Towards Hefei 2

After enjoying a good soup in the company of Du Lan and then getting a full night to rest in a real bed, Xiao Fan was feeling much better.

The soup that he had gotten was the best thing he had never eaten, and he couldn't stop complimenting her for it, to which she giggled back and tried to make him stop, but he just couldn't get over how good a meal could actually be.

Furthermore, add into that their meal was made out of a Body Activation realm snake which increased his cultivation considerably.

Just from a taste of the bigger world, he was becoming confident about crushing the local tournament and gaining much more fame than he would compare to the fame he would be getting when the caravan would tell about their heroic actions here.

Xiao Fan, when getting over the downside of Du Lan's idea, felt that letting them tell the story was excellent, as they could use it to gain some recognition in Hefei City.

So when he woke up the next morning feeling much better, he came downstairs to find Du Lan still carving her bow.

The bow in her hands was done from a practical perspective, but from her artistic perspective, it still needed work, noted how her finger run up and down with precise amounts of power carving drawings and other decorations into the bow.

¨Have you stayed all night working on that bow? I get it looks cool, but don't we have a lot of time on our hands right now?¨ He inquired the person who had her face almost next to the spot she was carving.

Noting his approach, Du Lan stopped for a moment and took a look at him from behind the bow ¨Who are you to say? The bow and arrow are to me like books are for you. Yourself must have spent all night reading books anyway, so don't give me that¨ She defended herself.

Xiao Fan couldn't argue, yet there was a significant difference in their nightly things, as he never got circles below his eyes, but for some reason she was different, the fairylike face of hers had two small circles destroying the otherwise beautiful face of hers.

¨Sure, just get some sleep. I don't want your beautiful face being ruined¨ He said this in a tiny bit suggestive voice before adding in typical talk immediately after

¨I'll go see if there is anything we can grab with us, so we can at least stay our nights inside a hotel in Hefei¨ And without waiting for a reply he left the house with the full speed of his cultivation.

His small flirt hadn't of course gone unnoticed by Du Lan who was left mumbling to herself ¨How fast does that man learn things¨ While being of course very happy about him saying so.

Even Cao Cao who had finally shown up and had heard this clapped his hands joyfully together, his junior partner had finally learned something he thought was truly useful.

Although he himself, as a young man had been very smooth and such about these things, was he still content of his efforts. Of course, in his case, nobody had denied or minded his awkward attempts to flirt due to his status even back then... Being a god's child had way too many perks.

Meanwhile, the one who was no god's child was looking for any silver platter or spoon that he could find from the ruined town while also digging and filling more graves that he had missed yesterday.

The treasure hunt side of this had taken him to the last and most promising building inside the town, the town hall. The town hall was still intact, and it should house most of the valuables.

Taking a look inside, he started to check every cabinet and any place one would hide something like the floorboards got ripped open and inspected for anything.

Sometimes there was only dirt, and then there were the lucky hits, which found things even made from gold like jewellery or coins.

As the woman had said, the town had left in such a hurry that only things that were easy to access had been taken, but every retirement fund had been left behind.

Soon he was hitting a weird problem; it was that everything he had collected couldn't be hauled with them. So now he had the hard thing of deciding what could maximise their profits.

However, he didn't need to think long, as Cao Cao came to him with a solution in hand.

¨I have things that can help you store everything you find almost magically. Look at how it goes¨ Then Cao Cao demonstrated how he took things in and out, nothing special, he had done so before.

Yet there was a significant difference, last times he had done so they vanished as in they were gone in a flash, but now they were slowly sucked into some rings, pouched, bags, and even jewellery was demonstrated to have this ability.

Xiao Fan grew extremely interested in these things, and if possible, he would do almost anything to get one in his hands; those things were something groundbreaking, he comprehended.

He knew that one person using that type of a tool could by what he saw haul entire houses worth of stuff inside space that was smaller than a cup.

However, he knew there would be a catch, so he very quietly asked about them ¨And how much will one cost o great immortal god of Neutral Chaos the most humble and generous god there is or will be?¨

He hoped to at least get a thousand years worth off from the bill with every flattery word he could think about as he very anxiously looked up at the projection of Cao Cao.

And it worked like a miracle, as Cao Co without second thought threw him a leather bag which also formed into the more corporeal version compared to a projection.

¨I would have asked for 100 000 years, but because you are such a good boy I will give it for free¨ He happily smiled while a recording of what Xiao Fan stated started played, again and again. Cao Cao had recorded this for use later.

Xiao Fan having little idea didn't think about it much, also the prize hit him too hard anyway, a hundred thousand years of service he thought.

Even starting to draw zeros on the ground to think about how big the number was, and his head began to get little dizzy about how lucky he had been.

After a moment of clearing his mind for the second time today, he asked another question ¨Why would it have cost so much? Are these things so rare even there?¨ If the prize was so high, could it be that even people where Cao Cao was these were something legendary?

But it wasn't so as Cao Cao explained why it was so expensive ¨There isn't anything special in those absolutely not, even I have them too many to count, filled with half useless things¨

¨Why I placed the prise so high was because there shouldn't be another in this place you are, as a Body realm cultivator can't craft them, so there was just that these storage thingies shouldn't be used by you¨

This explanation seemed good enough, and so after some frowning, he nodded in a way that he had understood what Cao Coa was saying.

