Chapter 139: Chapter 100: Star Evil’s Occupation

The incessant chatter of birds echoed atop the mountain.

Yet this one, small in size with a tender, childish voice, paced back and forth on its wings like a little girl trying hard to act mature.

Truly, this scene was nothing short of comical.

Liou Yuan almost laughed instinctively, but was afraid of angering the spirit beast before him, so he had to stifle the smile, secretly thinking, "Turns out it’s a fat bird here to collect a debt."

From the bird’s endless prattle, Liou Yuan figured out why it had stopped him.

And silently heaped scorn on that guy called Sheng Zeming in his heart.

"Shameless! Even cheats kids out of spirit medicine."

Although he didn’t know exactly how old this fat bird was, its behavior made Liou Yuan feel it was just a child.

Liou Yuan didn’t even have to think; that Sheng Zeming fellow never planned on paying up.

Otherwise, seven years would not have passed with no news at all.

There was a thoughtful look in Liou Yuan’s eyes; he wasn’t sure what to say either. If this bird learned its star stones were gone, it might come to hate him too.

He could only nod seriously and reply, "When I return to Five Extremes Mountain, I’ll ask around for you, fellow Daoist."

"How about this: you help me get my money back, and I’ll give you thirty percent?" The bird’s little eyes spun, cautiously testing the offer, grinning at Liou Yuan in front of it.

"I’m not like you human cultivators. As long as you get the money back, you won’t miss out on a single star stone from your share."

"Seems it’s not actually that dumb," Liou Yuan snickered inwardly.

The bird actually knew deep down that the money was probably gone for good.

So it might as well promise a huge reward, see if anyone could find a way to retrieve even one star stone—it would still be a gain.

Spirit beasts could use star stones to aid cultivation too, but unlike cultivators, they couldn’t trade freely.

After all, their bodies were full of treasures for artifact refining and alchemy—no wonder they feared being targeted.

It was precisely this longing for star stones that made them easy to cheat.

"Actually, it’s not impossible," Liou Yuan mused after a moment, feeling there was profit to be made in this.

He wasn’t afraid to offend anyone. After all, Sheng Zeming started the trickery; helping get the money back was justified.

But for debt collecting, it was best to check the details first.

Liou Yuan immediately asked, "Do you have an IOU for the spirit medicine he borrowed?"

"I do." Seeing hope, the bird nodded swiftly, then poked its beak into the fluffy white feathers of its chest and pulled out a scroll made from some kind of wild beast’s hide.

It waddled its round head over, placed the parchment before Liou Yuan, then carefully backed up a few steps, tilting its bird head to signal him to pick it up and look.

Every move the bird made showed it meant no harm.

Liou Yuan relaxed his guard, stepped forward, picked up the hide and unrolled it.

Sure enough, Sheng Zeming’s name, the spirit medicine he bought, and his handprint were all clearly recorded.

"A hundred star stones? What kind of elixir requires such expensive ingredients?" Liou Yuan was secretly startled by the debt’s size, then delighted.

The more star stones owed, the more he could get from it.

He promptly asked, "Sheng Zeming—are you sure that’s not a fake name?"

"I’m not that naive! I saw his Five Extremes Mountain disciple badge—how could he fake that?" the bird retorted, raising its head, looking like it was long since prepared for such questions.

"And what’s Sheng Zeming’s strength?" Liou Yuan was weighing his chances if a fight broke out.

"Seven years ago, he was at Qi Cultivation Fifth Layer, same as you. Now, I’m not sure."

"Qi Cultivation Fifth Layer seven years ago—if he has Four-Star Star Acupoint, he’s probably Qi Cultivation Seventh or Eighth Layer by now. Even with Three-Star Star Acupoint, he should be at least Sixth Layer."

"Collecting this debt sounds risky."

Liou Yuan calmly tucked the scroll away, his face clouded in worry.

"If he attacks me, I won’t be able to handle him."

