Chapter 51

"Ridiculous."

"Being members of the Du family, they actually act so ridiculously."

Several elders of the Du family got up, left a few incomprehensible words, and directly left the hall, no longer paying attention to Du Hao and the others.

"Ridiculous, everyone disperse."

Du Zhenwu got up, shook his long sleeves, and followed the several elders of the Du family, leaving directly.

Du Hao, Du Chong, Du Yan, and the aunts and uncles were stunned in the hall, not knowing what to say. This result was completely different from what they had imagined. They originally thought that even if they couldn't punish Du Shaofu, they could at least get back the Bloodstone Demon Wolf essence and the Foundation Establishment Pill. That was their true purpose. Who knew they got nothing and lost face.

After Du Shaofu left the Du family hall, it was already noon. After returning to the courtyard and putting the Mo Ling Sword into the Qiankun Bag, Du Shaofu went straight to the Martial Arts Pavilion.

Outside the Martial Arts Pavilion, Fu Yibai lay leisurely in a reclining wicker chair, gently swaying. In front of him, a young man from the Du family was respectfully cleaning.

After greeting Fu Yibai, Du Shaofu entered the Martial Arts Pavilion directly, making the young man envious.

This time, Du Shaofu did not go to the Martial Arts Pavilion to find martial arts techniques to practice, but to look for some information about Spirit Symbol Masters, so as not to be deceived by Zhen Qingchun. The more he understood, the less likely he would be deceived.

Unfortunately, there was no information about Spirit Symbol Masters in the entire Martial Arts Pavilion, but he did find some simple introductions.

Spirit Symbol Masters, a profession with a higher status than martial artists on this continent, are extremely rare among ordinary people. Even fewer can become Spirit Symbol Masters, as the prerequisites for becoming one are too stringent, and very few people can meet those stringent requirements.

At the same time, Spirit Symbol Master is not a single profession. The three words "Spirit Symbol Master" encompass a lot, including alchemy, weapon forging, and array setting. These are all areas that Spirit Symbol Masters need to explore. It is said that there is no all-around Spirit Symbol Master.

After chatting with Fu Yibai for a few sentences and leaving the Martial Arts Pavilion, Du Shaofu did not return to the courtyard but went to the back mountain.

"Interesting, more and more interesting."

Looking at Du Shaofu's back, Fu Yibai's face showed a smile, then his eyes closed slightly, and he said to the young man cleaning, "Clean thoroughly, sweep the floor for me later."

...

At the back mountain of the Du family, Du Shaofu took out the Qiankun Bag, took out some spirit medicines he had plundered, and swallowed them directly. If a Spirit Symbol Master saw Du Shaofu swallowing spirit medicines directly, they would be heartbroken.

Swallowing spirit medicines directly without extracting the impurities they contain means that the essence of the spirit medicines is not in its best state. For a Spirit Symbol Master skilled in alchemy, this is a waste of the spirit medicines.

However, Du Shaofu did not care about these things. For someone who practiced the Golden-winged Great Peng Bird cultivation method, the energy contained in the spirit medicines would remain in the body after ingestion. With the self-torturing body cultivation method, it was like a Spirit Symbol Master refining the spirit medicines, and the effect was no less than that of a Spirit Symbol Master's refinement.

"Rumble..."

A moment later, deep in the back mountain of the Du family, a rumbling sound echoed, startling the birds to fly away and the beasts to hide or flee.

Du Shaofu, wearing shorts, was enveloped in a faint golden light, continuously colliding with the cliff in a self-torturing manner.

Not far away, the King-scale Demon Tiger, the size of a wild cat, stared intently at the faint golden light emanating from Du Shaofu's body, as if trying to comprehend something.

This continued until nightfall, when the rumbling gradually subsided.

The energy from the spirit medicines in Du Shaofu's body was almost completely absorbed. He put on his clothes and sat cross-legged on the back mountain to begin meditating, thoroughly refining the remaining spirit medicine energy in his body. Of course, the benefits of these spirit medicines were far from comparable to those of the Blood Baby Lingzhi.

"Phew!"

In the early morning, Du Shaofu exhaled a breath of turbid air, opened his eyes, and two drops of dew hung on his long eyelashes. His eyes glowed with a faint golden light, and the redness and swelling from the collisions of the previous day had completely healed, making his figure even more solid and tall.

"I should go buy those items on the list today."

Du Shaofu muttered to himself. He needed to get the list given to him by Zhen Qingchun as soon as possible.

