My experience of grinding in another world

Chapter 188 Mustard Seed Talisman

"Keep the meat for yourself."

"The fur, bones, and even the horns can all be sold for money," Mr. Hao reminded him.

"Does Old Hao have connections?" Chen Mu's heart skipped a beat, but he looked troubled. "I'm new here and don't know how to handle this."

"It's not worth making a trip to Tongtianfang for such a small amount of stuff."

"If another strange beast comes and ruins the Yellow Sprout Rice Field, all our hard work these past few months will have been for nothing."

Old Hao raised an eyebrow, a hint of joy flashing in his eyes: "If you trust me, then leave it to me."

"Old Hao, I believe you!" Chen Mu said with a smile.

Old Hao nodded hesitantly, feeling that something was off about what he was saying.

Forget it, making money is the priority.

I'm short on cash right now, so I can only resell some exotic beast materials.

……

Three days later, in the evening, Old Hao folded the preliminarily treated hide and packed it together with the cleaned animal bones.

He donned a black cloak, covered his face with a black cloth, shouldered his bundle, and quickly disappeared into the night.

Within the mountains on the northern side of the basin plain.

Old Hao's figure darted quickly through the dense forest, and soon stopped in front of a natural cave entrance.

Suddenly, another person wearing a hooded cloak appeared.

"Who introduced you here?" the cloaked man asked coldly.

"Shang Huan," Old Hao said cautiously.

The cloaked figure looked Old Hao up and down, paying particular attention to the bundle on his back, and slowly nodded: "Go in."

Hao Laosong took a breath, then slipped into the hole and disappeared.

……

Not long after, another person carrying a small gray cloth bag appeared.

The cloaked figure, whose whereabouts were unknown, reappeared.

"Who introduced you?" the cloaked man asked coldly.

"Shang Huan," Chen Mu said calmly.

The cloaked man immediately looked Chen Mu up and down with suspicion.

Both of them were introduced by Shang Huan, so there shouldn't be any problems, right?

Chen Mu's heart skipped a beat. Wasn't that what Old Man Hao just said?
He casually asked, feigning nonchalance, "That chubby guy with small eyes didn't come today?"

The man in the cloak felt a sense of relief. The fact that he could accurately describe Shang Huan's appearance and build meant he truly knew Shang Huan.

"Go in," the cloaked figure said calmly.

Chen Mu nodded calmly and slipped into the hole.

"The entrance check wasn't as strict as I had imagined."

Otherwise, how could someone be allowed to pass the test so easily with just a casual question?

"Someone's backing you? Aren't you afraid of causing trouble?" Chen Mu understood.

Upon entering the cave, there is immediately a downward slope.

We walked down for seventy or eighty meters before reaching the bottom of the cave, and the further down we went, the wider it became.

Standing at the entrance of the cave, Chen Mu looked around.

The underground cave is like a large square, with fluorescent algae lanterns everywhere, illuminating the cave as if it were daytime.

"The underground market really is underground."

"With people coming and going and the lights on, how can they be so blatant?" Chen Mu asked in surprise.

It seems the person behind this is not simple.

"Could it be that some important figures in the House of Representatives were involved as well?" Chen Mu wondered.

……

He then began to wander around the underground market.

In front of a vendor's stall.

"What's the price of yellow sprout rice?" Chen Mu asked.

"One hundred and twenty jin (approximately 60 kg)," the short, thin boss said with a chuckle.

A white jade coin? It's definitely cheaper than in Tongtianfang.

"Can I take a look?" Chen Mu asked suspiciously. Could it be that they were trying to pass off inferior goods as superior ones?

"Take your time looking around." The short, thin shopkeeper opened the burlap sack.

Chen Mu grabbed a handful to examine it; the grains were plump and indeed top-quality yellow sprout rice.

He was just about to buy it when a thought struck him, and he reached into the bottom of the burlap sack.

The short, thin boss, who had been so composed just moments before, suddenly froze.

Chen Mu silently withdrew his hand and turned to leave.

Good products are placed on top, while inferior products are mixed in at the bottom.

If it weren't for their different appearances, Chen Mu would have thought Jie Jia had arrived.

"This underground market is indeed a mixed bag."

Chen Mu lost interest in buying anything; he came purely to broaden his horizons.

……

At a street stall, several familiar items caught Chen Mu's attention.

"Isn't this the kind of leather wristband that Shang Huan wears?"

"How much?" Chen Mu asked casually as he approached. "Thirty-six white jade coins." The shopkeeper was an old man with a demon mask on his face and white hair and beard.

