"Who do you think you're fooling?"
Chen Che slowly shook his head. "Let you go, only to have you come back for revenge?"
The two of them had come up the mountain together, walking shoulder to shoulder, acting incredibly close.
Besides, when the man had questioned him, Qing E had suddenly interrupted, and her partner hadn't argued in the slightest, showing a perfect understanding between them. Then, after they attacked, they were perfectly in sync. No matter how he looked at it, this wasn't a case of coercion.
If he wasn't mistaken,
the two of them were a couple all along.
'The fairy shows her true colors...'
Chen Che had to admit, he was a little impressed.
At the brink of life and death, she had managed to concoct a near-perfect excuse, shifting all the blame onto the dead man while painting herself as an innocent victim!
Any other student from Xianmen First Middle School would have probably believed her.
'The two of them wouldn't have just appeared here out of nowhere, and they had no reason to try and kill me to silence me. They were most likely hiding some secret. It's a shame I didn't get the chance to interrogate them.'
Although he could see Qing E was lying, he had no way to control a Cultivator and no means of interrogation. Leaving a hostile Cultivator alive was dangerous in itself, so he decided it was simpler to just kill her and be done with it.
As for asking that one last question, it wasn't out of some twisted sense of humor.
He didn't know what other tricks she might have had up her sleeve. If he'd shown his killing intent too early, she might have tried to take him down with her.
After all:
A Jade Artifact doesn't clash with a Pottery Jar.
'Time to loot while they're warm!'
After confirming they were both dead, Chen Che eagerly washed his hands in the river and began looting the bodies.
A horse can't get fat without extra fodder, and a man can't get rich without a windfall.
Loose Cultivators don't have their own Cave Mansions, so they usually carry all their belongings with them.
He searched the man from head to toe.
Unfortunately, this man perfectly embodied the tragic plight of a broke middle-aged man. Aside from a long saber, he had practically nothing of value.
'Tch, bad luck!'
Chen Che cursed under his breath and turned to loot the Female Cultivator.
The Female Cultivator, on the other hand, had quite a few valuables. On the surface, there were hairpins, earrings, a ring, and a necklace, all exquisitely crafted from pure gold. Gold was a hard currency in both worlds and would fetch a good price.
Beyond that, a small brocade pouch hung from her waist. It didn't look like any ordinary object.
He took a look and realized it was a Storage Pouch.
The space inside wasn't large, only about a cubic meter.
Since there was no restriction on it, Chen Che opened it and casually turned it upside down. A pile of items came tumbling out. He saw a few changes of robes, a bottle of Pills, three books, and a small bag of Spiritual Sand.
'Spiritual Sand!'
Chen Che was overjoyed.
Spiritual Sand.
It was a byproduct from mining Spirit Stone Mines.
It stored pure Spiritual Qi that could be absorbed to advance one's Cultivation.
However, few people used it for daily cultivation. This was not only because whole Spirit Stones could be used for Array Formation, Alchemy, Artifact Refining, and constructing Cave Mansions.
Also, since Spirit Stones were a "non-renewable resource," even the scraps were expensive. Not even the wealthiest Cultivators could afford to use them regularly. This was especially true on Earth Element Star, where the Spirit Stone Mines were all controlled by the Immortal Sects.
However, as one of the most fundamental resources, Spiritual Sand could be used as currency in both worlds.
'Hmm, a full four taels!'
Chen Che weighed the small bag in his hand, quite pleased.
One tael of Spiritual Sand could be exchanged for ten thousand yuan, meaning this little bag was worth half a year's income for an average family.
As for the Pills, he shot them a disgusted look and put them away.
They were First Rank Lower Grade Qi Gathering Pills, used for restoring True Essence.
But the quality was visibly terrible. The surface of the Pills was even covered in dense black spots that looked like mold.
Ding Dawei had stated bluntly in their Elixir Medicine Class that this was a sign of too many impurities and incomplete refinement. Pills like this also contained a large amount of Pill Poison.
The other two books were worthless as well. One was the *Kaiyuan Scripture* and the other was the *Earth Skill*. Both were Cultivation Techniques for the Qi Refining Stage. Not only were they incomplete, but some parts even contradicted his own *Energy-Introducing Technique*. As for the third book, the *Tiger Subduing Saber Technique*, Chen Che was equally unimpressed.
