Druidic Cultivation | Fourty-Six

Ended up making it long enough to fill its own chapter. Hope you enjoy.

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“Ah, little one. I see I underestimated your wealth. What a shame, really. Usually, by the time someone can afford a storage treasure, they will have a veritable trove of treasures built up.” The old raisin-looking man feigned thoughtfully stroking his long white mustache as he furrowed his brows. Had Feng Jiao not seen his change in expression while he emptied his ring, he wouldn’t doubt for a fact that the old man was truly disappointed.

As it were, Jiao was sure that one of the many stones he’d kept squirreled in his ring was valuable enough to get the old man to bite the hook. Jiao looked down at his plethora of shiny and smooth stones, convinced one of them was worth a lot and wondering which one it was. Each of them had reserved a space in his ring because they were not heavy enough to influence his prowess but were beautiful enough to win his heart

The two of them were silent after the old man’s remarks. The old man was waiting for the young boy in front of him to break down a bit, maybe beg for a discount, and Jiao was just staring at his stones and wondering which one of them was a treasure. The awkward silence persisted for several breaths before the old man caved first.

“Aiya! What was I thinking? You’re far too young to be as adventurous as I thought you were. You must have gotten your ring from a lucky encounter. You’re obviously a child with a great fate to have encountered something so large as a child, and here I am trying to deny you another lucky encounter. Tell you what, young man, I’ll take everything you’ve got here in exchange for that there drake egg. What do you say?”

“Not a chance.” Feng Jiao cut him off instantly. He may be ten years old in his current body, but he was not born yesterday. “Do you think I don’t know how much it is worth? I simply left it in my ring because I didn’t think that your false dragon egg was worth anything near what it was.”

The old man squinted his blind eyes at Feng Jiao, an expression that made him wonder if the geezer actually was blind, before smacking his lips a couple times. Apparently, the old man didn’t get enough customers to keep his poker face skills fresh.

“Is that so? From what I see, you’ve simply dumped a punch of pebbles in my store and are now claiming that they are treasures. What exactly do you think is worth so much?”

“Yeah? Well, if you can’t spot the diamond in all of these stones then you don’t deserve to bargain for it. From what I could see, you were obviously a child with fate at some point considering how many treasures you’ve surrounded yourself with. Here I was, ready to give you another lucky encounter, but you aren’t ready to grasp it. That or you think me stupid.” With that, Feng Jiao began to collect his rock collection back into his inventory ring, one pebble at a time. 

The man’s next facial queue wasn’t nearly as obvious as the first. If anything, the man’s face was even less expressionate than usual when Jiao picked up the rock that was worth the most, almost as if the man was consciously attempting not to react. Feng Jiao shook his head as he closed his hand around the stone, displaying disappointment to the man who should not be able to see anything but winced anyways.

“Wait, wait! Let me trade for the river heart! Everything I sell is real and I’ll throw a few things in with the drake egg!” The old man reached out with his gnarled and wrinkled hands, grabbing at Jiao’s wrist with a strength far beyond what a man his age should be able to display.

“So, you’re done playing games? Tell me why you want my river’s heart and maybe I’ll consider allowing you to trade for it.” Jiao bluffed to the man’s face. Mostly he wanted to know what the stone could be used for before he traded it away. Jiao wasn’t convinced at all that the smooth rock in front of him was an egg but, if he couldn’t use this ‘river heart’, he had no qualms about trading his item for three or four of the old man’s.

“Hrm. When you trade the river’s heart to me, I can use it to create more goods to sell. It’s only use in rookie hands like yours is as a currency, there is no way you’re an artificer at your age. You’re better off trading it to me and getting something you might be able to use in your lifetime. It’s not even that rare, a river will produce a river heart at least once every hundred thousand years.” Disgruntled, the old man spilled the beans on the smooth blue stone that Jiao was holding easily. 

Jiao mentally acknowledged the fact that he’d likely be unable to use the stone but was still a little reluctant in parting from it. Although he wouldn’t be able to use it anytime soon, it was actually the rock that spurred him into starting his rock collection. He’d found it under the waterfall where he did balance training shortly after returning from the Feng family reunion and had a sentimental connection to the stone. Still, sentiments were worth little when one was dead and if you could trade a sentiment to strengthen yourself, it was something to consider for sure.

“I’ll take your false dragon egg-”

“Drake egg.”

“Whatever. I’ll take the ‘Drake Egg’, but I’m also going to take the fake artifact sword that Jing has taken a liking too, as well as that red silken robe that Cao’er likes.” Feng Jiao did not ask; he demanded the goods. Although the ‘egg’ was likely to be a fake, he also didn’t have much use for the river heart and had already fallen for the stone in his heart. If he could grab a few things for his friends as well, he’d feel better about trading it away. Even if the robe and sword were also fakes, they were still good steel and a pretty garment. 

“Dea-”

“Jiao also wants this matching under-robe!” Cao yelled out over the old man before he could seal the deal while grabbing a thinner robe, one more akin to something you’d wear around the house than the fancy embroidered robe she was looking at earlier. It was also red, but a darker shade, and had matching embroidery of spiders and dragons.

“What she said.” Jiao, without a single second of hesitation, agreed with Duan Cao’s assessment of what he wanted. The old man was too quick to say deal and Jiao knew he could bleed him of a little more.

