"Haha, I was busy with some trivial matters not long ago, and I did leave the city for a while. Let's not talk about it. Shopkeeper Shen, let me introduce to you. This is fellow Taoist Yuan Ming, who has some friendship with me." Cui Wuran said.
"It turns out it's Senior Yuan, whom I've admired for a long time. Senior came to the store and wanted to buy elixirs? Since it was introduced by Senior Cui, I'll give you a 10% discount and also ask Senior to take care of the business of the store in the future." Upon hearing this, shopkeeper Shen immediately went to the store. Yuan Ming also bowed his hands.
Cui Wuran suddenly beamed when he heard that shopkeeper Shen offered a discount to save himself a lot of face.
Yuan Ming was not polite when he saw this and said directly: "In that case, no. I know how many Yanxudan there are in Shopkeeper Shen's store. I want to buy more at once."
"Hey, Yanxu Dan? Does Fellow Daoist Yuan know the side effects of this medicine? Don't be fooled." Cui Wuran was stunned and immediately reminded.
"Hey, Fellow Daoist Cui, thank you for your kind reminder. How could I not know the side effects of Yanxu Pill? I'm just really shy, so after much calculation, I had no choice but to buy this pill and practice it." Yuan Ming smiled bitterly, looking lonely.
Seeing this, Cui Wuran's lips twitched twice, as if he had remembered something sad, and for a moment he was speechless.
When Shopkeeper Shen saw this situation, he immediately smoothed things over and said, "Senior Yuan, don't worry, we still have a lot of Yanxudan in our store. If you want, a bottle of one hundred and sixty spiritual stones will do."
Yuan Ming nodded and reported an amount that was enough for his cultivation in Daoyang Nian. After hearing this, Shopkeeper Shen hurriedly made arrangements.
After Shopkeeper Shen left, Cui Wuran suddenly sighed and said, "Oh, it makes me heartbroken to see that Fellow Daoist Yuan is living in such embarrassment now. In this way, not long ago, I received a mission to obtain a large amount of elixirs from the San Alliance. Although this task is difficult, the rewards are extremely generous, and the alliance only wants to select trustworthy candidates, so it is not posted to the outside world. If Yuan Daoyou is willing, I can help you recommend it and get a share of the pie."
"Please also ask Fellow Daoist Cui to elaborate." Yuan Ming pretended to be moved.
"It's like this. Near the Sand City, a fire-throated lizard nest was discovered not long ago. There are still at least two upper-level beings in it. Our mission is to completely destroy this nest. It's done. After that, each participant will be able to receive at least eight bottles of spiritual elixir or a reward equivalent to spiritual stone," Cui Wuran said.
Yuan Ming was a little surprised. The reward at this price was not worth mentioning to him, but for ordinary casual cultivators, considering the prices here, it was indeed quite generous.
He is really short of elixirs and spiritual stones, but he is not short of spiritual stones now, so after pretending to be entangled for a long time, he shook his head and said: "Sorry, Fellow Daoist Cui, Yuan's strength is limited, and a group of second-level monsters may be difficult to resist. It’s better not to cause trouble to Fellow Daoist Cui.”
Hearing this, Cui Wuran knew that Yuan Ming might not like this task, so he looked disappointed and tried to persuade him a few more times. Seeing that Yuan Ming was resolute, he could only give up temporarily and gave Yuan Ming a communication charm to tell Yuan Ming that if If you change your mind, you can still go to yourself.
Yuan Ming nodded, and after accepting the communication talisman, shopkeeper Shen came back with Yanxudan at this time. Yuan Ming briefly took inventory, then said goodbye to Cui Wuran and left Chunfeng Hall.
After returning to his residence, Yuan Ming did not take what happened in Chunfeng Hall to heart and started practicing as usual.
However, when he was about to absorb the power of wish to cultivate his soul, he
Suddenly, he discovered that there was another strong will power outside the Heaven Stealing Cauldron.
Different from the wish power he generated, this wish power seemed longer and mellower, and seemed to have another source.
Yuan Ming introduced this wish power into the divided soul, and while refining it, he felt a complex emotion containing gratitude, prayer and supplication.
At the same time, he also sensed that the owner of this wish was a house located in the eastern part of the outer city.
Although Yuan Ming lived in Yansha City for a short time, he already had a lot of understanding of the layout of Hanzhe City. In addition to the difference between the inner city and the outer city, the city was further divided into different areas, such as Sanmeng. Residential squares where people gather, merchant squares where there are many shops, etc.
The place where this wish came from was the very famous Heishifang in the outer city. No monks were willing to visit there, and the people living there were all poor mortals.
Yuan Ming was curious, so he sent the soul crow again to check the source of the wish power.
A pair of feet wearing shabby cloth shoes fell on the dirty black soil.
Hu Ji carried a cloth bag and walked on the street, carefully pushing away the garbage residue that appeared on the street from time to time, as well as the wet sand and mud with a strong odor.
The taxi-yellow walls on both sides of the street are dilapidated and dilapidated, with temporary barriers made of dirty cloth and gravel separating them, dividing the not-so-well-off houses into more than a dozen rooms.
