"Yes!"
The clerk let out a sigh of relief, but upon seeing his sinister-looking shopkeeper, a chill ran down his spine. He quickly nodded, "Don't worry, Shopkeeper, I'll definitely pass on the message!"
With that, he turned and hurried out of the store, as if chased by a dog.
Only then did Shopkeeper Xu come to the door, peek out to make sure no one was around, close the door, and head up to the second floor, where he opened a side room.
He dragged out a wooden chest from under the bed, which still had an iron lock on it.
Taking out a key, Shopkeeper Xu opened it.
Inside was a half-foot-high wooden box, and next to it was a pile of scattered broken silver, along with a stack of silver notes of varying denominations, 100 taels, 50 taels, and 20 taels.
He took out all the silver notes, counted them, and there were exactly 300 taels.
Shopkeeper Xu's face twitched slightly.
These were his savings from half a lifetime!
But soon, they'll be handed over to someone else.
Just thinking about it made his heart ache, his liver ache, every part of his body hurt.
This is not just taking his money, it's taking his life!
After a while, Shopkeeper Xu carefully tucked the silver notes into his chest, locked the wooden box back up, and closed the door, before heading to the stairs.
Just as he was about to go downstairs, he heard faint footsteps behind him, and they were very close.
It seemed... someone was right behind him!
But the clerks and accountant were all in the front yard, and the only clerk in the shop had just been sent out by him. Besides himself, who else could be in the shop?
"Who!"
Cold sweat beaded on Shopkeeper Xu's forehead as a sense of dread arose. Just as he was about to turn his head, he felt someone push him heavily.
"Ah—"
Then, he stumbled, tumbling down the stairs while screaming.
When he landed on the first floor, he was sprawled on the ground, no longer moving.
Only then did Gu Yuan leisurely come downstairs.
After observing for a moment, he reached out to check his breath and was somewhat surprised:
"Is this old geezer really so unlucky that he fell to his death in one go?"
"Dead is also good, saves me the trouble."
Gu Yuan felt no burden about this at all, after all, the old thing had been plotting to have the Cyan Bamboo Gang's leader Wu Xun kill him until just now.
In the end, it all started with the old geezer's greed and sinister dealings, and his current fate was well-deserved!
Gu Yuan routinely searched through the corpse of Shopkeeper Xu.
The real reason he came was for revenge, to resolve the trouble caused by Shopkeeper Xu, but leaving empty-handed wasn't in his nature.
But when Gu Yuan found a stack of silver notes and a black iron key on Shopkeeper Xu, he couldn't help but exclaim:
"Goodness, it's really three hundred taels of silver, how did this guy have so much money? Did he even dig up his own coffin fund?"
Just now, Gu Yuan overheard the conversation between Shopkeeper Xu and the clerk, understanding that this money was to be handed over to Wu Xun, the Cyan Bamboo Gang's leader.
Previously, when he killed the Third Gang Leader of the Cyan Bamboo Gang, it caused quite a stir.
That Wu suffered a great loss but couldn't find the real culprit, so he naturally wanted to take a big chunk out of Shopkeeper Xu as compensation.
But now, it was Gu Yuan who benefited.
Gu Yuan now understood one thing very well - he was rich!
Three hundred taels of silver, that was a huge sum!
For example, in normal circumstances, one tael of silver was worth a thousand cash, but in reality, silver was rarer and more valuable than copper, so one tael of silver could often exchange for more than eleven hundred cash in the market.
And one cash could buy a big bun, two cash could buy a skewer of candied hawthorn.
The purchasing power of one cash was even stronger than a dollar in Gu Yuan's past life!
In fact, Gu Yuan had been keeping an eye on Shopkeeper Xu all this time by controlling Ah Huang, intending just to settle old scores, but he didn't expect to have such a windfall today!
But with this silver, it would surely come in handy when he practiced martial arts later.
After all, he had heard some rumors, knowing that Martial Arts cultivation was a very cost-intensive endeavor.
However, Gu Yuan wasn't preparing to leave just yet.
Looking at the key in his hand, Gu Yuan went up to the second floor, opened the side room, and pulled out the wooden chest he had seen earlier from under the bed.
Unlocking the iron lock with the key, he saw a small pile of broken silver at the bottom of the chest, a rough estimate showed seventy to eighty taels, which Gu Yuan unceremoniously wrapped up in a piece of cloth, preparing to take it along.
As for the wooden box in the chest, when opened, it contained two medical books!
To be precise, besides a medical book "Xu's Medical Canon," there was also a "Great View of Spiritual Medicine."
[Dao Rhyme Points +7!]
[Dao Rhyme Points +69!]
As soon as Gu Yuan touched the two books, system panel notifications appeared in front of him in succession.
These two books contained quite a bit of Dao Rhyme.
While delighted, Gu Yuan also noticed something amiss.
Upon closer inspection, he found that the former was just an ordinary medical book, at most an ancestral medical classic passed down through generations.
But the latter was a full inch thick, with an unusual material; thin, soft, and flexible. After a careful examination, Gu Yuan was surprised to find the book was actually made from some special beast hide!
Inside were texts and illustrations, clearly documenting many pictorials of spirit medicines and exotic flowers!
On opening to the first page, he saw an illustration of a strange flower, similar to a sunflower, but entirely red and glistening with a faint light.
Besides it, there was a small line of introduction:
[Flame Sunflower]
Grade: Eighth Grade Spirit Medicine
A special spirit flower growing in the Land of Extreme Yang, maturing in five hundred years. Its color is scarlet red and can be used to refine Flame Sun Pill, Red Eye Pill, and other Yang Attribute Spirit Pills. It dissolves in water, withers in metal, and can only be harvested with jade artifacts.
Additionally, given a coincidental opportunity, this spirit flower has a slim chance to surpass the thousand-year limit. When the petals turn pale gold, and its years reach five thousand, it becomes Haoyang Flower, a Fifth Grade Spirit Medicine, being one of the best spirit medicines for refining Yang Attribute Flying Swords.
...
Below was another spirit medicine illustration.
At first glance, it appeared like a mushroom, not large, but glowing green. Its cap had a ferocious ghost face pattern looking vividly alive, indeed like a real ghost's face.
[Ghost Face Mushroom]
Grade: Ninth Grade Spirit Medicine
This object only spawns where over a thousand people have died, like Chaotic Tomb Ridge, or in the Land of Ultimate Yin, drawing upon yin and evil energies to grow. It is highly toxic and fatal to ordinary beings upon contact, but if refined properly, it can also nourish the Divine Soul!
Caution should be taken as the roots often attract corpse fly gu, laying larva corpse maggots. If accidentally getting onto the skin, they will drill into flesh, extremely dangerous.
...
[Glazed Jade Bamboo]
Grade: Seventh Grade Spirit Root
A spiritual bamboo growing in places of pure Spiritual Qi; fond of cleanliness and averse to filth. It can be refined into divine weapons, magical artifacts, and its sap may be used in alchemy, favored by Buddhist Sect cultivators...
...
[Thunder Pattern Vine]
Grade: Eighth Grade Spirit Medicine
...