Du Clan’s Business

“Nonsense.”

“All has the Du surnames, but happened such nonsense.”

Several Elders stood up and left the Main Hall, but not before throwing some nonsensical sentence out, no longer care to give Du Hao and the rest a second look.

“Really nonsense. Everyone dispersed.”

Du Zhenwu stood up, brushed his long sleeves and exited the Main Hall with the Du Clan experts.

Du Hao, Du Chong, Du Yan, and the group of nosy kinswomen stood dazedly in the Main Hall don’t know what to say or do anymore. This result was totally out of their expectation; they initially thought even if Du Shaofu did not receive any punishment, at the very least they would get back the Violent Stone Demon Wolf blood essence and the two base building dans. This was their sole purpose, but who knew not only they did not get anything back and lose their face in the process.

The sun was high up in the sky when Du Shaofu left the MainHall. He first went back to the courtyard to store the Spirit Ink Sword into his storage pouch then headed to the Martial Collection Building.

At the Martial Collection Building, Fu Yibai was leaning leisurely in a wicker chair; close by a young Du Clan man was cleaning the yard respectfully.

Du Shaofu greeted Fu Yibai and walked straight into the Martial Collection Building, causing the other young man to feel envious.

This time entering the Martial Collection Building Du Shaofu wanted to search for information related to Spirit Talisman Master, what if he actually fell for Zhen Qingchun’s trick? Having information about it would make it harder for Zhen Qingchun to do so.

Unfortunately, in the entire Martial Collection Building Du Shaofu did not found what he wanted, though he did find some simple introduction books on Spirit Talisman Master.

A Spirit Talisman Master has a higher and is more exalted than a warrior. Amongst the human population, those who can become warrior are rare, but the percentage of a Spirit Talisman Master is even lower because the conditions of becoming a Spirit Talisman Master are too harsh that too few people can meet.

A Spirit Talisman Master’s expertise ranges from refining dans, weapons, to formation arrays, all are part of a Spirit Talisman Master’s area of knowledge. However, rumors have it no singular Spirit Talisman Master could master every area.

Du Shaofu chatted a few words with Fu Yibai before he left the Martial Collection Building but he went to the back mountains instead of going back to the courtyard.

“Interesting, it’s getting more and more interesting.”

Watching Du Shaofu’s leaving silhouette, a faint smile appeared on Fu Yibai’s face. His eyes slowly closed as he leaned into the wicker chair, and said to the young man, “Put some effort in the cleaning, after this go sweep the floor...”

At the Du Clan’s back mountain, Du Shaofu took out all the elixirs in his storage pouch and stuffed it all into his mouth. If a Spirit Talisman Master saw this, their hearts would ache terribly.

Directly swallowing elixirs without removing the impurities diminishes its effectiveness, and especially for a drug refining Spirit Talisman Master this action is an abomination.

But why would Du Shaofu care about these; cultivating the Golden-winged Garuda’s exercise law could fully retain elixirs’ energy within his body, and with that self-abusing physique refining law it was equivalent to a Spirit Talisman Master’s Spirit Dan.

“Rumble~~....”

Not long after that, a rumbling resounded from the Du Clan’s back mountain, the surrounding birds flew off in fright and wild animals sped away.

Du Shaofu wore a pair of cut-off bottoms, and his body was shrouded in a golden glow as he continuously threw his body against a cliff wall as if he had a masochistic tendency.

Not far away, a wild kitten-sized Demon Scale Tiger’s stare was fixed upon the golden runes that shrouded Du Shaofu’s body, unmoving as if trying to comprehend something.

It was night before the rumbling sound from the back mountain ceased.

And the energies from the elixirs had mostly been absorbed into his flesh. Then, he sat down to refine the remaining energies into xuanqi that gathered in his Shenque. Of course, all these elixirs that he had consumed cannot be compared to one Blood-Infant Ganoderma.

“Hu~!”

Morning arrived as the sun shined down. In the back mountain, Du Shaofu breathed out a mouthful of foul qi and opened his eyes. A few drops of dew were hanging on his eyelashes, a gold hint of light hidden deep within his pupils. The bruises and wounds from yesterday’s abuse had healed completely.

“Should go and get the items on the list today.”

