Chapter 7

As the middle-aged man saw Chen Taizhong standing motionless, he was initially taken aback, but then he reacted and added, "I'll pay you two spirits for the processing... but you have to use your seasonings."

Chen Taizhong also meant this; he could help, but only if he was willing. He truly didn't respect those who bossed him around from the start, even if he was just a second-level wandering immortal.

Of course, if the other party was willing to pay, that was a different matter. After some thought, he replied, "No money, just give me a cup of the wine in your gourd."

I don't make a living by selling my skills; I just like your wine.

"You have a good eye; my wine is worth at least five spirits per cup," the middle-aged man laughed, then nodded, "Alright."

Chen Taizhong got to work briskly. In less than ten minutes, he had sliced dozens of pounds of horse meat from the horse's legs, skewered them, and coated them with the all-purpose barbecue seasoning he brought from Earth. He then placed the skewers over the fire.

It took him twenty minutes to cook the meat, and he casually accepted the wine the middle-aged man handed him.

"Smells great," a voice praised from the darkness. Two men and a woman appeared nearby, one of them, a round-faced man, smiled and greeted, "In the wilderness, everyone shares... you two won't mind, right?"

This man was slightly plump, with a friendly smile, somewhat like a traveling merchant.

However, Chen Taizhong noticed that the woman was looking at the middle-aged man's storage bag with a hint of intense light in her eyes.

"Two spirits for a skewer," the middle-aged man replied lazily, "Giving it away for free is out of the question; the zebra is a third-level wild beast."

"We're all out here to make a living; it's not right for you to be so money-grubbing," another man spoke up, then stepped forward, his tone sinister, "You'd better be reasonable."

"Ha," the middle-aged man chuckled, turning his head to look at the young man beside him, and asked with interest, "Young man, do you think I should give it to them for free?"

The horse meat is yours, what does it have to do with me? Chen Taizhong was puzzled as to why he was involved, but after some thought, he couldn't help but remind, "If you hand over your storage bag, you'll probably be fine."

These three people eating for free was just the beginning. If the middle-aged man showed any weakness, he would lose his storage bag next.

Regardless of what was inside, just the storage bag itself was a high-end item. Even fourth- and fifth-level wandering immortals often didn't have one.

"Ah," the middle-aged man nodded, then looked at the three people with a half-smile, "Next, are you planning to rob me of my storage bag?"

"How could we rob you?" the plump man laughed dryly.

Then he composed himself, cleared his throat, and said, "We were chasing a fourth-level mutated wind snake a few days ago, and it was stolen in the chaos. The thief's build is similar to yours... you'd better let us check your storage bag."

This was a step-by-step pressure tactic. Asking for food in the wilderness wasn't too much, but checking someone's storage bag was over the line, equivalent to a random search.

If the middle-aged man accepted such humiliation, he would inevitably lose his storage bag next.

"Hey," the middle-aged man shook his head and sighed, a faint look of melancholy on his face.

After a long pause, he said, "You two leave your storage bags, and the woman... strip naked and get lost."

"What did you say?" the woman screamed immediately.

"Hmm?" The middle-aged man grunted, and a wave of pressure suddenly spread out, overwhelming and suffocating.

"Hiss," the three people, who knew the value, immediately drew in a sharp breath—this was at least a seventh-level wandering immortal, a high-level one.

The fat man reacted quickly, his legs giving way as he knelt down, "Sir, we are blind and disrespectful, we offended you. I am from the Zhou family of Qingstone, please consider our ancestors..."

"Don't bring your family into it to scare me; I don't want to kill anyone," the middle-aged man coldly snorted, "But if you don't listen, I might kill you. You have three breaths to consider."

"The Zhou family hasn't offended you, right?" The fat man was still persistent, trying to drag the family into the conflict.

"Only you can rob others, but I can't rob you?" The middle-aged man took a sip of his wine, slowly biting into the skewer of meat, "I'm not pretentious; if I want to rob, I just do it, unlike you who need an excuse... truly, you want to do evil and still set up a good reputation."

Under the pressure of the high-level wandering immortal, the three people had to leave two storage bags. The woman stripped off her outer clothes, leaving only her undergarments, and fled into the night, covering her face in embarrassment.

Not bad... Chen Taizhong looked at the woman leaving without hiding his gaze.

The middle-aged man tossed a storage bag to him and said with a smile, "What comes to you, you share."

"No reward, no work," Chen Taizhong threw the storage bag back, "If I need something, I'll earn it with my own hands."

