Chapter 2131: Chapter 2168: A Madman
Ding Fan cursed silently in his heart. This Herr Rufeng was clearly setting a trap for him, wasn’t this just digging a pit for him to jump into? After he finished drinking, she would leave without a care, but Ding Fan would become the target of everyone. It would be surprising if those young lords spared him easily. They may not dare to confront him openly, but underhanded tricks were certain.
Ding Fan was angry in his heart. He had never been one to pick fights, but if trouble came, he was not afraid to face it. With a swift turn of his mind, he already had a plan. Gritting his teeth, he stood up and said to Herr Rufeng, "Miss Rufeng, since you hold me in such high esteem, how dare I not show respect? But in our countryside, when young people drink together, either they don’t drink, or if they do, it’s three cups. Miss Rufeng is a phoenix among women, the pride of Tianmu Sea, with strong abilities. I’m sure you know of this custom, and three cups of wine should be no problem for you."
"This brat..."
The people surrounding Herr Rufeng suddenly looked at Ding Fan with murderous eyes. Xu Jianqiang was particularly enraged. Ding Fan was being incredibly cheeky. Who did Herr Rufeng think she was? Forget about the people here; even powerful outsiders wouldn’t dare force her to drink three cups.
It’s important to remember that the Daozhen Family was the top family in Tianmu Sea. As the daughter of a super family, Herr Rufeng must maintain her composure and dignity. If she got drunk here, it wouldn’t just be embarrassing for her but would bring shame to the entire Daozhen Family!
Ding Fan, however, acted as if he didn’t notice their glares at all. He just stared at Herr Rufeng with a challenging look. So what if she was a lady of the Herr Family? If she set a trap for him, she should be prepared to fall into one herself. Ding Fan wouldn’t go easy on her just because she was from the Daozhen Family.
In any case, Ding Fan had nothing to ask of Herr Rufeng. He had never had a good impression of these spoiled rich kids. Having once been one himself, he knew the feeling. He wouldn’t dream futile dreams, knowing full well that Herr Rufeng could never fancy him. So, in his eyes, Herr Rufeng was just like any other woman without any special invincible status.
If they say offending the Daozhen Family over such a trivial matter would trouble them, then how did the Herr Family become a super family in Tianmu Sea? Remember when Crimson Flame forced a Daozhen Family lady to death, didn’t they come out unscathed?
At this point, Herr Rufeng’s face showed some displeasure. She was very annoyed in her heart. Never in her life had she encountered such a person. A mere third-grade power Island Master dared to treat her in this way. Such narrow-mindedness and lack of tact, daring to make her look bad, wasn’t he afraid of the Daozhen Family’s reputation?
Not to mention, just by making Herr Rufeng angry, he could be forced out of Tianmu Sea. Could Ding Fan not know who Herr Rufeng was?
"Haha... Miss Herr doesn’t dare to drink?"
Ding Fan didn’t care. The words were already spoken. Even if he wanted to back down from Herr Rufeng, it wasn’t possible. It was obvious the girl came to make him look bad.
At this moment, Ding Fan’s eyes, as sharp as torches, kept a firm gaze on Herr Rufeng. Since she wanted to take him on, Ding Fan wouldn’t back down. What was a Herr Family lady to him? Didn’t she say someone from the Herr Family already disliked him? Now having Herr Rufeng dislike him too was no big deal.
"Why wouldn’t I dare? It’s just three cups of wine! I’ll drink them!"
Herr Rufeng replied to Ding Fan. In front of so many people and having taken the initiative to offer Ding Fan a drink, she couldn’t back down now. She gritted her teeth and responded to Ding Fan.
Ding Fan laughed heartily at Herr Rufeng, picked up three cups of wine from the table consecutively, and drank them down, gazing at Herr Rufeng with a teasing smile that seemed to mock her courage.
How could Herr Rufeng show weakness? Also in full view of everyone, she downed three cups of wine consecutively. Her alcohol tolerance wasn’t that high, so her fair face turned red immediately, and her eyes started to wander. She cast an angry glance at Ding Fan, turned to bid farewell to Xu Guotao, then almost ran out of the hall.
Herr Rufeng and Ding Fan were both juniors; Xu Guotao really couldn’t intervene in their matter. Afraid that something might happen to Herr Rufeng, he quickly instructed Xu Jianqiang to follow her and make sure she got to the Teleportation Array.
Watching Herr Rufeng and Xu Jianqiang walk off, Xu Guotao half-jokingly said to Ding Fan, "Ding Fan, you’ve stirred up trouble by daring to offend Miss Rufeng. There’ll be no good fruits for you at the end of this."
"Hehe... If the distinguished Miss Herr is that petty, how could she go back and claim to be the ruler of Tianmu Sea?"
Ding Fan, as if nothing had happened, replied to Xu Guotao.
"This lad is no simple fellow..."
Xu Guotao secretly praised him in his heart. By saying such words publicly, Ding Fan ensured that the Herr Family would definitely hear about it. They wouldn’t want to show their faces against Ding Fan; otherwise, wouldn’t they be laughed at as being small-minded in the Daozhen Family?
...
At this moment, Herr Rufeng, cold as ice, stepped into the teleportation array, completely ignoring Xu Jianqiang who was following behind her. She glared at the Xu Family martial artist guarding the teleportation array and said, "Activate the array immediately."
Xu Jianqiang hastily instructed his men to activate the array, then asked Herr Rufeng with concern, "Miss Rufeng, are you alright? I still think I should take you back."
