Attention s.h.i.+fted back to Li Qiye. He held the pearl in one hand and the Alchemy Wood in the other. Either one was priceless, coveted by all.
Just finding one in an entire lifetime was virtually impossible but Li Qiye did it so effortlessly, making the crowd very jealous.
“Little girl, this will aid you in curing people.” Li Qiye smiled and gave the pearl to Mu Yalan.
She stood there in a daze after accepting the pearl.
“You are close to plants and alchemy, so this wood is very suitable for you.” He then gave the piece of Alchemy Wood to Qin Shaoyao.
The two girls were stunned. These treasures were still very valuable yet Li Qiye gave them away without a care.
The crowd was astounded and overwhelmed with many emotions. Even Qingniu and Zhang Yan found these treasures priceless. If they had these two treasures, they would hide them forever instead of gifting them away, not even for a beauty’s smile. They might even consider these treasures more valuable than their own lives.
This wasn’t the case for Li Qiye, evident by his extravagant showing just now. He treated the two treasures as if they were just meager gifts.
It would be hard for him not to attract attention and loyalty by being so generous.
“Thank you, Senior Brother.” The two girls bowed deeply towards him, moved by the grand gesture.
Li Qiye lazily sat there and continued to sip on his tea while the two girls served him.
“Looks like I don’t have to eat mud then.” He then smiled at the two opponents.
Qingniu and Zhang Yan turned red. There was no doubt that they have lost the bet completely. Furthermore, they were humiliated before the beauties since Li Qiye won so convincingly. There was no way the two girls would like them now due to this initial impression.
“Start rolling.” He smirked.
The two didn’t know what to do. They were famous as part of the Three Talents, so rolling around in the mud in public was a tough task. However, reneging a bet would destroy their reputation as well.
“Fine, I’ll do it.” Qingniu made up his mind. He was arrogant but could handle losing gracefully.
“Splas.h.!.+” He didn’t waste time and jumped into the mud and continued to roll around. It didn’t take long before he was covered completely like a mud statue.
Some called him a miracle doctor, the hand of G.o.d. This allowed him to look down on all people. So many big shots would come to ask him for medical help and he would act quite arrogant towards them too.
Being forced by Li Qiye to roll in the mud was a great blow to him due to his prestigious status but he still did it anyway.
“Well…” Zhang Yan saw this and didn’t want to share the same humiliating fate. He coughed and told Li Qiye: “Dao Brother, we, we were just playing…”
The guy was inferior to Qingniu. At the very least, Qingniu was an unbending person who could keep his words.
“Start Rolling.” Li Qiye didn’t want to waste time and kicked the guy off the boat.
He couldn’t dodge at all and fell into the mud, face first.
“Fine, fine, I’ll do it!” Zhang Yan was too embarra.s.sed to look at the crowd and decided that it was better to roll in the mud. He was so much lazier compared to Qingniu, only rolled around several times before playing dead.
The crowd didn’t dare to say anything, only quietly watching this event.
“Is that enough?” Qingniu did it plenty before asking.
“Scram now, stop being an eyesore.” Li Qiye waved his sleeve and said flatly.
Before the second sentence came out, Zhang Yan ran away so fast. He jumped into the lake to escape, not wanting to linger for half a second due to shame.
Qingniu, on the other hand, got up slowly. Despite being covered in mud, he was still proud and stared straight at Li Qiye with his back straight.
“I will find you again for another match.” Qingniu was unconvinced and not deterred by Li Qiye.
This was an unyielding bull that would always go straight, never looking back.
“Scram now.” Li Qiye didn’t care.
Qingniu turned and left, as dignified as can be given the circ.u.mstances, unlike Zhang Yan.
“All of you leave too, or I’ll throw each and every single one of you down there too.” Li Qiye glared at the crowd.
They immediately dispersed after hearing this.
“A bunch of uncarvable rotten wood. Hu Qingniu is far better than them.” Li Qiye shook his head and said.
“It’s because they don’t know of your abilities, Senior Brother.” Shaoyao slightly smiled.
Li Qiye went back to enjoying his tea and sunbathing afterward.
“Since we’ve found you, we need to report to First Sister or she’ll truly go crazy.” Yalan said.
“Why go crazy, the sky is still up there.” He said with a smile.
“It’s about to fall down.” Yalan continued with a serious expression: “First Sister had received news a while back, not only will the kingdoms from our system partic.i.p.ate but also Yang Radiance, Vermillion, Coiling Dragon… I heard Everlasting invited them.”
“They want the rest of the world to watch this usurping attempt?” Li Qiye smiled: “Perhaps forcing Longevity Valley to abdicate?”
“I believe so.” Yalan said: “That’s why First Sister asked the ancestors about mobilizing troops to prepare for the worst-case scenario.”
Miaozhen was aware that any reinforcement would be weak because if Everlasting wanted to take over, they must take down Longevity Valley eventually. Thus, the valley needed to focus on defending itself instead of sending troops to other places.
This was why Miaozhen was going crazy. They needed to rely on Li Qiye since the three of them alone wasn’t enough to deal with this mess.
“No rush, let the storm become bigger.” Li Qiye was still carefree.
“First Sister also said that once we find you, we should take you go light the first incense to announce the start of the ceremony. You will be in charge.” Shaoyao said.
“That’s fine, we can go then.” He smiled.
The two felt much better after finding Li Qiye and began heading back.
***
Alchemy Hut was very lively this time around because other systems were joining as well.
“Click, clack, click.” Someone saw a divine carriage driving into the area.
“Yang Radiance, they’re joining too!” Cultivators from Longevity System were surprised.
“Boom!” A ma.s.sive beast rushed over right after the carriage.
“Coiling Dragon too…”
In just a short time, Vermillion Martial Court and Resting Bull also appeared.
“What is going on?” The sects and clans in Longevity System were caught off guard.