Chapter 14

Seeing this king cobra, Yang Ji finally understood why those foxes and rabbits were so frightened that they froze in place when they ran to this spot.

Although this king cobra was still in its juvenile stage, the saying "a sparrow may be small, but it has all the vital organs" certainly applied to it. The aura of the king of venomous snakes was genuine.

Once the prey around it got close, they would immediately convulse and tremble all over, not daring to come any closer.

"Lu Ling thought this king cobra had run away, but I didn't expect it to be here."

Yang Ji thought to himself.

The king cobra's head was held high, eyeing him with hostility, clearly very wary of him. After a careful observation, Yang Ji indeed saw the tip of an arrow protruding from under the rock.

"Lu Ling said she wounded this king cobra, and it's true. ... But I wonder why it was pinned under a large rock."

Yang Ji was inwardly surprised.

The king cobra had already run away, but the facts clearly showed otherwise. Yang Ji looked around and soon saw deep marks where the rock had rolled, extending all the way to the top of the cliff.

"Originally, this large rock was on the top of the cliff."

A thought flashed through Yang Ji's mind.

In the deep mountains, due to the wind and rain over the years, exposed rocks were not uncommon. However, this one was clearly different.

After a brief moment of thought, Yang Ji roughly understood what had happened to the king cobra.

Clearly, Lu Ling's arrow deeply threatened this king of venomous snakes, the emperor of all snakes. An adult king cobra was invulnerable to blades and had immense strength, even making martial saints wary. However, a juvenile king cobra clearly did not have such abilities.

After being hit by such a powerful arrow, it naturally fled in panic, and in its haste, it collided with the large rock on the top of the cliff, rolling down and getting pinned underneath.

Yang Ji estimated that this rock, taller than a person, weighed at least two thousand pounds, extremely heavy, and far beyond his ability to move.

"Such a heavy rock, even some martial artists might not be able to move it. No wonder this king cobra can't move."

Yang Ji thought, feeling a bit of pity.

This juvenile king cobra was clearly being pursued fiercely by Lu Ling, and with the arrow wound, it panicked and collided with the large rock on the top of the cliff, rolling down and getting pinned underneath.

Sss!

Not far away, the king cobra had been staring at Yang Ji. Seeing that he made no further move, the hostility in its eyes diminished, and it slowly lowered its head, revealing deep fatigue.

"Lu Ling has been chasing it for several days. During this time, it probably hasn't eaten, and with the wound from Lu Ling's arrow, it's no wonder..."

Yang Ji shook his head, a look of pity crossing his eyes. He casually took a wild rabbit from his shoulder and threw it to the king cobra's feet:

"Little snake, I can't do much to help you. This rabbit is for your dinner."

Yang Ji said and turned to leave.

The "king cobra" was an extremely dangerous venomous snake, but Yang Ji had no intention of taming it.

The king cobra, the king of venomous snakes and the emperor of all snakes, was extremely wary of humans and would not be easily tamed. Approaching it rashly would almost certainly result in death from its bite.

Moreover, the two-thousand-pound rock pinning it down was far beyond Yang Ji's ability to move, even if he wanted to.

Yang Ji didn't see that, as he turned to leave, the king cobra looked at the prey in front of it and then at Yang Ji, its eyes softening.

On the cliff, Yang Ji picked up the white fox and hunted for a while longer before returning to his family.

The next morning.

"Uncle Liang, give me the animal pelts. I'll take them to the market to sell."

Just before leaving, Yang Ji suddenly said to the old steward.

The old steward's monthly allowance was almost depleted, and Yang Ji planned to sell the accumulated pelts at the market to get some money.

"Master, wait a moment."

The old steward responded, hurriedly leaving and quickly bringing over a thick stack of pelts. Over the past few days, Yang Ji's hunting had been extremely fruitful, especially after mastering the archery technique taught by Lu Ling, his accuracy improved, and the number of prey he brought back increased.

Yang Ji roughly counted, and there were over thirty to forty pelts.

"Enough, these pelts will be enough to sustain Uncle Liang and me for a long time after being sold."

Yang Ji carefully carried the pelts out the door.

"Shopkeeper, do you buy things here?"

Yang Ji strode into a fur shop.

"Hehe, young man, we don't buy couplets here."

The old shopkeeper smiled, recognizing Yang Ji as the young scholar who had sold couplets to him not long ago.

Yang Ji didn't say much, just took out the thick stack of pelts from his bag and slammed them heavily on the counter.

"!!!"

The old shopkeeper's eyes widened in shock: "So many? Where did you get them from!"

Most of the hunters who came to sell pelts brought one or two at most, and rarely as many as Yang Ji, especially since most of the pelts were intact.

"Where did I get them? Of course, I hunted them myself."

Yang Ji pointed to the bow and arrow on his back and said calmly, "If you don't want them, give me a price. If you do, I'll find another shop."

"Want, want, want!..."

