Thorn Swallow Pearls

The twelve cacti had now become thirteen; what they had been waiting for had arrived.

Where is this extra cactus?

According to Li Banfeng's memory, it was between the fifth and sixth cacti.

Li Banfeng was about to use his Tang Blade when Ma Wu gestured for Li Banfeng to wait a moment.

The two of them turned away at the same time, avoiding looking at the cactus.

The cactus is currently devouring the Snakehead Eel. It has opened the bag and, with its spiky arms, has tied up an eel.

Then it used its other arm to cut a wound on its body and stuffed the eel into the wound.

This is how it eats, without making a sound throughout the entire process.

Ma Wu is estimating how fast the cactus can eat the fish.

The more it eats, the better, but you can't wait until it finishes eating it all, otherwise the cactus might escape, or something even more terrible might happen.

There were quite a few Snakehead Eel this time, so Ma Wu wanted to wait a little longer. Li Banfeng's ears twitched, and he heard a voice using his Discern Spiritual Sounds Technique: "There are more."

What? There's more?

Li Banfeng suddenly turned around and found a cactus nearly two meters tall standing in front of the two of them.

That was close.

Ma Wu was too arrogant; the cactus had finished the fish and was now preparing for the next dish.

This type of cactus is called a spiny cactus, and it usually hides under the yellow sand, rarely showing itself.

The thorn has a very diverse diet; it eats insects and snakes in the sand, but in this new land, only two kinds of food can lure them out of the sand.

The first type is the Snakehead Eel, which is the fish that Li Banfeng and Ma Wu caught by the lake. Whether it's dead or alive, Ci Tun likes it.

The second type of food is humans, which are eaten only when they are alive.

The thorn-like creature is very powerful. Once it makes its move, Li Banfeng and Ma Wu, with their combined strength, will likely die at the hands of this cactus.

However, the thorn has a fatal weakness: it cannot move when someone is watching it.

Therefore, Ma Wu and Li Banfeng had to turn their backs to the Snakehead Eel on the ground in order to lure it out from underground.

The thorn-swallowed creature arrived silently and was indistinguishable from other cacti, its shape being extremely difficult to discern. Ma Wu could only confirm its appearance by counting.

The thorn doesn't make a sound when it eats, so Ma Wu can only estimate the time based on experience.

This estimate was not very accurate because the cactus had a huge appetite and quickly finished the fish. It was only because Li Banfeng had the Discern Spiritual Sounds Technique that the cactus was able to survive. If they had waited any longer, Li Banfeng and Ma Wu might have become its meal.

Now there's no need to worry. Ma Wu and Li Banfeng stared at the cactus together. As long as the two of them didn't blink at the same time, it wouldn't move.

"To get to this desert, you need at least two people to escape the Thorn Swallow's attack." Ma Wu swung a short sword that was more than a foot long and jumped up to split the cactus in two.

Colorless, clear sap flowed from the cracked cactus, and Ma Wu found eight peanut-sized beads within it.

"This cactus has eaten quite a few people recently..." Ma Wu's expression was somewhat solemn. He took a water bottle and washed the slime off the beads. Six beads were dark red, and two beads were bright red.

Upon seeing the two bright red beads, Ma Wu smiled slightly.

He won his bet.

"Brother Li, look, these are the 'Thorn Swallow Pearl,' formed from spiky food that hasn't been fully digested. These six beads were formed after people were eaten; they have vengeful spirits attached to them, and their quality is poor."

These two beads were formed from fish that had just eaten them. The fish had been dead for a long time, so there were no vengeful spirits on the beads, and they were of excellent quality.

"Even one of these two beads could fetch 300,000 yuan in Green Water Bay, more than all six combined!"

This is why Ma Wu waits until Ci Tun finishes eating the Snakehead Eel; every extra bite might produce an extra pure pearl.

Li Banfeng looked at the six dark red beads and asked, "Is there a vengeful spirit on each bead?"

He used his Yin-Yang Eyes, but he couldn't see the will-o'-the-wisp.

Ma Wu shook his head and said, "Not only that, but it eats living people. The beads grow slowly, and three or five people may not be able to exchange for one bead. Judging from the color of this bead, there are probably five or six vengeful spirits attached to it. Such a bead is of low quality. It can sell for more than two thousand yuan in the Song family, but if it is sent to Green Water City, it will be good if it can sell for thirty thousand yuan."

