8: Chapter 8 Wandering Merchant

Sitting cross-legged in the shrine, Qin Ling placed the Primary Golden Light Talisman in his palm, and he could clearly sense the divine power flowing within this talisman.

Furthermore, he could feel that the divine power contained within this Primary Golden Light Talisman was about the same as the divine power of his current cultivation level.

In other words, the attack power of this Primary Golden Light Talisman was about the same as that of a wild god with his current cultivation level of [Incense Realm 10%].

After putting away the Primary Golden Light Talisman, Qin Ling crafted one Mind-Clearing Talisman and one Protection Talisman respectively, consuming another 10 incense points.

He now had only 45 incense points left.

[Primary Mind-Clearing Talisman]

[Effect: A supplementary divine talisman capable of dispelling illusions, calming the mind, and breaking the mind-bewitching arts of low-tier demons.]

[Primary Protection Talisman]

[Effect: A defensive divine talisman capable of adding a layer of protective barrier to the user to defend against attacks.]

After manufacturing them, Qin Ling also put away these two talismans and was not in a hurry to make other talismans.

After all, his incense points were still not much, and there were still too many places where incense points would be needed elsewhere.

Making three commonly used talismans in advance was just about enough for now.

In the next six days, the villagers coming to burn incense in the temple decreased significantly every day.

Most of those who came to burn incense were either crew members or their family members.

Without the Double Incense Talisman, Qin Ling's speed of collecting incense was also much slower, but these six days still allowed Qin Ling to accumulate his incense points to 430.

He immediately spent 400 incense points to elevate his cultivation to [Incense Realm 30%].

Having his cultivation improved, Qin Ling felt the much fuller divine power within his body and nodded with satisfaction.

In this turbulent world, only the enhancement of cultivation could bring him joy.

...

In the afternoon, Qin Family Village.

A mule-drawn cart drove into this remote seaside fishing village.

The wheels of the mule cart ground over the road surface, making creaking sounds.

"Selling goods~ Cheap fabrics, needles and threads~"

The hawking shouts carried a warmth forged from traveling far and wide, instantly piercing into people's ears.

The two old men dozing under the Old Locust Tree at the entrance of the village were the first to raise their heads.

Squinting their eyes, they looked toward the direction where the sound came from.

They saw a mule cart slowly driving over, followed by three people behind the cart.

The driver was a middle-aged man with a dough-like face, his eyes narrowing into slits when he shouted his wares.

The carriage was piled to the brim, with corners of fabrics exposed and the crisp clinking sounds of earthen jars colliding.

Following behind the cart were a man and a woman, both looking to be in their early twenties.

The man carried a burden pole, and the woman carried a bundle on her back, looking entirely like hired hands.

"Selling goods! Selling goods!"

Several children playing at the alley entrance ran over first, circling around the mule cart with their eyes peering straight into the carriage.

How could the middle-aged driver not know what the children wanted to see? He pulled out a small jar of maltose, making the children unable to tear their eyes away.

Hearing the commotion, more and more villagers of Qin Family Village gathered around.

Before long, twenty or thirty people had gathered at the village entrance.

Seeing this, the driver's smile became a bit warmer.

He cleared his throat, cupped his hands toward the crowd, and began to speak.

"Fellow villagers, my surname is Hu, and my given name is single character Fu. I run a small business of trading southern goods to the north."

"This is my younger sister, Hu Gu, and that is my cousin, Hu Ba."

"We came from Qingzhou Prefecture, heading all the way south, wanting to look for some seafood to take back and sell. Passing through your esteemed place, we would like to borrow a spot to rest our feet and incidentally sell some sundries. We will definitely not cause any trouble for the fellow villagers."

After Hu Fu finished speaking, the surrounding villagers began to discuss among themselves.

"Coming from Qingzhou Prefecture, that is so far away!"

"We haven't seen a traveling merchant in a long time, and I just happened to want to buy some needles and thread!"

"I reckon that fabric looks quite nice."

While the villagers were discussing, Village Chief Qin Zongliang walked over, and the villagers cleared a path for the village chief.

He stopped right in front of Hu Fu, not rushing to speak, but simply sizing Hu Fu up.

Hu Fu immediately cupped his hands again and said with a smile.

"This elder, are you the one in charge of the village?"

Village Chief Qin Zongliang nodded, his voice neither high nor low.

"This old man is the village chief of Qin Family Village. You traveled such a long distance just to collect seafood?"

Hu Fu smiled and nodded.

"The elder might not know, but seafood is precious over in Qingzhou Prefecture. As long as seafood is transported there, the price can double or triple."

Village Chief Qin Zongliang nodded in acknowledgment and looked over the three of them once more.

Hu Fu's face was plastered with smiles, the woman named Hu Gu lowered her eyes and looked somewhat honest, while Hu Ba stood at the very back, keeping his head lowered all along so that his expression could not be seen.

"Since that's the case, it's fine for you few to rest your feet in our village, and doing business is also fine, but there are a few rules that must be made clear first."

Village Chief Qin Zongliang finally spoke.

"Please go ahead, elder."

Hu Fu nodded repeatedly.

"First, you can only set up stalls in this open space at the village entrance and cannot enter the village."

"Second, you must leave early tomorrow morning and cannot stay any longer."

Village Chief Qin Zongliang raised two fingers.

"Elder, we've traveled for such a long time, and the mules are also exhausted. If we have to leave early tomorrow morning..."

The smile on Hu Fu's face paused.

Village Chief Qin Zongliang didn't reply, just looking at him.

"Fine, fine, fine. Then we'll listen to the elder. We'll leave early tomorrow morning and will definitely not cause trouble for the fellow villagers."

The smile on Hu Fu's face stiffened for a moment, but after a short while, he smiled again.

Hearing this, Village Chief Qin Zongliang nodded, said nothing more, turned around, and left the village entrance.

With a smiling face, Hu Fu began to greet the surrounding villagers.

"Come, come, come! Come and take a look! Cheap fabrics and threads, toys and sundries of all kinds, and there is also maltose—give it to the children to taste for free!"

At this, the villagers all crowded toward the mule cart.

For a fishing village that had been isolated and lacking in supplies all year round, this was undoubtedly a novel event.

Qin Family Village truly hadn't had a traveling merchant visit for too long, and many villagers wanted to buy some things.

Quite a few villagers were attracted over, picking and choosing around the stalls, exchanging dried seafood and saved-up copper coins for items that were usually rare to see.

The children were even more excited, darting back and forth among the stalls, staring longingly at the toys and eating the maltose given out for free by Hu Fu.

Boss Hu smiled and dealt with every villager, and the prices seemed fair. For a moment, the atmosphere appeared quite lively and peaceful.

Hu Gu squatted beside the cart, taking out maltose from an earthen jar to distribute to the surrounding children.

No one paid attention to Hu Ba.

That young man with his head lowered was slowly raising his head at this moment.

His gaze looked toward the low wall nearby.

There, a five-year-old boy was standing with his back to the crowd, relieving himself.

He was humming a little tune he didn't know where he learned, completely unaware of the gaze behind him.

Hu Ba's eyeballs stared unblinkingly at the boy.

His pupils contracted slightly, his nostrils flared gently, and a trace of a barely audible swallowing sound rolled vaguely in his throat.

He took half a step forward.

Just at this moment,

"Hey."

a voice sounded beside him.

Hu Ba's body suddenly stiffened, and he slowly turned his head.

Qin Mo stood three steps away, looking at Hu Ba with hands on hips.

"You bastard, were you so mesmerized looking at the little bird?"