Letting fertile water flow into outsiders' fields

Seeing Chu Feng smile, Yuzui said with a grin, "Brother Chu Feng, this is a golden ape. It's tamed by me and listens to me very well!"

As she spoke, the golden ape had already run up to Chu Feng holding a watermelon. Standing a zhang away, it bowed deeply to Chu Feng, behaving just like a well-mannered martial artist from the jianghu.

Yuzui parted her lips slightly and conveyed some message to the golden ape.

The golden ape stepped forward, holding the watermelon with both hands. With a slight exertion of force and a crisp crack, the plump, round watermelon shattered into pieces.

"Oh? Channeling strength like a blade? This golden ape is quite an expert at applying force!"

To Chu Feng's surprise, with that single exertion, the golden ape channeled its strength like a sharp blade. The entire watermelon was split evenly and neatly into over a dozen pieces, as if sliced simultaneously by a dozen sharp knives.

The golden ape seemed to know that Chu Feng was a distinguished guest from the Women's Clan, and knelt to offer him a piece of the watermelon.

Chu Feng picked up a piece, brought it to his mouth, and took a gentle bite. An intensely cool and sweet taste immediately spread across his palate, and the moment he swallowed it down into his stomach, a refreshing surge of energy bloomed in his dantian.

It felt as though his entire body had just taken a bath, cleansed through and through by sweet, crisp spring water, leaving his internal organs feeling incomparably refreshed.

"What a wonderful melon!"

Chu Feng’s mouth was filled with lingering fragrance. Seeing the golden ape lick its lips, he handed a piece to it as well. The golden ape opened its mouth and eagerly ate it, immediately nodding its head in gratitude to Chu Feng with a very friendly demeanor.

Squeak! Squeak!

Just as Chu Feng was enjoying the cool sweetness of the watermelon, two birds with brilliantly colored feathers flew in side-by-side from left to right, each holding something in its beak.

The purple-feathered bird carried a small golden pot, while the red-feathered bird carried a small golden cup.

The two birds flew right in front of Chu Feng and suddenly stopped.

The purple-feathered bird fluttered its wings and poured the liquid from the small golden pot into the small golden cup held in the beak of the red-feathered bird. Then, the red-feathered bird carried the small golden cup forward and presented it to Chu Feng.

"Is this fine wine?" Chu Feng asked with a smile.

"No, this is Celestial Grass Dew, extracted from the leaves of the fairy-grass. Drinking it now won't produce any noticeable effect, but once you reach the ninth tier of the Body Tempering Realm and enter the Insight Stage, the true power of this Celestial Grass Dew will manifest, greatly enhancing a martial artist's perception!"

Jinsheng immediately introduced it, saying, "I sell this Celestial Grass Dew to Bandao Town for three hundred gold coins per qian! Brother Chu Feng, the cup in your hand holds at least two liang, which is worth a minimum of six thousand gold coins—that's sixty thousand silver coins!"

"This single cup of Celestial Grass Dew is worth sixty thousand silver coins?"

Chu Feng was genuinely startled. He remarked, "Since this Celestial Grass Dew is so precious, I must drink it clean to the last drop to show my utmost respect!"

With that, Chu Feng tilted his head back and drained the cup of Celestial Grass Dew to the bottom, not leaving behind even half a drop.

"Brother Chu Feng, you're so funny! I thought you'd say that since it's so precious, you wouldn't drink it, but instead you... Haha, I love letting you take advantage!"

Jinsheng said cheerfully.

A smile hung on Chu Feng's face. After drinking the Celestial Grass Dew, it entered his throat as light and soft as a breath of air. He immediately felt his mind clear and his spirits lift instantly. Although his dantian and limbs felt no immediate physical reaction, he felt utterly invigorated, and even his vision seemed exceptionally sharp.

Chu Feng thought to yourself that such expensive Celestial Grass Dew was probably something even brothers Mu Kaishan and Mu Kaihe of the Heavenly Mystery Mu Family could scarcely afford to enjoy; even if they could afford it, they wouldn't necessarily be able to buy it.

Thinking of this, a new thought stirred in Chu Feng's mind.

