Chapter 3: Chapter 3: Take care, sir!
(Please favorite and request a monthly ticket) Chapter 3: Chapter 3: Take care, sir!
(Please favorite and request a monthly ticket) Qingshan County, the morning mist engulfs the air.
On the streets, only a few sparse figures in a rush.
At the end of an alley, a tavern with curling cooking smoke, steaming hot.
Under the shed, several stoves burn with bright red flames, warming the intense liquor, which has an aromatic fragrance.
As the sun begins to rise, through the hazy mist, a figure gradually approaches.
Taking off his straw hat, he places it on the table and calls out to Old Man Wu, who is busy by the fire.
“Three liang of liquor and two jin of meat.”
“Alright, please wait a moment…”
Old Man Wu promptly responds but stops his work.
Turning his head to see who it is.
The spoon in his hand drops, and he hurriedly tucks up the hem of his clothes.
As he speaks, he begins to kneel.
Chen Yuan waves his hand and smiles, “No need for such formalities.”
“I’m hungry, bring the food and drinks quickly.”
“Yes, yes,” Elder Wu hurriedly serves the food and drinks.
Then he pours a drink for Chen Yuan.
Chen Yuan drains a cup of liquor with a “clap” as he sets down the cup.
The fiery liquor rolls down his throat, turning into a warm flow that makes one’s pores open up.
He says, looking at Elder Wu smiling beside him,
“Elder Wu, your brewing skills are getting better and better, have a seat!”
Old Man Wu bows and sits down with an “ai.”
“My lord, have you just come back from handling affairs?”
“Yes, there was a beast eating human hearts and livers in the mountains, I chased it for two days,” Chen Yuan pours another drink and downs it.
Then he devours the meat.
He was indeed starving.
Old Man Wu looks at Chen Yuan’s voracious eating, a complex emotion in his cloudy eyes.
He doesn’t speak, just silently pours more liquor for Chen Yuan.
“Have you heard any news about the matter I asked you to inquire about?” Chen Yuan asks.
“Speaking of which, a demon disaster indeed occurred recently in neighboring Yunlu County, killing many people, hence there are quite a few refugees in the county.
However…” Old Wu speaks seriously in a low voice.
“There appears to be a Divine Sect that has emerged there, suppressing the demon disaster and also distributing porridge widely; many people have heard the news and have rushed back.”
“Divine Sect?” Chen Yuan puts down his chopsticks, his eyebrows twitch.
A demon disaster in the neighboring county leading to refugees implies that the situation is out of control.
Now a Divine Sect has emerged and is prevalent.
This indicates one thing.
The Mountain Patrol Military Officer of the neighboring county has already lost control.
More likely, he’s gone!
This is very bad news for Chen Yuan.
He had already been battling alone, and now there’s trouble in the neighboring county.
His situation is worrying!
He feels a sense of urgency.
The breakthrough he just accomplished is shadowed by gloom.
It’s still far from enough.
He must accelerate the main mission as much as possible before trouble finds him.
“Alright, I got it, what about the others?”
“The old man has already prepared them,” saying this, Old Wu takes out some pieces of paper from his bosom.
The characters on them are strong and powerful.
Clearly inconsistent with the identity of a liquor-selling old man.
But in chaotic times, who can say for sure?
“These are the things the old man has recently learned.”
“Good, you’ve worked hard!”
Chen Yuan tucks the papers into his sleeve, then stands up,
“Give me another five jin of meat to take away!”
Old Man Wu hurriedly gets busy.
Finally, he hands the heavy meat over to Chen Yuan with both hands.
“Sir, please take care of yourself!”
Chen Yuan waves his hand as his figure gradually fades into the mist.
Meanwhile, Old Wu, looking on for a long while, eventually sighs and turns back to the stove.
Qingshan County East, Jiazifang.
As Chen Yuan entered Jiazifang, the cold quiet town suddenly came alive.
People going to work, setting up stalls, keeping watch at night, emptying chamber pots…
Chen Yuan stepped over the moist green stone paved road
turned a few alleys, and arrived in front of a small courtyard with green bricks and green tiles.
He was just about to open the gate.
Then, from next door,
A small boy with dangling hair screamed and ran out.
Closely following behind, came fierce scolding.
“You still run, Mommy’s gonna beat you to death, you little bastard.”
“Look at what you usually learn.”
The owner of the scolding soon appeared.
A woman in a coarse cloth robe and head wrapped in a blue floral scarf, wielding a bamboo stick, rushed out to chase and beat the boy.
The boy dodged and hid behind Chen Yuan.
The woman then looked up and saw Chen Yuan.
Her fierce expression turned gentle in an instant.
“Brother Yuan, just got back?”
“Mhm.” Chen Yuan responded, turned to look at the boy hiding behind him and then at the woman, feeling amused,
“Sister Hua, what happened this time?”
As soon as he said that, Sister Hua got even more furious.
“Speaking of it nearly killed me.”
“I was just checking this little bastard’s homework, testing on words taught by the Master.”
“I asked him, what is ‘big’ (大) and ‘dry’ (干)?”
“I even hinted to him by saying there are two people very upset, and due to this, they started fighting.”
“Guess what this little bastard answered?”
“He stammered for a long time and finally gave me ‘constipation’.”
“Tell me if that’s not infuriating?”
Sister Hua raised her stick, ready to hit again.
But the boy stubbornly resisted, still full of indignation,
“I clearly wasn’t wrong, the two people were upset because they couldn’t defecate in the latrine, so they had to dig it out by hand, I’ve done this.”
“Also, I don’t want to study, I want to learn martial arts, to ‘achieve justice under heaven’.”
Hearing the child’s “enlightening” words, Chen Yuan couldn’t help but burst into laughter.
His mother, hearing her son’s nonsensical talk, got so irritated she couldn’t hold back anymore.
“I’ll make you constipated, I’ll make you pick with your hands.”
Suddenly, the street became chaotic like chickens flying and dogs jumping.
Chen Yuan watched the mother and son leave, smiling and shaking his head.
His mood became much lighter.
The mortal world’s lively atmosphere, most comforting to the human heart.
Humans are social animals, unlike his predecessor, the Mountain Patrol Military Officer who stayed in the deep mountains, Chen Yuan preferred staying here.
It allowed him to experience a touch of human warmth in this terrifying era of demons and chaos.
He then pushed open his own gate.
Upon entering the courtyard.
Green tiles and white walls, bamboo planted on both sides of the entrance, forming an arch.
In the center of the courtyard, a small fish pond was also constructed.
A harmonious complement to each other.
He went into the house.
Chen Yuan ate all the meat he brought, filling his stomach to its brim.
Until he burped satisfyingly.
Then, he started sitting cross-legged, activating the divine skill “Consume”,
Divine Skills, endless in creation, require breaking through to the Profound Body Realm in Martial Arts Cultivation to touch the threshold.
But right now, he’s only at the stage of Qi Refinement, yet he already mastered two Divine Skills.
No other reason, just exceptional!
Thus, advancing the main quest is his current top priority.
His thoughts resumed, and soon his stomach growled like frogs croaking, expanding and contracting.
Gradually, a warm flow moved through his limbs via blood circulation, then surged into the Dantian, turning into a strand of True Qi, and flowed back into the “sea”.
Since his own crossing months ago, from Body Refining to Qi Cultivation, breaking through several barriers, apart from adding points, this Divine Skill also played a significant role.
It could be called an alternative version of a “Cultivation Accelerator”!