Watch out! Something's wrong with this guard.

Having never actually engaged in serious power struggles with others, Young Master Zhang surprisingly offered a few words of advice when he heard Lu Yunshi wanted to follow. This surprised Lu Yunshi and even evoked a slight sense of goodwill. However, Lu Yunshi quickly swallowed this goodwill, intending to process it later before bringing it up again.

"To be honest, people like you are disgusting. Don't you know that your insistence on following along will only cause trouble for Miss Lu?"

“Miss Lu is kind-hearted, and she will naturally protect you if you encounter danger. But if Miss Lu gets injured while protecting you, can you bear the responsibility?”

Well, that's how it should be, but Lu Yunshi didn't intend to pay attention to it either, and waited for Lu Yunxi's answer.

In fact, whether Lu Yunxi agreed or not, he would have followed her.

The reason is simple: it's his duty, and he's just doing his best to do what he's supposed to do.

"Is that so? Then follow me, but don't expect me to protect you." After giving a cold reply, Lu Yunxi walked towards the old blacksmith.

"Tch! What a nuisance." Although he didn't know why Lu Yunxi had agreed to Lu Yunshi's request to join the team, Zhang Quan didn't stop her. He didn't want to contradict Lu Yunxi on such a trivial matter and cause her to dislike him.

The three of them passed Lu Yunshi and entered the house under the guidance of the old blacksmith to select magical treasures, while Lu Yunshi outside became worried.

Based on his understanding of Tiger's Mouth Abyss, that place was definitely not something that three Nascent Soul Realm cultivators could easily conquer. Even the outer area was quite dangerous. It was clear that Lu Yunxi and the other two had underestimated the place.

Moreover, the purple cloud vine...

This thing only grows in damp areas, and it can only appear in places like lakes and waterfalls. Iron Flame Rhinoceros, because it cannot suppress the innate flames in its body when it is weak, also likes to stay in places with water before it reaches the Mountain Moving Realm.

However, Lu Yunshi couldn't recall any place that met the criteria outside of Tiger's Mouth Abyss.

However, Lu Yunshi had never been inside Tiger's Mouth Abyss. It was only because Tiger's Mouth Abyss was on his future travel plans that he had specifically looked into the place.

Therefore, Lu Yunshi was not sure whether there were suitable places for the Purple Cloud Vine to grow on the outskirts of Tiger's Mouth Abyss, but he hoped there were.

While Lu Yunshi was pondering, the three of them had already picked out their items and came out. As soon as they met, Senior Sister Li greeted them with a smile.

"Junior Brother Lu, we still need to buy some spiritual herbs. Would you like to come along?"

"I'll pass, I still have some things to buy. Senior sister, tell me a place, let's meet up later." Lu Yunshi smiled shyly and declined the invitation.

"Okay, then in half an hour..."

After telling each other where to go, the three of them walked out together, and Lu Yunxi didn't even glance at Lu Yunshi during the process.

"The young lady is getting colder and colder. She wasn't like this when she was little."

The old blacksmith then came out and clicked his tongue as he watched Lu Yunxi's disappearing figure.

"When I was a child?" Lu Yunshi was stunned for a moment, and didn't come back to his senses for a long time.

Seeing Lu Yunshi's behavior, the old blacksmith revealed a half-smile.

"What? You can't remember? When you were little, you and the young lady were best friends. Who knew that now she'd be the coldest to you?"

"Hey, who remembers things from childhood so clearly?" Lu Yunshi waved his hand. "Besides, girls change a lot as they grow up, who knows what these little girls are thinking?"

He didn't really remember much about his childhood, but it seemed that he...did often spend time with Lu Yunxi.

Rubbing his temples, Lu Yunshi looked at the old blacksmith and saw that the man was extending a hand towards him, which made him feel strange.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

The old blacksmith's eyes widened. "What do you mean? What do you mean? Pay up! You haven't paid for the repairs yet, are you trying to freeload?"

"Um... I'm a little short on cash lately, so how about..." Lu Yunshi's eyes darted left and right, but he noticed that the old blacksmith's gaze was becoming increasingly dangerous.

"Ahem, but even if we're a little short on money, we'll still give you what's due."

After saying that, Lu Yunshi immediately slammed something onto the table. The old blacksmith stared at it intently. "This is... a novel? You think you can fool me with this?"

Despite his words, the old blacksmith still picked up the novel from the table. Lu Yunshi knew that the other party was a novel enthusiast and couldn't resist such temptation.

"The Legend of Condor Heroes, Book 5! What do you think? Can I use this as payment?" Lu Yunshi grinned, revealing his desire to get something for free.

The old blacksmith clicked his tongue, flipped open the cover, glanced at it, and his eyes flickered. "No, but I can let you owe me a month's worth of interest-free debt."

"Deal!" Since it was all taken from Lao Jiu, Lu Yunshi didn't feel any pain at all.

"What's wrong with this novel author? Everything else is fine, but every time the male lead appears, they have to hype up his looks. It's so awkward." After turning a couple more pages, the old blacksmith complained with great dissatisfaction.

"It's normal for the male lead to have his looks exaggerated. Don't you know that after reading so many novels?" Lu Yunshi waved his hand, thinking the old blacksmith was making a fuss over nothing.

"However, I think it's not very useful for the male lead to be handsome. It's more useful if the reader is handsome."

As he spoke, Lu Yunshi naturally pointed to himself with his thumb. Seeing this, the old blacksmith exchanged a smile with Lu Yunshi and struck the same pose.

"That's right, it's more important that the reader is handsome."

After a moment of unspoken understanding, Lu Yunshi cleared his throat and spoke again.

"So, handsome reader, since I've already paid my fee, could you give me something like this?"

Lu Yunshi leaned half his body against him, rubbing his thumb and forefinger together, giving the other person a knowing look.

This behavior left the old blacksmith utterly speechless. "No...you still owe me! And you're already trying to borrow? Have you no shame?"

"Hehe? I'm short on cash, so I have to use it where it counts. If my face could be sold, I wouldn't mind, right? But my face isn't worth much, is it?" Lu Yunshi scratched his head, genuinely a little embarrassed.

"Besides, I'm not borrowing money for myself this time. Miss insists on going to Tiger's Mouth Abyss, so I have to spend money to make some preparations."

"Old blacksmith, you wouldn't want the young lady to get into trouble like this, would you?"

"You..." The old blacksmith was speechless.

“How about this, I’ll compromise. I don’t want the money. I know you have some stock, so why don’t you just give me what I want? If you don’t have it, I’ll go out and buy it myself,” Lu Yunshi said.

Such an easy retreat makes it hard not to suspect whether this was his original intention.

"Why are you still acting like you've been taken advantage of?" The old blacksmith felt that he had underestimated the shamelessness of people, but he still had no choice but to let Lu Yunshi achieve his goal.