe as many Thunder Flame Inscriptions as you can supply the materials for. What say you?”
“Boss, you said that you will inscribe it for me… Don’t tell me the Thunder Flame Inscription was inscribed by you?”
The little fatty was dumbfounded when he understood the meaning behind what Duan Ling Tian said.
“What’s with all the nonsense? As long the inscriptions are good, why do you care about who inscribed them?”
Duan Ling Tian casually put away the silver bills in his pocket, turned around, and returned to the courtyard to write down the materials needed for the Thunder Flame Inscription.
“Look at the materials written on this list. Each set can be used to inscribe one Thunder Flame Inscription… Right, you have to prepare some accessories, and each accessory can only contain one inscription.”
Duan Ling Tian said as he passed the list over to the little fatty.
“OK.”
The little fatty took the list as if it was a precious treasure, then he looked eagerly at Duan Ling Tian, hesitating to speak what was on his mind.
“If you have something to say, then say it and scram!”
Duan Ling Tian said angrily.
For the past few months, he’d been totally annoyed by the little fatty.
“Boss, I… Can I learn the inscription technique from you?”
The little fatty’s chubby face trembled with an expression full of anticipation.
Noticing Duan Ling Tian frowning, the little fatty hurriedly added, “Boss, I can pay you tuition fees; I won’t learn for free.”
Tuition fees?
Duan Ling Tian’s frown eased up and his eyes shone brightly.
What he lacked the most was money. Even though he had thirty thousand silver with him, he knew that the moment he stepped into the Core Formation stage, it wouldn’t be very long before it would all be used up.
No amount of silver would be sufficient for him, especially since he was capable in so many professions.
He had medicine refining, weapon crafting, as well as inscriptions.
“OK, since you’re so sincere, even though it’s difficult, I will still take out half an hours’ time to teach you. How much you can learn will be entirely up to you.”
Only an idiot wouldn’t take money that was sitting on the table.
Duan Ling Tian patted the little fatty on his shoulder again and said, “Out of respect for Fifth Elder, I’ll only ask for one thousand silver coins a month. Any problems with that?”
After hearing what he said, the little fatty was dumbstruck.
Noticing the little fatty’s expression, Duan Ling Tian thought that he felt that it was too expensive, so he embarrassedly coughed as he slowly said, “If you think it’s too expensive, we can still negotiate. Slightly-”
“It’s so cheap! Boss, thank you.”
The little fatty excitedly interrupted Duan Ling Tian.
This caused Duan Ling Tian, who kept quiet, to feel regret at the same time. Did he really set the price too low?
Seeing the little fatty holding the list in his hand and walking out, Duan Ling Tian stopped him and said, with a heavy expression, “No matter what, never let anyone know the fact that I know the inscription technique, or else you can forget about learning it from me.”
“Don’t worry, Boss, I wouldn’t tell anyone even if they beat me to death!”
The little fatty pledged sincerely, jubilantly walking out.
Imagining how Li Ming would continuously be thwarted by him in the future, his heart was filled with excitement and joy.
He decided that he would at least get another ten to twenty Thunder Flame Inscriptions to keep as backup…
“I, Li Xuan, have such good foresight. Taking such a formidable person as my boss, not to mention his heaven defying strength, he even knows the inscription technique. I gained big time!”
The little fatty muttered to himself in a low voice while excitedly walking home to get his money.
He had already given all the money he had on him to Duan Ling Tian.
After little fatty left, Duan Ling Tian returned to the courtyard and continued to stand behind Ke Er. Their bodies were close together as he guided her in the Sword Drawing Arts.
After two months of cultivation, Ke Er had nearly grasped the quintessence of the Sword Drawing Arts. She was only lacking a little bit of practice.
Smelling the delicate fragrance coming off the young girl’s hair and feeling the warmth of her body, Duan Ling Tian’s gaze became slightly dazed. He took in a deep breath in enjoyment.
“What are the two of you doing?”
A voice that had a hint of laughter in it followed by the sound of footsteps abruptly came from behind them.
When he heard the voice, Duan Ling Tian embarrassedly took a step back, distancing himself from the young girl.
The young girl had an embarrassed expression. Her face was so red that it seemed like blood would drip out at any time. “Madam!”
It was exactly Li Rou who had just returned from the marketplace.
