Protect Our Patriarch - Chapter 18: The Spirit Bee Hive
Let’s set aside the idle chatter for now.
In Changning City, the most crowded areas were the East Market and West Market. The East Market was primarily composed of various street shops selling local specialties from the towns and villages under the jurisdiction of the city, such as fruits, vegetables, meat, poultry, firewood, rice, oil, salt, and other daily necessities. The fish stall of the Ping’an Wang clan was also located in the East Market.
Wang Shouzhe and his companions, leading their horses, felt like they were entering a huge farmers’ market, with all kinds of agricultural products and handicrafts available. Besides the large shops owned by rich merchants or noble clans, there were also many individual peddlers occupying various corners of the market, selling all sorts of odd items. This was an arrangement by the Changning government to allocate specific spots for these rogue cultivators, to prevent them from setting up stalls everywhere and making it hard to manage.
These rogue cultivators usually didn’t have many valuable items, but they often roamed from place to place and sold a variety of goods, and occasionally, some novel items would appear.
“A top-tier level two ferocious beast, the Blackback Berserker Bear’s gallbladder, only one available, priced at fifteen gold coins! No bargaining!” A scarred man in a beast hide armor, clearly a rogue cultivator, was manning a stall. He had a thick bear pelt laid out as a display and hanging on it were the gallbladders of the Blackback Berserker Bear. A sign was erected, suggesting that outsiders should stay away.
“The pelt of this bear is black on its back and white on its belly, with a robust texture. Indeed, it’s the skin of the Blackback Berserker Bear,” the guard Wang Zhong commented in a low voice. “The gallbladder’s inner core has a good golden color, and it’s in excellent condition. Fifteen gold coins isn’t expensive at all, and we can sell it to the Pill Refinement Workshop for at least four or five additional gold coins.”
Wang Shouzhe, who had been taught to recognize ferocious beasts and their materials since childhood, just smiled and said, “Let’s not be tempted by this deal,” and without turning his head, he walked away.
“Does the Patriarch think that man is a swindler? I think the gallbladder’s color and appearance are excellent, and it can’t be wrong….” Wang Zhong felt somewhat unwilling to give up but obediently followed, though his gaze lingered. “If the Patriarch is not interested in making a small profit… perhaps…”
“You fool, the Patriarch must have noticed something amiss,” Wang Yong snapped, glaring at him fiercely.
“Hehe, that bear skin had dried out excessively and turned black around the edges, clearly showing its age. The inner gallbladder, though already sun-dried, still had a fresh, new look. At most, it had been stored for no more than three months,” Wang Shouzhe said with a smile. “Wang Zhong, if you want to buy it, I can lend you the money, and you don’t have to share the remaining profits with me.”
He couldn’t help but laugh inwardly, thinking that compared to Earth, the swindlers in this Xuanwu world seemed so unsophisticated, not even bothering to concoct a bizarre and interesting stories to sell their products, which was very unprofessional.
“No, no, it’s a good thing I came out with the Patriarch today,” Wang Zhong said, breaking into a cold sweat from the realization, indignantly adding, “These rogue cultivators really can’t be trusted, there are too many who bluff and deceive.”
“We of the Xuanwu noble clan have our homes, businesses, and our own established roots and foundations. As long as we protect this base, we will have a continuous supply of cultivation resources,” Wang Shouzhe said indifferently. “Rogue cultivators, on the other hand, lack these roots and foundations; they are wanderers, drifting about and struggling to secure resources, which naturally makes their lives difficult. That’s why they may turn to fraud, deception, theft, and other wrongdoing to survive. Moreover, if they commit a crime, they can simply change their appearance and identity and disappear. If rogue cultivators could easily access resources, why would our ancestors have built up the clan’s businesses, sacrificing their lives to protect the family’s foundation?”
“Patriarch is making a lot of sense.”
Gradually, the two family guards, Wang Zhong and Wang Yong, grew more and more respectful toward Wang Shouzhe. They began to sense the differences between the new family head and the previous one from how clearly he articulated the contrast between rogue cultivators and noble clans in just a few words.
From then on, they became more cautious of the rogue cultivators who were dressed in various ways, their stalls set up with all sorts of cluttered items. They started treating all rogue cultivators as potential swindlers.
“How much for this beehive?”
Just then, Wang Shouzhe suddenly squatted down in front of a stall. The stall owner was a middle-aged man in his forties or fifties, somewhat unkempt in appearance, and at a glance seemed to be at the peak of the third level of Qi Refinement.
However, this was the normal state for most rogue cultivators. Factors such as poor innate talent, lack of systematic cultivation methods, no guidance from elders, and unstable cultivation resources made it difficult for the majority of rogue cultivators to stand out.
