May was the transition between spring and summer.
The fragrance of flowers filled the entire great mountain. The sun also began to bloom out its warm side.
On the deep blue sky, white clouds were floating like cotton waddings.
On the Green Thatch Mountain, the Green Thatch bamboo forest was still standing upright like spears, pointing at the blue sky. Wild gra.s.ses were growing everywhere as unknown wild flowers rosed up among them. . The wind was breezing by, swaying the gra.s.s as the air br.i.m.m.i.n.g of rich pollen and green gra.s.s scent rushed into one’s nostril.
On the waist of the mountain situated numerous stepped fields. Layer by layer, stair after stair of faint green planted wheat looked like a vast fresh and verdant sea from afar.
There were many farmers who were working on the stepped fields. Some were checking up on the moat to begin watering, while others rolled up their trouser legs, standing in the field, and planting wheat.
Naturally, these people were mortals which possessed different surnames. The members of the Ancient Moon Clan wouldn’t have handled these types of lowly jobs.
Jingle…Jingle...
The sound of a camel bell vaguely resounded along with the spring breeze.
The farmers all stood up as they turned their heads to the waist of the mountain only to see a caravan that looked like a colorful serpent which gradually showed its head on the other side of the mountain.
“It is the caravan!”
“That’s right. It is May now; the caravan should have already been here.”
Everyone clearly understood this. The children stopped playing with the water andwith their muddy hands they excitedly ran towards the caravan.
The Southern Border had hundreds of thousands of great mountains while the Green Thatch Mountain was only one of those. On each mountain was situated a mountain stronghold, where the people were maintaining it by blood ties.
Between mountains after mountains, were deep and secluded forests or dangerous stone cliffs. The complex environment was placed where a large number of beasts and eccentric Gus had chosen to stay.
It basically was impossible for a mortal to go pa.s.s it. An individual would need to be at least at a level three Gu Master to go through all these obstacles.
Hence, they eventually encountered the depression of the economy as well as difficulties in trading, and the most important form of trade which was the caravan.
Only a caravan at such an enormous scale could be able to gather up Gu Masters, giving them mutual aid to help themselves in pa.s.sing through the dangerous and difficult path, from this mountain to another.
The arrival of the caravan was like a cup of boiled water being abruptly poured onto the calm and peaceful Green Thatch Mountain.
“It’s usually in April each year. Today, the caravan has come in May. However, they have finally come.” After hearing the news, the owner of the tavern sighed out in relief. The business of this tavern was extremely low in every other month. They could only hope that the arrival of the caravan could bring them enough profit to support them throughout the whole year.
At the same time, he could sell the Green Bamboo Wine that he had stocked up in his inventory to the caravan.
Not only the tavern, but the businesses of the wine shops would also rise.
The caravan gradually entered the Ancient Moon Mountain Stronghold. Leading them was a Precious Bra.s.s Toad. The toad was two point five meters tall with a body covered with an orange hue. On its broad shoulder were numerous lumps, like those giant copper rivets on those city gates back in the ancient times.
An abundance of goods was set by thick ropes that were tightly tied on the back of the Precious Bra.s.s Toad. In a glance, it looked as if the toad was carrying a giant backpack on its back.
A middle-aged man with a round face full of pock marks and a round belly was sitting crossed-legged on the toad’s head. His two eyes were turning into a line as he smiled. He held up his fist to greet the people of the Ancient Moon Mountain Stronghold.
He went by the name of Fu, with the surname of Jia. Being the leader of the caravan, he had the cultivation base of a level four Gu Master.
The toad slightly hopped forward as Jia Fu sat on its head, steadily, and stably. When it jumped, the height that he was at could be compared to the windows on the second floor of a house. Even when they had landed, the height was still higher than that of the first level of a bamboo house.
The s.p.a.cious streets now seemed to be quite narrow. The Precious Bra.s.s Toad was like a beast that was intruding the bamboo forest.
Behind the Precious Toad was a fat Gu. Its pair of eyes which were like colorful gla.s.s windows were vividly radiating as it was about fifteen meters long with a figure of a silkworm. However, it was covered with a thick layer of a black glazed armor. On the armor, numerous goods were being tightened by round after rounds of thick ropes. At a distance apart from the goods sat several Gu Masters, both young and old.
There were also mortals who were all robust martial art masters. They were walking on the ground, slowly moving forward along with the Fat Black-skinned Beetle.
Behind those Fat Black-skinned Beetles were Colorful-Furred Alpacas, Hairy Mountainous Great Spiders, or even the Two-winged Serpents. However, these were just a minority. The majority of the caravans were toads.
These toads were the same species with the Precious Bra.s.s Toad. Only that their head were smaller and they had the appearances of oxen and horses. They were used to carry goods and people. With a bulging stomach, they were constantly hoping to move forward.
The caravan wriggled its way into the mountain stronghold.
Along the way, children were opening their eyes in awe. They looked at them with curiosity. Sometimes they would cheerfully shout out, other times they would scarily gasped.
