When Shen Ling returned to the Shen family, he saw that Old Master Shen had a serious expression on his face.
"What is the matter?"
He asked as he looked at his father, who raised his eyebrows in bewilderment.
Old Master Shen looked at Shen Ling with so much seriousness and said in a deep voice, "I asked you to stay with the Shen family, but you refused. Instead, you chose to risk your life!"
"Risk my life? What do you mean?"
All of a sudden, Shen Ling's voice became strange. He asked again, "When did I risk my life?"
Master Shen's expression didn't change one bit. He asked, "Then, tell me, what happened to the things that were shipped back to the village? Where did you get those gold, silver, and jewelry?"
"From the Green Mountain stronghold."
Shen Ling replied without flinching. "I remember telling you yesterday that something happened to the sharecroppers. I went there to take care of it."
"Really? To take care of it?"
Old Master Shen stared into Shen Ling's eyes and said in a deep voice, "Then tell me, what exactly happened?"
Right now, he was confused beyond measure. Yesterday, Shen Ling had gone out all of a sudden and had ordered people to send crossbows to the sharecroppers' village.
Initially, he had thought that Shen Ling was going to let the young sharecroppers familiarize themselves with the use of the crossbows, but he noticed that Ling didn't return home that night.
He sent people to look for Shen Ling and they returned with just one message.
He had gone to the Green Mountain Stronghold!
This news made Master Shen very scared.
What could he be doing there? It was the stronghold with the largest number of bandits among the three great bandits of the Green Mountain.
In the past, when Shen Ling was obsessed with poetry and books, he had interacted with the Green Mountain Stronghold several times.
Although he always had to spend money in the end to avoid so many disasters, they were fortunate enough to have no worries.
And now...
Shen Ling had first taught the sharecroppers to practice their machete skills, but in the end, he had gone to the Green Mountain Stronghold in less than two days.
As far as Master Shen was concerned, this was a reckless and risky move.
Shen Ling, on the other hand, narrated the whole scenario without batting an eyelid.
Apart from hiding the details of the head of the Green Mountain Stronghold getting close to him and aiming for his life, Shen Ling told him all about his plan.
When Master Shen heard this, his eyes lit up.
"What do you think about this?"
Master Shen asked Shen Ling as he looked at him curiously.
Shen Ling rolled his eyes mischievously and said with a smile, "What do I think about this? Of course, I read a book. It is said that there's endless treasure in a book. You shouldn't be busy with business all day. It's good to read a book once in a while."
"You..."
Master Shen was about to criticize Shen Ling but fell into deep thought again.
All of a sudden, Shen Ling looked at him and said, "Well, I'm going to Chennan Trading Company. I need some money..."
Immediately Master Shen heard the talk about money, he raised his head. "You're going to Chennan Trading Company? What do you want to buy?"
Shen Ling smiled and said, "There aren't enough arrows for the triple crossbows and I don't want to buy them when I need them. In addition, I got a lot of good things from the Qingshan stockade this time. I'll see if there's anything useful."
"How much do you need?" Master Shen asked.
Shen Ling replied, "Well, not much. One thousand teals will be enough."
One thousand taels!
To Master Shen, this was a lot of money, same for the Shen family.
However, after looking at Shen Ling for a few seconds, he nodded in agreement.
Seeing how happy Master Shen was, a brilliant smile appeared on Shen Ling's face. He was a little surprised that things went so smoothly.
He hummed a song happily and walked out of the Shen family hall.
Master Shen was left behind, shaking his head in concern.
In the past few days, the changes in Shen Ling were so obvious. This made Master Shen very pleased, although he also felt that he couldn't keep up with his son's thoughts.
As a result of this, all he could do was to be a man standing solidly behind Shen Ling and back him up.
Simply put, all he had to do was...
To give him money.
Shen Ling had gotten to the Chennan Trading Company.