The stall owner, upon seeing Wang Shouzhe’s luxurious attire and the two fully armed and valiant family guards behind him, realized that they were not ordinary people.
He promptly swallowed the exorbitant price he had initially intended to quote and put on a pleasing smile, “Sir, this is a hive from the Tigerhead Spirit Bee. I found it in the mountains and risked my life to retrieve it. You see, this hive still contains quite a bit of spiritual honey and bee larvae. I would like to trade it for two Small Nourishing Pills!”
When he mentioned the Small Nourishing Pills, he seemed to gulp audibly.
“Are you trying to rob us?” Wang Yong’s expression changed, and his hand went to the hilt of his knife, his demeanor becoming threatening. “This beehive is only the size of a head, and at most, you can extract two taels of spiritual honey from it. The few larvae you have are not even enough to make a dish, and it would be worth just a few gold coins at most.”
“Oh, sir, please don’t get angry,” the stall owner quickly spoke up, showing a slightly fearful expression. “This beehive is freshly collected, and many of the bee larvae inside are still alive. If your esteemed clan has a Spirit Insect Master, you might be able to cultivate a Tigerhead Spirit Bee colony.”
Many rogue cultivators, despite not being very strong, still had a fair amount of worldly experience.
“You’re thinking too much. There’s no Spirit Insect Master in the entire Changning Stronghold region. It’s just that this item is rare, and I want to try it out for a fresh taste.” Wang Shouzhe took out ten gold coins. “This is enough to buy one Small Nourishing Pill. Take it or leave it. If you ask for even a penny more, I’ll leave.”
After hesitating for a while, the stall owner finally agreed to the deal with reluctance and a sense of loss. “Young master, this would really be worth twenty gold coins in the state or county…. it’s just that if I took it there, all these larvae would be dead by the time I reached the place.”
If the bee larvae didn’t survive for much longer, the value of the Tigerhead Spirit Bee hive would plummet. The difference of ten gold coins was appealing to the stall owner, but once the bee larvae died, it wouldn’t be worth that much.
After the transaction was completed, Wang Shouzhe had Wang Yong pack up and carry away the beehive without bothering to engage in further conversation with the stall owner.
This item wasn’t exactly a steal, but it was also not a loss. If he gave it to his Fifth Sister, Wang Luoqing, to play with, who knows, a miracle might happen. If she really managed to raise Tigerhead Spirit Bees, it could become a unique asset for the clan.
In the wild, Tigerhead Spirit Bees are rarely found, only encountered occasionally in places rarely visited by humans. Even if one actively searches for them, they might not be found for months or even years
After browsing through the rest of the rogue cultivators’ stalls and finding nothing else of interest, they inadvertently reached the middle of the East Market, where one of their family’s businesses, the Changning East Market Fish Stall, was located.
Ping’an Wang Clan’s Fish Stall.
The five large characters spanned across three shop fronts. Compared to the other messy stalls, this fish stall’s cleanliness and sense of quality were obviously much better.
Looking at the Wang clan’s fish stall, Wang Shouzhe’s memories surged, and his heart was filled with emotions.
These three shops, along with the courtyard behind them, were the last remaining assets of the Wang clan within Changning City.
After two major wars fifty years ago, the prestige of the Ping An Wang family plummeted. In order to quickly support the emergence of new Spirit Platform Realm experts to sustain the family, the Wang clan resolutely sold many of their assets in Changning City.
Unfortunately…
The much-hoped-for Second Uncle, Wang Dingtian, died young at only twenty years old, without leaving any offspring.
The Sixth Elder, Wang Xiaohan, reached the ninth level of the Qi Refining Realm when he was in his forties and attempted to break through to the Spirit Platform Realm. However, this endeavor failed despite the large amount of resources invested. Now, at the age of sixty-five, Wang Xiaohan remains at the ninth level of the Qi Refining Realm.
And Wang Shouzhe’s father, Wang Dingyue, met an even more tragic fate; lacking sufficient resources to support an attempt to break-through to the Spirit Platform Realm, he risked entering the outer regions to seek an opportunity, ultimately losing his life in the process.
In fact, if the family continued to sell off their assets, such as selling all three major farms, they could definitely gather enough resources for Wang Dingyue to attempt reaching the Spirit Platform Realm. But such an action could be considered a gamble, all or nothing. If he failed, the Wang clan would have been left penniless overnight.
Wang Shouzhe had a faint feeling that when he reached the peak of the ninth level of Qi Refinement, the clan might decide to sell all their assets to give him one last chance.
However, if it really came to that, it would only prove the failure of Wang Shouzhe as a transmigrator.
“Fourth brother, what brings you here?”
Just as Wang Shouzhe was feeling somewhat emotional, a surprised voice reached him.