"It was you! You did all of this!" Hu Shuo was furious.
"My saved money... my precious herbs... even the ring given by Yi Rong..." He was devastated. His pointed finger wavered as he bellowed, "All of it! All of it went on that alcohol! You... you..."
He grabbed my collar. He punched me on my chest. But, what else could he do? Fight me in front of all the people here in this mansion?
Grab my hair and demand me his savings, which was spent for his own pleasure? He couldn't judge me. I never tasted a drop of that alluring fluid.
He pulled back his hand that was about to slap my delicate face. Who slapped and demanded money from a grown man anyway?
'Brother Hu, you're not my beloved wife. You don't have this privilege...'
"What am I to do now? Haaaa~" His whole voice was depressing, like a man who lost everything in a gamble.
The people around us were interested for sometime but quickly dispersed afterwards. Everyone was busy with their own stuff.
"Brother Hu, how much... did you had to pay exactly?" I whispered. Even I couldn't estimate how much loss he'd taken. I hoped it wasn't too much.
"Altogether about 5 gold kins," he said.
Shii! That's 500 silvers! Half of my current budget. I suddenly felt bad for him.
"Brother Hu, maybe I can d-"
"Shut up! You shut your mouth! Who are you to call me as 'brother' anyway?" He sulked and didn't talk to me at all after that.
I sighed and left the counter. I made a commitment to repay him back after I made (robbed?) some more. For now, there was nothing I could do for him.
Going to the cultivation chambers with the help of tokens I'd robbed, I went straight to the chamber Chunu was staying in.
Afraid that Dou Chai might locate us here, we had asked for different chambers than the ones he'd rented.
Inside the closed room, Chunu was sitting in a meditative position. Small droplets of water were situated on both her hands.
She only had 24 droplets on her body altogether, but she was already struggling to keep them from falling. Yes, if any of those water droplets fell, her hard work would be meaningless.
Her job was to first learn how to keep those droplets from falling and then move her body. She could already balance 12 droplets on one of her hands. However, as she would begin to balance more, the difficulty would multiply as her attention would be divided into her different body parts.
Ultimately, she should be able to dance or even fight, while having all 108 droplets of water on her body, without letting even one of them fall.
No handicap or cheating was allowed. The sizes of droplets couldn't be too small. One must also be clean and naked while practicing (only the hands for now).
This type of technique put a great toll on a practitioner's body and mind. If she was to pull it off though, she'd have a calm temperament and great control over her body.
However...
"Boom!" I said and her focus was broken.
"Not again brother... why are you like this?" She complained and stood up, shaking the water from her hands.
"Your attention is somewhere else. Do it again, be one with your body," I ordered. Such a shame, I didn't have any long white beard to stroke at the moment.
As she began dipping her hands in the water bucket again, I asked her, "How much time would it take you to reach the fifth rank?"
"2 months? I guess 3 months? I do not know exactly." She once again sat in the same meditative position.
That was slow. No, I mean by normal cultivators' standards, this was a nigh impossible speed. Just 3 months to go from first to fifth rank? Only heavenly geniuses would be able to do this.
'And we are such geniuses but... we are in a competition. We should try to be as fast as we can...'
"Make it within half of that time. You should be at least a rank 5 practitioner by the time we leave this town." I sat down and opened a scroll I'd taken from the mission table as I said that.
"But brother, I'm already giving it my all!" She didn't accept that.
"Then give it more than you can! Use pills, formations, treasures whatever. Practice day and night, I'll provide all the resources you need. We need to pace ourselves. We should be ready to leave Pinchu town after the fair ends," I responded blandly while paying most of my attention reading the mission scroll.
It had been two days since we robbed those boys. According to the native calendar of Changlu continent, this was the year 543 zu. The concept of seasons didn't really matter in the Shang desert but everywhere else, it was the month of First Falling. [1]
This month and the one after were the safest months in Shang desert. There would be no sandstorms or sudden rise and fall of temperatures. That was why, the fairs were held at this time of the year. Merchant caravans and various species of beasts could travel from one place to another during this time period.
However, after the second month of falling, nature would be unpredictable. Many dangers would lie for those who wished to travel through the desert.
I got all of this general information along with a detailed file containing names and characteristics of dangerous beasts by paying 30 silver kins.
Based on what I knew at the moment, our time was limited. We'd have to time our departure when most merchants would leave for either Rong sat or Fida kingdom.
If we didn't do that, we would be trapped for a year in this town. Although that wasn't necessarily a bad thing, I wanted to travel to a more populated and developed region to get better resources.
This was why I started focusing on cultivation the very next day after descending. Actually, my plan was more relaxed than this. I was going to spend four to five months here, familiarising myself with the Qi of this world. However, after learning this information, I had no choice but to start planning early.
My next course of action would be to cultivate diligently while simultaneously preparing for the fair. This many people, this many resources; I wasn't going to leave without using them. Where there are people, there are opportunities (for robbing, of course).
I also had plans for forming a merchant group of my own or at least opening a stall. But first, I'd need more money.
The ten (now 9.7) gold I had would finish quickly. It seemed 10 gold wasn't a large sum of money.
This white mission would give me the immediate cash to buy resources for me and my sister. I'd also get to know some new people as it was a group mission.
This was the beginning of a storm that would envelope the whole of Shang desert. In my mind, I was cooking a plan; something that was grander than merely robbing two individuals. It would start from here, Pinchu Town.