Chapter 425: The Sigh of the Poor

The Green-Fish Pond was a body of water located more than a hundred li away from Flying-Dragon Fortress. It wasn't particularly large, but it was very deep. The pond was home to a green-scaled fish with tender and delicious meat, making it one of the most popular species of fish in Emerald Sky Waters.

The people of the Flying-Dragon Fortress had gone down to the pond to fish for these green-scaled fish, and that was when they noticed that the number of green-scaled fish in the pond had decreased sharply. One of their skilled and courageous members went into the pond to investigate what was going on, and he discovered a blooming Trifloral Goldgrass.

Unfortunately, just as that person was about to pick it, a golden draconic python emerged to protect its treasure. Obviously, this python was the culprit behind the disappearance of the green-scaled fish in the pond.

The golden draconic python injured several of the men from the Flying-Dragon Fortress and nearly swallowed two of them. The men fled in a sorry state, returning to the Flying-Dragon Fortress to report to their chief. It just so happened to be when Chu Liang was there, and he overheard the report.

"Chief..." Chu Liang said "I am in need of a treasure of nature for my cultivation, and this Trifloral Goldgrass is perfect for that. How about selling this spirit plant to me?"

Wu Yinhai was preparing to lead his men to eliminate the golden draconic python and avenge his brothers.

However, when he heard what Chu Liang said, he looked at Chu Liang in bewilderment. "Sell it to you?"

Wu Qingfeng laughed and said, "Brother Lin Bei, it's not that we look down on you... but you're a disciple of a sect in the Divine Nine. A spirit plant like this would sell for a drastically higher price than if you were to buy it from your sect..."

The Flying-Dragon Fortress was mostly composed of martial artists who needed treasures of nature that could boost their qi, blood, and physique for cultivation. The Trifloral Goldgrass was not one of them, so for the Flying-Dragon Fortress, it was merely something to be sold for money.

However, the asking price for that spirit plant was not a price an ordinary junior disciple could afford. That's why they looked at Chu Liang strangely, thinking he probably had no idea how much this spirit plant was worth outside his sect.

"I know, and I won't pay you less than it's worth," Chu Liang replied with a smile. "I'm willing to pay eight thousand Vermillion-Bird coins for it. But I don't have that much on me right now, so I'll give you four thousand as a deposit first.

"I'll go to the pond myself and take only one shot at retrieving the Trifloral Goldgrass. If I succeed, I'll come back later and pay the remaining four thousand. If I fail, you can keep the deposit, and you can try to take the spirit plant for yourselves afterward."

Everyone around him fell silent.

The men of Flying-Dragon Fortress looked at each other and finally realized that it wasn't that Chu Liang didn't know how much this spirit plant was worth. Rather, it was they who didn't know how much money Chu Liang had.

A mere junior disciple of the Mount Shu Sect has that much in savings?

Eight thousand?

How could he say it so casually? Did he not value that money at all?

Contrary to what the members of the Flying-Dragon Fortress thought, Chu Liang had been quite reserved with that offer; he could easily afford eight thousand Vermillion-Bird coins. Nevertheless, he feared that offering a higher price would reveal his wealth and cause these "heroes" to set their greedy eyes on him.

So, he mentioned that he only had four thousand on him and would pay the rest if he succeeded in obtaining the spirit plant. That would greatly reduce the chance that they would harbor bad intentions toward him.

Nonetheless, even if they had bad intentions, Chu Liang wasn't partcularly worried. After all, he still had Venerable Wen Yuan's jade talisman in his possession. It would allow him to escape instantly if his life was in danger.

Chu Liang wasn't being very vigilant, but even that low level of vigilance was unnecessarily excessive. Wu Yinhai dared to consider Di Nufeng his enemy, but it was likely only in his thoughts. He probably wouldn't dare make a move even if Di Nufeng were standing right in front of him.

It didn't matter if they were confident they were capable of stopping Chu Liang from leaving. Even if they were, how could they, dare to casually kill a disciple of the Mount Shu Sect when they had families to care for and a business to run?

The imperial court could not use excessive force to control them because it would be unlawful, but that was of no concern to immortal sects. Years ago, a disciple of the Valley of the Three Absolutes had been killed in a village within Emerald Sky Waters. The next day, the entire village was slaughtered, regardless of whether they were innocent. As long as they knew the perpetrator had been hiding among them, they were treated as accomplices who harbored the perpetrator and were killed together with the perpetrator.

Since then, no village in the Emerald Sky Waters dared to touch anyone from the Divine Nine or the Terrestrial Ten.

The Valley of the Three Absolutes had both righteous and diabolical aspects, but the Mount Shu Sect was an traditional righteous sect, so it might not act in the same way. Nevertheless, that was something no one knew for certain since the Mount Shu Sect had produced someone like Di Nufeng... If someone were to say that everyone in that sect was a good person, even a child wouldn't believe that to be true.

