Bandits

As expected of a merchant who could join the Seven Treasures Merchant Guild, his mouth could talk the dead into the living. A moment ago, he had shown no sign of making money through harmony at all; he had looked more like he intended to pester them to the end.

But since the man surnamed Sun had lowered himself so much and even compensated them with goods worth over a thousand Gold Coins, it was hard to hit a smiling face. Gula really could not keep arguing with him.

The main reason was that his cultivation was too low. If he ran into a Soul Elder, he would be exposed, so he might as well stop while he was ahead.

"Fine. Today, I'll give the Seven Treasures Merchant Guild some face."

Gula took out his gold card. "This is fifteen thousand Gold Soul Coins. How many Medicinal Herbs can it buy?"

"Please wait a moment, sir."

Boss Sun summoned his Martial Soul. It was a Bamboo Abacus. After flicking it a few times, he put away his Martial Soul and said:

"According to the dozen or so kinds of Medicinal Herbs this young friend mentioned earlier, it can buy about three thousand portions. If converted to cost price, that would be more than six thousand seven hundred portions. Including the one hundred portions I promised, I am willing to round it up to seven thousand portions."

Gula nodded faintly. This was a Pleasant Surprise. Judging by the rate of one portion of Medicinal Paste consumed per day, these Medicinal Herbs would be enough for him and Tang San to practice for ten years.

Moreover, the current price of Medicinal Herbs was not high. Once the new Thesis was published, the price of Medicinal Herbs would definitely skyrocket. If he sold off part of the herbs, he would have his future research funds.

At the same time, Gula had to admit how outrageously profitable the medicinal herb trade was. Even at cost price, it was two Gold Coins per portion, and that was still the price collected from the place of origin. If bought retail at a pharmacy, it would probably cost at least ten to twenty Gold Coins per portion.

Most of the profit was earned by middlemen. Commoner soul masters simply could not afford it.

Of course, that had nothing to do with Gula.

The Medicinal Herbs he had chosen were already among the most common and cheapest kinds. He had already taken most people into consideration.

"Boss Sun is generous. Let's forget what happened earlier. Get the Medicinal Herbs ready for packing."

Gula held back his smile and withdrew the "pressure."

Boss Sun Breathed a Sigh of Relief and hurriedly said, "Good. I'll immediately have people divide and pack the Medicinal Herbs. We'll prepare them for you first, sir."

He summoned his abacus and calculated how many jin of each Medicinal Herb needed to be gathered. Of course, the Medicinal Herbs Tang San wanted were definitely not the real formula.

In fact, it would not matter even if the formula was exposed. Spirit Hall was rooted in commoner soul masters, so it would definitely stockpile Medicinal Herbs on a large scale, then announce the formula. By then, everyone would know the formula, so whether it was kept secret or not would no longer be important.

Boss Sun quickly finished calculating and ordered his Subordinates to transfer the goods.

In less than half an hour, several carts of Medicinal Herbs had been weighed and pulled to the front of the Warehouse.

Gula personally inspected them once. After confirming that there was no problem with the Medicinal Herbs, he took out an empty Great Ball and stored all the Medicinal Herbs away.

A strange look flashed In the Eyes of Boss Sun. He had not expected Gula to possess a Soul Tool with such a large space, so he became even less willing to be negligent. He also wanted to drag Gula into Catching Up and chatting, but Gula brushed him off and left with Tang San and Xiao Wu.

After the three of them left, a Soul Grandmaster guard asked in confusion, "Shopkeeper, bandits run rampant near Xinya City and often rob passing merchant caravans. It's said the city has bandit informants too. Shouldn't we warn them?"

Boss Sun snorted coldly. "So what if we warn them? The bandits don't listen to us. They might even think we're crying thief while being the thieves ourselves."

"Besides, how do you know they'll definitely be targeted by the bandits? Even if they are targeted, that Lord Soul Master will certainly be safe and sound. If we say too much, he might think we're looking down on him."