"Meeting is a kind of fate," the middle-aged man chuckled, then lowered his voice, "Your Sumeru ring... isn't it inconvenient to use at any time?"

"Hmm?" Chen Taizhong was immediately surprised; he hadn't expected the other party to recognize this item. He frowned, "What do you mean by that?"

"Nothing much," the man's lips twitched, answering casually, "If I wanted to rob your Sumeru ring, do you think you could stop me?"

"You can try," Chen Taizhong frowned and replied coolly.

"Why would I try? You haven't offended me," the middle-aged man spread his hands, looking unconcerned, "I never bully people randomly... I even gave a spirit stone to a first-level wandering immortal for food."

"I'm second-level now, okay?" Chen Taizhong grumbled, but after some thought, he realized that to such a strong person, the difference between first and second level was negligible.

At this moment, he thought of a question, "What level are you?"

"Peak ninth-level, stuck, can't break through to the spirit immortal stage," the middle-aged man sighed, answering lightly.

Much later, Chen Taizhong learned that in the immortal world, asking about someone's cultivation level was a taboo, like asking someone's income on Earth—unless you were close, it was too deep.

But at this time, he wasn't very clear, so he was puzzled, "Ninth-level wandering immortal to spirit immortal... didn't get family support?"

The rule in the immortal world is that a spirit immortal has the right to form a cultivation family. A peak ninth-level like the middle-aged man would be heavily cultivated by the family, adding a top-tier combatant once they break through.

"I'm a solitary cultivator," the middle-aged man answered lightly, then looked at him, "The hardships of a solitary cultivator, how could you, a family descendant, understand?"

"I'm not a family descendant," Chen Taizhong couldn't help but protest—If he were a family descendant, would he be out doing tasks and be bullied by everyone?

"You're only second-level at your age, you can't possibly be a sect disciple," the middle-aged man gave him a look.

"I'm also a solitary cultivator, just ascended a few days ago," Chen Taizhong showed his jade token.

"Ah?" The middle-aged man glanced at the jade token, then casually glanced at the Sumeru ring on his hand.

Chen Taizhong raised his wine cup and took a sip, giving him a sidelong glance, saying nothing more.

"Hey, you actually had greedy thoughts," the middle-aged man laughed, then shook his head, "You shouldn't... but I'm curious, do you really think you can protect your Sumeru ring in front of me?"

"I don't suggest you try," Chen Taizhong answered seriously; the Sumeru ring contained nuclear bombs.

The middle-aged man was stunned for a while, then nodded slightly, "True, lower realm people aren't always easy to bully. The lower realm has caused chaos in the immortal world more than once... to have such a rare cultivation method, you must have your own background."

"Lower realm can cause chaos in the immortal world?" Chen Taizhong heard this for the first time.

"You'll know in the future," the middle-aged man didn't want to say more, just looking at him meaningfully, "The world is vast... you have your own trump card, don't you?"

Chen Taizhong was stunned, then started to consider—should he ask about some things from Earth?

If he could find some immortals who ascended from Earth, he would have some support.

He was still hesitating when the middle-aged man stood up, waved his hand, and put the uneaten horse meat into his storage bag, then turned and left leisurely, "Being a solitary cultivator is too hard. If you have a way, it's better to join an organization."

I don't have a way, Chen Taizhong pouted, picked up the storage bag on the ground, and came to the "artificial grass patch," sitting quietly in meditation.

At dawn, he probed the storage bag with his divine sense and found one medium-grade spirit stone, over twenty low-grade spirit stones, a few bottles of pills, a long sword, and a long knife.

The rest were some clothes and daily necessities like pots and pans.

Killing and robbing doesn't necessarily mean getting rich, Chen Taizhong pouted.

On Earth, he didn't interact much with others, and no one discussed cultivation with him. He had read some immortal novels, where robbing someone's storage bag was like robbing a gold mine, having everything.

Believing everything in books is worse than not reading them. He calmed down and thought about checking if the big thing in the water had left, and if he could catch more fish. Suddenly, he felt an unusual silence around him.

Something seemed off. He carefully sensed the area where the iron-armored tiger and the other person were, but there was no trace of their presence, which was strange.

He was a qi cultivator, very sensitive to changes in qi. Yesterday, he could always sense their presence, though weak, it was always noticeable.

Today, he couldn't sense them at all, indicating a change.

He couldn't help but be on high alert—out in the wilderness, he was just a second-level wandering immortal.

Soon, a rustling sound came from a distance. Peering through the grass, he was overjoyed to see—thunder deer!

Eight thunder deer walked over, one male, three females, two half-grown ones, and two young ones, looking like a family.