Chapter 2474 — The Cultivator's Market

"Teacher Bai, I was just about to call you—we've run into a bit of trouble over here!" Wei Zhao began spinning lies with a perfectly straight face. "Our expedition driver seemed to go mad earlier and drove the vehicle onto a side path. We weren't even on the same road as the cars ahead! Then the car stopped for no reason at all, the driver let out a horrible scream, and then there was no sound. We just checked, and it seems the driver is dead..."

"What? The driver's dead?" Leader Bai was startled. "How did he die?"

"It seems he was frightened to death," Wei Zhao said. "He must have seen something terrifying."

"What about the rest of you? Are you all right?" Leader Bai asked quickly.

"We're fine, but we have no idea where we are, and we don't dare make any reckless moves," Wei Zhao said.

"All right, then. Stay put for now. I'll find someone from the resort—I believe these expedition vehicles all have satellite tracking systems," Leader Bai said.

"Understood," Wei Zhao answered with a nod.

Wei Zhao hung up. Kang Jinglong and You Panhu hesitated but said nothing; they had no interest in exposing the fact that Wei Zhao had frightened the expedition driver to death. The driver had brought it on himself, after all, and besides, if they said anything that worked against Wei Zhao, they would most likely be the next to die.

After hanging up, Leader Bai went straight to the resort's security team. Captain Sun of the security team was startled to hear that the expedition driver had been frightened to death, and he turned to look at Su Lengzi.

Su Lengzi had only meant to give Kang Jinglong and You Panhu a scare; it had never crossed his mind that the expedition driver would die too. His face went rather pale at once. True, no blame for this could be pinned on him, but the driver had died while in the resort's service, and the resort would have to pay a hefty sum in compensation. His uncle would certainly give him a thorough dressing-down.

At the thought, Su Lengzi did not reflect on his own fault in the least; instead, he redoubled his fury and shifted his hatred onto Kang Jinglong and You Panhu. Wei Zhao and Wang Xinyan, who had shared the same vehicle, were included in his grudge as well. This was a debt he had to settle!

For the moment, though, there was no way to settle it. He had to find a way to smooth the whole affair over as quickly as possible. If word got out that someone had been frightened to death at the resort, who would ever come here again?

The matter was settled swiftly. The resort immediately used the tracking system to pinpoint Wei Zhao and the others and sent another vehicle to pick them up. The whole process was quick, and the driver's body was carried away as well.

What followed was no concern of Wei Zhao and the others—whether the resort ended up paying the driver's family a large sum in compensation, they had no way of knowing.

Back at the resort, Han Jingyi and Wang Xinyan were both exhausted, and Wei Zhao had still not fully recovered his strength, so the group turned in early. Bai Weituo, however, did not return until the middle of the night.

The trouble that had befallen Wei Zhao and the others caused no worry for their fellow students. After all, they had not been there themselves, and Wei Zhao's group had returned safe and sound, so they simply enjoyed themselves as planned, staying at the karaoke bar below the resort until the small hours before coming back.

In the afternoon, everyone boarded the coach and returned to school, and the winter outing officially came to an end.

The journey back was smooth sailing. They encountered no car accidents and no robbers, and soon arrived at the school.

Meanwhile, Wei Zhao received some good news that lifted his spirits considerably after his recent gloom. Still, it would be unrealistic to say he was not the least bit troubled.

That ghastly thing had taken up residence inside Wei Zhao's jade pendant. He could not drive it out, nor could he communicate with it, so for now he had no choice but to leave it be.

Most crucially, he could not talk about this strange business with anyone else, nor could he ask Old Man Pi or Uncle Qing—the secret of the jade pendant could not be casually revealed to others.

When Wei Zhao got back to school, he received a call from Han Xiaohu.

"Leader, I have good news," Han Xiaohu said without preamble the moment the call connected.

"Oh? What good news?" Wei Zhao asked, his heart tightening slightly.

"Midway through this month, a cultivator's market is being held at nearby Xiangxin Mountain," Han Xiaohu said. "It's not a large one—only some rogue cultivators and the retainers and disciples of hidden families will attend—but there may well be some fine things in their hands. Who knows, they might even have the materials you need, Leader."

"Oh? That's wonderful!" Wei Zhao had been looking forward to this cultivator's market for some time. The many Minor Qi Gathering Pills he had asked Han Jingyi to refine had all been preparation for this market, and he also had a jumble of odds and ends he had won at the hidden families' summit that could presumably be traded for things he needed.

"Leader, if you're going to attend, I'll tell the organizers in advance and reserve two spots," Han Xiaohu said.

"Of course I'm going," Wei Zhao said. "But will there actually be anything I need at this market?"

"Hard to say for certain, but I hear pure yellow jade is being offered for sale," Han Xiaohu said.

"Does anyone besides me need pure yellow jade?" Wei Zhao asked, somewhat surprised.

"I'm not entirely sure, but I hear that Heaven-tier experts use fine jade when tempering their weapons, and pure yellow jade is one such jade—though certainly not the only one. So if you need it, Leader, it shouldn't be too hard to get your hands on, since not every Heaven-tier expert requires pure yellow jade," Han Xiaohu explained. He had been gathering information on this for some time and had learned most of what there was to know about the uses of pure yellow jade, colored steel, and blue crystal powder.

"So that's how it is," Wei Zhao said with a nod. "Then tell me—what kind of price would I have to pay to get pure yellow jade?"

"That's hard to say. It depends on how much pure yellow jade there is and what the person trading it wants. If the owner isn't in urgent need of some particular material, then something of slightly higher value will do the trick. But if he desperately needs a certain material, he'll trade for it even if it's worth less than the pure yellow jade," Han Xiaohu said.