Yang Che's eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at the young woman, a hint of displeasure in his voice. "Fellow Daoist, these eight full pattern star stones were promised to me by your younger brother. How can you go back on that?"

The young woman snatched the full pattern star stone from the little boy's hand and pulled him aside, a pained expression on her face. "Wei Chen, you are truly too thoughtless. This full pattern star stone is the most important item our family has here in Sacred Scorpion Oasis. How could you just give it to someone else?"

The little boy, Wei Chen, listened to his sister's scolding. Although a look of Sha E appeared on his face, he still desperately tried to snatch the full pattern star stone from his sister's hand.

"Sister, I know how important the full pattern star stone is. Otherwise, Baldy Qian and the others wouldn't have dared to try and snatch the six full pattern star stones from me in broad daylight. But Sister, I already promised that big brother that as long as he saved me and sent me home, I would give him eight full pattern star stones. He did it, so I, Wei Chen, cannot go back on my word."

"What?"

The woman was stunned after hearing her brother's words. Her beautiful eyes held surprise, and a hint of hidden relief.

"Sister, I only took two from home; the other six are mine. I'll find a way to return the two from home. Give me these full pattern star stones now. I, Wei Chen, want to be a man of my word, like Father, not a faithless villain like Wen Tong, who almost became my brother-in-law."

By the end, Wei Chen's voice was quite agitated, and he practically screamed it out.

The young woman's expression suddenly darkened upon hearing this.

She seemed to freeze for a moment, then stuffed the full pattern star stone into her brother's hand before covering her face and returning to the second floor of the wooden building via the old wooden ladder.

The little boy, Wei Chen, saw his sister's sudden change and realized he might have said something wrong. He immediately said anxiously, "Sister, I..."

Yang Che had been standing quietly to the side, observing and listening to the siblings' expressions and conversation from beginning to end with a detached look.

He wasn't very interested in all this; he just stared at the little boy, Wei Chen, and said indifferently, "The full pattern star stone, can you give it to me now?"

The little boy walked over, hesitating for a moment this time, then reluctantly handed the star rune stone to Yang Che.

Yang Che immediately put it into his Storage Pouch and turned to leave.

Just then, the little boy, Wei Chen, suddenly spoke from behind him, "Big brother, you... you're not from Sacred Scorpion Oasis, are you?"

Yang Che's gaze turned cold upon hearing this, and he stared at the little boy, Wei Chen, indifferently.

Wei Chen was startled by the cold aura emanating from Yang Che, and his steps, which were about to retreat, stopped abruptly.

Despite his legs still trembling, he gritted his teeth and said,

"Big brother, I know you must be from another Oasis, and you might not be very familiar with my Sacred Scorpion Oasis. Why don't you stay here for a while, and I can give you a detailed introduction, big brother?"

Yang Che's eyes narrowed slightly, and after a moment of thought, he returned to his normal expression.

At this moment, he was naturally full of questions and eager to understand the situation.

Seeing this, the little boy also let out a sigh of relief. He immediately moved a table and chairs from inside the first-floor room and brewed a pot of Spiritual Tea for Yang Che.

"Big brother, let me formally introduce myself. My name is Wei Chen, and my sister on the second floor is Wei Shan. We are considered... commoners of Sacred Scorpion Oasis."

Wei Chen picked up the teacup and bowed to Yang Che, saying, "Although it's just ordinary Spiritual Tea, it's the best hospitality my Wei family can offer. I hope big brother doesn't mind."

Wei Chen, like a little adult, drained the tea in his bowl.

Yang Che picked it up and took a small sip. It was indeed quite ordinary; labeled as Spiritual Tea, its Spiritual Qi content was almost non-existent.

He naturally wouldn't dwell on such a minor matter. Instead, he began to chat idly with Wei Chen, subtly probing for information.

The two of them drank tea and chatted like this for a full hour.

Wei Chen was, after all, a child, and some of the strange tales Yang Che told piqued his immense curiosity. He then spoke freely, holding nothing back.

Yang Che finally pieced together these scattered bits of information and generally understood the situation of Sacred Scorpion Oasis.

It is said that there are many such Oasis in the entire Ancient Remnant Sand Sea, but the distance between any two Oasis is extremely vast.

