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nTranslator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

n“Hmph! Some country hillbillies living under a rock dare to compete with me?”

nThe half white girl lifted her chin and shot Master Wu a contemptuous look.

nBy then, the worker at the auction house had carried the item to the girl. The girl lifted the cover and asked the middle age man beside him with a frown. “Mr. Shi, is this the miracle cure you were talking about?”

nThe man opened his half-closed eyes as green light lit up in his eyes.

nAfter he had examined the tree branch, he shut his eyes and bemoaned.

n“What a shame, this Essence of Thousand Pinewood is so close to being the miracle cure. But it was harvested a few hundred years too early.”

n“Essence of Thousand Pinewood?”

nThe half white girl asked in confusion. She had never heard of such herb before.

n“The Essence of Thousand Pinewood was a sentient organism that lived off of the essence of pine wood. It looks just like an old tree bough.” Mr. Shi said.

n“It was a well-kept knowledge in our sect, and therefore not a lot of people know about it.”

n“Since it was not what we were looking for, what should we do now?” The furrow on the girl’s face deepened.

nBefore she arrived at Jiu Ding City, she had already been to the other three centers of Chinese medicine and failed to obtain anything useful for her grandfather’s ailment. Jiu Ding City was her last stop, and if not for Mr. Shi’s advice, she would never have thought of buying a shriveled useless tree branch with thirty million yuan.

n“My grandpa can last at most three more months.

n“The other households had already been eyeing our assets. Jiu Ding City is my last stop if I can’t find anything here, I don’t know what I should do next. I am on my last leg here.”

nSo thinking, fear glinted in the girl’s eyes.

n“Don’t worry; there is another place where I can guarantee to find something useful.” Mr. Shi said confidently.

n“Where is that?” The girl’s face was lit up with hope.

n“Based on the chronicles of my sect, the founder of my sect had found a would-be miracle herb somewhere near the Dong Du City a few hundred years ago. Our founder had marked the location but left the herb untouched.” Mr. Shi said lightly. “However, our fonder later fled to Hong Kong and was never able to retrieve that herb.”

n“Really? Why don’t we go there now!” The girl asked excitedly.

n“It had been a hundred years; many things have changed. I am afraid that finding it wouldn’t be that easy.” Mr. Shi shook his head. “Twenty years ago, I went back and attempted to locate the herb. I was only able to spot a few likely spots, but wasn’t able to continue my search.”

n“What should we do now?” Miss Zheng was at a loss again.

nIf they couldn’t find it, the miracle cure might as well not exist.

nMr. Shi smiled confidently and then said: “Was that old man we met earlier from Dong Du City?”

n“Him?” Miss Zheng paused a second and hurried to dispatch an employee to ask.

nMaster Wu was a household name in Zhong Zhou Province, and therefore, the servant came back very quickly with confirmation.

nMiss Zheng nodded and then said, “Indeed, he is from Dong Du City. He is quite popular there too; people call him Master Wu and he was able to Reine Ghost and Bend Blood.”

nShe said with a contemptuous tone. “I think those are just high tales he wanted others to believe.”

n“Not necessary.” Mr. Shi stood up and said, “Come, let’s go meet this Master Wu.”

nMiss Zheng was taken aback at first, but she quickly followed Mr. Shi.

nAfter seeing that there was nothing to purchase at the auction, Chen Fan and Master Wu left the auction before it was over.

nThanks to the Zheng Family, Chen Fan was only able to get a hold of three-hundred-year-old herbs. Also, he had missed the opportunity of obtaining a Spirit Medicine. Despite his calm expression, a knot of fire was burning slowly inside of his belly.

nHe could have taken the bough for himself by force; however, as a Celestial Lord, he had a reputation to keep.

nAfter all, the bough was only a lesser Spirit Medicine and therefore had a very questionable effect. Should the bough be the real deal, he could do whatever it took to obtain the Spirit Medicine.

n“The Zheng Family is a bunch of fools! They are lucky that you are so tolerable.” Master Wu was not very pleased by the run-ins with the Zheng Family either.

nHe was humiliated by a girl in front of his acquaintances.

nSo saying, he sneaked a peek at Chen Fan’s face, hoping anger would spur Chen Fan to stand up for him. However, he was disappointed by Chen Fan’s impenetrable and stoic expression.

n“Who are you talking about?”

nA sharp voice came from behind them.

nChen Fan and his companions turned around the saw the girl coming toward them.

n“You again?”