In the bustling Stone City, the streets were crowded with people, and the sounds of vendors hawking their wares could be heard from time to time.

Du Shaofu walked through the city, looking around with interest, leisurely browsing along the way. He even bought a few suitable clothes and a few purple robes, and finally, a good wine flask.

The Textile Market, the most prosperous place in the entire Stone City, was where the An, Qin, Ye, and Bai families had many shops.

The Textile Market was lined with various shops, selling a wide variety of goods. Among them, many shops sold items for martial artists, such as spirit medicines, martial arts techniques, and weapons, making it the place with the most martial artists.

Martial artists have a unique status in this world. In a world where the strong are respected and strength is paramount, martial artists, who are far superior to ordinary people, are naturally revered.

However, not everyone can become a martial artist. The difficulty is beyond the imagination of ordinary people. Moreover, becoming a martial artist is not something that can be achieved through simple effort.

Du Shaofu wanted to buy the items on the list given by Zhen Qingchun, most of which were spirit medicines. Although he had obtained some spirit medicines from Lean Tiger, it was far from enough, and the variety was incomplete. Moreover, practicing the body cultivation method also required a lot of spirit medicines.

Therefore, Du Shaofu estimated that buying the items on the list would be quite expensive. Unless he sold some good things from the two Qiankun Bags, he definitely couldn't afford it.

The Du family had shops that specialized in selling spirit medicines, weapons, martial arts techniques, and pills. Of course, the martial arts techniques and pills were of low quality.

Other families also had similar shops in the Textile Market, but they wouldn't have anything too good, only enough to meet the needs of the Stone City. Although the Stone City was a city, it was a remote area and couldn't have too good things.

Du Shaofu entered the Du family shop.

"Welcome, Young Master Shaofu."

Two sturdy men in tight-fitting clothes in the Du family shop were surprised to see Du Shaofu, clearly taken aback. They then immediately bowed respectfully.

Du Shaofu nodded to indicate that they didn't need to be so formal, took out a large package and a list he had prepared, and handed them to the two men, saying, "Give these to the shopkeeper to calculate how much they are worth. I also need to buy some things." Since he was buying things and spirit medicines, he naturally chose the Du family shop first to keep the money within the family, and the quantity was quite large.

The two men took the package and the list and immediately went to find the shopkeeper with a puzzled look. Du Shaofu slowly looked around the shop. Apart from a few visits when he was a child, this was his first time coming here.

It didn't take long for the shopkeeper to come out personally.

"Shaofu, why are you here?"

The shopkeeper was a middle-aged man in his forties, slender and not very tall, but with bright eyes, clearly a very shrewd person.

Du Shaofu recognized this middle-aged man, named Du Ping, a member of the main branch of the Du family. It was said that his martial arts talent was not high, so he was responsible for managing the Du family shop. In a world where martial arts were paramount, even managing the Du family shop, his status in the Du family was not high. Therefore, he rarely returned to the Du family, only coming back during holidays.

"Uncle Ping, does the shop have the things I need?"

Du Shaofu respected Du Ping a lot. He remembered that when he was a child, Uncle Ping would always bring a lot of candy for all the younger generations whenever he came back, and he would always give him more than others.

"We do have them, but the things you need are quite a lot, and some are not commonly used. I need some time to prepare. How about I prepare them and deliver them to you when they are ready?"

Du Ping looked at Du Shaofu with a puzzled expression. He had heard about the events in the family over the past two months. The things Du Shaofu needed were clearly for Spirit Symbol Masters, and the things he brought to sell were also valuable. It seemed that the rumors in the family were true, and the young man in front of him had been pretending to be foolish for the past ten years.

Du Shaofu hesitated slightly and then nodded, saying, "Alright."

"I roughly calculated that the things you brought are quite expensive, worth 21,000玄币 (Xuanbi). This is the highest market price. However, I will give you the cost price for the things you want to buy, which is 15,000 Xuanbi. The remaining 6,000 Xuanbi is in here."

Du Ping handed Du Shaofu a very exquisite card with runes carved on it, saying, "This is a Xuanbi card, which can be exchanged in many places."

"Thank you, Uncle Ping."

Du Shaofu did not hesitate. His family's shop would not cheat him. If it weren't for his family's shop, the things he sold might not even cover the things he wanted to buy. After all, selling spirit medicines and such was very profitable.

"Go back and say hello to your father for me," Du Ping smiled.

"I will." Du Shaofu nodded, put away the Xuanbi card, and left the Du family shop.