Don't Cause Trouble Chapter 25: Placing Bets

To enter the Baiqing Rankings, a refining tool first had to go through an evaluation, which cost five hundred mid-grade spirit stones. For truly skilled artifact forgers, that amount was basically pocket change.

After all, the selection process required significant manpower and materials. Just the annual testing stones were already a huge expense.

The fee also served as a filter to keep low-level forgers from constantly submitting random junk, hoping to get lucky and sneak into the rankings.

But for Ye Su and her group, five hundred mid-grade spirit stones was a small fortune. And since there were four of them, submitting one artifact each meant they needed two thousand stones total.

Ye Su had earned more than that in Dinghai City, but she’d already sent most of it back to Qianji Sect. Their sect leader had then distributed it among the other disciples, so she only had a little over a thousand left—still short.

"Senior Sister, you go ahead and submit your artifact first," Xia Er suggested. "We’re not in a rush. Five hundred stones is enough for now. That guy Quan Jiaying from Po Yuan Sect said you’d definitely make it onto the list anyway."

Ye Su sat silently on a stone bench in the courtyard, saying nothing.

Just then, Ming Liu Sha came walking in from outside, holding a storage pouch. He sat on another bench and placed the bag on the stone table. "The junior brothers and sisters gave this."

He was being so unusually straightforward that Ye Su couldn’t help but glance at him.

"What is it?" Xiyu reached for it, opened it, and after a moment of stunned silence asked, "Where did they get this many spirit stones?"

Ye Su frowned. "Give it here."

She took the pouch, peeked inside—and sure enough, it was packed full of mid-grade spirit stones, several thousand at least.

"Master handed out spirit stones for them to use in cultivation," Ming Liu Sha said with a complicated expression. "But instead of spending them, they quietly saved them up. When they heard you mention needing funds for the Baiqing Rankings, they gave it all up."

"…I sent them those stones so they’d cultivate properly," Ye Su said with a sigh, rubbing her forehead. She tossed the pouch to Xiyu. "Take it. Keep an eye on them and make sure they actually use it over the next while."

"Got it," Xiyu replied.

"One more thing—this time, submit the Black Whip and the Moon Lance," Ye Su said, looking at Ming Liu Sha and Xia Er.

"But…" Xia Er hesitated. "Those two weapons aren’t really our specialty."

"That’s the point," Ye Su said, standing up. "Those two artifacts won’t rank very high, but they should still make the list."

Since the weapons didn’t reflect their usual styles, if anything went wrong, they could adjust their strategy more easily.

"…Got it," Ming Liu Sha said, slipping back into his usual sluggish tone.

Ye Su turned and walked to the first room’s door, raising her hand to knock. "Junior Brother, get up. Time to cultivate."

Sleeping all day again.

There was no response from inside. No one came to the door. No "come in."

More pretending not to hear.

Ye Su simply pushed the door open. As expected, her new junior brother was leaning lazily on the bed, clearly awake, idly playing with his hair.

You Fushi heard footsteps, looked up at the "mortal" standing there, then slowly closed his eyes and slipped under the blanket like he was asleep.

Ye Su: "…"

She had a strong suspicion that the sect leader had deliberately tossed this troublesome brat into her lap.

"I saw that."

The person on the bed stayed perfectly still, his dark hair splayed across the bedding, as if he were truly asleep.

Unbelievable, Ye Su thought. This guy was a total slacker, yet somehow had the kind of face that made him look innocent no matter what he did.

Her mood was already sour, and now she actually smiled. Slowly, she sat down at the desk, reached under it, and pulled out a gong and mallet.

She started banging away in rhythm.

"CLANG-CLANG, CLANG, CLANG-CLANG—!"

You Fushi: "…"

He sat up and immediately flung a pillow at her. His once calm and handsome face now showed clear irritation.

Ye Su caught the pillow one-handed, calmly stashed the gong and mallet back under the table, and said with a smile, "Haven’t played that in five or six years. A little rusty."

When it came to disciplining younger disciples, she was unmatched.

Caught off guard, You Fushi reluctantly got up, clearly annoyed. "What are we doing today?"

He still had something he needed to find—but suddenly couldn’t remember what.

"You learned energy-guiding pretty quickly," Ye Su said, slipping back into her serious-senior-sister tone. "Today, we’re learning form carving."

Artifacts came in all shapes and sizes. A skilled artifact forger had to make sure the form was balanced and didn’t interfere with the user’s spiritual energy.

Normally, forgers mastered shaping through repeated practice making real artifacts. But Qianji Sect didn’t have the resources for that, so their disciples practiced carving with wood instead—and sometimes even went to a blacksmith in a nearby town to get the feel of it.

Basically, anything that could help their refining skills—they tried it all.

Ye Su brought her new junior brother over to a pile of wooden blocks and sat down. "Start by practicing with wood."

"No," You Fushi replied instantly, without even thinking.

Ye Su shoved a carving knife and a chunk of wood into his hands. "Try it. Today you’ll carve a blade. Do you know how to draw?"

"No." You Fushi looked down at the dirty wooden block with disgust. This mortal is seriously annoying.

Ye Su helped him grip the knife properly, pressing down gently on his fingers. "Just give it a try. If it turns out you really have no talent for refining, I’ll ask Master if you can train in something else."

"Like what?" You Fushi asked, clearly trying to avoid this whole refining thing.

"You could become a sword cultivator," Ye Su said casually. "Your fifth senior brother—he wasn’t good at refining either. He’s probably on the sword path now."

