The person pulling in the fishing net was a young woman in her early twenties. Hearing him, she burst out laughing. “We scattered bait and waited all night. It would be frightening if there weren’t a lot of fish.”
Xia Yunzhao nodded, properly educated.
The young woman worked briskly as she hauled in the net. She was tall, with long arms, and wore gloves made from some unknown kind of hide. With each sweep of her arms, a long section of net came up. Before long, fish appeared, their tails going flap, flap and scattering sparkling droplets of water.
Her movements were lightning-fast. She unhooked large fish one after another and tossed them into wooden tubs, switching to a new tub whenever one filled. Smaller fish were thrown back into the lake… Suddenly, she gave a small sound of surprise. “This one’s nice.”
Without even raising her head, she lifted a long, slender white fish, drew the small knife at her waist with her right hand, struck the fish’s head once, then gutted it, scraped off the scales, rinsed it in the lake, and casually pulled a handful of dry grass through its gills to tie it up… The entire process flowed so smoothly that it was almost impossible to follow with the eye.
Then she held the fish out to him. “Here. This is called a White Spirit Fish. It tastes excellent and has plenty of spiritual energy. A lot of cultivators like to buy them to eat.”
“Huh? For me?” Xia Yunzhao hurriedly waved his hands. “No, no. Aren’t you selling these for money?”
He was already staying on their land. How could he take their fish for free too?
The young woman laughed again and pushed the fish into his hands. “Mr. Xing saved my second brother, and you’re Mr. Xing’s younger brother, so you’re one of our benefactors too. What does one fish matter? Try it. If you like it, I’ll catch more for you.”
Xia Yunzhao still wanted to protest, but the woman waved him off and had already turned back to work. “If you don’t know how to cook it, ask Brother Jingwu to grill it for you. His grilled fish is incredible. Most people don’t even get the chance to taste it!”
In the end, Xia Yunzhao really did eat grilled fish that morning, and Geng Jingwu was the one who cooked it for him.
He could not tell whether Geng Jingwu was simply an excellent cook or the fish itself was exceptional, but the White Spirit Fish was unbelievably delicious. The skin had been grilled golden-brown, crisp and fragrant. When it was gently peeled back, oil immediately dripped from the flesh underneath. The white fish meat, glossy with fat, separated into segments like garlic cloves. There was not the slightest fishy taste. Instead, it carried a faint grassy fragrance and a hint of milky aroma.
After he swallowed it, he could also feel a gentle current of spiritual power circling through his qi sea. He had only opened his first major acupoint yesterday, and the faint itching and soreness in his meridians eased considerably.
Xia Yunzhao gave Geng Jingwu a thumbs-up. “Delicious!”
Everyone was gathered together eating breakfast. Seeing him react like that, the people in the small camp laughed good-naturedly. An elderly woman sitting opposite him said something in a local dialect, and everyone burst out laughing together.
Xia Yunzhao could not understand her. Seeing Xing Wenyu laughing too, he asked, “Brother Xing, what did Granny say about me?”
Xing Wenyu was an honorable man and merely smiled. “She said you look cute when you eat.”
Xia Yunzhao had the distinct feeling that was not what she had actually said. Still, the old woman was looking at him so kindly that she reminded him of both his grandmothers, so he simply laughed along with everyone else.
By the time breakfast ended, Xia Yunzhao had eaten an entire fish, half a roasted rabbit, a bowl of chicken soup, and a plate of some unknown wild vegetable dressed cold, which tasted sweet and delicious. When he finally put down his chopsticks, he was so full he could barely stand.
Everyone else began clearing the dishes and refused to let him help. The elderly woman came over, patted his stomach, and chattered at him for several sentences.
Having understood absolutely nothing, Xia Yunzhao answered anyway with a smile. “That’s right, Granny. I’m really full, but once I move around for a while I’ll be fine. I’m still young!”
The old woman did not seem to know whether she had understood him either. She smiled, took a colorful silk ribbon from inside her clothes, tied it to his belt, and said four words.
