“Although the Water Cloud Talisman helped my elder brother at a critical moment, its effect is far inferior to that of the Lightning Bolt Talisman. If we had a large number of Lightning Bolt Talismans, we would have driven that Devouring Heaven Python away in panic long ago!”
Li Xinyue, standing nearby, heard the two talking and, feeling truly puzzled, couldn’t help but speak up clearly to voice her own view.
Hearing this, Ye Fan did not refute her, just smiled slightly and said, “Miss Li is right, the Lightning Bolt Talisman is very good.”
“Xinyue, of course the Lightning Bolt Talisman is good, but one Lightning Bolt Talisman can buy ten Water Cloud Talismans!”
With Li Shuo’s explanation, Li Xinyue instantly blushed. She was also a poor person, how could she forget this point?
“Brother Li, this Devouring Heaven Python is huge. Dragging it to the Ning’an Market will inevitably attract attention. I know a broker who has extensive connections. How about we sell this Devouring Heaven Python to him?” Ye Fan discussed with the two.
“We will leave everything to Brother Ye’s arrangements,” Li Shuo said, clasping his hands in salute.
“If so, then I will go find that broker first. Farewell!” As he spoke, Ye Fan clasped his hands toward the two, then dragged the Devouring Heaven Python away.
Li Shuo and the other watched his receding figure, then also turned and left.
The outskirts of the Qilian Mountains were not too far from Luoxia Mountain. In roughly half a day, the two smoothly returned home.
“Brother Shuo, Xinyue, you have returned?”
At this moment, Mu Jiuxiao happened to be passing by Li Xinyue’s thatched hut. Seeing the two, his heart felt a surge of joy.
“Brother Jiu!”
For some reason, the moment she saw him, Li Xinyue’s nose couldn’t help but turn sour. She ran toward him and threw herself into his arms. “Brother Jiu, I thought I would never see you again.”
“What happened?”
Hearing her nasal tone, Mu Jiuxiao placed his hands on her shoulders, gently peeling her away from his embrace. Seeing her eyes red, he became even more worried.
“I almost died down there in the Qilian Mountains.”
Li Xinyue’s eyes were red. Mu Jiuxiao rarely saw her cry; most of the time she was bold, lively, and cheerful. He reached out to wipe the tears from her eyelids. “Since the Qilian Mountains are dangerous, let us not go there next time.”
“No, I am going again next time!”
Hearing his words, Li Xinyue instead collected her emotions and took two steps back.
Mu Jiuxiao sighed helplessly, walking up to Li Shuo. Seeing his pale complexion, he asked with concern, “Brother Shuo, you are injured?”
“Yes, I suffered some minor injuries, nothing serious. It was all thanks to the Water Cloud Talisman you gave me; otherwise, this time I probably would have truly met my end in the mountains,” Li Shuo replied. This chapter is updated first at novelping dot com.
“I am glad it was able to help.”
Mu Jiuxiao replied, then clasped his hands toward the two again. “Brother Shuo, Xinyue, since you are alright, then I can be at ease. Rest well for now, and I will come to visit you again in a few days.”
With that, he took his leave and departed.
“Hmph! Seeing you injured, he did not even show any concern and just left like that. What kind of person is he?” Li Xinyue, looking at Mu Jiuxiao’s receding back, said somewhat angrily.
“Brother Jiu has very little to his name and probably does not even have a single bottle of Qi Recovery Pills. What could he do even if he stayed here?” Li Shuo, however, spoke a word on Mu Jiuxiao’s behalf, though in his heart he also sighed slightly.
Brother Jiu was not a bad person, but he was too timid, too impoverished, and too hard-pressed. Such a person who had nothing at all-how could one entrust a lifetime to him?
Mu Jiuxiao was indeed impoverished. Even as ordinary neighbors, he should have made some gesture when someone was injured. But right now, forget giving him a bottle of healing medicine on the spot, he did not even have a gift to bring when visiting him.
In the cultivation world, Spirit Stones were indispensable. So now he just wanted to hurry home, draw talismans, sell them for Spirit Stones, go to the market to buy a jug of spirit wine and a piece of spirit beast meat, and then go visit Li Shuo.
