Mysterious mirror hanging high

Yuwen Baoge nodded. Seeing that he had listened, Old Li gave him a few more instructions before going back to sleep.

After eating a pancake, Yuwen Baoge felt that his strength had recovered a little, and he began to think in his heart:

"There are no traces of monks in this place. I wonder if these people are too low-level, or if no monks have ever set foot here."

Compared with the size of the fairyland, the number of cultivators is really scarce, and they are often concentrated in the fairy city or the mountain gate Taoist sect. Large areas of secular countries are not aware of the existence of cultivators at all, and often there is not a single Qi-cultivating cultivator to be seen within hundreds of thousands of miles.

"If there are no cultivators, we can only find ways to find spirit stones..."

Yuwen Baoge pondered, "But the most urgent thing is to gain a firm foothold... I can't just hang around in this beggar's den forever!"

He struggled to stand up, walked out of the temple, picked up a stone in the grass, returned to the City God Temple, and rubbed it vigorously for dozens of times, making the edge of the stone much sharper. He held it in his hand and waved it a few times, and there was a faint sound of it breaking through the wind.

With this sharp stone piece, Yuwen Baoge felt much more at ease.

Since he was a child, he has discovered that he is much more powerful than others when using sharp weapons, and his defensive ability after wearing armor is far beyond that of ordinary people. He just thinks it is an innate Taoist body, but he didn't expect that Qiu Dongxuan can seal his cultivation but not this special ability.

"It would be great if I could get a set of armor...even wooden ones would be fine! Then even if I don't know martial arts, I won't be any worse than that mangy dog."

Thinking of this, Yuwen Baoge leaned against the pillar of the City God Temple, gathered some hay to cover himself, and then felt sleepy and fell into a deep sleep.

The next morning, before the morning mist in the City God Temple had dissipated, Yuwen Baoge was kicked awake by the skinny monkey. The bamboo stick knocked against the blue bricks, making a clanging sound, which scared away the sparrows pecking at food under the eaves.

"There's a temple fair in the West Market today," the skinny monkey stuffed the broken bowl into his arms, his eyes gleaming, "If you can't collect thirty cents, there's no need for the gang leader to punish you. I, the monkey master, will not let you go, you pretty boy!"

He suddenly lowered his voice and ran his skinny fingers across Yuwen Baoge's neck: "Don't even think about running away. Wenshan City is full of beggars. You can't run away."

Yuwen Baoge's knuckles turned white as he gripped the edge of the bowl, and he said bitterly in his heart, "Just wait..."

He came to the West Market with Shou Hou'er and seven or eight other beggars. Sure enough, there were huge crowds of people there, all of whom were people who came to visit the temple fair. From afar, he saw several beggars holding green wooden sticks who had already occupied the seats. They must be beggars from the Green Snake Gang.

"It's a disaster. No matter how fast we hurry, it's still too late." The skinny monkey cursed a few times, but seeing that there were quite a few beggars from the Green Snake Gang, he didn't dare to start a conflict. He found another corner of the place and ordered his beggars to disperse and beg everywhere.

By noon, the sun had grown bigger. Yuwen Baoge looked at the copper coins in the broken porcelain bowl and counted them carefully. There were about twenty of them.

"By evening, it should be worth thirty wen..." Yuwen Baoge thought to himself, "That idiot has a pretty good guess. There are so many people at the temple fair today, and I don't think there's such a good market on ordinary days."

By sunset, Yuwen Baoge had actually collected thirty coins. Skinny Monkey looked at the copper coins in Yuwen Baoge's bowl and felt a little jealous: "If I were as good-looking as this pretty boy, I could also collect more than thirty coins a day!"

After thinking about it, he grabbed the copper coins in the bowl and said, "The rule of the Mangy Gang is to hand over 50% of the coins. You have 10% more than the ordinary brothers, so it's 60%. The remaining 40% is yours."

But after pulling a few handfuls, only ten copper coins were left in the bowl.

Yuwen Baoge knew that Shou Houer had deliberately taken two extra coins and put them in his pocket, so he didn't bother to argue with him. He put the remaining ten copper coins into his pocket and said, "I've been holding it in all day, so I'm going to relieve myself."

Skinny Monkey was in a hurry to return to the City God Temple to pay the fee. He frowned when he heard this: "I still say the same thing, don't even think about running away. Your purse is still with the gang leader... Come back as soon as you finish your business!"

