Chapter 502 - 502: Stirring Up a Monstrous Wave

There was no time to lose. Zhao Yuan immediately took out a pen and paper and cast the Tracking Technique.

The first thing he searched for was Dixiu.

The Tracking Technique didn't disappoint, quickly scrawling the addresses of Dixiu onto the paper.

The problem was, the addresses it gave were far too numerous and scattered. In just a few short minutes, it had scrawled several dozen addresses on the paper. If Zhao Yuan hadn't forcibly stopped it, the technique would have likely kept going. At this rate, it seemed entirely possible it could have produced hundreds, or even thousands, of addresses.

'Then again, that makes sense.'

Although Spirit Medicinal Materials were rare, on a global scale, a thousand or so specimens was not only not a lot, but was, in fact, an exceedingly small number.

He picked up the paper with its dozens of scrawled addresses and glanced over them. Zhao Yuan saw locations both within the country and abroad, most of them situated in remote, treacherous mountain ranges. Finding and harvesting them would be no easy task.

'Looks like I need to add a limiting condition to perform a more precise search.'

Having made up his mind, Zhao Yuan cast the Tracking Technique again, this time changing the search parameter to "the Dixiu closest to me."

This time, the Tracking Technique gave only a single address: "Huashang Pu New Area, Peninsula Villa Area, Building 15." Below the text, it even sketched a simple map of the surrounding area.

'It's in someone's home?' Zhao Yuan frowned.

He had no idea if the owner of the Dixiu was an ordinary person or a Cultivator, nor whether they even knew the value of what they possessed.

Next, Zhao Yuan cast the Tracking Technique again to search for the address of the nearest Ghost Grass.

To his surprise, the address the Tracking Technique provided was exactly the same as the one for the Dixiu.

Now Zhao Yuan was certain. Even if the owner of Building 15 in the Peninsula Villa Area wasn't a Cultivator, they were definitely an expert who knew a treasure when they saw one.

'Maybe I should go over and ask tomorrow? But we're complete strangers. Why would the owner agree to see me, let alone sell me the Dixiu and Ghost Grass?'

The thought gave Zhao Yuan a headache.

But soon, an idea flashed through his mind, and he thought of another way.

'Doesn't the Cultivator Forum have a trading section called the Black Market? I might be able to buy the Dixiu and Ghost Grass there.'

Ever since he had borrowed Hao Li's alt account to post a "correction" on the Cultivator Forum, Zhao Yuan hadn't logged on again.

For one, he had been busy. For another, he felt that a forum that could mess up its own registration questions—and whose moderators refused to acknowledge the mistake when he pointed it out—was clearly of limited quality, so he hadn't bothered with it.

Still, thinking about it now, the most convenient way to get the Dixiu and Ghost Grass was to post a trade request on the forum. After all, according to Hao Li and Ying Ji, the forum had over a thousand members. And these weren't ordinary people, but Cultivators, including many disciples from Noble Families. In terms of both resources and personal collections, they were bound to be better off than a newcomer like him.

'First, I'll call Ying Ji and ask if the Ying Family has these two Spirit Medicinal Materials. If not, I'll ask her to help me post a purchasing request for the Dixiu and Ghost Grass in the Cultivator Forum's Black Market.'

The Level of the alt account Hao Li had given him was too low to access the Black Market, so if he wanted to buy anything, he could only ask Hao Li or Ying Ji for help.

He picked up his phone and switched off airplane mode. A continuous stream of chimes immediately erupted as hundreds of text messages flooded in. Clearly, these were from people who had texted when they couldn't get through to his number. The moment airplane mode was disabled, a call came through—from an unfamiliar number.

"Will this ever end?" Zhao Yuan was exasperated. 'Is this the price of fame?'

He hung up on the unfamiliar number, opened his phone's security app, and under the harassment filter, he enabled the option to reject all calls from unknown numbers, then turned on the text message filter as well.

After he was done, the incessantly buzzing phone finally fell silent.

'I'll just get a new number when I get back,' he thought, shaking his head. Zhao Yuan found Ying Ji's number in his contacts and dialed.

The call connected quickly, and Ying Ji's voice came through the phone. "Well now, the great hero is actually calling me. I'm so flattered."

Hearing this, Zhao Yuan knew that Ying Ji must have seen the news reports about his duel with Kawashima Haruhiro.

He gave a wry laugh. "Stop teasing me. I'm calling about something important."

"I'm not teasing you," Ying Ji said. "I genuinely admire you. And it's not just me. Even our Ancestor was full of praise for your performance after reading the news. She said that's exactly how you should deal with the Japanese—beat them to a pulp and see if those 'thieves' still dare to act so high and mighty in front of us!"

The Ying Family was a Witchcraft and Divination Family, and Japan's Yin-Yang Masters had stolen a great deal from the Witch and Priest School. It wasn't just the Ying Family; all Cultivators from the Witch and Priest School detested Japan and its Yin-Yang Masters.

After getting that off her chest, Ying Ji asked, "Oh, right. What was the important thing you needed to talk to me about?"

"Have you ever heard of Dixiu and Ghost Grass?" Zhao Yuan asked.

Ying Ji was completely baffled. "Dixiu? Ghost Grass? What are those?"

Zhao Yuan answered, "They're two types of medicinal ingredients. Could you ask your Ancestor if your family has any? If you do, would you be willing to sell some to me? If not, could you help me post a request on the Cultivator Forum's Black Market to purchase them?"

"What a coincidence, I'm at the family estate today," Ying Ji said. "Don't hang up, I'll go ask the Ancestor right now. Oh, by the way, why don't you just post the request on the Cultivator Forum yourself? Don't tell me you haven't even registered an account yet?"

Zhao Yuan laughed bitterly. "I tried to register, but I failed."

"Huh?" Ying Ji asked, surprised. "What do you mean?"

Zhao Yuan explained to Ying Ji how he had failed the registration test.

He didn't expect that after he finished, Ying Ji would actually blurt out a curse: "Holy shit."

Zhao Yuan was taken aback. Feeling a wave of exasperation, he said, "Why are you cursing at me? I don't think I did anything to offend you, did I?"

"I'm not cursing at you, I'm just too excited." Ying Ji's words suddenly sped up, and it was obvious she was in a state of high excitement. "Hold on, let me get this straight... Zhao Yuan, don't tell me the alt account you borrowed from Fatty Hao had the username 'Your Bro Just Likes to Eat'?"

Zhao Yuan thought for a moment. "I think that was the name."

"Holy, holy, holy crap! So the guy who caused a massive uproar on the Cultivator Forum was you!"

"Massive uproar?" Now it was Zhao Yuan's turn to be stunned. "Didn't I just get my post mockingly stickied by some pretentious moderator? How does that count as a 'massive uproar'? Aren't you exaggerating a little?"

Ying Ji said, "Mockingly stickied? That's old news! The moderator who did that is probably regretting it so hard his guts have turned green! So you really have no idea what's been happening on the forum lately, do you?"

Zhao Yuan replied, "I haven't been on the Cultivator Forum in ages. What, was there more to the story?"