The more vengeful spirits there are, the lower the quality of the bead. But why can't we see these vengeful spirits? Are they hidden too deep?

After pondering for a moment, Li Banfeng said, "If we remove the vengeful spirit from the bead, wouldn't it become a bead of superior quality?"

Ma Wu smiled bitterly, "That's difficult. Those who are swallowed by thorns will be pierced by thousands of thorns before they die, suffering an extremely painful death. Their souls will lose their Primordial Spirit, and they will be filled with immense resentment."

To exorcise vengeful spirits, one must either use magical artifacts or hire Nightmare Cultivator. Such artifacts are rare, and Nightmare Cultivator are scarce. To completely banish the Vengeful Spirit, one would need at least tens of thousands of coins. If one fails and damages the bead, one would lose everything. Therefore, very few people do this.

Li Banfeng said, "Give me the beads first, I have a way."

"You have a way?" Ma Wu was skeptical, but since he was doing this business to repay a debt of gratitude, Ma Wu handed over all eight Thorn Swallow Pearl to Li Banfeng without hesitation.

"Brother Li, you must keep this safe. You must not be discovered by the Song family on your way back. The Song family also often hunts thorny eels, but they do not use Snakehead Eel. They use live people as bait to catch thorny eels."

"Using living people as bait?" Li Banfeng was taken aback.

Ma Wu nodded. "In Blue Poplar Village, people who really can't survive will sign a document with the Song family, paying 20,000 yuan to pawn their lives as bait for the Song family."

The Song family would tie up the bait person tightly and throw them into this desert. Because Ci Tun was afraid of being watched, the bait person would also be blindfolded.

If the Song family intervenes in time when the thorn-eaten creature appears, the bait person might be able to save their life. However, the Song family's primary goal is the thorn-eaten creature; they only consider the best hunting opportunity and don't care about the bait person's life or death. Therefore, becoming the bait person means facing a near-certain death.

Bait man.

Li Banfeng heard a new term again.

"Brother Ma, how do you know that Citun likes to eat Snakehead Eel?"

"The Ma family has a vast collection of books, more than any other Lineage in Pro State. Some Ma family members love literature, while others love martial arts; both can be found in the Ma family library."

I love reading, but I only read books about making money. It's a pity I can never go back to the Ma family's library. There were so many good books there, and so many ways to make money that I haven't mastered yet.

Li Banfeng pondered for a moment and said, "From the Earth Jade Peach, to the Tiger Head Louse, to the Snakehead Eel, and then to the Thorn Swallow Pearl, the entire process is written in the same book?"

Ma Wu shook his head and said, "There's no process, and these things can't possibly appear in the same book."

Earth Jade Peach loves to eat hundreds of kinds of food, and rotten fish is the easiest to obtain, so everyone knows this method.

Earth Jade Peach is infested with hundreds of kinds of insects, but Tiger Head Louse are one of them, a fact that few people know.

Snakehead Eel are extremely cunning. Without the right bait, they can't be caught. Going to the lake to catch them is extremely dangerous. Even if they are caught, they can only be used to make poison, and they won't fetch a good price. Therefore, very few people are willing to catch them.

However, Tiger Head Louse are one of the baits used for catching Snakehead Eel, and this is the only bait that can be found in Blue Poplar Village. Very few people know this.

The prickly prickly cactus has an extremely diverse diet, with over sixty different kinds of prey recorded in books. The Snakehead Eel is just one of them, and in the new land of Blue Poplar Village, it's already the easiest prey to find, aside from living people.

I dissected and analyzed all the books I had read before, then spent several days at the Song Family Granary, figuring out what was produced on this new land before I could piece together this clue.

Li Banfeng said, "Then let's follow this routine every day from now on: fishing for peaches, fishing for fish, and hunting for thorns."

Ma Wu shook his head. "That won't do. If this continues, the Song family will definitely become suspicious. This clue is certainly valuable, but I know more than one clue."

Li Banfeng nodded repeatedly; this kind of person was destined to make money.

The two returned to Blue Poplar Village, and to avoid attracting attention, Ma Wu still carried the bag of rotten fish.

Song Jia Sen was taking an early morning stroll in the village when he saw Ma Wu and said with a smile, "Fifth Young Master, throw away that bag of rotten fish. The smell is too strong, and it looks like it's infested with maggots."

