By the time Yu Ershan and Zhao Kun arrived, plenty of people were already wandering the streets. Even those who weren't buying anything couldn't resist looking around out of curiosity.
Dry firewood was a necessity. Everyone could have chopped some along the way and carried it in, but the residential district had long since banned people from bringing in such useless things.
At its heart, it was all about making you pay for it.
Besides, everyone was already carrying bundles and bags. Even if they brought a little more firewood, it would be a drop in the bucket. They'd use it all up in a few days and have to buy more.
Even if dry firewood wasn't worth much, there were tens of thousands of people who needed it every day. Added together, it was no small amount.
The shops lining both sides of the street sold all kinds of cultivation resources. There were even taverns and "banks."
Yu Ershan had a simple reason for coming: to get a sense of the prices here, especially for pills that boosted blood and qi. They were essential to Yu Dashan's cultivation.
The dry firewood was just an extra.
"Uncle Zhao, Brother Jiadong's about to start his Blood Change, right? How about we check the price of Blood Replenishing Pills?"
Yu Ershan suggested it after spotting a shop.
He wasn't trying to bait Zhao Kun. Zhao Kun knew his family's situation almost as well as he did. They had no spare money to buy Blood Replenishing Pills; otherwise, Old Man Yu wouldn't have stayed behind at the settlement.
Even without any insects, the Black Annihilation Wind Disaster alone could take more than a decade off Old Man Yu's life.
Under the circumstances, how could Yu Ershan have Spirit Stones to buy Blood Replenishing Pills?
And if he could afford them, why wouldn't he bring Old Man Yu to the Blessed Land too?
Could the ever-filial Yu Dashan and Yu Ershan really do something so unfilial?
Though Old Man Yu had once saved Zhao Kun's life, and Zhao Kun was the sort to repay a kindness, Yu Ershan understood one thing: people's hearts couldn't withstand a test.
This wasn't a matter of a few dozen or a few hundred Spirit Stones.
It was a matter of Immortal Destiny.
Yu Dashan needed Immortal Destiny to break through to the Qi Refining Realm. Didn't Zhao Kun's son, Zhao Jiadong, need it too?
Precisely because the two families were close, Yu Ershan had to be all the more careful about this.
Zhao Kun couldn't help feeling tempted when he heard that.
Though the price of a Blessed Land quota had doubled this year, and his family had nearly been cleaned out, he'd initially scraped together three Spirit Stones for Old Man Yu. He hadn't expected Yu Dashan to return them afterward.
Once he realized Old Man Yu wouldn't accept them under any circumstances and had even resolved to stay at the settlement, he'd found a way to get a bottle of Corpse Stench Devil Plant sap.
To do so, he'd even sold a small piece of fine gold he'd treasured for years.
He hadn't done this only to repay Old Man Yu for saving his life. His son was about to undergo Blood Change, and Zhao Kun had kept that piece of fine gold precisely so his son could use it.
So it had served two purposes at once.
After selling the fine gold and trading it for a bottle of Corpse Stench Devil Plant sap, he still had plenty left. It was just enough to buy his son two or three Blood Replenishing Pills.
With those pills, his son might complete his first Blood Change in the Blessed Land this winter.
At last, he'd be able to catch up with Yu Dashan.
So even if Yu Ershan hadn't brought it up, Zhao Kun would have gone in to take a look.
And just like Yu Ershan, he hadn't brought any Spirit Stones with him. He'd come to scout things out first, then return quietly to buy the Blood Replenishing Pills.
He didn't want the three Yu brothers to know he had extra Spirit Stones to spend on the pills.
He remembered Old Man Yu's life-saving kindness, but he was a father too.
"Sure. Let's go in and broaden our horizons."
Zhao Kun nodded.
Then the two of them entered the shop that sold pills.
There were already five or six people gathered around the counter, gazing at the little bottles on the shelves with longing. Each bottle bore the name of a different pill.
Blood Replenishing Pills were only one kind.
When Zhao Kun and Yu Ershan came in, the people who'd arrived earlier heard them and glanced over. Then they lost interest.