The bird grew anxious at once. Over so many years, it had only just run into a Five Extremes Mountain disciple here. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

If it missed out on Liou Yuan, who knew how many years it would have to wait.

Flapping its wings, it rushed, "It’s not dangerous! You’ve got the IOU, how could he deny the debt?"

"What an easy bird to fool." Liou Yuan saw right through the bird’s urgency—his own show of worry had been pure pretense, motives obvious.

He kept up the hesitation on his face, his words uncertain: "Even so... risking it all for thirty star stones isn’t worth it."

"I’ll give you half!" The bird stopped pretending, responding sharply, "Fifty star stones, that’s worth the risk, isn’t it?"

Three star stones count for one merit point—fifty star stones is more than sixteen merit points.

This patrol task of Liou Yuan’s only earned him ten merit points.

He could barely contain his eagerness.

His hesitant face vanished, replaced by righteous indignation, as he scolded, "Sheng Zeming is so shameless! Owes money and won’t pay!"

"Don’t worry, fellow Daoist. I’ll definitely collect this debt for you."

"Good, good, good!" The bird flapped its wings with joy, eager to urge Liou Yuan to set out immediately.

"Now you run back and collect the debt—it’ll only take half a month to come and go."

"Better hurry, who knows if next month will be another Evil Star period."

Debt collecting was only a side quest—Liou Yuan’s real concern was the next part of his Talismanic Skill.

He could weigh priorities after all. Unhurried, he soothed, "Don’t worry, fellow Daoist. I’m out here on a sect mission."

"Once I finish the job, I’ll go collect the debt for you."

After two or three days of travel, Liou Yuan had already entered Qingyou Prefecture.

Having run into a native spirit beast, he was certainly not about to waste such an opportunity for information gathering.

He began asking about Qiwen Mountain in Qingyou Prefecture.

"You’re here to investigate Qiwen Mountain?"

The bird plopped its round belly down right on the ground, assuming Liou Yuan came on orders from the Five Extremes Mountain elders, and stated bluntly, "You don’t need to go—it’s really dangerous right now."

Liou Yuan sat not far from the bird and asked, "What do you mean by that?"

The bird shook its head and recounted slowly, "Last month, a Jin Dynasty Foundation Establishment and a Calamity-level Star Evil fought near Qiwen Mountain. Several mountains got blown away."

"A lot of spirit beasts died for nothing in that battle."

"The Jin Dynasty Foundation Establishment lost and ran for it; that Calamity-level Star Evil is likely still lurking around Qiwen Mountain. Go there now and you’d be walking into a trap."

"So that’s what happened!" Liou Yuan furrowed his brow deeply.

Still, with all the Evil Star Shifts in recent months, Calamity-level Star Evils weren’t exactly rare, so he wasn’t too shocked.

He only frowned deeper.

If that Calamity-level Star Evil really was still at Qiwen Mountain, this trip would definitely be too dangerous.

Don’t be fooled by the current Auspicious Star; if a Calamity-level Star Evil wanted to, even weakened by an Auspicious Star, it could swat a Qi Cultivator like him aside with ease.

Back when Mr. Wei led the whole Qinghe Division into battle against an Alien Star Evil under an Auspicious Star, not one of them made it back alive.

"Why would I lie? I’ve got a distant cousin with a cave residence near Qiwen Mountain. It fled for its life after that battle—even passed through my mountain and stopped to tell me about it."

"No way my cousin would lie to me."

The bird’s tone was earnest and persuasive, urging Liou Yuan to stay out of the mess and hurry back to Five Extremes Mountain to collect the debt for it—that was what really mattered now.

Liou Yuan selectively ignored the bird’s urging; feeling a lingering fear, he thought, "Thank goodness I ran into this fat bird. Otherwise, if I’d rushed off to Qiwen Mountain, I’d just be feeding myself to the wolves."

But to just leave, Liou Yuan was unwilling.

He’d used the excuse of the patrol mission to come down the mountain; who knew when he’d have another chance?