Chapter 113
Chapter 113
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 113
Chapter Title: Zhou Miaoyun Comes Calling
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"Brother Chen?"
As Ruan Tieniu was walking out of Qingping Lane, he happened to run into Chen Jianghe and quickly greeted him with a smile.
Now, Chen Jianghe was his great benefactor.
If it weren't for Chen Jianghe, he would never have been able to get in touch with Alchemist Zhuang.
Nor would it have been possible for him to return from the Youxian Mountain Range with a full harvest after just over two months.
The healing spirit pills were a bit expensive, but they were worth it!
Ruan Tieniu did a rough calculation. The healing pills he bought from Alchemist Zhuang at a five percent discount allowed them to venture eighty miles deep into the Youxian Mountain Range to hunt demon beasts.
They could make a round trip in just over two months.
With fewer rest days, they could make five trips a year, earning an extra eight spirit stones, which was no small sum.
It was enough to cover his rent in Qinghe Market City for a year.
As for his brothers, they could earn enough for two years' rent.
Of course, this was mainly due to the five percent discount Alchemist Zhuang gave them.
And Alchemist Zhuang had done so out of respect for Chen Jianghe.
"Big Brother Ruan, are you heading out?" Chen Jianghe greeted him with a smile.
"Yes, now that we have Alchemist Zhuang's discounted spirit pills, my brothers and I dare to venture deeper into the Youxian Mountain Range."
Ruan Tieniu expressed his sincere gratitude, "It's all thanks to Brother Chen's help."
"I should also thank Big Brother Ruan for your help."
A thought occurred to Chen Jianghe, and he asked, "I wonder, what is the value of a mid-stage First-Order demon beast's carcass?"
"Is Brother Chen thinking of buying a mid-stage First-Order demon beast carcass? It's not too expensive. A mid-stage First-Order demon beast with a low-grade Second-Order bloodline costs about eight spirit stones."
"Can Big Brother Ruan get one?"
"Haha, of course. It's a simple matter. It's just that the profit margin is too low for us, so we usually don't target mid-stage First-Order demon beasts, but we can buy one from other demon hunting teams."
"Is that so!"
After a moment of thought, Chen Jianghe said, "Then, at the beginning of the year, when Big Brother Ruan helps me bring back a late-stage First-Order demon beast, could you also bring two mid-stage First-Order ones?"
"Yes, no problem."
Ruan Tieniu patted his chest confidently and said, "Does Brother Chen have anything else? If not, I'll take my leave. My brothers are waiting for me."
"Take care, Big Brother Ruan. I wish you a smooth journey."
Chen Jianghe said with a cupped fist salute.
"I'm off."
Ruan Tieniu nodded and walked out of Qingping Lane.
Watching the sturdy man leave, Chen Jianghe reflected that his line of work was a life-and-death gamble. Honestly, he admired such people.
But he would never emulate them.
No matter the circumstances, he would never put himself in harm's way.
"Big Brother Ruan? Heh, I bet he's not even as old as I am." Chen Jianghe smiled and returned to his small courtyard.
Ruan Tieniu looked to be in his thirties, but his actual age was definitely no more than fifty-five.
Because at that age, one would begin to show slight signs of aging.
In contrast, although Chen Jianghe looked like a young man in his twenties, he was actually an old man in his sixties.
He could still bring himself to call him "Big Brother Ruan."
Chen Jianghe believed it was because he had a good, youthful mentality.
He let Xiao Hei and Maoqiu out.
Xiao Hei seemed very busy. Without any witty banter, he grabbed Maoqiu and shoved him into the pond.
He dived to the bottom of the pond.
Immediately after, Chen Jianghe saw water splashing everywhere, heard the booming sounds of punches and kicks, accompanied by the low gurgling of bubbles in the water.
Chen Jianghe swept his spiritual sense over them.
He saw Xiao Hei riding on Maoqiu's back, giving him a sound beating, pulling out clumps of Maoqiu's snow-white fur, leaving bald patches here and there.
However, he wasn't using lethal force; it was all superficial injuries.
