Lu Shang surveyed the Outer Star Sea.
As far as his eyes could reach, there was nothing but ocean. Apart from the direction of the Guluan Islands, no other islands were in sight.
Lu Shang genuinely admired those who still intended to stay here.
This place was so remote that even reaching the nearest teleportation formation by boat would take several months with good luck. If anything unexpected happened along the way, not only might they fail to arrive, even their lives would be at risk.
The demon beast horde they had encountered last time was the best proof.
And out in the open sea, demon beast hordes were even more numerous.
It was something of a miracle that these people could keep surviving here.
Lu Shang had not been idle over the past ten-odd days, either.
After entering the Guluan Islands, he had sought out bookstores and similar shops and read through their books.
Then he had asked someone to explain the history of the Chaotic Star Sea in detail.
Through those books and the explanations of the Chaotic Star Sea's native inhabitants, Lu Shang had learned not only the particulars of this region, but even its language.
Since coming to this world, Lu Shang had found learning a language almost effortless.
Simply listening to people speak and applying his own understanding was enough for him to learn it.
Lu Shang felt this might also be because his soul was merging with this world.
As for the Mind-Cleansing Art, Lu Shang had only cultivated its first layer.
He had skimmed the later sections, and the difficulty of cultivation rose almost vertically.
The offensive power of its later stages might even rival the Wild Desolation True Demon Art he was currently cultivating.
But it was exceedingly difficult to cultivate, no less demanding than the Wild Desolation True Demon Art.
Lu Shang glanced around and remembered the task he had entrusted to Steward Chang ten days ago.
"Come to think of it, those ten days have already passed. It's time to find him," Lu Shang muttered to himself.
With that, Lu Shang flew toward Steward Chang's residence.
Before long, Lu Shang arrived at Steward Chang's residence.
Rather than entering directly, he first swept the interior with his divine sense from outside the gate.
Steward Chang doesn't seem to be inside? Lu Shang thought.
Steward Chang had previously said it would only take a few days, yet ten days had now passed.
Lu Shang found this somewhat puzzling.
He walked up to the gate beneath a plaque reading "Chang Talisman" and knocked.
Before long, Lu Shang heard someone approaching at an unhurried pace.
The gate opened to reveal a middle-aged woman of about forty or fifty.
The woman was somewhat puzzled to see a young man with an extraordinary bearing and fine clothing standing outside the residence.
As far as she remembered, her husband rarely befriended men who looked this young.
Most were around his own age, or even older.
"Who are you?" the woman asked in confusion.
"You must be Madam Chang. I made an appointment with Steward Chang ten days ago. May I ask if he's here?" Lu Shang asked with a puzzled expression, pretending not to know that Steward Chang was absent.
The woman replied, "Old Chang has been gone for several days. I'm not sure where he went, either."
It sounds like Steward Chang really did go out to handle my business. But it was only a single demon beast. It shouldn't have taken this long, Lu Shang reasoned upon hearing this.
"Did Steward Chang mention where he was going before he left?"
Lu Shang now suspected that something unexpected might have happened, so he decided to get straight to the point and find out where Steward Chang had gone. Then he could go see for himself whether anything had truly gone wrong.
"That I don't know. My old man is always like this. But I remember him mentioning some sort of market before he left," the woman said.
At this point, she seemed to realize that something might have happened to her husband.
In moments, worry covered her face, making every wrinkle stand out.
"Nothing's happened to Old Chang, has it?"
Lu Shang saw the worry on her face and the tears glimmering in her eyes as she clasped her hands tightly and looked at him.
"I don't know. It's just that the matter I entrusted to him is very important to me."
"In that case, I won't disturb you any longer. I'll be going."
With that, Lu Shang quickly left the Chang Residence.
Although Lu Shang had done his best to make it seem that he merely needed the matter handled urgently, the woman left behind did not believe him.
Usually, whenever her husband returned from a voyage, he would stay home for quite some time before heading out to sea again.
And when he had to set sail again so soon after returning, someone would generally come to the residence to notify them. This time, however, no one had.
She had originally only suspected that some urgent matter had required him to sail, but Lu Shang's visit had brought her an ominous sign.
Steward Chang almost never failed to keep an appointment.
Even if something unexpected happened, he would leave instructions for his wife and daughter to handle it. This time, he had left no instructions at all and had been gone for ten-odd days.
At that thought, tears streamed from both her eyes.
Meanwhile, after walking elsewhere, Lu Shang also began to feel that something might truly have happened to Steward Chang.
A fifth-rank demon beast was indeed nothing particularly valuable to Lu Shang.
Even in places where cultivators gathered, there were plenty of cases of Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators surrounding and killing Fifth-Stage Demon Beasts.
But after coming here, Lu Shang had also heard about the local circumstances.
There were so few cultivators here that even those at the Qi Refining Stage could be entrusted with important duties. That was why Steward Chang, who was at the Mid Qi Refinement Stage, enjoyed considerable prestige here.
However, because cultivators were so scarce and cultivation resources so lacking, no cultivator at the Core Formation Stage or above was willing to settle here permanently.
Of the few cultivators here, the overwhelming majority were at the Qi Refining Stage, with only a small number at Foundation Establishment.
With their numbers so small, any Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator who lived here permanently was bound to command a considerable force.
As for the market the woman had just mentioned, it was most likely within the territory of one of those Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators.
There was no denying that Fifth-Stage Demon Beast carcasses and demon beast cores were exceedingly rare here.
A Qi Refining Stage cultivator carrying a Fifth-Stage Demon Beast and its Demon Beast Core could indeed attract someone's covetous gaze and bring a calamity down upon his head.
Lu Shang had not considered this problem when he instructed Steward Chang to sell the demon beast carcass and its Demon Beast Core.
Now, finding out exactly where Steward Chang was would require a thorough investigation.
After a day of investigation, Lu Shang discovered that although there were quite a few shops here, both openly and behind the scenes, bearing names of various markets, there was more to consider.
Only a handful dealt in demon beasts.
And to seize a Qi Refining Stage cultivator with ease, one of those establishments would need someone with Foundation Establishment Stage strength.
According to Lu Shang's investigation, only three beast markets here had Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators overseeing them.
They were the largest beast market in the northern Guluan Islands, the one in the central region, and the one in the south.
These three factions were essentially the main powers of the Guluan Islands.
They had divided the twenty-seven principal islands among themselves, each holding its own sphere of influence.
The harbor where Steward Chang worked lay within the central faction's territory.
After some thought, Lu Shang decided that Steward Chang was most likely to have gone to this central faction.
Whether in terms of distance or the people involved, it was the most suitable choice.
The other two factions both had some friction with the central faction. Steward Chang could not have been foolish enough to conduct this transaction under either of them.
Doing so would have offered no benefit whatsoever, either to himself or to his family.
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