Chapter 51

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Seeing Fang Xing let Liu go so easily caused a glimmer of hope to rise within Hei San. With a tearful cry, he began to beg, "s.h.i.+xiong… s.h.i.+xiong Fang, since you"ve spared Liu"s life, please spare mine as well. It was my stupidity and idiocy that made me do what I did, so please, based on what little acquaintance we have between us, please forgive my wrongdoings this time…."

Fang Xing grinned. "s.h.i.+xiong Hei San, I"ve always been quite grateful towards you. When I first arrived at the outer court, you were the one to a.s.sign me my little cottage close to the river stream, and even the silvers for the meal plan were put on credit for a few days before the fatty brought them to you."

Remembering these things, Hei San looked far more hopeful and his head nodded up and down like a bouncing spring. "Of course, of course, s.h.i.+xiong Fang. Seeing these things I"ve done for you, you know…."

Fang Xing gave Hei San a smile. "Of course I"ll forgive you. Besides, someone who does something without knowing it is wrong is not guilty."

Hei San was so relieved upon hearing this that his b.u.t.t moved off of the bamboo seat and he practically kneeled down in front of Fang Xing while cupping his hands. "Thank you, s.h.i.+xiong Fang."

Just as Hei San was expressing his appreciation, Fang Xing continued on, "Although I remember that before Hou Qing died, he said he"d given you—s.h.i.+xiong Hei San—some pretty decent number of things."

"Yes, yes, of course. All of that will belong to s.h.i.+xiong Fang. I won"t keep a single Stone for myself," Hei San hastily replied.

Sticking out three fingers, Fang Xing waved his hand in front of Hei San. "I won"t need that many. Just these will suffice."

"You only want three?" Hei San looked on in disbelief, at a loss for words.

Fang Xing"s face suddenly changed and he angrily replied, "s.h.i.+xiong Hei San, that"s not very decent of you. That Hou Qing b.a.s.t.a.r.d gave you a hundred Stones, and you"re only willing to give me three? That"s not exactly what someone would do if they were being genuinely apologetic, now is it?"

"What do you mean a hundred? There were only ten!" Hei San screamed after feeling wronged, only to suddenly notice Fang Xing"s cold gaze. He wasn"t stupid, and it didn"t take long for him to realize what was going on: Fang Xing clearly wanted to rip him off.

"Thirty Stones…. I—your s.h.i.+di—will send it to you as soon as possible…." After moments of hesitation, Hei San had finally lowered his voice in acceptance, even though he looked unwilling to part with all of the Stones he had saved up in the past four years.

"Haha, if that"s the case, I shall not refuse!" Fang Xing released a laugh before continuing with a command, "Oh, and by the way, ask the Culinary Department to send us some more wine and meat. I"m going to have a few more rounds of drink with s.h.i.+xiong Zhu."

Despite the smile on Fang Xing"s face, he had closed in on Hei San before sending an abrupt slap against his face.

"What… what was that for?" Still feeling cheated, Hei San jumped to his feet at the slap.

Fang Xing sneered before muttering low, "If I didn"t teach you a lesson for selling me off, I wouldn"t feel right. But I hope you"ll understand that a slap and thirty stones is not a bad deal at all. If you don"t believe me, just wait and watch what happens to that trash Liu Feng in the next few days. Once you"ve seen it, you can come and talk to me about it then."

Once Fang Xing had finished talking, he picked up a wine jar before leaving the terrace and left with Hei San still standing stiff without comprehension for what Fang Xing had just said. "You"ve already let Liu go, what else can happen to him now?"

Although Hei San was initially left contented, what happened afterwards was truly beyond his expectations. A few days later, he heard that Liu had been taken away, though Hei San did not know where. The only thing he knew was that ever since that day, there wasn"t even a hint of news about Liu.

It was only about a week later that some news about Liu finally leaked to his ears. It had been s.h.i.+xiong Xuanzhao who had taken him in for questioning or something, and since Liu did not end up giving a satisfying answer, he had been beaten to death before being thrown into the forest for the animals to feast on. As for his name within the outer courts, it had been easily erased from the records; it was as though he had never existed there at all.

Once Hei San had learned about this, he had been terrified and—on top of the thirty Stones—he immediately prepared ten extra that he"d had to borrow from someone else, along with plenty of rare medicinal herbs. He handed over the Stones and items that very night and also apologized to Fang Xing in person for a good portion of the evening before finally returning to his own cottage.

It was also from this day onward that Fang Xing"s life within the Yunyin Summit suddenly become good. He was no longer required to pay a single tael at the Culinary Department for his meals, and the food would be delivered to his cottage every day. Everyone within the summit suddenly knew who he was, and everywhere he went, they would politely greet him with a bow as though he was some sort of celebrity.

