CHAPTER 396: CHAPTER 41: AN ACCIDENTAL ENCOUNTER WITH SPIRITUAL MATERIAL

"What a pity, there’s no news of hops," Guo Ziyu asked a few familiar mercenaries but couldn’t find any news about hops. It seemed that only the female mercenary Weiwei knew the whereabouts of the hops in Xuan Beast Ridge.

"Ask around some more, if it’s not here at the market this time, perhaps next time at the market we might encounter it," seeing his wife’s distressed expression, Ximing’s face softened a bit, and he reached out to smooth Guo Ziyu’s hair.

"How come in the blink of an eye, Lord Xie has disappeared," Guo Ziyu looked around and just caught sight of Yue Jinghua following a sleazy-looking male mercenary into an alley, "Isn’t that Liu Shu? This guy is risking his life, deceiving and tricking even Lord," she noted.

In a large forest, there are all kinds of birds.

In Five Saints Town, there are many mercenaries, but there are also despicable ones like Liu Shu, who specifically bully new mercenaries and strangers with fake Dark Pills or Spiritual Artifacts, scamming money.

Although his actions are hateful, each time he only scams some money, and privately, he has a good relationship with the stewards of the Five Saints Branch. The branch thus turns a blind eye to his activities and does not take it too seriously.

"What’s there to be afraid of? With Xie San’s skills, do you think he’d be beaten by such trash," Ximing saw Guo Ziyu’s worried look and grumbled in response.

Hearing the jealously in her husband’s tone, Guo Ziyu laughed and gave him a playful glare, "I’m worried Lord Xie might carelessly kill someone. After the last incident with Yan Bao, the Mercenary Inspection Team tightened their watch in Five Saints Town, strictly forbidding murder. Lord Xie has a special status, you and I and he are now bound together like sweet potatoes on a vine. If we get targeted, it’s bad for both you and me."

Saying so, she squeezed past the crowd and had just reached the entrance of the alley when she heard cries for mercy.

Guo Ziyu peeked into the alley and burst out laughing, her earlier worries instantly vanishing.

Saw Liu Shu, who always enjoyed cheating others, now had a miserable expression, kneeling on the ground with a bruise under each eye.

Yue Jinghua was standing on one of his shoulders, holding a box containing a Dark Pill the size of a goose egg, a brown-colored one.

"A Seventh-level Dark Pill, you say? It looks more like a dyed waste pill to me," saying so, he grabbed Liu Shu’s chin and shoved the whole Dark Pill into his mouth, meanwhile stripping off anything valuable from Liu Shu, all while continuing to complain, "Just carrying this junk with you, you dare to come to Five Saints Mountain City?"

Ximing frowned as he watched, and Guo Ziyu inwardly thought, no wonder the organization says Lord Xie is a man who wouldn’t spit out bones after devouring someone. Now it seems quite accurate.

Liu Shu wailed repeatedly, wondering how he had crossed such a disaster, "Sir, my dear Sir, I’m kowtowing to you, I don’t have anything valuable on me, everything is there. I have an old parent and young children at home, all depending on me to scam for a living."

Liu Shu, true to his rat nature, this set of tried-and-true lying excuses usually had a success rate of ninety percent.

But Liu Shu guessed wrong, Yue Jinghua clearly did not belong to that ninety percent.

"Tsk tsk, Liu Shu, you’ve spent all you had on the belly of Qiu Yi, the tavern prostitute," Guo Ziyu had watched enough drama and was afraid Yue Jinghua might go too far and really do some serious harm, which wouldn’t be good.

Although Liu Shu was an insignificant figure, after all, he was a mercenary and had been around the town for over a decade, there were some things that could only be found out through someone like him.

"Oh dear, Boss Lady Guo, Boss Xi, turns out this senior is your friend ah, please beg him to let me go, my shoulder, oh my it’s broken," Liu Shu continued to plead for mercy, as Yue Jinghua pressed down harder with his foot, his body sinking into the ground as if it was shrinking.

The bones below his shoulders emitted a chilling creaking noise.

"Behave yourself. Are there any private goods, smuggled goods, or valuable goods coming out in this Mountain Market?" Ximing knew that Liu Shu must have some insider information.

"Yes, near the front, close to the weapons shop, there’s a short man who has something incredible on him," Liu Shu, pressured, finally coughed up some useful information.

Weapons shop?

Guo Ziyu and his wife have attended the Mountain Market countless times and know that valuable goods are usually sold or traded near or around the Ancient Hero Statue to attract more customers.

What good items could possibly be sold at a weapons shop located on the edge of the Central Area in Five Saints Town?

"Tsk, looks like your bones are still itching for a beating," Yue Jinghua said with a sinister smile, making Liu Shu tremble with fear.

"Really, I dare not hide anything, he has Illusion Soil, Buzhou Soil on him," Liu Shu, with trembling knees, spilled everything.

Yue Jinghua’s right toe flicked like a spiritual snake coming out of its hole, kicking Liu Shu and sending him flying to the ground, knocking him out cold.

Having found the weapons shop, indeed there was a man dressed as a hunter wearing a tattered felt hat. He was not tall, short and sturdy, with a solid build. Looking at his eyes, they were bright and piercing; he was actually a high-level adept of Dark Earth Peak.

No wonder Liu Shu, despite knowing that the man had Buzhou Soil, still didn’t dare to make a move against him.

Liu Shu came to know that the man possessed Buzhou Soil a few days ago when he overheard him boasting to Boss Helen in a tavern while drunk.

To convince Helen, the man even took out the Buzhou Soil he carried.

Liu Shu had a sharp eye and immediately recognized that the man indeed carried high-level spiritual material, Illusion Soil, Buzhou Soil.

Spiritual material is the material used to refine various Spiritual Artifacts.

Upon hearing about spiritual material, Yue Jinghua immediately thought of her earlier promise to Qin Dongting to refine the Mountain and River Fan for him.

After several trials by Yue Jinghua, it became clear that the fan had lost the Earth Element’s spirituality; to reforge the Mountain and River Fan, Earth Element spiritual material was essential.

The Buzhou Soil possessed by this man was such a superior spiritual material that can grant Spiritual Artifacts the ability to acquire other spiritual properties, something that only exists in legends.

As Guo Ziyu and Ximing had anticipated, there weren’t many people outside the weapons shop; most had already gathered around the Ancient Hero Statue.

Spotting Yue Jinghua and Ximing’s group approaching, the man immediately became vigilant.

Just as Yue Jinghua was about to reach the man, a commotion from down the street stirred.

"Make way," only to see from that end of the street, the crowd was rudely pushed aside, Divine Maiden Sha Xi and her maid, accompanied by a few mercenaries, walked through.