Chapter 22 – The first encounter
(TL By: PiggyBottle and 生豆)
Su Ming could clearly tell that there was something very unnatural with Lei Chen’s expression, there was this very frightened and helpless look about him. Seeing this, Su Ming calmly turned towards the source of the voice.
With this one glance, Su Ming instantly felt pleasantly surprised!
It was a tall lady in mink-fur dress, she was easily one head taller than the skinny Su Ming, and had a truly enchanting figure. Unlike most barbarians who have rough skin, hers was fair and smooth, revealing an irresistible allure.
Her long black hair was partly tied up by a pair of of red straws into pigtails, while the rest of it floated behind her in the wind, making her even more stunning.
Her eyes were clear as water, yet her gaze was sharp and withheld a tinge of coldness. Her forehead was dotted with small shiny grains which dazzled like the snow in the light.
Her canines were also faintly visible as she breathed, giving off an inexplicable wild beauty.
She wasn’t an ordinary person, but similar to Su Ming, a Mán-pract.i.tioner. However, the blood qi coming off her was faint, nothing more than a third level blood condensation pract.i.tioner.
However, she was not alone, behind her were three other hulking Mán-pract.i.tioners. Like a small mountain, they stared coldly at the Su Ming duo, the blood qi they released felt only slightly weaker than Bei Ling.
When Su Ming briefly scanned them, he noticed that their bodies were smeared with some strange marking resembling a centipede.
“Lei Chen, you’ve got guts showing up here!” That lady stared at Lei Chen while gnashing her teeth.
Lei Chen rubbed his nose. Putting on a honest look, started smiling sillily..
“I already fell for this trick once, the other time you tricked me with a herb you dyed purple for three stone coins!!!!” That lady stood in front of Lei Chen, her face filled with rage.
“You cannot blame me for that, I myself didn’t even know what herb it was, I was just peddling it as usual, you are the one who wanted to buy it from me… …” Lei Chen straightly said while acting wronged.
“Hmph, give me back my stone coins!” That lady said while staring at Lei Chen. She even became peeved at Su Ming who was standing aside, thankfully he looked scrawny and was subsequently ignored by this lady after one look.
“But I… …” Lei Chen bitterly smiled, just as he was about to speak, he caught the looks the lady was giving him and more importantly the stares the three other brutes behind her were giving him, resulting in him having no choice but to swallow his words while inwardly cursing.
“Lei Chen, is she the one of the WuLong tribesmen you and Grandpa talked about?” Su Ming indifferently said this on sentence.
The moment he spoke those words, Lei Chen instantly understood and quickly reacted to it. He knew that Su Ming had always been calm and if he said something, it meant that he was planning to help. Plus, he understood Su Ming very well, once he heard Su Ming say something strange like this, he quickly took a few steps back and stood behind Su Ming, giving off the impression that Su Ming was the one in charge.
“It is as you say Mán-child, it is precisely that woman!” Lei Chen acted extremely reverent as he softly spoke those words.
Lei Chen’s actions and words made that lady’s gaze unwittingly rest on Su Ming and reveal an astounded expression, for t.i.tle Mán-child referred to someone who was one of the candidates as successor of the next Mán-patriarch. Even after she had carefully observing Su Ming, he still looked like an ordinary tribesman, as such she still coldly spoke with the same murderous expression.
I don’t care if you are a Mán-child or not, return me my stone coins!”
“Fine! I will give you the stone coins, but the reason I had Lei Chen bring me here today was precisely to find you!” Su Ming calmly said as he withdrew three stone coins from his coat.
“Give me back the herb that Lei Chen sold you!” Su Ming slowly said while gazing at the lady.
The lady was visibly taken aback, she had never expected it to be so easy for her to get her stone coins back, her heartbeat hastened as she scanned Su Ming’s body.
“What is that herb?” Slightly hesitating, she asked Su Ming instead of taking the stone coins.
“It is… … “ Lei Chen was about to speak but was interrupted by a loud shout.
“Shut up!” Su Ming stared coldly at Lei Chen who acted shocked and once more lowered his head in reverence.
Seeing this scene, the lady blinked as she grew even more doubtful. Hesitating for a while before pulling out the herb, which to her looked extremely ordinary and even slightly hideous as it was completely purple.
The moment she took out this herb, she handed it towards Su Ming. However, her eyes carefully watched Su Ming expression. Seeing the a flash suddenly appear in Su Ming’s eyes as he seemed to eagerly reach for the herb, the lady laughed and immediately withdrew her outstretched arm.
“What are you doing! This is my herb, I bought it! Are you trying to s.n.a.t.c.h my herb away?” The lady snorted as she furrowed her nose.
“Madam, do you not want your stone coins back?” Su Ming said while frowning.
