The Masked Strength of Sect's Trash : The Lazy Second Senior Brother chapter 39

Chapter 39: Profligate Merchant

"Reflect on your actions!"

After giving Lu Shaoqing a good scolding, Shao Cheng left, leaving behind a parting remark. As he departed, he felt immensely satisfied. It was as if the discomfort that had been plaguing him for days suddenly vanished, leaving him refreshed and invigorated.

Shao Cheng thought to himself with satisfaction, If I don’t take this opportunity to discipline this little rascal now, it’ll be much harder to do so once his strength catches up.

Lu Shaoqing, meanwhile, was left clutching his rear, utterly dejected. If anyone were to see him in this state, they might get the wrong idea about what Shao Cheng had done to him.

"This is so humiliating," Lu Shaoqing sighed, looking up at the sky. "I’m a grown man and I just got spanked... How embarrassing!"

Shao Cheng’s strength was far beyond his own. Faced with a Nascent Soul cultivator, Lu Shaoqing had no chance of resisting.

"Thankfully, no one else saw this. Otherwise, I’d never be able to show my face again."

At that moment, a bird chirped from a nearby tree.

"Screech!"

Lu Shaoqing turned his head to see Xiao Hong, a small red bird, perched on a branch. With one wing, Xiao Hong clutched its belly, while the other wing pointed at Lu Shaoqing, laughing hysterically.

Lu Shaoqing’s expression darkened as he glared at the bird. "You saw everything, didn’t you?"

Xiao Hong laughed even harder, deliberately shaking its rear at him.

Enraged, Lu Shaoqing shouted, "Today, I have no choice but to silence you—no, to silence the bird!"

Xiao Hong, realizing the danger, immediately took off, flapping its wings frantically to escape.

But Lu Shaoqing was in too much pain and too angry to let the bird get away. He quickly caught Xiao Hong and gave it a thorough thrashing before tossing it aside, leaving it utterly defeated.

After dealing with the troublesome bird, Lu Shaoqing felt much better. "You’d better keep quiet about what happened today," he warned Xiao Hong menacingly. "If you dare spread a word, I’ll pluck every single feather off of you."

With that, Lu Shaoqing returned to his room. The first thing he did was carefully inspect the formation and restrictions outside. On Tianyu Peak, Shao Cheng and Ji Yan wouldn’t just barge in unannounced, but with a new junior sister around, he needed to be cautious.

Just yesterday, Xiao Yi had barged in recklessly, nearly causing a major problem. Moreover, with so many people coming and going on Tianyu Peak lately, there was always the chance someone might stumble into his place. Better safe than sorry.

After a thorough check revealed no issues, Lu Shaoqing finally entered his "Time Chamber," a name he had coined for the space within his ring.

The chamber wasn’t large, but it had a spiritual altar, which gave Lu Shaoqing a deep sense of security. This chamber was his secret, his trump card that allowed him to keep pace with Ji Yan despite his own less impressive aptitude.

By using spirit stones to buy more time, Lu Shaoqing could avoid falling behind.

He pulled out the rectangular object he had obtained from the Tang family’s trading firm. Lu Shaoqing examined it closely again, but he still couldn’t figure out what it was. He placed it on the jade table, and soon enough, something began to happen.

Smoke started to rise from the object, accompanied by a sizzling sound, as if it was melting.

Lu Shaoqing was alarmed. "I spent 3,000 spirit stones on this thing. It better not just fizzle out like this. I’ll cough up blood if it does."

Stepping closer to observe it, Lu Shaoqing realized that the outer layer was what was melting away. Relieved, he sighed, "Thank goodness."

After about fifteen minutes, the outer layer had completely melted and evaporated, revealing the object’s true form.

To his surprise, it was a jade tablet, about a foot long, with a rounded top and a wide bottom. Lu Shaoqing noticed that the jade material was the same as that of the table.

He picked up the jade tablet and saw that it had two golden dragons and a divine phoenix intricately carved on either side. In the center, two characters were etched, but Lu Shaoqing didn’t recognize them. On the back, there were engravings of mountains, rivers, the sun, moon, and stars—a truly majestic design.

He fiddled with the jade tablet for a long time, trying everything from burning it, soaking it, even trying a blood recognition ritual, but nothing happened.

Frustrated, he looked at the tablet on the table and muttered, "What’s this thing for? What exactly is it?"

There was no response, and no information appeared on the jade table.

At a loss, Lu Shaoqing thought, This thing must be extraordinary, but I have no way to figure out what it does right now.

After pondering for a moment, he decided to leave it on the jade table. "I’ll just leave it here and see if anything changes later," he murmured.

Judging by its material, it seemed to be connected to the jade table and the spiritual altar. For now, he would let it be.

He then waved his hand, causing 10,000 low-grade spirit stones to appear and fall into the incense burner.

"Let’s see if I can break through to the eighth layer of the Core Formation stage in a year."

But then, three words floated up on the jade table: Six months.

"Six months?" Lu Shaoqing was stunned, then furious. Pointing angrily at the tablet, he cursed, "What the hell? Don’t mess with me!"

"Do you think it’s easy to earn spirit stones? One year for 10,000 spirit stones was already expensive, and now the time’s been halved?"

"Come out here and return my spirit stones! I’m not cultivating anymore—give me my money back!"

"If you don’t refund me, I’ll smash this tablet to pieces!"

Lu Shaoqing was seething with anger. Do you think it’s easy to earn these spirit stones? Did they think spirit stones just fell from the sky?

Even a year for 10,000 low-grade spirit stones felt like a rip-off to him. Now they were trying to give him only six months? He couldn’t take it.

Slamming his hand on the jade table, he shouted at the tablet, "Refund me, or else I’ll never let this go."

"If you want to raise the price, just tell me. We can negotiate."

"But you didn’t say a word and just unilaterally decided to raise the price. Do you think I’m an easy mark?"

"I work my butt off to earn these spirit stones, and you’re here trying to fleece me?"

"If you don’t refund me, I’ll smash this thing to pieces! I don’t care if you’re the Immortal Emperor himself; I’ll destroy it!"

Just as he was about to grab the jade tablet, a flash of white light appeared on the jade table, and a new piece of information emerged.

"Jingshen Art!"