Yuwen Baoge rolled his eyes. He hadn't planned to leave in the first place. Skinny Monkey was right. The storage bag was still with the mangy dog. He didn't want to give up like this. Besides...

He quickly ran to a pancake stall and spent six cents to buy three steaming hot pancakes. He wolfed down one and wrapped the remaining two pancakes in oil paper and put them in his arms, intending to give them to Old Li as a filial gift.

Although Yuwen Baoge was a bit overbearing in his actions, he always knew how to repay kindness. He would repay others for their kindness to him. Old Li gave him a pancake, so he would give him two in return!

----

As dusk fell, a thunderous roar erupted from the City God Temple.

"Who the hell dares to steal my money?"

The mangy dog ​​kicked over the incense table, sending copper coins raining down on the bricks. The skinny monkey, who had just returned, was horrified. He suddenly pointed to the corner and shouted, "Boss, look! Old Li's arms are bulging!"

Seven or eight beggars rushed forward, tearing Old Li's tattered jacket until the cotton wool flew everywhere. Dozens of copper coins and a bulging medicine bag tumbled out from the interlayer. The vein on the mangy dog's forehead bulged: "You old man, you're so brave!"

"Wait, boss, this is my own private money..." Old Li cried out in injustice: "It's the skinny monkey... It's the skinny monkey..."

boom--

The skinny monkey kicked Old Li in the face, causing the old beggar's mouth to swell with blood. A few of his already few black teeth were broken. The skinny but powerful beggar said viciously:

"He caught the criminal red-handed, and he still dared to make accusations..."

"Hit me!"

----

When Yuwen Baoge returned to the City God Temple, he happened to see a withered, old hand with a missing ring finger lying in front of him.

The oil-paper package in his arms fell to the ground, and two steamed buns with many sesame seeds embedded in them jumped out of the oil-paper package. One of them happened to fall on the edge of Old Li's already stiff mouth.

Old Li's broken neck was reflected in Yuwen Baoge's pupils.

The old man was curled up under the incense table like a shriveled shrimp, but his right hand was tightly clutching a medicine bag - it should be used to treat Yuwen Baoge's injury.

Blood foam gushed out from the corner of his gaping mouth, leaving a crooked crabapple-shaped flower on the green bricks.

Skinny Monkey was using the tip of his knife to pick up copper coins from Old Li's tattered coat. Hearing this, he sneered, "You old bastard, you stole the gang leader's money..."

Before he could finish his words, Yuwen Baoge grabbed his neck and threw him against the wall. When his broken nails dug into the man's throat, Yuwen Baoge realized that his mouth was full of the taste of rust - he had bitten the roots of his teeth to pieces.

The feeling of a sharp stone chip scratching across the skinny monkey's neck was like cutting old oil paper.

When the warm blood sprayed on his face, Yuwen Baoge suddenly remembered the first time he used a magic weapon to hunt a monster when he was seven years old. His father said that killing a person was not much different from killing a monster, and both required attacking the vital parts.

"Murder!" the beggars screamed and rushed out.

The mangy dog ​​swung a bench from the temple and smashed it on his head. Yuwen Baoge ducked to avoid it and stabbed the stone in his hand into the man's thigh.

He smelled the familiar smell of dry tobacco on the mangy dog, which was the smell of Old Li's low-quality tobacco mixed with the smell of blood.

The mangy dog ​​roared, twisted his wrist, and smashed the bench leg against his shoulder blade. Yuwen Baoge heard the crisp crack of his own bones cracking, but he used the momentum of falling to grab the incense burner ashes and threw them into the man's eyes.

He pounced on the mangy dog ​​and bit his right hand, which was holding the knife, until he tasted the salty and fishy flesh.

"You bastard!" The mangy dog ​​let go in pain, and the rusty knife fell to the ground with a clang.

Yuwen Baoge rolled over to reach the hilt of the knife, when he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his back - the mangy dog ​​punched Yuwen Baoge in the back again and again, making his throat feel sweet.

Yuwen Baoge's strength was greatly reduced. He staggered and swung his sword, but was grabbed by the wrist by the lice dog and twisted. At the moment when his wrist was dislocated, he saw the eternal lamp on the altar that was about to go out, and the flame was dancing in Old Li's turbid pupils.

The eternal lamp went out, and the only light disappeared without a trace.