This time, Xia Yunzhao understood. She had said, “Safe and sound.”
A young man nearby saw the ribbon and waved his wrist at Xia Yunzhao. A similar ribbon was tied around it. Apparently everyone in the small camp had one of these little protective charms.
For some reason, Xia Yunzhao suddenly felt as though he had been accepted into a large family.
After breakfast came the start of another busy day. For the small camp, the most important task every day was taking fish into the city to sell.
As it happened, Xia Yunzhao also wanted to make a trip into the city. He had too many resources inside his storage pouch and did not dare sell all of them to the buyers at the camp. It would be safer to divide them up among different buyers inside the city.
Thus, the two sides agreed to travel into the city together.
Xing Wenyu was not going. Even now, he still entered Liancui Mountain every single day without fail to search for treasure.
The people from the small camp walked over to a pile of dry grass and pulled it aside, revealing an enormous flatbed cart underneath.
Everyone loaded more than a dozen tubs of fish onto the cart, then brought out two enormous wooden planks. They took turns laying the planks down in front of the wheels, moving forward like that.
Whenever they encountered terrain the cart could not cross, they had to lift it over by hand, which was extremely exhausting. Every fish-selling trip required more than twenty people.
Xia Yunzhao considered offering to use his storage pouch to help… then thought better of it. This was the first time they were traveling into the city together, and the others might have reservations. He could bring it up once they were more familiar, so he said nothing for now.
Traveling with the fish-selling group was much slower. But Xia Yunzhao worried that carrying so many fish might attract slaughter beasts, while Geng Jingwu worried that Xia Yunzhao might get into danger because he did not know the route. Both sides worried about the other, and neither suggested separating, so accompanied by the creak, creak of the cart, they eventually reached Qingxi City.
At first glance, Xia Yunzhao immediately felt that something about the city gate was different. A massive wooden barricade had been erected at the entrance, and a long line stretched out before it. Relying on his speed and light body, he ran over to listen and heard one of the gatekeepers shouting, “Order from the Fang family! There’s a Human Plague outbreak outside the city! Anyone without a travel permit is forbidden from entering!”
The Fang family spreads news quickly enough… Xia Yunzhao frowned. This was troublesome. The original owner had never possessed a travel permit.
He returned and told Geng Jingwu. Geng Jingwu thought for a moment, walked over to speak with the gatekeeper, then took out a handful of spirit pearls and passed them over. The gatekeeper hesitated briefly before waving to the people behind him. Several men lifted the barricade aside and allowed their group through.
Xia Yunzhao asked curiously, “Do you have a travel permit?”
Geng Jingwu raised a hand to show him. It was not a travel permit but a calling card. “A calling card from the Zhao family.”
“The Zhao family…” Xia Yunzhao said. “The family with the spirit-fruit tree?”
“That’s them.” Geng Jingwu pointed ahead. “The Zhao Family Restaurant is the largest restaurant in the city. That’s where we sell the fish.” Then he added, “I’m not a cultivator, so I don’t know much about the three cultivator shops. But ordinary shops buy spirit herbs and spirit items too.” As he spoke, he pointed out several shops known for doing fair business. “You can deal with any of these.”
That suited Xia Yunzhao perfectly. He wanted to split up his resources and sell them to different shops anyway.
Thus, the two groups separated. Xia Yunzhao put on his crude mask and charged into the first shop.
Naturally, he was not going to sell every resource he owned. He needed some for his own cultivation as well. Although he had previously failed to recognize many of his spirit herbs and ores, among Du Qianshan’s belongings he had found the Compendium of Liancui Mountain Spirit Items, which recorded several thousand common spirit resources found throughout Liancui Mountain. By comparing his haul against the compendium, he had already identified most of the spirit plants and ores.
Following the information in the compendium, he had divided the resources into several groups. One portion was reserved for his own cultivation, another was set aside in case he later had an opportunity to sell them at higher prices, while the remainder could simply be sold to these shops for spirit pearls.
