Chapter 62: Subduing the Deer Demon and News of the Human Marketplace

The deer demon's greed did not upset Mo Fan; instead, his cleverness somewhat altered Mo Fan's perception of monsters.

Previously, the monsters in Mo Fan's eyes were almost all foolish, and even the aura conveyed in their speech appeared exceptionally rustic, resembling unworldly mountain children who could not speak without peppering their sentences with a strongly localized accent.

Yet this deer demon was different from other monsters. He was sagacious, grasping many issues at the slightest hint, which startled Mo Fan to a certain extent.

"It seems these monsters are not entirely foolish. Perhaps it relates to their realm of cultivation; the higher the cultivation, the smarter the monster?"

"Indeed, higher cultivation implies a longer lifespan. Having lived longer, one naturally gains broader experience..."

Mo Fan murmured inwardly, then directly stated his price: "Twenty spirit stones, is my sincerity sufficient?"

"You truly do possess spirit stones!"

Hearing this, Lu Tantantian's face instantly beamed with joy, yet he shook his head and said, "But your sincerity is still not enough!"

"Then how many do you want?" Mo Fan furrowed his brows slightly.

Although he was unaware of the value of spirit stones, judging from the furnishings in Lu Tantantian's cave dwelling, spirit stones must be extremely precious, or at least rare!

For the entire cave dwelling before him did not even display ten spirit stones!

"One thousand spirit stones!"

A sharp gleam flashed in Lu Tantantian's eyes as he stared piercingly at Mo Fan.

"It seems we have nothing further to discuss."

Mo Fan rolled his eyes, thinking to himself, "This fellow's appetite is simply too enormous! I only have around a hundred spirit stones on my person in total. Does he really take spirit stones for pebbles by the roadside?"

With that, Mo Fan finally understood why this fellow was called "Lu Tantantian" (Greedy Deer). This was far beyond mere greed... it was sheer madness!

As he spoke, Mo Fan stood up directly, preparing to leave.

"Hey! Hey!"

"Hold on! Brother Laibao, hold on! If you feel the price is unreasonable, we can always discuss it further!"

Seeing Mo Fan about to leave, Lu Tantantian immediately cried out.

"I don't think there is any need. I showed a certain degree of sincerity, but Commander Lu does not seem to possess any sincerity whatsoever." Mo Fan spoke expressionlessly, walking straight toward the exit of the cave dwelling.

"Fine, you want sincerity, do you?"

"Since brother has put it that way, I, your elder brother, will make a concession: five hundred!"

"How about five hundred spirit stones? That should be sincere enough!" Lu Tantantian said anxiously.

This time, Mo Fan made no reply at all. His footsteps did not halt, and as he was about to reach the gates of the cave dwelling, Lu Tantantian gritted his teeth and said with a trace of annoyance: "One hundred! As long as there are one hundred spirit stones, Brother Laibao's affairs are this old deer's affairs!"

At these words, Mo Fan instantly halted his steps, slowly turned around, and smiled: "Commander Lu, you must know how rare spirit stones are, so thirty spirit stones is the utmost sincerity I can offer!"

"You... brat, don't refuse a toast only to drink a forfeiture!"

"Whether that poisonous scorpion is missing or gone for good, I think you should know best. Do you not find thirty spirit stones a bit too little to buy your life?"

"Eighty spirit stones is also my maximum concession!" Lu Tantantian stared fiercely at Mo Fan.

Mo Fan fell silent for a moment, sighed, and said, "How about this? You and I each take one step back: fifty spirit stones. If that still won't do, I have no other choice. After all, that scorpion demon's total assets only amounted to this much!"

"Fifty spirit stones..."

Lu Tantantian furrowed his brows slightly, pondered for a moment, and nodded, "Alright, fifty it is! Hand over the spirit stones to me!"

Mo Fan grinned, opened his mouth and spat out fifty spirit stones, then flicked his sleeve, sending them all flying toward Lu Tantantian.

Gathered together, the fifty spirit stones emitted a brilliant radiance that illuminated the entire cave dwelling considerably.

Upon seeing this, Lu Tantantian felt a pang of regret, because the fellow before him had acted far too decisively, which strongly suggested that the other party very likely possessed more than fifty spirit stones!

