Chapter 129: Unt.i.tled
The flying ant finally flew to the upper end of the statue and stopped at the shoulder of the human-faced snake.
However, the endless black gas wrapped around the flying ant. It could be considered a demon among mutated beasts. When it sensed the black gas, it seemed to have a nourishing effect. The flying ant, which was originally the size of a bowl, began to grow larger.
It became the size of a basketball, but Li Yuanqing forced it to return to its original appearance. Then, it quickly left the statue. When the flying ants looked back, it was already certain that with this statue in the inner city, the demons would have the upper hand.
In the night, there was an aura that could nourish demons.
If Li Yuanqing had not cultivated the Aura Divination Art, he would not have been able to see through the black aura in front of him. If he had not controlled the flying ants, he would naturally not have known the secret of this statue.
The Man-eating Vine quickly retreated. It found a place with soil and desperately took root, swimming underground. However, when it wanted to enter the soil under the statue, it realized that it could not enter at all, nor could it dig its roots into the soil. There were restrictions inside. It could not enter this place no matter how hard it tried.
The ground was like an iron wall which could not be penetrated at all. This was a huge blow to the Man-eating Vine that could even pierce through rocks, causing it to twist its body desperately.
In the blink of an eye, all the roots and vines were released, attempting to enter the underground. Even Li Yuanqing’s attention was on the man-eating vine.
Now, he was certain that there was something wrong with the statue of this Demon King. However, the foundation at the bottom of the statue could not be entered at all. It was not ordinary soil. This meant that he was exposing something. There must be some secret.
However, they could not enter now, so they naturally could not know everything inside.
Although the Man-eating Vine had thought of a way to enter and did not want to miss a single inch, it still had no choice. It could not enter unless it destroyed this restriction or found a way to sneak in.
There were only two choices!
He was not familiar with this town yet, so it seemed to be quite difficult to sneak in. Li Yuanqing felt that he could explore the way first and destroy the restriction later.
Li Yuanqing felt that it was not difficult to destroy the restrictions. What was difficult was how to leave this place without alerting outsiders. A place that was surrounded by restrictions would definitely be watched at all times, let alone a landmark of this city.
A statue of the Demon King?
Li Yuanqing still had a lot of gains that night. When the man-eating vines and flying ants returned, the traces on the ground had been cleared. There was even the sound of patrols knocking on the lice outside.
It was very clear in the night.
He had gained a lot that night. There were indeed secrets in a town where humans and demons lived. Moreover, the humans were suppressed here. The deaths of the previous house owners of this courtyard were probably related to the statue of the Demon King in this city.
Li Yuanqing walked to the courtyard and looked into the city. The place was brightly lit, and the entire statue was as tall as a small mountain. Even if he stood in the courtyard, he could still see the huge statue.
This town had slowly gathered into a town because of this statue. Who would have thought that an ordinary-looking human would have designs on that statue on the first day he arrived?
The inner city was very lively at night because it was where the demons lived.
And those demons would also be exceptionally energetic at night. Their cups of wine were intertwined with songs and dances, and the entire city was like a sleepless night. It was filled with noise and excitement.
The statue with a human face and a snake body looked down at everything quietly.
After dawn, Li Yuanqing planned to go out and stroll around town. The biggest selling point of this house was that it was especially close to the market. After coming out from the back door and making a few turns, they arrived at the market outside the city.
The market was filled with human martial artists selling supplies one after another. There were all kinds of things sold there. There were all kinds of strange materials from various small worlds and materials from the catacombs.
They had all gathered at this small market, dazzling everyone.
Although Li Yuanqing was experienced and knowledgeable, he only knew that the Catacombs were too powerful after arriving at the market. There were countless things inside that he had never seen before.
All kinds of spiritual herbs, spiritual tea, and plants, as well as many ores and medicinal pills that contained spiritual energy, and even some things that could be called Dharma treasure fragments appeared in this market.
Li Yuanqing was most interested in those spiritual plants that could be planted and nurtured, as well as some species that he had never seen before.
Because his domain lacked such things.
Soon, his gaze locked onto a three-foot-tall plant that looked like a peach tree. He stood by the stall and asked about the price of this spiritual plant.
