But they were just missing a bloom of Divine Fire, an enticement, preventing their good plans from coming to fruition.

Now, someone was suddenly willing to exchange Divine Fire, immediately igniting their hearts, even without Divine Fire on hand to trade, they desperately wanted to acquire this bloom. At this moment, they needed it urgently, incredibly so.

Stealing was out of the question; the power dynamics laid clear. Should it come to a fight, they might not end up with an advantage.

But, an opportunity had indeed been presented to them. Whether to let it slip or to strive for it wasn't a difficult choice.

Shi Chun knew they wouldn't struggle to choose, so he came.

That's why he deliberately created a misunderstanding.

That's why he deliberately brought out Divine Fire as an apology.

Of course, along the way, he also took the Divine Fire hidden here.

This was all thanks to Gong Shixi of Qianyan Sect. Previously, under the coercive situation at Shudao Mountain, he had intended to cooperate with these two branches. However, Gong Shixi's domineering manner of wanting everything without discussion completely infuriated him. He was compelled to change his mind and, despite the extra trouble of being indirect, was determined to make sure that Gong Shixi would neither expect nor obtain anything.

The situation had reached this point; naturally, there was no longer a need to cooperate with Forget Love Valley. Having fewer people aware of his identity from the Demon Path wasn't a bad thing.

After a quick consideration, Wu Shanshan spoke out, "Good, I like exchanges, we can trade, but at the moment we don't have any Divine Fire ready at hand."

Shi Chun chuckled, "Are you joking? What sort of exchange can we talk about without Divine Fire? Do you want to rob me, or do you take me, Shi Chun, for a fool easy to deceive?"

He turned back to the Shudao Mountain disciple who was holding the Divine Fire and dusted off his hands, signaling for the disciple to take the Divine Fire away.

The disciple quickly retreated. Among the Shudao Mountain disciples, there had never been one who listened to Shi Chun like that without Yuan Yao's permission, but he did as instructed.

Wu Shanshan: "Brother Chun, you're taking it too gravely. All the disciples from sects entering the Divine Fire Domain know the renown of Brother Chun. As long as you don't cheat us, we'd count ourselves fortunate. Who could possibly manage to cheat you? It's true, we currently don't have Divine Fire to exchange with Brother Chun, but we can trade with the Divine Fire we find later."

Yuan Yao added nonchalantly, "That's a bit of a big joke."

Shi Chun laughed as well, "You're called Wu Shanshan, right? What you're proposing isn't even deceiving, it's treating people like fools. You say that if you find Divine Fire later, you'll just find it? Most sects are going to leave empty-handed."

His tone changed slightly, "Without anything for collateral, if you turn around and say you didn't find Divine Fire, gutting you alive won't do me any good."

At the mention of collateral, a flicker of emotion crossed the faces of the several women.

Wu Shanshan said, "Brother Chun's words might be harsh, but they are reasonable. What I was referring to is indeed collateral. For this exchange, we obviously won't just take your Divine Fire without giving something in return, which you wouldn't agree to, nor would anyone else. So we are willing to offer collateral."

Shi Chun scoffed, "Collateral? What do you have for collateral? You're also an Artifact Refiner, so you should know that Divine Fire is priceless."

Wu Shanshan thought for a moment and tentatively offered a suggestion, "I'll use a Magical Treasure for collateral, how about that?"

Shi Chun remained unimpressed, "No Magical Treasure can equal Divine Fire. As an Artifact Refiner, don't you know that?"

Wu Shanshan: "Maybe so, for an Artifact Refiner, but is it really the same for Brother Chun?"

If Shi Chun had really had no inclination for the trade, he naturally had plenty of reasons to refuse. Since he had come with intentions, these words seemed to strike a chord, and he fell into a pensive silence.

Wu Shanshan and her group exchanged glances, expectancy in their eyes.

After a while, Shi Chun inquired, "What treasure do you have for collateral?"

Wu Shanshan immediately turned to a woman beside her with a scar on her face and a missing finger, "Junior Sister, show your treasure to Brother Chun."

This woman, named Jin Hao, withdrew something akin to silvery twinkling silk handkerchief and proclaimed, "This object is known as 'Immortal Strangling Silk.' Which sister would like to assist me in demonstrating to them?"

"I'll do it." A woman from behind responded and sprang into the air, unfurling her Wind Scale and soared upwards, then flew off into the distance.

In no time, she swiftly flew back.