"Damn it, I could have extorted him for more. What a huge loss!"

Lu Tantantian cursed inwardly, his complexion looking somewhat unsightly.

"By the way, I must offer Commander Lu a word of advice. These fifty spirit stones are the legacy of the scorpion demon Heizi, and to some extent, they can be considered stolen funds. Therefore, I hope Commander Lu thinks thrice before doing anything." Mo Fan narrowed his eyes and slowly added.

"You fellow... are rather interesting!"

Lu Tantantian chuckled and said, "Rest assured, although I am greedy for wealth, since I have accepted your private funds, I will naturally handle matters for you."

"However, a matter concerning a commander is not something I alone have the final say on. Since you sought me out, you must be well aware of this.

Now that the Third General has left with that fierce wolf, affairs of this mountain are managed by me and that female demon He Feifei. Therefore, you still need to win the approval of that female demon as well.

However... tsk tsk, let me make this clear beforehand, that female demon is not so easy to..."

Before Lu Tantantian could finish his words, Mo Fan directly interrupted him: "Thank you for your concern. Before I came to visit Commander Lu, I already made a trip to Commander He's cave dwelling, and Commander He and I had a most pleasant conversation."

"What?!"

Hearing this, Lu Tantantian widened his eyes in astonishment, but soon relaxed again. He stared at Mo Fan for a long while before suddenly laughing: "You fellow... interesting, truly interesting!"

"Since that is the case, you may leave. As for the identity tally, I still need to discuss it with He Feifei, at the very latest before this month's cultivation gathering!"

Lu Tantantian waved his hand and emptied the wine on the table in one gulp.

"Might I ask Commander Lu a question?"

Mo Fan did not leave; instead, he looked at Lu Tantantian, opened his mouth to spit out an orange-yellow gourd, and flicked his hand to send the gourd floating right in front of Lu Tantantian.

"What is the meaning of this?"

Seeing this, Lu Tantantian was somewhat surprised, failing to fathom what medicine Mo Fan was selling in his gourd.

"As soon as I entered the cave dwelling, Commander Lu had your subordinate minor demons pour wine for me, so I figured you must enjoy drinking. Coincidentally, when I returned from outside the mountains a few days ago, I acquired some unrated spiritual wine, and I wish to present a gourd of it to the Commander to taste." Mo Fan smiled.

Unrated spiritual wine?

Lu Tantantian was momentarily stunned, then directly removed the gourd stopper and shook the gourd, immediately catching a waft of rich fragrance rushing toward his face.

"It truly is unrated spiritual wine!"

A flash of delight crossed Lu Tantantian's eyes. He opened his mouth to swallow the entire gourd of spiritual wine into his storage, then looked back at Mo Fan with a smile: "Brother Laibao is too polite. Feel free to ask any question; I am bound to tell you everything I know without reserve."

"Then I thank Commander Lu in advance!"

"What commander? Given our relationship, you can just call me by my name directly!" Lu Tantantian said with a magnanimous air.

Lu Tantantian?

Mo Fan's facial muscles twitched slightly before he asked, "May I ask what Brother Lu intends to do with so many spirit stones?"

At this question, Lu Tantantian frowned once more, seeming to weigh whether this inquiry ought to be answered. For a moment, he appeared quite conflicted, but after pondering for a long while, he finally smiled bitterly: "As I said, Brother Laibao, you are clever. With just this single question, you managed to fish out the secret hidden in this old brother's heart..."

"A secret?" Mo Fan's heart stirred upon hearing this, and he gazed at Lu Tantantian without a word.

"Since I've already talked big just now, I might as well speak plainly!"

Lu Tantantian took a deep breath, cast a glance to his left and right, and then lowered his voice: "Spirit stones are actually of little use to me, but they come in quite handy within the human market as hard currency to purchase many good things!"

The human market?

A flash of light crossed Mo Fan's eyes, and he asked, "What kind of place is this human market? Since it is a place belonging to humans, Brother Lu dares to enter?"

"The so-called market is actually a bazaar—a gathering place where practitioners congregate to exchange and sell goods.

An ordinary market is naturally a place I, old Lu, dare not visit, or else it would be like offering meat buns to a dog.

However, the market I know of is quite extraordinary..."