Boss Sun sneered. So what if they were soul masters? With just a small trick and one sentence left unsaid, he did not need to act personally. Even if the three of them did not die, they would still lose a layer of skin.

"What if they do, though? What if they come back looking for trouble?" The Soul Grandmaster felt his heart tremble and his limbs go weak as soon as he thought of the pressure he had felt earlier.

Boss Sun looked at him coldly without saying anything, then turned and left.

Of course, he would not tell the guard that he had once been robbed by bandits, had seen a bandit informant once, and had become a new informant himself in order to save his own life.

Among the people watching the place nearby, there were bandit men. Just now, someone had already gone to deliver the message.

When the time came, he would get the goods, the bandits would get the money. A win-win.

Gula soon sensed a faint malice. He exchanged a glance with Tang San and confirmed that they had both noticed it.

To be safe, Gula switched to his Celebi Martial Soul. Silver light flashed before his eyes, and he saw the future after they left the city.

"A group of robbers? Oh, they're even connected to the man surnamed Sun."

As Gula watched the future scene of Tang San interrogating the bandit leader, it was as if a question mark had appeared over his head.

He clearly had not sensed any malice from Boss Sun toward him. If an ordinary person had held malice toward him, he should not have been able to hide it from him.

"Unless his acting ran through the whole thing, to the point that he could even trick himself."

Gula smiled. Then he really was a talent. In his previous life, he would have been an actor worthy of a Best Actor award.

"Then I trust he's also good at acting dead."

Anger rose In Heart of Gula. He noted this down in his little notebook and left it to his future self. Once he had the ability, he could return to the present at any time and get rid of him.

As for the extra time he got to live, let him spend it in fear for a while.

Gula felt that he was far too merciful.

"Little San, there may be a fight next. Protect Xiao Wu. Don't let her charge in overexcited."

"Understood."

The two of them answered efficiently, leaving Xiao Wu very dissatisfied. "Who are you calling overexcited? I've always been very smart, okay? Little San, you agreed so quickly. Do you think I'm reckless?"

Tang San said, "...No."

Xiao Wu snorted. Only then was she satisfied. Then, belatedly, she said:

"Wait, who are we fighting?"

Gula smiled. Tang San was too rigid and boring, but teasing Xiao Wu once in a while was actually quite interesting.

"You'll know once we leave the city."

"Keeping me in suspense again. One day you're going to choke on all those secrets."

Xiao Wu muttered to herself, sulking on her own. She wanted to force Gula to give in and tell her, but Gula did not indulge her at all and completely ignored her.

Xiao Wu had no way around it and could only talk herself down. Slowly, she stopped being angry and began looking forward to the fight that was coming.

The three of them took a carriage out of the city. It was already afternoon, and the sun had shifted west, looking as if it was about to set. By the time they returned to Nuoding City, it would probably be tomorrow afternoon.

After the carriage traveled more than ten kilometers past the city gate and reached a stretch of woods, it suddenly stopped. The driver said in a trembling voice, "Three honored guests, a lot of bandits have come out of the woods and are surrounding us. We're in trouble."

"It's fine."

Gula removed his disguise, while Tang San knocked the driver unconscious and dragged him into the carriage.

The three of them stepped out of the carriage and saw more than thirty armed men surrounding them, their expressions fierce and vicious.

The bandit in the lead froze when he saw the three of them. He grabbed the collar of the person beside him. "Didn't you say there was a Soul Master? Where is he? Why are there only three little brats?"

The lookout he had grabbed was dumbfounded. If the Soul Master was not here, did that not mean the goods were not here either? Trembling, he said, "I-I don't know. I watched them get into the carriage. Maybe... maybe he got off halfway?"

"You can't even handle one little thing. Useless trash!"

The Bandit Leader barked angrily, kicked his subordinate to the ground, raised his hand, and swung his saber.

"Then tie up all three kids and have their families send ransom. Boys, get them."

At the Bandit Leader's command, the bandits howled strangely and charged at Gula and the other two, their greedy eyes filled with malice.