Chapter 10: Old Matters And New Grudges
From the memories he obtained from the original body, the cause of death of the original body’s father Su Dahe was that, in order to repay a debt, he took a risk and gathered mountain goods on the cliff.
As a result, he accidentally fell, and his corpse was nowhere to be found.
And the one who lent money to the original body’s father was none other than Niu Han?
Now that Wang San suddenly shouted like this, the matter became interesting.
Wang San finally breathed a sigh of relief, spoke out the matter he had been holding in, and exchanged it for a chance at survival.
“I can tell you, but… but you have to promise not to kill me, this matter here, I!”
Before he could finish speaking, the arrow that Su Yan had just wiped clean in his hand directly pierced through Wang San’s palm.
The pain made Wang San’s monkey-like face twist almost completely, making his appearance even more unsightly.
“Speak”
Su Yan only spat out one word, which made Wang San feel an indescribable sense of oppression.
He didn’t dare to negotiate any more conditions: “It was Niu Han and his group. Uncle Dahe said he had found traces of a treasure plant and borrowed 10 taels of silver from him.”
“Uncle Dahe thought that finding the treasure plant would fill the hole, but he didn’t know that Niu Han and his gang were greedy and had their subordinates watch him in the forest… Later, later it was heard that Uncle Dahe fell to his death while gathering stone ear grass… It must have been them.”
Wang San blurted out the whole matter to exchange for a chance at survival, and he cautiously stole a glance at Su Yan’s expression.
But he saw that his expression was calm, as if it wasn’t his father who had died, and his heart immediately sank.
‘It’s over, this kid must have murderous intent.’
He kowtowed repeatedly, and the wounds on his body were pulled by the kowtowing, the pain making his face pale and twisted.
But even so, he didn’t dare to stop for a moment.
“Yan Ge’er, it really has nothing to do with me, this was all done by Niu Han and his gang.”
“Is that so?” Su Yan drew out his voice, meaningfully: “Then how do you know?”
Wang San froze in place, met Su Yan’s gaze, and hurriedly explained: “I’m not… it was Niu Han’s people who told me to watch you. They said ‘that kid is fair and clean, his parents are both dead, he definitely won’t survive, when the time comes to collect the debt, sell the person as a companion boy for a city lord, and then take the house.'”
“Skinning and deboning, drinking blood and sucking marrow, truly impressive.”
Cold light flickered in Su Yan’s eyes, old and new grudges arose at once, it seemed Niu Han and his group could not avoid a fight.
“It has nothing to do with me…”
“Pfft”
Su Yan raised his hand and shot an arrow, killing Wang San.
Wang San had been tailing him, originally acting as an accomplice for Niu Han to blend into their group.
However, he hadn’t expected to first uncover this matter of tailing and seizing treasure; it was quite a coincidence.
“Niu Han and that group of ruffians are not like Wang San’s scattered soldiers; they lend to villagers, have some power, looks like I need to think of a method.”
Su Yan searched all four corpses thoroughly; apart from finding two taels of loose silver on Zhao Fu, there wasn’t half a coin on Wang San or Huang Tian.
He let the yin water centipede bite the wounds until they were mangled, then added a mouthful of poison to corrode them, completely destroying the condition of the wounds.
Su Yan covered his tracks, then carried the backpack and headed toward the forest in another direction.
Li Hu and the others had given him twelve taels of silver for free; adding his own savings of thirty-seven taels, he now had 49 taels of silver.
If he went to pay the martial arts school tuition, and sold some of the stock in the insect realm space, it would be enough.
But Su Yan could not go down the mountain immediately at this time; he had to return fully loaded and stagger the timing, so that if anyone really discovered Li Hu and the others dead, they wouldn’t notice him.
After the yin water centipede reached the growth stage, it became even more extraordinary. Su Yan let it lead the way and searched in the old forest for half a day, finding quite a few dan zhi mushrooms, and dug up a few he shou wu in the ground, nearly filling the backpack.
Seeing that the time was right, Su Yan then took another path down the mountain.
Perhaps Wang San and the others feared leaking the news, so their actions were all conspiratorial; although a day had passed, no one seemed to notice.
The next morning, after refining a strand of insect yuan, Su Yan went straight to the mountain market with the backpack as usual.
There were quite a few mountain villagers going to the market together; seeing Su Yan going too, envy appeared in their eyes.
The heavy backpack must contain mountain goods; with this ability, not to mention paying taxes, marrying one or two wives, building a large courtyard in the village, and buying a few acres of farmland would be effortless.
Su Yan’s pace was extremely fast; from refining the yin water centipede, constantly tempering his body with insect yuan, and honing his body himself, it had been about a month.
Although his appearance hadn’t changed much at this time, his body was already vastly different, comparable to two or three strong men.
