Shen Shiying left.
He departed after handing over a hundred Spirit Stones.
The reason he paid in Spirit Stones
was that, after asking around, Shen Changchuan had learned that if he simply paid a thousand jin of Spirit Grain, he would have to cover a five-percent transportation fee.
If he paid in Spirit Stones instead, a hundred would be enough.
This rule
wasn't directed at Shen Changchuan.
It had always been the rule.
After all, Dawan Village was a small place, but in areas with hundreds of mu of Spirit Fields, a quarterly delivery could amount to tens of thousands of jin of Spirit Grain. It would take several Storage Bags just to hold it all.
During transport, they would also have to worry about the grain's quality, as well as the problems involved in storing and preserving it afterward.
It was simply too much trouble.
It was easier to take the Spirit Stones and leave.
For that reason,
paying an extra five percent as a transportation fee when delivering Spirit Grain had long since become an unspoken rule.
Faced with this,
Shen Changchuan decisively chose to pay a hundred Spirit Stones.
It used up most of the Spirit Stones he had taken from the Four Evils of He Mountain.
He had already looked into it.
At market rates, unless there was a natural or man-made disaster, Spirit Grain generally hovered around one Spirit Stone per ten jin. Even when prices fluctuated, the changes weren't great.
In any case, after this,
he would be going to Wu Family Market. Aside from what he planned to keep for himself, he would sell most of it.
And with a Storage Bag, carrying two thousand jin of Spirit Grain wouldn't be a problem.
So he might as well save those five Spirit Stones.
This
only made Shen Shiying even more certain
that Shen Changchuan had suffered a heavy loss this time.
He must not have had enough Spirit Grain to pay,
so he'd been forced to spend his own Spirit Stones to make up the shortfall.
Seeing their "enemy" fall on hard times,
the father and son felt elated and left with a spring in their step.
As for that,
Shen Changchuan didn't care.
If anything, he was glad it had turned out this way.
Until he had extracted enough wealth from Dawan Village and turned it into strength sufficient to protect himself, the later the details of the village's Spirit Field output became known, the better.
After all, one shouldn't flaunt one's wealth!
After Shen Shiying left,
Shen Changchuan began making plans for his next move.
The juicy news about Shen Han in Tiannan City was certainly enticing, but it clearly had little to do with Shen Changchuan.
He only took a moment to privately gloat that the domineering and jealous First Madam had gotten what she deserved, then put it out of his mind.
Tiannan City was too far away. Its whirlpool had nothing to do with him for now.
What mattered most at the moment
was improving his strength.
After all, the Gale Falcon might seek revenge before long.
"According to what the others said, the caravan from Qing City usually arrives at Wu Family Market to open for business in about a month."
"A month should be enough."
Shen Changchuan calculated silently,
a faint glimmer in his eyes.
He remembered the token in his Storage Bag, engraved with the character "Elephant."
Back then, after learning from Zhao Hangao how the Hu Clan, the former owners of Dawan Village, had met their end twenty years ago,
Shen Changchuan had also obtained from him a map to the ruins of an Out-of-Body Realm cultivator's cave abode.
But at the time, Shen Changchuan had only been at the fourth level of the Qi Induction Realm.
He couldn't say he was capable of easily dealing with the dangers in the mountains and forests.
So although Shen Changchuan had wanted to take a look, his cautious nature had ultimately made him suppress the urge.
But now,
he had reached the fifth level of the Qi Induction Realm,
and had also mastered several new Spell Techniques.
His strength had improved tremendously
compared to before.
His battle with the Gale Falcon had also proven his strength.
"It's time!"
Shen Changchuan made up his mind at once.
However, over the next few days,
he had to stay behind for a while longer before he could leave.
He couldn't set out right away.
The people in charge of several nearby villages had already begun delivering this season's Spirit Grain harvests.
The six villages had only a few Spirit Fields between them, totaling around four or five mu.
Even so, the Spirit Grain they brought came to about three hundred jin in all.
These good people had come bearing money, so Shen Changchuan naturally made a point of meeting each of them in person and building goodwill.
He also took the opportunity to arrange 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 resume his treasure-hunting plan.
He made a rough estimate.
It would take at least ten days or more to reach the site on Zhao Hangao's map and investigate it.
That was because Shen Changchuan didn't entirely trust Zhao Hangao.
Although he had made Zhao Hangao watch as the Four Evils of He Mountain slaughtered his family and friends, wiping out a century-old foundation in a single day, thus breaking down his defenses,
and had thereby forced the secrets out of him,
Zhao Hangao's spirit had eventually died, and he had taken his own life in prison.
But who could say
whether Zhao Hangao's mind had become twisted in his final moments, and whether he had used himself as bait, intending to take Shen Changchuan down with him by hiding some enormous trap on the map?
It was never wrong to hold something back when trusting others.
So Shen Changchuan had planned from the start to stay on his guard at all times once he entered the mountains. Ideally, he would regularly use the Spirit Eye Technique to scout his surroundings before proceeding.
The ten-odd days he had allowed himself
were meant to give him enough leeway for that.
Of course,
to avoid missing the caravan's arrival at Wu Family Market,
Shen Changchuan had also decided that if fifteen days passed, he would turn back whether or not he had found the place.
With his rough plan in place,
Shen Changchuan prepared to set out.
Before that, however,
he needed to make arrangements for Dawan Village and Zhao Family Village.
After all, he would be away for more than half a month, leaving Dawan Village's defenses badly weakened.
He notified Han Qinhu,
briefly explained that he would soon be going into the mountains and would be gone for a while, and made arrangements for the coming half month.
He even prepared contingency plans in case Dawan Village was attacked by Demon Beasts or rogue cultivators while he was away.
Afterward,
he put most of the Spirit Grain into his Storage Bag and took it with him, in case the worst happened and someone raided his home while he was gone.
Once everything was ready,
Shen Changchuan left Dawan Village
and entered the mountains, following the map Zhao Hangao had given him.
More than ten days later,
the dense forest was so thick it let in no breeze. Towering ancient trees rose into the sky, their tightly packed crowns blotting out the sunlight and leaving the forest dim.
Shen Changchuan walked carefully through the forest. Underfoot lay a thick carpet of soft, rotting leaves. Whenever he stepped down, small insects like centipedes and spiders scurried out.
Dense ferns grew all around him.
The air was damp, and mushrooms of every color sprouted everywhere along the tree roots and trunks.
Every so often, Shen Changchuan stopped to cast the Spirit Eye Technique and survey his surroundings.
Whenever his internal magical power fell below thirty percent, he would immediately stop, sit in meditation, refine his magical power, and recover.
He went on like this, stopping and starting.
Along the way, he encountered a few Demon Beast attacks, but managed to evade them all—and even kill some in return.
Then, on this day,
Shen Changchuan had just emerged from the dense forest and reached a hill. He took the map from his clothes and compared it with the surrounding terrain.
"We're close. It should be somewhere around here!"
Holding the map, Shen Changchuan looked exhausted, but a hint of delight appeared on his face.
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