"Sister Jinsheng, you mentioned earlier that you trade with Bandao Town? Also, which factions do you sell these martial cultivation resources of your Women's Clan to?"

As the three of them strolled through the fragrant plantation, Chu Feng asked.

"Yes! On the opposite shore of this Ice Nether Sea, directly to the north, is Bandao Outer Town, and to the northeast is Hidden Dragon Outer Town. These two towns are just as famous as Hengshan Outer Town, but their influence in the southern Yue region is far greater than that of Hengshan Outer Town!"

"The surplus martial cultivation resources of our Women's Clan are mainly sold to Bandao Outer Town and Hidden Dragon Outer Town! Take the Frozen Peak Snow Melon you just ate, for instance—that big watermelon is sold to Bandao Outer Town for thirty gold coins per pound, making it around three hundred gold coins each!"

Jinsheng said to Chu Feng, "Brother Chu Feng, why did you suddenly ask about this? Do you have something in mind?"

"It's nothing specific. I was just curious: since your Wuhanyan Snow Clan lives as neighbors to the Nine Mountains and Eight Veins, why don't you sell your resources to the factions within the Nine Mountains and Eight Veins? Like the Nine Profound Sect or the Wind and Thunder Martial House? Don't they need your resources?"

Chu Feng asked curiously.

With the resources possessed by the Wuhanyan Women's Clan, whichever faction among the Nine Mountains and Eight Veins managed to establish a connection with them would naturally stand to gain enormous benefits.

From Chu Feng's perspective, he naturally hoped that the abundant wealth of the Wuhanyan Women's Clan could flow into the Nine Mountains and Eight Veins—especially toward factions like the Wind and Thunder Martial House and the Heavenly Mystery Mu Family. If they could gain even a slight advantage, Chu Feng would not only win favor from both sides, but could also profit personally in the process.

"It's not that simple. The resources of our Women's Clan are both high-quality and abundant; which faction wouldn't want to establish a connection with us? The main issue is that the roads are blocked, making it extremely difficult to conduct trade!"

Jinsheng shook her head and said, "To look no further than the Nine Profound Sect, they would love nothing more than to have some kind of trade with our Women's Clan, but the Wuhanyan Snow Mountains stretch for thousands of miles right between us, making any trade between the two sides utterly impossible!"

"Could it be that Bandao Outer Town and Hidden Dragon Outer Town on the other side of the Ice Nether Sea have much more convenient access to this place?"

"Yes, although those two towns are over six thousand miles of sea route away from here, if large ships take the safe sea route, there are neither wind nor waves along the way, nor any sea beasts. They can arrive in three days, which is far easier than crossing the Wuhanyan Snow Mountains!" Jinsheng said.

"So that's how it is!"

Chu Feng nodded and fell into deep contemplation, feeling convinced there was potential here waiting to be exploited.

The plantation before his eyes was overflowing with fragrance. Strange flowers and exotic herbs, completely unseen anywhere in the Nine Mountains and Eight Veins, could be found everywhere here. Countless colorful plants bore bizarre fruits of every shape imaginable, leaving Chu Feng utterly astounded.

And what lay before his eyes was merely the tip of the iceberg of the entire plantation. One could only imagine how unimaginably vast the Wuhanyan Women's Clan's resources truly were in this regard.

Although Chu Feng's experience was not overly broad, he understood the principle that rarity makes something valuable. The so-called Frozen Peak Snow Melon he had eaten earlier left one feeling clear-headed and refreshed, with internal organs feeling as though they were soaking in sweet, crisp spring water. A melon worth three hundred gold coins apiece like that could simply not be purchased anywhere in the Nine Mountains and Eight Veins.

Even the Heavenly Mystery Mu Family, renowned for their vegetation and timber, possessed no such marvelous melons and fruits.

"Brother Chu Feng, what are you thinking about? You aren't plotting against our Women's Clan, are you?" Jinsheng asked with a mischievous smile.

"Hehe," Chu Feng chuckled. "By the way, little sister, when you trade with Bandao Outer Town and Hidden Dragon Outer Town, what do you sell, and what do you buy in return?"