“Who says I don’t, but I think, unless you can prove you are the WuShan Tribe’s Mán-child, I won’t give this to you.” The lady slyly said, exuding an allure even greater than the wild one she had earlier.
Even Su Ming’s heartbeat started to accelerate, however, his expression did not change.
Su Ming pondered in silence for a moment. Looking at the lady in front of him, he took a deep breath and raised his left arm. Suddenly a second level blood condensation’s blood qi started diffusing out from his right hand.
“Is this proof enough!”
This sudden change made the lady’s pupils narrow and the three men behind her also instantly came on guard.
Their expression was not something too hard to understand, after all, the Su Ming initially standing before them looked just like a normal tribesperson and did not even give off the faintest trace of blood qi. Hence, the sudden change that occurred in front of their eyes was something pretty shocking.
“Young master, that person must have had a very strong Mán-pract.i.tioner apply a Mán-technique on him to help him cover up his blood-qi, that person must be far stronger than us, otherwise we would have sensed it.”
“That is right, I also observed him earlier and didn’t feel a trace of blood qi. I imagine the only person capable of doing something like this would at least have to be someone like the WuShan tribe patriarch… …” Whispered the three men standing behind the lady.
A light flashed in the lady’s eyes, she hesitated as she lowered her head to look at the purple herb in her hands. It has been a few days since she traded for that herb, originally she had thought it was some new exotic herb and spent a long time haggling with Lei Chen before obtaining it. However, the next day she noticed that the herb had stained her hands purple making it obvious that the herb was dyed.
It had thoroughly enraged her, and finding it hard to accept, she had frequently revisited this place with the herb in hopes of finding this despicable Lei Chen fellow.
While she hesitated, Su Ming’s anxious voice could be heard.
“This should be enough to prove it right, you better not go back on your words, here is three stone coins… … never mind i’ll give you five!” Su Ming took out two more stone coins, offering them to the lady.
“Five stone coins to trade for that herb!”
That lady blinked her eyes, inwardly thinking that those people could instantly tell that she was from the WuLong tribe, Lei Chen could have informed him prior. However, they even dared to bring WuShan Tribe’s patriarch into the picture…
“It should not be fake, this must be a real treasure!” The lady let out a delighted expression.
“So what, so what if I go back on my words, this is mine, if you want to trade for it, take out thirty stone coins!” While saying so, she noticed Su Ming’s expression grow gloomy, which only delighted her further. With a snort, she turned and hurriedly left.
The three brutes followed behind her as they disappeared into the bazaar.
After the four of them left, Lei Chen’s solemn expression was swept away as he smilingly looked at Su Ming. While rubbing his nose, he asked “Su Ming, how did you know she was from the WuLong tribe?”
“So you actually traded it for three stone coins, there should be one more right, hand it over!” Su Ming declared as he glanced at Lei Chen, while at the same time putting away the stone coins in his hand.
“Come on, that… …. That stone coin was used to buy something while I was here… … oh, I remembered that I still have some things I need to do, let’s leave it at this. Tonight let’s meet up back here and go back to the tribe together.” Lei Chen’s eyes twitching as he hurriedly spoke. Without waiting for Su Ming’s reply, he took a few quick steps quickly disappearing into the crowded bazaar.
Seeing Lei Chen’s swift escape, Su Ming shook his head. If not for the fact that he was too poor, he would not have revealed his blood qi like that. Grandpa’s Man-technique was truly powerful, unless Su Ming willed it, it really was impossible for others to discern his ident.i.ty.
If he hadn’t done so, he would have had lost the two stone coins he obtained from Lei Chen to that lady and he would have even had to give up one of his own as well.
“Sigh, I guess I really have to use that method… …”Su Ming scratched his head while heading into the bazaar troubled.
This bazaar was very lively, in every single thatched hut people were busily trading, even out on the snowy ground people laid out mats peddling their medicinal herbs and various goods.
It was the first time Su Ming came here and as such was fascinated by many things, while he was walking around this bazaar he came across many unfamiliar things. There were people selling beast bones, strange medicinal herbs and even some refined potions were available here.
“They even have the Black Dragon Saliva, just a small bottle was already one stone coin!” Su Ming’s footsteps halted as he saw the Black Dragon Saliva being sold on a mat on the floor.
“Since young… …just how much Black Dragon Saliva have I drank…… how much would that have cost!!” Even Xiao Hong drank quite an amount… …”Su Ming lamented, just as he was about to leave, his attention was caught by a certain object on a mat not far away.
“This is……” Su Ming took a deep breath and walked towards the hide laid on the floor. Taking a glance at the fifty or so years old owner sitting cross legged motionless on the floor in his baggy clothes.