The old shopkeeper quickly smiled and held onto Yang Ji, but the surprise in his eyes was hard to hide. He clearly remembered that a few days ago, Yang Ji was just a weak scholar selling couplets. When did he become such a skilled hunter?

"Let me see, let me see. Twenty-one rabbit pelts, ten badger pelts, two mink pelts, one fox pelt, and one wolf pelt."

The old shopkeeper quickly counted and gave a price:

"Twenty-one rabbit pelts, I can give you 48 coins. Badger pelts, 10 coins each. Mink pelts, 8 coins each. Fox pelt, 8 coins. Wolf pelt, 8 coins. Total, 82 coins. What do you think?" (One coin is one copper piece.)

Yang Ji's eyes twitched. Although he knew that as a newcomer and a young man, he would be underpriced, he didn't expect that over thirty pelts would be worth less than one tael of silver, which was far beyond his expectations.

"Shopkeeper, this price... are you joking?"

Yang Ji said in a deep voice.

"Young man, I'm not trying to underprice you. Look at your rabbit pelts, most of them are damaged by arrows. Such pelts are hard to sell, and I can't give you the same price for all of them. Badger pelts aren't valuable, mink pelts... I have to make a profit, right? As for the wolf pelt, gray wolf pelts aren't as popular as other pelts... I swear, 82 coins is a fair price, I haven't made a single coin off you."

The old shopkeeper looked troubled and said with difficulty:

"Moreover, you have a large quantity. If we can't sell them, we'll bear a significant risk, which we have to consider."

"Hmph!"

Yang Ji coldly snorted and pointed to the "white fox pelt" the old shopkeeper hadn't mentioned:

"Do you really think I know nothing? This complete white fox pelt is worth at least one tael of silver, and if you sell it, you can get at least two taels of silver, with a very high profit. Also, can damaged pelts and intact pelts be priced the same?"

The old shopkeeper's face changed. Among all of Yang Ji's pelts, rabbit, badger, and wolf pelts were just minor, but the white fox pelt was the most valuable.

He deliberately didn't mention the white fox pelt, thinking to underprice it. 82 coins seemed fair, but it was actually the most unfair.

"One fox pelt for 150 coins, twenty-one rabbit pelts for 60 coins, eight badger pelts for 8 coins each, mink pelts for 12 coins, and wolf pelt for 8 coins. Total, 238 copper coins."

Yang Ji said decisively:

"If you agree, we'll make the deal, and I can provide you with a steady supply of goods in the future. If not, I'll spend more time and visit more shops, and I'm sure I can find a solution."

The old shopkeeper was speechless. The price Yang Ji calculated was exactly the real market price, with no error, and even the profit was accurate.

After running the shop for so many years, he had never seen such a capable young man.

Yang Ji didn't care and, seeing no response from the old shopkeeper, grabbed the pelts and left.

"Wait a moment."

The old shopkeeper finally reacted and quickly called out:

"I agree, I agree, ... deal, deal!"

Who would complain about having too much money? Moreover, this batch of goods was exactly what the shopkeeper needed to make a profit before the New Year. Of course, what the old shopkeeper valued most was Yang Ji's promise of a steady supply of goods.

If he could make 82 coins the first time, he could make the second, third, and fourth times, which was why the old shopkeeper agreed so quickly.

"Young man, I've never seen anyone as capable as you. ... Here are 238 copper coins, as you requested, 100 of them converted to silver. Please check."

The old shopkeeper handed over a money bag.

Yang Ji just glanced at it and closed the bag. 238 copper coins were heavy, far more than the 20 silver coins the clan had given him.

"Now, I don't have to rely on the clan anymore."

Yang Ji felt relieved and decided to give the money to the old steward in the evening.

Leaving the fur shop, as he passed the alley, Yang Ji specifically checked again but didn't see "Yang Erniu." He seemed to have completely disappeared.

Yang Ji's eyes showed disappointment, and he sighed, shouldering his bow and heading into the deep mountains.

...

Time slowly passed.

At the fur shop, the young assistant deeply looked at the dense crowd across the street and then turned into the shop.

"Did you find out? Where did they get so many pelts?"

The shop owner, facing the entrance, had a dark expression, as if a storm was brewing.

Competitors are enemies, and the two shops had always had friction, competing fiercely. Who would have thought that after opening today, the opposite shop would be bustling with wealthy young masters, while his own shop was deserted, and the few pelts he had hung up didn't sell at all. His anger was understandable.

"Found out. It seems a young man sold them, most of them were intact, and there was an extremely valuable white fox pelt."

The assistant respectfully reported, telling the truth.

"Young man?"

The shop owner was stunned, a figure flashing through his mind: "Could it be him?"

This morning, he vaguely saw a young man enter the opposite shop through the window, with a familiar back, but he couldn't remember who it was.

Suddenly, the shop owner's heart shook, and he remembered. Wasn't that the young man who came to his shop to sell couplets but was rejected?

Recently, the Yang clan had also visited his shop, specifically for this young man.

In an instant, the shop owner had a plan.

...

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