Thin ropes hang on the street, connecting countless houses on both sides. The faded clothes hanging on them are dripping with light black dirty water. If they fall on pedestrians, they will cause a burst of curses.
In an alley to the left of Hu Ji, three children stood in the corner with a ghostly look, releasing filth at a door. In the next moment, the door suddenly opened, and the owner left without knowing it. When he came out, he stepped on the filth with one foot. After seeing what was going on, his face suddenly turned red with anger. He waved his arms angrily and chased after the child.
In the room to the right of Hu Ji, two women in ragged clothes were arguing. Various obscenities were mixed with the reason for the matter, which seemed to be just because someone was wearing the wrong underwear of someone else.
Jinyou's black soil workshop is still noisy as always.
Hu Ji did not stay any longer because of these common sights, but quickly moved forward and returned to his residence deep in Heitufang.
He has been living in Shensha City for many years, and because he also has a job in the caravan, he has some savings. The room he rented is not partitioned, and only he lives with his wife and daughter. The treatment is already high in Heitufang. .
As soon as he entered the house, he saw his daughter, who was only six years old, sitting in the house washing clothes. Her young hands were wrinkled by water, which made Hu Ji'en feel distressed.
Hu Ji put down the cloth bag in his hand, took the washing tub from his daughter's hand, and asked while washing the clothes.
"Where's your mother? Why do you let me do this?"
"Mom, she just fell ill again. I don't want her to have to work hard anymore, so I just want to help. Dad, don't blame mom."
As if she heard a hint of reproach in Hu Ji's words, her daughter timidly explained.
Hu Ji quickly put down his clothes, stood up and said, "Are you sick again? What about the medicine you bought before? Did you give it to your mother?"
"I gave it, but my mother said it wasn't too serious this time. The medicine is expensive, so I should save on it," the daughter said.
Hearing this, Hu Ji frowned immediately, walked out quickly to the back room, opened the bedroom door curtain, and saw his wife lying on the bed.
His wife was extremely thin, her limbs were like long poles, her hair looked like grass, and there was no blood on her dark yellow face. The blue-gray spots looked particularly scary.
When she heard the movement of Hu Jiyuan approaching, she turned her head with difficulty and glanced at the door, with surprise in her muddy eyes.
"Aji, why did you come back so early today?"
"The caravan didn't have enough people for a while, so they asked me to go back and wait for news. But you, didn't I tell you that you can't save money and just buy medicine when you are sick? Why do you always You won't listen to me." Hu Ji murmured, while taking out the wooden box from under the table next to the bed.
He opened the wooden box, his eyes narrowed for a moment, then he pretended to be nonchalant, took out a dark pill from it, then stood up and went to scoop a bowl of water from the water tank in the house.
The water in the water tank is not clear of tide, but has a faint green color, and it also smells faintly. How can ordinary people dare to drink it casually after seeing it.
But this water is the only water that the people in Heishifang can obtain. It comes from the wells in the square that lead directly to underground rivers. The water quality is extremely poor, so it is not valued by the monks in the city. Ping Youli only has Only mortals drink it.
Hu Ji supported his wife and fed her the medicine. Seeing that her complexion was much worse than when she was in prison, he was secretly anxious, but he was afraid of making his wife worried, so he didn't show it on his face.
Then, he comforted his wife with a few words, got up, left the bedroom, and came to an altar table in the main room.
On the table. A tablet with the three words "Heihe God" written on it is very finely made and decorated with indispensable patterns and words.
Hu Ji glanced at the memorial tablets, then went to get the cloth bag he had put down when he entered the door, and took out a brand new altar table.
There are only four small characters on this tablet: "Benefactor Yuan Ming". The workmanship is slightly worse than the tablet of Heihe God, but it still shows its good intentions.
Hu Ji placed the memorial tablet, then knelt down in front of the altar table, kowtowed three times respectfully, and bowed his head to pray for a while. Then he actually got under the altar table and took out a small bag of gold from a hidden compartment underneath. Yin hid it in his arms, told his daughter a few words, and then turned around to go home.
Soon after, he brought the hidden gold and silver to the two-story house. After hesitating for a moment, he walked up and knocked on the door.
"Who is it? Hey, this isn't Brother Hu Ji. What are you doing here in broad daylight?" Yiqing, a fat man, opened the door, looked at Hu Ji and said.
Hu Ji lowered his head and said, "Master Divine Envoy, I'm here to buy medicine."
Hearing this, the man's eyes lit up, and his face was filled with fat, and a smile appeared on his face.
"It's easy to buy medicine, but recently, there have been too many people suffering from leprosy in the city, and the medicine given by the Black River God is not enough. The price is probably much higher than before."
Hu Ji took a deep breath and gritted his teeth: "Don't worry, Lord God, I brought a lot of money this time."
As he spoke, he handed over the bag hidden in his arms.
The man took the bag and weighed it. A satisfied smile suddenly appeared on his face. He stepped out of the way and let Hu Ji into the house.
