Chapter 64: Chapter 63 Disposing of Stolen Goods (Congratulations to clan leader Yusheng for his promotion!)_1 Chapter 64: Chapter 63 Disposing of Stolen Goods (Congratulations to clan leader Yusheng for his promotion!)_1 After leaving the Heavenly Immortal Building, Fang Xi, fully equipped, adjusted his state of mind and returned to Green Bamboo Mountain.
The woods were lush, and the bamboo was still verdant and dripping with freshness, but everything had changed beyond recognition.
Fang Xi arrived at the area where the Spirit Farmer used to be, only to find it was all a spread of broken walls and ruins, as if it had been abandoned for a long time.
“Yes, without the security outside the market, not to mention the deterrence of Foundation Establishment cultivators… who would want to come here to farm?”
He sighed and found his own small wooden hut.
This place was also a ruin, seemingly due to magical battles, leading to the collapse of many houses.
Crack!
Fang Xi grabbed a roof beam and heaved it mightily.
With his immense Giant Strength, as he exerted force, planks and stones were lifted, revealing broken tables, chairs, benches, and even some unidentifiable bones.
“Alas… my home is no more.”
Fang Xi lamented, finding the location of the cellar he had once dug.
The entrance of the passage was already buried under a lot of soil, and it looked no different from other places.
Fang Xi took out the Ghost Head Knife and used it as a hoe, quickly uncovering the original cellar.
“I left in such a hurry last time… I didn’t take any of these belongings with me…”
He went to a corner and expertly dug out a small jar of wine.
Upon opening it, a sour scent wafted out.
“What a pity…”
Fang Xi glanced at the label; this was the control group he had set up when he had attempted to brew wine.
Now, two years later, he could confirm it was a failure.
He continued to unearth more jars, finding that most of the Spirit Wine was ruined, either the jars were broken or the taste had deteriorated.
However, when one jar was opened, it brightened Fang Xi’s eyes.
Pop!
The mud seal broke, releasing a fragrance of wine.
“Is this… a success?”
Fang Xi voiced his surprise, quickly checking the label, and noting down the original formula.
He took a sip and frowned a little: “The taste is terrible… the effect of the Spirit Rice is almost gone.”
According to Fang Xi’s original conception, his Spirit Rice wine should at least taste decent and possess some of the functions of the Avoiding Grain Pill.
Reality proved that he had oversimplified the brewing process.
“Alas… so many things of the past… are now but a subject for jest…”
As Fang Xi caressed the walls of the cellar, he thought of the past and his expression turned pensive.
Then, he lifted the wine jar and gulped its contents down.
The wine was mediocre, even slightly bitter, but it was precisely in line with his current mood.
Clang!
After finishing the wine, Fang Xi tossed the jar against the wall, smashing it into countless fragments.
“This place… no need to come here again.”
After leaving the cellar, Fang Xi took one last look before turning and striding away.
…
Green Bamboo Mountain Market.
Fang Xi looked up at the newly erected archway with a sense of melancholy.
The him of today had already taken on the appearance of Fang Leng, also donning a conical hat and hiding his figure under a green robe.
“This Sir, if you wish to enter our Qingzhu Market, please pay one Spirit Crystal!”
Below the archway, there were two cultivators collecting fees from those wishing to enter the market.
These two cultivators weren’t highly skilled, only at the mid-stage of Qi Refining, dressed in green uniforms, with a bamboo emblem on their chests, signifying they were people from the ‘Bamboo Association’.
‘The Qingzhu Market never used to charge for entry…’
Fang Xi criticized inwardly but did not contest, conforming to local practices by paying a Spirit Crystal and receiving a piece of bamboo wood token as identification.
“This token only allows you to stay within the array for twelve hours; exceeding this limit will trigger an attack from the array!”
Upon handing over the token, the Bamboo Association cultivator also gave a warning.
“I understand!”
Fang Xi bowed with a fist, placing the token on his waist, and entered the array inside the archway.
“This array… it should also be of the second order, but I can’t recognize it…”
Although Fang Xi had fervently studied “Intro to Array Taoist,” sadly, he could not even be considered a first-order low-grade Array Master, let alone recognize the origin of this array protecting the market.
He could only confirm that it was no longer the ‘Sky Blue Water Array’ from before.
‘The Bamboo Association must have some connections to get their hands on a second-order Mountain Protecting Array…’
It wasn’t long before Fang Xi arrived inside the market.
As soon as he entered, a cacophony of boisterous noises assaulted his senses.
He looked around to see the layout of the Qingzhu Market greatly altered; two new streets had been built along the main street from before, and the stall area doubled in size, seeming more imposing.
“The leader of the Bamboo Association seems to be a person of strategy.”
Fang Xi made his assessment internally.
In the recent two years, as one Foundation Establishment family after another fell, many large forces redistributed and reshuffled, which in turn churned out quite a lot of good stuff.
There were even rumors that some individual cultivators took advantage of the rare opportunity and succeeded in their Foundation Establishment!
The Bamboo Association took over Green Bamboo Mountain, transforming the original market into a black market, which indeed attracted quite a bit of foot traffic.
However, the cultivators who conducted transactions mostly disguised themselves and wore masks, each exuding a menacing aura, hardly the sort you’d call good people.
‘It seems… I’m not exactly a paragon of virtue myself…’
Fang Xi touched his cheek and took a preliminary stroll through the market, getting a sense of the price fluctuations for magical instruments, talismans, and medicinal pills.
After that, he started to carefully take note of several suitable places for fencing his goods.
Indeed, when the Green Bamboo Mountain Market was broken that time, he had also gained some loot.
For instance, there were items like the ‘Golden Grains Pills’ in the third son of the Kou family’s storage bag, which he had no use for and naturally intended to sell while the opportunity was hot.
