Chapter 35 – Florida Man Steals Valuable from Crime Scene
The airstrip of Cauliflower City was located on the south, outside the city wall. Although it was called an airstrip, it was just an empty land, reserved for airship parking space.
Two cruiser-class battleships were stationed there, intimidating the visitors. Further south, a hundred smaller private ships parked in rows and columns. Servants of the ship owners stood around their vehicles, protecting them from thieves and opportunistic cultivators.
Although the tension was high, no guard dared to stop one man from approaching his ship.
Ouyang Long flew over the city wall and arrived at the airstrip. He was embarrassed and frustrated to the point that he wanted to kill someone to vent his anger.
The previous servant rushed to the Ouyang Clan's private airship, telling the servants to get on board and activate the engine.
Ouyang Long landed on the deck. Afterward, he waved his hand, calling the previous servant over.
The servant rushed to his master's side.
SWUA
Ouyang Long suddenly unsheathed his sword and beheaded the servant!
"This is for what you did!"
The servant widened his eyes in shock. Tears rolled down from his eyes before his consciousness faded to black.
Ouyang Long turned to the other servants and cultivators on the ship. He commanded them.
"Listen up! If you don't want to become this guy, NEVER and I mean EVER report any sensitive information to me when I'm in public! Think about common sense!"
"…"
The servants had no idea what the dead guy had done. They bowed and sweated profusely, acknowledging the command. The captain hurried and launched the flying ship.
Ouyang Long snorted at the servants and informed them of his destination, "To Magpie City."
The ship ascended to the sky and turned south. It picked up the speed and traveled at 700km/h.
Ouyang Long stood on the deck, refusing to rest inside the cabin. He was still frustrated by the earlier incident. As for the crew, they threw away the corpse and cleaned the deck's floor in a hurry.
WHOOSH
While the airship traveled south, heading toward the Magpie City, a lone cultivator on a flying sword flew by. Ouyang Long looked up to see the rude guy that dared to fly so close to his airship.
Then, he discovered an acquaintance – Wu Buyi.
Wu Buyi also noticed Ouyang Long's presence. His flying sword made a U-Turn and came toward the airship. The alchemist jumped off his sword like a professional skateboarder and landed on the deck.
"What a coincidence, Lord Ouyang! I've been looking for you!" Wu Buyi laughed and cupped his fist. Then, he glanced at the bloodstain on the deck.
Ouyang Long was not in a good mood. He spoke in a loud voice, "What do you want? I have no business with the likes of you."
"Oh, my. How cold," Wu Buyi coughed several times. Then, he pulled out an inferior elixir grain pill that Leo had made. "I'm here to put this treasure in an auction, and you're in charge of the Cauliflower City's auction house. Do you mind if we talk business?"
Ouyang Long frowned. As an auction house's owner, he had an eye for treasures – He knew a technique that could identify every item that his customers brought out to sell in his auction house.
The elixir grain pill was authentic. Ouyang Long instantly noticed the five-element Qi inside the medicine ball. Although he was not well-versed in alchemy, Ouyang Long could tell that it was highly regarded among senior alchemists.
"You've come at bad timing. I have some business to attend to at Magpie City. If you need to put that item in my auction house, go ask my servant at my clan's pavilion."
Despite seeing a precious pill, Ouyang Long waved his hand, trying to chase Wu Buyi out of his ship.
Wu Buyi didn't give up. He brought out a prosthetic eyeball and showed it to Ouyang Long.
"Are you sure? I have other precious items. Your servant will eat all the service fees, you know?"
"…"
Ouyang Long hesitated. He wanted to go and find the culprit that killed his son first. However, half of him valued money more than the useless son's corpse.
In the end, Ouyang Long succumbed to his greed. He clicked his tongue and stomped toward Wu Buyi, "What else do you have? Show them to me!"
"Hehehe. I knew you would be interested. Here."
Wu Buyi proceeded to show a blade of immortal grass and a dozen elixir pills. Then, he observed Ouyang Long's reaction.
He was not disappointed. Ouyang Long's dilated pupils and round eyes glued to the pills and the immortal grass. The long-bearded man gulped and pointed at the pills.
"D-Did you make those?"
"Of course not! I'm running an errand for another master alchemist."
"WHAT?!"
