Junior sister, I really need to control you.

Inside the main hall of Xuanzhen Temple.

As dusk fell, the hall remained brightly lit under the glow of the lamps and ritual implements.

Outside the hall, Mu Xiaoyu was still diligently practicing her boxing in the setting sun.

Actually, this is the twenty-second time she has tried to slack off today.

But the senior brother in the hall seemed to have eyes that could see through walls. Every time she tried to slack off a little, a voice would ring in her ear, threatening her with today's snacks.

She had no choice but to grit her teeth and continue practicing, imagining Li Yinsheng's face as she practiced her punches, throwing them one after another.

Meanwhile, inside the main hall.

Li Yinsheng is playing chess with Vice Abbot Huang.

A simple chessboard sits on the table, with black and white pieces clashing and fighting.

Li Yinsheng discovered this chess set in Vice Abbot Huang's Qiankun bag.

It just so happens that he had played Go on the computer a few times in his previous life. Although he had never really learned it, he at least knew the rules.

So, getting a little bored while waiting, he invited Vice Abbot Huang to have a game of chess.

Then he discovered that playing chess was actually quite interesting.

Although this Vice Abbot Huang's cultivation level was not high, his chess skills were almost on par with his.

The two sides went back and forth on the chessboard, locked in a fierce battle, with one side gaining the upper hand at times and the other gaining a slight advantage, which Li Yinsheng found very interesting.

This evenly matched battle reminded him of the joy he felt playing video games in his previous life.

The first game lasted nearly two hours, ending with Vice-Chancellor Huang resigning after being one move behind.

The second game lasted for nearly two hours, and it remained evenly matched until the very end, giving Li Yinsheng a very enjoyable experience.

As a result, he found Vice Abbot Huang more agreeable.

What a worthy opponent, a match made in heaven!

Sitting opposite Li Yinsheng, watching him fall from grace once again, Vice Abbot Huang wiped the cold sweat from his face.

I can't take it anymore, I really can't take it anymore!

How could there be someone in the world with such terrible chess skills!

This chess player is worse than a three-year-old!

Vice Abbot Huang was well aware of his own chess skills. Among his chess friends who often played chess, he could be considered first-rate in terms of cultivation, but only second-rate in terms of chess skills.

But when playing chess with Li Yinsheng at this moment, he could only say that if it weren't for the fact that the other party was not at a high level of cultivation, he could have won twenty games against him in two hours with this level of chess skill!

Unfortunately, we couldn't win.

In the first game, he racked his brains and tried his best to maintain the illusion of an evenly matched contest for two hours. In the end, he couldn't hold on any longer, so he made a mistake and resigned.

This flaw wasn't cleverly exploited; anyone knowledgeable in chess could easily spot it.

The good news is that Li Yinsheng didn't notice anything amiss.

The bad news is that Li Yinsheng opened a second round.

Vice Abbot Huang felt like dying.

He even suspected that Li Yinsheng was deliberately pretending to be a terrible chess player in order to tease and humiliate him.

During the second game, he had a splitting headache and thought more than once about overturning the chessboard, shouting "A scholar can be killed, but not humiliated," just to end it all.

But when he thought of Li Yinsheng's fist, which could leave a mark on a high-grade magic weapon, he stopped himself from having such a heroic idea.

Continue playing chess honestly.

A pale-faced monk stood by, pouring tea, his eyes fixed on the chessboard, not daring to look at it at all.

He also knew a little about chess and was afraid that if he stared at the chessboard, he might accidentally laugh out loud when Li Yinsheng made a move, and he would probably be in serious trouble.

"Um……"

Faced with a complex and evenly matched game, Li Yinsheng frowned deeply and tapped a chess piece lightly on the board.

With each tap he made, the other two felt their hearts skip a beat.

"Hmm... Vice Abbot Huang, that was a brilliant move. I need to think carefully about how to counter you," Li Yinsheng said, tapping a chess piece.

Vice Abbot Huang hurriedly said, "I cannot compare to you, Senior. Please go easy on me. I have my disciples watching over me. Please don't let me lose too humiliatingly."

Just as Li Yinsheng was about to speak, he suddenly looked up and gazed at the distant sky through the roof of the main hall.

"Senior?" Vice Abbot Huang asked cautiously.

"Vice Abbot Huang, let's put this game of chess on hold for now," Li Yinsheng said with a smile as he put the chess pieces back in the box.

To Vice Abbot Huang, these words were like heavenly music.

The next line is even more heavenly.

"Another one of your disciples, accompanied by a fellow Daoist who looks a few years older than you, has come to pay their respects. Perhaps they've come to redeem you?"