“Deal!” The old man shouted as Jing opened her mouth, probably keen to throw in an item or two as well, “I’ll even throw in a few essence stones, nobody will ever accuse Old Man Huashi of scamming someone.” The old man waved his hands and seven lowly-glowing white pebbles appeared as well. The man had no rings on his fingers but Jiao wasn’t one to question it, instead he handed the man the smooth blue stone in his hands and collected his own belongings from the floor of the dirty rug, including his new ‘drake egg’. 

“Pleasure doing business with you, young man. I’m sure we’ll be meeting again sometime soon.” The old man stood and, as he did, everything vanished. His rug, all of his wares, and even a few rocks that Jiao thought had been kicked onto his rug by passersbys, all vanished into thin air. Whatever his storage treasure was, it had a far larger range and appeared to be far more powerful than Jiao’s. Only the robe, under-robe, and thin sword were left behind to be picked up. Even the old man seemed to have vanished into thin air. 

Jing and Cao both held the goods that Jiao had bargained for as the crowd quickly absorbed them once more, seemingly oblivious to the fact that there’d been a shop there only moments previously. The two girls made their way over to Jiao through the crowd and grabbed either of his hands after handing them the goods to store. Jiao began to exit the Bazaar, sure he’d not find anything else to trade for that day and that he was low on time anyways, before heading toward the eastern gate. 

Nearly two hours later, Jiao and company found themselves approaching the eastern gate. Once again, Jiao found himself appreciating the raw height of the gates, nearly thirty feet tall and twenty feet wide, as well as the size of the walls. In front of the gates and off to one side, Jiao saw a group of youngsters grouping up. There were nearly fifty children collected in small clusters, talking as they waited for noon.

Jiao, Jing, and Cao approached the groups and found someone they recognized almost right away. Jiao walked right up to the young boy who was standing on his own off to the side. 

“Yo! Didn’t think I’d being seeing you here.” Jiao walked up behind the boy and put his hand on his shoulder, thoroughly spooking him. The boy turned around quickly and, after realizing who it was, smiling gently and returned Jiao’s greeting.

“Junior Brother Jiao! I didn’t think to meet you either. I never imagined that a once-in-a-generation talent like yourself would have also pledged the God Tree Grove.” The young boy smiled at Feng Jiao. Although Jiao recognized his face, he wasn’t too sure on the boy’s name as he hadn’t made an impression. 

“I take it these two young beauties are with us? Please allow your Senior Brother Xin Lee to greet you. I’m going to be one of the greatest beast tamers our continent has ever seen.” The rich young boy flashed a smirk to Duan Cao and Wang Jing as they introduced themselves, ignoring the fact that he was nearly five years older than both of them and flirting anyways. Both girls mumbled their names and, before Xin Lee could continue, they were interrupted again.

“Good! I wasn’t lied to. You really are part of this sect. I decided to swap over and stick with you, Feng Jiao, as I heard that you were also not a noble just like me.” This one Jiao remembered, Jixiang Yun, the boy he’d defeated twice during the tournament. Although his cultivation talent was trash, his heart of martial arts was top tier as evident by his performance in the tourney. “Thanks to you winning the male bracket, I came in second due to me only losing to you.” 

“Haha! I also swapped my pledge over to the God Tree Grove; my little cousin here has started a president of our village pledging to them after all.” Even Feng Lou came out of the woodworks to join their group. In little time at all, Jiao found himself surrounded by boys he’d defeated in the tourney and found himself looking around for Ma Heise to no avail. Apparently, he did not choose to follow Feng Jiao.

The three boys who’d joined their group started chatting away with Feng Jiao and his friends as they passed the time away until Elder Mudan showed up. All of the boys seemed like okay people to befriend, including Feng Lou strangely enough, and Jiao was more than happy to chat with them. Although Aideen had not given him any tips for making friends with boys, Feng Jiao was able to figure out that the easiest way was to exchange pointers with one another. There was no quicker way to build up mutual respect and camaraderie. 

Finally, just as the sun rose directly overhead, Elder Nufang Mudan waltzed toward the gate. All of the children started to group up as she approached with the other two elders in charge of their delegation and prepared to head out. Just as Jiao was starting to follow the crowd outside of the city, however, he felt a shiver go down his neck and his heartbeat slowed down. He subconsciously clenched down on Cao’s hand, which he was holding, as he slowly turned his head around.

Behind him was a young woman, probably nearly fifteen years old, with long, silky black hair like a raven’s feathers. She was wearing a robe that was a green so dark that it was almost black, embroidered with bright green stitching in the shape of vines and leaves. She stood about as high as Feng Jiao with all of her feminine curves exposed by the form-fitted robe. As his gaze slowly trailed up her figure, he saw a neck with skin so pale it was like porcelain, lips so red and full that Jiao was sure they were ripened berries, the most delicious kind, and bright phoenix eye’s the color of amber. 

The lips were smiling widely and exposing a bright smile full of teeth, but the smile never reached her eyes. Instead, Jiao was able to read determination and mirth in the girl’s eyes. A second later, Jiao realized why the girl seemed to be so familiar.

“Hello there, lover boy. Did you miss me?” Bai Fu greeted Feng Jiao with a malicious smile as she slowly walked toward his group with a mischievous smirk on her face.