Chapter 18: The Intelligent Fish Monster (Part 2)

  Yu Hua stood still, her heart filled with a sense of loss as Hai Long left. However, every word he said before leaving was deeply etched in her mind. She turned to glance at her sister, making a silent vow that no matter how difficult it would be, she would definitely find Lian Yun Mountain by November.

  Far away from the mountain village, Hailong finally calmed down and thought of Yu Hua's expression earlier. He couldn't help but feel a lingering fear in his heart, thinking to himself that it would be better for him to keep a low profile in front of others from now on. Otherwise, similar situations might happen again. However, he also realized that his current abilities were not entirely useless, at least the fish spirit was stunned earlier.

  Thinking about this, Hailong couldn't help but feel secretly pleased with himself. He looked up at the sun in the sky and continued on his journey. After finally changing into a clean set of clothes, although they were full of patches, Hailong still treasured them greatly and became more cautious as he moved forward.

  Half a day later, under his full-speed sprint, he had already covered over 200 miles, and a majestic city appeared before him. This was the first time Hailong saw what a city looked like, and he couldn't help but feel slightly stunned. When he was young, he and Zhang Huan would often fantasize about developing their careers in big cities.

  In this unexpected opportunity, he finally arrived at the outskirts of his dream city, and an otherworldly feeling arose in his heart. The city before him stood tall at around 30 meters high, with flags fluttering on top, and teams of patrolling soldiers constantly coming and going. Below, the seven- or eight-meter-high city gates were wide open, with many civilians bustling about, and around 30 guards standing upright on either side of the gate, inspecting passing merchants and travelers.

  The dragon shook off the dust on its body, raised its head and walked towards the city gate with a big stride. It was now filled with excitement in its heart, really wanting to take a look at what the city looked like.

  "Halt." Just as he was about to reach the city gate, Hailong was stopped by a guard soldier. A man came up, looking at him with some suspicion, and asked: "Where are you from? What brings you to our Tongyuan City?" Hailong was taken aback, looking at the soldier in front of him who was much taller than himself, and replied: "I am a Western Regions person. I originally came to the Central Plains on business, but now that my business is done, I naturally need to return to the Western Regions. I'm just passing through here. Excuse me, brother, how far is it from here to the Western Regions?"

  The soldier looked him up and down a few times, with some disdain, saying: "So you're an outsider, no wonder you look so rustic. This place is still far from your Western Regions, thousands of miles away to the west. Remember, don't cause trouble in the city, otherwise, don't blame us for not being polite, got it?

  Hailong put on a humble and servile appearance, meekly answering the soldier's questions. Only then did the soldier let him pass, allowing Hailong to enter the city of Tongyuan. Hailong was in high spirits at this moment, not minding the soldier's disdain and scorn. He quickly walked into the city he had longed for. As soon as he entered the city, Hailong was startled by the hustle and bustle around him. The wide streets were lined with all sorts of shops, selling a dazzling array of goods that seemed to have everything one could want. Some young men who looked like apprentices were busily touting their wares in front of their shops, trying to attract customers.

  "So many people! I've never seen so many people before, it's indeed a big city. Tongyuan City? Which country does this Tongyuan City belong to? No way, I need to ask someone." As he thought about it, he walked up to a store by the road, and the shop assistant outside was shouting loudly, "Come take a look! Our store has all kinds of precious medicinal materials, nourishing and healthy, come pick some!" It turned out that this was a pharmacy. Hailong stepped forward and said, "Big brother, I want to ask you something."

  The shop assistant glanced at Hailong and his patchwork clothes, curled up his lip as if he hadn't heard the greeting, and continued to hawk his wares. When some elegantly dressed people walked up to the storefront, he immediately swarmed over, enthusiastically introducing them to various medicinal products in the store. Hailong was taken aback, asked the same question again, but the shop assistant still ignored him.

  A surge of anger rose in his heart, and Hai Long said with a hint of annoyance, "Are you deaf or something? I called you, can't you hear?"

  The fellow suddenly turned around, angrily saying: "What are you yelling about? Don't disturb me from receiving guests. You don't even take a glance at your own reflection, with your shabby appearance, you're not worthy of asking me questions. Scram to the side, otherwise, don't blame me for being impolite." Hailong's left hand clenched tightly, and in his anger, he almost activated the Blood Eight Trigrams' power. He took a deep breath and barely suppressed the flames of rage in his heart, calmly saying: "You really look down on people, how do you know I won't go into your store to buy things? You look down on me?" After finishing speaking, he strode into the medicine shop.

