Chapter 30: Settling Down

"According to the rules for lone cultivators, since you, Brother Fang, landed the final blow on this demon tiger, you’re entitled to a share—what do you say?"

Chen Yi’s slightly cloudy eyes swept over Fang Xing, then he spoke suddenly.

"Big brother!"

Chen Hongtian heard this and immediately grew anxious.

How much effort did we expend on this demon beast? How can we give away a share to an outsider!

That’s a fortune in spirit stones we’d be losing!

We, the Five Righteous of Cangshan, aren’t do-gooders in the cultivation world!

But Chen Yi shook his head, silencing his third brother with a glance.

Instead, Hua Feiyue let out a soft laugh: "Indeed... this young brother managed to kill the demon tiger with a single strike—clearly his skills are formidable. May I ask which master you study under?"

She was subtly probing Fang Xing’s origins and background.

"I have no sect or school..."

Fang Xing chuckled: "As for the materials from this demon tiger, I’ll take none of it. But I’ve been away for a while and didn’t expect the marketplace to have changed so much—how is Qinglin Marketplace faring now?"

With his drone harvesting herbs, he had no interest in the materials from this first-rank demon tiger.

His main purpose in showing himself was to gather information.

"The marketplace is fine overall... though prices for various goods have risen. The Qingxuan Sect elders issued a 'Demon Hunting Edict'—now, killing demons grants you an extra share of spirit stones..."

Chen Yi exhaled a long breath, his aged face tinged with a bitter smile: "We’re barely holding on—that’s why we ventured out to risk hunting demons..."

"I see..."

Fang Xing nodded understandingly, asked a few more questions, then bowed: "The mountains are high, the waters long—we’ll meet again!"

In an instant, his figure flashed and vanished into the dense forest, twisting and disappearing without a trace.

"Big brother, why be so courteous to some kid?" Chen Hongtian watched Fang Xing’s movement, his eyes flashing: "I don’t think he’s a cultivator—he’s not even at the Primordial stage..."

"Heh, third brother, you’ve misjudged him... could an ordinary post-heaven martial artist kill a 'Crimson Flame Tiger' with one strike?"

Hua Feiyue’s voice was soft and seductive, seeping into the bone.

Meng Yi and Shen Yuxin walked over to the Crimson Flame Tiger, pulling out daggers and other tools to collect the demon beast’s materials.

As they flipped the tiger over, they cried out in surprise: "Big brother, look!"

Chen Yi came over and saw the tiger’s snowy white belly now charred black.

"Is this... Thunder Art? A Thunder-affinity talisman?"

Chen Hongtian’s gaze sharpened.

"No—it’s probably... a blood-refined artifact!"

Chen Yi recalled the staff the silver-robed youth had kept pointed at them, and a chill ran through him: "This person... is not to be provoked!"

Blood-refined artifact!

Even in Qinglin Marketplace, such items were extremely rare.

Those who wielded them were invariably Peak Primordial cultivators; paired with blood-refined artifacts, even mid-stage Qi Condensation cultivators had to treat them as equals.

Yet this one appeared on a post-heaven martial artist!

What did that imply?

Either the man had luckily scavenged it from a corpse—or he came from a deeply powerful background, utterly dangerous to provoke!

And from his earlier words, the youth was clearly no reckless, lucky fool.

"Big brother and second sister really know how to read people..."

Chen Hongtian rubbed the back of his head: "Good thing he didn’t claim the demon meat—let’s quickly gather the materials and leave!"

"Yes, third brother, that’s the most sensible thing you’ve said—this place isn’t safe to linger." Chen Yi nodded, directing the four to skin and bone the Crimson Flame Tiger, each shouldering over a hundred jin of meat, along with hide, bones, and penis, before swiftly departing...

Far off, Meng Yi’s excited voice echoed: "The materials from this demon tiger alone are worth at least dozens of low-grade spirit stones—we’ve hit the jackpot!"

"Heh... too bad demon beasts have increased lately—the price of demon meat in the marketplace has dropped... otherwise we’d have made even more."

After all five had left, the bloody remains attracted several hungry wolves, who eagerly lapped at the leftover scraps.

On a tree branch, unnoticed, a green bird pecked at its wing and fluttered away.

"It seems those five didn’t lie to me, nor were they blinded by greed..."

Nearby, Fang Xing checked his surveillance and nodded.

"Qinglin Marketplace doesn’t seem to treat this demon surge as a major crisis—worth a visit. I’ll rent another house..."

To be fair, housing was Fang Xing’s obsession.

His predecessor had longed endlessly to buy a house on Blue Star, yet it remained forever out of reach.

"If housing is cheap, maybe I should buy land in Qinglin Marketplace first?"

Fang Xing stroked his chin, lost in thought.

Qinglin Marketplace.

It was much the same as usual, perhaps even livelier.

The reason likely lay in the array enveloping the entire marketplace, which gave people a strong sense of security.

Fang Xing entered as usual and headed straight for the Qingxuan Sect’s official office.

