Chapter 25: Wealth Moves the Heart

After dragging the fat man's corpse into the Taiyan Boat and simply cleaning up the bloodstains on the floor, Li Fan returned to his room as if nothing had happened.

"Truly senseless," Li Fan remarked.

The fat man clearly had not grasped the situation. Relying on a little bit of cleverness, he had discovered that Li Fan might have sneaked in under a false identity and had rushed over to threaten him, likely hoping to extract some benefits from Li Fan.

Yet he failed to consider that while it was true Li Fan had sneaked into Liuli Island, were he and his group of Li Realm people not also here under the guise of disaster refugees to obtain their household registration?

What fundamental difference was there between them and him?

Once they obtained Liuli Island residency, they truly started acting like native residents.

Li Fan saw it very clearly; the immortal master who had hidden his face and come to receive them, as well as the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion where Sun Zhang was located, acted with extreme caution, terrified of being discovered by others.

Clearly, their status as Mortals from the Land of Exile could not be brought to light.

Precisely because of this, Li Fan had killed the fat man who had come to threaten him without knowing his place.

He did not believe that the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion and the group from the Li Realm would investigate this matter with great fanfare.

Furthermore, even if they investigated and found that the fat man had come to Li Fan's place before disappearing, since they could not even find the body, as long as Li Fan insisted he had not seen him, there was nothing they could do to him.

After all, making a big scene would not benefit either side.

And if Li Fan had been indecisive and dared not act, leaving that fat man alive, it might have instead led to all sorts of trouble.

Therefore, Li Fan had decisively chosen to nip the potential threat in the bud.

…

Just as Li Fan had expected, several days passed, and apart from Su Changyu coming by to ask a question, the fat man's inexplicable disappearance did not attract the attention of anyone else.

This incident was merely a small interlude in Li Fan's island life and was soon forgotten.

During these days, while Li Fan inquired about various matters on the island, he also planned how to reasonably bring out and use the treasures within the Taiyan Boat.

Gradually, Li Fan gained a general understanding of the Liuli Island where he currently resided.

This sea area was named the Congyun Sea.

The Congyun Sea was vast and boundless, scattered with tens of thousands of islands of various sizes.

Liuli Island was located in the southern part of the central Congyun Sea, and its scale was considered medium.

Because the sea area around the island was rich in a type of delicious Luli Fish, it was named Liuli Island.

The Luli Fish was not only popular among the Mortals of the surrounding islands, but some Medicinal Pills refined by immortal masters also used the Azure Glaze Pearl that occasionally formed inside the Luli Fish.

Therefore, Liuli Island had immortal masters stationed there, and they collected a certain amount of Azure Glaze Pearls every year.

Immortal masters generally did not concern themselves with worldly affairs and were rarely seen by ordinary people. The major and minor affairs of Liuli Island were generally governed by the Liuli Government established by the Liuli Island Lord.

Residents of the island could take a job at the Liuli Government. The higher the risk coefficient of the work, the higher the remuneration.

Among these, going out to sea to fish for Luli Fish was the most popular.

Not only was there no significant risk, but the pay was also substantial.

More importantly, only seventy percent of the caught Luli Fish needed to be handed over, while thirty percent could be kept for personal sale.

Thus, this fishing job was truly a hot commodity.

Unfortunately, going out to sea required a large ship, and the schools of Luli Fish were elusive. Finding them required a special Spirit Guide provided by the island.

The Spirit Guide was only issued by the Liuli Government when setting sail and was taken back upon returning.

Private fishing was impossible. Moreover, once caught, one would be executed directly.

Therefore, this matter of fishing for Luli Fish could only be conducted with the permission of the Liuli Government.

And those who could go out to sea to fish were the object of envy for the island residents.

A fleet that had gone out to sea some days ago had, in addition to returning with a large haul of Luli Fish, encountered a sunken ship.

It was said that this ship had been fleeing with the whole family to avoid a wind disaster, so it carried over a dozen chests of gold and silver jewelry!

Now, everything had fallen into the hands of the fleet.

Regarding the items salvaged from the sunken ship, the rules on the island were the same as for the Luli Fish; thirty percent could be kept for oneself!

Therefore, when the fleet returned to the port, half the island was stirred up.

Even the island's financial director, Steward Qian, came to inspect it personally.

Watching the fleet members grinning from ear to ear, many people on the island were green with envy.

One after another, they began to seek connections in private, hoping to obtain a spot for the next voyage.

…

In Li Fan's view, he could use the same operation to slowly launder the countless treasures on the Taiyan Boat, and the risk would be relatively small.

The only difficulty lay in how to obtain the qualification to go out to sea alone.

The existence of the Taiyan Boat must absolutely not be exposed.

There were too many people on the island who wanted to join the fleet; after asking around casually, Li Fan learned the key.

The Liuli Island Lord had three trusted subordinates: Manager Zhao was responsible for personnel on the island, Steward Qian was responsible for finances, and Manager Zhou was responsible for public security.

The vast majority of the quotas for the fleet to go out to sea were in the hands of Steward Qian. Manager Zhao and Manager Zhou had always wanted to intervene, but Steward Qian had always kept a firm grip on them, only allowing them a share of one or two fleets.

Where there are people, there is conflict.

Li Fan recalled the reaction of Manager Zhao when he saw him on the day he obtained his residency, and thought that perhaps he could meet this Manager Zhao.

But Manager Zhao was not someone the current Li Fan could just meet whenever he pleased.

Li Fan prepared to go through the path of Sun Zhang of the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion.

After inquiring about the location, Li Fan arrived in front of the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion, wanting to pay a visit to Sun Zhang.

However, he was refused entry.

"Go, go, go! What kind of status does our Elder Sun have? Is he someone you can see just because you want to? Get out of here!" Several men in black at the entrance looked at Li Fan with malicious intent, appearing ready to strike at the slightest disagreement.

Seeing this, Li Fan had no choice but to leave helplessly for the time being.

He felt a bit strange in his heart; the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion was, at the very least, a place of business. How could they drive people away without even meeting them?

Moreover, these men in black had made the decision themselves without asking for instructions, as if they had known who Li Fan was all along…

"They must have received instructions to intentionally avoid me." Reaching this conclusion, Li Fan guessed that something must have happened on the side of the Li Realm group, causing Sun Zhang to turn hostile and refuse to acknowledge him.

After some inquiring, Li Fan finally learned what had happened.

It turned out that in order to purge the miasma in his body as quickly as possible, Su Changyu had resolutely chosen to become an experimental subject for the immortal masters.

Before leaving, Su Changyu had signed his name on that remaining contract.

From then on, the three contracts were completed, and the contract document completely dissipated.

There was no longer any connection between the Li Realm and the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion.

"No wonder he suddenly turned hostile and intentionally avoided us. I just didn't expect Su Changyu to be so decisive," Li Fan sighed.

"Sigh, we all tried to persuade him not to be so hasty. But how could he be willing to listen!" The person who said this was someone Li Fan recognized; it was Xiao Heng, who had claimed to be the son of the Prince of Zhennan inside the karst cave of the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion.

Xiao Heng seemed to have a very close relationship with Su Changyu and was currently extremely dejected: "If it weren't for saving his sister who is suffering from a terminal illness, Brother Su would not have risked his life like this."

Hearing this, Li Fan was lost in thought.