  That fellow was taken aback, and hastily chased after him, but the dragon king walked very quickly. When he caught up, he had already entered the store. This store was quite large in scale, with a row of counters placed around it, behind which four or five young girls were attending to customers. The wall was lined with tall medicine cabinets, on top of which there were all sorts of labels.

  "Halt, you little brat! Get out of here, this isn't a place for you!" The fellow grabbed Haicheng's collar and tried to pull him out. Haicheng's eyes flashed with cold light as he stood firm, his internal energy circulating. With a slight flick of his right hand, he sent the fellow flying aside. The fellow stumbled and almost fell over, his face reddening with rage as he cursed, "You, you little brat are looking for trouble, aren't you?" He raised his fist to strike Haicheng. Haicheng's patience had long since worn thin, and he was about to teach the fellow a lesson when he heard a somewhat aged voice say, "Little San, what's going on? You're going to get fired if you start fighting here!" The fellow immediately became docile upon hearing this voice and hastily forced out a smile, saying, "Li Boss, I-I just wanted to pull this little brat out."

  He was called Li Zhuangui by his colleagues, a man in his sixties, wearing a clean cotton-padded jacket. He stood inside the counter and hummed, saying: "What are you talking about? As long as there are guests coming to the door, how can we casually drive them out? Don't you understand that it's the guest's reason for coming? Even if they don't buy anything, it's the same. Go, go on shouting outside." Under the majesty of Zhuangui, his colleague Xiao San'er could only glare at Hailong with hatred and continue to go out and pull customers.

  Mr. Li's words won the favor of all the customers, including Hailong. The customers who were buying things all had smiles on their faces. Mr. Li and his assistant smiled at Hailong and said: "Young brother, what do you want to buy? Is there anything I can help you with? Our medicines here are absolutely genuine and of good quality, but the prices will be a bit higher accordingly."

  Hai Long hesitated for a moment, he had only intended to ask the way earlier, and entering the pharmacy was just an impulsive move. At this time, when asked by others, he couldn't help but scratch his head awkwardly and say: "Actually, I'm not here to buy anything." Li Zhuanggui smiled slightly and said: "It's okay if you don't want to buy anything, just take a look around. If you need anything, feel free to ask our staff."

  Hai Long's heart moved, and he suddenly thought of something. He said, "Boss Li, thank you for helping me out just now. Do you buy medicinal materials here? I happen to have some medicinal materials that I want to sell."

  Li Zhuangui was taken aback, and smiled: "We run a pharmacy, where would we not accept medicinal materials? Young brother, if you have any medicinal materials, don't hesitate to bring them out for old me to take a look. I've been in this line of work for decades, and I still have some discerning eyesight." Hailong nodded, reached into his sleeve, and under the urging of his Dry Heaven Ring, produced a piece of yellow jade. This was something he had picked not long ago in the mountains because he was hungry, so he used it to fill his belly. "It's nothing special, just a bit of yellow jade." As he spoke, he handed over that piece of yellow jade, which was about the size of a palm.

  Huang Jing is a very common medicinal material, and the ordinary Huang Jing is cheap, so Li Zhuang didn't pay much attention to it. Especially when he saw that Hai Long only had a small piece, he secretly shook his head.

  A faint fragrance wafted from the crystal-clear yellow essence, and Li Zhuang's eyes suddenly lit up. He hastily brought the yellow essence to his face, exclaiming in surprise: "This, this isn't ordinary yellow essence!"

  Hai Long suddenly remembered, it was his masters who had taught him to recognize Huang Jing. He had picked and eaten some in the mountains because they looked similar to those found in Lianyun Mountain Range. Now that he was penniless in the city, and this was a pharmacy, he thought of selling some Huang Jing for silver. He was clever, and upon hearing Li Zhuo say it wasn't ordinary Huang Jing, he immediately became proud and said: "Of course it's not ordinary Huang Jing! You have to take a closer look, Li Zhuo!"

  Li Zhuanggui held the Huang Jing as if it were a precious treasure, carefully examining it in his hands. His aged body was already slightly trembling with excitement. The customers also caught wind of the fragrance emanating from the Huang Jing and couldn't help but gather around. Most of them were regulars at this medicine hall, including wealthy merchants and tycoons who knew exactly what a rare and precious medicinal material like this meant - it was an elixir that could prolong one's life!

