Aspiring to the Immortal Path - Chapter 79
Chapter 79: Selling Stolen Goods
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
Once everyone was full of wine and food, Tang Jie suggested a free period so that all of them could stroll the streets and buy anything they wanted to take back.
Everyone was in support of this idea. Shopping had always been an important part of sightseeing, and so long as they weren’t being forced to spend, everyone was happy to take part.
After setting a time and location to meet up, everyone dispersed.
Tang Jie naturally traveled together with Wei Tianchong, but midway, Tang Jie used the excuse of buying a vase to leave first.
Once he was away from everyone else, Tang Jie walked the streets. He seemed to be alone, admiring the scenery, but there was a little head at his chest that was curiously looking around.
With no more students around, little Yiyi could finally get some air.
Her eyes were glowing as she took in the sights of the outside world. “Wow! The outside is so big… so pretty!”
Tang Jie chuckled and whispered, “Yes, the outside world is very big and very pretty… but be careful. Don’t poke your head out too far.”
He lightly pressed Yiyi’s head back into his clothes. Fortunately, the style of clothes worn in this era was very loose and spacious, so there was no fear of suffocating her.
Hiding in his clothes, Yiyi grumbled, “Can I still not come out? I really want to go out and take a look around. Big Brother, haven’t they already gone?”
Tang Jie stopped on the street and looked at the distant scenery. As if he was talking to himself, he softly said, “The ones out in the open left, but not necessarily the ones in the shadows.”
“The shadows?” Yiyi didn’t understand. She furtively looked around and softly asked, “Is someone following us?”
After spending so much time with Tang Jie, the little lass had gradually begun to realize the dangers around Tang Jie. While Tang Jie had yet to officially tell those secrets to Yiyi, he had not tried to hide them from her. Even an innocent little girl would slowly begin to understand what was going on.
“Mm, perhaps,” Tang Jie replied.
“You don’t know?” Yiyi was astonished.
Tang Jie shook his head. “How could I know? I’ve only just started cultivating, and to deal with Zhuang Shen, I had to focus on combat spells. Those people sent to deal with me wouldn’t be strong fighters with powerful spells, but veteran scouts. It would truly be amusing if I could so easily discover them. I just feel that if I were Godhead Palace, since Tang Jie finally came out for a trip, there would have to be something wrong with their heads if they didn’t take this chance.”
“Then why did you split off from the other students? Aren’t you afraid of being captured?”
“I’m just trying to see if they want to catch me, follow me, or perhaps straight-up ignore me. If I didn’t give them the chance, how could I ever figure out their movements? If I don’t know their movements, how can I plan for them?”
“I see… but isn’t that too risky?” She crouched in his collar like a kitten, looking around, and then she mimed an adult by propping a hand under her chin and beginning to seriously think.
Tang Jie chuckled. “Why do you think I brought you with me? If they really try to capture me, I’ll just throw you out and make a run for it. Remember to cover me!”
“I hate you!” Yiyi shouted, but Tang Jie immediately placed a finger on her mouth.
Yiyi immediately began to struggle and wildly scratch with her hands, but she was so weak that all she managed to do was make Tang Jie itch.
“Alright, alright, I’ll stop messing around. This is Wanquan City. Even if it isn’t Basking Moon Academy, it’s not a place Godhead Palace can mess around in just because it wants to. If they really make their move, I just need to cause a giant ruckus and then buy some time. The teachers will immediately rush over. Your illusion formation is no good for fighting, but it’s great for buying time. Moreover, I’ve also made my preparations, so there’s nothing to be afraid of.”
“Hmph, why didn’t you say so earlier!?” Yiyi angrily turned her head away and proceeded to ignore him.
Tang Jie petted her on the head. “Okay, stop being angry and be a good girl. No matter what they try to do, we’ll figure it out before they make their move. This is a chance for them, but also a chance for us.”
“But how will we figure it out?” Yiyi whispered.
“I’ll need your help for that.”
Tang Jie confidently strode through the streets of Wanquan City, and it wasn’t long before he arrived at a store that bought and sold magic tools. He went inside, and after a few moments, he resumed his wandering.
A little while later, a man went into the store and spotted the shop assistant behind the counter.
The man walked over and asked, “Shopkeeper, I’d like to ask you a question.”
The shop assistant glanced at the man and went back to working his abacus.
The man offered a silver ingot. “Did a young man come in just now?”
The shop assistant looked at the ingot and took it. He then casually said, “A young man did come in. What about it?”
