Heaven and Earth Gold and Silver

Si Zhanqing shot Fang Xun a sidelong glance and let out an extremely soft snort. "Could it be that County Magistrate Fang thinks this marquis is the sort of person who repays kindness with enmity and slaughters innocents wantonly?"

Fang Xun's body trembled, and he hurriedly said, "This subordinate would not dare!"

"I said there would be a handsome reward once the matter was done... This marquis never goes back on her word!" Si Zhanqing casually flicked her fair fingertips, and a tiny object gleaming with golden light shot through the air, hovering steadily before Fang Xun.

Fang Xun carefully caught it in his palm. After examining it intently for a moment, he could not help crying out, "Real gold?"

Unconcealable wild delight immediately appeared on his face. He hurriedly tucked the gold close against his body, then bowed deeply to Si Zhanqing. "Many thanks for Your Marquisate's generous reward."

"This hundred taels of real gold is your reward. As for those laborers..."

"Ten taels of silver per person is enough for them to shed their lowly status and live without worry over food or clothing for the rest of their lives." As soon as Si Zhanqing finished speaking, twenty-three clusters of dazzling silver light flew out like shooting stars and landed before Fang Xun.

"This matter is concluded. This marquis will be leaving before long. You may distribute these rewards on my behalf," she instructed in an even tone.

Learning that Si Zhanqing would soon depart, Fang Xun could not help feeling a faint sense of loss. Yet under the powerful stimulation of the two hundred and thirty taels of silver before him, along with the hundred taels of gold already in hand, that trace of disappointment vanished in an instant.

Ever since Emperor Gan had gathered in all the gold and silver under Heaven and Earth five hundred years ago and implemented the unified "yuan" coinage, gold and silver had rarely circulated among the common folk. Only the court's most ceremonious rewards would occasionally grant them.

Thus, gold and silver were exceedingly valuable.

More importantly, real gold and silver were vital to every person in the world who cultivated the Twelve Longevity Method!

"Changle Marquis truly is lavish in her spending. Even without my previous merit of capturing Xiong Jin alive, merely using this gold and silver to grease the wheels above and below would be enough to pave smooth my road back to the Sacred Capital." Fang Xun's heart surged with excitement.

"That is enough. You may leave now." Si Zhanqing bluntly gave him his marching orders.

After Fang Xun withdrew, the head maid at her side suddenly lowered her voice.

"Master, are we really not going to..."

Si Zhanqing stood quietly in place, looking down over Cold Mountain County below. Her gaze seemed to pierce through the many barriers of this floating manor.

No one knew what she was calculating in her heart. Those peerlessly beautiful eyes appeared as still as stagnant water, yet in their deepest depths, they seemed to contain some other unfathomable meaning.

"No need."

After a long while, she spoke indifferently.

That very afternoon, the enormous manor hovering over Cold Mountain County silently tore through the air and departed.

Inside the county yamen's study.

Fang Xun stared fixedly at the silver spread across his desk and thought to himself, How could this shining white silver truly be rewarded to that pack of laborers? Wouldn't that be a monstrous waste of Heaven's gifts!

"I shall keep it for them first."

"And those abandoned mine tunnels beneath Cold Mountain..."

Fang Xun's eyes shifted. He immediately summoned Wu Kuang and ordered him to gather the twenty-three laborers once more.

Three days later.

"Are you certain this is where Changle Marquis came that day?" In the core area deep within the abandoned underground mine, Fang Xun stared at the passage before him and asked in a low voice.

The six laborers, Li Shun among them, carefully identified the place before nodding in unison.

"Reporting to Your Excellency, this is indeed the place. However..."

"It feels somewhat different from when we came here before."

The laborers gave their conclusion.

Fang Xun narrowed his eyes and dismissed everyone around him before entering the passage alone.

It was no different from the ordinary mine passages outside. He searched high and low for a long while, but found nothing unusual.

"This underground Cold Mountain is nowhere near as frigid as the legends claim."

