Half-Yokai Cultivating the Path of Immortality Chapter 23: Jade vegetables

Early in the morning.

The streets far away from Wanyu Cave were silent.

A few rays of light shine through the windows that are sporadically lit.

On the deserted streets, there were only fallen leaves and debris on the ground.

Lu Tong returns to the tea tavern.

There was a candlestick lit on the counter, and Dahan sat behind in a daze, not knowing what he was thinking.

Erhu made a bed with a table in the corner and was already asleep.

"Why aren't you sleeping yet?"

"After a nap, I woke up again."

Lu Tong went over and patted his head. His hand no longer felt slippery, but felt a layer of prickly bristles.

"Hey, are you growing hair?"

Dahan giggled and said, "Well, it just grew out."

Lu Tong was a little surprised.

The hair is only growing now, which means that Dahan was not fully mature before and will become stronger and stronger in the future.

"Besides growing hair, what other changes have occurred?"

"Hungry, greedy for pork."

Lu Tong shook his head, took out two taels of silver and said: "Tomorrow I will go to the vegetable market to buy meat. Come on, go upstairs and guard the door for me."

Enter the private room on the second floor.

Lu Tong sat cross-legged on the soft couch where he was drinking tea. He took off the glove on his left hand and unwrapped the bandages layer by layer to reveal his left hand.

The palms and back of the hands are all red.

After being wrapped for a whole day, the surface of my skin has become wrinkled and looks like red bark.

After refining a cup of blood beetle carapace, his cultivation level improved by leaps and bounds, reaching the fourth level of Qi training.

But the remaining blood stains also expanded several times.

From a small red mark occupying the palm of my hand, it spread to completely covering my left hand.

Fortunately, apart from looking scary, there was no other discomfort.

After training at Caitieyuan, most of his energy had been restored, so he took out the dagger and carapace and continued refining without rest.

Practice has a long way to go.

He has no support from relatives, friends and comrades, so he can only rely on his daily hard work and gradual progress.

……

Five days passed quickly.

After the tea shop closed that day, Lu Tong called Erhu to the private room on the second floor.

"Erhu, what news have you heard recently?"

Erhu took out a pile of paper, which was covered with strange marks, and said while looking at it:

"The price of carriage ride has increased."

“Many monsters have died, and the wages for workers recruited by the Chamber of Commerce are higher than before.”

"A man died at the intersection of West Street. He was found in the morning. I don't know who killed him. Some said he was an evil cultivator from other places, and some said he was robbed."

"..."

"The road to Linyang City is open."

“The Tiger Pass outside the city is blocked, and many caravans carrying goods are blocked outside by the ghost fog.”

“There are fights every day outside Hukou Pass. There is a foreign chamber of commerce that is ruthless and dares to use a knife to draw blood when fighting for position.”

"There was a merchant guild and all the monsters pulling carts were killed."

"Some people say that the Yiyi Sect has recruited disciples and is going to Baizhu Mountain to seek immortality. Others say that the new disciple has already entered the mountain and is the third son of the Baili family."

Erhu talked for almost a stick of incense before finally finishing.

After Lu Tong heard this, he thought for a moment and asked, "A monster from a chamber of commerce was killed. What happened?"

Erhu flipped through the notes a few times, shook his head and said, "I didn't write it down. I remember they talked about the things that were so close to the enemy's lips, saying that many teams were blocked outside and fighting for positions every day."

Lu Tong wrote down this incident and asked: "Where is the Yiyi Sect accepting disciples?"

Yiyi Sect does not select disciples from ordinary people like other sects.

Those who can join the Yiyi Sect are those who are said to have good immortal luck.

Er Hu flipped through his notes again and said: "This news is not accurate. People at the table said it after they drank too much. I asked other guests and they said they had never heard of it."

"Okay, let's go and rest."

After the two tigers left, Lu Tong took out "Jie Zi" and "Geographical Chronicles Yunying City" and began to search for news about Hukou Pass.

Where there is conflict, there are often interests.

The conflict at Hukou Pass seems to be intense now.

……

The next day.

Lu Tong left the teahouse and walked near the west gate.

There are many half-grown orphans and half-demon here, gathering together at the city gate to beg.

Hoof and Bird Feather grew up here when they were young.