The first shop Xia Yunzhao entered was the Wang Family Grain Shop. It was supposedly the largest grain shop in the city. The rice and flour Kang Xinghuai had previously purchased for him had come from here.
The Wang Family Grain Shop did buy spirit items, but only spirit plants, and their prices were very fair. Xia Yunzhao sold them the plants he had selected. The elderly shopkeeper smiled so broadly he could barely close his mouth, paid the agreed price, and even gave Xia Yunzhao a free sack of mixed-grain flour, saying it had been ground with spirit rice and smelled wonderfully fragrant!
Xia Yunzhao felt that the phrase “mixed with” had been chosen with great precision. Judging by his sensitivity to spiritual power, spirit rice made up less than one percent of the entire sack. Still, it was free, so he happily accepted it.
The second shop was a clothing store. He intended to sell all the slaughter-beast hides he currently had to them. There were not many to begin with: five from Du Qianshan’s belongings plus the rabbit hide he had found on the roof beam, making only six hides altogether. Combined, they were worth around eight hundred spirit pearls.
All right. He had never imagined there would come a day when he could look at eight hundred spirit pearls and use the words “only eight hundred.” Apparently people really did need to make money!
The female shopkeeper had exceptionally sharp eyes. The moment she saw him, she hurried forward and warmly yet respectfully began introducing the ready-made clothing in the shop. When she heard he had several slaughter-beast hides to sell, she smiled so broadly her makeup nearly smudged, and she immediately ordered the maidservants to bring tea and pastries.
Xia Yunzhao knew perfectly well that this was simply how she attracted customers, so he did not stand on ceremony and sat comfortably drinking tea and eating snacks. He even smiled and asked, “Shopkeeper, your tea and pastries are pretty good. Pack some up for me later. I’ll take them home for the children.”
Once the six slaughter-beast hides were placed in front of her, the shopkeeper naturally agreed over and over. After carefully inspecting them one by one, she ultimately paid the high price of eight hundred and eighty spirit pearls for all six.
Xia Yunzhao wondered whether the shopkeepers received rewards from their patrons for acquiring spirit items, because every one of them seemed delighted whenever they got their hands on good resources. This shopkeeper even offered to give him a free set of ready-made clothes.
Xia Yunzhao already had clothing and was about to refuse when he reconsidered. He took out the colorful ribbon tucked into his robe. “Shopkeeper, do you have thread like this? If you do, give me some instead. I’ll bring it back for the elders at home.”
The shopkeeper apologized for the intrusion and leaned in to examine it. Then she smiled. “Oh, this kind of ribbon for wishing someone safety is quite rare nowadays. Are the elders in your family from the north? What a coincidence. A peddler from the north came through the city several days ago, and I bought a few bundles of thread just like this. I’ll give them all to you. If you have any more hides or fur in the future—especially from slaughter beasts—you must remember our shop.”
Xia Yunzhao smiled and nodded.
The shopkeeper happily tied together a large bundle of thread, added two enormous packages of pastries, and even took out a fine wrapping cloth to bundle everything together for him.
Xia Yunzhao casually stuffed the bundle into his storage pouch.
Afterward, Xia Yunzhao found another shop and sold off some of his spirit ore. Ore had always been valuable. He sold more than a hundred pieces in one go and received three thousand six hundred spirit pearls… Adding the previous two sales, his income from selling resources today had already exceeded six thousand. He had already possessed more than a thousand spirit pearls beforehand, bringing his total assets to over eight thousand!
If I fed all of that to Xiao Qing, it would be enough to draw twenty formulas!
Of course, there was absolutely no chance he was feeding all of it to that round-bellied bronze puppy. He still had other uses for the money.
He looked at the sky. It was still early, so he headed straight for Fangcun Pavilion.
Only a few days had passed, so naturally the Fang family’s shopkeeper still remembered him. “What would our guest like today?”
Xia Yunzhao was even more enthusiastic. “Shopkeeper, let me see your talismans and formation disks.”
Leave a Reply