When the shopkeeper saw Shen Ling, he was full of joy. "Young Master Shen is here. Please come in and make yourself comfortable."
"I want to see Miss Qin..."
Shen Ling said as soon as he entered the room.
Since he knew that Miss Qin was the main person in charge of the Chennan Trading Company in Qi Hua City, Shen Ling felt that it was better to communicate with her directly.
"Miss Qin is on the third floor. You'll find her there."
The shopkeeper replied to him without any dissatisfaction.
''Thank you.''
Shen Ling smiled at the shopkeeper and walked up the stairs to the third floor.
In a private room on the third floor, Miss Qin looked at Shen Ling with a smile and said, "Young Master Shen, we meet again."
"Yes, that's true," Shen Ling said calmly.
Miss Qin looked at him and said, "I wonder what you are planning to buy this time."
"Well, I need a cultivation method."
Shen Ling didn't beat about the bush. He went straight to the point.
This time, he had gotten so many things from the Green Mountain Stronghold including the replacement of the weapons he used.
However, there wasn't a single cultivation technique book in the entire cave where the treasures of the Green Mountain Stronghold were hidden.
The value of the cultivation method was very obvious.
"Alright then, please come with me."
Miss Qin said with a smile as she led Shen Ling into the secret room on the third floor.
The first thing Ling saw was the ten million teals of the Great Qian Art. His eyes lingered on it for two seconds before he shifted his gaze.
Since this was a cultivation technique of the Great Qian Empire, it was quite extraordinary.
However, at this moment, Shen Ling couldn't afford ten million taels, which meant that he would not be able to afford the Great Qian Art.
"Do you have any body-tempering cultivation techniques?"
He asked after he walked around the room for a while. There were simply too many of them.
The cheapest cultivation technique in the entire room was the Mountain-splitting Saber Technique, which was the price of one tael of silver.
The rest had different prices ranging from ten, one hundred, and one thousand taels...
This was even worse than a robbery.
"Yes, we do."
Miss Qin was very familiar with all these cultivation techniques.
When he saw the cultivation technique that Miss Qin handed over, Shen Ling took it and looked at it all over... The Iron Shirt.
What was this Iron Shirt?
This name surprised Shen Ling for a moment.
However, after checking it out, he realized that this particular iron shirt was different from the one he knew.
Although it was also a body-refining cultivation technique, its defensive ability mainly relied on both internal and external forces to cover the skin of the body.
But even at that, this technique could increase the strength of the arm which made it compatible with the Mountain-splitting Saber Technique.
"How much is it?"
Shen Ling asked about the price after he had taken a fancy to the technique. It was only natural to do so.
Calmly, Miss Qin spoke, "This is a rank-nine upper-grade technique. But because it's a body refining technique, it is more expensive... I'll give you for a thousand taels of silver."
When he heard this, his hands shook.
"I'll buy it."
Shen Ling still chose to buy it after thinking for a few seconds.
This cultivation technique could not stop him from being cultivated. Same with the young sharecroppers in the rural areas.
Now that he thought about it, he felt that it wasn't that expensive for a thousand taels of silver.
It was still okay for the price.
However, when he saw another cultivation technique, he hesitated. He was on the verge of changing his mind.
This one was about a footwork technique called 'Treading on Air.'
It was worth three thousand taels of silver.
Miss Qin followed his gaze and picked up the 'Treading on Air'. "Young Master Shen, are you interested in this one?" she asked.
He nodded in agreement and said, "Yes, I do, but it's rather too expensive."
Her face lit up in a smile as she spoke, "Well, as you already know, I call the shots here. I can give it to you if you want, but you have to promise to do something for me in return."
What he dreaded the most was about to happen.
Shen Ling's heart skipped a beat instantly when he heard her words.
He knew that there was nothing free in this world. He also knew that he would have to pay one way or another.
But what kind of request would Miss Qin make? He couldn't help but wonder silently.
What would he be asked to do?
He was in a very critical situation right now.