Moreover, Fang Xi still had two storage bags on him, which were filled with monster beast materials collected over the years.
“Heaven Talismans Hall has vanished, and so has Hundred Tricks Tower… The Foundation Establishment forces behind these two took a heavy hit during the Blackwater Pool battle, which is to be expected…”
Behind Hundred Tricks Tower was the Qi Family, a Foundation Establishment clan that lost a Foundation Establishment cultivator; the situation for the Shen Family behind Heaven Talismans Hall was even worse, as they were annihilated.
On the other hand, Mingqing Loft was still around, and Fang Xi remembered that Fairy Yun Meng seemed to originate from the Xu Family of Green Leaf, who backed Mingqing Loft!
The Green Leaf Xu Family was the Foundation Establishment force behind Mingqing Loft.
But at this moment, Fang Xi had no intention of going there for tea.
Thinking of Fairy Yun Meng, he couldn’t help but think of Shen Haoran; ah, that one was most likely finished.
There were also Chen Ping, Lu Zhi, Lord Jiuxuan, Di Qi…
These once companions, he had no idea what had become of them now.
Fang Xi sighed, then steadied his mind and, based on experience, entered the most sprawling and luxurious shop he could find.
This shop was called ‘Ten Thousand Seas Tower,’ and he had already found out that it was backed by the Song Family!
In Yue Country, the Song Family’s name was illustrious; they were the leaders of numerous cultivating clans, with influence only slightly less than the Mysterious Heaven Sect!
Other Foundation Establishment clans still had to use a prefix to distinguish themselves from others with the same surname.
But for the Song Family in Yue Country, there was only one!
It was said that among the Songs, there was a Lord of Foundation Establishment who had reached the pinnacle, and in addition, they had more than five other Foundation Establishment cultivators!
Indeed, it was with this backing that they could even defy commands from the Mysterious Heaven Sect to a degree. In the recent campaign to exterminate Red Leaf Valley and the Situ Family, they had reaped considerable rewards.
‘The larger the force, the more they value their own reputation… They’re somewhat trustworthy until they encounter tremendous benefits.’
‘This Song Family’s threshold should at least be a bit higher than that of Hundred Tricks Tower, right?’
With such thoughts, Fang Xi stepped into Ten Thousand Seas Tower.
“Esteemed guest, what are you looking for? Whether it’s magical instruments, pills, spirit talismans, arrays, or even spiritual pets and furnaces, our Ten Thousand Seas Tower has it all!”
A waiter wearing a sky-blue long robe immediately welcomed him.
“I’m here to sell something, send someone who can speak for your establishment.”
Fang Xi scanned the environment inside Ten Thousand Seas Tower, his brow furrowing. “Also… it’s too chaotic and noisy here.”
“Esteemed guest, please come to a private room on the second floor.”
The waiter immediately complied, leading Fang Xi to a private room upstairs.
The room was quite spacious, with calming incense rising from an incense burner on the table.
Before long, a maid entered and offered some spiritual tea.
‘This Song Family really is generous.’
Fang Xi sniffed the tea and felt a slight fluctuation in his magic power, which made him inwardly remark.
Nevertheless, he didn’t drink it.
After a short while, the door opened again, and a male cultivator wearing a sea-blue robe and a jade crown, with sharp eyebrows and bright eyes, entered, first giving a bow: “I am Song Qing. May I inquire how the sir is addressed?”
“I am Fang Leng!”
Fang Xi responded coldly.
“So it’s Mr. Fang. May I know why you’ve graced our Ten Thousand Seas Tower with your presence?” Song Qing, clearly trained in etiquette, was very formal in his mannerisms.
Yet between his brows hung a hint of veiled arrogance.
But that’s quite normal, considering he’s a Song clan member.
After all, cultivators are just drawn to such airs.
“I’ve come to sell some items, and also to buy some.”
After reaching the third level of body refining, according to Linghu Shan, the path ahead for Da Liang martial arts was blocked, so of course Fang Xi had to pivot in his approach.
And with his lamentable spiritual root, if he wanted to improve the ‘Eternal Spring Skills,’ it seemed that medication was still necessary.
“Oh? Then today, we may indeed be in for an eye-opener.”
Song Qing sat down, took a sip of spiritual tea, and a look of anticipation flashed in his eyes.
He then saw Fang Xi take a pill bottle out of his storage bag and place it on the table.
Song Qing picked up the bottle, took a sniff: “Hmm… a first-grade superior spiritual pill—Golden Grains Pills, most suited for cultivators with a gold spiritual root in the late stage of Qi Refining to enhance their magic power. One pill is worth twenty lower-grade spirit stones; there are five here, all in pristine medicinal quality. Our establishment can purchase them for ninety spirit stones in total. What does Mr. Fang think?”
“Acceptable.”
Fang Xi thought it over and proceeded to lay out some spirit materials from his storage bag to sell off.
The third son of the Kou family seemed to have seized a mishmash of items while killing for loot; Fang Xi had no use for them, so he might as well sell them all.
As Song Qing appraised each item, the total came to about sixty-five spirit stones.
“In total, I should pay Mr. Fang a hundred and fifty-five lower-grade spirit stones.”
After counting everything, Song Qing swept his sleeve, collecting the Golden Grains Pills and other items, leaving only a heap of colorful lower-grade spirit stones on the table: “Mr. Fang can count them if you wish, to see if the number is correct?”
Fang Xi nodded and indeed began to meticulously count them.
Seeing this, Song Qing’s smile grew: “Which treasures does Mr. Fang wish to purchase in our establishment? Our tower has all kinds of rare and exotic treasures; I believe we should be able to satisfy your needs.”