The Saber Technique consisted of wide, sweeping moves. It was incredibly crude—worse, even, than a martial arts textbook for elementary schoolers on Earth Element Star.
'These were probably their Cultivation Techniques.'
If finding the Spiritual Sand had made Chen Che excited, then the next item he discovered in Qing E's sleeve sent a chill down his spine:
Two Tier One Middle Grade Water Dragon Talismans. Both had already been activated with True Essence. Their runes shimmered and rippled like water, which meant she could have attacked him with a mere flick of her wrist.
'That was a close call.'
'Good thing my first instinct is to never fully trust a woman's words. Otherwise, I'd be the one lying here dead!'
A woman's seemingly fragile appearance is, in fact, her greatest weapon.
Just as:
The most poisonous mushrooms are often the most colorful.
Just as Chen Che was about to burn the clothes along with the two bodies, a black bronze box fell out from the pile of spare robes.
He picked it up to take a closer look. It was covered in ornate runes and looked even more exquisite than the Storage Pouch. There was a metal button on the seam where the box opened.
Chen Che recognized it with a single glance.
'This is... a lockbox?'
Just as mortals used safes, Cultivators had similar items for storing particularly valuable possessions.
Chen Che thought for a moment, then placed his thumb on the metal button and channeled his True Essence into it. The button flared, and dozens of lines of light shot out from his thumb, spreading across the runes. The entire box lit up for a moment before dimming again.
No response.
'Uh...'
Seeing this, Chen Che didn't dare try again.
It wasn't that he was afraid of danger.
It was just that items like this usually had protective features. Too many failed attempts might trigger a restriction, causing the box to lock permanently or even destroy the contents.
'I think there's a specialty lock-picking shop on the back street. I wonder if they could open this.'
Chen Che considered this for a moment.
After putting away the lockbox and disposing of the bodies without a trace, he hurried down the mountain.
He started a fire and made a meal.
Although he'd had an unexpected encounter, he was still quite satisfied with his haul.
The lockbox in particular sent his imagination soaring.
CLANG CLANG~
It was the sound of a gong again.
'What's going on now?'
Chen Che stepped out of his main gate and looked over.
The one banging the gong was Er Laizi, as usual. He had a scalp infection, and his hair grew in patchy clumps.
He carried a battered gong, a smug look on his face.
Er Laizi was an idle loafer with no real job. Whenever a family had a wedding or a funeral, he'd show up to "help" in exchange for a meal.
Behind Er Laizi followed four shirtless men. They worked in pairs, using shoulder poles to carry a large bamboo shaft, from which hung a black-furred, injury-covered wild boar.
The villagers lived off the mountain and ate from the river.
During the slack farming season, they'd hunt rabbits and wild foxes on the outskirts of the back mountain to supplement their diet. But a black-furred wild boar this large was an extremely rare sight.
"I was gathering herbs in the mountains when this beast suddenly rushed out and tried to ram me. I dodged it, but the creature plunged right off a cliff. I got really lucky!"
The farmer in the lead, a man named Yang Lin with a black mole on his chin, boomed in response to someone's question:
"You ask how much it weighs? At least six hundred-some jin!"
His words immediately drew the envy of many villagers.
"That's a lot of meat on a boar that size. What you can't eat, you can cure with mountain salt. Slice off half a jin a day, and it'll last you half a year."
"Why doesn't something like that ever happen to me!"
"Heh, if you'd run into it, you might've had a different sort of encounter. You'd probably have been gored to death!"
Yang Lin's wife was a sharp woman. Hearing the chatter all around, she smiled and announced, "Everyone, come over to our house later for the pig-butchering feast..."
Fires were lit and water was boiled.
The men tied the wild boar to a long bench. A butcher's knife slid into its neck, and its squeals gradually faded.
「A short while later.」
Wisps of cooking smoke curled into the air, carrying a savory aroma.
Chen Che sat on his doorstep, listening to the boisterous noise in the distance as he shoveled down his own meal.
The sky was growing dark, and he had just closed his door.
Just then, he heard the sound of hurried footsteps.
The footsteps stopped outside his back window, followed by a soft voice. "Brother Che'er, are you asleep?"