Simply Trading

That was, if he intended to return to that place at all.

Qin Feng had considered tossing it aside at first, but decided to hang onto it in the end. He didn"t know if he would need to head back to Changqing City in the future. Given Elder Ming Guanhe"s desire for more Purple Blood Ginger, it seemed likely that he would tasked to make another trip again, within the next six to eight months. So that identification tag would certainly save him a good bit of trouble.

Of course, it also meant that he would be tracked by the Medicine Hall every time that he entered Changqing City. Which was why he had taken such pains to show off his abundant qi at the Gate and in the Medicine Hall. That should be enough to warn any lowlifes in Changqing that he was not someone who should be taken lightly. After all, how many people were walking around with a cultivation that touched the Profound Realm?

He turned his attention to the condition of the puppet, as soon as that thought crossed his mind. From what he could see, he had spent more than a quarter of the qi reservoir that he had fixed inside the puppet already. And this trip back to the Heaven Sword School, using his Lightness-of-Body technique should bring him down to three fifths or thereabouts. He was pushing himself a little faster, after all.

And for good reason. Herb-grower Qin Feng should not have been missed at lunch time, since he usually fixed his own meal at his farm. And there were some days where he missed dinner as well. But it would be prudent if he made some sort of showing, once he got back. That would keep everyone from wondering about him.

Besides, he was carrying four stalks of Purple Blood Ginger, and that had a certain pungency. It would be far safer if he took a bit of risk, and delivered it to Elder Ming immediately. Or to his daughter, if he wasn"t around. He would feel a lot better with it off his hands.

Of course, he would feel a whole lot better if he had an idea of how the Elder was going reward him for this successful trade! It wasn"t easy, getting away from the School unnoticed. And the whole process of getting into the City and dealing with the Fu Lai Medicine Hall was certainly frustrating. Not something that he would look forward to doing again, if the rewards were not enticing enough.

In any case, he was anxious to see just how Elder Ming Guanhe was going to "show his appreciation". A single stalk of Purple Blood Ginger was worth close to thousand pieces of silver, and given that it was impossible to obtain at the Heaven Sword School itself, its rarity should bring its price up by half its value elsewhere. That meant that he had just obtained about six thousand silver pieces worth for the old man!

Qin Feng grinned as he thought of that. Elder Ming Guanhe wasn"t going to be able to raise that much coin. Not in a short period of time. So he would have to find some other way to make good what he owed Qin Feng. Which was enough to make the young herb-grower consider all the possibilities:

The option that he was hoping for was, naturally, unhindered access into the Southern Forest, where he could pick up as many of the natural growing herbs out there. That would allow him to venture into the less popular destinations that were not visited by the Hunters from the Heaven Sword School. And where he was more likely to come away with rarer and more valuable herbs. Given the fact that most of the Heaven Sword School was still ignorant of some of the uses, and the worth, of the same, he could really end up getting away with a small fortune there.

On the other hand, that was unlikely. Elder Ming might be willing to slip him a few free pa.s.ses into the Southern Forest now and then ... but unhindered access? That was surely going to draw the attention of the other Elders. So he doubted the Elder would dare to make such a move. Not when it was likely to expose him to the prying eyes of his peers.

Especially when he was planning to use a Restricted substance to deal with his daughter"s illness. That would certainly end up causing more trouble for him.

Qin Feng sighed as he thought of that. No, he should be content with a free pa.s.s into the Southern Forest once or twice a month. And that would be to accompany the Hunters as they ventured out to test their skills against the monstrous beasts in the woods. It would be a little greedy to expect more than that, he told himself.

There was also the possibility that Elder Ming Guanhe was more tight-fisted than he had expected him to be. Which meant that he would only end up with, perhaps, only one visit to the Southern Forest a month. That would be rather disappointing, and would mean that he would have to "moderate" his performance with regards to the Elder"s "a.s.signments".

He certainly wasn"t going to put in that much effort for a task that didn"t grant him what he considered an equitable reward. If Elder Ming truly wanted the Purple Blood Ginger, he had better get used to paying for it!

Qin Feng snorted softly, as that thought crossed his mind. Then he turned his attention back to the rough road ahead of him. The sun was already setting, which meant that he would have to slow down soon, so as to reduce the risk of tripping over something. But the heightened senses that the puppet had been marked with didn"t show any ambushes ahead of him. Or skulkers behind him, for that matter.

Which more or less a.s.sured him that his visit to Changqing City had not attracted any untoward attention. That would have been ... a little messy, if he had to fight using the puppet, on the main road. Fortunately, it didn"t appear he would have to.

So he simply Breathed, and hurried on his way. He still had quite of bit to do, once he got back to the Heaven Sword School.

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