Volume One, Chapter 12: Li Hanzhou’s Storage Bag

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“Three days…”

Ye Qingbei pondered for a moment, then nodded.

“Then I shall trouble you, Senior Li.” Ye Qingbei clasped his hands solemnly.

“These two thousand taels of silver can serve as your advance payment.”

He took out two banknotes worth one thousand taels each and handed them to Li Hanzhou.

“How could I accept this?” Li Hanzhou said as he took the notes and tucked them into his sleeve, a warm smile spreading across his face.

Ye Qingbei was rendered speechless.

He felt that Li Hanzhou was truly unlike the experts he usually encountered.

He was… exceptionally peculiar.

Li Hanzhou left the City Lord’s Manor with the money, promising that he would certainly return in three days.

Only after he had gone did Ye Ziying watch his departing figure and say, “Father, Senior Li’s temperament really is rather strange. He doesn’t seem like a venerable master at all.”

Ye Qingbei said nothing. He merely took out several sheets of paper and tossed them onto the table.

“What are these?” Ye Ziying picked them up and glanced over them curiously.

A moment later, her expression changed.

The papers contained information about Li Hanzhou. As the lord of the city, Ye Qingbei naturally found it easier to investigate someone thoroughly.

“Addicted to gambling and utterly uneducated?” Ye Ziying read the description, unable to conceal her astonishment. Could this really be the same Li Hanzhou?

“Father, how could Senior Li be such a person? Besides, it says here that he is only at the sixth rank of cultivation, but…” Ye Ziying was deeply puzzled. If his cultivation were truly at the sixth rank, she should have been able to tell.

“I don’t know.” Ye Qingbei shook his head as well.

“The Li Hanzhou I investigated is not quite the same as the Li Hanzhou I met today,” he said. “That talisman instantly slew an eighth-rank Dream Demon. By all rights, he ought to be a man of extraordinary ability. Yet the information we found makes him seem like a swindler. Alas, your father has no other choice. I can only gamble on this and hope he can get the Ninth Prince out of White Cloud City.”

“Father, if it truly comes to that, I can return to the sect and ask my master…” Ye Ziying hurriedly suggested.

“No.”

Ye Qingbei immediately rejected the idea.

“The Ninth Prince’s whereabouts must not be revealed.” Ye Qingbei frowned. “The forces within the Divine Tower Kingdom are tangled beyond measure. Even your Pure Azure Sect has ties with the imperial family that cannot be easily severed. The moment anyone learns of the Ninth Prince’s whereabouts, his life will be in danger. He is destined to inherit the throne. If anything happens to him while he is under my protection, I will become the greatest criminal in the entire Divine Tower Kingdom!”

“Although the information we have on Li Hanzhou is thoroughly unreliable, our investigation shows that the Everlasting Life Abbey has had no connection with any other sect or with the imperial family of the Divine Tower Kingdom for all these years. At present, Li Hanzhou is the only person whose background is truly clean.”

“But, Ziying.” Ye Qingbei looked at Ye Ziying. “When Li Hanzhou helps the Ninth Prince leave the city, you must stay by his side. We must prepare for the worst. If you discover that Li Hanzhou is suspicious, that he is merely a fraud trading on an empty reputation…”

At this point, a trace of murderous intent flashed through Ye Qingbei’s eyes.

He drew a finger across his throat.

Ye Ziying nodded. “Understood.”

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Now that Li Hanzhou had money in hand, he did not hurry back to the Everlasting Life Abbey. Instead, he made a trip to the Divine Mechanism Merchant Guild.

The Divine Mechanism Merchant Guild had branches throughout the Divine Tower Kingdom. It was an enormously powerful organization, reputed to sell virtually anything one could desire.

Li Hanzhou had originally intended to buy a storage pouch.

When Ye Ziying had used hers that day, he had been green with envy.

Unfortunately, a storage pouch with a capacity of merely one cubic meter cost fifty thousand taels of silver. The price nearly made Li Hanzhou’s jaw drop. It was absurdly expensive.

Even if he received the entire payment, he still could not afford one.

Just as Li Hanzhou was beginning to despair, he noticed that the guild also sold unfinished storage pouches. These were specially made for spirit-treasure artisans, who could purchase them, inscribe the necessary runes, and transform them into genuine storage pouches.

They cost only five hundred taels each.

Li Hanzhou bought one without hesitation.

“If I can’t afford a finished product, I’ll simply make one myself when I get back.”

He then ordered a large quantity of meat, vegetables, rice, and seasonings from the Divine Mechanism Merchant Guild and had them delivered to the Everlasting Life Abbey.