Lu Tong glanced at it, walked up to a strange half-demon with a human head, a snake body, eagle claws, and bird wings, and asked, "Excuse me, I want to ask for some news."

Humans are weak in body but strong in soul; monsters are strong in body but weak in soul.

Blood conflict is weak and can produce half-demon offspring.

However, the bloodlines between half-demon and half-demon are extremely chaotic, making it extremely difficult to give birth to offspring.

The half-demon in front of me has at least three bloodlines: human, snake, and eagle, which is really rare.

The weird half-demon glanced at Lu Tong and asked: "Why are you looking for me?"

"The little half-demon under the city gate is your subordinate. There are about ten little guys helping you. You must be well-informed."

"How do you know?"

The weird half-demon instantly became alert, a pair of eagle claws clasped the ground, and the snake's tail stopped shaking.

Lu Tong took a half step back and explained: "Ten years ago, I was asking for a living here and I understand the rules here. After the little half-demon just asked for the money, he secretly glanced at you."

Little half-demon are easily bullied, and most of them take refuge in the big half-demon.

Most of the money collected must be handed over.

So when the big half-demon looking after them is not paying attention, the little half-demon will often hide some of it secretly.

The weird half-demon relaxed and asked, "What are you asking about?"

"What happened outside Huya Pass? I heard that a monster pulling a cart from a chamber of commerce was killed."

"Well, that's what happened."

The weird half-demon squinted his eyes and looked Lu Tong up and down.

Lu Tong took out a dozen copper plates and weighed them in his hands.

The weird half-demon shook his head.

Lu Tong took out three or five more and said, "That's it. This is not your family."

"Okay, give me the money first."

Lu Tong threw out half, kept the other half in his hand and said, "Tell me."

"Hey, this story is quite popular. The monster that was killed was the Jade Vegetable Merchant Guild. His family had several batches of vegetables from other places, but they were delayed by the ghost mist. I heard that the vegetables were going bad, so I was anxious to jump in and pass the customs. I didn't I thought of being tricked."

"Who did it?"

"I don't know, who would dare to admit such a thing? The Jade and Vegetable Chamber of Commerce is not a small force."

Lu Tong sneered and said, "Isn't it that foreign chamber of commerce?"

"Huh? You know and you still ask?"

A sigh of relief suddenly came to my forehead.

Lu Tong didn’t know anything about foreign chambers of commerce.

I just heard from Erhu that there was an out-of-town chamber of commerce that was ruthless, so he gave it a try.

I didn’t expect this weird guy to really hide his secrets.

Lu Tong weighed the remaining copper coins~IndoMTL.com~ and turned around to leave.

"Wait a minute, I still have news. That group of out-of-towners came from Jieshui Lake. I know their details."

Lu Tong took two more steps before stopping, turning around and saying, "Let's talk about it."

The weird half-demon glared at the copper plate, smiled flatteringly and said: "This..."

"Tell me first, am I different from you?"

"That group of out-of-towners are transporting fish from Jieshui Lake. Jieshui Lake is a lawless place. Fishing there is carried out with one's head in the water. The folk customs are particularly strong. Many people call them fishermen."

Jie Shui Lake, Lu Tong had read about this place in a book.

There is no sea near Yunying City, but the Jieshui Lake described in the book looks like the sea.

Boundless, the water is turbulent.

There is also a spiritual tide under the water. Once the ship hits the tidal dividing line, it will be cut in half in an instant.

The lake is very dangerous, but the fish in Jieshui Lake are very energetic and expensive.

There is an endless stream of monks, half-demon, and monsters who venture into the lake to fish.

"What else?"

"No more."

"Huh?"

"It's really gone, that's all there is."

Lu Tong threw a copper plate, turned around and left.

After leaving Ximen, he did not return to the teahouse, but walked towards the vegetable market.

As morning approaches, there are not many people in the market.

Less than 10% of the vendors display vegetables on the chopping boards, and most of the vegetables look stale.

Lu Tong walked into a shop with a "Jade Vegetable" jade sign hanging on the door.

The quality of vegetables here is obviously much better than outside.

But there are very few varieties and many shelves are empty.

He walked to the counter and asked the waiter behind: "Is your shopkeeper here?"