Chapter 237: Chapter 237: The Troublesome Spirit Stone (First Update Celebrating Scorpio Lord)

Feng Jun took ten minutes to make Brother Bao understand that the comfort of the front seats was much higher than the back—at least it wasn’t bumpy.

However, he also arranged for people to sit in the rear carriage, including Brother Bao’s attendants, Lone Wolf, and the Deng Family Brothers. After leaving the courtyard, he even called four members of the Tian Family to get on board.

The Tian Family’s patrol team also saw this carriage and when they realized that it was moving on its own without any livestock, their eyeballs nearly popped out.

Then, the Knights of the Tian Family unhesitatingly followed suit. Because of past experiences, they didn’t dare to follow too close, but they felt it necessary to tail at a distance.

In broad daylight, horses on the rough and uneven road did not travel any faster than the farm vehicle, but the ten people inside the Si Feng vehicle’s carriage suffered, being jostled about from side to side; the experience was much worse than horse riding.

Eldest Brother Deng even began to look pale, “I can’t take it, I feel like throwing up, how about you, second brother…”

He didn’t finish his sentence when another deep pothole made him swallow the rest of his words back into his stomach.

Brother Bao, sitting in front, was quite excited. As he looked around, he commented, “This is much better than a horse-drawn carriage, great view, and it even blocks the wind… Divine Doctor, are you selling this contraption?”

“Not selling,” Feng Jun shook his head and answered succinctly.

What a joke, selling you a set of surveillance, and then having to explain what an air conditioner is? If it were a farm vehicle, let’s not even mention after-sales service, just explaining the driving techniques and related knowledge would have me spitting blood.

But Brother Bao didn’t mind, in his view, such a self-moving carriage, if used for a leisurely drive, would draw more attention than a Formation. It was only natural that such a treasure would not be for sale.

After traveling for more than twenty miles, just when Eldest Brother Deng felt he could no longer tolerate it, the vehicle stopped in a flat area. Feng Jun opened the door and stepped out, “Get off, let’s take a break before we continue.”

Eldest Brother Deng hurriedly jumped out of the carriage, and everyone else got off too, none of them looking very well—it was getting colder, and everyone hadn’t dressed very warmly for the day out.

Deng Lao Er, on the other hand, was quite lively. He came over to the driver’s seat, nonchalantly took out a thermos, unscrewed the lid, poured a cup of hot water into the cap, and started to drink blissfully. After taking a couple of sips, he asked, “Divine Doctor, where are we heading today?”

“Just going to wander around,” Feng Jun answered casually, “Anyone who doesn’t feel like joyriding can go back.”

What a joke, after going for more than twenty miles, making everyone walk back? Even a martial master wouldn’t want to needlessly waste energy.

Moreover, everyone who came out could guess that the Divine Doctor definitely had a purpose—surely there was a reason for this, right?

Feng Jun had a purpose for coming out today, beyond just taking Brother Bao for a joyride—he wanted to find a few more Spirit Stones.

At this point, he didn’t mind slowly revealing his abnormalities. Previously in this universe, he had been completely in the dark, not recognizing anyone, and for a long time, he was unable to integrate into this society.

But now, he had attendants and bodyguards, collaborators, and clients, and his reputation was being gradually established. As his horizons broadened and his ability to defend himself increased, continuing to develop low-key would be a waste of time.

Time was merciless, and he needed to find the opportunity to cultivate as soon as possible, not to mention that traveling between two universes required specific timing. No matter in which universe, if he stayed too long, he would appear much older when returning to the other.

If he stayed in this universe for another ten years, when he came back, he would be much older than Sister Hong.

Adventures had given him an exciting life, but they also brought heavy pressure.

After taking a rest, the Tian Family’s Knights caught up, but they didn’t dare come too close, stopping about a mile and a half away.

They were aware that their family members were in the carriage, but their pursuit wasn’t about monitoring Feng Jun; they were simply curious as to what the Divine Doctor was up to today, making a self-moving carriage and what his ultimate objective was.

Even Tian Yangni and Tian Lewen, upon hearing the news, were on their way to this location.

Feng Jun rested for ten minutes, confirmed there were no Spirit Stones in the area, and continued on his way.

For the rest of the half-day, he traveled in a pattern of moving and stopping, until he arrived at a village.

The village was Xiao Qin Village, where Liu Feifei had lived before. The village was situated on a slope with large fields in the center. Around the periphery, little patches of cultivated land dotted the landscape haphazardly.

The villagers’ homes were rather central, mostly located on higher ground, mainly to avoid the river’s waters flooding and demolishing their houses. However, there were also scattered homes in the vicinity, and why those people chose to live in isolation was anyone’s guess.

Feng Jun stopped not far from the village, but the people in the carriage did not get out. They had stopped many times already, roughly every two miles, so they had grown accustomed to it and were too lazy to get out again.

