In the transition month of May, the Jia clan’s merchant caravan finally reaches Gu Yue village, later than its usual April arrival, led by a Treasure Brass Toad two and a half meters tall with its back strapped in goods, followed by a fifteen-meter worm in black porcelain like armor carrying more merchandise and riders. Clan head Gu Yue Bo greets the caravan’s leader, the rank four Jia Fu, who apologizes for the delay caused by a clash with Secluded Blood Bats and a mountain fog on Jue Bi Mountain. ch. 39
By dusk the village is ringed with colorful tents and stalls, and Fang Yuan walks alone through the crowd past hawkers selling Blue Sea Cloud tea brick at five primeval stones a piece and Intimate Grass at two primeval stones a catty, a cheaper supplementary feed than moon orchid petals, which cost one primeval stone for every ten. ch. 39
Walking on, Fang Yuan tallies his funds. Fined thirty primeval stones half a month earlier for using the Moonlight Gu to kill Gao Wan inside the academy, he was repaid the same thirty stones by the Mo family as compensation, and two recent robberies of fellow students have brought his total to a hundred and eighteen primeval stones, though three stones spent daily refining primeval essence for his cultivation, plus the added costs of feeding his Gu, his own daily expenses, and buying green bamboo wine, have worn it down to ninety eight. ch. 39
He decides against buying Intimate Grass despite its value, judging that he has no time to spare, and pushes deeper into the market toward a particular store, recalling that in his past life a Gu Master won a Mudskin Toad there by gambling on the caravan’s first night. ch. 39
