Don't Cause Trouble Chapter 48: Tear to Shreds

Ten thousand high-grade spirit stones.

Even if they sold everyone in Ye Su’s group, it wouldn’t come close to that amount.

Yet the auction staff from Yu Xiang Pavilion were lightning-fast. They were already carrying the torn scroll into the room, just waiting for someone to hand over ten thousand high-grade spirit stones.

After all, it was rare to see such a generous fool.

The private room was eerily silent. No one spoke.

Ye Su kept her eyes down, trying to control her emotions. Everyone else turned their heads, pretending not to know You Fushi.

"Excuse me…" The auction staff glanced at everyone acting strangely in the room and asked, "Which guest will be making the payment?"

Ming Liu Sha and Xiyu immediately stretched out their hands in unison, both pointing at You Fushi and saying in chorus, "Him!"

Xia Er quickly raised his hand too, also pointing at You Fushi.

"Dear guest, here is your scroll," the auction staff said as they presented the torn scroll to You Fushi, heavily hinting, "Ten thousand high-grade spirit stones."

You Fushi didn’t have a single spirit stone to his name—his Qiankun bag was cleaner than his face. He glanced at Ye Su, saw she wasn’t reacting, then calmly reached up and pulled out his hairpin. His long black hair instantly fell down over his shoulders.

He handed the hairpin over. "Take this as payment."

The auction staff looked at the hairpin and instinctively refused, "Sir, that’s not…"

"He’s just joking."

Ye Su raised her head, took a step forward, and snatched the hairpin from You Fushi’s hand. "Please wait a moment."

You Fushi had several sets of clothes and changed often, but he had never changed that hairpin. For a demon who scoffed at even rare purple pear-wood, the hairpin was definitely not an ordinary item.

Now he wanted to pawn it off…

—A total money-waster.

"Fellow Daoist Ma, may I borrow ten thousand high-grade spirit stones?" Ye Su turned to ask Ma Congqiu.

Earlier, when Xu Chengyu was bidding for the Lightning Dispel Talisman, Ma Congqiu had mentioned how many high-grade spirit stones he had left.

Ma Congqiu froze—he hadn’t expected the fire to land on him. But he quickly reached out, pulled out a Qiankun bag of spirit stones, and tossed it to Ye Su, even joking, "Xia Er said you’ll ascend soon anyway, so no need to repay it—just forge me a divine sword before you leave this world."

Ye Su: "…" He’s even asking for a divine sword now. How many people has Fourth Disciple secretly brainwashed?

"Ye Su, don’t listen to his nonsense," Xu Chengyu shook his head. "Just pay it back when you have the spirit stones."

Ten thousand high-grade spirit stones would take time to earn, but for a personal disciple of Sword Sect, it wasn’t unthinkable.

"Thank you." Ye Su cupped her hands in a respectful gesture, turning to Ma Congqiu. "I’ll remember this favor."

After paying the ten thousand high-grade spirit stones, the scroll was left in their possession. But Ye Su didn’t reach for it. Instead, she returned the hairpin to You Fushi, sat down, and poured herself a cup of spirit wine without saying another word.

The others from Qianji Sect also stayed silent, quietly sitting nearby.

You Fushi placed the hairpin back into his hair. After a moment, he finally realized—this mortal seemed… unhappy.

He reached for the scroll, flipped through it briefly, then suddenly tore out the first and last pages.

The crisp sound of ripping pages echoed through the room, making even Xu Chengyu speak up. "Young Master You, please show some restraint."

But You Fushi completely ignored Xu Chengyu. In his mind, that person was just a stranger who had nothing to do with him.

"Here," You Fushi folded the last page, pressed it together with the first, and pushed the papers in front of Ye Su.

Ye Su looked down at the two pieced-together pages on the table. As soon as her eyes landed on them, her mind was instantly drawn in—there was something…

Before she could fully immerse herself, You Fushi suddenly reached out and scattered the pages. "I’m sleepy."

Ye Su’s gaze fell on the two disordered pieces of talisman paper. Her fingertips dug into her palm, and she finally managed to tear her eyes away. "The auction’s over. We should head back."

From the moment You Fushi tore the book, pieced it together, then scattered it again—it all happened too fast. Ye Su didn’t show any particular reaction, so the others in the room didn’t notice anything unusual.

Only Ming Liu Sha looked a little longer at You Fushi—but he quickly looked away, stood up, stretched lazily, and said, "I’m… tired… too…"

The group got up and left the private room. Outside, many eyes were on them. Some wanted to see who had spent fifteen thousand high-grade spirit stones to buy the Lightning Dispel Talisman, while others were curious about who dared to ignore the face of the Wuxing Sect’s top disciple.

"They’re personal disciples of Sword Sect," someone recognized Xu Chengyu and the others from their robes.

"No wonder they were willing to spend that much on the Lightning Dispel Talisman."

"I heard that recently, a disciple of Sword Sect formed their nascent soul at an inn. Was it them?"

"It was them."

"That’s strange. The people walking with the Sword Sect disciples are…" Someone glanced at the three characters on Ye Su and the others’ robes, then hesitantly said, "Qianji Sect?"

"Why would Sword Sect disciples be associating with people from Qianji Sect?"

Those who had been secretly eyeing the Lightning Dispel Talisman gave up as soon as they saw it was bought by someone from Sword Sect.

The consequences of offending a major sect weren’t something just anyone could handle.

"Zhou Yun?" After the auction ended, the members of the Wuxing Sect came out of their private room. Lian Lian came downstairs and happened to run into them at the landing. Arms crossed, her fingertips painted bright red, she looked both arrogant and radiant. "Spending 150,000 high-grade spirit stones on a single Lightning Dispel Talisman… The Sword Sect truly lives up to its name as the second strongest sword sect in the cultivation world."

