The True Lord has arrived

Chapter 90 I’m back
Money is a good thing.

You can't have all the money, but you absolutely can't be without it.

Especially when one has a large appetite, money becomes directly related to one's stomach, and the value of money becomes even more important. Wugong Town's Hedongtan Association is famous throughout the world, so of course there are large merchant guilds there. Zhou Yan left Guhuaiji to get money, paused slightly, and looked back at Yin Zichuan and Lianniang's courtyard.

With the tiger blood ointment exhausted, Shen Cangming went out to buy some medicinal herbs to replenish his supplies.

This can also be seen as leaving Yin Zichuan and Lian Niang with a space to be alone, hoping that Yin Zichuan can overcome the pain and hesitation in his heart.

Zhou Yan believed that he could overcome this. In any case, the scholar was not an indecisive person. The only question was when to make this decision. At the Hedong Beach Fair, people were coming and going. Zhou Yan was worried that some Taoist priests might go and disturb Yin Zichuan and Lian Niang.

We need to find a way to cover it up.

He saw the small shrine under the big locust tree in Guhuai Village.

There was a well, beautifully woven with red rope. On the tree stump in front of it, there was an ancient shrine with some cracks. Inside sat a sculpture of an old man with a smile on his face. Zhou Yan went over and gently knocked on the wooden platform in front of the shrine, saying, "Earth God, I'm going out for a bit. I'll leave the house to you."

The statue of the Earth God has not changed in the slightest.

Zhou Yan thought for a moment, then took the wine pot from his waist. It was a common metal wine pot from the Tang Dynasty, flat and containing a small amount of spirit wine. It was one of the two items left behind by Hei Feng.

Zhou Yan uncorked the wine, filled a wooden cup made in front of the Earth God shrine with wine, and said, "How is it?"

The wooden wine glass carries a touch of spirituality.

It can restore magic power, and the delicious wine is visibly gone.

Zhou Yan knew that this meant the local earth god had agreed.

These small lands, each responsible for a range of several dozen miles, are spirits that emerged from the mortal world and human habitation when humans gathered. They have little magical power and few supernatural abilities, but they possess some mysterious skills within their respective territories.

It can detect subtle abnormalities.

This is a relatively weak point for the military strategist Xuan Guan system, or at least something that the Xuan Guan system, which excels at direct attacks, is not good at. With the Earth God's warning and notification, Zhou Yan can quickly return if anything happens.

Whether it's the land deity or the mountain god, they all possess a strong sense of human warmth and connection to the world.

It's about human warmth, the give and take, a glass of wine, a promise.

He said, "I'll give you another drink when I get back."

Zhou Yan heard a hiccup.

He nodded, helped the land deity remove a fallen leaf, swept away some dust, and then left. Under the old locust tree in Guhuai Village, some elderly people sat chatting about everyday gossip, secretly watching the outsider.

Seeing Zhou Yan walk up to the statue of the Earth God, pour a cup of wine, and then leave with a smile, they felt a little strange. Some of the bolder ones went over to take a look and saw that the wine in the Earth God's cup was empty.

"Strange, did it dry so quickly?"

The old man felt something was amiss.

Then I saw that the smiling earth god statue had a hint of drunken red on its face.

It is the red of intoxication, and also the red of the mundane world.

Zhou Yan's pace wasn't particularly fast. When he arrived at the Chamber of Commerce in Wugong Town to collect the flying money, the branch manager of the Chamber of Commerce was initially somewhat suspicious. However, after confirming that Zhou Yan was collecting secret accounts and comparing the information with the information sent by the flying pigeon, he couldn't help but be shocked.

He looked at it carefully several times.

Therefore, he felt a deep respect for this seemingly ordinary and unassuming young swordsman.

Rice is expensive in Chang'an, and it's not easy to live there.

But with such a large sum of money in this "flying money" scheme, things will be easy anywhere.

Zhou Yan revealed the secret message: "I have kept your promise."

