Shen Shiying left.
He left carrying the one hundred Spirit Stones paid in tribute.
The reason they used Spirit Stones
was that after asking around, Shen Changchuan learned that if they simply handed over one thousand jin of Spirit Grain, they would have to bear a five-percent transport loss fee.
If they simply paid Spirit Stones, one hundred would suffice.
This rule
was not aimed at Shen Changchuan.
It had always been the rule.
After all, Great Bay Village was manageable, but in places with hundreds of mu of Spirit Fields, a single season's tribute of over ten thousand jin of Spirit Grain would require several Storage Bags just to hold.
During the process, they also had to pay attention to its quality, as well as problems arising during subsequent storage and safekeeping.
It was simply too troublesome.
It was better to take the Spirit Stones and leave.
And because of this,
the extra five-percent transport fee for paying Spirit Grain had long become an unwritten rule.
In response,
Shen Changchuan decisively chose to pay one hundred Spirit Stones.
It consumed more than half the Spirit Stones he had taken from the Four Fiends of Heshan.
He had already looked into it.
According to the market rates, barring natural disasters or man-made calamities, Spirit Grain generally fluctuated slightly around ten jin per Spirit Stone, and even those fluctuations were not significant.
In any case, after this,
he would make a trip to Wu Family Market and sell most of it, aside from the portion he kept for his own consumption.
With a Storage Bag, transporting two thousand jin of Spirit Grain would not be a problem.
This way, he could save those five Spirit Stones.
And this
made Shen Shiying even more certain
that Shen Changchuan had suffered grievous losses this time.
He surely could not even gather enough Spirit Grain
and could only spend his Spirit Stone capital to make up the tribute shortfall.
Seeing their "enemy" fall on hard times,
father and son felt refreshed and elated as they departed in high spirits.
Shen Changchuan
did not care about this.
Instead, he was quite content with it.
Before he extracted enough wealth from Great Bay Village and turned it into sufficient strength to protect himself, the later the exact details of Great Bay Village's Spirit Field output were exposed, the better.
After all, wealth should not be displayed!
After Shen Shiying departed,
Shen Changchuan began planning his next move.
Though the explosive scandal involving Shen Han in Tiannan City was certainly enticing, it clearly had little to do with Shen Changchuan.
After inwardly gloating that First Madam, with her forceful and jealous nature, had gotten what she deserved, he tossed the matter to the back of his mind.
Tiannan City was too far away, and its whirlpool of troubles had nothing to do with him for now.
What mattered most at present
was increasing his strength.
After all, the possible threat of retaliation from the Gale Falcon still awaited him before long.
"According to what the others said, the caravan from Qing City will arrive at Wu Family Market to open the market in about a month."
"A month is enough."
Shen Changchuan calculated inwardly,
a faint gleam flickering in his eyes.
He recalled the token engraved with the character "Elephant" in his Storage Bag.
Back when he learned from Zhao Hantao about the causes and consequences behind the destruction of the Hu Family, the previous owners of Great Bay Village twenty years ago,
Shen Changchuan had also obtained from him a map to the ruins of a Nascent Soul Cave Abode.
But at that time, his strength had only been at the Qi Gathering Fourth Level.
He could not yet say that he could easily handle the dangers within the mountains and forests.
Thus, although Shen Changchuan had wanted to take a look back then, his ever-cautious nature ultimately made him suppress that thought.
Until now,
he had reached the Qi Gathering Fifth Level.
At the same time, he had newly mastered several spell techniques.
Compared to before,
his strength had increased tremendously.
His battle with the Gale Falcon had also proven his strength.
"It is time!"
At once,
Shen Changchuan made his decision.
However, over the next few days,
before Shen Changchuan could set out, he had no choice but to remain behind for a while longer.
He was unable to depart immediately.
Because the overseers of several other nearby villages had all successively delivered the Spirit Grain harvested this season as tribute.
The Spirit Fields of the six villages were not extensive, adding up to only four or five mu.
But the Spirit Grain they delivered came to around three hundred jin in total.
For such good people who had come to deliver money, Shen Changchuan naturally had to show himself and receive each of them personally, cultivating their relationship.
At the same time, he also arranged a date for them to travel together to Wu Family Market.
Only after seeing off the cultivator from the last village
and bringing this interruption to an end
could Shen Changchuan continue with his treasure-hunting plan.
He made a rough estimate.
To investigate the location indicated on the map Zhao Hantao had given him would take at least ten-odd days.
This was because Shen Changchuan did not trust Zhao Hantao very much.
Although he had let him witness with his own eyes how the Four Fiends of Heshan slaughtered his family and friends, burying his century-old foundation in a single day, thereby breaking down his mental defenses,
and had thus managed to force these secrets out of him,
and although in the end Zhao Hantao's spirit had died, and he had committed suicide in prison,
who could say for certain
that Zhao Hantao had not become twisted in mind before his death, wishing to drag him down into the grave, using himself as bait to bury some enormous trap within the map?
It was never wrong to hold something back in one's trust of others.
Therefore, from the start, Shen Changchuan had planned to remain vigilant at all times after entering the mountains. Ideally, he would frequently activate the Spirit Eye Technique to scout the surroundings before continuing onward.
The ten-odd days
were time he had deliberately set aside for this purpose.
Of course,
to avoid missing the time when the caravan opened the market at Wu Family Market,
Shen Changchuan had decided from the outset that if more than fifteen days passed, he would return whether or not he found anything.
Having made a rough plan,
Shen Changchuan prepared to set out.
But before that,
he still needed to make preparations and arrangements for Great Bay Village and Zhao Family Village.
After all, he would be gone for more than half a month, leaving Great Bay Village's defenses terribly weak.
He informed Han Qinhu,
briefly explaining that he would soon enter the mountains and be away for some time, while also making arrangements for the coming half-month or so.
He even prepared contingency plans for the possibility that Great Bay Village might suffer attacks from Demon Beasts or rogue cultivators after his departure.
After that,
he placed most of the Spirit Grain into his Storage Bag and carried it with him, lest the worst happen and his home be robbed while he was away.
After completing all preparations,
Shen Changchuan left Great Bay Village
and entered the mountains along the map Zhao Hantao had provided.
Ten-odd days later,
within an impenetrably dense forest, towering ancient trees thrust toward the heavens, their thick, overlapping canopies blocking out the sky light and leaving the woods shrouded in gloom.
Shen Changchuan carefully walked through the dense forest. Beneath his feet lay soft fallen leaves piled high and giving off a rotting stench; with every step, small insects such as centipedes and spiders scurried out.
Dense, luxuriant ferns grew all around him.
The air was damp, and mushrooms of every color could be seen everywhere on roots and trunks.
Every time Shen Changchuan traveled some distance, he stopped and used the Spirit Eye Technique to observe his surroundings.
Once the spiritual power within his body had been depleted by more than seventy percent,
he immediately stopped to meditate and refine spiritual power, restoring his condition.
Thus, he stopped and went,
encountering attacks from some Demon Beasts along the way, though he avoided them one by one and even successfully counter-killed some.
Until this day,
Shen Changchuan had just passed through the dense forest and reached a hill. He took out the map from his robe and compared it with the surrounding terrain.
"Almost there. It's nearby!"
Holding the map, a trace of delight appeared on Shen Changchuan's somewhat weary face.
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