Afterward, he bought himself a new outfit.

He wanted to buy clothes for Liu Dongyue and Stone Fate as well, but he had no idea what sizes they wore. He decided to give them money after returning and let them go down the mountain to buy their own.

“I’m back.”

Upon returning to the Everlasting Life Abbey, Li Hanzhou called out.

Stone Fate and Yun Qianzhu had apparently gone off somewhere to play, while Liu Dongyue was chopping firewood.

The blade of the woodcutter’s axe in his hands was nearly rolled dull.

“Martial Uncle.” Liu Dongyue hurriedly set down the axe and stood up, dusting off his hands.

“Didn’t the Grand Mystery Sacred Land give us that axe? Why are you still using this one?” Li Hanzhou glanced at the gleaming axe lying nearby, then at the blunt blade Liu Dongyue was using. He found the sight rather amusing and suspected that Liu Dongyue was simply reluctant to use the new axe.

“Well…” Liu Dongyue froze.

Use the Prajna Axe, ranked forty-seventh on the Divine Weapon List, to chop firewood?

That did not seem appropriate.

If the Grand Mystery Sacred Land found out, would the Grand Sacred Lord not be furious enough to vomit blood?

The Grand Mystery Sacred Land would certainly find a way to reclaim the axe sooner or later. For now, it was merely in his possession temporarily. The reason they had not yet come to demand it back was probably that it had only just been delivered; taking it back so quickly would invite gossip.

Liu Dongyue was terrified of damaging the axe. Even if he sold the entire Everlasting Life Abbey, he would never be able to compensate them.

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“Look at you, being so stingy.” Li Hanzhou casually tossed ten taels of silver into Liu Dongyue’s arms. “I’m telling you, your Martial Uncle is a wealthy man now. From this day onward, life at the Everlasting Life Abbey will improve.”

“Call Stone Fate and little Yun Qianzhu. Tomorrow, take your junior brothers and sisters down the mountain to buy them all some new clothes.”

“Thank you, Martial Uncle.” Liu Dongyue’s eyes lit up when he saw the silver in his arms.

He could hardly believe it. Had the sun risen in the west? Li Hanzhou had actually given him money!

“Work hard at your cultivation. Strive to reach that whatever-it’s-called realm of Supreme Shattering as soon as possible, then take your Martial Uncle with you when you ascend.” Li Hanzhou patted Liu Dongyue on the shoulder encouragingly.

“Ah?”

Liu Dongyue was completely dumbfounded.

He had given him ten taels of silver and now expected him to ascend? Was that not asking a little too much?

“Martial Uncle, stop joking.” Liu Dongyue smiled bitterly. “Most of the cultivation methods and martial arts of our Everlasting Life Abbey have become unusable. The few that still work are all ordinary techniques. It is completely impossible to ascend with those.”

“Well…”

Li Hanzhou knew that Liu Dongyue was right. The spiritual energy of Heaven and Earth had been sealed, while nearly all the techniques of the Everlasting Life Abbey relied on spiritual energy to function. There were truly very few techniques they could use now.

Still, Li Hanzhou found it strange. If none of them could cultivate spiritual energy, why was he able to do so?

Could he possess some one-in-a-million constitution?

Li Hanzhou felt that unless this problem was solved, he would have no hope of ascending, which meant he could never return to Earth. He had yet to enjoy the fortune of more than thirty million he had left behind there.

“I’ll look into it,” Li Hanzhou said before entering the room.

He had something far more interesting to do now.

He was going to make a storage pouch.

All he needed to do was inscribe the runes on the unfinished pouch using his spiritual soul.

Having already gained experience making the Seven-Treasure Gourd, Li Hanzhou was at least somewhat familiar with the process this time.

Thus, after only two hours, Li Hanzhou finally let out a sigh of relief.

His storage pouch was complete!

A plume of black smoke rose from within the pouch, signaling its completion.

“What an enormous space.” Li Hanzhou examined his storage pouch. It contained at least ten cubic meters.

“However…”

He picked up the instruction manual and read it, then said in bewilderment, “The manual says that once a storage pouch is successfully completed, green smoke will fill the interior. That is supposed to indicate completion. So why is mine producing black smoke?”

“Should I put something inside and see?”

Li Hanzhou picked up a banknote and was about to place it inside, but his hand stopped halfway.

“No. What if there’s something wrong with the pouch? What if the banknote gets shredded?”

He shook his head and prepared to find something worthless to use as a test.

Just then, Yun Qianzhu’s voice came from outside.

“Martial Uncle, Martial Uncle, dinner is ready! We’re having chicken legs tonight!”