Chapter 73 – On Being a Bag Holder

The Blue Flame phantom spirit left a trace of power within little Miss Su’s body, helping suppress the raging fire inside her.

It then returned to Li Fan’s sea of consciousness.

In just that short span of time, Li Fan already felt a wave of exhaustion.

The Nether Spirit Illusion Art had not yet been cultivated to the late Qi Refining stage, and the newly born phantom spirit was still somewhat weak.

Moreover, he had to concentrate intensely and carefully control the phantom spirit’s output so as not to damage little Miss Su’s young body.

For Li Fan, it was no easy task either.

Fortunately, everything went smoothly without incident.

This treatment would keep her safe and sound for the next ten years.

If Li Fan could emerge unscathed from the Cloud-Water Celestial Palace in this lifetime and obtain 《The Cloud-Water Chart》, he would naturally come find her ahead of schedule.

If Li Fan met with misfortune, she could still travel to the cultivation world with Su Changyu and the others after ten years.

After recovering his mental energy, Li Fan walked out of the basement.

The nobles of Great Li were all still waiting outside.

After telling them that little Miss Su had been successfully treated, Li Fan dismissed them.

He kept only Academician Su behind and asked about little Miss Su’s circumstances.

Academician Su’s face reddened. He hesitated for a long while before stammering out the full story.

As it turned out, little Miss Su was not Academician Su’s daughter, but the daughter of his younger sister, Su Yuqing.

Su Yuqing was much younger than Academician Su. When she became pregnant with little Miss Su last year, she was only sixteen.

At the time, her inexplicable pregnancy caused an uproar in the Su household.

Because she was not yet married!

An unwed pregnancy was already an outright scandal. What made Old Master Su even more furious was that Su Yuqing absolutely refused to reveal who the child’s father was.

She insisted that she had done nothing improper whatsoever. She claimed that one day while strolling in the garden, she suddenly felt tired and took a short nap.

Not long after waking, she noticed something unusual about her body.

But as an unmarried young lady still living in her family’s chambers, how could she possibly bring up such a matter to anyone?

It was only when her belly grew larger day by day that it finally became impossible to hide.

The Su family naturally did not believe such an absurd explanation.

The furious Old Master Su wanted to have the child aborted.

But feeling the heartbeat of the child in her womb, Su Yuqing displayed a mother’s unyielding strength.

She refused no matter what, even threatening to take her own life if they tried.

Though Old Master Su was beside himself with rage, he was not about to actually kill his own daughter along with the child.

He could only lock Su Yuqing in her room, forbidding her from going out, lest word get out.

And so, they finally waited until the day of delivery.

It took enormous effort before little Miss Su was finally born.

Su Yuqing had always been frail, and she had received no proper care throughout the pregnancy.

After such an ordeal, her body simply could not endure.

So just a few days after giving birth to little Miss Su, she passed away with lasting regret.

On her deathbed, she desperately begged the Su family to take good care of little Miss Su.

The Su family were not heartless people.

After Su Yuqing’s death, the entire family doted on this little one who had lost both parents from birth, all hoping she would grow up safe and happy.

Who could have imagined that shortly after her birth, little Miss Su would develop a strange illness?

Her whole body burned with fever, to the point where constant ice compresses were the only way to bring any relief.

The Su family summoned every famous physician in the capital, but none could cure her.

Until Li Fan arrived.

……

Li Fan listened to Academician Su’s account in full. He raised his head and gazed at the sky of this world, deep in thought.

“Conceived through the mandate of heaven… perhaps that explains why little Miss Su’s talent is so extraordinary.”

“However, according to the original course of history, even with such heaven-defying talent, she could not escape death when calamity struck.”

“In the entire cultivation world, how many people possess talent on par with little Miss Su, yet die just as nameless and obscure as ordinary people?”

“From that perspective, the Heavenly Dao is truly impartial.”

With matters here concluded, Li Fan let out a long sigh, summoned the Taiyan Vessel, and departed swiftly.

Before long, he safely returned to Glazed Glass Island without incident.

Just as He Zhenghao had said, the entire trip had taken roughly twenty-five days.

And even now, the Form-Concealing Talisman he had activated earlier was still in effect.

“As long as you don’t get into a fight with anyone, a single Form-Concealing Talisman can actually last this long. Truly cheap and effective. Next time I’m back on the island, maybe I should buy a few to keep in reserve,” Li Fan thought.

Inside the Mountain-River Star Formation, Li Fan handed the storage ring over to He Zhenghao.

He Zhenghao seemed rather distracted, only giving the storage ring a cursory glance before putting it away.

His attention was fixed on an ancient-looking mirror surface in front of him.

From its appearance, it bore some resemblance to the Celestial Mystery Realm.

Li Fan followed He Zhenghao’s gaze and saw a line of small text displayed on the mirror’s surface.

“Spirit Mist Grass: Current price 15 contribution points per stalk.”

The number fifteen kept fluctuating—sometimes jumping to sixteen, sometimes quickly dropping to fourteen.

“Go up, come on, go up already!” He Zhenghao stared at the mirror as if possessed, repeating the words over and over.

“Fellow Daoist He, what are you doing?” Li Fan asked curiously.

“Ah, you have no idea, my friend.” He Zhenghao didn’t take his eyes off the mirror. He sighed, speaking in a gloomy tone.

“A few days ago, shortly after you left, I received reliable intelligence. The island where Spirit Mist Grass is cultivated was attacked by a sea beast, and most of the Spirit Mist Grass on the island was destroyed.”

“As I mentioned before, Spirit Mist Grass is the primary raw material for making Form-Concealing Talismans, and it was already extremely rare. Now that so much has been destroyed, the price was sure to skyrocket.”

“At that point the news hadn’t spread yet, so I figured I’d seize the opportunity to make a killing. I went all in on the Celestial Mystery Realm, stockpiling a massive amount of Spirit Mist Grass…”

This operation sounded rather familiar. Li Fan studied He Zhenghao, somewhat puzzled. “Isn’t that a good thing? Why do you look so dispirited, Fellow Daoist?”

“Ah, a good thing it was, but I celebrated too soon.” He Zhenghao kept his eyes glued to the mirror, sighing repeatedly.

“At first, the price of Spirit Mist Grass did go up a bit—from 20 points per stalk to 25 points. But who could have predicted that before I even had a chance to sell my holdings, the price suddenly plummeted?”

“It crashed all the way from 25 points down to 13 points—nearly cut in half!” He Zhenghao was in agonizing pain.

“Thankfully the price has bounced back recently, climbing back to around 15 points.”

……

Hearing He Zhenghao’s story, Li Fan couldn’t help but say, “Then why doesn’t Fellow Daoist He take this opportunity to sell off all the Spirit Mist Grass? At least you could recover some of your investment.”

He Zhenghao shook his head vigorously. “How could I do that? Nearly a century of my savings are tied up in this. I need to at least wait for the price to climb back up before I sell…”

He stopped mid-sentence and suddenly cried out in alarm. “It’s dropping again? Thirteen? Twelve? Ten? Eight?…”

“It’s still falling?!”

In the blink of an eye, the price of Spirit Mist Grass collapsed like an avalanche—from fifteen points per stalk all the way down to six points, where it barely managed to stabilize.

“It should… go back up, right?”

After a long silence, looking at the shell-shocked and utterly bewildered He Zhenghao, Li Fan could only offer these words of consolation.