“Nonsense.”
“All of you have Du surnames, but the lot of you are so incompetent.”
Several Elders stood up and left the Main Hall, but not before throwing some insults, no longer caring to give Du Hao and the rest a second look.
“Really nonsense. Everyone disperse.”
Du Zhenwu stood up, brushed his long sleeves and exited the Main Hall with the Du Clan experts.
Du Hao, Du Chong, Du Yan, and the group of nosy kinswomen stood dazedly in the Main Hall, they didn’t know what to say or do anymore. This result was totally out of their expectation, they initially thought that, even if Du Shaofu did not receive any punishment, at the very least, they would be able to get the Violent Stone Demon Wolf's blood essence and the two base building dans back. This was their only purpose, but who knew that not only they did not get anything back, they also lost all of their faces in the process.
The sun was high up in the sky when Du Shaofu left the MainHall. He first went back to the courtyard to store the Spirit Ink Sword into his storage pouch then headed to the Martial Collection Building.
At the Martial Collection Building, Fu Yibai was leaning leisurely in a wicker chair, a young man was cleaning the courtyard nearby.
Du Shaofu greeted Fu Yibai and walked straight into the Martial Collection Building, causing the other young man to feel envious.
This time entering the Martial Collection Building, Du Shaofu wanted to search for some information regarding the Spirit Talisman Master, what if he actually fell for Zhen Qingchun’s trick? Having some knowledge about it would make it harder for Zhen Qingchun to do so.
Unfortunately, in the entire Martial Collection Building Du Shaofu did not managed to find what he wanted, though he did find some simple introduction books on Spirit Talisman Master.
A Spirit Talisman Master is more exalted than a warrior. Amongst the human population, those who can become a warrior are rare, but becoming a Spirit Talisman Master is rarer, the requirements to become one is just too hard to meet that only a few people could manage to do so.
A Spirit Talisman Master's expertise ranges from refining dans, weapons, to formation arrays, all are part of a Spirit Talisman Master’s area of knowledge. However, according to rumors, there isn't a single Spirit Talisman Master who managed to master a single area.
Du Shaofu chatted a few words with Fu Yibai before he left the Martial Collection Building, then he went to the back mountains instead of going back to the courtyard.
“Interesting, it’s getting more and more interesting.”
Watching Du Shaofu’s disappearing silhouette, a faint smile appeared on Fu Yibai’s face. His eyes slowly closed as he leaned into the wicker chair, and said to the young man, “Put some effort in the cleaning, after this go sweep the floor…”
At the Du Clan’s back mountain, Du Shaofu took out all the elixirs in his storage pouch and stuffed it all into his mouth. If a Spirit Talisman Master saw this, their hearts would certainly ache terribly.
Directly swallowing elixirs without removing the impurities diminishes its effectiveness, and especially for a drug refining Spirit Talisman Master, this action is considered an abomination.
But why would Du Shaofu care about these; cultivating the Golden-winged Garuda’s exercise law could fully retain the elixirs' energy within his body, and with that self-harming physique refining law, it was equivalent to a Spirit Talisman Master’s Spiritual Dan.
“Rumble~~….”
Not long after that, a rumbling resounded from the Du Clan’s back mountain, the surrounding birds flew off in fright and wild animals sped away.
Du Shaofu wore a pair of cut-off bottoms, and his body was shrouded in a golden glow as he continuously threw his body against a cliff wall, as if he had a masochistic tendency.
Not far away, a wild kitten-sized Demonic Scale Tiger's was staring fixedly upon the golden runes that shrouded Du Shaofu's body, unmoving as if trying to comprehend something.
It was night before the rumbling sound from the back mountain ceased.
The energies from the elixirs had mostly been absorbed into his flesh. Then, he sat down to refine the remaining energies into xuanqi that gathered in his Shenque. Of course, all these elixirs that he had consumed cannot be compared to a single Blood-Infant Ganoderma.
“Hu~!”
Morning arrived as the sun shined down. In the back mountain, Du Shaofu breathed out a mouthful of foul qi and opened his eyes. A few drops of dew were hanging on his eyelashes, a gold hint of light was hidden deep within his pupils. The bruises and wounds from yesterday’s abuse had already healed completely.
“Should go and get the items on the list today.”