Take this Oasis called 'Sacred Scorpion' for example; Tianxie Ziyin had previously used a Supreme Talisman to enhance her Divine Sense, and she only sensed this one Oasis within tens of thousands of miles.

The little boy naturally didn't know about the situation of other Oasis.

However, he knew quite a lot about the Sacred Scorpion Oasis.

For instance, today happened to be Sacred Scorpion Oasis's 'Spirit Prohibition Day'.

Spirit Prohibition Day was a rule set by the City Lord of Holy Scorpion City, the central city of Sacred Scorpion Oasis, a very long time ago.

One day each month, within the entire Oasis region, no living being was allowed to use spiritual power or anything related to spiritual power for fighting or other conflicts.

However, some special circumstances were excluded, such as depositing or retrieving items from a Storage Pouch, or opening and closing specific Formations.

Spirit Prohibition Day primarily prohibited conflicts involving the use of spiritual power.

As for why the City Lord established such a peculiar rule, no one knew the reason.

Because of this, Yang Che finally understood why those Foundation Establishment Cultivators had surrounded Wei Chen, who was at Qi Refining Ninth Layer cultivation, and beaten him.

Yang Che also felt a secret sense of relief.

If he hadn't held back when he felt the intent to kill earlier and had used spiritual power to kill, the 'Oasis Patrols' nearby would have sensed it and immediately rushed to execute him.

These Oasis Patrols wield great power. On Spirit Prohibition Day, only they could freely use spiritual power to maintain order.

Besides learning about the Spirit Prohibition Day, Yang Che also learned a very important matter.

This Sacred Scorpion Oasis was under the absolute rule of the City Lord of Holy Scorpion City.

The City Lord, Sha E, was an Eleventh-level Yao Beast comparable to a Nascent Divinity Initial Stage Cultivator. It was rumored that he had passed the assessment of the Ancient Remnant Alliance and was one of the City Lords officially appointed by the Ancient Remnant Alliance.

Residents of Sacred Scorpion Oasis, whether living inside or outside the city, had to pay 'full pattern star stones' to the City Lord's Mansion monthly.

If they failed to pay the required amount of full pattern star stones for more than two months within a year, they would be expelled from Sacred Scorpion Oasis.

As for residents outside the city, if they wanted to enter the city, each person had to pay one full pattern star stone or ten Spirit Stones daily.

The amount paid differed between inside and outside the city, and also between the east and west sides of the river, separated by a single river.

For instance, the west side of the river, where Wei Chen and Wei Shan lived, required a monthly payment of ten full pattern star stones, which was already the minimum.

Despite this, for those living on the west side of the river, due to the harsh living conditions, inability to seek livelihoods in the city, and the need to sustain their Cultivation, ten full pattern star stones per month was an incredibly heavy burden.

According to the little boy, Wei Chen, the full pattern star stones his Wei family intended to submit last month were all swindled by a Cultivator named Wen Tong.

Not just his Wei family, but many families in this part of the west river area had their full pattern star stones cheated away by this person.

Since Wen Tong was originally his sister Wei Shan's prospective Dao Companion and lived on the east side of the river,

when Wen Tong disappeared after swindling the full pattern star stones from these families, many people vented their anger on the Wei family.

Wei Chen being surrounded and beaten by Baldy Qian and the other Foundation Establishment Cultivators who wanted to snatch his star rune stones was naturally somewhat related to this matter.

Yang Che picked up his teacup, took another sip, looked at Wei Chen, and suddenly asked in a low voice, "You just said that you and your sister are going into the city the day after tomorrow to submit this month's and last month's full pattern star stones?"

"Yes."

The little boy nodded and said, "The day after tomorrow is the City Lord's Mansion's final deadline for us. If we still can't gather twenty full pattern star stones, my Wei family will be driven out of this west river area and into the extremely dangerous desert. By then, my sister and I will definitely not survive."

Yang Che's eyes narrowed slightly, and his fingers gently tapped on the table.

After a while, he suddenly said, "Then, the day after tomorrow when you go into the city, can you take me with you?"

Upon hearing this, Wei Chen's hand, holding the teacup, tightened abruptly, and a strange glint flashed in his eyes.