She emphasized the word "second" with deliberate sarcasm.

Everyone knew that for years, the Sword Sect had been suppressed by the Kunlun Sect and had never managed to rise above them.

"At least we still have goals," Zhou Yun snapped back at her. "Unlike some people whose heads are full of nothing but romance."

Lian Lian sneered at him. "And yet you haven’t ascended either. How are you any different from me?"

Just as it looked like the two were about to argue, Cheng Huai’an stepped forward from behind. "Senior Sister, it’s time for us to go."

He deliberately positioned himself to avoid Ye Su’s line of sight, not wanting her to see his ear.

Cheng Huai’an hadn’t expected to run into the same cultivator who had bought his talisman last time and discovered he was in disguise.

Lian Lian raised a fingertip to trace her pale cheek, her gaze locking boldly on You Fushi, who stood further back. "Little Daoist, what sect are you from? If it’s the Hehuan Sect, how about spending the night with me?"

You Fushi ignored even Xu Chengyu, let alone someone like Lian Lian. To him, these mortals were painful to even look at.

His expressionless silence was quite intimidating. The more Lian Lian looked at him, the redder her face became, and the confidence in her demeanor completely vanished.

"Senior Sister!" Cheng Huai’an’s face darkened at once.

Lian Lian huffed in annoyance. "Fine, I’m leaving."

But as she walked away, she couldn’t help casting one last longing glance at You Fushi.

Ye Su casually glanced at Lian Lian, but her eyes settled on Cheng Huai’an as he walked downstairs. For some reason, she found him vaguely familiar.

Though there were people watching them from the shadows along the way, no one dared make a move against disciples of Sword Sect. The group returned safely to the inn.

Half an hour later, Ye Su came out of her room and walked to You Fushi’s door. She raised her hand and knocked. The door opened from the inside.

You Fushi was leaning over the table, idly spinning a small teacup with his long, fair fingers.

"What is the torn scroll actually for?" Ye Su closed the door behind her and set up a barrier inside to prevent anyone from overhearing. Her cultivation level was still low, but it was better than nothing.

You Fushi sat up straight and turned to look at her. "Why are you unhappy?"

"I don’t know what the scroll does," Ye Su said seriously, standing in front of him. "And besides, we’re broke. We don’t have ten thousand high-grade spirit stones."

"The hairpin could fetch a lot of spirit stones," You Fushi suddenly said.

Ye Su: "…"

She couldn’t help looking at the hairpin in his dark hair. It looked like an exceptionally fine jade piece, though she couldn’t tell what kind of jade it was carved from.

Even her youngest junior brother had confirmed its value. Ye Su found it hard to estimate how precious the hairpin really was—after all, this man had turned his nose up at even rare purple pearwood.

"The hairpin can’t be sold," Ye Su patiently explained like a teacher to a child. "Things like that may be valuable, but they’re not easy to exchange for spirit stones. It’s not worth it."

You Fushi half-heartedly tugged at the hem of his robe. "I could cut you off a little piece."

Ye Su went silent for a moment and decided not to get dragged into that topic. She pulled out the scroll. "Can you make sense of this thing?"

"Nope," You Fushi replied flatly.

"Why did you lay out that combined page earlier in the private room at Yuxiang Pavilion?" Ye Su asked him.

"Copied someone else." You Fushi pointed at Ye Su’s torn scroll. "It’s a good item."

Ye Su sat down and placed the two torn pages of the scroll he had ripped earlier on the table. "Do it again."

You Fushi leaned his head on one hand and casually moved the other. With a few simple motions, he pieced the pages together and pushed them in front of Ye Su. "Look."

Ye Su lowered her gaze to look at the reassembled talisman diagram. The moment her eyes landed on it, she fell into a trance-like state, completely disconnected from the outside world.

……

When Ye Su regained consciousness, everything around her was pitch black. She looked all around but couldn’t see a thing in any direction.

Before losing awareness, she had been looking at the talisman You Fushi pieced together. Then, the next time she opened her eyes, she was in this current state.

Ye Su was certain—her consciousness had entered the assembled talisman.

A separate realm?

She began moving forward carefully through the darkness, her mind on high alert.

Only cultivators of great power could create realms.

The fact that this space could draw her consciousness inside meant it definitely counted as a realm—one likely created by a powerful talisman cultivator. But what was stored in it remained unknown.

As expected, the torn scroll was no ordinary item. No wonder her little junior brother had taken an interest in it.

Ye Su even found herself distracted, wondering what kind of demon You Fushi might be. Maybe some kind of treasure-hunting beast?

While her thoughts drifted, a golden flash of light suddenly appeared ahead—then vanished in an instant. Ye Su barely caught a glimpse, but it was already etched into her memory.

Then a few more golden streaks of light appeared. This time, she saw more clearly—talisman symbols the height of a person suddenly materialized in the darkness, as if someone had drawn them mid-air with an enormous brush.

Talisman scripts?

The strokes of these talismans were incredibly intricate, and each one had been drawn in a single continuous line—without any pauses or breaks.

Everything around her was black, with only the recurring flashes of golden light.

Ye Su quickly burned the forms of the talismans into her mind. But even in this short time, her forehead began to throb faintly, as if countless needles were pricking at her skin.

These talismans had likely surpassed the limits of her current cultivation level.

After the last streaks of golden light disappeared, the world once again plunged into total darkness.

Ye Su lost all sense of direction once more.