"Since Senior is willing to help, of course we’re more than happy to accept! Here’s the deal: my junior brother has thirteen high-grade Starstones and one supreme-grade Starstone. Just give us a hundred high-grade Netherstones, and the rest can be your welcome gift—if it weren’t for your guidance, we’d be totally clueless about all this," Evan Chu said.
"Then wait here a moment, I’ll go fetch the Netherstones right now!" The middle-aged man turned and left, leaving Evan Chu and the others exchanging startled glances.
"Isn’t it weird that the middle-aged guy needs to leave just to get a hundred Netherstones? Doesn’t he have a storage ring? Or is he planning to call people and rob us for our Starstones? I’m getting a bad vibe from this guy, Evan—we’d better be careful!" said Ethan Fenn, the Soaring Feather Young Lord.
"Ethan’s right, I think he’s way too friendly. When I showed him the Ice Crystal and Fire Crystal earlier, I saw how disappointed he looked. Everyone stay alert and don’t tip him off—let’s avoid trouble if we can," Evan Chu said.
Soon the middle-aged man returned, holding a storage belt. "Here, this belt has a hundred Netherstones. Take a look, and if everything’s fine, I’ll take the Starstones," he said.
Evan Chu and his group had never seen Netherstones before, so they couldn’t tell if these were mid-grade or high-grade. Evan took one out of the storage belt and inspected it, sensing a faint energy fluctuation—but it was extremely weak.
"Luna, is this Netherstone really high-grade? I need your help," Evan Chu asked in his heart, calling out to the sword spirit.
Luna laughed coldly, "It’s a Netherstone, all right—but it’s the lowest grade, just an inferior-grade Netherstone. This guy is obviously trying to cheat you, banking on your ignorance of Netherworld stuff to scam you."
After hearing this, Evan Chu didn’t show any disappointment—instead, he smiled and said, "Senior, why do these Netherstones look so different from the ones my master gave me? These are inferior-grade Netherstones. Did you make a mistake?"
The middle-aged man glanced at Evan Chu suspiciously and said, "Look closely, these are high-grade Netherstones. You should know how rare Netherstones are! If you don’t want to trade, forget it. I was only trying to help, but you’re doubting me."
Roxanne Lin and Ethan Fenn both glanced at Evan Chu, unable to understand why he was being so cautious. Nobody really knew anything about Netherstones, and if they offended the middle-aged man and couldn't get any, surviving in Shadowlin City would be extremely tough.
"Evan, I think you should just trade—these Netherstones seem fine to me. Aren’t you being a little too careful?" Roxanne Lin said.
"Roxanne, you trust Luna, right? These are definitely inferior-grade Netherstones—if we trade, we’ll get ripped off. Let’s just leave. I’m sure once we get to Joyous Arrival Inn, someone there will help us exchange fairly. As for whether we can enter as outer disciples, we’ll see when the time comes!"
Hearing Evan Chu’s reasoning, the other three felt awkward about objecting. They all knew how cautious he was—if he acted this way, he must have his reasons. So they stood up, ready to leave.
"Sorry to bother you, Senior. We’ll go check out some other places instead. Here’s a high-grade Starstone as payment—please accept it." Evan Chu stood up and took out a high-grade Starstone, intending to leave the shop.
At that moment, the middle-aged man’s face twisted with anger. "I tried to help you out and this is how you repay me? You really think anyone can just walk into my shop? If you want to leave, fine—but hand over all your Starstones, or you’ll be leaving your lives here instead."
The man’s ugly side was now fully exposed—but the four had already expected this and weren’t surprised. Evan Chu sneered, "It’s not that we don’t respect you, it’s that you underestimated us. Passing off inferior-grade Netherstones as high-grade—did you really think we wouldn’t notice?"
"We came here to join the Joyous Arrival Inn’s outer disciple selection. We were just pretending not to know anything because we’re new here and wanted to avoid trouble. But you thought we were easy marks. Don’t think your Saint Martial Realm strength makes you special—it’d only take a moment for us to kill you," Evan Chu’s expression turned cold, his whole aura shifting to one of absolute dominance.
"Heh, you think I’m scared of you, kid? You’d better open your eyes and look outside—do you even know who you’re up against? I was only sparing you because you’re human. Since you won’t drink the toast, you’ll have to drink the penalty—don’t blame me for being ruthless," the middle-aged man said, not taking Evan Chu’s group seriously at all.
Evan Chu and his group rushed out of the shop, only to find it had already been surrounded by dozens of masked humans. The weakest were at least eighth-layer Divine Martial Realm, and several were Saint Martial experts.
Evan Chu didn’t care about these people—even if he didn’t lift a finger, Roxanne and the others could easily handle them. What puzzled him was why there were Saint Martial experts among them. Wasn’t the Netherghost Violet Orchid supposed to be extremely rare? Maybe the middle-aged shopkeeper was lying to him.
Ryan Ouyang was always hot-tempered. Seeing them surrounded, he snapped, "If you know what’s good for you, leave now—otherwise you won’t even know how you died."
"Kid, if you’ve got the guts, go ahead and try! Shadowlin City isn’t a place for little brats like you to run wild. I already gave you a chance, but you didn’t appreciate it—so today, you’ll pay with your lives," the middle-aged man said, stepping out of the shop.
Turns out, when he said he was going to get Netherstones earlier, he was actually calling these people over. Evan Chu couldn’t help but feel speechless—he’d thought he’d met a decent person, but it turned out to be just another despicable scoundrel. The best way to deal with someone like this was to kill them.
"Protect yourselves. Leave these guys to me. When the fight starts, grab a black facecloth from one of them and get out of here fast," Evan Chu whispered to Roxanne and the others.
"Aren’t you being a bit arrogant? We can take these guys out too—want to see who gets more kills?" Ryan Ouyang challenged. He’d always felt bitter about losing to Evan Chu before; maybe this was his chance to even the score.
"Suit yourself! Just don’t get hurt, or it’ll be a real headache—especially since we’re strangers in the Netherworld. If we kill these guys, we’ll have the whole city hunting us down. Can’t believe we ran into this mess the moment we arrived," Evan Chu said.
"Are you done talking yet? If so, it’s time to end your lives. Kill those three boys, but leave the girl—human beauties like her are rare, and I don’t care if she’s not a virgin," the middle-aged man sneered.
Hearing this, Evan Chu and Roxanne Lin’s rage flared. Evan whipped out his Frostbane Sword and shouted, "I’ll kill you!" A blur shot toward the middle-aged man...