“Did he buy anything from you?” the man hurriedly asked.
“Buy something?” The shop assistant shook his head in surprise. “No, he was only looking.”
“Just looking?”
“Yes, he said he wanted to buy a spell-weapon-grade sword, but from the look of it, he was sorely lacking in money and could never afford one,” the shop assistant scornfully said.
As a shop assistant, he wouldn’t show contempt in front of customers, but he found it hard to conceal his disdain when in front of others.
But the man wasn’t satisfied with this answer. He asked, “Did he try to sell you anything like a Mustard Seed Bag or an art sword?”
“A Mustard Seed Bag? An art sword? Dear customer, are you making fun of me? Are those things that young man could have?” the shop assistant scornfully said.
The man was disappointed to hear this. He shook his head and took out a silver tael to give to the shop assistant. “I’m sure you know what should be said and what shouldn’t.”
The shop assistant smiled upon receiving the silver tael. “Relax. This one understands.”
The man left with a sigh.
Right after he left, Tang Jie turned around and went back. He bowed to the shop assistant. “I’m really sorry to bother you, but I was so busy examining your wares that I accidentally left my flower behind.”
He pointed at a small white flower lying in the corner.
“A middle-aged man wearing purple robes? Not a member of the Freedom Society?” Tang Jie was very disappointed, but after some thought, he understood. “In this situation, there’s no need to have the spy in the Freedom Society follow me. After all, they’ll be easily exposed. But it seems like they’re only following and investigating me this time, not capturing me. It seems like that Gu Changqing has settled down after suffering twice and has stopped with the brute force approach. If so, he must have sent people to Anyang, and a round trip will take four to five months… Very good. This is the perfect amount of time to improve myself. But that fellow who keeps following me is quite annoying. With him around, I won’t be able to do anything.”
Tang Jie muttered to himself. Just like how Gu Changqing had analyzed him, he had basically analyzed Gu Changqing’s actions.
“Yes, yes.” Little Yiyi nodded as if she understood, though she didn’t actually get a thing.
“It’s good that I have a way,” Tang Jie smiled.
He continued to pretend he was taking in the scenery and looked around. Sure enough, he soon spotted that purple-robed, middle-aged man that Yiyi had spoken of. He was following him at a distance, neither too closely nor too distantly. If not for Yiyi pointing him out, he really wouldn’t have been able to tell that this portly man was a spy of Godhead Palace.
Tang Jie inwardly sneered. He turned his head and began to walk toward the man.
The man saw Tang Jie coming over, but he didn’t panic. He simply mixed into the crowd and walked like nothing had happened.
Suddenly, Tang Jie stopped him. “Sir, do you know the way to Loyalty Street?”
The purple-robed man froze. “This… I’m not too sure.”
“Oh, then I’m sorry for disturbing you.” Tang Jie walked away with a smile and asked someone else for directions.
The purple-robed man watched in a daze as his target walked away, not sure what he should do.
He wanted to follow, but since they had just met, if they ran into each other again, even an idiot would be able to tell that they were being followed.
While he was trying to decide what to do, Tang Jie had already sauntered away, disappearing into the crowd, so he could only stomp his feet in frustration. He wanted to ask for help from Gu Changqing, but then he realized that he would probably be scolded for his incompetence, and he suddenly lost the courage to send out the message talisman. After thinking it over, he decided that it wasn’t a big deal. That Tang Jie was simply a suspicious target, but that shop assistant had said that he was only window shopping, not even daring to bring up the idea of buying a spell weapon. Consoling himself in this way, he simply reported “Nothing unusual discovered” and ended it there.
Tang Jie took many turns through the streets, and when he saw that the purple-robed man hadn’t followed, he chuckled and continued down the street.
He first found a deserted alley to change out of his moon-white uniform. He smeared dirt across his face and messed up his hair, and then he walked out. He looked around and saw that no one was paying attention to him, after which he swaggered into a store.
The shop assistant saw a filthy young man coming in and immediately wanted to shoo him out, but to his surprise, the young man casually announced, “Call your boss out. I’ve got a good deal for him.”
“Little cub, what sort of deal could you possibly offer?” the shop assistant rudely responded.
The young man raised a bag. “Open up your dog eyes. What am I holding?”
“A Mustard Seed Bag?” The shop assistant’s eyes flew open, and after carefully examining it, he determined that it was the real deal. His face paled, and he hastily said, “Customer, please wait a moment while I go and get my boss.”
This Mustard Seed Bag was none other than the one Tang Jie had taken from Zhuang Shen.
