I Can Merge Techniques-Chapter 126 - 103: This Night, Cyan Yang City is Destined to be Sleepless
Fatty had joined the Seven Stars Gang ten-some days before him and Tianxing, yet he’d broken through in just over three months. His talent was far superior to that of Jiang Yuanfan, who stood nearby.
He remembered that when he had beaten up Jiang Yuanfan, the guy had also been in the gang for over three months but still hadn’t broken through to the Blood Nourishing Realm.
At that thought, Chu Fan’s gaze fell upon Jiang Yuanfan. "Hey, aren’t you that... that Lick..."
Jiang Yuanfan’s face instantly darkened. "It’s Jiang Yuanfan!"
Chu Fan acted like he just remembered, slapping his head. "Oh, oh! Lick Yuanfan!"
"It’s Jiang! As in, the river ’jiang’!" Jiang Yuanfan practically squeezed the words through his teeth, his face flushed crimson.
He didn’t resent Chu Fan for hitting him.
But he would absolutely never admit to being a "bootlicker"!
And he certainly wouldn’t admit to being "Bootlicker Number One"!
Chu Fan nodded along and asked, "You broke through to the Blood Nourishing Realm too? Did you come with Fatty to register?"
Jiang Yuanfan snorted. "I’m not here to register for the Blood Nourishing Realm!" he said proudly.
He deliberately emphasized his words, as if trying to regain some face. "I broke through half a month ago! I’m here today to turn in a mission!"
"A mission?" Hearing this, Chu Fan’s interest was piqued. "What kind of mission did you take? What’s the reward?"
Once you broke through to the Blood Nourishing Realm and became an official disciple of the Seven Stars Gang, you could accept gang missions in exchange for resources and silver coins.
Chu Fan and Zhao Tianxing had originally planned to do missions as well, but after they struck it rich overnight, they gave up on the idea and stayed in the gang to focus on their training. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂
It was different for the others, though. Most of them were dirt poor. If they didn’t take on missions, they could only rely on the two taels of silver the gang distributed each month.
Two taels of silver was enough for food and drink, but it was nowhere near enough to buy Blood Nourishing Powder or Blood Refining Pills.
Jiang Yuanfan cleared his throat and said, "The missions vary in difficulty. The harder they are, the greater the rewards, naturally."
"I took a mission to deliver a letter to Lin’an City. The reward was twenty taels of silver."
"Twenty taels just to deliver a letter?" Chu Fan was stunned. "Isn’t that a little too easy to earn?"
But the joyful look on Jiang Yuanfan’s face vanished instantly, replaced by a trace of lingering fear.
He lowered his voice. "It was a secret letter! The risk was enormous! I risked my life for that money!"
Chu Fan looked at him, speechless. "You just broke through to the Blood Nourishing Realm and you dared to take on such an obviously suspicious mission? Weren’t you afraid of getting your head lopped off on the road?"
Jiang Yuanfan’s face went pale. Voice still trembling with fear, he said, "Damn it, I... I didn’t realize how dangerous it was until I was halfway there!"
"I didn’t read the details carefully when I accepted the mission. It wasn’t until I was on the road and noticed someone was following me that I realized something was wrong!"
"They didn’t look like mountain bandits or robbers... but every one of them had an astonishing presence. You could tell they were practitioners at a glance!"
Fatty and Chu Fan said nothing, just looked at him with curiosity.
Jiang Yuanfan licked his dry lips and continued, "Luckily, I’m quick-witted! I slipped into a farmer’s house by the road, knocked out a couple who were in the middle of their own ’Ape Fighting Technique,’ swapped into the man’s clothes, and snuck out the back door."
"’Ape Fighting Technique’?" Fatty couldn’t help but ask. "What’s that?"
"...That’s not the point," Jiang Yuanfan said, annoyed. "After that, I found some tattered clothes on the road, disguised myself as a beggar, and blended in with a crowd of refugees. That’s how I managed to escape and deliver the letter."
"I was actually a beggar for half a year back in the day!"
"That’s why the people following me didn’t see through my disguise at all!"
"You really think this twenty taels of silver was easy money?"
"A regular Blood Nourishing Realm disciple taking a normal mission would get five or six taels of silver at most!"
He tossed the bag containing the twenty taels of silver up and down, his eyes filled with pride.
Back then, Chu Fan had swindled three-tenths of a tael of silver from him—that had been everything he owned!
Now, clutching these twenty taels, he felt like he could stand up straighter, his heart filled with the arrogant thought, ’I’m not short on cash.’
Chu Fan and Fatty exchanged a speechless look.
This Jiang Yuanfan’s luck wasn’t half bad. Still, it was sobering to think he’d just had such a close brush with death.
Suddenly, Jiang Yuanfan caught sight of the fruit in Chu Fan’s hand and couldn’t help but ask, "What kind of fruit is that? How come I’ve never seen it before?"
"Oh, this is a Moon Soul Rhinoceros Fruit," Chu Fan said. "It’s for Yijing Marrow Opening and Condensing Qi and Blood. Thirty-five taels of silver a piece."
"..." Fatty and Jiang Yuanfan were both dumbfounded.
’Thirty-five taels of silver for a single piece of fruit?!’
The last bit of pride and satisfaction in Jiang Yuanfan’s eyes vanished without a trace.
He stared up at the sky at a forty-five-degree angle, feeling like this world just wasn’t worth it.
Just then, Fatty seemed to remember something important. He tugged on Chu Fan’s sleeve and said mysteriously, "Oh yeah, Fan, something big has happened! Have you heard?"
"What is it?" Chu Fan asked.
Fatty lowered his voice. "I hear Master Zhou hid some important news and didn’t report it to Hall Master Qin in time. Now Master Qin is furious!"
"You know how our Seven Stars Gang and the Iron Armor Sect are fighting over territory on Xingning Street?"
"Well, in his anger, Master Qin dumped the whole thankless job on Master Zhou!"
"And it seems he gave him a deadline, too!"
A thought struck Chu Fan. "’A thankless job?’"
"Yeah!" Fatty analyzed. "How could Xingning Street be easy to take over? How long did the three major gangs fight over it before?"
"Now that the Blood Saber Sect has pulled out of Xingning Street, it’s just us and the Iron Armor Sect. Even if we really manage to snatch it from them, I’m afraid we’ll have to pay a heavy price!"
"If we succeed, the reward might not even be that great."
"But if we can’t take it, or if our losses are too great, he’ll probably be in big trouble!"
Hearing this, Chu Fan froze.
’Zhou Tianci was in such a hurry to call me to the Cyan Wood Hall today... could it be... because of this?’
’The news Master Zhou hid... it couldn’t be the message I passed to him before, could it?’
Just as he was thinking this, Fatty asked, "Fan, where are you off to so early?"
"Oh..." Chu Fan said. "Master Zhou summoned me."