Even Eldest Brother Deng, having gotten over his motion sickness, was now much better and didn’t need to rest with every stop. Some even took the opportunity to light up a cigarette to relax.

But this time, Brother Bao noticed something unusual on Feng Jun’s face, “Divine Doctor, what’s with you… what happened?”

What’s the matter? Discovered Spirit Stones, huh?” Feng Jun mulled over it expressionlessly.

This time, four Spirit Stones had been found, and they were all not far from each other. Normally, beautiful women tend to cluster together… Wrong, it’s the Spirit Stones that cluster. Otherwise, why would there be such a thing as a Spirit Stone Mine?

However, the tricky part was that these four Spirit Stones were located next to the villagers’ fields.

The land wasn’t very large, just about fifty or sixty acres. The Spirit Stones weren’t in the fields themselves, but… they were right next to the edge of the fields, only about thirty or forty meters away in a straight line.

Mining Spirit Stones in this position, without alerting the villagers, was basically impossible.

Feng Jun didn’t consider himself to be soft-hearted, boasting that killing without blinking an eye wouldn’t be an overstatement, but to exterminate the villagers of an entire village for the sake of mining Spirit Stones was something he couldn’t do.

So how to mine these Spirit Stones became a significant problem.

After pondering for a while, Feng Jun suddenly realized, “Why am I in a rush to dig them out?”

According to his initial plan, discovering Spirit Stones meant that he should start mining immediately, otherwise, if someone else discovered and took them, it would be a regret too late to make amends for.

But then again, the Spirit Stones at the moment hadn’t shown any phenomenon typical for mature Spirit Stones since they were still condensing. Based on past experience, Spirit Stones would be buried quite deep.

In such a case, there’s no need for him to rush to mine the Spirit Stones; these things had been underground for who knows how many years, and without his discovery, they would continue to stay hidden for many more.

Then just let them stay, Feng Jun carefully considered and believed there was no flaw in his logic.

Even so, he didn’t leave. Instead, he called Lang Zhen over, “Old Lang, do you know where Feifei’s family land is?”

Liu Feifei and her siblings had land in the village. Initially, she had sold the family’s jade pillow in order to redeem the mortgaged land.

Lang Zhen furrowed his brows and thought for a moment, “It seems she mentioned that their land is in the village center, probably among that large stretch of fields.”

Feng Jun hesitated, but Brother Bao had already spoken to his followers, “Go, ask the villagers where Feifei’s land is.”

People from Lord Beiyuan Mansion had an air of command in their actions, and soon, two martial masters brought over two villagers, one of whom was the village head of Xiao Qin Village, whom Feng Jun had seen before.

The villagers were very familiar with their lands and quickly pointed out the location of Liu Feifei’s family land. Indeed, it was among the large stretch of fertile and easily irrigated fields, in a very good location.

Seeing Feng Jun looking thoughtfully at the site, the village head hurriedly explained, “The village has been good to the Liu Family. Such contiguous fields are always highly sought after, and the soil here is fertile, with convenient irrigation…”

The fact that two young children could keep hold of this family property proved that the people in this village were fairly kind-hearted; otherwise, it would have been impossible to protect it no matter what.

Feng Jun nodded upon hearing this and pondered, then pointed to the plot of land with the buried Spirit Stones, “Whose land is that?”

The land belonged jointly to two families, totaling a little over fifty-five acres.

Feng Jun expressed his desire to buy that plot of land and transfer it to Liu Feifei and her siblings, “…it’s a way to repay her for her help, and the price is negotiable.”

The village head expressed his difficulties, mentioning that land was rarely sold as it was a farmer’s lifeline.

Seeing this, Lang Zhen immediately spoke up, “It’s just a matter of price. Pay them an extra twenty or thirty percent, and they’ll have enough to open new land… Didn’t they clear these fields themselves?”

Having opened up fields in Small Lake Village, he was of course aware of the circumstances. However, the village head still seemed troubled.

The reason these two families cleared that area in the first place was that they had their eye on the adjoining wasteland, planning to expand by several dozen or even a hundred acres when conditions permitted. This was their century-long plan, linked to the foundation of their family’s development.

Understanding the village head’s point, Feng Jun said, “It’s still a matter of price. Wasteland is plentiful around here. If I offer fifty percent more, would that be enough? Hmm, I’ll buy the surrounding wasteland as well.”

The village head was still somewhat hesitant when Brother Bao, seeing this, directly took out two silver yuan and pressed them into his hand, “All right, we’re not having you run around for nothing. You can at least ask, right?”

Upon hearing the news, one of the two families indicated they were open to considering selling their land, although they wanted a further increase in price. The other flatly refused, insisting that they wouldn’t sell no matter how much their price was doubled.

Brother Bao became annoyed on hearing their response, “Then don’t sell. We’ll buy all the land around it, and then I would like to see how you enter your fields to farm!”

(First update, congratulations to the Scorpio Lord, twelve hours left in February, seeking monthly votes.)