"Oh, shopping with your best friend? Then go ahead. But as for using the Grade Seven profound pill to extend your father's life, I still need to think about it."
Fang Ziyan froze, and then her willow brows furrowed tightly.
"Brother Lin Mo, a person must keep their word. You know perfectly well that my father is dying and desperately needs a Grade Seven pill to sustain his life. You promised to give me the Purple Heart Barrier-Breaking Pill. How can you ask for it back?"
Seeing the Grade Seven profound pill slip through her fingers, Fang Ziyan's pretty face flushed red with anxiety, feeling both annoyed and wronged.
Lin Mo looked at her with a playful smile, finding the whole thing highly amusing.
"Look quickly, Young Master Lin's goddess is angry."
"Haha, I bet ten spirit stones that Lin Mo will obediently hand the profound pill right back."
"Too small, your vision is too narrow. I bet twenty stones."
"For sure. I'm too familiar with this scene. Within three breaths, Lin Mo will cave."
The onlookers began placing bets, certain that Lin Mo wouldn't be able to stay tough.
In fact, if it were the Lin Mo from the book, he indeed would have immediately backed down the moment Fang Ziyan got angry.
But now, Lin Mo chuckled softly: "Fang Ziyan, why do you think I wanted to give you the Grade Seven Purple Heart Barrier-Breaking Pill?"
Fang Ziyan blinked her large, sparkling eyes and said innocently: "Isn't it because the Heavenly Revelation Holy Land values the Fang family's potential and wants to build a good relationship with us?"
Onlookers: "What the...?"
Li Yue: "?"
Lin Mo was speechless.
'I really want to pry this woman's brain open to see what's inside!'
The patriarch of your Fang family is critically injured and dying, and you still talk about potential? The potential for your family to be ruined and perish?
Even Li Yue couldn't bear to watch anymore. With so many sect and family disciples present, even a fool would know that Holy Son Lin was throwing away a million spirit stones solely for Fang Ziyan.
"Ziyan, just accept Young Master Lin's invitation," Li Yue tugged at Fang Ziyan's sleeve, whispering urgently.
"It's just going down the mountain for a stroll. You won't lose anything."
Fang Ziyan looked angrily at her best friend. "How can I do that? I won't accept a handout!"
She was haughty and proud, disdaining to accept this transactional form of charity.
Before Li Yue could persuade her further, Fang Ziyan had already stood up. Raising her snow-white neck, she declared:
"Brother Lin Mo, you treat me well, and I know it in my heart. I am very relieved that you are willing to offer timely help during my Fang family's time of crisis. But today, I really cannot accompany you down the mountain."
She paused, lightly biting her cherry lips as if making an impossibly difficult decision.
"If you give the Grade Seven Purple Heart Barrier-Breaking Pill to the Fang family, I can consider letting you accompany me shopping."
From childhood to adulthood, she had been pure and flawless, keeping all men at a distance. Allowing Lin Mo to shop with her was already her greatest concession.
Of course, Senior Brother Chen Yu was the exception...
Li Yue breathed a sigh of relief. Ziyan had truly made a great sacrifice. Now, shouldn't Lin Mo give some reaction?
"Young Master Lin, being able to accompany Ziyan shopping is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!"
Seeing Lin Mo remain expressionless, Li Yue was even more anxious than he was. She blinked desperately to give him a hint.
Over the years, she had watched from the sidelines, witnessing exactly how painstakingly Lin Mo had pursued Fang Ziyan. Now, the iron tree was finally blooming—Ziyan was actually willing to relent!
Shouldn't a simp like Lin Mo hurry up and express his undying loyalty?
Suddenly, Li Yue saw Lin Mo smile.
"A simp is a simp after all. Give him a little hope and he's over the moon."
But as he continued to smile, his expression became playful. It carried a faint trace of contempt, and even mockery!
Countless question marks popped up in Li Yue's mind.
"Is there something wrong with your brain?!"
Lin Mo sneered inwardly.
"I smash a Grade Seven profound pill worth over a million spirit stones just to go shopping with a woman? And when we're shopping, if she takes a fancy to something, I'll have to pay for it, and then I'm supposed to treat that as my reward?"
Ten thousand horses galloped wildly through his heart.
The Holy Son of a top-tier Holy Land should feel honored to spend heavy treasures just for the chance to accompany a girl shopping?
Even someone with ten years of brain thrombosis couldn't utter such nonsense!
Immediately, Lin Mo put away the profound pill and slowly stood up. His cold gaze swept over the crowd.
The onlookers were startled by his glare.
"If you don't want to be a simp anymore, why are you glaring at us?!"
"Today is the South Mountain Sect Master's birthday, and many sect disciples have gathered here," Lin Mo declared, his voice carrying across the courtyard.
"Among them are many from Holy Lands and noble families. Whoever is willing to pay a million spirit stones to save your father, you can go find them."
He paused, letting the silence hang.
"But the treasures of my Heavenly Revelation Holy Land are not that easy to take."
His eyes locked onto Fang Ziyan.
"I'm sorry, but at the very least, your Fang family is unworthy!"
He ripped the exquisite silk ribbon from the emerald jade box and tossed it to the ground at his feet.
Silence!
Then—chaos erupted.
"Holy crap? Did Holy Son Lin change his temper?"
"He's actually acting like a man today?"
"What Young Master Lin did is actually the normal response, right? If I took out a million spirit stones just to pick up girls, my father would definitely flay me alive!"
"Fang Ziyan is beautiful, but no matter how beautiful a woman is, she isn't worth a million spirit stones!"
"Heh, this woman tried to use her beauty to hook a sugar daddy, but now she's played herself."
Fang Ziyan stood frozen on the spot, her pretty face turning red and pale by turns.
Every word from the crowd pierced her ears. Especially those parting words—they shamed her so deeply she wanted to find a crack in the ground and disappear.
"I'm unworthy... my Fang family is unworthy...!"