bookbashuk Chapter 212 Crescent Island Market
Chapter 212 Crescent Island Market
After a meal, Du Fan, Zhao Chong, and Yuan Li returned to the wooden cabins in the valley.
"Brother Du, Brother Zhao, I didn't step forward just now, this matter..." Yuan Li's face was a little flushed. He suddenly came to the two of them, clasped his hands and spoke.
"Brother Yuan, what are you doing? In that situation, only I could step in. If you had actually stepped forward, the three of us would have been in serious trouble!" Zhao Chong frowned and waved his hand to stop Yuan Li from speaking.
Zhao Chong then looked at Du Fan, his expression apologetic, cupped his hands in a gesture of respect, and said:
"Brother Du, what Hall Master Ma did just now happens every few months. He claims to be collecting management fees for the island on behalf of the island lord, but in reality, it's extortion, and in the end, all the spirit stones end up in his own pocket."
This is not just happening in our valley; it is happening throughout the entire Crescent Island.
The island's higher-ups would turn a blind eye to such matters. Moreover, these hall masters would bribe their superiors after receiving the spirit stones, so the island's guardians would not say anything.
Brother Du, to be honest, this is all my fault. There is an unwritten rule in our valley that a newcomer must hand over thirty spirit stones when he first faces extortion from the hall master.
I completely forgot about something so important, sigh…
"Brother Zhao, what are you saying? I'm so grateful for your bravery just now. Otherwise, I might have lost my life. By the way, about the spirit stones from earlier..." Du Fan still had five deep blood grooves on his face, but he didn't care. He smiled slightly at Zhao Chong, reached into his storage bag, and was about to take out the spirit stones.
"Brother Du, let's not talk about spirit stones anymore. If you calculate it this way, each of those demon cores is worth more than these spirit stones." Zhao Chong frowned and immediately spoke up.
Du Fan remained silent for a moment, nodded to the two of them, and without saying anything more, turned around and walked towards his wooden house.
"Sigh, let's go back too." Zhao Chong looked at Du Fan's slightly desolate back, his expression extremely complicated. After a long while, he sighed heavily.
……
Du Fan returned to the wooden house, released the restrictions, and sat on the wooden bed. His face was extremely gloomy, and his eyes were filled with murderous intent.
He patted his storage bag with one hand and took out an item, which was none other than the piece of talisman wood covered with fine cracks and still had enough power for one more strike.
With Du Fan's powerful divine sense, he could tell that Master Ma only had the cultivation of the early stage of Foundation Establishment. If he used this talisman wood, he was 90% confident that he could kill him directly.
Moreover, if Zhao Chong hadn't stood between him and Master Ma, Du Fan, in his rage, would most likely have done just that.
However, Du Fan quickly calmed down. With the talisman wood in hand, killing Master Ma might not be difficult, but what about afterwards...?
"He's doomed!" he muttered to himself, his eyes flashing with a cold light and a strong rage.
Du Fan took a deep breath, slowly closed his eyes, and after a long while, when he opened them again, his eyes were filled with calm.
He suddenly raised one hand and made a strange finger seal. The next moment, the grim blood groove on his cheek began to writhe, heal, scab over, and fall off at a speed visible to the naked eye...
After the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the wound on his face had healed completely, leaving no trace.
This method is a self-healing technique that comes with the body after the "Indestructible Vajra Body" technique has been mastered to a minor level. As long as the external injury is not too serious, it can be recovered in a short time without any aftereffects.
Then Du Fan took out the small bottle filled with ginseng essential oil, opened the cap, took a drop, and began his cultivation.
This time, Du Fan didn't cultivate for long. On the evening of the second day, he opened his eyes, removed the room's restrictions, quietly left the wooden house, and ran off in one direction.
Du Fan's trip was to a cultivation market on the island. If it weren't for the extortion by Hall Master Ma, he would have set off the day before.
When Du Fan was hunting for demon cores at sea, he already knew that the nearest market town was about three and a half days away, and that was where Du Fan was headed.
The journey was quite smooth. With his movement technique fully activated and him traveling at top speed, he arrived at the market town in just three days.
Of course, all of this is thanks to Du Fan's powerful divine sense and the invisibility ring, which allowed him to bypass some cultivators in advance and avoid a lot of trouble for himself.
The cultivation market differs from ordinary markets. Not only are all customers cultivators, but even the shop owners and servants are rarely ordinary people. Therefore, the cultivation market is basically open day and night.
After arriving near the market, Du Fan thought for a moment and decided not to go in directly. Instead, he stayed temporarily in a village inhabited by ordinary people, planning to go there the next morning. At that time, there would be the fewest cultivators in the market, and the risk would be greatly reduced.
