Selling for Three Thousand Taels

The town's gates were not especially grand—two wooden gates seven or eight meters high stood wide open. It was already around ten in the morning, and pedestrians streamed in and out without end. Farmers carrying vegetable baskets into town, women with bamboo baskets hooked over their arms, laborers driving donkeys laden with goods—all lined up at the gates to pass through. Nearby, two gate constables leaned against the wall, idly basking in the morning sun while their eyes swept over the passersby.

Lin Fan came down from the distant mountain road, a bloodstained spear in one hand and a Wild Boar Ferocious Beast weighing two or three hundred jin in the other. The boar's head hung low, its long tusks exposed, its coarse black bristles stained with dried dark-red blood and congealed gore.

Such a striking sight was impossible to miss. Before Lin Fan even reached the gates, the people at the town entrance had already spotted him. The footsteps of passersby slowed involuntarily. One after another, they turned to look, stopped in their tracks, and stared wide-eyed in his direction. Some began whispering among themselves, their gazes locked firmly onto the enormous wild boar.

"Look! That man is carrying a wild boar!"

"My heavens, it's huge! That must be an old mountain boar!"

"Even dead, it makes one's heart tremble with fear. How is that an ordinary beast? It's a Wild Boar Ferocious Beast."

"I heard that young man killed a Ferocious Beast last time too. This is already his second one."

The chatter rose and fell like waves. The two gate constables, who had been lounging lazily before, suddenly straightened up. When Lin Fan approached, they hurried over, their eyes filled with shock as they looked the tusked boar up and down. "Good fellow, such a huge Ferocious Beast. Did you enter the mountains and kill it yourself?" one constable asked.

Lin Fan nodded slightly without slowing down and walked straight through the gates. Beyond them lay the bustling main street. Shops stretched out one after another along both sides of the bluestone road. The clang of the blacksmith's shop rang continuously, peddlers cried out on either side, and steaming heat billowed from food stalls. Hawking, conversation, and human voices mingled together, filling the entire street with the lively air of ordinary life.

As Lin Fan carried the massive boar onto the street, many people froze in the middle of what they were doing. At the breakfast stalls, diners holding coarse porcelain bowls of porridge set down their bowls and chopsticks to look over. Inside the blacksmith's shop, a smith's hammer hung in midair, forgotten before it could fall. It was as though the very air had fallen silent in an instant.

Lin Fan arrived at the Su Family Shop. Whether by coincidence or not, Su Qingwei was already waiting behind the counter early in the morning. She wore a plain cloth dress today, with a simple wooden hairpin tucked beside her temple. Her features were clear and lovely as she lowered her head to check the account books.

Hearing the commotion outside, as well as the astonished discussions of curious onlookers trailing after Lin Fan, she raised her head and looked toward the entrance. Lin Fan strode steadily into the Su Family Shop, carrying in one hand a massive, tusked Wild Boar Ferocious Beast whose presence was even more formidable than the Ferocious Beast from last time. Su Qingwei's beautiful eyes widened slightly.

The crowd gathered at the entrance packed the usually spacious street on both sides of the Su Family Shop until it was full to bursting. Some craned their necks from outside, wanting to see just what price this rare old mountain boar would fetch.

Lin Fan slowly lowered the boar in his hand, and it landed with a muffled thud. "Miss Su, I was fortunate enough to hunt another mountain boar Ferocious Beast, so I brought it here especially," Lin Fan said evenly.

Su Qingwei gently set down the brush in her hand and walked slowly out from behind the counter. After nodding to Lin Fan in greeting, she stepped forward and circled the boar once. Her slender white fingers gently parted its coarse bristles as she carefully examined its wounds and the thickness of its fat, though her gaze seemed intentionally—or unintentionally—to linger on the wounds left by the spear. Those injuries were several inches deep, enough to show that the person who had struck them possessed extraordinary strength.

The surrounding crowd whispered among themselves.

"I wonder what price the Su Family Shop will offer."

"The Su Family is one of the three great martial forces in our town. Their shop has always been fairly honest."

The other two were the Black Tiger Gang and the White Ram Gang, both of which had quite a few shops under their names as well. After all, aside from collecting protection fees and the like, those gang factions all had other businesses to some extent.

After examining the prey, Su Qingwei turned to Lin Fan. Her eyes held traces of surprise, admiration, and tenderness. "This is an adult mountain boar Ferocious Beast. It is fierce by nature; even several Muscle Refinement Realm cultivators working together would find it difficult to kill. I never expected that you would hunt it alone, Young Master."

"The meat of this sort of Ferocious Beast is greatly beneficial to martial artists. After being processed, it can be made into pills or medicinal ingredients. Its bristles also have many uses." She paused, then held up three fingers, her eyes fixed on Lin Fan. "Young Master, would three thousand taels of silver be acceptable?"

The moment those words were spoken, the crowd outside erupted in an uproar.

"Good heavens, that price must already be the highest possible!"

"The Su Family truly is generous. If it were another shop, they would probably force the price down by a huge amount. The Su Family Shop is still the fairest."

Lin Fan's heart stirred. This price was much higher than what the Black Panther Ferocious Beast had sold for last time. "Yes."

Su Qingwei immediately instructed several servants who had hurried over after hearing the news. "Carry this Ferocious Beast into the rear courtyard for processing. Then fetch three thousand taels of silver and give them to Young Master Lin."

Four Su Family servants hurriedly answered and stepped forward, their arm muscles tightening as they worked together to lift the boar and carry it into the Su Family's rear courtyard.

Standing inside the Su Family Shop, Lin Fan pondered. He had nearly dug up all the medicinal herbs around Small Mountain Village. The ordinary beasts needed to be left for the villagers to hunt, and they were not worth much anyway. Lin Fan no longer cared much for such a small amount of silver. As for Ferocious Beasts, he had spent nearly all of yesterday roaming the deep mountains and forests far beyond Small Mountain Village before finding this one wild boar.

There were probably not many Ferocious Beasts left. Continuing to search inch by inch would not be worth the effort. Besides, with these three thousand taels, added to the more than two thousand taels in his system panel, he would not be short of money for the time being.

As for the villagers of Small Mountain Village, they had already received far more silver than before during this period. If he gave them more, first, they did not truly need it. Other than buying grain and daily necessities, the villagers of Small Mountain Village had nowhere else to spend much silver. Second, it would easily draw the attention of certain people. If they caught the eye of a Skin Tempering Realm martial artist, that would be dangerous.

His more than five thousand taels of silver were already enough for him to attempt to break through to the Bright Force Realm. Once he reached the Bright Force Realm, there would undoubtedly be many more ways to solve any problems concerning money. What he needed to do next was prepare and seek out an Inner Qi Circulation Method, laying the groundwork for breaking through from the Late Bone Tempering Realm into the Bright Force Realm of the Three Qi-Force Realms.

Such Inner Qi Circulation Methods occasionally appeared at auctions. Some martial factions also possessed them. Although those forces might not have Bright Force Realm experts, they had usually been established for a long time. They generally had some Inner Qi Circulation Methods, either left behind by elders of their Lineage or purchased at auction.

Thus, Lin Fan decided to remain in town from now on. He would first rely on his Alchemy, refining some pills in his spare time to sell. If his luck was good, the silver he earned would not be little.

As for the Inner Qi Circulation Method, he could only take things one step at a time. He could either bid for one at an auction or join a martial faction and exchange for one. In any case, he still had some time before reaching the Late Bone Tempering Realm. There was no need to rush this matter.