Du Shaofu muttered. He needed to go and get the materials that Zhen Qingchun requested.
The bustling streets of Stone City were filled with noises of people moving and talking, and the occasional peddler that yelled loudly, trying to attract some customers.
Du Shaofu came to the city to get the things on the list. He looked around with interest as he walked leisurely along the streets, he even bought some clothes and a good wine jug.
Fang Market was the most prosperous section of Stone City - An Family, Qing Family, Ye Family, and Bai Gamily had more than one store fronts here.
A variety of shops stood in the Fang Market that were filled with attractive goods, and amongst them, many stores sold items related to martial cultivation, from elixirs, to martial skills, and weapons, almost everything that is needed for cultivation can be found here.
And this was the best place to search for the things that he needed. Although Du Shaofu had gotten various elixirs from Skinny Tiger’s body, it was still far from enough to meet his requirements. He also needed a significant number of elixirs to supplement his physique training.
So, Du Shaofu thought that it would cost him a lot of xuanbi to complete Zhen Qingchun’s list, and he wouldn't be able to afford them unless he sold all of the things in his storage pouches.
The Du Clan also have a store that specialized in selling dans, weapons, and martial skills, they were only low-grade martial skills though.
The other families’ shops catered similar items, and the supply was enough to fulfill the demand of Stone City’s residents. However, being a remote city, the ‘good things were limited.
Du Shaofu walked into a Du Clan's store.
“Seen Young Master.”
The two brawny employees inside the store were startled when they saw that Du Shaofu entered the store. One of them quickly saluted as his focus returned.
Du Shaofu nodded and indicated that they need not be so stiff. He passed a bundle of things and a list of items that he had already prepared beforehand to the employees. “Let your supervisor calculate how much xuanbi this is worth, and I want to buy some things too.” Since he needed to spend money, he wouldn’t spend it to the other families’ shop. Furthermore, the materials he had was quite costly.
The two brawny employees took over the bundle and list, and immediately scurried to the back of the store to see the supervisor in confusion. With the workers gone, Du Shaofu took a look around the shop, apart from coming here a couple of times when he was still small, this was the first time that he visited the store after such a long time.
Very soon, the shop supervisor hurried out to the store front.
“Shaofu, how come you are here?”
The Supervisor was a man in his forties of medium height, and on the leaner side, but his eyes were bright, giving the impression of a smart person.
Du Shaofu knew this man, he is one from the main descendant's line called Du Ping. His martial talent wasn't high, thus he preferred to help out the Du Clan’s business. Even so, his status in the Clan wasn’t high, and he rarely returns to the Clan compound except during New Year.
“Uncle Ping, does the shop have all the things that I want?”
Du Shaofu was very respectful to Du Ping, he remembered when he was still small, every time Uncle Ping returned to the Clan during New Years, he would always bring candies for the children. And Uncle Ping nerver forgets him, the candies that he got were always more than the other children.
“There is, but the things you wanted is a lot. Some of them were rarely seen, so I need some time to prepare. Once it is ready, I’ll send it over to you, how about that?”
Du Ping looked doubtfully at Du Shaofu. He, of course knew what had happened in the Du Clan for the last Two months. The things that Du Shaofu requested were usually used by Spirit Talisman Masters. Moreover, the things that Du Shaofu just sold to the shop weren't cheap either. It looks like the rumors were true, this young man had been pretending to be a fool for ten long years.
Du Shaofu paused for a moment before agreeing, “Alright.”
“The items you brought, I calculated base on the highest market price, totaling twenty-one thousand xuanbi. Whereby the things you wanted would be charged at the cost price, amounting to fifteen thousand xuanbi. The balance of six thousand xuanbi is in here.”
Du Ping gave Du Shaofu an exquisite looking card with runes engraved on it and said, “This is a xuanbi card that could be exchanged for xuanbi in many places.”
“Thank you, Uncle Ping.”
Du Shaofu took it without a second thought. Uncle Ping wouldn’t pit [1] him, and if it wasn't the Du Clan’s own store, the things that he bought would be extremely expensive, elixirs have a large profit for business.
“When you get back, send my regards to your father.” Du Ping smiled and said.
“I will.” Du Shaofu nodded, kept the xuanbi card safely, turned and left the store.
Note:
1. Pit – scam/trick/trap