Du Fan did not intend to stay at the villagers' homes. Instead, he quietly came to the foot of a giant tree with lush foliage, and with a leap, he instantly appeared on the treetop, where he sat down to meditate and regulate his breathing.
As dawn broke the next day, Du Fan opened his eyes, flipped over, and landed steadily on the ground. Then, with a swift movement, he headed straight for the Cultivation Market.
This village is not far from the cultivation market; at Du Fan's speed, he can arrive in the time it takes to eat a meal.
Just as the outline of the market town was fully visible to Du Fan, he suddenly stopped, glanced ahead, and a strange expression appeared on his face.
Not far ahead of Du Fan, seven or eight young fishermen walked towards him.
Each of these people carried bags full of seafood, as well as fishing nets, hooks, and other fishing gear.
With a sweep of his divine sense, Du Fan knew that these fishermen had had a great haul this time, and each of their faces was beaming with joy.
However, upon seeing Du Fan, their joy vanished, replaced by panic. They quickly put down everything they were carrying, stepped forward, and bowed deeply to Du Fan, saying respectfully:
"This humble one pays respects to the Venerable Master."
"Where do you live?" Du Fan glanced at the group and asked casually.
"We are a few men, and we all live in a village not far ahead," one of the older men replied, bowing with trembling hands.
"Okay, I understand. You can leave now." Du Fan nodded slightly, and after saying that, he moved swiftly, bypassing the fishermen, and appeared seven or eight zhang away in the blink of an eye.
"Respectfully seeing off the Venerable Master."
Upon seeing this, the fishermen wiped the cold sweat from their foreheads, still shaken. Only after Du Fan disappeared from their sight did they hurriedly leave, their earlier joy completely gone, replaced by extreme fear.
……
"It's still good to have some demon cores on hand. However, it would be best if we could capture demon beasts at sea, since we can't keep using the demon cores we buy to replace the items for our missions."
Du Fan paused at the entrance of the market and pondered for a moment.
"Zhao Chong and Yuan Li probably don't have any ill intentions towards me now, but if I keep taking out demon cores, it's hard to say what will happen in the long run."
"Those fishermen gave me quite an idea. Catching monsters and fishing are essentially the same. Monsters are just stronger fish. As long as I have an equally powerful fishing net, I can still do the same thing."
Du Fan's eyes flashed with a strange light, and his mind raced.
"I've heard that demonic beasts and magical beasts are not quite the same. They are both alien races at the Qi Refining stage. Among magical beasts below level three, quite a few can awaken some intelligence. That little guy Xueying is one of them."
However, low-level demonic beasts almost never develop intelligence, so to me, they... are just fish!
Du Fan smiled slightly and stepped into the cultivation market.
The market town wasn't very big, and Du Fan leisurely strolled around it for about half an hour.
Du Fan discovered that there were only a few dozen small shops here, and the size of these shops made him frown. Not to mention an existence like the Seven Star Merchant Alliance, he couldn't even find a single mid-sized cultivation shop like Penglai Pavilion in Qingke City.
As Du Fan had predicted, there weren't many cultivators in the cultivation market at this time. He estimated that there were at most a dozen or so cultivators in the entire market.
Moreover, these people all looked wary, and left immediately after making their purchases. It seems they were making the same plan as Du Fan, not wanting to attract attention or cause trouble.
Du Fan arrived at an inconspicuous shop. Inside, there was only an old man in a blue robe, who was slumped over the counter, half asleep.
Du Fan scanned the old man in the green robe with his divine sense and found that he was only a cultivator at the second level of the Qi Refining stage. Given the old man's age, it was only at the second level of the Qi Refining stage. It seemed that his cultivation in this life would probably stop here.
"Cough..." He coughed lightly as he felt relieved.
"Hmm? Ah, I was rude just now, please forgive me, fellow Daoist." The old man in the green robe quickly stood up, wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth, and said with a hint of embarrassment, cupping his hands in greeting.
"It's alright," Du Fan said calmly, glancing at the old man.
"Whatever you wish to buy, please feel free to ask. Although our shop may not seem large, we have a wide variety of goods and will certainly not disappoint you," the old man selling oil noodles said with a friendly smile.
"Do you have anything here to deal with monsters?" Du Fan walked slowly to a row of wooden shelves, glanced at them casually, and asked without changing his expression.
"Of course we have them, but I'm not sure what level of demon beast you're talking about. If it's a mid-level or higher demon beast, do you not have such a thing in our shop?" The old man in the green robe asked tentatively, his eyes darting around.