Chapter 23 – And now, it’s dead
(TL By: PiggyBottle and 生豆)
Having sensed someone approach, this old person opened his eyes revealing a hint of surprise. After taking a few glances, he once more closed his eyes.
Su Ming stared at a blue object on the sheet of hide, this object seemed like a dish, with very sharp edges. Only, on it were numerous cracks, the deepest of which almost penetrated through the whole thickness.
Sitting there quietly on the piece of hide, it intermittently emitted a faint glow, giving of the illusion of it being alive to those who saw it.
Through that crack, Su Ming could faintly see some engravings of a hideous face on it which was rather frightening.
“This is a damaged Mán-tool, you can’t afford it.” While Su Ming was inspecting it, he could hear a voice by his ears, looking up he noticed that the person speaking was actually the cross-legged old man.
“Mán-tool?” Su Ming took a deep breath, he was already guessing so from the start. He had read about them in books, Mán-tools were extremely precious objects, only awakened cultivators were able to own and refine them. For people of the blood condensation stage it was something extremely hard to obtain, even if they did, usually it would be something pa.s.sed-down in the tribe and something they had to protect from being s.n.a.t.c.hed away by the powerful awakened cultivators.
“It has been damaged and can no longer be used, but even so, it is something refined by an awakened cultivator, I am selling it for one thousand stones.” The old man slowly declared.
Su Ming looked at the blue dish with envy and desire apparent in his eyes. But for him who had only five stone coins, this was something he just couldn’t afford.
Inwardly sighing, Su Ming glanced at the blue dish once more before walking away unwillingly.
“I don’t know when I will have my own Mán-tool…” Su Ming thought to himself as he walked down the bazaar. There were plenty of stalls set laid with leather mats, but walking around, he didn’t see a Mán-tool on sale again.
He did find some Sieved Cloud Leaf though. They were sold by different people at a rather high price of one stone coin per leaf, equivalent to that of Black Dragon Saliva.
As the sky darkens, dusk approached. At the horizon, the setting sun bathed the land in its glow, but the crowd grew as the bazaar got busier.
Looking at the sky, Su Ming chose to remain at the bazaar, and stepped into a tentage made from plant materials. The items sold inside were expensive, but came with a warranty. There was a steady stream of customers in and out.
Su Ming observed that some of the Mán-people did not only come to buy stuff, but like him, carried a wooden basket, and sold the the items within to the stall owner.
Witnessing this, a smile crept on Su Ming’s face. He had been observing the whole afternoon, and even details he did not miss. Settling his mind, he had already learnt most of the rules of trade of the place.
As the skies darkened, torches began to be lit up in the square. Quietly Su Ming found a dark spot out of reach of those torches.
After checking his surroundings, Su Ming hurriedly put down the basket he was carrying and quickly covered himself with the hide originally covering the basket. Then further covering up himself with a few other pieces of animal hide he brought along, finally, he took out a piece of black leopard hide and shrouded himself with it.
At this point, Su Ming’s appearance can no longer be recognised, his originally skinny physique was masked by a fat and bloated one, to others it would seem as if he was a completely different person.
With a little adjustment, he tightened the layers of hide on his body. Inside the basket was one last object, it was something that he had specially prepared for today, although it was really heavy to bring along, it had it’s use.
Putting the basket back onto his back, Su Ming lowered his head and lowered his pose, giving off the impression that he was hunched over. Quickly, he walked towards a pre-selected thatched hut.
That thatched hut was the most dimly lit of all, and most of the people who entered that place had a similar appearance to Su Ming, all of them were significantly disguised to not be easily recognised.
Although this was the first time Su Ming had been to this bazaar, he had spent a good part of the day observing the practices here. Intentionally, he had avoided entering this thatched hut he selected, rather he frequently observed it from an obscure location.
In no time, the doors to the thatched hut opened, and a disguised person hurriedly walked out leaving this bazaar.
Su Ming had seen many of such people this afternoon and he had ascertained that no one would pursue anybody that left from there. As such he took the opportunity where there were no other guests to quickly walk towards the shop entrance, unhesitatingly he opened the doors and walked in.
The instant he entered he could feel the gaze of a topless middle-aged man who was sitting cross-legged by a crackling campfire in the tent.