"We sell quite a variety of things—such as the specialty herbs of the Wuhanyan Snow Clan, fruits like the Frozen Peak Snow Melon, and unique beasts native to the Ice Nether Sea. As for what we buy back, there is only one thing!"

"Which is?" Chu Feng asked immediately.

"Uh..."

At this mention, Jinsheng suddenly wore a mysterious expression, hesitating as if she wanted to say something but held back.

Yuzui shook her head with a smile and said, "Brother Chu Feng has shown great kindness to our Women's Clan and is not an outsider. There's nothing to hide about this..."

"Hey! Since that's the case, Sister Yuzui, don't tell him—let me tell Brother Chu Feng!"

Jinsheng immediately snatched the conversation and said to Chu Feng, "The only thing we buy from Bandao Outer Town and Hidden Dragon Outer Town is water!"

"Water?" Chu Feng was taken aback. "What kind of water? Ordinary drinking water?"

"Of course not! It's Nectar Spring Water!" Jinsheng said very mysteriously.

"Nectar Spring Water? What kind of water is that, and what are its miraculous properties?" Chu Feng asked.

"To put it simply, a few years ago we discovered that after our clansmen drink Nectar Spring Water, it provides a certain degree of improvement to our cursed bloodline, though the improvement is very slow. Recently, Sister Yuzui suddenly discovered that if Tail Dragon Grass is soaked in Nectar Spring Water before drinking it, the effectiveness in alleviating the cursed bloodline increases drastically, coming quite close to matching the Ice Shell Gold Pearls!"

Jinsheng said excitedly.

"Since that's the case, why do you still rely so heavily on the Ice Shell Gold Pearls? Wouldn't it be enough to buy a bit more Nectar Spring Water and get more Tail Dragon Grass?"

"Brother Chu Feng, you make it sound so easy! Tail Dragon Grass isn't too hard to get, but that Nectar Spring Water is far too rare! In Bandao Outer Town and Hidden Dragon Outer Town, those two Nectar Springs are each only the size of a wine cup, oozing water drop by drop. They can only gather eight to ten barrels in a whole month, and it's sold at an exorbitant price. Even with money, you can't buy too much of it!"

Jinsheng said with a hint of melancholy. "If it weren't for the bloodline curse, we wouldn't need to buy that wretched Nectar Spring Water at all, and the Wuhanyan Women's Clan would surely have grown immensely powerful!"

"That's true!"

Chu Feng nodded, fully understanding the frustration of the Wuhanyan Women's Clan.

All the marvelous resources in the current plantation would eventually end up benefiting Bandao Outer Town and Hidden Dragon Outer Town, traded away merely for those eight to ten barrels of Nectar Spring Water—essentially exchanging their wealth for a mere antidote.

From Chu Feng's perspective as an outsider, this kind of trade was extremely aggravating.

"Sister Yuzui, Sister Jinsheng, since I, Chu Feng, have come here, I'd very much like to lend you a hand! If my spiritual energy still permits, I can help you artificially create more Ice Shell Gold Pearls, while you can focus on researching the mysteries of Nectar Spring Water and Tail Dragon Grass. Perhaps you'll find a way to completely lift the bloodline curse through them!"

Chu Feng said very earnestly.

"Brother Chu Feng, is that true?" Jinsheng asked in delight.

"Naturally it's true! However, whether it's me creating Ice Shell Gold Pearls or you finding a way to lift the bloodline curse, it all depends on fate!" Chu Feng said.

Yuzui nodded, her gaze as gentle as water resting on Chu Feng. "Brother Chu Feng, thank you!"

"Ouch," Jinsheng let out a sharp cry and asked Chu Feng, "Brother Chu Feng, hearing Sister Yuzui thank you like that, can you even handle it?"

"Hehe, Sister Yuzui speaks as gently as water; what's there not to handle? She isn't like Hengmei!" Chu Feng smiled.

"Audacious!"

Suddenly, a figure flashed out from the red-vegetation forest not far away, pointing at Chu Feng and scolding, "Chu Feng, I was just thinking of thanking you to your face, but who would have thought you'd be speaking ill of me behind my back? Take my blade!"