Chapter 233 - Complete Loss (2/2)

Gu Santong lamented his grief, while Zhuo Fan nodded inwardly.

Now he knew who he was talking about. They were the Imperial Capital’s guards. He found another big secret as well. His cultivation didn’t rely on training, or maybe training did very little. Only eating ingredients increased his strength.

[Curses, if I take him in, I’ll go broke before I get to raise him!]

On second thought, [I might not need to feed him anyway since he is already invincible. Yeah, no problem.]

Then, it suddenly occurred to him.

[The Imperial family definitely has high grade ingredients. Yet, over the last centuries they’ve only been feeding him 1st and 2nd grade.]

[Was it done on purpose to hold this monster’s growth in check?]

[So the more power he has the harder it is for the imperial family to control him!]

Squinting, Zhuo Fan realized Gu Santong was unlike the rumors painted him as the strongest in the empire. At least the imperial family seemed to have a way to keep him in check.

Otherwise there was no reason to stunt his cultivation for so many years.

Zhuo Fan took a deep breath. As of yet, he was unsure if this conjecture was real or not, but he couldn’t ignore it either or he’d be suffering at the hands of the imperial family sometime in the future.

The imperial family still had uses for them and they were relying on the imperial family, but who was to say when all of this could just go belly up?

[In short, there are no everlasting friends. Anyone can become an enemy!]

Zhuo Fan’s eyes flashed coldly!

Eh?

Gu Santong suddenly frowned and cried out. He looked at the ingredient and shook his head, “This one is also fishy. Why are all the ingredients you find so queer?”

His heart drumming in his chest, Zhuo Fan swallowed dryly, “Ha-ha-ha, what could possibly be wrong?”

Gu Santong snapped the ingredient in two and pointed, “See that?”

Zhuo Fan saw the core of the ingredient in shock.

Gu Santong broke it right where the Bloodworm laid its eggs. The middle of this 7th grade ingredient was white as the moon and released a deep chill. But in this whiteness, there were some greyish dots, Bloodworm’s eggs.

The average man would definitely miss them even with scrutiny. Not even a Radiant Stage expert searching it with his soul could find them – Li Jingtian bore testament to that.

Yet this little monster actually did it! Not only found them, but even accurately struck their exact spot. Even Zhuo Fan had to admire his prowess!

[This ain’t the time to gawk!]

Wiping his brow, Zhuo Fan squinted and faked, “Uh, what are you saying? I can’t see anything!”

Gu Santong pointed his childlike finger, “See these dots, they don’t match the ingredient. They are in fact closely resembling the worm in the last ingredient. They must be its eggs.”

Zhuo Fan’s heart sank and his legs almost gave.

[He looks like a clueless brat, but his eyesight is spot on. He can even see similarities between the eggs and the Bloodworm!]

Zhuo Fan was gripped with fear. [If the kid blames me for the worm and the eggs, a single hit from him will reduce me to pulp!]

But that didn’t happen as Gu Santong waved the eggs off the ingredient and started chewing it.

He chewed as he smiled, “I can’t blame you for this, just like the ingredient with the worm in it. How can I throw away a 7th grade ingredient? I don’t mind taking it, ha-ha-ha…”

Gu Santong laughed brightly, and Zhuo Fan felt his heart bleed.

[Ahhhhh! Not only I lost a fortune but I couldn’t get the kid either. I lost everything!]

But as he was mourning the loss, Gu Santong’s words drifted over, “Hey, you’re really good at finding ingredients. So why don’t I shorten the time? One ingredient every two hours, a 7th-grade one!”

Stumbling, Zhuo Fan was close to spurting blood. He had no one to blame but himself!

Giving the kid so many ingredients ended up with him admitting defeat. And instead of getting him wrapped around Zhou Fan’s fingers, the kid asked a 7th grade ingredient per two hours! [He’s killing me!]

Not even he had so many on hand…