……

A moment later, a talismanic crane landed in front of the main hall.

The abbot, who had tidied his beard and hair on the way, led Senior Brother Yang into the hall with a respectful expression.

To Li Yinsheng's surprise, the other party was very easy to talk to this time.

He didn't ask for any compensation; the Qiankun bags he received and their contents were already compensation.

As for the ransom...

The ransom he gave to the six people in his hands was 150,000 talismans to Vice Abbot Huang, and 30,000 talismans to each of the other five people, which added up to exactly 300,000 talismans.

Another 200,000 talismans will be given to my junior sister to complete the final stage of her cultivation. The remaining 100,000 will be used to pay for the spirit refining array at Jade Altar Temple.

There are still some left.

The elderly man who came accepted the price without any haggling or bargaining.

They then added that if they were willing, they would like to pay to buy back the magical artifacts they had stolen.

Li Yinsheng thought for a moment. Whether it was the Hanming Sword he had obtained last time, or the silver silk robe, brass incense burner, and two net magic artifacts he had acquired this time, they were all quite useful to him, and he did not intend to sell them.

However, the four mid-grade magic artifacts he had obtained from those four people before, as well as the two mid-grade magic artifacts he had obtained from the white-faced cultivator's Qiankun bag today, were of little use to him.

Therefore, he only sold these six mid-grade magic artifacts, and considering that the other party's attitude was relatively polite this time, he also gave them a slight discount.

The final package deal, six mid-grade magic items, sold for a total of 200,000.

If you were to sell it at a legitimate shop inside Baoguang Temple, you probably wouldn't get this price. People either won't accept ritual items with unclean origins, or if they do, they'll haggle down the price drastically.

If you split the six items apart and sell them at a stall to any lucky passerby, the total price might eventually exceed 200,000, but that would be too much trouble.

In this way, he actually received 500,000 talismans.

The old man who came to redeem the person did so quickly, but judging from his trembling beard, pulling out so much cash at once must not have been an easy task for him.

Although the total assets of a legitimate Taoist temple may amount to tens of millions of talisman coins, the amount of cash held by such temples is not that large.

Moreover, Huanghe Temple is considered one of the worst Taoist temples and is not wealthy.

After putting the 500,000 talisman coins into his Qiankun bag, Li Yinsheng released the four people in the woodshed.

In front of the main hall, Huang Heguan's audience stood in two rows.

The abbot and deputy abbot of Huanghe Temple stood in the front row, while the remaining six people stood in the back row.

"Thank you for your magnanimity, senior." The abbot of Huanghe Temple bowed deeply.

Although he was still somewhat unwilling when he came, now that he was in front of Li Yinsheng, the abbot would not be foolish enough to provoke him again, and his every move was very polite.

Li Yinsheng nodded and cupped his hands in return.

He then looked at Vice Abbot Huang: "Fellow Daoist, are you leaving already?"

Vice Abbot Huang suddenly had a very bad premonition.

"That game should be coming to a close soon," Li Yinsheng said. "I see it's not too late yet, why don't we finish it before we move?"

Vice Abbot Huang felt his heart skip a beat and quickly winked at his senior brother beside him—

Senior brother, save me! Please save me!

The abbot didn't quite understand the specifics of the situation, but the tacit understanding between the disciples over the years allowed him to immediately realize that his junior brother didn't want to stay any longer.

He quickly bowed again and took out the crane egg that Master Huang He had given him.

"Senior, this item was personally given to you by our sect's Patriarch Huang He, who instructed me to deliver it to you," the sect leader said. "This egg was laid by our sect's guardian spirit beast, the 'Yellow Spirit Crane.'"

"Although it cannot hatch, it contains pure and gentle primordial energy, which is very beneficial for strengthening primordial energy and consolidating one's foundation after consumption."

"After learning of our...misdeeds, he was furious and has already reprimanded us. He also sent me to deliver this item as an apology."

Upon hearing "strengthen vitality and consolidate foundation," Li Yinsheng's eyes lit up.

His own cultivation was achieved steadily and gradually, with a foundation so solid that it couldn't be more stable, so he didn't need this.

But Junior Sister Mu is currently in the stage of tempering her physique and refining her vital energy.

This egg is a godsend, it's like sending charcoal in snowy weather!

Mu Xiaoyu, who was practicing her martial arts nearby, also heard these words. Her movements became a little sluggish, and her gaze fell on the crane egg, which was twice the size of her fist.

The eggs of spirit beasts... must taste even better than chicken eggs, right?

Slurp...