ragginovel Chapter 216 Contraband
Chapter 216 Contraband
The white mist, upon making slight contact with the wooden boat beneath them, instantly teleported past them and then suddenly appeared a hundred feet away, where Lu Ping and his companions were fleeing.
The next moment, the misty clouds swept lightly over the wooden boat, and without a sound, the entire boat, along with the five cultivators on it, vanished without a trace before the horrified eyes of Du Fan and the other two.
The misty cloud, after swallowing the wooden boat, also vanished into nothingness, disappearing mysteriously without leaving a trace. It even made Du Fan and the other two momentarily dazed, wondering if what they had just witnessed was merely an illusion.
However, when their gaze fell upon the missing plank at the stern of the ship, their eyebrows twitched uncontrollably, and with lingering fear, their senses returned instantly.
"That's terrifying!"
Du Fan's mind was buzzing, and he felt his heart pounding. The scene before him was neither deafening nor earth-shattering; it was simply silent.
But it is precisely this silence and lack of trace that can ignite the deepest fear in a person's heart. This unknown thing is more terrifying and despairing than obvious danger...
"We can't stay here any longer, let's leave quickly." Zhao Chong's face was pale, and his eyes were filled with intense horror. He took a deep breath and spoke in a trembling voice.
In an instant, the wooden boat beneath Du Fan's feet transformed into a blur amidst a piercing screech, hurtling towards Crescent Island.
……
What would normally be a five-day journey, Du Fan and his group completed in just four days, returning to the port east of Crescent Island.
Although the three people's complexions had returned to normal, the fear in their eyes still lingered.
When Zhao Chong returned the wooden boat, he explained with trepidation what had happened to them at sea.
To the three's surprise, Master Sun did not blame them for the damage to the wooden boat; instead, he offered a few words of comfort.
After bidding farewell to Hall Master Sun, Du Fan and his two companions did not linger and traveled day and night, finally arriving back at Langlin Valley, where they resided, at dusk on the third day.
After handing over the quest items, the three bid farewell and returned to their respective cabins.
As soon as Du Fan stepped into the room, he immediately released the sensory restriction. In a flash, he appeared on the wooden bed, sat down cross-legged, and with a flick of his wrist, took out the ginseng essence oil, quickly drank a drop, and then closed his eyes to refine it.
Half a month passed in the blink of an eye. After Du Fan finished refining a drop of ginseng essence oil, he spread his divine sense and felt the changes in his body. He was pleasantly surprised to find that his cultivation had faintly reached the middle stage of the fifth level of Qi Refining.
"In two more days, my cultivation will be able to stabilize at the mid-stage of the fifth level of the Qi Refining stage." Du Fan's eyes snapped open, his face beaming with undisguised joy.
Just as he was about to continue his cultivation, his expression suddenly changed. With a wave of his arm, he picked up the small bottle containing ginseng essential oil. Then, with a swift movement, he appeared at the doorway and pushed it open.
"Are you two brothers here to see me?" Du Fan wasn't too surprised to see his two groupmates arrive. He smiled and took the initiative to speak.
"Haha, it's been quite a while since we last met. That's why Brother Yuan and I came here specifically to visit Brother Du." Zhao Chong laughed first, making a polite remark, before lowering his voice and continuing after getting closer to Du Fan:
"Brother Du, you probably already have some idea of why we've come here."
With half a month until the next mission, I suggest that we sell the monster materials and monster cores we have obtained before then, and then use the spirit stones we get to purchase some pills to improve our cultivation.
In this way, we can prepare for our next voyage at sea. What do you think, Brother Du?
"I have no objection. Does Brother Zhao mean we should set off now?" Du Fan pondered for a moment, then nodded slightly and lowered his voice as well.
"Yes, I heard that Hall Master Ma and several other hall masters went out to sea early yesterday morning to carry out a mission. They are not on the island now, so the risk will be much lower if we go to deal with this matter now," Zhao Chong said with a glint in his eyes.
"In that case, I have no further questions. We should not linger here too long, otherwise it will attract a lot of attention. Let's set off now."
Du Fan suddenly realized something, then called out to Yuan Li, and the three of them strode towards one of the valley entrances.
After the three left the valley, they scanned the area with their divine senses and found that no other cultivators were following them. They then increased their speed and transformed into three streaks of light, rushing towards the market town closest to Langlin Valley.