Du Shaofu muttered. He needed to go and get the material Zhen Qingchun requested.

The bustling streets of Stone City were filled noises of people moving and talking, and the occasional peddler yelling loudly trying to attract customers.

Du Shaofu came to the city to get the things on the list. He looked around with interest as he walked leisurely along the streets; he even bought some clothes and a good wine jug.

Fang Market is the most prosperous section of Stone City - An Family, Qing Family, Ye Family, Bai Gamily has more than one of store fronts here.

A variety of shops stood in the Fang Market filled with attractive goods, and amongst them many stores sold items related to martial cultivation from elixirs, martial skill, weapon, and all that it necessary can be found in Fang Market.

And this is the best place to search for the things that he needed. Although Du Shaofu had gotten various elixirs from Skinny Tiger’s body but it is far from enough to meet his requirements. He also needed a significant number of elixirs to supplement his physique training.

So, Du Shaofu thought it would cost a lot of xuanbi to complete Zhen Qingchun’s list, and he won’t be able to afford them unless he sold all the things in his storage pouches.

Du Clan also has a store that specialized in selling dans, weapons, and martial skills, though they are only are low-grade martial skills.

The other families’ shops catered similar items, and supply is considered enough to fulfill the demand of Stone City’s residents. However, being a remote city, the ‘good’ things’ quality is limited.

Du Shaofu walked into a Du Clan’s store.

“Seen Young Master.”

The two brawny employees inside the store were startled when they saw Du Shaofu entering the store. One of them quickly saluted as his focus returned.

Du Shaofu nodded and indicated they need not be so stiff. He passed a bundle and a list of items he had prepared early on over to the employees. “Let your supervisor calculate how much xuanbi this is worth, and I want to buy some things too.” Since he needed to spend money, he wouldn’t spend it other families’ shop. Furthermore, the materials he had was quite costly.

The two brawny employees took over the bundle and list and immediately scurried the back of the store to see the supervisor in confusion. With the workers gone, Du Shaofu took a look around the shop, apart from coming here a couple of times when he was small, this is the first time he was here for a long time.

historical

Very soon, the shop supervisor hurried out to the store front.

“Shaofu, how come you are here?”

The Supervisor is a man in his forties of medium height, and on the leaner side, but his eyes are bright giving the impression of a smart person.

Du Shaofu knows this man; he is one of the main descendant’s line called Du Ping. His martial talent isn’t high; thus he preferred to help out with Du Clan’s store business. Even so, his status in Du Clan isn’t high, and he rarely returns to the Du Clan compound except during New Year.

“Uncle Ping, does the shop have the things that I want?”

Du Shaofu was very respectful to Du Ping; he remembered when he was little every time Uncle Ping returned to Du Clan during New Year he would bring candies for the children. And Uncle Ping never forgotten him, the candies he got were always more than the other children.

“There is, but the things you wanted is a lot. Some are not often seen, so I need some time to prepare. Once it is ready, I’ll send it over to you, how about that?”

Du Ping looked doubtfully at Du Shaofu. He, of course, knew what had happened in Du Clan for the last Two months. The things Du Shaofu requested are usually use by Spirit Talisman Masters. Moreover, the things Du Shaofu just sold to the shop aren’t cheap either. It looks like the clan rumors were true; this young man had been pretending to be a fool for ten long years.

Du Shaofu paused for a moment before agreeing, “Alright.”

“The items you brought I calculated base on the highest market price for you totaling twenty-one thousand xuanbi. Whereby the things you wanted was charged at cost price amounting to fifteen thousand xuanbi. The balance of six thousand xuanbi is in here.”

Du Ping gave Du Shaofu an exquisite looking card with runes engraved on it and said, “This is a xuanbi card that can be exchanged for xuanbi in many places.”

“Thank you, Uncle Ping.”

Du Shaofu took it without a second thought. Uncle Ping wouldn’t pit [1] him, and if it weren’t the Du Clan’s own store, the things he bought would be extremely expensive for the elixirs is a huge profit business.

“When you get back, send my regards to your father.” Du Ping smiled and said.

“I will.” Du Shaofu nodded, kept the xuanbi card safely, turned and left the store.

Note:

1. Pit – scam/trick/trap