Seeing Xiao Hei's ferocity, Chen Jianghe didn't stop him but stood aside, watching quietly.
As long as Xiao Hei didn't strike a heavy blow, it didn't matter.
After a solid fifteen minutes of beating.
Xiao Hei jumped out of the pond.
"He's getting out of hand."
Xiao Hei glanced at Chen Jianghe, then pointed at Maoqiu, who followed him out, now looking like a bald monkey.
"Heh, wasn't it you who got carried away by his flattery? How can you blame Maoqiu for that?" Chen Jianghe said with a chuckle.
Hearing this, Xiao Hei turned his head sharply and glared at Maoqiu.
The latter was so frightened that he slid on his knees to Xiao Hei's feet.
"Squeak squeak~" (Turtle Lord is truly amazing, I meant every word of it!)
Maoqiu put his paws together and kowtowed frantically to Xiao Hei.
His large, watery eyes secretly glanced at Chen Jianghe with a pleading look, hoping he wouldn't say any more.
Thump!
Xiao Hei smacked Maoqiu on the head with his paw, knocking off a tuft of fur.
"Try to play tricks on me again, and I'll rip off your scalp and let the two-legged beast stew monkey brains," Xiao Hei said viciously.
"Hey, hey~ Talk is talk, but why drag an innocent party into this?"
Chen Jianghe said unhappily from the side. How did reprimanding Maoqiu suddenly involve him?
"Hmph, you must have seen Maoqiu flattering me, yet you didn't think to wake me up. Our bond has faded."
Xiao Hei snorted in dissatisfaction.
"..."
Chen Jianghe was speechless. He could even be blamed for this.
It seemed Xiao Hei was getting sick from boredom. His workload needed to be increased.
He had asked Ruan Tieniu to add two mid-stage First-Order demon beasts to the next delivery precisely for Xiao Hei and Maoqiu to practice on.
He wanted them to become familiar with the work of cleaning demon beasts as soon as possible.
Not only would it fill their time, but it would also generate an additional stream of spirit stones.
Killing two birds with one stone.
He didn't continue to bicker with Xiao Hei, letting them carry on with cleaning the demon beasts. It was truly a delicate and time-consuming task.
Controlling the blood alone would take half a month.
Cleaning the hide and ensuring it wasn't damaged was even more grueling.
Fortunately, it was a job for the two spirit beasts and had nothing to do with him.
Returning to his room, Chen Jianghe began to draw spiritual talismans.
Improving his talisman skills and earning more spirit stones was also his most important task right now.
Only with more spirit stones could he purchase body tempering techniques and the auxiliary spiritual items needed for body tempering.
Time passed quickly.
In the blink of an eye, it was May.
In these two months, Chen Jianghe had used nineteen sheets of Spirit Blood Pig hide and successfully created six mid-grade protective talismans.
Although his talisman skills improved slowly, he could feel the progress.
Chen Jianghe sent a telepathic message for Maoqiu to retrieve the letter from the postbox.
This year was destined to be turbulent, and he couldn't enter deep seclusion. His relationship with Daniu had already surpassed that of ordinary friends.
This was Yu Daniu's most important year.
He had to make a decision that would affect his entire life.
Last time, Yu Daniu wrote that he would make a decision after Yun Huizhen's cousin attempted to break through to Foundation Establishment.
It was now May.
If there were no surprises, Yun Yixuan should have already been attempting the breakthrough, and might have even succeeded or failed.
He was waiting for Yu Daniu's letter.
Soon, Maoqiu brought the letter over.
Chen Jianghe glanced at it. It wasn't from Yu Daniu, but from Zhou Miaoyun.
"Zhou Miaoyun is coming to Qinghe Market City?"
Chen Jianghe frowned as he read the contents of the letter, not because of Zhou Miaoyun coming to Qinghe Market City.
But because of Yu Daniu's fifth son, Yun Wuniu.
