Chapter 11 – Local Cultivator Suspects Florida Man as Scammer, Gets Scammed
After getting more meat sources, Leo got to work. He calmly butchered the headless wolf first and extracted its non-mutated meat. He also spent 100 years of his lifespan upgrading one of the freezer chests to store the food.
Cutting and skinning a wolf wasn't difficult since Leo didn't need to be careful about the quality. After all, he didn't run a butcher shop. The meat was for his rare non-contaminated food. Thus, Leo finished extracting the bones from the useful meat in minutes.
For the sake of the experiment, Leo tried holding the regular bones in with his bare hand.
SIZZLE
Sure enough, it slowly turned green first. A few minutes later, it turned into black jelly.
Leo shrugged and collected the jelly into one of the bins in front of his store. Since he hated salty food, he planned to convert these into fish sauce or feed it to "Cat" later.
After he finished with the headless wolf, he turned his attention to the three dying wolves.
"Alright. Your turn."
Leo approached the wolves. He opened one of the cages and dragged one of them over.
As Leo finished hanging the wolf upside down, an elderly bald man with a goatee descended and landed 10 meters behind him. Leo sensed the stranger and turned around.
"Hello, sir."
"... What's up?" Leo calmly responded.
"My Daoist name is Green Thumbs, and I'm an alchemist from Life Sword Sect. I've been living here for decades, and I happen to notice that you've recently moved here. I wonder if I could know your name."
'Daoist name again?'
Leo wondered if the previous customer recommended his new friend to his shop. He smiled at a potential customer.
'Alright, Mr. Green Finger. Since you've come here, you can't leave without spending your precious lifespan in my store. Let's see if he will buy my black weed, too.'
Leo coughed and introduced himself, "My Daoist name is Florida Man! Welcome! I assume you heard about me from your friend."
"Indeed."
The elderly man stood there, looking at the wolves in the cages. He frowned and stared at the dying wolf that Leo had hung. Then, he glanced at the BBQ stove nearby.
Leo followed the eyes of the old man and glanced at his BBQ equipment. He smiled, "Are you interested in my cooking tools?"
"Cooking tool?"
"Yes. I use this to grill steak."
The bald elder frowned, "You still cook despite your cultivation base?"
Cultivation Base?
Leo had never heard of the terms. He was curious if it was related to the visiting superhuman Daoists in this world. Still, for the sake of maintaining his face and reputation, he chose not to ask for a translation.
"What's the point of abstaining from food if you can live a thousand years? For starters, every person's time is limited. You should enjoy every little thing in life."
As Leo said, he activated the shopping domain and displayed the elder's lifespan status.
.
Name: Wu Buyi
Age: 108
Remaining Lifespan: 852 Years, 4 Months, 20 Days, 1 Hour, and 15 Minutes.
.
"Oh, wow."
Leo was impressed. The previous guy had 700ish years to live, but this one rocked 850 years. Moreover, he was already 108 years old.
He giggled and walked back to his store. He then brought out a bundle of black grasses to show Wu Buyi.
"So, are you here to buy my weed, too? Is it so good that you need some for yourself?"
.
.
= A few minutes earlier, Wu Buyi's POV =
After Wu Buyi left the chomper plant alone, he flew east and found a wooden cabin of Leo. He secretly lurked on top of a pine tree, observing the old man with long white hair and a white full beard.
Leo was busy chopping a headless dire wolf's carcass with his cleaver. From Wu Buyi's perspective, his action looked the same as commoners.
'Butchering? What's for? Cultivators like us can easily survive without food or water. If we really need one, we just use the grain pills instead. We can also digest Qi in the environment and obtain the necessary nutrition. Food only gives us impurities and fiber. It's going to annoy the hell out of you if you enter seclusion and need to go to a toilet or remove the impurity.'
Wu Buyi reprimanded Leo in his mind. He suspected that the latter was a fake cultivator, so he tried to measure Leo's strength.
Wu Buyi circulated his Qi into his eyes, gazing through the bright aurora and colorful aura of Leo. Then, he narrowed his eyes as he noticed something irregular.