With such a body, he was naturally faster than others.
Arriving at the mountain market marketplace, Su Yan headed straight for the Hundred Herbs Hall shop.
Bai Shan saw Su Yan from afar and immediately smiled: “Yan Ge’er, what mountain goods did you find today?”
“Wild he shou wu around ten years old, and dan zhi mushrooms.”
Bai Shan had dealt with Su Yan several times and was quite familiar, knowing Su Yan’s abilities, so he naturally didn’t treat him as an ordinary mountain villager.
Taking the backpack from Su Yan, Bai Shan carefully took out the items, weighed them, and said in surprise: “I’m afraid it’s not just ten years; Steward Song needs to take a look.”
Neither of them hid it, so the lined-up mountain hunters and herb gatherers were already whispering, their eyes full of envy.
An old man in gray-black coarse hemp clothes smacked his lips and licked his dry, cracked lips: “Must be worth two or three taels of silver, right?”
He said this to his companion, but couldn’t help glancing at Bai Shan.
Bai Shan said loudly: “As long as it’s medicinal herbs with sufficient years of medicinal potency, Hundred Herbs Hall will price them to everyone’s satisfaction. If it’s really fifteen—no, thirteen years of potency, this he shou wu alone would be five taels of silver.”
The he shou wu was quite large; by weight, it was indeed worth that price.
Not to mention the chatter among the three or five mountain villagers, Bai Shan had another shop assistant help and led Su Yan into the shop.
Su Yan was slightly surprised, and Bai Shan leaned in to explain softly: “Yan Ge’er, Steward Song instructed early on that if you come to sell herbs, bring you to see him.”
‘See him?’
Doubt arose in Su Yan’s heart; although they had occasional contact, it was just nodding acquaintances, so this sudden meeting likely had other matters.
“Brother Bai, is there something going on?”
Bai Shan shook his head and smiled awkwardly: “Steward Song’s matters, how would we know.”
With that, he led Su Yan through the main hall; in just a few steps, they arrived at the inner hall.
A small courtyard with colonnades on three sides, all wooden doors and windows; the left and right sides were tightly closed, looking more like storerooms.
In the middle of the courtyard was a rockery and a pitch-black water tank with water lilies planted in it.
Beside the water tank, Song Qi was sitting in a rattan chair with his eyes closed, resting.
“Bai Shan, you go out first.”
Before they entered, Song Qi seemed to have already noticed; as soon as Bai Shan stepped half a foot into the courtyard, Song Qi’s voice rang out.
“Yes.” He bowed slightly: “Call me if Steward Song has need; I’ll wait in the front.”
Bai Shan retreated, and only then did Song Qi open his eyes and stand: “It’s only been a few days since the last sale, and you’ve got aged medicinal herbs again; looks like you have quite some skill in herb gathering.”
A strange light flashed in Su Yan’s eyes, but his face remained calm as he thought to himself: ‘Hundred Herbs Hall has two hundred years of foundation; even ordinary treasure plants are just slightly more expensive herbs, not worth coveting my methods.’
“All luck, relying on the great mountain for a living.”
“Dozens of taels of silver, neither entering the city nor buying land, not building a family estate; you want to practice martial arts?”
Song Qi’s deep eyes seemed to emit a beam of light as he stared at Su Yan, his tone certain.
“Yes.”
Su Yan looked up to meet his gaze without flinching and answered.
“Good, good, you have some ambition.”
“Let me ask you, what is the difference between three-line red and blood tendon flower?”
Suddenly, this old fellow Song Qi changed the subject and actually asked about herb identification.
Su Yan was momentarily puzzled, not knowing what Song Qi was planning.
“Three-line red has boiling blood poison; ordinary people poisoned will have their blood boil dry, body turn red all over, and if untreated, die in three to seven days. It likes sun, vines grow on rock walls, body entirely red, flowers open in four petals, named for the three black lines at the base.”
“Blood tendon flower, one of the treasure plants, enhances blood qi and repairs meridians, no special requirement for sunlight, but usually in the territory of carnivorous animals. Flower body bright red, slightly thick, back has patterns like meridians, no fixed shape. Can have three or four petals.”
Su Yan looked at Song Qi: “Regardless of effects, the main differences are on the flower back.”
“Good, good, good, you’ve indeed memorized the Hundred Herbs Illustration.”
Hearing this, Song Qi smiled, seeming very pleased.
“Steward Song, may I ask what you called me in for today?”
“Make a deal.”
Song Qi raised his gaze, a bit more serious: “You want to learn martial arts, I’ll introduce you, but you help me find blood tendon flower in the mountains. I won’t take it for nothing; I’ll buy at thirty percent above market price, how about it?”
