Chapter 54: Splitting the Loot
“Hmm???”
Ji Yuan stared at Qiu Qianhai with a face full of fear… Was this man determined not to stop until he said something truly shocking?
Seeing Ji Yuan’s reaction, Qiu Qianhai immediately knew that he had misunderstood.
He quickly explained, “What are you thinking? I only tricked him, tricked him, that’s all.”
After saying this, Qiu Qianhai let out a cold sneer.
“I just sliced off his descendants’ root with a single stroke, making the Qin Family lose one branch of their bloodline.”
Hearing this, Ji Yuan finally nodded in realization.
No wonder the Qin Family had pursued Qiu Qianhai so ruthlessly.
Compared to a direct descendant of the Qin Family, killing someone like Liu the Leper was nothing.
After understanding this matter, Ji Yuan didn’t ask any further.
The two of them then proceeded to divide the spoils.
They had killed two people, both of whom were bandit cultivators, yet the gains were far less than Ji Yuan had expected.
“Everyone who mixes in this Qingbo Market lives on the edge, constantly fighting through wind and rain. Anything good they have, they naturally use right away.”
This was Qiu Qianhai’s explanation.
As for why Old Boatman Wu, whom they had killed earlier, was so wealthy, it was because he had been operating near the shore with few enemies, which allowed him to accumulate more over time.
As for the Ghost Island Lord, it went without saying. Sitting on the Yin Ghost Formation, even late-stage Qi Refining cultivators were unwilling to provoke him.
So in the end, after splitting the loot evenly, Ji Yuan only got a mere nineteen spirit stones. As for magical items, he took the bright mirror that belonged to Xiong Youfu.
This object looked like a heart-protecting mirror, but it was surprisingly durable and tough.
It could be used as a protective magical item, and one could inject spiritual power into it to unleash a powerful spiritual light beam from the mirror’s surface, although the consumption was quite heavy.
Other than that, there was the Cold Iron Sand, which was the main reason Ji Yuan had come here.
As a specialty of Qingbo Market, both of their storage bags contained some, but not much.
Even when combined, it was just under half a jin.
Ji Yuan urgently needed this material, so after greeting Qiu Qianhai, he took all of it.
Not only that, Qiu Qianhai still had another three liang of Cold Iron Sand, which he also handed over to Ji Yuan.
He didn’t even ask what Ji Yuan needed it for. As long as Ji Yuan wanted it, he gave it.
However, Ji Yuan didn’t let him suffer a loss.
He handed over one of the medium-grade fishing boats left behind by Old Dog Lin, along with an offensive magical weapon called the Cold Iron Spike, to Qiu Qianhai, who was lacking in magical items.
With this, Ji Yuan’s total amount of Cold Iron Sand reached one jin and eight liang.
After cleaning up everything, Ji Yuan followed Qiu Qianhai deeper into the heart of Qingbo Market.
The islands here were far more densely packed than those on the outskirts, varying in size and scattered like stars. On the largest island, there were even several buildings, and people could be seen walking around.
Ji Yuan squinted his eyes and noticed that there were even cultivators setting up stalls there.
Qiu Qianhai, who was somewhat familiar with this place, explained:
“That island is the largest in Qingbo Market, named Qingbo Island. There’s a small market set up there where people sell pills, talismans, and such, but the prices are twenty percent higher than at the shore market.”
“The Water Dragon Sect also has a dedicated shop here that buys Cold Iron Sand, and the price is the same as at the shore market.”
No wonder there were so few cultivators selling Cold Iron Sand at Zengtou Market. It turned out that most of it had already been intercepted here… Ji Yuan asked, “Where are we staying?”
“Just find an unoccupied small island.”
After disguising themselves, the two of them steered their magic boats—Ji Yuan still using the Black Wind Boat, and Qiu Qianhai now on Old Dog Lin’s medium-grade fishing boat—slowly cruising along while their eyes scanned the surrounding small islands.
After half a day, they finally found a small island in the southeastern corner of Qingbo Market.
The island wasn’t big.
Ji Yuan estimated it was only about a hundred square meters. Apart from some fine sand along the shore, the entire island was covered with gray-brown rocks.
Even the two huts on the island were built from these stones, roughly piled together.
They didn’t even block the wind properly, as the uneven stones left gaps that let the wind through.
They could only barely keep the rain out.
Fortunately, both of them were used to the hardships of wandering the world, so they didn’t care about such trivial matters.