On Jiuxuan Peak, there was only one person You Fushi hadn’t met yet. He asked, "Yi Xuan?"

"That’s him."

Just as she said it, Ye Su thought she heard a faint scoff nearby. But when she turned to look, there was nothing out of the ordinary.

"I’m not being a sword cultivator," You Fushi said firmly. "They’re broke and ugly."

Ye Su: "…"

"Sword cultivators in the cultivation world are not broke."

You Fushi didn’t respond. Back to pretending he hadn’t heard.

Ye Su didn’t push it. She picked up a carving knife and said, "In the future, your spiritual fire will be your carving tool."

She lightly traced the outline of a blade on the wood, then began shaving away the excess bit by bit.

You Fushi had zero interest in wood carving, but couldn’t help getting drawn in by her hands.

Her movements were fluid and practiced. Under her knife, what looked like a stiff block of wood turned soft as tofu. In less than half an hour, she’d roughly carved out the shape of a blade.

Meanwhile, You Fushi had already tossed aside his own block and knife. He just sat there, watching her carve with focused eyes.

Then, all of a sudden, Ye Su stopped. Just as You Fushi was about to ask why, she spoke:

"What, you think this is a show?" she said coolly. "Pick up your knife and wood."

Unlike guiding energy—which he picked up instantly—Ye Su spent the entire day trying to teach him form carving. By the end of it, all he had mastered was… blowing on his fingers.

"I can't learn it," You Fushi said casually, rubbing his fingertips. "As long as you know how, that's enough."

Ye Su frowned. "What does me knowing it have to do with you?"

You Fushi tilted his head. "If I ever want a magical tool, I can just come to you. Why should I bother learning it myself?" Wasn’t this mortal a smith anyway?

Ye Su was suddenly reminded of that piece of purple pear burl wood that her junior brother had forced on her earlier. She fell silent.

She had almost forgotten just how rich her little junior brother was.

Someone like him didn’t need to work hard at cultivation—he could just spend money on pills and still advance without lifting a finger.

"Then why did you come to Qianji Sect?" Ye Su suddenly asked, staring at You Fushi. Ever since his arrival, she’d had this persistent, strange feeling about him.

You Fushi was still playing with his fingers. "I don’t quite remember. I promised someone I’d come here a long time ago."

The words were vague, but somehow Ye Su felt he was telling the truth.

"Senior Sister!" Xia Er came running over from a distance. "The two magical tools have been submitted. The Hundred Youth Ranking will update on the tenth of next month—we’ll find out then if they made it."

"Got it," Ye Su replied. Then she turned to look at You Fushi. "That purple pear burl wood is priceless. Even scraping a thin layer off could be traded for top-tier tools."

"If you touch it, it's yours," You Fushi said flatly, clearly thinking this mortal was trying to return that ugly box to him. He turned to leave.

"Wait," Ye Su grabbed his arm. "I’ll keep the purple pear burl wood. In return, if you ever want a magical tool, you can come to me—I’ll forge it for you."

You Fushi looked back at her. So she was finally getting rid of that ugly box?

"Personally, I think I have some talent in smithing," Ye Su said directly. "I might even become a great smith someday. You can consider that purple pear burl wood your investment in me."

A treasure like purple pear burl wood wasn’t something she could turn down. But it wasn’t hers to begin with.

What You Fushi had just said gave her a new perspective. If she could exchange a lifetime of forging work for that piece of wood… she’d still come out ahead.

"No." You Fushi rejected the deal outright.

Ye Su was momentarily stunned but not exactly surprised. "If you’re not willing, that’s fine too."

Standing beneath a tree, half of his face hidden in shadow, You Fushi slowly lifted his gaze. His tone was lazy but laced with a strange elegance:

"Then I want to be able to add to my bet anytime I want."

Ye Su narrowed her eyes. Was he saying he wanted to give her more things later?

Something about this felt off.

"Alright," she agreed.

As the saying went, "great fortune lies in risk." For a treasure like the purple pear burl wood, any gamble was worth it. Many smiths in the cultivation world would kill for such a chance.

The moment Ye Su agreed, You Fushi treated her storage pouch like it was already his. He was already thinking about what to toss into it next.

"S-Senior Sister…" Xia Er watched the junior brother walk off, then stuttered as he turned back to Ye Su. "Did you just say… purple… purple pear burl wood?"

He must’ve misheard.

"The one you know about," Ye Su replied, pulling the box out of her storage pouch.

Xia Er gasped and started hiccuping from excitement. "Is… is it fake?"

Ye Su handed it over. "Take a close look."

Xia Er didn’t dare hold it at first. He just stared wide-eyed at the box, then finally reached out and touched it. Sure enough, it matched every description in the books.

"Why’s it shaped like a box?" Xia Er smacked his lips. "Is the inside all hollowed out?"

Ye Su nodded. "Probably."

Xia Er reluctantly pulled his hand away. "I can’t believe I actually touched real purple pear burl wood."

The bead on Junior Sister’s necklace—also made of the same wood—had only been shown to them once, and no one had been allowed to touch it.

Ye Su looked up. "We’re going to divide it."

"I—I get a share too?" Xia Er was stunned.

"Everyone from Jiuxuan Peak gets a share," Ye Su said, tracing an invisible line down the middle of the box. "The rest will be stored in Qianji Sect, and people can exchange contribution points to get it."

The long-abandoned Contributions Hall would have to be reopened.

Staring at the purple pear burl box in Ye Su’s hands, Xia Er whispered: "I get a share too."

And then, just like that—he fainted.

Ye Su: "……"