The second inn of Qifeng Town, at the Northern Inn, a young woman was pacing back and forth inside her room.
She stared anxiously at the flames rising from the direction of the Prince’s Mansion. Li Yao had woken up early; upon waking she keenly noticed that her elder brother in the next room had disappeared. She didn’t need to think much to know that this was most likely his doing.
Li Yao wanted to leave the inn and go to the Wang Family to find out what was going on, but she feared she would only drag her brother down. Now, with her brother still not back, she was burning with anxiety.
At the same time, Li Lu in the Southern Inn was still sleeping soundly. She had again repeated a certain strange dream: in the dream, the fragrance of wine overflowed everywhere, but every time she woke from it, Li Lu could never remember clearly, as if she had forgotten it.
At the Northern Inn, Li Yao failed to wait for her brother’s return, while a figure silently slipped back to the inn where Li Lu was staying. As the figure re-entered the room, fine "ka-ka" mechanical sounds rang all over his body, and in an instant he once more turned into the kindly, benevolent-looking old man.
He took off the Night Suit and changed into a plain robe of a wandering doctor.
"This little lass really does love to sleep—but it’s exactly the age for growing tall... There’s still some time before daybreak; just right to first tally up the spoils from these past days."
The two of them had traveled a thousand miles along the way. Although the Wang Family was Su Mu’s first true strike, they had also run into several bands of thieves on the road. Anyone bold enough to make a move against Su Mu had naturally been sent off to reincarnate by him, and the belongings on those people had naturally all become part of Su Mu’s property.
"The five groups of thieves we ran into... a total of one thousand one hundred and thirteen taels; along the way, buying medicinal herbs cost four hundred and fifty taels, leaving a total of six hundred and sixty-three taels."
From the thieves’ bodies he had of course collected other valuables as well, such as jade and jewelry, only Su Mu hadn’t tarried long in any one place on the way, so he naturally had no time to go to a Market to dispose of that stolen goods.
Several hundred taels of silver would absolutely be no small sum for an ordinary household. Many families would need to save for a lifetime to scrape that much together, and many common folk would never see that much money in their entire lives.
But now, in Su Mu’s eyes, this amount of money was not much. When he left the Land of Cyan Clouds, not counting all the various medicinal herbs, Demon Beast Blood, and other items on him, just in silver coins he already had more than forty-five thousand taels.
Since he was going to tally, Su Mu now intended to carefully count everything.
"Setting aside what I gained from the Wang Family this time, the silver notes on me come to forty-four thousand nine hundred, broken silver two thousand one hundred—so that makes forty-seven thousand."
At that, Spiritual Light flashed between Su Mu’s fingers as he took out the yellow and white bullion from the Wang Family’s storeroom: three chests in total, each containing fifteen thousand taels, forty-five thousand taels altogether. Adding in the silver notes, what he obtained from the Wang Family in silver coins came to sixty thousand taels.
"The Land of Cyan Clouds really is a paltry little place!"
Su Mu couldn’t help sighing once more. Just the silver coins he’d dug up from a single Wang Family storeroom had already surpassed what he had earned over several years in the Land of Cyan Clouds.
It was true that Su Mu hadn’t gone on any major rampage to plunder money in the Land of Cyan Clouds, but even so there had been the Guo Family, Uncle Wu of the Forging Workshop paying for the Red Feather Saber, the secret chamber of County Magistrate Tao, and a portion of the funds from the Changfeng County Magistrate’s Office.
He had also spent quite a lot of money in the meantime, such as on Refining Jade Bone Pills, Five Treasures Marrow-Nourishing Soup, and other medicines required for Cultivation. When he left the Land of Cyan Clouds, Su Mu hadn’t had that much time to personally Refine Pills, so he directly bought quite a lot in the Three Counties.
All in all, when added together it only amounted to about the same as a single Wang Family storeroom. Yet one must know the Wang Family was not an ordinary clan, but a family that had in succession attached itself to the Li Family and the Zhou Family.
"So, right now the silver coins on me total one hundred and seven thousand taels."
If he hadn’t counted he wouldn’t have known; now that he had tallied it, even Su Mu himself was a little surprised—unnoticed, he had actually come to hold a fortune of one hundred thousand taels.
After that, Su Mu began tallying the Demon Beast Blood on him. Demon Beast Blood could be used for Cultivation; it was also an indispensable material for Refining Elixirs and Forging Weapons.
From County Magistrate Tao Xingzheng’s secret chamber he had obtained five jars of Demon Beast Blood, and from the Changfeng County Magistrate’s Office he had obtained another five. Counting the Banner Masters of the Black Mountain Army he had successively killed, the Taiping Dao Gongsun Xin’s stronghold, and so on, it came to a total of nineteen jars.
"Seven jars of Seventh Grade, the remaining twelve jars are all Eighth and Ninth Grade. These low-tier Demon Beast Bloods can be used for Alchemy later, just to practice the hand."
Once he finished counting the money, Su Mu put it away, and under the control of his Spiritual Power stored it in a corner of the main Sumeru Ring the Pharmacist had given him. Then he took out the Demon Beast Blood obtained from the Wang Family’s storeroom.
From plundering the Wang Family he had gained ten jars of Demon Blood, among them two jars of Sixth Grade, and the rest all Seventh Grade. Moreover, judging from the quality of the Demon Beast Blood, none of it was ordinary blood—they were all Essence Blood.
With a movement of his mind, silver light flashed in Su Mu’s eyes. In an instant, Spiritual Power surged out from the space between his brows and enveloped the entire room. Doing this could cut off any sound or movement inside the room from leaking out; it was a method the Pharmacist had once used. After Su Mu had tried it several times, he was able to perform it himself—it wasn’t particularly difficult.
Right then, Su Mu casually took out a Jade Pendant from the Sumeru Ring. He unsealed one jar of Sixth Grade Demon Blood, dipped the Jade Pendant into it, and began to perform the Blood Transformation Technique, one of the two great secret arts of the Forging Workshop.
The Blood Transformation Technique could in a short time rouse the activity and efficacy within Demon Beast Blood. It was a peculiar form of Martial Arts.
As the Jade Pendant stirred, the Demon Blood surged with violent ripples.
"Sssss——!"
In a Soul Incarnation state, Su Mu’s eyes narrowed slightly as he saw a huge figure condense out of the Demon Blood: a cold, sinister Demon Snake, its scales as big as an adult’s fist and its whole body black as ink.
"So a serpent-type Demon Beast."
Su Mu quickly sealed this jar of Demon Blood. Cultivating the Profound Demon Five Transformations required five corresponding types of Demon Beast Blood. Previously, when Su Mu Cultivated using the highest-quality Seventh Grade cold ape Essence Blood from Tao Xingzheng’s secret chamber, a water–fire imbalance had appeared.