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Shen Shiying left.

He departed after submitting one hundred spirit stones.

The reason for submitting spirit stones was that Shen Changchuan learned after inquiring that if he were to submit one thousand jin of spirit grain directly, he would have to bear a five percent transfer and transportation cost.

If he submitted spirit stones directly, then one hundred pieces would be enough.

This rule

was not specifically targeted at Shen Changchuan.

It had been a rule all along.

After all, while Great Bay Village was manageable, for places with hundreds of mu of spirit fields, submitting tens of thousands of jin of spirit grain per quarter would require several storage bags to hold it all.

Furthermore, attention would need to be paid to its quality, as well as issues with storage and safekeeping.

It was simply too troublesome.

It was much better to just hand over spirit stones and leave.

Precisely because of this, the requirement to pay an additional five percent transfer fee for submitting spirit grain had long been an established custom.

Regarding this, Shen Changchuan decisively chose to pay one hundred spirit stones.

This consumed more than half of the spirit stones he had seized from the Four Fiends of Heshan.

He had already looked into it.

According to market prices, unless there were natural disasters or calamities, the price of spirit grain generally fluctuated slightly around ten jin of spirit grain per spirit stone, and even then, the fluctuations would not be too significant.

In any case, after this, he planned to go to Wu Family Market. After setting aside what he needed for himself, he would sell the majority of it.

With a storage bag, transporting two thousand jin of spirit grain would be no problem.

He might as well save himself the five spirit stones.

And this, made Shen Shiying even more certain

that Shen Changchuan had suffered a heavy loss this time.

He must not have been able to gather enough spirit grain, and had to use his spirit stone capital to make up the shortfall for the submission.

Seeing their "enemy" in trouble, the father and son left feeling refreshed and somewhat invigorated.

As for this, Shen Changchuan didn't mind.

He was actually quite pleased.

Before he could extract enough wealth from Great Bay Village and convert it into sufficient self-preservation strength, the sooner the specifics of Great Bay Village's spirit fields' output were exposed, the better.

After all, wealth should not be flaunted!

After Shen Shiying left, Shen Changchuan also began to make his next plans.

While the juicy gossip about Shen Han in Tiannan City was quite appealing, it clearly had little to do with Shen Changchuan.

He merely gloated inwardly that the strong-willed and jealous First Madam deserved it, and then cast it out of his mind.

Tiannan City was too far away, and the vortex within was currently none of his concern.

The most important thing right now

was to improve his own strength.

After all, there was the potential threat of the Gale Falcon's revenge in the near future.

"According to others, the merchant caravan from Qing City arrives at Wu Family Market to open for business roughly a month from now."

"A month's time is enough."

Shen Changchuan pondered in his mind, the light in his eyes flickering slightly.

He recalled the token engraved with the character "Elephant" in his storage bag.

Back then, after learning from Zhao Hantao the cause and effect of the Hu Family's demise twenty years ago, which was the previous owner of Great Bay Village, Shen Changchuan had also obtained the map to that Out of Body Stage cave dwelling ruin from him.

At that time, his strength was only at the Qi Gathering Fourth Level.

He couldn't say he could easily deal with the dangers in the mountains and forests.

Therefore, although Shen Changchuan really wanted to go and see at the time, he, being usually steady, ultimately suppressed his thoughts.

Until now, He had already reached the Qi Gathering Fifth Level, And had also newly mastered several spells.

His strength had greatly improved compared to before.

The battle with the Gale Falcon also proved his strength.

"It's time!"

At that moment, Shen Changchuan made his decision.

However, in the following days, Before Shen Changchuan could set off, he had to stay for a while longer.

He couldn't set off immediately.

This was because the leaders of several other nearby villages had already sent over the spirit grain harvested and offered as tribute for this season.

The spirit fields of the six villages were not large, totaling only about four to five mu.

However, the spirit grain sent over totaled about three hundred jin.

For these good people who came to offer money, Shen Changchuan naturally had to personally receive them one by one to foster good relations.

At the same time, he also made arrangements to go to Wu Family Market together.

Until he saw off the cultivator from the last village, And the interlude ended, Shen Changchuan was finally able to continue his treasure hunting plan.

He estimated that

It would take at least more than ten days to go to the location indicated on the map given by Zhao Hantao to investigate.

This was because Shen Changchuan did not fully trust Zhao Hantao.

Even though he had forced Zhao Hantao to witness his family and friends being slaughtered by the Four Fiends of Heshan, and his century-old foundation being destroyed in an instant, which broke his defenses, He was able to extort these secrets from him.

Even in the end, Zhao Hantao's spirit was broken, and he committed suicide in prison.

But who could be sure, That Zhao Hantao's spirit hadn't twisted before his death, wanting Shen Changchuan to be buried with him, using himself as bait, and burying some huge pitfall in the map?

It was always right to keep a part of yourself when trusting others.

Therefore, Shen Changchuan had planned from the beginning to be vigilant at all times after entering the mountains, and it was best to frequently activate the Spirit Eye Technique to scout the situation before proceeding.

More than ten days, Was the leeway reserved for this purpose.

Of course, To avoid missing the time when the merchant caravan opened its market at Wu Family Market, Shen Changchuan had also planned from the beginning that if it exceeded fifteen days, he would return regardless of whether he found anything or not.

Having made a general plan, Shen Changchuan prepared to set off.

However, before that, He still needed to make arrangements for the situation in Great Bay Village and Zhao Family Village.

After all, he would be away for more than half a month, and Great Bay Village's defenses would be very empty.

He informed Han Qinhu, Briefly explained that he would be leaving the mountains for a period of time, and made arrangements for the direction of the next half month.

He even made contingency plans for the possibility of Great Bay Village being attacked by Yao Beasts or robber cultivators after his departure.

After that, He stored most of the spirit grain in his storage bag and carried it with him, to avoid the worst-case scenario of being unexpectedly raided while he was away.

Having completed all preparations, Shen Changchuan left Great Bay Village.

He entered the mountain forest following the map given by Zhao Hantao.

More than ten days later, The dense forest was filled with ancient trees reaching skyward. Their thick canopies blocked out the sunlight, leaving the forest dim.

Shen Changchuan walked cautiously through the dense forest. Underfoot were piles of soft, decaying leaves that, when stepped on, would scatter small insects like centipedes and spiders.

Beside him grew dense, lush ferns.

The air was humid, and colorful mushrooms were visible everywhere on the roots and trunks of trees.

Every so often, Shen Changchuan would stop and cast the Spirit Eye Technique to observe his surroundings.

Once his Magical Power was depleted by more than seventy percent, He would immediately stop to meditate, refine his Magical Power, and restore his condition.

Thus, he traveled, stopping and starting.

Along the way, he had encountered attacks from some Yao Beasts, but he had dodged them all and even managed to kill them in return.

Until one day, Shen Changchuan had just passed through the dense forest and arrived at a hill. He took out the map from his embrace and compared it with the surrounding environment.

"We're almost there, it's around here!"

Holding the map, a hint of joy appeared on Shen Changchuan's somewhat weary face.