Zhou Miaoyun had been residing long-term in Mirror Moon Market City. After receiving Gao Peiyao's letter, she was overjoyed and immediately returned to the Zhou Clan, selected a junior of good character and talent, and brought her back to Mirror Moon Market City.
Then she prepared to come to Qinghe Market City.
She planned to entrust this junior to Gao Peiyao to see if she could get a chance to enter the Tiannan Sect, even as a service disciple.
This would be a great fortune for the Zhou Clan.
But to her surprise, when Yu Daniu's fifth son saw this junior of Zhou Miaoyun's...
He fell in love at first sight.
He insisted on marrying her and no one else.
Helpless, Yu Daniu and Yun Huizhen could only speak to Zhou Miaoyun about the matter.
Zhou Miaoyun was very puzzled by this and began to doubt Yun Wuniu's character, but she wanted the Zhou Clan to have a long-term future at Mirror Moon Lake.
She could only betroth this junior to Yun Wuniu, with the wedding planned for July.
As for her own niece, Zhou Xiaoxuan, she would be sent to Qinghe Market City to see if she could be noticed by a Deacon of the Tiannan Sect.
After all, Zhou Xiaoxuan was already twenty-three.
"This child's disposition will likely be hard to change. If left unchecked, he might harm Daniu in the future."
For the first time, Chen Jianghe felt a sense of disgust towards someone.
His friendship with Yu Daniu was genuine, so naturally, he had to consider Yu Daniu's well-being. Such an heir would surely be detrimental to Yun Huizhen's branch of the family in the future.
But he couldn't say this outright.
Yun Wuniu was different from Yun Xiaoniu.
He had watched Yun Xiaoniu grow up, and they were close. If he made a mistake, he could be disciplined.
But as for Yun Wuniu, Chen Jianghe had only met him a few times.
He could count the number of words they had exchanged on one hand.
"Whether he can be made to settle down depends not on Daniu, but on Xiaoniu, his elder brother. It will depend on what Xiaoniu does in the future."
Chen Jianghe thought helplessly.
However, he also hoped that Yun Wuniu would restrain himself after getting married.
A wedding in July.
No wonder Zhou Miaoyun was in such a hurry to come. She also needed to rush back to preside over her junior's wedding.
Now, Zhou Miaoyun was an elder of the Zhou Clan and could decide on most of the clan's affairs.
After all, half of the Zhou Clan's spirit stone income came from the spiritual talismans she drew. Her younger brother, the clan head, naturally listened to her every word.
"Zhou Miaoyun knows my address. Since she wrote to me, she will definitely ask me to go with her to see Gao Peiyao."
Chen Jianghe didn't want to meet with Gao Peiyao frequently. Although he could leverage her influence, it would also make him very conspicuous.
This was inconsistent with his low-key personality.
Furthermore, when facing Gao Peiyao, Chen Jianghe always felt that she was intentionally or unintentionally probing him in her words.
As if she had discovered something unusual about him.
Of course, he also didn't want to face a Foundation Establishment cultivator. It was very stressful, giving him a sense of powerlessness, of not being in control of his own fate.
But if Zhou Miaoyun really came looking for him, he couldn't avoid it.
"Maoqiu, how is the demon beast cleaning coming along?"
A green light flashed from the high-grade spirit beast ring, and communication between master and pet began, but the meaning Maoqiu conveyed through the ring was still very vague.
Chen Jianghe could only communicate with Xiao Hei.
"Xiao Hei, how's it going? Have you finished cleaning one demon beast?"
"Come out and see for yourself."
Xiao Hei transmitted his thoughts.
Chen Jianghe swept his spiritual sense over and saw that one demon beast had already been completely cleaned. Its four claws had been neatly severed.
This was Xiao Hei's doing.
The hide had been separated from the flesh, washed clean, and air-dried.
There was half a bucket of spirit blood.
This surprised Chen Jianghe. He had thought Xiao Hei would let Maoqiu drink the spirit blood, as it also contained a large amount of spiritual energy.
There was one set of beast fangs.
It was relatively complete.
Overall, the processing of the hide wasn't perfect, and a lot of spirit blood had been wasted.