“Twenty spirit stones, no bargaining. This peach tree has spiritual energy. Not only can the fruit it bears extend one’s lifespan, but it can also revive the dead. As long as one hasn’t stopped breathing and still has a trace of vitality, one can survive after eating this fruit!”
The stall owner was an old man who looked to be in his sixties or seventies. He hurriedly introduced it to Li Yuanqing when he saw that he was interested in this. He said that the spirit peach was extremely precious, but Li Yuanqing felt that something was wrong.
If there was such a good fruit tree, why would it only sell for twenty spirit stones? He could probably sell it for two thousand or twenty thousand spirit stones!
“Then how long will it take for this spirit peach to mature?”
“This, this, it grows every thousand years and blooms every thousand years. It will bear fruit in another thousand years!”
The stall owner stammered, but he could not resist Li Yuanqing’s questions. In the end, he could only tell the truth. So it took almost three thousand years for the spiritual peach to ripen?
Even if their lifespans were longer and they did not break through to the Spirit Transformation realm, they would only have a few hundred years of lifespan at most. It was indeed not worth it to use a few hundred years of lifespan to guard a tree that could only see benefits after three thousand years.
No wonder it only cost twenty spirit stones. No, even twenty spirit stones felt expensive.
“And that, is it a pear tree? Or what are those, and how do you sell them?”
As expected, after the stall owner said that the spiritual peach tree would take three thousand years to bear fruit, Li Yuanqing stopped asking. He only turned around to ask how to sell the other spiritual plants.
Many spiritual plants were similar to some fruits that Li Yuanqing had eaten in his previous life. They were jujube trees, pear trees, cherries, and so on.
This stall was selling everything. He asked the stall owner for the price. This time, he hesitated. The price was fifteen spirit stones, all fifteen spirit stones. He did not bargain. This made Li Yuanqing laugh in his heart.
Hu Jiujiu, on the other hand, looked at her master and asked about many spiritual plants. They were all strange fruit trees or some common spiritual plants that could refine pills. Li Yuanqing was very interested in them.
Hu Jiujiu calculated in her heart and bargained with the stall owner.
“If I buy all of these, how much will they cost?”
Hu Jiujiu pointed at the large pile of spiritual plants and heard the stall owner hesitate for a moment before opening his mouth to bid 200 spirit stones. Li Yuanqing calculated in his heart. There were more than ten spiritual plants in the large pile. If these were sent into the domain, they should be able to be planted alive.
Therefore, just as he was about to agree, he heard Hu Jiujiu bargaining.
“A hundred. What do you think?”
“How can you bargain like this?” The stall owner said angrily. He would be able to get two hundred spirit stones when he sold these spiritual plants. This was a huge sum of money. If only this person could increase it a little!
Hu Jiujiu saw the stall owner’s hesitation and rejection.
“A hundred and thirty spirit stones. If you want to sell it, sell it. If you don’t sell it, I’ll go to the shop elsewhere to take a look. Who can keep a spiritual plant that bears fruit once every three thousand years!”
As Hu Jiujiu spoke, she pulled Li Yuanqing to the next shop. This market was very big and stretched for several miles. There were all kinds of things sold here. Perhaps they would reach the next shop soon and there would be something cheaper.
Indeed, women seemed to be born to bargain. Hu Jiujiu was stopped.
In the end, Li Yuanqing paid one hundred and fifty spirit stones and bought more than ten spiritual plants and spiritual herbs. He planned to put them into his domain to reproduce in the future.
“Master, so you like these spiritual plants. Let’s go and look for more in front. There might be better things for you to keep⦔
Hu Jiujiu was also very happy to cut down fifty spirit stones in one go. The stall owner was even happier.
It was still better to do business here. Just this business alone would earn him enough money to last him for a year and a half. This market was really a blessed land. It was much easier than searching for these things in the wild.
Li Yuanqing’s gaze landed on the market. One by one, he looked over. Soon, a spiritual plant attracted his attention. That thing had surprised him. He was afraid that he had seen it wrongly, so he started chatting with the stall owner.
The stall owner had already seen the scene of them buying the spiritual plants generously. He was abnormally polite to the two of them. He picked up a green plant that Li Yuanqing had his eyes on and started introducing it.