"And... the School of Totality Cold Mountain Grass we saw on the way here was nearly withered. Could it be that Changle Marquis truly succeeded in collecting the remnant soul of that fallen mighty cultivator?"

In the darkness, Fang Xun's gaze flickered. "Without that remnant soul, the cold aura permeating Cold Mountain will surely dissipate bit by bit. Perhaps... even Cold Mountain Grass will no longer be able to grow normally."

"There are only two sources of new Cold Mountain Grass shoots. The first is natural growth nurtured by the special environment around Cold Mountain County; the second is that, once Cold Mountain Grass reaches School of Totality maturity, there is a fifty-percent chance it will naturally produce offshoots. The first source accounts for the overwhelming majority. Now that such a drastic change has occurred..."

"I fear that in a few years, the court's Cold Mountain Grass tribute will be impossible to deliver in full."

At that thought, Fang Xun's expression first tightened slightly, before he suddenly gave a cold snort. "In any case, I will be transferred back to the Sacred Capital by next spring at the latest. What does the future have to do with me?"

Thinking of this, he could not stop himself from recalling the [Cold Mountain Venerable] that had previously been stolen from him. He inwardly lamented, "Cold Mountain Venerable is already a rarity seldom seen in the world. If I could have hidden it away for a few more years, until Cold Mountain Grass throughout the world had nearly gone extinct..."

"I fear its value would have risen with the tide to an unimaginable height."

Forcefully suppressing these chaotic thoughts, Fang Xun walked out of the passage and swept his gaze over the laborers still waiting in the same spot, trembling with fear.

"If they cannot hand over Cold Mountain Grass, these laborers will ultimately be unable to escape death anyway. That saves me the trouble of doing it myself!"

Though he thought this in his heart, Fang Xun put on a different face. "Rest assured! You assisted Changle Marquis this time and rendered great merit. The court will certainly not treat you unfairly."

The next day, Li Shun looked at the bolt of silk, three jars of fine wine, and ten jin of dried meat from some unknown exotic beast sent by the county yamen, and fell into a long silence.

He understood in his heart that Fang Xun had surely pocketed the reward Changle Marquis had given them all for himself.

Still, Li Shun did not particularly care. After all, being able to emerge unscathed this time without using the Threefold Self-Reflection ability and the School of Totality had already far exceeded his expectations.

He truly had not expected that neither Changle Marquis nor Fang Xun would choose to silence them forever.

"Could it be that I have thought the people of this world too wicked?"

Li Shun pondered for a long time, yet still found it somewhat unbelievable.

In the end, he shook his head with a self-mocking smile and stopped drilling into a dead end.

Gathering his mind, his consciousness instantly sank into the Square Inch space within his body.

Within the area where puppet Li Shun was located, the Cold Mountain Grass spirit field had now changed in appearance.

The Cold Mountain Venerable, resembling a half moon, stood high and steady in the center. Two massive Cold Mountain Lords stood guard on either side like the most loyal imperial guards, while more than eighty ordinary Cold Mountain Grass plants formed layers of protection around them.

The entire spirit field presented a strange sight of strict hierarchy and flourishing vitality.

"Ever since I obtained Cold Mountain Lord not long ago, I began researching how to cultivate it."

"That Yue Shi once said that during the process, Cold Mountain Grass had only a one-in-one-hundred-thousand sliver of a chance to mutate into Cold Mountain Lord. But..."

"I do not know whether my luck is simply extraordinary, or whether it is because the Cold Mountain Venerable at the center of the spirit field emits an aura of the same origin and nourishes it in return. I actually succeeded on the first try."

"One piece of evidence proves nothing. Once the result of this attempt comes out, perhaps I can roughly determine the answer."

Li Shun stared at the spirit plant being nurtured within the puppet body and thought this.

"I have at least found a bit of the knack for cultivating Cold Mountain Lord, but that Cold Mountain Venerable..."