Chen Mu shook his head slightly and said calmly, "It's too expensive."

The elderly man with gray hair looked up at Chen Mu and calmly said, "Get lost."

Chen Mu: “…”

Why is he swearing?

At this moment, a tall, burly man suddenly came to the side, glancing sideways at Chen Mu. Then, he expertly handed the old man a cloth bag: "Give me a mustard seed talisman."

The old man shook the cloth bag, put it in his sleeve with satisfaction, and casually picked up a leather wristband and handed it to the burly man.

The burly man took the wristband, examined it carefully, nodded in satisfaction, and glanced at Chen Mu: "New here, huh..."

He immediately turned and left.

"So that's how we were exposed?" Chen Mu asked in surprise.

"What is this?" He stopped pretending and asked directly.

"A mustard seed talisman," the old man said calmly. "Something that contains Mount Sumeru within a mustard seed."

"My mustard seed talisman can open and close thirty-six times, so I sell it for thirty-six white jade coins."

After saying that, he glanced sideways at Chen Mu.

"So that's how it's exposed," Chen Mu said, suddenly realizing.

However, a mustard seed talisman? Something that can contain Mount Sumeru within a mustard seed? A spatial storage device similar to the Five Ghost Bag?

"Is there something inside Shang Huan's mustard seed talisman?" Chen Mu immediately chuckled.

So it turns out that the leather wristband is the real treasure.

"How do you open and close it?" Chen Mu asked directly, not wanting to bother two people.

The old man looked at Chen Mu with surprise, his pupils shrinking slightly.

How can someone possess a mustard seed talisman if they don't recognize it?
This newcomer is a tough nut to crack.

I wonder which unlucky guy fell for this guy's trick.

"This is a fierce person," the old man sighed, and said helplessly, "One white jade coin."

Chen Mu: “…”

……

Chen Mu reluctantly left the old man's stall after tucking the palm-sized scroll into his sleeve.

I have a feeling that I've been scammed.

I strolled around the underground plaza again, and along the way I saw Old Hao haggling with a vendor.

Chen Mu also discovered that the underground market not only had individual vendors, but also permanent shops.

There are dozens of passageways around the square, behind which is a network of passageways that stretch in all directions, like a spider web.

Those permanent shops are located inside these passageways.

The things they sell are all kinds of things, both legitimate and illegitimate.

Chen Mu didn't look closely, returned the way he came, and left quickly.

It wasn't that he didn't want to continue watching, but the lingering spirits on the hill were sending out some ominous images.

……

At the foot of the low hill, in a field of yellow rice sprouts, a swarm of emerald green beetles, each the size of a fingernail, suddenly flew in.

They pounced on the leaves of the yellow rice and tore them apart.

The tough, rubber-like leaves of the yellow rice plant were quickly gnawed open with a large hole.

And after the beetle ate a leaf the size of two palms.

Suddenly it split in two, becoming two beetles.

One becomes two, two becomes four, four becomes eight; a patch of beetles the size of a flat bamboo basket instantly becomes a patch the size of a double bed.

Chen Mu looked at the pitted and yellowed rice leaves with a grim expression.

Although it seems that it can only transform three times, the insect never stops feeding.

He reached out to grab a bright green beetle, but the beetle turned around violently and bit Chen Mu.

Chen Mu felt a tightness in his neck and scalp, instinctively contracting his muscles, preparing to endure the pain.

quack!

Its mouthpiece, gleaming coldly like a weapon, was snapped off in an instant.

Chen Mu glanced at the silvery skin on his fingers with surprise.

He felt nothing at all that blow that had just been strong enough to crush a stone.

"The Spirit Armor Technique is indeed extraordinary." His skin had long been modified to be impervious to blades and spears.

Even without focusing their energy, their skin already surpasses the defensive capabilities of armor.

"We can't let these bugs continue to harm the yellow sprout rice."

clang!
It sounded like a bronze bell striking suddenly.

Chen Mu suddenly shook the Heartless Bell.

The sound waves spread rapidly across the area.

The beetle, which had been so arrogant just moments before, suddenly shuddered and fell down as if it were drunk.

Black smoke billowed in the yellow rice field.

The emerald green beetle vanished instantly.

"Thank goodness we got back in time." Chen Musong breathed a sigh of relief.

If these insects are allowed to run rampant, they could wipe out his ten acres of yellow rice in the middle of the night!

(End of this chapter)