Chapter 23 - Shocking The Merchants
Lin Mu searched around in the spatial rift, wanting to find whatever was in there so that he could stand up. It took him over 15 minutes, after which he was able to find the item. He pulled his hand out and withdrew the item from the ring. But upon seeing the item, Lin Mu became a little dumbfounded.
"Is this just dirt?" Said Lin Mu, on seeing the clump of dirt in his hand.
Lin Mu touched and smelled the clump of dirt and could not find anything special about it, but still stored it in the ring. He stood up and entered the hunting shack to sleep. As Lin Mu was already tired, he fell into a deep sleep within two minutes and entered the dark place.
Lin Mu appeared in the dark place and looked around. He felt like it was a little different this time. Somehow the darkness seemed to have reduced a minuscule amount. He still could not see anything, but the ’Darkness’ did not seem as dark as before. It was hard to explain, but that’s what he felt like.
’Since I appear here every time I sleep, I should probably give this place a name.’
’Hmm, I’ll name this place the Sleepscape.’ Thought Lin Mu, and felt a little proud of his naming sense.
Lin Mu then sat down to recall and practice the boulder collapsing fist. He found out that now that he had memorised the entire martial technique, he could practice it here. Even though he could not feel the vital energy within his body, he could still improve his coordination between the fist routine and breathing technique.
’If I practice here, I’ll have twice the gains in half the time.’ Thought Lin Mu as realisation dawned on him about the benefits of the Sleepscape.
Others could only sleep and dream while Lin Mu could enter the Sleepscape to practice and still wake up feeling refreshed. Thus Lin Mu continued practising the technique until he woke up.
Upon waking, Lin Mu set some meat on the stove to cook while he practiced the martial technique and see how much he had improved after practicing in the Sleepscape. He could see some improvement in his coordination, but his vital energy still had difficulty in finding the right path to flow.
As soon as the breakfast was ready Lin Mu stopped to eat it and then sat down to chant the calming heart sutra. Lin Mu noticed that the rate of assimilation had increased, as before it took him 30 minutes to completely assimilate the vital energy, but now it took him 25 minutes.
’Looks like my assimilation rate increased after the breakthrough, or it could be that I can assimilate more vital energy than before, perhaps. I’ll have to test it out after coming back from the town.’ Thought Lin Mu.The debut release of this chapter happened at Ñøv€l-B1n.
Lin Mu stored the sled he had made into the ring, as he would be walking most of the way to the town, and only when he is close enough will he use the sled to pull the corpses. He also withdrew the sack which he slung on his back and a coin pouch that he tied to his waist.
"Yes, I have two beast corpses that I’m looking to sell." Replied Lin Mu.
The young man gazed at the sled and said,
"We’re currently only buying larger beasts, so if you have any other smaller beast corpses, I’m afraid you’ll have to look elsewhere."
Lin Mu nodded to the young man and turned the sled around to show him the beast corpses. But when he lifted the sack and exposed the corpses, the young man’s eyes went wide and his jaw fell.
"This... This is a long-armed Heimao ape, and that’s a Yellow-tufted panther." Shouted the young man in shock.
Hearing the young man’s shout, the other merchants and the people standing around also turned their focus towards him and then towards the beast corpses. Surprise could be seen in the eyes of people who knew what those beasts were, and confusion in the eyes of those who didn’t.
The older merchant who seemed to be the leader of the group approached the sled to check on the beast’s corpses. His experienced eyes scanned the corpses and then turned towards Lin Mu.
"A long-armed Heimao ape corpse at the peak of the mid-tier and a Yellow-tufted panther corpse at the High-tier; you’ve been very lucky, boy." Spoke the merchant.
Lin Mu was a little confused when the young man was shocked, but when he heard the words of the older merchant, he finally understood his reaction. If not for the scenario where the two beasts had already heavily injured each other, there was no chance that Lin Mu could hunt them; even escaping from them would be pushing his luck.
The other people who were watching were gossiping and muttering amongst themselves. The older merchant seeing the crowd’s condition gestured towards a burly man that was skinning a beast corpse at the side. That burly man came close and dispersed the crowd. Some people in the crowd were unwilling at first, but then scattered under the threatening eyes of the burly man.
Once most of the people dispersed and only the people who were actually trading with the merchants were left, the older merchant spoke,
"Though the pelts of both the beasts are damaged, I can still pay you for their materials and the meat."
Lin Mu nodded as he knew that the pelts were beyond saving and the beast corpses were only worth their materials.
"Yes, I want to sell these beast corpses, so how much will you pay me for these?" asked Lin Mu.
"2 gold coins for the long-armed Heimao ape and 4 gold coins for the Yellow-tufted panther." Stated the older merchant.
This time it was Lin Mu’s turn to be shocked.