Chapter 26: Unable to Withstand a Single Blow
Chapter 26: Chapter 26: Unable to Withstand a Single Blow
"How many taels did you say?" The stall owner wondered if he had misheard.
He had encountered other Spirit Plant Cultivators haggling before, but he had never heard of anyone cutting the price this ruthlessly.
"Two taels," Chen Mo repeated.
Being able to spend the least amount of money on a purchase was naturally for the best.
"Good heavens." The man curled his lips. "Others cut the price in half at most, but you’re slashing it right down to the ankles!"
"I’m just asking if you can sell it."
"Eight taels. I’ll knock off two taels for you."
Chen Mo turned and walked away.
The manual for the Geng Metal Finger wasn’t some rare commodity. If this stall didn’t sell it, plenty of other vendors would.
The owner called out a couple of times to make him stay, but Chen Mo pretended not to hear.
Finally, after asking several consecutive stalls, he successfully acquired a manual for the Geng Metal Finger Magic for the price of five taels of Spiritual Sand.
Five taels of Spiritual Sand was considered a small sum for the current Chen Mo.
However, for an ordinary Spirit Plant Cultivator at the Qi Refining First Layer or Qi Refining Second Layer, it was a significant expense. Before spending this much Spiritual Sand, they would have to ask themselves if they had enough Fasting Pills and if they had enough Spiritual Sand left for Cultivation.
With the newly purchased Magic tucked into his shirt, this year’s trip to the Marketplace had, unsurprisingly, come to a close.
Sixty-two taels of Spiritual Sand was enough, even if he squandered it like he did last year.
Now, all he had to do was hurry home and begin a new year’s journey of Cultivation!
Passing through the bluestone-paved streets, Chen Mo soon pushed his small cart to the entrance of the Marketplace.
The snow, which had stopped for two days, began to fall again. The world was a vast expanse of white, resembling an Immortal Realm.
Not long after leaving the Marketplace, Chen Mo realized something. He was being followed!
It was obvious that a Qi Mechanism had locked onto him, yet when he turned around, he couldn’t see anyone within his line of sight.
Just from this display of skill alone, Chen Mo felt that things were taking a turn for the worse. The other party’s Realm was definitely higher than his own!
He pushed the cart, his mind constantly formulating countermeasures. At this moment, he also deduced that when he first entered the Marketplace, there had indeed been two people paying special attention to him.
In all likelihood, these two were the Tribulation Cultivators who had tried to ambush him halfway yesterday!
To think that even after he bypassed them yesterday, they still hadn’t given up today! They had actually changed their strategy and waited for him at the entrance!
Right then, a sentence suddenly flashed through Chen Mo’s mind: "One Tribulation Cultivator’s head can be exchanged for ten taels of Spiritual Sand."
Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks.
This action caused Zhu An, who had been quietly trailing behind him, to halt as well.
He wondered, "Why did he stop walking?"
Soon, he sensed the target actually turn the cart around and head back. In less time than it takes to drink half a cup of tea, the man had re-entered the Marketplace.
This left Zhu An somewhat at a loss. Should he follow him or not?
He quickly sought out Lin Qing on the other side. The two soon came to the conclusion that the kid must have gone back to the Marketplace to buy something.
They had spotted Chen Mo the moment he first exited the Marketplace. They recognized at a glance that this was the lowly Spirit Plant Cultivator who had been protected by Mrs. Wang last year!
Such a weak and feeble kid couldn’t possibly have discovered their movements. Therefore, returning to the Marketplace, in their eyes, simply meant he had forgotten something.
The two of them waited and waited, waiting for another half an hour.
Finally, the Spirit Plant Cultivator who had been a thorn in Lin Qing and Zhu An’s side for over a year reappeared, pushing his cart.
As he walked back along his return route, Lin Qing had Zhu An quietly follow him.
After walking for about seven or eight miles, Zhu An, who had some flab on his face, finally couldn’t hold back anymore and leaped out from the nearby woods!
"I paved this road, I planted these trees..."