Ma Wu sneered, "If Boss Song had given me a little more money for meals, I wouldn't be living in such poverty."

Song Jia Sen looked surprised. "Fifth Young Master, what makes you say that? Are you still holding a grudge about the peach? I have no choice. This has been the rule of Blue Poplar Village for many years. We can't break the precedent just for the sake of the Fifth Young Master."

"How about this, if Fifth Young Master doesn't mind, please come to my humble abode for dinner tonight. As long as I, Song, have something to eat, Fifth Young Master will definitely not go hungry."

In just a few words, he was extremely sarcastic.

Ma Wu remained silent, and the two returned to the wooden house together. Ma Wu took a nap downstairs, while Li Banfeng returned to his Portable Abode.

Seeing Li Banfeng return, the record player hissed and spewed out a cloud of steam, enveloping the entire main room. "Hey~ husband, I can't take this anymore, Little Slave 'm starving to death."

Li Banfeng waved his hand, dispelling the steam in front of him, and took out a Thorn Swallow Pearl: "Wife, see if the ingredients on this are edible?"

"This thing... is actually edible!" The phonograph's ability to see ghosts was clearly superior to Li Banfeng's. After examining it for a moment, it said, "This is Thorn Swallow Pearl, isn't it? I haven't seen one of these in years."

"What is the use of this bead?"

"The auxiliary material for refining magical artifacts, the Thorn Swallow Pearl, can lock in spiritual energy, and lock it in very tightly. The purer the Thorn Swallow Pearl, the more suitable it is for refining magical artifacts, because it can lock in a single spiritual energy without interference from other spiritual entities."

There are eight lost souls inside this bead. Such a bead is impure; the locked spirits will be disturbed, and it won't fetch a good price. Just let this Little Slave eat it.

Li Banfeng sat down next to the record player and pleaded gently, "My dear Wife, it's such a fine bead, it's a shame to waste it. Could you devour the spirit of the dead and leave the bead behind?"

Tsk~

Clang~

The record player reluctantly said, "My husband is such a greedy man! He won't even let his Little Slave eat to her heart's content. Fine, Little Slave give it a try."

The Thorn Swallow Pearl can lock away spiritual energy very tightly; this is no exaggeration. Even my husband's yin-yang eyes can't see where these wandering souls are.

These wandering souls have lost their Primordial Spirit and have become one with the Little Slave. Although I have a way to separate the vengeful spirits, please don't blame Little Slave if the bead is damaged.

"No blame, no blame, my Wife, go ahead and use it freely. If it breaks, it's on me!"

As long as he can keep even one bead, Li Banfeng will have made a huge profit.

The record player rubbed the beads with steam for a moment, and a soul was detached from the beads and sucked into the speaker opening by the record player.

Despite the difficulties the Wife made up her mind, in less than five minutes, a single bead was used to deal with the evil spirits, turning the dark red color into a bright red one, and all the vengeful spirits were swept away.

Seeing the water droplets covering the flared mouth of the bottle, Li Banfeng wiped them away with a pained expression, saying, "My Wife, you've worked so hard."

"Hey~ It's not so much hard work, it's just that the resentment of these wandering spirits is too strong, it's a bit spicy."

Spicy...

"Does my Wife like spicy food? I have some more!" Li Banfeng took out the remaining five beads.

The record player chuckled, its steam slightly flushed. "Hey, my husband, I knew you cherish your Little Slave."

In less than half an hour, all the Thorn Swallow Pearl were processed.

The Wife let out a burp and went to sleep.

Li Banfeng, holding the high-quality Thorn Swallow Pearl, lay on the bed and fell asleep.

That evening, Li Banfeng gave Ma Wu six high-quality Thorn Swallow Pearl.

Ma Wu was greatly surprised and couldn't figure out what methods Li Banfeng had used.

He didn't ask any more questions, because he knew that this method would not be easily revealed to others.

"Brother Ma, I'm leaving the shipping to you."

Ma Wu nodded. "Brother Li, accompany me to the village entrance. I'm afraid I might be ambushed."

P. S.: Dear readers, it's the weekend, and Salad has added an extra chapter! Please vote for Salad and leave a message for Salad. Salad is eagerly awaiting your submissions.