The merchant said, "That's not right, sir..."

Zhou Yan was stunned, and then thought about it in silence.

Zhou Yan seemed to be deep in thought.

I thought of the girl's smile.

"I'll keep my promise, so I'll be careful with my money... Oh?"

"That's right, my lord, that's right, that's right."

Zhou Yan was both amused and exasperated.

As I said those words, I pictured the girl who was gradually revealing her true nature, her smile mischievous and playful.

He took ten strings of cash.

There are 190 strings of cash left.

Now that grain prices have gradually stabilized, a dou (a unit of dry measure) costs ten to twenty wen (another unit of dry measure). Ten guan (another unit of dry measure) would be 10,000 wen, which is at least 500 dou of rice. In a good year, it could buy about 100 jin (a unit of weight) of meat, roughly equivalent to the money a strong man earns for three months of hard work.

This is already considered a considerable sum of money for ordinary people in Wugong Town.

Zhou Yan planned to buy some noodles to take back, but after taking a few steps, he suddenly felt a faint ripple in the air. His eyes flickered slightly, and he saw a faintly dissipating demonic aura. He frowned, but walked on without changing his expression, heading to a slightly deserted place between towns.

He deliberately dropped a coin and squatted down to retrieve it.

A loud shout came from behind: "Alas!!"

"Who, who are you, you little thief, daring to trespass on my precious baby's land!"

"If you want to pass through here, leave me a piece of skin from your foot!"

"Bang! Bamboo pole, stop yelling! Hit him!"

"If you want to eat something, eat foot skin!"

Two strange cries rang out, ripples spread through the void, and two figures pounced towards Zhou Yan. Zhou Yan dodged them with a sway, only to see two strange-looking fellows appear there.

A tall, thin man, at least 2.5 meters tall, with a large patch of yellowed and scorched leaves on his head, wearing a tattered Taoist robe that almost dragged on the ground, tied around his waist with withered vines, and holding a bamboo stick in his hand.

Behind him was a short, stocky, round-faced man, less than 1.2 meters tall.

His entire body was covered in black coal, he had no neck, and his facial features looked like three circles drawn on a lump of coal with a stone. Only when he was angry could you see two clusters of dark red fire in his eyes, and he held two stone hammers in his hands.

He smashed the stone on his head, sending sparks flying.

"Bang!" "Bamboo pole, get out of the way! You're too tall, you're blocking my way!"

Zhou Yan saw the two strange monsters, a wisp of energy that resembled spirits, and laughed, "What kind of monsters are you two, coming to rob people in Houji's territory?"

The tall, thin monster exclaimed, "Eek! What robbery!"

"This is an insult to culture, an insult to culture."

The short, fat monster slammed his hammer down on his head and shouted, "Bang!"

"What did you say, kid? Give me a piece of meat!"

The tall, thin monster added, "Just the skin on my feet will do!"

Two monsters charged over with shouts, looking quite imposing. The tall, thin monster swung a bamboo pole at Zhou Yan's shoulder, but Zhou Yan drew his sword, planted his feet on the ground, and activated the Beacon Fire's properties, causing a dark yellow light to spread across the blade.

Just like when Shen Cangming demonstrated the beacon tower to him.

Zhou Yan easily blocked the attacks of the two monsters.

The short, fat monster was furious. He slammed his hammer down with both hands, sending sparks flying. The tall, thin monster shook his hand, and the bamboo pole instantly transformed into several afterimages, stirring up wind and fire, before crashing down on Zhou Yan.

when!
The object struck Zhou Yan's blade.

Zhou Yan seized the opportunity and retaliated with a strike.

The blade was sharp, connected to the earth's veins, and the elements of fire and earth combined to create a tangled wind that slashed out suddenly. The two flames collided, and Zhou Yan felt a wave of heat rushing towards him. With a single hand gesture, he used the wind to tear apart the flames on his side.

The two monsters were thrown away by the heat and wind from the impact.

It rolled on the ground several times.

