After dragging the fat man's corpse into the Taiyan Boat and simply cleaning up the bloodstains on the ground, Li Fan returned to the house as though nothing had happened.
"Utterly clueless," Li Fan remarked.
The fat man clearly had yet to grasp the situation. Relying on a bit of petty cleverness, he had figured out that Li Fan might have assumed a false identity to slip in, and had impatiently come to extort him, likely seeking some profit from Li Fan.
Yet he had not even stopped to consider: it was true that Li Fan had slipped onto Liuli Island, but weren't this bunch of Li Realm mortals likewise posing as disaster refugees just to obtain their household registration?
What fundamental difference was there between them and him?
The moment they obtained Liuli Island household registration, they actually treated themselves as natives.
Li Fan saw things very clearly: the masked immortal master who had come to receive them earlier, as well as Sun Zhang and his Tianbao Pavilion, had acted with the utmost caution, terrified that anyone else might find out.
Clearly, their status as mortals from the Land of Exile could not see the light of day.
Precisely because of this, when this fool came knocking with threats, Li Fan had casually killed him.
He did not believe Tianbao Pavilion or the crowd from the Li Realm would mount an ostentatious investigation over this.
Furthermore, even if they traced that the fat man had visited Li Fan before disappearing, no corpse could be found now. As long as Li Fan adamantly insisted he had never seen him, they couldn't do anything to him.
After all, if things blew up, neither side would benefit.
On the other hand, if Li Fan had hesitated and balked, letting the fat man live, it would instead have invited all sorts of disaster.
Thus, Li Fan decisively chose to nip the potential threat in the bud.
...
Just as Li Fan had anticipated, several days passed, and aside from a single inquiry from Su Changyu, the fat man's mysterious disappearance drew no attention from anyone else.
The incident was merely a minor interlude in Li Fan's island life, and he soon put it behind him.
During these days, Li Fan made inquiries about various island affairs while scheming how to reasonably bring out and make use of the treasures aboard the Taiyan Boat.
Gradually, Li Fan developed a general understanding of Liuli Island, where he now resided.
This sea area was called the Congyun Sea.
Vast and boundless, the Congyun Sea was scattered with tens of thousands of islands, large and small.
Liuli Island lay in the south-central expanse of Congyun and was moderate in size.
Because the waters surrounding the island were abundant in a delicious fish known as the liuli fish, it was named Liuli Island.
Liuli fish was not only popular among mortals on neighboring islands, but certain pills refined by immortal masters even required the liuli pearls occasionally formed inside the fish.
For this reason, Liuli Island was overseen by an immortal master, and a fixed quota of liuli pearls had to be collected each year.
Immortal masters generally paid no heed to worldly matters and were rarely seen by ordinary folk. Island affairs, big and small, were governed by the Liuli Mansion established by the Liuli Island Master.
Residents of the island could take on jobs from the Liuli Mansion. The higher the risk, the greater the pay.
Among these, going out to sea to catch liuli fish was the most popular.
Not to mention having little risk, the pay was handsome.
More importantly, fishermen only had to hand over seventy percent of their catch and could keep thirty percent to sell for themselves.
Thus, this fishing job was a coveted prize.
Unfortunately, going to sea required large ships, and the shoals of liuli fish were elusive. Finding them required a specially crafted spirit beacon unique to the island.
A spirit beacon was only distributed by the Liuli Mansion when setting out to sea and was retrieved upon return.
Private fishing was impossible. Furthermore, anyone caught doing so was executed on the spot.
Therefore, catching liuli fish could only be carried out with the Liuli Mansion's permission.
And those able to go to sea and fish were the envy of the islanders.
A fleet that had set out to sea days ago had not only returned with a bountiful catch of liuli fish, but had also encountered a shipwreck.
The ship was said to belong to an entire family fleeing a windstorm disaster, so it carried over a dozen chests of gold, silver, and jewels!
Now, every bit of it had fallen into the fleet's lap.
Regarding goods salvaged from shipwrecks, the island's rules were the same as with liuli fish: thirty percent could be kept for oneself!
Thus, when the fleet returned to port, half the island erupted in excitement.
Even the island's chief treasurer, Manager Qian, came in person to inspect the haul.
Seeing the fleet members grinning from ear to ear, many on the island turned green with envy.
One after another, people began privately pulling strings, eager to secure a spot for the next voyage.
...
In Li Fan's eyes, he could use the same scheme to gradually launder the countless treasures aboard the Taiyan Boat with relatively low risk.
The only difficulty lay in how to obtain permission to go to sea alone.
The existence of the Taiyan Boat could never be exposed.
There were far too many people on the island hoping to join the fleet. With a casual inquiry, Li Fan learned the crux of the matter.
The Liuli Island Master had three trusted aides under him: Manager Zhao oversaw personnel on the island, Manager Qian handled finances, and Manager Zhou was responsible for public order.
The vast majority of quotas for sea voyages rested in Manager Qian's hands. Manager Zhao and Manager Zhou had always wanted a hand in it, but Manager Qian kept an iron grip, leaving them with only one or two fleets.
Wherever there were people, there was strife.
Li Fan recalled Manager Zhao's reaction upon seeing him the day of registration and thought that perhaps he could pay Manager Zhao a visit.
Yet Manager Zhao was not someone the current Li Fan could see just because he wanted to.
Li Fan decided it was still better to go through Sun Zhang of Tianbao Pavilion.
Having inquired about the location, Li Fan arrived outside Tianbao Pavilion, intending to pay a visit to Sun Zhang.
However, he was turned away at the door.
"Shoo, beat it! What status does our Elder Sun hold? Is he someone just anyone can see? Get lost!" Several burly men in black at the entrance glared malevolently at Li Fan, seemingly ready to strike at the slightest provocation.
Seeing this, Li Fan had no choice but to leave for now.
He found it somewhat strange. Tianbao Pavilion was a place of business after all; where was the sense in driving someone away without even checking inside?
Moreover, those burly men in black had made the decision themselves without reporting inward, as though they already knew who Li Fan was...
"They must have received orders to deliberately avoid me." Having reached this conclusion, Li Fan guessed that something had happened among the Li Realm crowd, prompting Sun Zhang to turn his back on them completely.
After some discreet inquiries, Li Fan finally learned what had transpired.
It turned out that Su Changyu, in his rush to dispel the miasma from his body, had resolutely chosen to become an immortal master's test subject.
Before leaving, Su Changyu had signed his name on the remaining contract.
With this, the three contracts were fulfilled, and the deed dissolved completely.
The Li Realm crowd and Tianbao Pavilion no longer had any ties.
"No wonder they turned their backs so suddenly and deliberately avoided us. I just didn't expect Su Changyu to be so decisive," Li Fan sighed.
"Sigh, we all tried to talk him out of it, told him not to rush so much. But would he listen?" The speaker was someone Li Fan recognized—none other than Xiao Heng, who had claimed to be the son of the Prince of Zhennan back in the Tianbao Pavilion cavern.
Xiao Heng seemed to share a deep bond with Su Changyu, and looked thoroughly dejected at this moment. "If not to save his terminally ill younger sister, Brother Su wouldn't have risked his life like this."
Hearing these words, Li Fan fell into thought.
Chapter 25