There were two stone huts, just enough for one person each.
After entering his hut, Qiu Qianhai immediately cast a fire spell to burn away the cobwebs and dust on the walls.
After a while, he used a water spell to clean it further.
Meanwhile, Ji Yuan silently activated the level-1 [Cave Dwelling] effect.
In just the span of a breath, the entire hut was transformed, looking completely new.
Even some of the gaps between the stones closed up on their own, though the larger gaps remained.
After using this cleaning effect, he silently deactivated the building effect.
With a place to stay, the two of them finally settled down for the moment.
Ji Yuan had just sat down when Qiu Qianhai, who had finished tidying up, said he was going out to gather information.
Since they were already disguised, Ji Yuan wasn’t too worried and let him go.
But less than half an hour later, Qiu Qianhai hurried back.
“Something’s up.”
“What is it?”
Ji Yuan withdrew from his state of comprehending the second layer of the Azure Wave Sword Art, quietly putting away the white sheet of paper under him with the words [Enlightenment Room] written on it.
“They’ve come to Qingbo Market,” Qiu Qianhai said in a low voice.
“They”… naturally referred to those three from the Qin Family.
“They actually guessed that we didn’t leave?” Ji Yuan was a bit surprised.
He had thought that he had already taken a counter-intuitive approach, but it turned out the other party had done the same.
“Yeah.”
The three Qi Refining sixth-layer cultivators were indeed putting a lot of pressure on Qiu Qianhai. “Should we run?”
He knew he couldn’t handle them himself, and he worried that Ji Yuan might get dragged into this. So in his view, fleeing was the best option.
“Run?”
Ji Yuan laughed. “Why run? It’s rare to have a good show at Qingbo Market. Naturally, we have to go watch.”
“Hmm?”
Qiu Qianhai looked at him in surprise.
Ji Yuan stood up, patting his backside. “The one they’re after is Qiu Qianhai. What does it have to do with you, Qiu Laosan?”
Hearing this, Qiu Qianhai immediately understood and exclaimed, “You really are bold. Let’s go.”
Qiu Qianhai knew Ji Yuan wasn’t an idiot.
On the contrary, he was… cunning.
Since Ji Yuan wasn’t afraid, he naturally wouldn’t be either.
The two of them soon arrived near the island where the commotion had started.
Sure enough, as soon as they got there, Ji Yuan spotted the two cultivators who had previously taken his spirit stones.
At this moment, the two were standing on either side of a man in black robes, whispering to him with somewhat flattering expressions.
You took my spirit stones and didn’t deliver on your promise… Ji Yuan muttered in his heart. Looks like I’ll have to find a chance to get them back next time.
The man in black robes was probably the Qin Family’s leader, Qin Wei.
Standing behind Qin Wei were two tall, middle-aged men.
Judging by their cultivation, both were at the sixth layer of Qi Refining.
Their sinister gazes swept unrestrainedly over the crowd of onlookers.
When they saw Ji Yuan and Qiu Qianhai approaching, they even glanced at them specifically.
But they quickly averted their gazes after just a glance.
Without the spiritual sense of a Foundation Establishment cultivator, it was very difficult to see through their disguises with just the naked eye.
After listening to the two cultivators’ report, Qin Wei first cursed in a low voice, “Sons of bitches.”
Then he raised his voice and announced:
“Same as before. Anyone who provides information on those two thieves will be rewarded with twenty spirit stones.”
“If someone brings back Qiu Qianhai’s head, the reward is sixty spirit stones!”
“For capturing him alive, the reward is one hundred spirit stones!”
After Qin Wei, the Qin Family’s young master, made the announcement, the surrounding cultivators cheered loudly.
Leaving aside the act of taking down Qiu Qianhai, even just providing information would earn twenty spirit stones… The reward was undeniably generous.
“Tsk, worthy of being the Qin Family, truly wealthy and arrogant.”
Ji Yuan couldn’t help but sigh.
“Yeah, they’re offering way too much.”
Qiu Qianhai clearly recalled how Xiong Youfu had betrayed him.
After that, the three from the Qin Family boarded their magic boat and, following the directions of the two cultivators, headed toward the area where Ji Yuan had previously killed Old Dog Lin in an instant.
The other onlookers quickly followed.
“Let’s go, let’s take a look too.”
The murderer himself, Ji Yuan, was also preparing to return to the scene of the crime to have a look.