The Qingxuan Sect official in charge of the shantytown was surnamed Zhang, Dao name Qingyangzi, with a goatee, always smiling at everyone.

But when Fang Xing inquired about land prices, his expression turned unusually serious: "Though our sect owns much land, none is for sale. Shantytown housing is rented only—not sold!"

"I see—I was too hasty."

Fang Xing apologized repeatedly, though internally he sneered: 'Not for sale? Then how did the Zheng family acquire that entire mansion? They’re just exploiting us lone cultivators for being weak!'

'Still, such a profitable business? If I were them, I’d milk it slowly—never sell the hen that lays golden eggs...'

Lone cultivators and martial artists paid monthly rent for housing, and tenants changed rapidly—someone always died before long.

Then Qingxuan Sect could reclaim the house and rent it out again for another profit.

"Then what about renting?"

He lowered his demands and asked.

"Let me inform you, young friend: housing here is divided into three tiers. Top-tier is inside the marketplace, over an acre in size, exquisitely built... Middle-tier is at the marketplace’s edge, rich in spiritual energy, with small courtyards... Bottom-tier is at the mountain’s foot—you’ve seen those shacks."

Qingyangzi resumed his smile, stroking his beard: "You needn’t ask about top-tier dwellings. Middle-tier costs ten spirit stones per month—only Peak Qi Condensation experts or mid-stage cultivators with a special skill can afford them..."

Here he glanced at Fang Xing, his eyes almost challenging.

But Fang Xing’s face remained expressionless—he knew if he let his emotions rise, he’d fall into a consumption trap and become a fool: "I’ll take the bottom-tier shanty!"

"Bottom-tier shanty: one spirit stone per month, plus one spirit stone deposit. These are unclaimed units—choose one yourself."

Qingyangzi’s smile faded slightly; he pulled out a thick ledger and handed it to Fang Xing: "Any unit without red ink annotations is vacant—pick whichever you like."

Fang Xing studied it carefully, matching each entry to the shantytown map recorded by his drone.

In truth, there was nothing to choose—every environment was the same: equally poor and dangerous!

Still, Fang Xing chose the most secluded spot, easiest to escape from: "This one."

?￠o

"Hmm."

Qingyangzi took two spirit stones, handed Fang Xing a brass key, and warned: "Due to the demon surge, many unruly rogue cultivators have flooded the marketplace—it’s unsafe now. Good luck to you..."

"Thank you for the warning..."

Fang Xing bowed and left the office: 'Hmm, Qingyangzi may be greedy... but he doesn’t seem evil.'

Holding the brass key, he didn’t rush to his new home but wandered the marketplace first.

As he walked, Fang Xing immediately noticed the difference.

"Indeed—prices for demon beast materials have crashed... yet daily necessities have soared... who’s left to farm or do manual labor? Farmers either fled or were eaten by demons."

"With most of the marketplace still operating on barter, if it encountered interstellar financial systems, how badly would it get exploited? Hmm... actually, that’s not quite right—some can just flip the table. Like the three major powers—they’ll smile as they watch me earn heaps of spirit stones, then send their strongest to seize it all, maybe even use my head to appease the crowd?"

"Clearly, in this land of chaos, talk of revitalizing commerce is nonsense—fists are truth."

With this thought, Fang Xing abandoned all ideas of business and wealth—he simply planned to buy a few jin of spirit rice.

But he sadly discovered that due to vast tracts of abandoned spirit fields, spirit rice prices had skyrocketed—to two spirit sands per jin, double the previous rate!

"Damn, this is robbery... no, even robbery doesn’t make money this fast."

"Might as well buy some demon meat to try it out..."

Fang Xing wandered between stalls, then suddenly spotted Ding Hongxiu and her grandfather!

The grandfather-granddaughter pair were guarding a spirit rice stall; Ding Hongxiu timidly called out to customers, while Ding Boshan lay nearby, occasionally sipping wine.

'Wait—I’m in my true face now; they don’t recognize me...'

Fang Xing’s heart stirred; he approached the spirit rice stall: "How much for He Xiang spirit rice?"

"One spirit stone for six jin!"

Ding Hongxiu replied—lone cultivator stalls always priced lower than shops, or they’d attract no customers.

"A bit expensive..."

Fang Xing frowned: "It used to be ten jin per spirit stone. If I buy more, give me a discount—or I’ll just buy demon meat instead!"

"Big sale!"

Ding Boshan immediately dropped his wine gourd and hurried over, his nose flushed with a grin: "If you buy over fifty jin, I can offer you a deal—fifty jin for eight spirit stones?"

"Fine, that’ll do."

Fang Xing waved his hand—he knew no further discount was possible.

After the transaction was completed, watching his retreating figure, Ding Bushan said to his granddaughter: “Did you see that? That’s what a young, distinguished man looks like—just by his robe, you can tell it’s no ordinary piece, and he’s generous with his spending, even buying Spirit Rice to eat; he must have plenty of Spirit Stones… Sigh, Xiao Hongxiu, open your eyes wider. When you look for a son-in-law for Grandpa in the future, find someone like this. Stay away from those poor street vendors like last time…”