Numerous of second-floor windows started to open in succession in helping the hill people to have a closer look. Some of them had lights of fear beaming in their eyes; as others were waving their hands, showing off their warm welcomes.
“Junior Jia, this year you are quite late. It’s been hard on you.” Using the status of the clan’s head, Gu Yue Bo personally came out to welcome the leader of the caravan.
Jia Fu was a level four Gu Master. If he a.s.signed a level three Elder to treat him, it would undoubtedly be a kind of negligence and contemptuousness.
Jia Fu held up his fist and deeply sighed, “This year hasn’t been going smoothly. On the way, we had encountered a group of Serene b.l.o.o.d.y Bats; as it had cost me quite a few of my good men. We also ran into the mountain fog in the middle of a precipice so we didn’t dare to move for quite some time. Therefore, it had taken up a lot of time. I have made brother Gu Yue wait for me.”
Extreme politeness could be heard in their words.
The Ancient Moon Mountain Stronghold needed the caravan for their yearly trading as the caravan also needed to make money.
“ Hahaha, it’s good enough that you came. Please, the clan has been preparing food and wine. Please let me give a dinner of welcome to my old brother.” Gu Yue Bo held out his hand then said.
“The clan’s head is too polite.” Jia Fu was flattered.
The caravan had reached the boundary of the Green Thatch Mountain at dawn and was then stationed at the Ancient Moon Mountain Stronghold at noon. At nightfall, a large area of temporary stores had already been set up all around the mountain stronghold. Numerous of colorful cottages were being built up while they squeezed up thousands of small stalls.
When night came, this place was lit up with bright lights.
An endless line of pedestrians poured into this place from inside of the mountain stronghold. There were mortals as well as Gu Masters. The children were happily jumping up and down as joy of celebrating a festival also emerged on the visages of the adults.
Fang Yuan went along with the flow of people, going in there alone.
The crowd was bustling as a group of people would surround the stall or constantly get in and out the cottages.
Peddling sounds were reverberating non-stop from every direction.
“Come over and take a look. First-rated Blue Ocean Cloud Tea Brick, have a sip of this tea and one can feel the joy like that of the Immortals! Even if you don’t drink, using it to feed the Tea Gu is also considered as inexpensive goods. It only costs five pieces of Primeval Stones!”
“Brute Force Longhorn Beetle Gu, urging this Gu, a Gu Master can significantly enhance their powers. Something you cannot miss when pa.s.sing by!”
“Bosom Gra.s.s, the first-rate Bosom Gra.s.s is here. Everyone, please look at its fineness as it is the same with freshly plucked gra.s.s. Two Primeval Stones for half a kilogram, such low price ...”
As Fang Yuan heard that, his footsteps slightly stopped, before going towards the direction of that sound.
He saw an alpaca pulling a two-wheeled handcart. There was a pile of green gra.s.s on the handcart. Each strand of gra.s.s was about a meter long, extremely thin, and long, with an average width of about a fingernail. Some even had long pointy tips and red heart-shaped buds.
The Bosom Gra.s.s was one of the auxiliary goods for Gus. Its value lied in the fact that it could be combined with a few other foods to feed the Gus.
For an instant, as Fang Yuan was raising the Moonlight Gu, it needed two petals for each meal. If he blended it with a strand of Bosom Gra.s.s, the Moonlight Gu would have gotten full with just one Moon Orchid’s petal.
Half a kilogram of Bosom Gra.s.s only cost two Primeval Stones, while ten petals of the Moon Orchid had a price of one Primeval Stone. With some calculation, one could easily know that it would be more cost-effective blending in the Bosom Gra.s.s to raise the Gu.
“Half a month ago, I had killed Gao Wan. Because of using the Moonlight Gu on the ground of the schoolhouse, I was fined with thirty pieces of Primeval Stones. However, later on, the Mo family had compensated me with another thirty pieces. Hence, there was no loss there. These days, I had robbed the disciples two more times, with a total of one hundred and eighteen Primeval Stones. But recently I have been spending three Primeval Stones a day due to continuous consumption of the refined Intermediate Primeval Essence to nourish the four walls of the vain aperture. Added on to the cost of raising the other Gus and my own living expenses as well as paying Primeval Stones in constantly buying the Green Bamboo Wine, I now only have ninety-eight pieces in my hands.”
Since the murderous incidence, Fang Yuan’s cruel image had been carved deep inside the other disciples’ hearts. For the time being, no one dared to challenge him again. This made it become even easier for him to extort people. Every single time, there had only been a handful of people that dared to confront him.
Fang Yuan started to calculate in his mind. As he shifted his glance, he continued to go deeper into the temporary stores" area.
The Bosom Gra.s.s’ stall was surrounded by a bunch of people. Most of them were Gu Masters or disciples, with Primeval Stones on their hands, desperately trying to buy the gra.s.s.
It was not because Fang Yuan didn’t have money to buy the Bosom Gra.s.s. He didn’t have time.
“If I remember it right, that Leprous Earth Toad was in that store. In my past life, a Gu Master had bet on it on the first night and made a fortune out of it. I should hurry and should not seek small gains and incur big losses.”