Living Area Cultivators Really Knew How to Have Fun

Bang!

With a casual gesture, Tang Wanqing cast the Yellow Grade High-Grade Daoist Art—Giant Spirit Hand, slamming the Ironback Bear down before Su Qing and the other girl.

Though the Ironback Bear was thoroughly dead, it still frightened Ge Ling pale. Seeing this, Tang Wanqing gave her an apologetic smile before saying to Su Qing,

"I've asked the villagers to contact the Spirit Butcher. Let me know when he arrives. Also, keep an eye on things—don't let anyone get close to my prey."

With that, without waiting for Su Qing's agreement, she wearily slipped into the Spirit House.

Successfully hunting a monster beast was certainly glorious, and the profits were extremely gratifying.

But she was not a professional Monster Hunter. Though her cultivation was respectable and her Daoist arts Not Bad, the past two days of hunting had put her through no small amount of hardship.

At this moment, she could not spare a thought for anything else. All she wanted was to enter the Spirit House and recover as quickly as possible.

Su Qing and Ge Ling had not waited outside for long before a noisy commotion rose up. Looking up, they saw a crowd of people eagerly surging toward them.

The man at the front had a red headband tied around his head, a face full of fleshy jowls, and several differently shaped short knives tucked at his waist. One look told them he was a professional Spirit Butcher.

The moment he saw Su Qing standing beside the Ironback Bear, the Spirit Butcher—usually stern and unsmiling among the villagers—immediately put on a beaming smile.

"Fellow Daoist, you truly have remarkable skill. This beast was not easy to deal with. A few days ago, Wang Family Village hired two Monster Hunters from the Living Area, yet neither could bring it down. Who would have thought it would fall to your hand? By the rules, the butcher takes one out of every hundred. Shall this humble one get to work?"

Hu San cupped his hands, his face heaped with smiles as he treated Su Qing with utmost courtesy.

He was only a Tier-1 Mid-Grade Spirit Butcher. Ordinarily, a Tier-1 High-Grade monster beast like an Ironback Bear would never fall to him to handle. But he was the only butcher in the Spirit Field District, so today he had picked up a bargain.

"Fellow Daoist overestimates me. How could I possibly have the ability to kill an Ironback Bear? Someone else killed this bear. Please wait a moment; once Fellow Daoist Tang comes out, you can discuss it with her."

Su Qing knew Hu San had misunderstood and hurriedly explained.

"Fellow Daoist Su is a Puppeteer. The one who killed the Ironback Bear was the Female Cultivator who came with him."

"Is that Ge Ling? Didn't they say the Ironback Bear had chewed off both her legs? How come she looks perfectly fine now?"

"Just now, I saw Ge Changyuan leading his Mighty Ox around and asking prices everywhere. He said he was raising money to repay Fellow Daoist Su. Fellow Daoist Su must have made Prosthetic Limb Puppets for his daughter."

"What kind of Prosthetic Limb Puppet costs so much that Ge Changyuan has to sell his Mighty Ox to pay the debt?"

"They say they're exactly like her original legs and can even cultivate!"

The villagers who had come with Hu San chattered over one another, laying bare every detail of Su Qing's background.

Hu San also realized that in his momentary excitement, he had mistaken the customer. Yet the smile on his face did not fade.

"Hu San was blind and failed to see that Fellow Daoist was such a precious figure as a Puppeteer. I hope Fellow Daoist will not take offense."

Su Qing waved his hand. "We're both craftsmen. There's no saying who is more precious than the other."

Su Qing spoke politely, but Hu San knew full well the difference between the two.

The Hundred Arts of Cultivation were said to have no distinction between high and low, but that was merely an excuse mediocre people used to comfort themselves.

In truth, cultivators accomplished in the four paths of formations, artifacts, pills, and talismans were simply more Esteemed than cultivators who practiced other crafts. After all, only formation masters and pill masters were ever recruited by Major Powers; no one had ever heard of a Major Power recruiting a butcher.

Though Puppeteers were not as highly regarded as formation masters or pill masters in the eyes of the world, their status was roughly comparable to that of talisman masters. They were not someone a Spirit Butcher like him could compare to.

Moreover, Puppeteers rarely appeared in the Spirit Field District. Hu San had never had the chance to strike up a friendship with one before, so this was a fine opportunity.