Of course, he was somewhat famous within the summit. Even the "cla.s.s president" Hei San would greet him with the utmost respect, and it was also rumored that the boy had a close relations.h.i.+p with s.h.i.+xiong Xuanzhao.

For all of these developments, Fang Xing was not surprised at all. He knew that once Meng Xuanzhao had that single lead, he would be after Liu, and there was no doubt in his mind that physical punishment would be involved in the interrogation. Since Liu"s internal organs had already been severely wounded by Fang Xing, even a little more effort from Meng Xuanzhao would leave Liu as good as dead.

As for how Meng Xuanzhao would find the person responsible, Fang Xing could not care less. People had searched for the bandit more than just once or twice, so whether someone searched for him another time would make no difference. In fact, the story of the "Black Market Bandit" had already become somewhat of a legend within the Qing-Yun Sect"s outer courts.

The plump Taoist Yu had quietly discussed the bandit with Fang Xing once. Although Yu knew Fang Xing had some guts, it was of no comparison to the bandit, and there was now even a secret bounty circulating within the outer courts that targeted the Black Market Bandit. Apparently, the reward for discovering the bandit"s true ident.i.ty was worth thirty Spirit Stones, whereas catching the bandit would amount to a hundred Spirit Stones" worth of reward.

If it was in the past, Fang Xing would have probably sold himself for this! However, this amount was no longer as appealing as it had been before, especially after the adventurous trip he had just returned from. Its reward had been quite plentiful, and Fang Xing now had plenty of riches.

At Mount Miasma, all except for Zhao had died to Fang Xing"s hand, so it was only natural that their personal belongings of value had been kindly accepted by him as well. Nevermind the cheap Flying Sword and a few Spirit Stones from Qian, Hou Qing and Lyu both had some really amazing stuff. This had been especially true for Hou Qing, who even had an interspatial storage bag.

Even though this particular storage bag was not as fine as the storage ring that Fang Xing had, its storage capacity was larger. Inside the bag were a few decent Flying Swords and spirit pellets. Of the Flying Swords, the two best was one of silver and another was deep-red, and both were only of a slightly lower grade than that of the [Nine Snakes" Sword]. Only these two higher-grade swords had been placed in Fang Xing"s storage ring, while the other low-grade swords had been returned to the sect.

While detoxifying and curing pills were neither rare nor expensive, they were still consumables useful during battle. The rarest of them all had been the Ignition Pellet, which could mean the difference between life and death in dangerous situations. If Fang Xing hadn"t been mindful at the time and Hou Qing had swallowed the Ignition Pellet, perhaps things would have turned out with a very different ending.

Fang Xing had also noticed that a small "Xue" had been marked under all of the bottles that held the pills and pellets. Fang Xing had heard once before that many alchemists liked to imprint their mark on the storage containers of what they produced, and so it could be determined that all of Hou Qing"s bottles had come from the hands of the same alchemist.

Besides these items, Hou Qing"s belonging with the most value was perhaps a small manual called [Dragon Catching][1]. After Fang Xing studied the manual, it was revealed to be an entry-level manual of the basic skill [Gravitational Force], and mastering this skill would allow the user to control items from afar without the need for physical touch.

Reading the manual caused Fang Xing to remember the moment he tried to attack Hou Qing together with the silver needles and Flying Sword, and how Hou Qing had merely opened his palm before they were stopped and lost their flight. Now that Fang Xing considered it, it must have been this particular skill that Hou Qing had used.

This might be a very basic skill for entry-level cultivators. Its usage was incredibly broad and would likely be necessary throughout the entirety of a cultivator"s life. At its lower levels, this [Gravitational Force] seemed to be possible only on cups and plates within ten yards of the user, or to block hidden weapons and Flying Swords that had come within the user"s physical range. Its benefits were not very noticeable now, but once someone had mastered its higher levels, they would even be able to borrow its force to lift up into the air. For those who were even more powerful, the use of this skill could even allow them to grab an enemy from afar. The name of the skill was [Dragon Catching], because legend had it that someone had managed to capture a dragon through the use of this skill alone.

This skill left Fang Xing extremely excited. Under normal circ.u.mstances, skills and techniques were not available for outer court disciples, and only when a disciple entered the inner court would they have the opportunity to learn them. To be able to have his hands on these skills in advance meant that the advantage he had over everyone else in the outer court would not be small.

NOTES

[1]Dragon Catching: 擒龙控鹤功 (qin2 long2 kong4 he4 gong1). Its literal meaning is "the skill of catching the dragon and controlling the crane".

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