After a brief consideration, Wu Yinhai looked at Mister Qingfeng and asked, "Advisor, is eight thousand... okay?"

Wu Yinhai wasn't very knowledgeable about the prices of spirit plants, but he felt that this amount was probably on the higher end.

Wu Qingfeng, on the other hand, was very familiar with the prices of spirit plants. Spirit plants were sold at high prices in legitimate markets, but the members of the Flying-Dragon Fortress operated in the gray market[1], so the legitimate stores that bought from them always made very low offers. If a store sold a spirit plant for eight thousand Vermillion-Bird coins, the Flying-Dragon Fortress would get at most three thousand for it.

Of course, the Flying-Dragon Fortress could list the spirit plant for sale themselves and only pay a commission for the listing. However, in that case, they'd have to wait for a buyer, so it would take a really long time before they could get the money. After all, there weren't many buyers who could easily afford eight thousand Vermillion-Bird coins.

Eight thousand Vermillion-Bird coins were just a number to Chu Liang. However, for these sectless cultivators, it might even take them ten years to save up that much—or even twenty years if they're unlucky.

Wu Qingfeng's long train of thought condensed into one word.

"Okay!" Wu Qingfeng answered, nodding firmly.

"

Hahaha

, great!" Wu Yinhai said. "The enemy of Di Nufeng is my friend, so I'll tell you the location of the Trifloral Goldgrass. As for what you said about only taking one shot at picking the spirit plant, let's just take that as a joke. Brother Lin Bei, take as many tries as you want. If you can't get it, you can come to us for help. We, the Flying-Dragon Fortress, have our doors wide open just for you!"

"In that case, I thank you, Chief Wu," Chu Liang replied, cupping his hands in gratitude.

After that, he asked for the location of Green-Fish Pond. Then he gave them a jade talisman and even wrote them a promissory note.

While seeing Chu Liang off, Wu Qingfeng whispered to him, "Brother, our chief is concerned about his reputation and finds it hard to say some things frankly. The grudge he has against Di Nufeng—don't spread it around when you go back. We've never thought about seeking revenge in this lifetime. We'll be doomed if she hears about it and decides to come and kill us all."

"Mr. Qingfeng, rest assured," Chu Liang said sincerely. "I won't tell anyone, and even if Di Nufeng knows, she won't take action... There are at least eight thousand people in the world who consider her an enemy. Can she chase them all?"

Hearing that, Wu Qingfeng finally felt at ease and smiled. "That's true."

Before Chu Liang left, Wu Yinhai had maintained his demeanor as an elder brother. He had not even glanced at the jade talisman and instead let his subordinates inspect it.

Yet, as soon as Chu Liang left, Wu Yinhai's mouth twisted into a crooked grin.

He shouted at his underlings, "Quick, let me see! Let me see! Well, damn. There really are four thousand Vermillion-Bird coins in here."

These pirates were on the fringes between the world of immortality cultivators and the martial community. They usually only plundered gold and silver treasures from ships. After all, items from the world of immortality cultivators rarely needed to be transported by ship, so the members of the Flying-Dragon Fortress wouldn't find them on the ships they robbed.

Consequently, they were quite wealthy in terms of gold and silver. However, the gold and silver of the secular mortal realm couldn't be exchanged for Vermillion-Bird coins, let alone legendary weapons or the Great Pill of Qi and Blood.

In the world of immortality cultivators, the Flying-Dragon Fortress could be described as nothing more than a den of poor men.

One of Wu Yinhai's underlings asked, "Chief, what if he successfully takes the Trifloral Goldgrass and doesn't come back to pay the other half?"

"

Hah,

don't worry about it." Wu Yinhai waved his hand relaxedly. "He doesn't look like he's short on money. Throwing out such a huge number like it's nothing—he's most likely a foolish second-generation of a wealthy cultivator family."

"Yeah. Four thousand Vermillion-Bird coins is already a big profit. We couldn't get that price even if we sold it to a store in Taotie City." Wu Qingfeng nodded in agreement and waved around the promissory note. "Besides, didn't he leave us this promissory note? He's got the Mount Shu Sect as his guarantor, and he even wrote these five big words 'Jade Sword Peak, Lin Bei' and stamped it.

"Just check the pond tomorrow. If he takes the Trifloral Goldgrass and leaves without paying, we'll just go to Mount Shu and demand they pay us! They're a sect ranked in the Divine Nine. Surely they wouldn't cheat us out of this little bit of money."

"Yeah, he's really rich," the giant Wu Lei said gloomily.

The group exchanged glances and suddenly fell silent.

After a while, Wu Yinhai let out a heavy sigh, "

Haaa!

"

The others did the same.

The men of the Flying-Dragon Fortress gazed in the direction that Chu Liang had left, and they all let out a collective sigh of the poor.

1. They deal in both legally and illegally obtained goods. ☜