Not wanting to ask anymore he tried to do the same thing as Cao Cao had done and tested the function; however, nothing happened to expect Cao Cao who was having his fun again.

¨Didn't I just say that they can't be crafted by Body realm cultivator, so how could one use them¨ He then laughed in his ever so hysterical manner.

Surely Cao Cao had still wanted a laugh out of it as a payment; Xiao Fan thought he should have known better and not to fall into his trap while watching some ancient man rolling around in the air.

It took a few minutes before Cao Cao had had enough laughs, and opened up as he looked down at Xiao Fan showing a frustrated expression towards the pouch that was a priceless treasure yet useless for a long time.

¨Okay Okay throw it up back to me I'll keep it safe for you until you can use it¨

Xiao Fan not caring anymore listened to him and threw his gift back at the projection not caring about it anymore.

His feelings were now very mixed about the whole thing, but he now more than ever wanted to cultivate. Since for him, the Qi realm when using one was possible, wasn't that far away.

But back to his current problem, he had no idea how to carry all of these things in one trip; furthermore, the issue of the snake carcass was also waiting.

He thought about it for a long moment, and in the end, he decided to take what he could and leave the rest. They would have more chances to make money anyway, and these things might not be worth much for cultivators, he hoped.

When he got back to the house they had been occupying, for now, he saw Du Lan in front of the house, trying out her brand new bow in the front yard.

Du Lan was shooting arrow after arrow at the snake carcass as it looked like she was trying to get a feel how much power she would need to penetrate the skin of a Body Activation realm mutant.

At the least, the feasibility of penetrating the snake's scales seemed to be child's play, as with the new bow every arrow shot was only showing the fletching after penetrating so deep.

On the other hand, it seemed like she couldn't draw the bow fully back, he was weirded out by this but saw a prime occasion to show her his skills.

So marching he came down the hill towards Du Lan who also noticed him carrying a few back bags full of something; must be the treasures they left behind, she happily thought.

Coming to her, he dropped the bags which hitting the ground made a clanking noise ¨Let me show you how a bow is drawn¨ He said and somewhat yanked the bow into his hands.

When he got the bow, he first noted that it wasn't cumbersome, and so he went into a form like he had seen her use.

Yet when he tried to draw the bow he couldn't even manage much as she did, luckily he wasn't using his full power and was still confident when he started to use more power it would also draw more.

Using more power, it was so but by how much? Not much definitely as Du Lan watching him trying to draw the bow could see that she had still pulled it more than he had.

Even after he used all the power he had, he didn't draw the bow entirely, only getting to the same spot as Du Lan, but she was two grades behind him!

He made sure that after this, he would see what this all was about to which the Book of Cultivation noted that all cultivators in Body realm increased their muscle differently.

An example was how he was an allrounder while she had massive shoulder strength to draw heavier bows while losing power elsewhere, especially her legs would lack behind others.

However, this information wasn't known to him yet, and he was now very much stuck trying to impress her yet completely failing in doing so, and in the end, he didn't even shoot the bow as he slowly loosened his draw.

¨Good bow, but for me its too light¨ He commented in an indifferent attitude while given her the bow back and then taking a few steps back.

Still, his face did have a grumpy expression, as this hadn't gone to his plans at all he reviewed inside his head.

¨Oh, then if you want to I can make you a bow that will have even a heavier of a drawing requirement if you want¨

¨By the way, I named this the Serpent's Bone Bow, pretty fitting right?¨ She, of course, saw through his act of trying to impress, but she didn't want to make him lose all confidence, so she didn't rip him for that act.

¨No thanks, It would be bad if we were both bow user, and anyway, right now I need to hone my skills with a sword and barehanded tactics, so I really can't be trying to learn bow right now¨

¨The name you gave for the bow is good, very fitting for it¨ After this failure he having a small trauma wouldn't touch a bow for a long time. He would hone practically every other weapon one could imagine, but staying true to his word of not becoming a bow user like her as it would be ¨bad¨ even then.

¨Oh then we can be both helpful for each other in training¨ She proposed, well, ordered.

¨You go and try to counter my arrows either with your sword or bare hands. I get to train against a moving target while you get to hone your instics¨

'Dammit,' He thought and made space between them enough that he was somewhat confident in deflecting an incoming arrow that would pierce right through him if he didn't succeed.

Wating for her a small sweatdrop appeared on his face as he looked at her nocking then drawing it towards him and then finally loosening the arrow sending it coming at him at speeds he hadn't thought were possible.

Seeing it coming at him, he didn't panic as that would lead to his death, and then when he felt like it, he swung his sword at the incoming projectile.

However, he missed the timing by a fraction of a second.

But thankfully she hadn't aimed it to be a hitting shot anyway which even he had seen with his eyes so when the sword and arrow didn't meet the arrow went some centimetres off from his face while a small breeze blew to his face.

Feeling this did make him understand very well what a real hit would be like, as most likely if she would shoot an arrow with the Serpent's Bone Bow without him knowing about it, he would face death.

Following that first shot, Xiao Fan continued to be her training partner or dummy target which ran around the town while she hunted him with her arrows, that as he had thought could penetrate even wall of a house.

He had come to realise this during a certain point in their training when an arrow had come through a wooden wall of a house, appearing right in front of him.