Ouyang Long was stunned. He thought that Wu Buyi had come here to brag about his new pills and his wealth. But since Wu Buyi didn't create them, it posted new questions.
Who made them?
How did Wu Buyi get those pills?
Running an errand?
His curiosity was ignited. Ouyang Long turned around and shouted at his servant.
"Turn the ship around! We're going back to Cauliflower City!"
The servants' expressions were complicated, yet they followed their lord's instruction. They turned their ship around and flew back to the airstrip.
While the ship was returning, Wu Buyi began soliciting Ouyang Long.
"You know, Lord Ouyang. I know a unique store near Magpie City. I'm sure you will find the store interesting if you see it."
"I'm not interested in small businesses."
"Aw. Don't be so bold. I know that you're always interested in rare herbs from the mystic worlds more than anyone. The store owner has so many rare herbs that he made grain pills with them."
"Not interested. If I want rare herbs, I can always get them for free every season."
Wu Buyi was disappointed. He gave up on Ouyang Long, "Fine. Let's register my items in your auction house, and I'll go ask the others."
Ouyang Long snorted. He disliked competitors, so he had no intention of buying stuff from others. Every spirit stone was precious to him.
"Don't ever ask me to visit a store again. I'm not spending my precious spirit stones on something worthless."
"Even if they're immortal grass and a five-element elixir?"
"It's going to cost an arm and a leg anyway. As I said, I'd rather find them for free in the mystic realms."
Wu Buyi burst into laughter as he had predicted the answer. Then, he dropped a bomb, "The store owner doesn't ask for spirit stones though. He just wants our lifespan."
"…"
Ouyang Long paused. Then, he frowned and repeated what he understood, "So, you're saying, he doesn't sell his items for spirit stones, but he's asking for lifespan?"
"Exactly! That's the charm of that store."
Ouyang Long was infuriated. He turned around and glared at Wu Buyi, "Are you trading with an unorthodox cultivator?! Only evil sects practice one of those life force leeching techniques!"
"Whoa, there," Wu Buyi took several steps back and raised his arms, trying to calm Ouyang Long down, "You're misunderstanding something, Lord Ouyang. That person is not an unorthodox cultivator. I can vouch for that. He's an orthodox alchemist, just like me! Do you think evil cultivators can condense five elements? Look at these pills. The element Qi is so pure!"
"…"
The pill quality might be terrible, but the purity of the Qi was unquestionable. It was as Wu Buyi had said – The Qi was pure and pristine without a tinge of evil Qi, which was always left behind by unorthodox cultivators.
Ouyang Long was still skeptical about this shop owner. Thus, he continued to extract more information from the alchemist, learning more about his mysterious person.
.
.
In front of the alchemist workshop, Leo poured some of Ouyang Ting's blood into the cauldron and pressed the research button.
DING
"Why is it Yin?! He's a dude, right? Did he swing that way?"
Leo clicked his tongue in disappointment as Ouyang Ting's blood ended up becoming Yin Fluid. Fortunately, it had a lot of usages, so Leo scooped the blood back into a storage bucket. Then, he hung the mutated corpse on a tree, draining its blood into a bucket.
As there were a lot of cleanups to do, Leo chose not to sleep tonight. He climbed the store to the roof and picked up the militated bodies of the assassins.
Leo separated their clothes from the meat. He tossed the body parts to the backyard, so they would become cat food. As for the clothes, weapons, and belongings, Leo gathered them and arranged them in front of the alchemy workshop.
The rooftop clearing was easy but tedious as there were too many human parts to collect. The hard part was the other assassins as they died in a different location.
Leo couldn't remember where they all went. Thus, he only used his instinct to search for their belongings. He managed to collect 13 sets of clothes and belongings. However, he couldn't find another runaway guy.
As the sun was about to go up, Leo gave up searching for the last corpse, hoping to clean his store before sunrise. He turned his attention to the store and peeled the weird yellow papers from the walls and the glass windows.
After the yellow talismans had been removed, Leo stood in the backyard, looking at the pile of black clothes. He giggled, "After I wash these, I'll have a lot of good rags to clean the store's floor, window, and stuff. They come at the right time."
The clothes could be recycled. However, the assassin's crossbows, swords, and daggers were the problem. As Leo had no use for them, he thought of a way to get rid of these weapons.
There were also interesting items that Leo got from the corpses. A total of 19 rings jiggled in his pocket.