CHAPTER 37: CHAPTER 37: THE SECOND POT OF GOLD

Shopkeeper Liu, seeing that Fu Changsheng was interested, immediately said:

"Fu Clan Leader, if what I’m saying isn’t true, you can go outside and ask around to verify it. I assure you, my words are all true, and twenty thousand spirit stones are already the most affordable price."

Fu Changsheng wanted to buy it.

His mind raced.

If he wanted to gather such a large amount of spirit stones in such a short time, there was only one way. He stood up and said, "Shopkeeper, give me some time to think about it."

He immediately left the Hundred Treasures Pavilion.

He didn’t leave the marketplace but instead entered a private room in a teahouse. After activating the shielding array, he took out a communication jade talisman, infused a technique into it, and a white light shone:

"Miss Hongyu, I have an important matter to discuss with you in person. I am at the Nanyang Marketplace. Do you have time to come over?"

Currently, the fastest way for him to earn twenty thousand spirit stones was the spirit stone vein in the Valley of Ten Thousand Flowers. With the current strength of the Fu Family, they definitely couldn’t protect it, so it would be better, as previously planned, to sell this information to the Shangguan Family and let them handle it.

And if the Shangguan Family wanted to monopolize that spirit stone vein, they would have to remove the Celestial Dragon Tribe.

In this way.

Not only could he leverage the Shangguan Family’s hand to get rid of the Celestial Dragon Tribe, but he could also receive a substantial reward, killing two birds with one stone.

The waiting time was torturous.

After about half an hour.

The communication jade talisman on the table finally emitted a series of urgent buzzing sounds, and Shangguan Hongyu’s voice came through:

"In two days, I’ll make a trip to Nanyang County. You can wait for me at Luofeng Mountain."

"It’s done!"

Fu Changsheng was overjoyed in his heart, and then he immediately realized why Shangguan Hongyu wanted to come to Luofeng Mountain. Two days later was the day when the nearby Zhang Family would move into Niushou Mountain.

The major matter was settled.

Fu Changsheng left the teahouse and went to the Hundred Treasures Pavilion again.

Shopkeeper Liu’s eyes lit up when he saw Fu Changsheng return:

"Fu Clan Leader, have you made up your mind?"

"Yes, Shopkeeper Liu, I want this shop. Here’s the deposit, and I’ll gather the remaining balance within a month. How does that sound?"

Fu Changsheng handed over twenty middle-grade spirit stones he got from a lottery to Shopkeeper Liu.

Shopkeeper Liu glanced at the spirit stones, saw they were middle-grade, and was satisfied. A month wasn’t long, and he could certainly wait. He immediately wrote a receipt and signed a contract with the broker:

"Fu Clan Leader, I’ll be waiting for your good news in the marketplace."

"Alright."

Fu Changsheng left the marketplace and returned to his clan territory.

A few days later.

Early in the morning, he saw a treasure light approaching from the sky, and as it got closer, it turned out to be a warship, with two structures, about a dozen stories high, seemingly able to accommodate tens of thousands of people.

On the deck of the treasure ship.

Shangguan Hongyu, clad in red palace attire, stood side by side with Shangguan Chen. When Shangguan Hongyu saw Fu Changsheng emerging from Luofeng Mountain, she spoke a few words to Shangguan Chen and then disembarked from the warship.

Fu Changsheng hurriedly went up to greet her:

"Miss Hongyu, it must have been a tiresome journey. Let’s talk in the mountain."

The two entered the array, and Fu Changsheng took her directly to the secret chamber.

Seeing how serious he was, Shangguan Hongyu couldn’t help but ask curiously:

"Fu Clan Leader, what’s this important matter?"

Last time, because of the information Fu Changsheng provided, they successfully eradicated the traitor, the Li Family, and the Shangguan Family gained significant merits for it. Thus, she had quite high expectations for what Fu Changsheng wanted to say.

Fu Changsheng took a deep breath and laid out the prepared script in his heart:

"Miss Hongyu, to be honest, just a few days ago, at Moon Lake, I was ambushed by assassins from the Celestial Dragon Tribe. I was lucky to escape, and in the process, I obtained a shocking piece of information from that person."

He paused for a moment.

Fu Changsheng slowed his pace:

"On that person, I found a terrain map. The terrain map clearly points to the Eastern Wilderness. I used some methods to get information from the mouth of that half-dead member of the Celestial Dragon Tribe and learned that the map he had acquired by chance marked a location that happens to be a spirit stone vein."

A spirit stone vein?!

Shangguan Hongyu was visibly shocked.

She stared intently at Fu Changsheng:

"Fu Clan Leader, where is the map and that member of the Celestial Dragon Tribe?"

"That person was already on his last breath and has died. I was afraid the terrain map would bring disaster upon me, so I burned it. However, the fact that there is a spirit stone vein marked on the map is absolutely true—I’m not lying!"

Shangguan Hongyu glanced at Fu Changsheng again.

Fu Changsheng was her savior, and he would not joke about such matters: "Fu Clan Leader, do you still remember that terrain map?"

Fu Changsheng nodded.

This was his bargaining chip with the Shangguan Family.

Shangguan Hongyu, hearing this, pondered for a while and then said:

"A spirit stone vein, even a small one, can yield hundreds of thousands of spirit stones when mined. Since it’s in the Eastern Wilderness, this is a matter of significant importance. With my status, I can’t promise you anything. How about this—I’ll notify my father to come over and let him discuss it with you personally. What do you think?"

"I’ll trouble you, Miss Hongyu."

He could only trust the father and daughter of the Shangguan Family.

After quickly sending a message to Shangguan Feng, in order not to attract attention, Shangguan Hongyu left Luofeng Mountain directly and went to the nearby Niushou Mountain to help Shangguan Chen set up the Mountain Protection Array for the Zhang Family.

By the afternoon.

Shangguan Feng arrived at Luofeng Mountain, and upon hearing about the spirit stone vein, even as a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, he was shocked. He looked at Fu Changsheng and said:

"Fu Clan Leader, name your price. What conditions will make you willing to draw out the terrain map of the spirit stone vein?"

If it were those cold-hearted cultivators, they wouldn’t be so polite in negotiating with Fu Changsheng; they’d directly use the Soul Searching Technique to read his memory and, to prevent any information leakage, would kill him afterward.

Fu Changsheng was only able to rely on the integrity of Shangguan Hongyu and her father, as previous information showed that Li Changtai of the Li Family had saved Shangguan Hongyu and used the Shangguan Family to rise swiftly, being ennobled as a Ninth-Grade Noble Family within ten years.

Fu Changsheng knew his limits.

He wasn’t greedy.

He spoke frankly:

"Elder Feng, Shopkeeper Liu at the Hundred Treasures Pavilion in the Nanyang Marketplace wants to sell his shop. My Fu Family usually just manages several dozen acres of Spirit Field to get by, living a tough life. For the future of my descendants, I wanted to buy that shop. Shopkeeper Liu insists on two thousand spirit stones, not a single one less, and as you know, my Fu Family simply can’t produce such a large sum of spirit stones."

"Alright, I understand your meaning. Wait here a moment; I’ll be right back."

Shangguan Feng said, his body flickering as he exited Luofeng Mountain and headed to the adjacent Niushou Mountain, afterward placing two boxes in front of Fu Changsheng:

"This is eighteen thousand eight hundred spirit stones. This is all the spirit stones I could gather for now. Take them first, and if the spirit stone vein proves real, based on the mining situation and after deducting expenses for labor and other costs, I’ll negotiate for an additional twenty percent profit share from the clan for you!"