Horsehead Mountain

"Didn't you know, junior brother?"

Wang Dun looked at He Pingsheng with a sleazy grin and said, "One bottle of this low-grade Blazing Sun Flower pollen can fetch more than ninety spirit stones!"

"If we take half a bottle and sell it, you can have thirty stones, and I'll take twenty!"

"How about it?"

He Pingsheng shook his head. "You're being foolish, senior brother... We'd have to sell this pollen to the Abundant Harmony Manor, and they're surely acquainted with Senior Kumu. If we sell it behind his back, wouldn't we be walking straight into the net?"

"Heh, heh..." Wang Dun chuckled. "You have a point!"

"Then we can keep it for now and sell it after some time has passed. The Abundant Harmony Manor might not notice us then!"

He Pingsheng said again, "You're being foolish again, senior brother. Senior Kumu said this pollen loses its fire spiritual power very easily. Once all that fire spiritual power has dissipated, won't it be worthless? How could we exchange it for spirit stones?"

"Ha ha ha..." At He Pingsheng's words, Wang Dun burst out laughing. "Good, good... Well said!"

"Junior brother, I was actually testing you just now!"

"I was worried you might secretly stash some pollen away!"

"You're right. Even if we hid some of this pollen, it would be useless!"

"First, the two of us certainly couldn't sell it!"

"Second... If we kept it too long-and it wouldn't take long-all the spiritual power in it would be gone within three months!"

"I didn't expect you to be so clever, junior brother. You saw through it at a glance."

"Here, these three spirit stones are yours!" Wang Dun took out three spirit stones and handed them to He Pingsheng. "Senior Kumu told me to prepare them. He said that if you passed the test, these three spirit stones would serve as payment for your hard work these past few days!"

"If you hadn't passed, you'd have been in for a savage beating today!"

Goose bumps sprang up all over He Pingsheng's body.

Damn it!

These people really were something. Every last one of them was adept at scheming.

"Thank you, senior brother!" He Pingsheng bowed and accepted the three spirit stones.

He now had five spirit stones.

That fellow True Person Kumu was quite generous.

Hmm... Probably because he earned so much.

Senior Brother Wang Dun had just said that one bottle of this stuff sold for more than ninety spirit stones. Ten bottles a month meant nine hundred.

He drew in several sharp breaths.

Sure enough!

It was because he earned so much.

"Let's go!" Wang Dun took out a Paper Crane.

He Pingsheng asked, "Where are we going?"

Wang Dun said, "Where else... To the Horsehead Mountain market to sell Senior Kumu's pollen. If we wait until its fire properties dissipate, who could bear the responsibility?"

"Activate..."

Wang Dun fed a wisp of his spiritual power into it, and the Paper Crane instantly transformed into a yellow immortal crane.

Of course, it wasn't a real immortal crane, only a puppet, and not a particularly convincing one at that.

He Pingsheng had seen these Paper Cranes before on the second floor of the outer sect's Trade Pavilion. They sold for five spirit stones each, could carry a thousand jin, and could travel a thousand li in a day.

They could also be activated three times.

"Get on!" Wang Dun was the first to land on the Paper Crane, then said, "Junior Brother He, hurry up and get on too. There's no time to lose!"

"All right!" He Pingsheng figured Kumu and Wang Dun wouldn't go so far as to scheme against a penniless fellow like him, so he leaped onto the Paper Crane's back.

"Hold tight... Ho ho... Off we go..."

Whoosh...

The Paper Crane's wings fluttered slightly, and in an instant, it soared high into the sky.

The valley beneath their feet slowly shrank, as did the entire Great Void Sect.

It was He Pingsheng's first time flying, and everything felt unreal. He reached down and gave his own leg a hard pinch.

Beside him, Wang Dun roared with laughter. "Don't worry, you're not dreaming!"

"Junior Brother He, is this your first ride?"

He Pingsheng nodded. "Yes!"

"It's fine!" Wang Dun reassured him. "You'll get used to it after a few more rides!"

As he spoke, he controlled the Paper Crane's speed and direction, heading southeast.

"The Horsehead Mountain market is three thousand li from our Great Void Sect. Not far. We can get there in a morning. We'll leave at dawn, arrive at noon, and still make it back to the Great Void Sect before nightfall!"

The wind whipped around them, distorting even Wang Dun's voice.

Just as Wang Dun had said, about two double-hours later, the two descended from the sky and landed in a valley.

The valley was enormous, with a small town at its entrance.

The town was filled with all sorts of people, all of them cultivators.

It bustled with activity.

He Pingsheng swept his divine sense outward. Most of the cultivators coming and going were at the fourth level or below.

"Junior Brother He..." Wang Dun said, "Don't casually use your divine sense like that. It's very rude. If you run into an ill-tempered cultivator, it could lead to a fight. People losing their lives over such things is all too common."

He Pingsheng hadn't known this before, and he hurriedly withdrew his divine sense.

Wang Dun continued, "This is the Horsehead Mountain market!"

"Within ten thousand li of here, there are several dozen sects like our Great Void Sect. All of them belong to an alliance called the Daoist Profound Alliance."

"Horsehead Mountain is more or less at the center of the Daoist Profound Alliance, so they established a market here!"

"It lets everyone mingle and exchange what they have for what they need!"

"Of course, it isn't just sect disciples here. There are plenty of rogue cultivators too!"

After listening to Wang Dun, He Pingsheng gained some understanding of Horsehead Mountain and the Daoist Profound Alliance.

He Pingsheng followed Wang Dun along the way.

He noticed that there were a great many trading firms here at Horsehead Mountain.

At a glance, both sides of the street were lined with trading firms selling all manner of goods.

Quite a few individual cultivators had also set up stalls on the ground.

Wang Dun pulled He Pingsheng straight into the shop called the Abundant Harmony Manor.

"Shopkeeper Liu!" Wang Dun walked up to the counter and chuckled. "I'm a disciple of True Person Kumu from the Great Void Sect!"

"Oh!" Shopkeeper Liu looked up. "So you're Fellow Daoist Kumu's disciples. Welcome, welcome... What brings you here...?"

Wang Dun said, "Our master couldn't come because he had something to attend to, so he sent us disciples to sell some pollen for him. It's all fine Blazing Sun Flower pollen. Please take a look!"

As he spoke, He Pingsheng opened a cloth bundle containing eleven bottles.

"Heh..." Shopkeeper Liu smiled. "All right... Let me have a look!"

He carefully opened every bottle. After inspecting them all, he nodded. "Not bad. Ten and a half bottles altogether, all low-grade quality. At the previously agreed price of ninety-six spirit stones per bottle, that comes to one thousand and eight!"

"All right, you can go now!"

With that, Shopkeeper Liu simply waved them away.

He Pingsheng froze. We're supposed to leave without getting any spirit stones?

Then Shopkeeper Liu added, "Wait... I need to write you a stamped receipt. Otherwise, you two won't be able to account for this to that fellow Kumu, will you?"