“Ke Er, stop cultivating for a while and help me. I bought plenty of things today to nourish you both up.”
Li Rou shook the vegetable basket in her hand as she smiled
“Yes.”
The young girl hurriedly put away her sword.
“Mom, do you need my help?”
Duan Ling Tian asked with a smile on his face.
“Go away! Go and cultivate properly. Although you’ve broken through to the seventh level of the Body Tempering stage, Fang Qian is a ninth level Body Tempering martial artist; if he somehow has luck on his side and dodges your Sword Drawing Arts, then you’ll be done for.”
Li Rou gave Duan Ling Tian a contemptuous glance, absolutely ignoring him.
“Young Master, you broke through to the seventh level of the Body Tempering stage?”
The young girl looked at Duan Ling Tian with a pleasantly surprised expression.
Duan Ling Tian laughed loudly. “My Ke Er is already at the sixth level of the Body Tempering stage. If I hadn’t broken through, then I would’ve lost face.”
The young girl’s gaze dimmed as she slowly said, “Young Master, I’ll try to cultivate slower.”
Li Rou smiled. “Ke Er, ignore him; just work hard and cultivate. We women need to be stronger than men so we can suppress them… If you don’t want to be bullied by him in the future, then you have to hurry up and surpass him.”
After hearing what Li Rou said, the young girl blushed. She took the vegetable basket off Li Rou’s hands before running into the kitchen, leaving the mother and son to look at her embarrassed figure.
“Kid, don’t get lazy!”
Li Rou gave Duan Ling Tian a stare before following Ke Er into the kitchen.
Duan Ling Tian shook his head and smiled, continuing his cultivation.
His flexible body seemed as if it had transformed into a spirit serpent as it flashed swiftly across the courtyard.
Swift as wind and lightning, his speed grew faster by the moment…
The natural talent Ke Er revealed in the past two months amazed even Duan Ling Tian.
Just like him, Ke Er’s cultivation circumstances exceeded that of the Li family disciples.
But Ke Er was a girl after all; having this level of natural talent was indeed rare.
According to his mother, Ke Er’s natural talent even exceeded hers.
Nevertheless, Ke Er having such good natural talent and fast cultivation speeds made Duan Ling Tian happy.
At least when he leaves Fresh Breeze Town to wander the world, he can bring Ke Er along.
If he didn’t have Ke Er by his side, he would feel unaccustomed.
After a short while, the two beauties finished cooking a sumptuous feast with a strong aroma.
The family sat down to enjoy the meal together. As they put food on each other’s plates, the atmosphere was filled with happiness and warmth.
At the same time, in the courtyard of Second Elder Li Sheng.
Li Sheng stand at the door and looking at his son, Li Ming, who was lying there on a bed. His expression was filled with disappointment. “Look at you. If it was Duan Ling Tian that did this to you, I wouldn’t say a single word. But you actually got beaten up to this sorry state by Li Xuan. Don’t you feel ashamed? I know I do!”
“Dad, I already told you eight hundred times: it was the side effects of the Thunder Flame Pill that abruptly affected me, or else I would have pummeled Li Xuan until he was unrecognizable!”
Li Ming sat up on the bed with his head resting against the wall. He had an expression of helplessness and he was unable to vindicate himself.
“Look at you, still looking for excuses. Your brother consumed the Thunder Flame Pill as well; why didn’t I see him be affected by any side effects?”
Li Sheng shook his head. He obviously didn’t believe Li Ming. “If you can’t beat him now, go cultivate hard and beat him later on. Stop trying to find excuses; that’s what cowards do!”
Li Sheng turned around and left as soon as he finished.
LI Ming lied there on the bed. Even slightly stretching his body made him feel pain. He gnashed his teeth as he fiercely said, “Damn fatty, once I’ve recovered, I will properly teach you a lesson! I don’t believe your luck will always be that good.”
In Li Ming’s opinion, Li Xuan being able to defeat him was all thanks to good luck.
If it wasn’t for him being affected by the Thunder Flame Pill’s side effects, it would be impossible for Li Xuan to defeat him.
When he recalled how his father and brother didn’t believe him, he couldn’t help but laugh bitterly. “Why don’t they believe me? Didn’t they even think about it? That damn fatty, how could he even be a match for me?!”