Grandmaster Level

"Seventy percent?"

A red-backed knifefish weighing over two jin brought in just over seven hundred copper coins after it was sold. They were truly stripping the bones and sucking out the marrow.

Xu Fan felt that if his surname were Tang, he could say, You already have a way to die.

If his surname were Chen, he could also say, Why should I explain my actions to anyone else?

Unfortunately, he couldn't.

He'd better keep a low profile.

He was a dignified immortal cultivator. Was he afraid he couldn't outlive these martial artists?

Just wait for the day he struck them down from a higher dimension!

By now, the fish market had demoted Li Tieyi to overseer and sent a stronger Blood Exchange martial artist to serve as manager.

Xu Fan put away the money from selling the fish and returned to the tavern whose name he didn't know.

"I'll buy a miscellany later and see if the Taiji Dao Evolution Diagram reacts. Otherwise, learning to read will take too long."

He couldn't help being illiterate in this life. Born into a lowly household of the lowest class, he'd had trouble getting enough to eat and wear, let alone any chance to study.

As soon as he entered the tavern, he heard people discussing the Wedding Robe Divine Art, the Northern Pacification Office, and the campaign against the bandits.

He found a seat in a corner, ordered some food and wine, and listened as he ate.

"I've never seen such a huge operation in my life. A Hundred Household Commander from the Northern Pacification Office led it, and the two gangs, three households, and four martial arts schools in the county seat all sent plenty of martial artists."

"They wanted to capture Lin Chu and wipe out the water bandits on Peach Blossom Spring Lake while they were at it."

"Who would've thought Lin Chu would use the Wedding Robe Divine Art to devour all the martial artists from the twelve water strongholds on Peach Blossom Spring Lake? His strength soared!"

"In the end, the Brocade-Clad Guard's Hundred Household Commander stepped in and beat Lin Chu so badly that he fled, grievously wounded, into the center of the lake."

"But no one's found Lin Chu's corpse. What if he's still alive..."

"Don't forget, a Grandmaster-level exotic beast appeared in the depths of Peach Blossom Spring Lake. That's what drove so many of the lake's treasure fish into the shallows."

"Exotic beasts are extremely sensitive to the presence of others. With those heavy injuries, Lin Chu is bound to end up in the beast's belly!"

So the Northern Pacification Office's Brocade-Clad Guard really did come.

Xu Fan wasn't surprised.

Even though he couldn't read in this life, he had heard of the Qin State's Northern Pacification Office.

Even though imperial authority didn't reach the countryside, and the Northern Pacification Office only maintained Hundred Household Offices in county seats, its people sometimes appeared in towns and villages too.

Whenever they did, it meant something major was afoot.

The Northern Pacification Office was charged with overseeing the martial world, so it had to deal with anyone cultivating the Wedding Robe Divine Art.

The Wedding Robe Divine Art advanced extremely quickly and had no bottlenecks to breakthroughs. If they acted too slowly, the situation could become difficult to handle.

The fiend who had thrown Yin Mountain Prefecture into turmoil before was said to be still at large, precisely because he had been discovered too late.

Judging by Lin Chu's circumstances, he has a bit of luck on his side. He can't really be that hard to kill, can he?

So many people went after him, and they still let him escape?

There's something about this Peach Blossom Spring Lake. Besides an immortal cultivator like me, there's Liang Chi and Lin Chu, who cultivates the Wedding Robe Divine Art.

Now I know what happened in the depths of Peach Blossom Spring Lake too. A Grandmaster-level exotic beast actually appeared.

Xu Fan finally understood why the number of treasure fish in the shallows had increased so much.

But Grandmaster-level exotic beasts had appeared in Peach Blossom Spring Lake before, and there had been no obvious increase in treasures in the shallows then.

It should have something to do with that heavenly phenomenon.

After sitting for quite a while and eating and drinking his fill, Xu Fan left without a word.

He bought half a sack of white rice, then went to a bookshop and asked for a travelogue of the Qin State.

Did someone with designs on me notice me after all?

On his way back, Xu Fan realized that someone had taken notice of him.

Come to think of it, that made sense.

