Chapter 1342 - Deer City
The path that the bandits ambushed obviously would not be devoid of any human activity. The entire path permeated with the smell of humans, and as they continued onwards, the smell became heavier and heavier.
Along the way, Zhu Yingcai showed this senior, Li Qingshan, as much respect as he could. He made conversation endlessly. When Li Qingshan showed even the slightest hint of good will towards him, he dropped down to his knees and accepted him as his master immediately.
Li Qingshan countered with a question. “Aren’t you trying to join the Myriad sect? How can you take me on as your master?”
“Err… the Myriad sect is so large, so they shouldn’t care about a trifle like this, right?”
Zhu Yingcai faltered with his words, clearly not particularly familiar with the rules of the Myriad sect. Compared to the distant Myriad sect, he preferred Li Qingshan more. Otherwise, if he encountered any bandits along the way again, he would probably never reach the Myriad sect. However, making him give up on joining the Myriad sect to follow an unknown person for cultivation was completely impossible.
“Heh, so I’m just a trifle.”
Li Qingshan was slightly disappointed. Zhu Yingcai knew very little about the Myriad sect, basically only rumours combined with guesses, nothing that was particularly useful. He was only a Qi Pract.i.tioner after all, and this was the Human realm on top of that. Qi Pract.i.tioners were not a lot stronger than mortals here. If he had not been fortunate enough to encounter him, he basically would have become a meal in the bandits’ mouths already.
“No, no, no. A day as a master, a master forever. No matter what happens in the future, you’ll always be my master!” Zhu Yingcai swore, but it clearly was not persuasive at all.
“We’ll see!”
At this moment, their vision abruptly opened up. Before they knew it, they had emerged from the mountain forest. At the end of the path was a village. By now, it was already getting late, but not a single plume of smoke rose up from the village. There were no signs of activity from livestock either.
At a closer glance, it turned out to be an abandoned village, having been abandoned only recently. A few feral dogs that were so skinny that their bones jutted out fought over a starved corpse that was just as thin. They bared their fangs and barked when they saw someone approach them.
Li Qingshan glanced over. With that, the wild dogs lay down on the ground with a whimper, wagging their tails furiously like pet dogs that had just seen their masters. Perhaps recently, they really were pet dogs.
Zhu Yingcai was surprised. He raised a blade he had found in the bandits’ base and charged forwards valiantly. “Senior, would you like me to butcher these mongrels for a special meal?”
Li Qingshan said indifferently, “There’s probably quite a lot of human flesh in their belly.”
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“Human flesh!” Zhu Yingcai’s face changed before glancing at the dismembered body on the ground again. He covered his mouth in a hurry.
“What is this place?”
Li Qingshan found many mixed scents in the air. Apart from blood, there were also weapons. Many people who did not belong to this village forced their way in here, taking away everyone. The people who could not leave all starved to death here.
The Human realm is far too unreliable. They have immortals for heaven’s sake, even True Immortals at that, yet it seems so turbulent. Can they not show me something like this right when I chose the benevolent path of the qilin?
Zhu Yingcai took out a sheepskin map from the bamboo basket on his back and studied it carefully. “Ah, this is inside the White Deer country!”
“Is it very famous?”
“Of course! It’s extremely famous! It’s only a few hundred kilometres across, but the capital city of the White Deer country is renowned for its prosperity. There’ll definitely be something to eat there!”
Li Qingshan felt even hungrier. He glanced at the sheepskin map and said, “Then let’s go!”
He casually grabbed Zhu Yingcai and sailed off, vanishing into the descending curtain of night as the latter let out piercing screams.
Li Qingshan concealed all of the transformations from the Nine Transformations of the Demonic and Divine and only used the Sovereign’s Limit Record of World Destruction. Coupled with the restraint from the laws of the Human realm, he flew no faster than a bird, but a few hundred kilometres would not take too long. By the time they had descended outside White Deer city, Zhu Yingcai collapsed on the ground and emptied out his stomach as he gazed at Li Qingshan in utter respect.
“Senior- you can- fly- don’t tell me- you’re- a Soul Nascence cultivator?”
Li Qingshan said with great disdain, “Can’t you talk to me after you’re done vomiting? But this is the land of prosperity you spoke of?”
Right ahead were city gates that were engraved with “Deer City” at the top, except there were shacks of various sizes standing outside the gates, enveloping the entire city. It was bustling with human noise, with moans and even wails. Even from so far away, Li Qingshan could smell the stench.
Alarmed by Zhu Yingcai’s cries, a group of famished farmers dressed in tatters surrounded them with broken weapons or even just ploughs and bamboo sticks.
“W- who are you? Where are you from?”
“How dare you! How dare you disrespect senior like this! Great Dragon Fire technique!”
With Li Qingshan beside him, Zhu Yingcai became particularly brave, cutting down the bamboo pole in front of him before waving his hand and producing a smear of flames. It illuminated the frightened faces, singing some hair and eyebrows.
Li Qingshan could clearly tell that it was not this guy holding back. Instead, this was all he was capable of when he used his full strength. It was basically no better than putting on a show. However, the true qi in his dantian was extremely pure and condensed, such that even Foundation Establishment cultivators from the nine provinces could not match it. At the same time, there was an extremely small amount too. Just this “trick” he performed had used up most of it. It was no wonder why he stood no chance against the bandits.
“Ah, it’s the incompetent ruler’s magician! He must have come to gather military intelligence! Report him to the general!”
The farmers retreated with cries before tossing aside their “weapons” and fleeing.
“Military intelligence!”