  Li Zhuang looked at the Huang Jing, which had already become somewhat disordered, and muttered: "This, this is Huang Jing, this is Huang Jing! Everyone look, such a crystal clear and transparent, with a hundred subtle dark lines inside, it's the best of Huang Jing - Huang Jing, I'm talking about the emperor's Huang. This piece of Huang Jing has an effect that is almost the same as that of thousand-year-old ginseng, and its medicinal properties are gentle and easier to absorb, it's really a rare treasure."

  After listening to Li's words, the guests suddenly made a big noise. One of the fat customers approached Hai Long and smiled: "Little brother, I think you should sell this quicksand to me. How much money do you want?" The merchant was very shrewd, he knew that if this piece of quicksand was bought by the pharmacy and then resold, the price would probably rise a lot. Hai Long looked like just a young boy, so buying from him would naturally be much cheaper. There were not a few people with the same intention, as soon as they heard the merchant's words, they immediately surrounded Hai Long, expressing their desire to buy this piece of quicksand.

  Hai Long concealed his excitement, neither agreeing nor disagreeing, but only gazing at the Imperial Ginseng in Li Zhuang's hand. Li Zhuang had already become anxious upon hearing these customers' words and hastily said: "Everyone, thank you all for your support of our pharmacy over the years, however, this piece of Imperial Ginseng was indeed promised to this young brother first, and I also plan on keeping it for personal use, so please don't fight over it, thank you, I appreciate everyone's understanding." The customers naturally knew Li Zhuang's standing in Tongyuan City's medical community, and upon hearing that he wanted to keep it for himself, the commotion grew even more intense.

  "Stop." The sound of the sea dragon was not particularly loud, but it resonated clearly in everyone's ears. All the noise almost simultaneously disappeared, and everyone's gaze involuntarily focused on him.

  The dragon king smiled slightly and said, "Everyone please listen to me. Previously, when that fellow was making things difficult for me, it was Li Zhuang who helped me out of the predicament. Later on, he also expressed his willingness to buy the medicinal herbs I brought with me. Emotionally and rationally, I must sell this piece of Huang Jing to him. To everyone else, I can only say sorry. Li Zhuang, let's do it like this: you set a price. With your familiarity with medicinal herbs, I believe your price will be very fair. As long as you name a price, I won't haggle. If in the future I dig up more Huang Jing, I'll supply it to you at the same price first. How about that?"

  Li the shopkeeper knew that his family's wealth was far inferior to these rich merchants, and he thought he had no hope. But unexpectedly, Hailong said this, and suddenly his heart was filled with great joy. He gratefully said: "Young brother, you are indeed a trustworthy person. Don't worry, I will give you a fair price. Let's do it like this, 100,000 taels of silver for each of the two thousand-year-old ginseng plants."

  Although Hai Long knew that this Huang Jing must be worth a lot of money, he didn't think it would be so much. He said with a sigh: "Alright, it's settled then. This piece of Huang Jing is yours."

  The surrounding guests saw that the dragon had already sold the Huang Jing, and they immediately dispersed with a sigh. Li Zhuang said: "Everyone, please don't be disappointed. Although I was planning to keep this piece of Huang Jing for myself, I previously obtained a recipe that uses Huang Jing as the main ingredient, combined with many precious medicinal materials, to refine a Rejuvenating Pill. This Rejuvenating Pill has the effect of rejuvenating and nourishing life, and this piece of Huang Jing is enough to refine dozens of pills. As they say, 'those who see it have a share', when the time comes, I will definitely sell one pill to each of you at cost price. What do you think?" After hearing this, these guests immediately regained their enthusiasm and thanked Li Zhuang in unison.

  Hai Long Xin said, "This Li boss is really good at doing business. The so-called cost price is still up to him to decide, this way not only can he make money, but also avoid offending people, it's a win-win situation."

  Mr. Li politely greeted the guests and immediately led Hailong to the back room of the store, personally pouring him a cup of water before going to fetch the money.

  Tonight may be a bit late after work, so I'll send you a chapter to take a look before going to work. It will be updated around 7 pm tonight, and I will try to update two more chapters, one at 7:01 pm and the other at 11:00 pm, as a thank you for everyone's support.