A fisherman who ate white rice and used official salt, and bought jade wares and books, was bound to attract attention, even if he only came once every month or half a month.

If not for the recent surge in the number of treasure fish, and Lin Chu killing the fish market's overseer and devouring quite a few local ruffians, there might have been plenty of trouble already.

It probably started when I bought the jade wares.

White rice and official salt were one thing, but buying jade wares really was too conspicuous.

What would a fisherman spend a fortune on a jade bottle for?

But he needed a jade vessel to hold the Moonlight Yin Qi.

If I can beat them, I'll fight. If I can't, I'll hide in the Land of Wu for a while. I'm nearly ready to form a Circulation Wheel anyway.

He had known it was only a matter of time before someone noticed something unusual about him, so he didn't dwell on it. He had kept a way to enter the Land of Wu at any time precisely as a precaution.

Once he formed a Circulation Wheel, he really wouldn't have to fear those Blood Exchange martial artists, not with the Golden Light Technique for both attack and defense.

"Little Xu, is that you? Netted another treasure fish?"

He ran into a smiling Old Man Huang coming the other way, carrying a strip of cured meat and a small bag of old rice. He couldn't hide the delight on his face.

"Cured meat? Did you land a big one?"

Xu Fan glanced at it in surprise.

Fishermen were usually reluctant to buy meat. Most filled their bellies with brown rice and wild greens, along with leftover small fish and shrimp they couldn't sell.

The fish market was taking seventy percent as a stall fee now, yet Old Man Huang could still smile?

"There are more treasure fish about, and this old man and his two good-for-nothing sons got lucky. So I bought some meat to take home as a treat."

Old Man Huang smiled, showing a mouthful of yellow-black teeth. He looked at the bag in Xu Fan's hand, where white grains of rice could just be made out:

"You, though, are living better and better. You're even eating white rice now."

"You're not getting any younger. While your luck's good and you can net treasure fish, save your money and get a wife, so your family line can carry on."

"If you're willing, I could find you a match. Besides, my Er Ya will be fifteen next year, so how about..."

Before Old Man Huang could finish, Xu Fan hurriedly interrupted him. How was it that even in another world, someone was still urging him to get married?

Were all old people like this?

"I'll think about it. When I get married in a couple of years, I'll be sure to invite you."

With that, he picked up his things and hurried away.

Old Man Huang sighed.

Across the street.

Inside the jade shop.

"The man you mentioned-judging by his Qi and Blood, he has indeed reached the Qi and Blood Realm."

A woman in a blue dress, her face veiled with light gauze, slowly withdrew her gaze from Xu Fan's departing figure.

The woman was around twenty, with a bearing like water and deep eyes. Her voice was gentle, yet carried a note that brooked no doubt.

The richly dressed old man before her, his hair and beard entirely white, was the owner of the jade shop.

At that moment, he was bowing as he reported in a low voice:

"Young miss, according to my investigation, this man is named Xu Fan, and he comes from a fishing family."

"More than three months ago, a heavenly phenomenon appeared over Peach Blossom Spring Lake, and emperor flow serum descended into the center of the lake. The Canal Gang ordered the fishermen on the lake to scout the deep waters, and his parents died as a result."

"Afterward, Elder Wang came and obtained two portions of emperor flow serum. He gave one to his son, but unexpectedly, Jiang Yunhe killed him and took it."

"Xu Fan must have obtained martial arts left behind by someone from an earlier time during that period and cultivated his Qi and Blood."

A month ago, after seeing Xu Fan come to buy a jade bottle, he had dug up every last detail of his background within a few days.

He had thought Xu Fan was another cultivator of the Wedding Robe Divine Art.

"He hasn't even brought his Qi and Blood to completion in three months. That may be passable in Yin Mountain Prefecture as a whole, but looking at all of Qingzhou, it falls far short."

The woman in the blue dress shook her head slightly, losing interest, then spoke softly:

"What about Liang Chi? Has he decided whether to join our Clearwater Sect?"

"His talent is no weaker than mine. He has now completed his second Blood Exchange and will surely reach the Grandmaster Realm in the future."