"There’s no need. I’m perfectly fine!"
Herr Rufeng shook her head, seemingly unwilling to say more. As the light in the array flickered, her figure disappeared from it. In just the blink of an eye, Herr Rufeng’s form flashed within a teleportation array belonging to the Herr family in Daozhen City.
"Ugh..."
Even before the light of the array faded, Herr Rufeng opened her mouth and bent over to vomit. The food and drink from the banquet were expelled all over her and onto the ground, creating a rather embarrassing scene.
"Miss Rufeng, what’s wrong? Are you alright?"
The steward of the Daozhen family guarding the array quickly stepped forward to support Herr Rufeng. Such an embarrassing situation with the Herr family’s young lady attracted the attention of those nearby, curious about Herr Rufeng’s condition.
Herr Rufeng was well aware that many people were watching her. She lowered her head and forcefully used the True Yuan inside her to rush towards the Bai Family Fort quickly. She didn’t have a strong tolerance for alcohol; just a little bit would make her dizzy. Yet today, she drank three large cups consecutively, and couldn’t use her martial skills to expel the alcohol in front of so many people. She endured it in the teleportation array, but once outside, she couldn’t help but vomit.
The strange looks made her wish she could find a hole to hide in. Blushing with shame, she ran into the Herr family’s castle and muttered angrily under her breath, "Ding Fan, you just wait. I will certainly make you regret what happened today..."
Ding Fan, however, was unaware of any regrets. He didn’t take the matter of offending Herr Rufeng seriously at all. After returning to Skull Island from Moon Mist Island, he went straight back to Jingshan Castle to cultivate. As for the banquet, the Second Elder and others took care of it.
The Second Elder and others were terrified and spent many days in worry, fearing the Daozhen Family’s army might suddenly approach and destroy their Skeleton Sect. Although they knew it was unlikely the Daozhen Family would openly deal with Skeleton Sect over such a trivial matter, doing that would certainly harm the Herr family’s prestige.
In such worry, they endured through difficult days, but nothing happened. After the Second Elder and Wu Qingxia went to Daozhen Island and conducted a normal trade with the Daozhen Trade Firm, they found that the price for Crimson Flame Bodhi hadn’t decreased, allowing everyone to relax.
Once the Second Elder and Wu Qingxia returned to Skull Island, Ding Fan left Jingshan Castle. He instructed the Second Elder to secretly purchase seeds of Red Cistanche and Blood Thorn Sprout from outside the island and also asked him to acquire some living third-grade high-level spiritual beasts.
Although the Second Elder didn’t understand why Ding Fan needed these things, when Ding Fan mentioned they could earn a large amount of black obsidian from them, he happily went to Moon Mist Island again. The seeds of spiritual materials were easy to buy, but high-level spiritual beasts of third grade were harder to get. The Second Elder had his methods and commissioned a trade firm with black obsidian to procure them.
Upon returning to Skull Island, Ding Fan instructed him to secretly clear a small plot of land. Knowing Red Cistanche couldn’t be planted on a large scale due to the lack of high-level spiritual beast blood required for cultivation experiments, he opted for a small-scale planting trial.
Under such circumstances, keeping it a secret was easy to accomplish. Ordinary people weren’t allowed into Jingshan Medicinal Field, and now without permission from the Second Elder and a few high-ranking members like Wu Qingxia, no one was allowed near it.
The Second Elder had his men clear a small plot near Jingshan Medicinal Field, and after a few days, the trade firm handling the commission delivered four third-grade high-level spiritual beasts. Naturally, the spiritual materials on those beasts had been removed, some even had their teeth pulled; but no one would suspect Ding Fan only wanted their blood.
Thus Ding Fan didn’t care about the expression from the Chamber of Commerce that seemed to see him as a fool. He wasn’t interested in the spiritual materials on those beasts, and secretly started his plan to cultivate Fire Ginseng and Blood Thorn Sprout. He created a small blood pool near the medicinal field and built a small stone house by it, keeping the four high-level spiritual beasts penned up. Every few days, he would draw some of their blood, and to prevent them from dying, the Second Elder prepared a large amount of blood-replenishing spiritual materials to feed these beasts and extend their lifespan.
Red Cistanche and Blood Thorn Sprout were each planted with thirty stalks. The Second Elder learned the planting secrets from cultivation masters and bought expensive cultivation books, which taught him how to cultivate them. He looked upon this small medicinal field as if it were his cherished grandchild.
These medicinal herb seeds and spiritual beasts cost nearly a hundred thousand black obsidian in total. If any part of the process went awry, those black obsidian would be wasted, resulting in a huge loss.
If successful, Skeleton Sect could leverage these two kinds of medicinal herbs to gain a large amount of black obsidian in the future. Therefore, the Second Elder placed great importance on it, guarding the medicinal field daily.
Since the Second Elder was personally overseeing the field, Ding Fan didn’t need to worry excessively. He returned to Jingshan Castle to cultivate. Every ten days or so, he would go to the blood pool to pretend to sprinkle some powder inside, secretly placing the Beast Bone Pendant into the blood briefly. All other tasks were left to the Second Elder, while Ding Fan himself went back to cultivate in Jingshan Castle.
The growth cycle of these two medicinal herbs was much longer than Crimson Flame Bodhi. After about a month, they finally matured. During those few days of maturation, the Second Elder seemed completely insane, appearing extremely frantic, like a madman at times.