“This is rice grains. This doesn’t need to ripen every three thousand years. Under normal circ.u.mstances, it will ripen every three years. However, if you use the Spirit Gathering Array to plant this thing, it will ripen in a few days. Not only does each grain of rice have spiritual energy, but it also tastes especially good. Therefore, this small bundle of rice grains is sold for ten spirit stones!”
The item that the stall owner was holding was very similar to the rice that Li Yuanqing remembered in his previous life. There were more than ten stalks in total.
At this moment, the grains of rice were still green.
After hearing his introduction, the situation became more and more similar to the rice in his memory. The price did not feel expensive either. Li Yuanqing was about to agree immediately, but looking at Hu Jiujiu, he pushed her out.
He was not stupid.
Hu Jiujiu had easily saved him fifty spirit stones from the two hundred spirit stones just now. Then, he would leave this to her to bargain with.
Soon, Li Yuanqing received the ten grains of rice with seven spirit stones and was satisfied. If he was not wrong, he would use his spiritual energy to quickly mature these grains of rice, leaving behind seeds to reproduce in large quant.i.ties.
It probably wouldn’t be long before he could eat white rice every day.
Although he no longer had to satisfy his appet.i.te, eating was a very happy and ritualistic thing, so Li Yuanqing missed it very much.
In the future, before he found his way home, he wanted to return to the kind of life he had in his previous life as soon as possible. It would be awesome if he could eat rice, stir-fry, drink wine and milk tea, listen to songs, and occasionally watch beautiful women sing and dance.
Therefore, he would start raising wild boars, rabbits, and so on in his domain. He would also think of raising deer, cows, and so on. In the future, he would plant fruit trees and get some food. He could even make wine. Just the thought of it was beautiful!
Li Yuanqing walked and stopped at the market. Sometimes, he would find that many people seemed to be in awe of them, especially when they saw Hu Jiujiu. For some reason, they were especially respectful.
There were even people from the patrol team who came over to ask Hu Jiujiu if she needed any help.
Li Yuanqing tacitly became her follower when he saw that so many people treated Hu Jiujiu as the master. He did not say anything and just followed Hu Jiujiu.
In any case, she was attracting attention in front of him. He just needed to keep a low profile.
If he liked something, he would give Hu Jiujiu a look. Naturally, Hu Jiujiu would immediately bargain for him and pay the bill. She would buy what he wanted, but she would still enjoy it.
Along the way to the market, there were many human martial artists. However, almost all of them were peak martial artists. There were very few first-stage Grotto-Heaven Realm cultivators.
There were also many demons who had transformed. Occasionally, some of them did not succeed in their transformation. They still retained some of the characteristics of the demons, which could be seen at a glance. And some of the strength of those demons couldn’t even be compared to a Little Demon.
Therefore, when some demons saw Hu Jiujiu, many of their eyes widened. They were also inexplicably in awe of Hu Jiujiu. After all, she could successfully transform. Furthermore, such a beautiful and moving demon must have an extremely powerful bloodline.
The demons care the most about bloodline. They could be Little Demons, but they would have different bloodlines. Some could directly crush opponents of the same level or even surpa.s.s them. Moreover, the demons did not have to focus on cultivation like human cultivators.
Many times, it was very easy for one to transform and advance with their bloodline. This made many human cultivators extremely envious.
Hu Jiujiu ignored those fawning demons. At this moment, she was accompanying Li Yuanqing to the market to see if he needed anything.
Along the way, Li Yuanqing bought a lot of things and threw them into his domain.
Fortunately, he had a lot of spirit stones. It was not particularly expensive to buy those things. However, it did not make him feel pain. Instead, he felt very happy. If he could walk around the market more, there would be more and more treasures in his domain.
As they walked, they had already deviated from the most lively place in the market. Instead, they walked into a few small alleys. There were also cultivators setting up stalls in those alleys, but they were spa.r.s.e. Some people did not have many things in front of them.
There were also very few people strolling around. It was a little deserted.
There were a few things that attracted Li Yuanqing’s attention. Although those things could not be thrown into his domain, they were very useful to him.