"You are a true failure."

Luo Si's eyelid twitched, hearing the harsh comment. She had prepared herself for it, but it still ticked her off.

Her expression did not change besides her grin widening.

"You might not understand, since you only opened one meridian. A feat not even the most incompetent man can accomplish." Although no player understood what was said, just feeling the disgust in the elders' voice made them happy, but Luo Si's grin made them still feel a little uneasy.

She did not take the muffling around her to heart. Just the ability of recognize the opposites words gave her a feeling of appreciation. She fixated her sight on the pin, now able to see the details.

The pin showed a crown above an open chest, filled with coins. Her smile reached its apex. Vindicated of any hesitation.

"Oh, I certainly understand mister." The giggles between the merchants and guards died down, hearing the fluent and steady feminine conversation. They were really surprised since no one before her had spoken so naturally. Kushan just screamed the qi out of his mouth, John did not even lose a word using qi and accepted the guards escort with a proud nod. As for the minute man, only the first part 'Old man' was somewhat audible.

The next sentence however, made even the elder distort his face. "Or should I call you, Aristocrat Fu?"

The perplexed look only lasted a second before the old man regained his cool.

"How do you know my name?" The old man tilted his upper body forward and asked in an unspeakable clear voice mixed with a tint of threat.

"This question should be answered under different circumstances." Luo Si replied as her eyes were drifting towards the group of merchants.

Snap*

Before the merchants could look away in embarrassment, a yellowish transparent dome isolated the duo from the rest.

"Mhm, a trait of any capable merchant" Luo Si took a small glance at the barrier surrounding her. Not surprised like all the other players. Creating a soundproof dome out of nowhere, which businessman did not dream of more.

"Seeing that you are unfazed by the barrier I guess we both know that you can now answer my question rest assured." Aristocrat Fu continued.

"Hmm… it definitely feels wrong when discussing a trade without asking for one's name first." The noble attired man was rendered speechless when he picked up Luo Si's words.

Realizing that this was indeed somewhat a business he let out a chuckle." Hah. I am indeed quite intrigued by your being, miss?"

"Hong Luo Si. That is my name. As for how I know your name, your pin gave me the answer." She pointed at the gold piece on his chest.

"Oh, you know this pin?" Old man Fu looked at the tiny piece of metal.

It had a simple yet detailed design.

"En. If I'm right, the crown on your pin should stand for the kingdom. As far as I know only noble families of kingdom possess these."

"Indeed, but there are many Families in the kingdom, all wearing the crown symbol."

"The treasure chest," Luo SI cut in. "Surely there are many noble families in the kingdom, but there is only one family focusing on amassing wealth inside the kingdom, above all else. The 'Fu'."

"Good, good. You seem to know very much for a relentless soul." He went through his beard. "But surely you did not ask for this just to tell me how you know my name."

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

The side of her mouth hooked up. "Aristocrat Fu is smart. I want to offer a trade."

"And what do you want to trade?"

The smile vanished. "I want… your Qigong."

…

The elder was silent for a moment. "Hoh, that's a very valuable object you ask for. Only family members are allowed access to our qigong. What makes you think I would give it to you?"

His opposite kept her cool. Hong Luo Si knew the objects value.

"I know that every Aristocratic family treasure's their secret Qigong like their lives. But if you hear me out maybe you will change your mind."

"I'm listening, but you only have one chance." His eyes tightened.

"Alright. First of all, my counter offer is my service as a servant to the Fu family. As you have seen from first-hand experience, we are immortal."

An aristocratic family like the Fu had servants on end, making the offer less enticing at first. Although, an immortal servant was something special.

"So, a servant for eternity. Well, we certainly welcome free workers, but that's not enough to give you access to the book. On the contrary, it seems your offer is more on the downside." Elder Fu looked over her shoulder.

The players were angrily knocking on the bars. "Damn she must be a beta tester. Stealing all the good stuff!"

"You are not very popular, I assume."

Lou Si smirked at his remark. She knew that her worth, even as an eternal servant, was not enough. It just served the purpose of presenting her loyalty. She knew what people like Aristocrat Fu really value.

"Secondly. Information. For example, me knowing your name already prove this point."

"Information? What can a soul like you born in a cage possibly know? Besides any one of these rats could have told you that."

"That's true, but what if I knew that you had been send by the kingdom to confirm the status quo or that you and the chief do not see eye to eye."

The Elder squinted his eyes in surprise. "I do not care about how you know about my agenda, but how did you find out about me and the chief?"

"That's easy to tell. When the chief welcomed us, you were not present. Nor did he lose a word about your distinguished self. You probably didn't even get invited to meet the ascended, which is why you had to go investigate by yourself. Aristocrat Fu, we seem to have much in common."

Old Fu started stroking his facial hair in consideration. It was true. He and the village chief did not get along very well. But for a relentless soul to pick things up so quick marveled him.

'This lass is different from the rest.'

Seeing her opposite in deep thought, Luo Si threw out her last bait.

"Besides, believe it or not, I cannot read the context."

"Eh? The inability to read the context, that you need elaborate, since we are able to hold a verbal conversation."

Without further ado she pointed at the crack running underneath her feet. "You see, when we die, we lose everything we gained. Not only the progression in cultivation, but also the means to communicate, be it through letters or oral."

The old man had already flattened his beard while starring at the anomaly in front of him.

"Hmm… You have 5 incense sticks of time."

'Truly a heartless merchant.'

"10" She countered.

"6"

"8"

"Let's meet at seven. It's a lucky number after all."

"Mm… alright 7." Luo Si groaned "But I still have a request." She intervened before her new owner broke of the connection.

"Say, I don't want to waste more time. Time is money."

"I want the contract to be broken when (…)"

The barrier faded away

A hearty laughter was heard from the other side of the cage. "Aha-ha, you have an unbelievable expectation of yourself. Fine. If you really achieve that, then the contract will naturally be broken."

The deal was sealed. A strange marking appeared on Luo Si's left hand, after Aristocrat Fu executed a weird ritual. A coin tattoo was engraved with some strange runes and a small line vertically crossing the coin.

He gave her the requested book after drawing his finger on the cover. Seven shining strands formed on top of it, representing time as the first one shortened minimally at the moment of exchange. The cover of the book was red and looked amazingly smooth. The edges were encased in polished silver.

Before the noble left Luo Si coughed and pointed at the cut in the ground. The Elders sleeve fluttered once before he vanished.

Pack*

A thin needle was caught in between the woman's index and middle finger. It was the weapon used to split the first approached in half. Only Luo Si knew that, though.

The spectating players were puzzled. They did not know what happened, but the old man had just given her a book without much time passing. The book looked much better than the other martial arts books and more expensive.

Luo Si held the book in her hands. "A hard bargain. If he had not accepted the request, I would have lost at least half a year trying to obtain one of those. But if one wants to participate in the big league early on, they got to sacrifice a bit."

She looked up, expecting the following.

Greed filled their eyes as they laid them on the objects in her embrace.

"If I get my hands on the book, Boss Liuxian will definitely reward me handsomely." Kuilei drooled.

The thoughts were swiped away as a bearing aura descended from the entrance.