They still needed practice.
Requesting two more mid-stage First-Order demon beasts was the right decision.
Chen Jianghe walked out and put the hide, fangs, spirit blood, and claws into his storage bag.
When he went out, he would exchange them for spirit stones at the Demon Beast Market.
"Well done, keep up the good work. I'll be counting on you, my little skinner, to support me in the future," Chen Jianghe praised.
"Cut it out, I'm not falling for that."
After being puffed up by Maoqiu's flattery, Xiao Hei had started to become resistant to such words.
"The real deal would be you getting a few more demon beasts next year. Actually, this is quite simple. It's just that controlling the blood and cleaning the hide is a bit tedious and time-consuming."
"But several demon beasts can be processed at the same time."
Xiao Hei suggested to Chen Jianghe.
Right now, he was only thinking about earning more spirit stones to help share Chen Jianghe's burden, or at the very least, to become self-sufficient in resources for himself and Maoqiu.
In his opinion, the two-legged beast was too weak.
He couldn't let him spend all his spirit stones on them. He needed to improve himself too, otherwise, if he got beaten to death outside, there would be no one to play with him.
"Alright, four demon beasts next year, two of which will be mid-stage First-Order for you two to practice on."
Chen Jianghe was very satisfied with Xiao Hei's proactive attitude.
Then, he stopped disturbing Xiao Hei and Maoqiu as they processed the next demon beast.
He continued to draw spiritual talismans.
By the end of June.
Chen Jianghe had used another ten sheets of Spirit Blood Pig hide and created four mid-grade protective talismans.
During this period, he had not received a letter from Yu Daniu, nor did he know if Yun Huizhen's cousin had succeeded in reaching Foundation Establishment.
How had Yu Daniu ultimately decided?
However, he did receive a visit from Zhou Miaoyun.
Yesterday, Zhou Miaoyun came to visit with her niece, Zhou Xiaoxuan, and even brought two mid-grade First-Order spirit fruits.
This was a valuable gift for a first visit.
It was worth ten spirit stones.
Chen Jianghe wanted to refuse, but Zhou Miaoyun insisted it was a greeting gift from Zhou Xiaoxuan as a junior.
She urged Chen Jianghe to accept it.
Chen Jianghe understood Zhou Miaoyun's intentions, so he didn't decline and accepted the two mid-grade First-Order spirit fruits.
The moment he saw Zhou Xiaoxuan, Chen Jianghe finally understood why Yun Xiaoniu's little aunt had called her foxy.
Her beauty was on par with Jiang Ruxu's, but her features held an extra touch of charm.
Her willow-like eyebrows were like smoke, her eyes like peach blossoms, watery and lively, with a mesmerizing quality that could easily ensnare a person.
Chen Jianghe couldn't imagine what Zhou Miaoyun's other junior looked like to make Yun Wuniu give up Zhou Xiaoxuan for her.
After some conversation, they agreed to host a banquet for Gao Peiyao at the Qinghe Restaurant this afternoon.
He checked the time.
It was almost the Hour of Wei. Chen Jianghe tidied up and put Xiao Hei and Maoqiu into the spirit beast space.
He left the courtyard.
Even if he was only going out for a short while, Chen Jianghe would take the two of them with him.
Although it was troublesome, it was necessary.
The courtyard in Qinghe Market City could defend against outsiders, but it might not be able to defend against the people behind Qinghe Market City.
He had an array plate.
It was not impossible that they had a spare one.
If someone entered while he was away from home, Xiao Hei and Maoqiu would be exposed.
Xiao Hei was his most important 'brother' besides his own life, and he absolutely could not afford any mishaps.
When he arrived at the Qinghe Restaurant, he saw Zhou Miaoyun and her niece, Zhou Xiaoxuan, waiting at the entrance.
"Uncle Jianghe."
Zhou Xiaoxuan curtsied, a silver earring brushing against her charming cheek. She called out sweetly, her voice soft, charming, and captivating.
It made one want to look at her a few more times, to hear her voice again.