A sixth stage cultivator, aka the Soul Formation Stage cultivator, had a distinct colorful aura and presence. As they completed a complex array of their soul and physique, every movement of theirs always burst with vigor and force. A slight touch from them could instantly kill a commoner if they weren't careful, and no cultivators below the 3rd stage could withstand their natural pressure up close.
However, from Gao Yan's story, Leo seemed to be a kind senior with the same aura as their sect master, who was also a soul formation cultivator. With that information, Wu Buyi found a loophole in Gao Yan's testimony.
No disciple in the sect could meet their sect master and have a proper conversation because of the master's natural pressuring aura. If Leo was really a sixth-stage cultivator, how did Gao Yan return unharmed after he conversed with him?
Meanwhile, Leo, who was butchering a wolf, indeed had the same colorful aura as the sect master. However, he lacked the terrifying pressure of a sixth-stage cultivator.
Something was not right. Wu Buyi intended to investigate further by making contact with him. He came down from the tree and stood not far away from Leo.
It took a few seconds for Leo to turn around. Again, Wu Buyi found it strange.
Had it been other experts, they would have drawn their weapons and attacked without an introduction. Leo's reflex and reaction speed were too slow.
'Is he just slow, or is he that confident in his strength? I don't know anymore.'
Wu Buyi initiated the conversation first to probe for more information, "Hello, sir."
Leo turned around and smiled at him, "What's up?"
"My Daoist name is Green Thumbs, and I'm an alchemist from Life Sword Sect. I've been living here for decades, I happen to notice that you've recently moved here. I wonder if I could know your name."
"My Daoist name is Florida Man! Welcome! I assume you heard about me from your friend."
"... Indeed."
Wu Buyi slightly raised his eyebrows. He planned to ask about the meaning of "Florida" later. For now, he planned to unmask this suspicious old man.
But then, Wu Buyi noticed strange tools in front of the cabin. One of them was a metallic cylinder with leg stands. As for the rest, they looked like containers, made from unknown bright materials.
"Are you interested in my cooking tools?" Asked Leo.
"Cooking tool?" Wu Buyi inwardly sneered. He mocked Leo for relying on cooking.
"Yes. I use this to grill steak."
Testing Leo's character, Wu Buyi asked him, "You still cook despite your cultivation base?"
"What's the point of abstaining from food if you can live a thousand years? For starters, every person's time is limited. You should enjoy every little thing in life."
Lifespan?
At that moment, Wu Buyi almost smacked his forehead. He remembered that Han Meng and Gao Yan said that the Florida Man had one unique ability.
Lifespan stealing?
Life force cultivator?
An unorthodox cultivator?
Wu Buyi leaned toward the last guess as Leo acted strange. Unfortunately, something appeared in front of Wu Buyi before he could jump to a conclusion.
DING
A wall of text manifested in front of Wu Buyi, revealing his own lifespan.
Wu Buyi widened his eyes in astonishment. He ignored the value of his remaining years and tried to touch the texts. However, his hands went through the menu as if they were holograms.
He didn't notice that Leo went back into his cabin and fetched an armful of black grasses to show him.
"So, are you here to buy my weed, too? Is it so good that you need some for yourself?"
Wu Buyi stopped paying attention to his lifespan status and gazed at Leo. Then, he found a bunch of high-quality immortal grasses in his arms.
"T-This..."
A lot of things didn't make sense. Wu Buyi was confused.
As Wu Buyi had too many questions in his mind, he decided to be direct and ask Leo about his doubts.
"Seriously, sir. Who are you?"
"As I said, I'm Florida Man."
Unable to suppress his curiosity, Wu Buyi asked for a translation.
"What does FLORIDA mean, then?"
Leo grinned. He made a hush gesture and teased Wu Buyi, "A faraway place that you can't possibly reach in your lifetime. Instead of wasting two billion years to get there, I suggest you be satisfied with what you have in this world."
"!!!"
Wu Buyi picked up a few keywords. His brain calculated and deduced Leo's origin with the information.
A faraway place?
Two billion years to get there?
This world?
Wu Buyi's breaths became ragged and short. He came up with a wild theory.
'Is he from a cultivator from a higher realm?!'