The tall, thin man's head was ablaze with the scorched, dark yellow leaves, and he shrieked and rolled on the ground: "Aaaaah, oh dear, my hair!"

The short, fat monster was engulfed in flames: "Awoooooo!"

Zhou Yan was both amused and exasperated, and swept his sleeves across the room.

Water flew out from the nearby stream and hit the two mischievous monsters on the head, extinguishing their fire. The stream said, "Alright, you two little demons, what are you doing here? Trying to amuse me?"

The two monsters lay there paralyzed. Zhou Yan cursed a couple of times, then they huddled together, trembling, and explained why they had come to find him and wanted a piece of their foot skin from him. They said, "Yes, it's because we heard a rumor today."

The skinny man said, "Tell me, tell me about your flesh, young master. Eating it can increase your magical power and extend your life by a hundred years."

The short, fat man said, "It can also nourish yin and replenish yang."

"A body of pure Yang, highly nourishing!"

Zhou Yan's lips twitched slightly.

What is this "Tang Monk's Flesh"?

If this news gets out, who knows what kind of monsters or powerful demons might appear to block the way? Although he has a lot of tricks up his sleeve, his cultivation level is only a ninth-rank Xuan official.

Although Uncle Shen was powerful, he was constantly suffering from the backlash of Qingming Fangzhu's flames, and his blindness inevitably reduced Shen Cangming's perception.

Ao Xuantao possesses profound abilities in the Jing River, but he has not yet transformed into a dragon and does not control the Jing River, so he cannot stray too far; moreover, his strength will decrease after leaving the Jing River.

This is like roasting them over a fire.

Zhou Yan pondered that someone harbored immense resentment and hostility towards him, and was capable of spreading such messages among demons and monsters.

Only the Master of the Azure Netherworld.

Zhou Yan realized who had spread the news.

But soon he had another problem. Not long had it been since the battle between Qingming Fangzhu and his divine will had ended. Even if Qingming Fangzhu had the means to spread the news far and wide, the two little demons were not very powerful and had no karma.

They only dared to ask for a foot scrap.

How could they have found out about this so quickly?

Zhou Yan inquired.

The short, fat man said, "We learned about it from a handsome insect."

Pretty, an insect? A weaver?

Zhou Yan instantly understood—it was Zhu Zicheng!
........................

Zhu Zicheng appeared at Gu Huai Ji.

Because of the characteristics of the insectoid monsters, they are extremely good at concealing their whereabouts and tracking certain people. Zhu Zicheng had witnessed Hei Feng's failure and knew that no matter what, he could not defeat Zhou Yan and his group head-on.

We can only outsmart them, we can only outsmart them.

He obtained a kind of insect poison that even a Xuan Guan (a high-ranking official) couldn't withstand; it would paralyze him.

It even contains insect eggs; once you eat it, you'll lose control of your body.

Then, it can be taken back and presented to the Weaver Girl as a furnace for mending.

Upon seeing Zhou Yan and his companions arrive at this place, he inquired among the demons around him. Suddenly, an idea came to him. He told the surrounding demons the message that Qingming Fangzhu had sent out, causing some trouble for Zhou Yan, while he himself went to the small courtyard.

He draped the treasures given to him by the Weaver Girl over his body and transformed himself.

Zhu Zicheng, in his true form, had transformed into a scholar of about sixty years old, with white hair, meticulous attire, a blue round-necked robe, a leather belt at his waist, a scroll in his hand, and a flick of his sleeve, extremely satisfied.

So he knocked on the door.

Lianniang was quietly sunbathing when she heard the noise. Thinking it was Zhou Yan and the others, she leaned on her cane and went to open the door. Upon opening it, she was slightly taken aback when she saw the elderly scholar outside. Then, a slight smile appeared on Zhu Zicheng's lips as he softly said:

"Lian Niang."

"I am Yin Zichuan."

The old scholar, who was actually a demon in disguise, smiled and said:

"I'm back."

(End of this chapter)