Only now did Li Qingshan realise the shacks were military camps. It even resembled a siege. These people were probably an army of rebels composed of refugees. Everything he had seen in the abandoned village now made sense.
He did not want to fly into the city directly, as he could potentially be noticed by observant people. However, the city gates were firmly shut right now, so he had no other choice. All he could do was erase his aura as much as possible. Then he grabbed Zhu Yingcai before leaping over the walls.
The guards on the walls were quite relaxed. The officers and men lounged around, even drinking alcohol and gambling with each other, paying absolutely no attention to the army of rebels outside the city. None of them noticed the figure that had suddenly appeared on the city walls.
Only one person suddenly widened his eyes, but when he blinked them, the figure was already gone, which made him rub his eyes. He cursed, “f.u.c.king h.e.l.l! The others are drinking in Deer Cry garden, yet I just happened to be stationed here!”
As he walked through the streets, Li Qingshan finally learned that Zhu Yingcai was telling the truth. This Deer city was indeed a land of prosperity. It was already night time yet people bustled about everywhere, forming a flourishing scene. Only a wall separated them from the outside, yet it seemed like two different worlds.
It truly lived up to its t.i.tle as Deer city too. There were deer everywhere, both male and female, both young and old, strolling through the streets leisurely. Not only were they not afraid of the people, but the pedestrians even gave way to them. It was a wondrous sight of harmony between man and nature.
However, there were quite a few numb-looking beggars dressed in tatters on the streets, begging for alms as they were chased around. A single wall could not separate a world into two after all.
He even discovered that more pedestrians fed the deer than offered alms to the beggars. The utterly-famished beggars ogled at the plump deer walking around hungrily, but none of them dared to do anything.
Humans are less than deer. What a strange sight. Can this still be called the Human realm? If I caught one and ate it, I wonder what’ll happen.
He shook his head and discarded these thoughts that would only lead to trouble. He raised his head and sucked in a deep breath. The various smells of the cities entered his nostrils. He chose the most tempting scent and made his way through the crowd.
Zhu Yingcai followed close behind. His eyes swivelled around as he wondered how he was supposed to fool Li Qingshan into going to the Myriad sect. Even if he could not become his master, he could still serve as a bodyguard. With Li Qingshan’s ability to fly, probably just a day was enough for them to make it to his destination, which would save a great deal of trouble.
Li Qingshan made his way onto a stone bridge. The water beneath the bridge gurgled away as boats drifted along the river. The fragrance came from a building blazing with light. The pleasant voices of women and musical instruments rang out from there endlessly. The intense smell of cosmetics had already drowned out the fragrance of food. He knew what kind of place that was even without guessing.
It truly was the oldest human profession. However, when it came to the poem lines “courtesans knew no hatred of fallen kingdoms, still singing about their fall in the parlour across the river”, even someone as crude as Li Qingshan found it very familiar.
He could not help but think of Qiu Haitang. While they did meet a few times towards the end, they still spent more time apart than together. The broken red thread of lovesickness brought her great grief too, but she did feel much better after sleeping together.
“Senior, senior! Wait for me!”
Zhu Yingcai rushed over as he gasped for air, catching up with Li Qingshan after quite the difficulty. All he saw was a faint smile on his handsome, delicate face, revealing an expression of reminiscence. He gave off an indescribable sense of gentleness and harmony as if he glowed faintly, which left Zhu Yingcai dumbfounded. He could not help but think, Senior saved my life. If I’m still trying to use him, do I still have any humanity left in me?
A few pa.s.sing women on the side on the bridge became enthralled by him, almost falling into the water.
However, they were not the ones that were most sensitive to him. Instead, it was a group of young beggars, impossible to distinguish as boys or girls, that gathered over with the desire for survival. It was like they had witnessed the arrival of true “life”. They raised their bowls at him.
“Sir, could you spare me something! I’m almost starving to death.” “Me too, me too! It’s been three days since I had anything!” “Boohoohoohoo!” Others downright burst into sobs, their faces covered in snot and tears.
Immediately, they completely surrounded Li Qingshan. Seeing how skinny and scrawny they were, they all seemed quite pitiful. With a wave of his hand, he said, “C’mon, I’ll invite you to a feast!”
The little beggars fell silent. Those raising a ruckus forgot to raise a ruckus, while those crying forgot to cry too. Originally, they only wanted some coins from him, but they never expected it to turn into a feast. By the time they returned to their senses, they had let out cheers and followed behind him, rushing towards the building blazing with lights. Li Qingshan did not care what that place was. When he ate, he would obviously be eating the best.
Only now did Zhu Yingcai return to his senses, following along in a hurry. He sang praises of Li Qingshan inside, Visiting a brothel with a group of young beggars? Senior truly is an eminent master! You can’t even think of something like this if you’re not senior! But with how kind senior is, if I ask him to take me with him for a part of the journey, he probably won"t decline, right?
Li Qingshan strode away, parting the crowd as he approached the largest hole of money and house of joy in Deer city. All the beggars on the streets caught wind of this and moved too, following behind him.
He both resembled the king of children, as well as the leader of the beggar’s gang, but he forgot about something. He did not even have a single coin on him. Why would he ever store something like common gold and silver in his sumeru ring? Even if he thought of this, he would probably just sneer inside. I even eat people without paying, so why would I pay when I eat food?
Suddenly, his heart skipped a beat. He felt a pair of eyes watching him, and he heard the strange cry of a deer. He looked back, but all he saw was the clear moon. Deer cries rose and fell throughout the entire city. It was probably just an illusion.