Fortune Stirs the Heart

Fortune Stirs the Heart

After dragging the fat man's corpse into the Taiyan Boat and casually cleaning the bloodstains from the ground, Li Fan returned to the house as if nothing had happened.

"What a fool," Li Fan commented.

The fat man clearly had yet to grasp the situation. Relying on a bit of cleverness, he had discovered that Li Fan might have infiltrated the island under a false identity, then impatiently came to threaten him, likely hoping to squeeze some benefits out of Li Fan.

But had he not considered that Li Fan had indeed sneaked onto Liuli Island? Yet this group of people from the Departed Realm had likewise obtained household registration by posing as disaster victims. What fundamental difference was there between them and Li Fan? The moment they obtained Liuli Island registration, they really began to think of themselves as natives.

Li Fan had seen it clearly. The immortal master who had concealed his face and come to receive them, as well as the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion where Sun Zhang was staying, had acted with extreme caution, terrified of being discovered by others.

Clearly, their identities as mortals from the Land of Exile could not see the light of day.

That was precisely why Li Fan had casually killed the fat man who had come knocking at his door to threaten him, not knowing whether he lived or died.

He did not believe that the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion and the people from the Departed Realm would make a great fuss and investigate over this.

Besides, even if they discovered that the fat man had come to Li Fan's place before disappearing, they could not do anything to Li Fan now that even the corpse could not be found, so long as Li Fan stubbornly insisted that he had never seen him.

After all, if the matter grew too big, neither side would benefit.

And if Li Fan had hesitated and feared to act, leaving the fat man alive, it might instead have brought about all manner of trouble.

Thus, Li Fan decisively chose to nip the seed of a potential threat in the bud.

Just as Li Fan had expected, several days passed. Aside from Su Changyu coming to ask about it once, the fat man's inexplicable disappearance drew no one else's attention.

The incident was merely a small interlude in Li Fan's life on the island, and he soon cast it from his mind.

These days, Li Fan gathered information about all kinds of matters on the island while also plotting how to reasonably bring out and use the treasures within the Taiyan Boat.

Gradually, Li Fan gained a general understanding of Liuli Island, where he now resided.

This sea region was called the Congyun Sea.

The Congyun Sea stretched vast and boundless, with tens of thousands of islands of all sizes scattered throughout it.

Liuli Island lay in the southern part of the central Congyun Sea and was considered medium-sized.

The waters around the island produced an abundance of Liuli Fish, whose flesh was delicious, and thus it was named Liuli Island.

Liuli Fish were not only popular among mortals on the surrounding islands; even pills refined by certain immortal masters used Liuli Pearls, which would occasionally form inside the fish.

Therefore, an immortal master was stationed on Liuli Island and collected a certain number of Liuli Pearls every year.

Immortal masters generally did not concern themselves with worldly affairs and were rarely seen by ordinary people. Liuli Island's affairs, great and small, were generally governed by the Liuli Prefecture established by the island lord.

The island's residents could receive work from the Liuli Prefecture. The more dangerous the work, the higher the reward.

Among these jobs, heading out to sea to catch Liuli Fish was the most sought-after.

There was not much risk, and the pay was generous.

More importantly, only seventy percent of the caught Liuli Fish needed to be handed in. The remaining thirty percent could be kept and sold freely.

This fishing job was truly a hot commodity.

Unfortunately, going to sea required a large ship, and schools of Liuli Fish drifted unpredictably. Finding them required a Spirit Lure specially made on the island.

The Liuli Prefecture only issued Spirit Lures when vessels went to sea, and took them back upon their return.

Private fishing was impossible. And once caught, one would be executed immediately.

Thus, catching Liuli Fish could only be done with the Liuli Prefecture's permission.

Those allowed to sail out and fish were the envy of the island's residents.

A fleet that had gone to sea some days ago not only returned with a huge haul of Liuli Fish, but also encountered a sunken ship.

It was said that the ship's entire family had fled to escape a windstorm, bringing over a dozen chests of gold, silver, and jewels with them! At this moment, all of it had fallen into the fleet's hands.

The island's rules regarding items salvaged from sunken ships were the same as for Liuli Fish: thirty percent could be kept for oneself! Thus, when the fleet returned to port, half the island was shaken.

Even Steward Qian, the island's chief overseer of wealth, personally came to inspect the goods.

Seeing the fleet members grinning so broadly that their mouths nearly split, many people on the island were green with envy.

One after another, they began quietly calling in favors, hoping to secure eligibility for the next voyage.

In Li Fan's view, he could use the same method to gradually launder the countless treasures aboard the Taiyan Boat, with comparatively little risk.

The only difficulty was obtaining permission to go to sea alone.

The Taiyan Boat's existence absolutely could not be exposed.

There were too many people on the island wanting to join a fleet. After casually asking around, Li Fan learned the key details.

The Liuli Island lord had three trusted confidants. Steward Zhao handled personnel affairs on the island, Steward Qian handled wealth, and Steward Zhou handled public security.

Most of the fleet slots for going to sea were in Steward Qian's hands. Steward Zhao and Steward Zhou had always wanted a share, but Steward Qian had kept a tight grip on them, only allowing them one or two fleets.

Where there were people, there was conflict.

Li Fan recalled Steward Zhao's reaction upon seeing him on the day he received his registration, and thought that perhaps he could meet this Steward Zhao.

But Steward Zhao was not someone the current Li Fan could see merely because he wanted to.

Li Fan decided to take the route through Sun Zhang of the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion.

After learning its location, Li Fan arrived before the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion and sought an audience with Sun Zhang.

But he was turned away at the door.

"Scram, scram! What status does Elder Sun have? Is he someone you can see just because you want to? Get lost!" Several burly men in black at the entrance watched Li Fan with ill intent, as though they would attack at the slightest disagreement.

Seeing this, Li Fan could only leave helplessly for the time being.

He found it rather strange. The Heavenly Treasure Pavilion was a business open to customers, after all. What kind of business drove people away without even seeing them?

Moreover, those burly men in black had made the decision themselves without reporting it first, as if they had long known who Li Fan was...

"They must have received orders to deliberately refuse to see me." Having reached this conclusion, Li Fan guessed that some change had occurred among the people of the Departed Realm, causing Sun Zhang to turn his back on them without hesitation.

After asking around, Li Fan finally learned what had happened.

It turned out that, in order to purge the miasma from his body as quickly as possible, Su Changyu had resolutely chosen to become an immortal master's test subject.

Before leaving, Su Changyu signed his name on that remaining Covenant Scroll.

From then on, the three covenants had been fulfilled, and the Covenant Scroll completely dissipated.

There were no longer any ties between the Departed Realm and the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion.

"No wonder they suddenly turned their backs on us and deliberately avoided us. I just didn't expect Su Changyu to be so decisive," Li Fan sighed.

"We all tried to persuade him not to be in such a hurry. But how could he possibly listen?" The speaker was someone Li Fan knew as well: Xiao Heng, who had previously called himself the Zhennan King's son in the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion's karst cave.

Xiao Heng seemed to be extremely close to Su Changyu, and he was utterly dejected at this moment. "If not for saving his younger sister, who suffers from a terminal illness, Brother Su would not have risked his life like this."

Hearing this, Li Fan fell into thought.