Thinking of this, Hu San became even more courteous toward Su Qing.

Though he was somewhat disappointed after learning through their conversation that Su Qing was not taking orders for Combat Puppets for the time being,

once Su Qing took out a Demoness Puppet and let him inspect it,

Hu San became enthusiastic again.

"I wonder how much this Puppet sells for?"

Hu San rubbed his hands together, clearly very interested in the Demoness Puppet.

Su Qing had not expected to land another sale in Ge Family Village, and he immediately became warmer toward Hu San.

"Fellow Daoist Hu may not be good at recognizing people, but you do know quality goods. To be honest, this Demoness Puppet takes quite a bit of work to refine, and it is a hot commodity even in the Market.

"We hit it off at first sight today and have had such a pleasant conversation. How about this? Four hundred—no, three hundred Spirit Crystals, and Fellow Daoist can take this basic-model Demoness Puppet home to enjoy at your leisure."

"If even the basic model is like this, what is so special about the deluxe model?" The flesh on Hu San's face trembled wildly as he could barely contain his excitement.

Thrilling—far too thrilling! The Living Area cultivators really knew how to have fun. How had they even thought of making Puppets do that sort of thing?

Hearing that Hu San was interested in the deluxe-model Demoness Puppet, Su Qing's entire body jolted. He had not expected this man to be such a big customer.

After he finished introducing the deluxe-model Demoness Puppet's functions,

Hu San readily placed an order, and in the blink of an eye, six hundred Spirit Crystals arrived in Su Qing's hands.

What surprised Su Qing was that, besides Hu San, two of the villagers present also paid for two Demoness Puppets.

Looking at the other villagers, quite a few of them seemed tempted as well. Perhaps they were Shy about lack of money for the moment, or perhaps the She-tiger at home was standing right beside them, so they did not place an order directly.

This set Su Qing thinking. Previously, he had only wanted to break into the high-end market, overlooking the vast numbers of Lower-Class Cultivators scattered throughout the Spirit Field District.

"Fellow Daoists, these Puppets are called Passion Puppets. Besides the Demoness Puppet model, there are other affordable models that offer excellent value.

"If anyone is interested, you may place an order with me in advance. Once this humble one's refining is completed, I will have someone deliver them here."

Just as he was enthusiastically promoting his goods, Tang Wanqing emerged. She had changed into a green Daoist robe and casually tied her black hair behind her head, lending her a bit more dashing charm than before as she walked out with graceful steps.

Seeing the true owner appear, the villagers showered her with thanks. The Ge Family Village Chief, an old man at the Sixth Layer of Qi Refining, even presented Tang Wanqing with a small pouch of Spirit Crystals as payment for ridding the villagers of this scourge.

Tang Wanqing silently accepted the Spirit Crystals. After agreeing on a price with Hu San, he drew the various short knives from his waist and got to work.

"Are you really that short on Spirit Crystals? You use even this little bit of free time to conduct business."

Tang Wanqing had been recuperating inside the Spirit House and had heard every sound outside perfectly clearly. As she watched Hu San dismember the monster beast, she teased Su Qing.

"Just a little money. After Deducting the cost of materials, I won't earn many Spirit Crystals. You, on the other hand—this trip alone, just this Ironback Bear will earn you tens of thousands of Spirit Crystals. That's a whole Spirit Stone!"

Su Qing spoke half in jest and half in truth. It was false that he did not earn much, but his envy over Tang Wanqing's haul was entirely genuine.

Tang Wanqing gave a Wry Smile and shook her head.

"You only see the thief eating meat, not the thief taking a beating. The Ironback Bear, bones and meat included, is worth around ten thousand Spirit Crystals."

"But to hunt it, I used dozens of Talismans, and my Magic Artifacts suffered some minor damage. Add in the Pills I consumed, and those expenses alone cost over six thousand Spirit Crystals."

"By that calculation, I only earned a few thousand Spirit Crystals on this trip. Fortunately, I killed it, so there was at least some gain. If I had failed, not only would all that investment have been wasted, I would have lost my life as well."

"Knowing that, do you still envy me?"

If being a Monster Hunter were truly so simple, Tang Wanqing would have changed careers long ago. In comparison, a life like Su Qing's—steadily making and selling Puppets—was what Tang Wanqing envied most.