"Watch closely," Jin Hao reminded with a smile, as white luminance bloomed from her handkerchief; it floated up lightly, folding and unfolding like clouds. She flipped her hand, pointed to the sky, and shouted, "Go!"

The handkerchief burst forth with energy and shot up towards the figure gliding in the sky; it turned into a streak of light.

In the spectators' view, the light suddenly exploded into a mist, which rapidly dissipated, and then the figure in the sky dropped like a kite whose string had snapped.

Once the woman drifted back down to the Forget Love Valley's side, Shi Chun and the others noticed that the woman assisting in the demonstration was tightly caught in a fine net, with pronounced marks squeezed into her form.

"Of course, I wouldn't be so vicious to our own people, but if I were, in an instant, the person could be twisted into pieces," Jin Hao pointed out. With a flick of her finger, the ensnaring net flashed with white light and sprang open, swiftly shrinking back into a handkerchief shape, and like a soft cloud, floated back into her palm.

The woman who had been caught just now was propping up a tower base, casting a spell to collect the scattered scales of the Wind Scale.

Wu Shanshan smiled and asked, "What do you think of this treasure?"

Naturally, Shi Chun's eyes lit up, seeing it as a great treasure. Crikey, it could even capture someone using Wind Scale and could strangulate a person to death; such a Magical Treasure was an eye-opener for him, and he couldn't express anything but admiration.

At the very least, for him, it was far superior to any so-called Divine Fire.

Yet, he still looked back at Yuan Yao beside him, and seeing no reaction from him, he immediately sought advice, "Brother Yuan, you're the expert, what grade would you say this treasure is?"

Yuan Yao pondered and said, "Brother Chun, you flatter me too much; I'm not worthy of being called an expert. This treasure is exquisite and couldn't have been made by just anyone; it must be the work of a master. In terms of grade, I would estimate it to be a Fourth Grade Magical Treasure, a superior item that has integrated an Artifact Spirit."

Wu Shanshan laughed, "As one would expect from a disciple of Shudao Mountain, your insights are clear. Brother Chun, with such a Fourth Grade Magical Treasure, is it not sufficient collateral?"

At first, Shi Chun was quite fascinated, but upon hearing it was a Fourth Grade Magical Treasure, which was far inferior to the ones Gu Lianni possessed, his expression suddenly darkened, and his interest waned.

If he hadn't known the hidden identities of these individuals, a Fourth Grade Magical Treasure would have indeed been sufficient. However, he was aware of their true natures; representatives of the Demon Path surely possessed more than a mere Fourth Grade Magical Treasure by their side—how much more could they belittle the Demon Path?

He replied indifferently, "Such a fine treasure, I think you should keep it for yourselves in Forget Love Valley. We at Shudao Mountain are not in need of playthings of this grade."

Then he turned to his companions and said, "Let them play with it themselves, let's go!"

Upon hearing this, the group naturally followed his lead, preparing to leave.

Yuan Yao and Pang Hou were somewhat surprised; weren't they supposed to lend the Divine Fire to these people? This Fourth Grade Magical Treasure, especially one containing an Artifact Spirit, was already considered very high-level. Was this still not enough?

Divine Fire was, of course, an invaluable treasure to an Artifact Refiner, but regarding a single Flame of Divine Fire, if the Artifact Refiner's innate talent was limited, even with a Flame of Divine Fire, it might not be possible to craft an item of this caliber.

For most people, reaching this level of artifact crafting with a single Flame of Divine Fire would be challenging.

Of course, Artifact Refiners themselves would certainly find the Divine Fire preferable, but for monks like Brother Chun, using it as collateral seemed quite appropriate.

But since Shi Chun felt dissatisfied, they couldn't say much about it. After exchanging glances, they also followed and left.

Their line of thinking wasn't incorrect, but the key issue was that Shi Chun knew the bottom line of Forget Love Valley and knew exactly what they urgently needed; he was definitely going to try and max out his leverage.

Of course, if the bottom line for the other party was indeed this, then he would come around and reconsider.

Seeing them just walking away, several leading women from Forget Love Valley instantly became anxious and somewhat conflicted; if a Fourth Grade Magical Treasure didn't impress them, would they dare to forcefully take what they wanted from them?

Eventually, Wu Shanshan still called out, "Brother Chun, please wait!"

Lin Yuefang and the other women looked at her in astonishment, their eyes revealing surprise and doubt, for they knew what it meant to continue the negotiation—it implied what they would have to give up.

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