nMaster Wu said with a massive frown.”What do you want? We have other business to tend to.”

nMiss Zheng’s face was hard, and she said in a cold voice, “Are you Wu Shanhe from the Dong Du City?”

n“Yes, so what?” Master Wu narrowed his eyes and asked.

nHis scalp prickled as he registered hostility. They had dug into his background, but what for?

nMaster Wu pulled a taut face and then shouted:

n“What do you want? Spit it out; I am busy!”

nAnger flashed across Miss Zheng’s face, but she was able to hold it back. “I want to hire you to locate something for me; it’s near the Dong Du City.”

n“What are you looking for? A tomb?” Master Wu’s knee jerk reaction was that the girl was going to hire him as a grave robber. After all, the founder of his sect used to be the captain of tomb raiders. In addition, Dong Du city was well known for the countless and nameless mounds that scattered its suburbs such as the famous Beimang Mound.

n“It’s none of your business what we are looking for, Mr. Shi will fill you in later. ” Miss Zheng pointed at the middle age man beside him and said.

nThe man was holding a paper fan, and wearing a pair of thin copper rimmed glasses, making him look like a scholar.

n“Master Shi? Are you that Feng Shui in Hong Kong?” Master Wu exclaimed. “I have only heard of Zhou Daoji, Master Zhou who resided in Hong Kong, how do you compare to him?”

nMiss Zheng’s face turned red.

nZhou Daoji was the most famous master in Hong Kong, and Mr. Shi simply couldn’t compare.

nEven as she was about to say something, Mr. Shi took a step forward and said: “You will find out soon about how I compare to Master Zhou.”

nBefore he finished his sentence, he shot a wave of energy at Master Wu.

n“Excellent!”

nMaster Wu reacted quickly and started his Dharmic powers.

n“Kaboom!”

nAs the two energy collided, a huge explosion erupted in the Void Dimension.

nAfter one brief exchange of fire, they had a taste of each other’s power. Mr. Shi’s body was shaken at first, but he quickly gathered himself. Wu Shanhe, on the other hand, stumbled a few feet back and his face blushed out of embarrassment.

n“Do you still question my power?” Mr. Shi asked slowly.

nMaster Wu’s face paled, but he had to concede defeat.

n“What are you looking for? Spit it out!” Master Wu granted.

n“I am looking for a hidden pond. It was somewhere inside the mountain or near the Dong Du City. The water in the pond was icy to the touch regardless of the season, and it was about a few dozen meters wide and … ”

nAs Mr. Shi described the pond, Master Wu’s face turned dark.

n“Isn’t that the Yin Dragon Pond?”

nMr. Shi’s eyes were lit up with glee. “I knew it; you know where it is!”

nWu Shanhe’s face was contorted by anger. The pond was the sacred ground of his sect, not a shared public park.

nEven as he was about to refuse the task, Chen Fan put in abruptly.

n“Why are you looking for Yin Dragon Pond?”

n“You can leave that concern to me. I just need you to find it. Once you have finished your job, we won’t short you on your payment.” Miss Zheng said impatiently.

nTo her surprise, Chen Fan shook his head and said, “We don’t need money.”

n“You can pay us with that tree branch you have gotten from the auction.”

n“How dare you!”

nMiss Zheng glared at Chen Fan.

nAlthough the Essence of Thousand Pinewood was not as effective as she had hoped for, she had spared no expense at acquiring this herb; she couldn’t just let it go so easily.

n“Fine, I agree to your terms.”

nTo Miss Zheng’s surprise, Mr. Shi readily accepted the term.

nSeeing Miss Zheng’s confused stare, Mr. Shi waved the paper fan confidently, willing her to agree.

nAlthough the Essence of Thousand Pinewood had incredible healing ability, for those who didn’t know how to use it, it was as useless as a dead tree branch.

n“Very well, I will lead you to the Yin Dragon Pond in a week.”

nChen Fan nodded.

nMr. Shi smiled, and without raising any questions as to why he had to wait for a week, he turned around and sauntered off.

nMiss Zheng gave Chen Fan and Master Wu a vehement glare and left with Mr. Shi.

nAfter they were both gone, Wu Shanhe asked Chen Fan perplexedly: “Why are we helping them?”

n“That Mr. Shi is a powerful cultivator, well, at least more powerful than me. You are not afraid that they are up to something more sinister?”

n“Don’t worry; I have a plan.” Chen Fan said lightly.

nSeeing how confident Chen Fan was, Master Wu decided to keep the doubt to himself.

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