As usual, ever since he occupied Mo Yohan's body, the young man was absorbing Mana energy at the edge of the fish pond. He sat calmly in a cross-legged position. His eyes were closed, both hands forming a lotus bud.
Thud!
That was the sound of Xu Chen kneeling beside Yohan. He felt guilty because he had failed to protect his own Master earlier.
"Xu Chen, what are you doing?" Yohan asked without opening his eyes.
"Young Master, I'm at fault. I didn't protect you properly."
Yohan smiled thinly. Good people were too weak to their own feelings. But Yohan wasn't fundamentally a good person—he enjoyed exploiting others' guilt, including his young servant's.
"You already know you're at fault? Can kneeling erase your sin?"
Xu Chen choked up. He didn't blame Yohan's words. He truly was useless as a servant.
"Young Master, give me any order to erase this sin. Tell me what you want, Master." Xu Chen knelt with his forehead touching the ground.
This time Yohan opened his eyes. His gaze fixed on the dark aura in his right hand. This was strange. While absorbing Mana energy, he only saw bright, pleasant auras. But after he killed earlier, he saw dark aura appearing around his hand instead.
Yohan didn't care much as long as the aura wasn't weakening him. His gaze now shifted to the slip of paper Gu Yang had given him.
It read: "Wufeng County." That was all. This time Yohan needed to find information related to Wufeng County.
"Xu Chen, if you want to atone for your sin, find out what's happening in Wufeng County."
Xu Chen raised his head and looked up at Yohan. "Wufeng County? That's the center of the five counties, located right in the Heaven Sword Sect's territory. What information does Young Master want to find?" Xu Chen asked.
"Anything. Something that might be related to the Heaven Sword Sect."
Xu Chen fell silent for a moment, making Yohan turn toward him. "What is it? Can't you even do something like this?"
"I can, Young Master, but..."
"But what?"
Xu Chen smiled bitterly. "Finding information requires money, and we don't have many resources available. So..."
Yohan exhaled. "So you're saying I don't have any money at all?"
Xu Chen nodded with a pitiful face, and it made Yohan furious. He almost released the dark Mana energy he possessed at Xu Chen, just to suppress his anger. But Yohan realized he still needed the young servant.
"Isn't there anything to sell?" Yohan asked again.
Xu Chen was stunned again. As far as he knew, his Young Master never thought about selling anything he owned. Moreover, the items in Yohan's residence were his mother's heirlooms. So what Yohan just said shocked Xu Chen.
"But Master, aren't the items in your residence your mother's heirlooms? Are you sure?"
Yohan fell silent for a moment. His past self was an orphan who lived alone without knowing parental love. He grew up in an orphanage. His life was hard. Full of competition from the start, so affection wasn't Yohan's characteristic.
"Just sell them. Aren't those items more useful for helping me? I think my mother in the afterlife won't protest if I sell them for my own benefit."
Xu Chen remained silent, but what Yohan said made sense. So he nodded and began doing what Yohan ordered.
He selected several of Yohan's mother's heirlooms and packed them into a cloth bag. He took them out to sell.
Lu Hanli, who was asked to find out what Mo Yohan was doing, felt suspicious and chose to follow Xu Chen.
'What is that servant doing? Usually he never leaves the First Young Master's side. Why is he going out alone this time?' Lu Hanli thought while following Xu Chen.
After following Xu Chen, he saw the young servant arrive at a valuable goods shop. The shop owner didn't know Xu Chen was a servant from the Mo family residence. Seeing his easily deceived appearance, the shop owner grinned cunningly.
"Uncle, I want to sell some jewelry," Xu Chen said without much thought.
The shop owner was shocked when he saw the jewelry Xu Chen brought. Everything was top quality. 'A clear jade necklace with 21 gems, a flawless green jade bracelet, and a pink gemstone ring. Crazy! Who is this young man?' the shop owner thought.
But the shop owner quickly changed his expression. He put on a serious face as if appraising the jewelry.
"All old items, not very popular anymore. I can't give you a good price," he said, starting his act.
Xu Chen furrowed his brow. He knew the value of all this jewelry. At the very least, Xu Chen should get hundreds of silver Liang. Because all these items were gifts from Mo Zhihao to his daughter-in-law, Tang Meilan—Yohan's mother.
"Uncle, don't talk nonsense. Do you know all this is precious jewelry belonging to—"
"Haish! You're not a jewelry merchant. Do you know that jewelry values have dropped now? Especially with the crisis at the border. So food and clothing are more valuable than this jewelry. If you want to sell, I'll buy everything for 50 silver Liang."
"What?! Uncle, don't—"
"If you don't want it, get lost!" the shop owner chased him away. But when he turned around, he clearly smiled wickedly. He had already seen Xu Chen's face when he entered the shop. The face of someone who needed money.
The shop owner had run this jewelry buying and selling shop for a long time. He met many people during this time. So he recognized the type of face that urgently needed money like Xu Chen's.
Xu Chen seemed to weigh his options. If he sold all the jewelry for 50 silver Liang, his Young Master would definitely rage. This time, a sword might fly toward his body.
Imagining that made Xu Chen frightened. When he was about to turn around, Mo Zhao and Lu Hanli were already there, staring at him sharply.
~~~~
Thud!
Xu Chen was thrown roughly in a battered state before Yohan. There were several bruises on his face, and the corner of his lip was even bleeding.
Yohan looked at Xu Chen and then at Mo Zhao, who looked angry.
"What did you do to my servant?" Yohan asked—calm, cold, and without any friendliness in his question.
"What did I do?! I should be the one asking. Why are you selling mother's heirloom jewelry, huh?!" Mo Zhao looked very emotional. If Lu Hanli hadn't reported quickly, he would have almost lost precious items from his mother's heirlooms.
'Mo Yohan has truly lost his mind!' he thought at that moment.
Mo Yohan glanced and crossed his arms over his chest. "That jewelry is mine. It's up to me what I want to do with it. Why are you interfering?" Yohan retorted.
Mo Zhao clenched his fists. The sect rules forbade fighting except in the arena. And the current situation didn't allow them to fight. But Mo Zhao couldn't stand wanting to beat up Yohan anymore.
"Sell them to me!" he finally said.
Mo Yohan sneered. "Name your best price, and they're all yours."
Mo Zhao clenched his fists tightly. "500 silver Liang!"
Mo Yohan smiled cunningly. "1000 silver Liang."
"You—" Lu Hanli was about to step forward in anger, but Mo Zhao held him back. 1000 silver Liang wasn't a large amount for him. He had plenty of savings.
"Bring him 1000 silver Liang!"
Mo Yohan liked that. He enjoyed seeing filial children like Mo Zhao. Next time he would sell at an expensive price. Until Mo Zhao couldn't fight back and act arrogant anymore.