When Du Fan encountered Lu Ping and the others at sea, he accidentally exposed his divine sense power. Although Zhao Chong and the other man did not mention it afterward, Du Fan knew that the two of them had already secretly remembered it.
Therefore, even though Du Fan had already learned through his powerful divine sense that there were cultivators ahead, he still chose to remain silent, not wanting to stand out too much.
While doing this is unlikely to eliminate Zhao Chong and the other man's suspicions about him, it can at least lessen them somewhat.
Before long, Du Fan and his two companions encountered four cultivators who appeared to be part of the same group as them.
However, due to mutual wariness, the two sides did not exchange words or make any move. They merely glanced at each other warily before quickly parting ways, each going their own way, as if keeping to themselves.
Over the next three days, Zhao Chong and his group encountered more than ten groups of cultivators, but none of them seemed inclined to engage in combat.
As night fell, Du Fan and his two companions appeared in the streets of the market town.
At this time, the number of cultivators in the market was much greater than when Du Fan last came. Cultivators could often be seen entering and leaving the shops on both sides of the street, and occasionally the sounds of bargaining could be heard coming from a shop.
After a short while, Du Fan and his two companions arrived at a very secluded alley.
"Brothers, to avoid attracting attention, let's handle our things separately."
"Brother Yuan, since the demon beast materials have been kept by you, you're in charge of disposing of them. As for the demon cores, Brother Du, let's each handle one."
Zhao Chong glanced around and spread his divine sense to make sure no one was around before he spoke and assigned responsibilities to everyone.
Although Zhao Chong didn't say it explicitly, all three of them knew perfectly well that what they received was actually a division of profits. No matter how many spirit stones each person ultimately received, it would belong to that person, and the other two wouldn't interfere.
The demon core that Zhao Chong gave to Du Fan was the yellow one, which was also the most valuable item among the three's mission rewards.
The pale yellow demon core of Zhao Chong and the remains of the demon beast in Yuan Li's storage bag were of similar value, around thirty spirit stones.
The other two naturally had no objections to Zhao Chong's reasonable arrangements, and nodded in agreement. After confirming the meeting time and place, the three of them left the alley and dispersed in different directions.
After turning two corners, Du Fan didn't head straight for Song Yuanzi. Instead, he entered an unfamiliar shop and casually looked at the various items inside.
This shop is quite large for the entire market, with a hall covering an area of about an acre. It contains a wide variety of treasures, so numerous and dazzling that it is hard to take it all in.
"Master, if there's anything I can help you with, please don't hesitate to ask." At this moment, a waiter-like man approached, bowed deeply to Du Fan, and spoke respectfully.
Du Fan scanned the man in front of him with his divine sense and found that there was no magical power fluctuation on him. He was just an ordinary mortal.
He was only slightly surprised, then quickly regained his composure and asked calmly, "Do you have any Elixir-Melting Water in your shop?"
Upon hearing this, the young waiter immediately widened his eyes and looked around in panic. Fortunately, Du Fan's voice was not loud and did not attract the attention of the others in the store.
The young man seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, patted his chest with one hand, and then wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.
"Young man, what's going on?" Du Fan was taken aback and couldn't help but be a little confused.
"Master, you've just arrived at Crescent Island, haven't you?" The young man looked around again before leaning close to Du Fan's ear and whispering.
"That's right, is there a problem?" Du Fan frowned and asked in a low voice.
The young man looked at Du Fan with a hint of helplessness, but facing a cultivator, he dared not make the impolite gesture of dismissing the guest. He could only patiently and nervously utter a weak voice:
"The Elixir-Melting Water is the number one prohibited item on this island. Not to mention that our shop doesn't have it, even if we did, we wouldn't dare to sell it."
If the Master's question were overheard by someone with ulterior motives and spread, our shop would be in trouble, and my life would be in danger.
Therefore, Master, it is best not to mention the name "Elixir-Melting Water" in sensitive places like the marketplace in the future, so as to avoid causing unnecessary trouble for both parties.
Crescent Island's handling of the sale of "alchemy potion" was exceptionally harsh; it was practically the island's first ironclad rule.
Anyone who dares to disobey, whether buying or selling, will be punished severely. At best, they will have all their cultivation destroyed by the island's law enforcement, reduced to a lifelong miner; at worst, they will be executed on the spot. No mercy will be shown.
"Why is this happening?" Du Fan's doubts deepened. The demon core would be of great use to him in the future, and without the Core Transformation Water, he could not consume it. Du Fan could not accept this.