Chapter 39

Why is "Beauty Must Be Collected" ranked first in the readers' impressions?

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About half an hour after Li Wenjun left, a man dressed as a Taoist priest rushed over like the wind. He stood outside the burning mansion, his face as dark as water.

"Damn it, how dare you ruin my good deed. Don't let me find you, or I'll tear you to pieces," the Taoist priest said through gritted teeth.

At this moment, Li Wenjun had already returned home. He leaped over the wall and went back to his room. He had no intention of sleeping, so he sat cross-legged on the bed to meditate.

When it was dawn, Sun Jianing came to knock on the door, asking Li Wenjun to join them for breakfast.

At the table, Li Wenjun noticed that Sun Baicao and Sun Jianing looked more relaxed than they had in the past few days. He asked, "Uncle Sun, is there any good news? Did you find a good buyer?"

Sun Baicao chuckled and said, "You're a smart kid, nothing can be hidden from you. Yes, yesterday afternoon, I met an old customer who is willing to pay a good price for our herbs. Today, he will bring people to check our herbs, and if everything goes well, we can sell all of them today."

Sun Jianing said mysteriously, "If we can sell them all, we can earn at least five taels of silver."

Seeing how Sun Baicao and Sun Jianing were so happy over just five taels of silver, Li Wenjun felt the huge gap between ordinary people and cultivators, a chasm that could not be crossed.

He was now just a half-cultivator, and he had killed three bandits and obtained three thousand taels of silver without much effort. This amount of money might take Sun Baicao and Sun Jianing decades, even a century, to save up if they didn't eat or drink.

If it was this easy for a half-cultivator to make money, how much wealth must a true cultivator have?

Moreover, Li Wenjun realized that if he didn't cultivate the "Changchun Gong," his life might be like Sun Baicao and Sun Jianing's, where a few extra taels of silver could make him happy for days.

This was definitely not the life he wanted!

These thoughts flashed through Li Wenjun's mind, and he smiled, "So much? Congratulations, Uncle Sun."

Sun Baicao said, "Wenjun, I need your help today. Can you stay at home and not go out? When my old customer comes, can you help me with some tasks?"

Li Wenjun nodded readily. He only spent a few hours a day making medicine, cultivating, and sleeping. With twelve hours in a day, he had plenty of time to help Sun Baicao.

After the three of them finished eating and tidied up, they began to wait for the old customer.

It didn't take long for a merchant and his assistants to arrive. After inspecting Sun Baicao's herbs, the merchant was very satisfied and settled the payment on the spot.

After verifying the authenticity of the silver, Sun Baicao, Li Wenjun, and Sun Jianing helped load the herbs onto the merchant's cart.

After seeing off the merchant, Sun Baicao said, "After all this hard work, we've finally succeeded. Wenjun, I plan to take Jianing out for a good meal. Do you want to come along?"

Sun Baicao wasn't being insincere or hinting that Li Wenjun shouldn't go. He just didn't know if Li Wenjun wanted to go out today, so he asked.

Li Wenjun shook his head and smiled, "No, you go ahead."

Sun Baicao nodded and said, "If you don't want to go, I won't force you. When I come back, I'll bring you a roasted chicken. By the way, don't stay cooped up in the house all day. Go out and take a walk. During the last few days of the trade fair, there's usually a rare goods market where they sell rare herbs. You might be interested, so you can go check it out."

Li Wenjun's eyes lit up, and he asked, "A rare goods market? Where is it? When does it start?"

Sun Baicao said, "In front of the county magistrate's office, there's a drill ground about five or six acres in size. During the trade fair, the rare goods market is usually held there. It lasts for three days. Today is the first day, so you can go check it out. You might find the herbs you need."

"Really? I'll go right now," Li Wenjun said as he ran out of the yard.

Sun Baicao hurriedly said, "Wenjun, wait a moment. The herbs in the rare goods market are quite expensive, and many are sold by the plant. Do you have enough money? If not, take this money bag."

As he spoke, Sun Baicao handed the money bag to Li Wenjun, which contained all the money he had earned from selling the herbs, about thirty taels of silver.

"I have money, Uncle Sun, don't worry about me. You go ahead and treat yourselves," Li Wenjun waved and walked away without looking back.