However, just three days later, Li Shuo and his sister came to look for him. When Mu Jiuxiao opened the door and saw them, he indeed felt a sense of embarrassment in his heart.
“Have you been deliberately hiding from us at home these past few days?” Li Xinyue had always been straightforward.
“No, I was just at home drawing talismans, thinking to earn some Spirit Stones to go visit Brother Shuo,” Mu Jiuxiao quickly replied, raising his hand to invite them inside.
Spirit Stones gave a man confidence. Right now, he was so poor he lacked even the basic qualifications to socialize.
“There is no need, my injuries are already of little consequence.”
Li Shuo entered the room and, seeing that talisman paper and talisman ink were indeed placed on the table, nodded slightly in his heart.
“When we went to the Qilian Mountains last time, although we almost died there, our harvest was not small either. Let me secretly tell you, we hunted a Devouring Heaven Python and sold it for three hundred Spirit Stones!”
Li Xinyue sat down by the table, watching Mu Jiuxiao tidy up the room, and chattered away as she boasted to him.
Mu Jiuxiao’s hand holding the inkstone couldn’t help but pause. “Three hundred Spirit Stones? That many?”
“Of course! But half of those Spirit Stones belong to someone else. Our brother and sister only got one hundred and fifty. Actually, we also gained some Spirit Grass, but it was all destroyed during the battle with the python. Next time, we must buy a Storage Bag so we won’t have to worry about precious Spirit Grass being ruined in combat.”
Although they had encountered a life-and-death crisis, Li Xinyue not only was not afraid, but grew more resilient the more she faced setbacks. It was clear she still planned to enter the mountains! This story is hosted at novelping . com.
“Storage Bags are not cheap, are they?”
In the Ning’an Market, there were no Storage Bags for sale. He had heard that Storage Bags were only sold in proper cultivation markets, but such markets reportedly charged one Spirit Stone just to enter. Mu Jiuxiao had only heard of them and had never been.
“We asked around. A one-cubic Storage Bag costs only fifty Spirit Stones, but we can buy a second-hand one for half the price,” Li Xinyue replied.
“I truly envy you, being able to afford a Storage Bag so soon!”
Mu Jiuxiao felt a twinge of envy. Although he believed in his own future, right now he had nothing. His Dao Body developed too slowly in the early stages; he had to lie low and live cautiously.
“There is no need to envy us. We came this time to bring you good news as well.”
Li Xinyue deliberately kept him in suspense, prompting Mu Jiuxiao to ask, “What good news?”
“Do you know Ye Fan?”
Speaking this name, Li Xinyue’s eyes flashed with a glint of light. Although Ye Fan was not prominent among the tenant farmers and only claimed to outsiders to be an innate master, who would have thought his strength was actually so formidable, daring to hunt alone in the Qilian Mountains!
“I know him. I even harvested Gold Spirit Rice for him. Could it be that the good news you want to tell me is related to Ye Fan?”
People with names like that were not someone to get too close to. If they truly were favored by Providence, then naturally they would soar to great heights, but the problem was that their relatives and friends usually met with misfortune!
Getting involved with such people carried the possibility of rising together to greatness, but also the distinct possibility of ending up dead. Although Mu Jiuxiao had only dealt with Ye Fan a handful of times, he felt this Ye Fan was definitely no ordinary person.
“Yes, Ye Fan wants to buy Water Cloud Talismans, and he asked us to introduce you. We thought to inform you first. If you are willing, we will introduce you to him,” Li Xinyue said.
“He wants to buy my Water Cloud Talismans?”
Hearing this, Mu Jiuxiao-who had just thought one shouldn’t get too close to Ye Fan-instantly felt tempted. If he could sell Water Cloud Talismans to Ye Fan, then he wouldn’t need to go to the market anymore, nor would he need to worry about attracting unwanted attention.
Although people named Ye Fan were particularly prone to trouble, generally speaking, their character was still trustworthy.
“Alright, then I will have to trouble Brother Shuo and Sister Xinyue to introduce us.”
Having made up his mind, Mu Jiuxiao decided to have further contact with Ye Fan.
Li Shuo received Mu Jiuxiao’s reply and departed. That evening, he brought Ye Fan directly to Mu Jiuxiao’s thatched hut.