Judging by their clothes, these people were much better off than Zhao Kun and Yu Ershan.
After all, anyone who dared enter a shop like this had to be considering a purchase.
And judging by their visibly burly physiques, it was safe to say they'd all reached Fetal Movement Major Accomplishment.
If they'd reached Perfection of Fetal Movement, they wouldn't need ordinary pills like these. Immortal Destiny would be all they sought.
And what chance was there of finding Immortal Destiny in a place like this?
Zhao Kun and Yu Ershan looked like country bumpkins seeing the city for the first time. They seemed timid and ill at ease, as though they really had come just to look around. Naturally, nobody paid them any mind.
"Big brother, let's buy Blood Replenishing Pills. Then you can complete one Blood Change."
Among the group, two men who seemed to be brothers were talking.
"Blood Replenishing Pills are too expensive. Ten Spirit Stones apiece. How long would that much Spirit Rice last us?"
The young man who looked like the older brother was tempted, but the thought of spending ten Spirit Stones on a single pill still made his heart ache.
"How long will you have to eat Spirit Rice before you can undergo Blood Change?
Third Uncle went to a lot of trouble to get you a job hauling insect carcasses this year. It's not as dangerous as joining the Insect Hunter Team, but the stronger you are, the better your chances of staying safe.
Listen to me. Buy the Blood Replenishing Pills."
The slightly younger man spoke.
"Fine, then. We'll buy the Blood Replenishing Pills. Boss, one pill, please."
The older-looking brother finally made up his mind. Gritting his teeth, he pulled a cloth pouch from his clothes and reluctantly took out ten Spirit Stones.
As soon as he removed them, the pouch went limp. Even if there were any left inside, there could only be two or three.
"Dongzi, ten Spirit Stones for a Blood Replenishing Pill, and you're still willing to buy one?"
Someone in the group spoke up.
Judging by how close they were and the way they talked, it was easy to tell they came from the same settlement. They'd come together early that morning to shop here—or perhaps just to look around.
Seeing the young man really take out ten Spirit Stones made them envious.
They might have come together, but that didn't mean they could all afford that many Spirit Stones.
But then, who could blame him for having a powerful Third Uncle?
Not only was his uncle in the Insect Hunter Team, he'd also found him a job hauling insect carcasses.
As long as he was careful, he'd make plenty over the course of a full wind-disaster season.
Compared to that, one Blood Replenishing Pill was nothing.
"Third Uncle happened to give me ten Spirit Stones before I came out. Otherwise, I couldn't afford one either," Dongzi explained, as though it were nothing.
He was also reminding them that his Third Uncle wasn't someone to mess with.
Few people who'd grown up under the threat of the Black Annihilation Wind Disaster were fools, let alone the kind who'd use a little family influence as an excuse to run wild.
At least, that sort of thing didn't come from the families in the settlements.
Some scions of families in the Blessed Land, on the other hand, had grown up free from the threat of the Black Annihilation Wind Disaster. They tended to be more reckless.
But even those arrogant young masters with their noses in the air were hard to find.
In the Blessed Land, the big fish ate the little fish too.
If you wanted to throw your weight around, you'd better be surnamed Song—or belong to one of the other three surnames. Only then would you have any claim to it.
Otherwise, before you could even start acting high and mighty, your elders would have slapped you to death.
What else would they keep you around for?
To go out and bring trouble down on the family?
This wasn't like three thousand years ago, when the world hadn't yet undergone its great upheaval and people didn't all have to huddle in tiny Blessed Lands.
Back then, if you got into trouble, you could still run. But now, where could you run to?
To keep their families out of trouble, family scions were taught from childhood to behave. If they couldn't be taught, they were sent off to the settlements to fend for themselves.
Zhao Kun and Yu Ershan watched as the shop assistant took a small bottle off the shelf and handed it to the customer. They both looked envious and even swallowed.
As if they really had only come to look around and catch a whiff.
Woohoo, thanks for the monthly and recommendation tickets, everyone! Thank you again and again for your support!
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