Before he could finish speaking, a blinding flash of sword light shot over from the horizon.
In the next instant, before Zhu An could even react, his head fell to the ground.
Even in death, this Tribulation Cultivator couldn’t understand why a powerful Cultivator at the Qi Refining Middle Stage had been following him!
The cold glint faded, and amidst the vast, snowy expanse, Wei Wuwei slowly strolled out with his hands behind his back.
He looked down at the decapitated corpse with a cold sneer. After a moment, he said, "I was wondering who had the gall to come to the Ancient Dust Marketplace to plunder. Turns out it’s just another Spirit Plant Cultivator."
Wei Wuwei realized he had guessed wrong. If they were even robbing Spirit Plant Cultivators, how could they possibly be high-level, powerful Cultivators? And for this, they had actually made a huge fuss and forced him to come out personally?
"Thank you for your help, Boss Wei!"
Chen Mo cupped his hands in greeting, but the other party paid it no mind.
He walked up to the corpse and casually patted the dead man’s waist, unsurprisingly finding a Sachet.
He weighed it in his hand. About a dozen taels of Spiritual Sand. Incredibly poor.
Wei Wuwei, who had originally hoped to make a windfall, instantly lost interest. He pocketed the dozen or so taels of Spiritual Sand, turned, and left.
Watching his retreating back, Chen Mo ultimately decided not to bring up the matter of the ten taels of Spiritual Sand reward.
This Steward of Niu’s Shop appeared on the surface to be a smiling, agreeable person, but in reality, just like the other Loose Cultivators in the Marketplace, he completely looked down on Spirit Plant Cultivators.
Bringing up the bounty at a time like this was clearly unwise.
Chen Mo felt that something wasn’t quite right. In the morning, there had been two people whispering to each other outside the Marketplace, yet only one had been following him! Did that mean there was still one more person who hadn’t shown up?
If that was true, then it meant the crisis hadn’t been averted yet! He had to get home as quickly as possible.
At this thought, Chen Mo pushed his small cart forward, steadily making his way through the vast snowfall and braving the wind and frost.
The cart ruts and footprints behind him were gradually covered by the heavy snow. Soon, the road returned to a pristine sheet of white.
Lin Qing waited for a while, but there was still no sign of Zhu An. However, not long after, he saw Wei Wuwei, the Steward of Niu’s Shop, returning from the outside.
He didn’t realize there was anything wrong with this person’s appearance. Instead, he wondered if that guy Zhu An had swallowed all of the easy mark’s resources for himself.
After all, he was the one who usually kept the resources from every plunder.
Then, Lin Qing slapped his forehead, cursing his own stupidity!
"I was only thinking about not putting in the effort, but I forgot that meant I wouldn’t get the spoils!" Lin Qing was certain that Zhu An must have secretly pocketed the loot, which was why he was taking so long to return.
He glanced at the sky. The snow was falling heavier and heavier. If this continued, the cart ruts on the road would be completely covered.
Thus, he quickened his pace and chased after him.
But he hadn’t gone far before he saw a Headless Corpse by the roadside. The clothing on this corpse was incredibly familiar...
If this wasn’t Zhu An, who else could it be?
This scene caused Lin Qing, who had just been obsessing over the loot, to turn deathly pale and panic.
If someone could effortlessly chop off Zhu An’s head, wouldn’t killing him be as easy as slaughtering a chicken?
"W-we... who on earth... what kind of person did we offend?" He even began to stammer as he spoke.
However, Lin Qing quickly recovered.
"No! That kid went back to the Marketplace just now to get backup!"
Realizing that they had been played, anger instantly welled up inside him.
"The backup he brought must have been Boss Wei of Niu’s Shop... In that case, the other party must have thought there was only one person, otherwise Wei Wuwei wouldn’t have returned to the Marketplace..."
Although Lin Qing was furious, he wasn’t so blinded by rage that he lost his head.
Through careful analysis, he had most likely arrived at the correct conclusion at this moment!
Chase! He had to hurry up and chase him!