Tang Jie had profited greatly from killing Zhuang Shen and Min Dong. Alas, the only things that could be sold were the pills, talismans, and Mustard Seed Bag, as they had no identifying marks. He kept the pills and talismans for himself, leaving the Mustard Seed Bag as the sole thing he could sell.
As for the other items, after studying the structure of the Godhead Armor, Tang Jie used the Weapon Mantra on it and Min Dong’s dagger. Together with that grain from the Violet Flame Sword, he now had three golden grains.
When put together, these three golden grains merged together on their own into a slightly larger golden grain.
As for the formation diagram and Immortal-Binding Rope, he was unwilling to refine them with the Weapon Mantra, and the Refined Beast token couldn’t be refined, so Tang Jie planned to use it himself. Of course, that was only for when no one was around.
The shop owner quickly came out, and when he saw the Mustard Seed Bag, he quickly nodded. “Yes, this is a Mustard Seed Bag, but it’s a little on the small side.”
Tang Jie acted unreasonable and shouted, “Old man, don’t take me for a fool. I’ve asked around about this Mustard Seed Bag. It’s worth at least six spirit jades!”
The shop owner chuckled. “Six spirit jades is the selling price, but I can’t buy it for that much. If you’re selling, I can give you three spirit jades.”
“That’s no good!” Tang Jie snatched the Mustard Seed Bag back. “I’ve already inquired, and this one can go on the market for at least forty-five hundred coins!”
“True, but I presume that this Mustard Seed Bag isn’t exactly clean?” the shop owner replied with a smile.
“This…” Tang Jie acted like he had been exposed, his shame fueling his anger. “Why do you care where it comes from? In any case, I didn’t steal it. It’s just… I came across it on the side of the road and picked it up!”
The shop owner smiled. “Picked it up or stole it or whatever, I’m not arguing over this with you. So long as you can’t say where you got it from, there will always be problems. How about this? I’ll buy that Mustard Seed Bag from you for three and a half spirit jades and promise you that I won’t reveal to anyone who sold it. How about it?”
Tang Jie pretended to hesitate. “You’re sure? If someone comes to ask questions…”
“This old man will say that I didn’t get any Mustard Seed Bag today. As for this one, I picked it up a long time ago,” the shop owner firmly said.
Tang Jie clenched his teeth and finally nodded. “Fine, three and a half spirit jades. You win this time.”
“No, we’re all on the same boat here,” the shop owner said with a smile. “If you have anything else that can’t see the light of day, you can come and find me.”
The shop owner was in a good mood, having gotten almost a fifty percent discount on this Mustard Seed Bag worth six spirit jades.
“I will.” Tang Jie smiled. These words left him very relieved.
While the Mustard Seed Bag was good, it wasn’t something he could use. In the end, it was just a storage tool, so it was more important to exchange it for good medicines that he could use on himself. Thus, even if he was selling for much less than the market price, it was still worth it.
With thirty-five hundred spirit coins, Tang Jie could buy another set of herbs to cultivate the Parting Classic. In truth, thirty-five hundred spirit coins was enough to cultivate the Parting Classic once, as was thirty-five thousand, or three hundred and fifty thousand spirit coins.
It was just that the level of progress would differ.
As for now, to tell the truth, Tang Jie had no idea what he was going to do with all these coins.
After strolling around some more, Tang Jie went back to the place he had agreed to meet the other students at.
The students had returned, and since it was getting late, they decided to go back to the academy, happily laughing and chatting all the way.
Once they were seated on the ferry back to the Clear Sky Mountains, all of the students looked back at Wanquan City.
A student emotionally said, “Who knows when we’ll all be able to play together like this again? Do you remember when we first came? We thought that one day a month of vacation was too little, but now, it really does seem like a little much… Now that we have stepped upon the Immortal path, the seasons are gradually fading away. All that exists in our eyes is the struggle of the path of Immortality.”
“Yes, yes,” the other students emotionally sighed.
The boat docked, and the students became like tired birds returning to their nests, bidding each other farewell.
Before he left, Cai Junyang called out to Tang Jie, “Tang Jie, students today and opponents tomorrow. The Divine Battleground… I’ll be waiting for you. Don’t disappoint me!”
Tang Jie chuckled and helplessly shook his head.
Those people who wanted to make trouble for him would be waiting for him on the Divine Battleground, and those who didn’t want to make trouble for him also weren’t planning to let him go. It seemed that he had a very exciting life to look forward to.