One of this young man’s eyes had been replaced with a gaping hole but his other eye gave off an imposing feeling as he stared at Su Ming without uttering a word.
“This fire is pretty glaring.” Su Ming was fully disguised so he did not really worry about the other party recognising him, slowly he spoke with a hoa.r.s.e voice, somewhat different from his normal one.
That young man looked at Su Ming for quite awhile before taking back his gaze, other than the fact that he could not feel even a trace of blood qi coming from Su Ming, he was not much different from the other guests who visited him here.
Although he could not feel any blood qi coming from him, for him to have come into this hut knowing the normal practices of people without a sense of unfamiliarity signified that he was definitely not someone simple.
Raising his right hand, he pressed it against the campfire, immediately dimming it and the brightness in the tent.
“Take it out, if it is something good, I will give you a good price for it.” This young man retracted his arm as he slowly spoke these words.
Su Ming’s face emerging from beneath the layers of hide, after taking a few glances at the man he suddenly laughed, the laugh which was also slightly hoa.r.s.e echoed throughout the hut, resulting in the young man wrinkling his brow.
While he was frowning, Su Ming waved his right arm shooting out a circular object towards the young man which filled the tent with a herbal scent. When the young man caught the object, his eyes shone and he uncontrollably let out a gasp.
“That object, how much!” Spoke Su Ming’s hoa.r.s.e voice slowly.
“What kind of medicine is it? Where did you get it from? What are its effects?” After staring at the object in his hands for awhile the young man raised his head to look at Su Ming, a strange curiosity flashing in his pupil.
“On my way to this bazaar, I saw this animal” Su Ming did not answer the question, only saying that. Afterwards he removed the basket from his back and with a clawing action, he removed a tied up racc.o.o.n and placed it on the floor.
The racc.o.o.n looked weary but its eyes were still filled with ferocity, unable to escape due to the bindings and injuries on its body.
The young man was startled, unsure of what the other person’s meaning was, his gaze resting on the seemingly normal looking racc.o.o.n, nothing really catching his attention.
“So I decided to catch it, you see, it is still alive… …: Su Ming slowly speaking, his hoa.r.s.e voice coupled with the dim lighting gave off a mysterious feeling.
“What are you trying to say?” That young man said while frowning.
“What I am saying is that it is still alive. You want to know why I caught it? It was because it was really just too curious, and had been following me for a long time… …” Su Ming lifted his left hand, stroking that racc.o.o.n’s body, but the wounds of the racc.o.o.n in his hands did not heal, rather the racc.o.o.n started trembling!
Without crying out or screaming, in an instant the room was covered by a rain of blood, a blazing rain of blood. The young man could only stare blanking at the sight before him, the whole body of the racc.o.o.n had disappeared, leaving behind only a few red bones.
“And now, it’s dead……”
The young man took in a deep breath, subconsciously he got up and took a few steps back, horror and shock apparent in his eyes. After being stunned for quite awhile, he once again looked at Su Ming only this time awe and fear apparent in his eyes.
“Rogue Mán-pract.i.tioner… …”
“Yes?” Su Ming snorted.
That young man shuddered and wanted to explain, but seeing Su Ming wave his hand, he did not dare speak.
“Tell me, how much the medicine in your hands worth! That item’s effect is very simple, it can be used alongside with herbs you take for cultivation improving their effects by ten-percent! As for your other questions, you seem to be a little too curious.”
That young man’s complexion was pale, the scene just now gave him chills, without even sensing the other person’s blood qi, he had managed to turn the racc.o.o.n’s body into a rain of blood.
“This thing……” The young man calmly thought for a while, staring at the round pill in his hands.
“Senior, this is something I have never seen before…… This… …” This young man hesitated before speaking, if this was any of his other regular guests he would never speak like this, but after seeing the shocking sight today, he decided it would be better to not offend him.
“You can try it on the spot if you want, if it does not have effect I will leave, and if it does then we can talk about the price then.” Su Ming unhurriedly spoke, while casually sitting there.
That young man relieved, respectfully took out a small bell, slowly shaking it creating a ringing sound.
Su Ming took a quick glance at the bell, the right hand concealed in his robe still tightly clutching on to some of the powder from a blood scattering pill.