Li Wenjun had once walked around Fengshou Town and knew where the county magistrate's office was. He quickly arrived at the drill ground in front of the office.

Sure enough, the place was already surrounded by tall curtains, with four entrances on the east, west, south, and north. Each entrance was guarded by two constables. Anyone who wanted to enter the rare goods market had to pay five cash to the constables, and if they were sellers, they had to pay an additional tael.

Without even considering the entrance fees, the revenue from the rare goods market alone was in the thousands of taels. With other taxes, the county magistrate's office collected no less than ten thousand taels annually, accounting for about half of the total revenue of San Shan County. The reason why the county magistrate's office was a lucrative position and why the county magistrate and the county clerk had constant conflicts was largely due to the existence of the rare goods market.

Li Wenjun didn't rush in. He found a place to disguise himself and then returned to the entrance of the rare goods market. After paying five cash, the constable gave him a wooden token and let him in.

Inside the rare goods market, there were already many stalls, and there were plenty of buyers, numbering in the thousands. As soon as he entered, Li Wenjun noticed a stall near the entrance selling a herb he needed for his Qi Gathering Powder. He quickly went over to ask the price.

As Sun Baicao had said, the stall owner quoted the price per plant, one cash per plant. Li Wenjun haggled a bit and spent more than two taels of silver to buy all the herbs the stall owner had, about thirty plants.

Encouraged by this good start, Li Wenjun became even more excited about the rare goods market. He began to wander around.

After a while, Li Wenjun noticed that, besides merchants, there were also some very noticeable people in the market. Some were dressed as monks, and others as Taoist priests. Among them, a couple gave Li Wenjun a particularly special feeling, as if he had seen the old Taoist priest at the grain drying field in Junbao Town.

Li Wenjun's heart raced. Could these people be cultivators like the old Taoist priest? Were they from outside or local? Were they here for the herbs, just like him?

After thinking for a long time, Li Wenjun had no clue. He could only warn himself to be cautious and avoid contact with the monks and Taoist priests who gave him that special feeling.

After a while, Li Wenjun saw a familiar group: the county magistrate's daughter Wu Xuemei, the young master Wu Yiming, and Doctor Kong, followed by two constables in plain clothes.

As Li Wenjun passed by Wu Xuemei and the others, he heard Wu Yiming say, "Doctor Kong, can we really find herbs that are a hundred years old here? We've been wandering for so long, and we haven't found any yet."

"Master Wu, please be patient. Let's keep looking," Doctor Kong said, trying to comfort Wu Yiming, but his voice also betrayed a hint of anxiety.

Li Wenjun sneered inwardly and walked straight ahead.

The rare goods market indeed had a large number of precious herbs that were rarely seen, but not all of them could be used to make Qi Gathering Powder. Some might be used to make other herbs for cultivators, but Li Wenjun didn't know the formulas, so he focused on finding the herbs he needed and ignored the others, no matter how valuable they were.

After wandering for a while, Li Wenjun found another herb he needed.

The owner of the herb had set up a small stall, placing all the herbs on a red cloth for display.

Li Wenjun squatted down, pointed to the herb he needed, and asked the price. Just as he was about to ask how many plants the stall owner had, he heard a familiar voice behind him.

Li Wenjun's mind raced, and he immediately recognized the voice. He had once accompanied Sun Baicao and Sun Jianing to collect herbs in the mountains. When they were injured, he had gone down the mountain at night to find help. On the way, he had rested and overheard two cultivators talking nearby. The familiar voices belonged to them.

Li Wenjun picked up another herb, but his ears were perked up, eavesdropping on the conversation between "Sixth Senior Brother" and "Seventh Senior Brother." He heard something interesting.

Seventh Senior Brother seemed to be questioning why Sixth Senior Brother had brought him here.

Sixth Senior Brother said, "Seventh, don't look down on this rare goods market. It's quite famous among low-level cultivators. There are three large mountains in San Shan County, and although they don't have much spiritual energy, they occasionally produce herbs suitable for low-level cultivators. These herbs are not recognized by ordinary people, so they can be bought with gold and silver, which is great for cultivators who are short on money."

Seventh Senior Brother said disdainfully, "Why spend money? Just take them by force. If anyone refuses, just kill them."