Slovenly Daoist

By the time Chen Yan left the old woman's home, it was already noon.

As usual, one point of merit had come in, bringing Chen Yan's total merit to two points.

Honestly, after tasting the sweetness of the Skin-Peeling Puppet's hundred points of merit, the single point he earned from doing one good deed a day moved Chen Yan to tears.

But no matter how short a mosquito's leg was, it was still meat. How did that saying go again?

Short was cute too.

As he stepped outside, Chen Yan noticed several Rebirth Cult members dressed in white coming and going through the shantytown.

The shantytown where the old woman lived was already the poorest area of Shanxi Town. Its residents were all disaster victims and refugees who had settled in Shanxi Town. It could be said that the refugees of the shantytown were the Rebirth Cult's ideal targets for recruitment.

There was nothing Chen Yan could do about that. He could only warn the old woman not to blindly trust the Rebirth Cult's words and to keep her distance from its people. As for everyone else, Chen Yan had no solution. He could only hope that the Shanxi County yamen would take notice of this strange organization soon.

After leaving the shantytown, Chen Yan did not hurry home. Instead, he headed straight for the inner city.

Before leaving today, he had brought all nine hundred and forty-eight copper coins he owned. His target was naturally the blacksmith shop in the inner city, where he planned to buy a new woodcutter's knife.

But after walking only a short while, a figure blocked his path.

Chen Yan looked up warily and saw that the figure was a scruffy old Daoist.

The old Daoist's beard and hair were both white, dry as withered grass. His face was flushed red from drink, his drunken eyes half-lidded. His Daoist robe was covered in grease and grime, and a pattern of a winged flying fish could vaguely be seen upon it. The sour stench rolling off him was clear even from afar, and every passerby wore a look of disgust as they gave him a wide berth.

"What do you mean by this?" Chen Yan asked guardedly.

"Heh heh." The Slovenly Daoist grinned awkwardly and smacked his lips. "Could this little brother lend this old Daoist one tael of silver to buy wine? Tomorrow, you may take this item to the Shanxi County yamen to find me. Rest assured, little brother, this old Daoist knows the rules—nine out, thirteen back."

As he spoke, he took out a bronze seal and handed it over. The seal had a dragon's head, a fish's body, and wings growing beneath its belly. It looked quite similar to the flying fish on the old Daoist's robe—or rather, it was the same creature.

Chen Yan gave the old Daoist a look as though he were an idiot.

How was this any different from saying, "I am the First Emperor of Qin, send me money"?

Besides, this scruffy old Daoist looked sleazy and cunning, clearly no good person. Compared to Daoist Master Zhang, the Temple Master of Bai Yun Guan, who possessed the bearing of an immortal and the bones of a sage, he was worlds apart.

Shaking his head, Chen Yan could not even be bothered to say another word. He turned aside, walked around the Slovenly Daoist, and continued toward the inner city.

Having failed to borrow any money, the old Daoist did not pester him, but neither did he leave easily.

He simply trailed behind Chen Yan, neither too close nor too far.

Chen Yan glanced at him and ignored him.

The man's legs belonged to himself. Could Chen Yan stop him from going wherever he pleased?

But if the other man harbored evil intentions, Chen Yan would make this old Daoist properly taste the edge of his woodcutter's knife!

Thus, the two walked one before the other. After about half an hour, Shanxi Blacksmith Shop came into view in the distance.

Before he even entered, Chen Yan saw quite a few people coming and going from the blacksmith shop.

Because of the several massacres that had wiped out entire families, all caused by the Skin-Peeling Puppet, everyone in Shanxi Town now lived in fear. Those who could flee to seek refuge elsewhere had naturally done so. Those with no way to leave could only think of ways to protect themselves, and for self-protection, nothing was better than buying weapons.

Standing at the blacksmith shop's entrance, Chen Yan saw that the place was bustling and blazing with activity. A wave of heat rushed straight at him.

Chen Yan had just raised his foot to enter when the scruffy old Daoist, who had followed him all the way to the blacksmith shop, suddenly spoke from behind him.

"Ordinary weapons cannot harm evil entities."

Upon hearing this, Chen Yan stopped and turned around, looking at the Slovenly Daoist with vigilance. "What do you mean by that?"

Faced with Chen Yan's piercing stare, the old Daoist did not care in the slightest. He lazily continued, "Didn't you just slaughter an evil entity a few days ago, boy?"

As he spoke, he looked Chen Yan up and down again, paying particular attention to his middle finger, where a blood scab had already formed. Seemingly coming to a realization, he said, "So you used Heart's Yang Blood to break Baleful Intent? Hmm. Your qi and blood are spilling outward—it seems you only recently changed your blood. A Blood-Changing Martial Artist's Heart's Yang Blood contains a trace of Innate Pure Yang Qi. Your luck was rather good, boy. You stumbled into it by accident."

Before he had even finished, however, the old Daoist abruptly changed the subject. "But a person only has so much Innate Pure Yang Qi. Use one trace, and that is one trace less. Trying to replenish it will be harder than climbing to heaven. If you consume too much Yang Blood, boy, your days will be numbered."

At this point, the Slovenly Daoist smiled at Chen Yan. "Well? Are you still planning to buy ordinary weapons? Forgive this old Daoist for speaking plainly, but ordinary weapons can only handle ordinary people. If you face evil ghosts and monstrous entities again, these ordinary weapons will be useless. You can only keep consuming your Heart's Yang Blood. And against some powerful evil entities, even Heart's Yang Blood will be useless."

"So... young man, will you still insist?"

"Were you the one behind what happened last night?!"

In an instant!

Chen Yan's gaze flashed like lightning as his eyes locked onto the Slovenly Daoist. At some point, his right hand had already gripped the handle of his woodcutter's knife.

"Hey, hey, hey! Don't you go spitting blood at people, boy! This old Daoist eats the government's rice—I would never do something that would make my son be born with a rotten asshole!" the old Daoist cried strangely.

Chen Yan frowned. Rather than saying whether he believed him or not, he asked, "If ordinary weapons are useless, then what weapons are useful? Magic Tools?"

"Heh! Even if someone gave you a Magic Tool now, you wouldn't be able to use it." The Slovenly Daoist chuckled, then added meaningfully, "However, aside from Magic Tools, it is not as though there are no other ways to harm evil entities."

"What method?"

The old Daoist did not answer. Instead, he took off the empty wine gourd hanging at his waist and gave it a shake, then smacked his lips. His meaning could not have been clearer.

Seeing this, Chen Yan touched the nine hundred and forty-eight copper coins in his robe, hesitation on his face.

Perhaps seeing Chen Yan's difficulty, the old Daoist smiled again. "Don't worry. My method only costs one hundred copper coins."

Half an hour later.

Chen Yan emerged expressionlessly from a wine shop. Behind him, the Slovenly Daoist took a deeply satisfied gulp of wine, then let out a loud belch.

"What you said had better be true," Chen Yan said without expression.

He had only nine hundred and forty-eight copper coins in total, yet this old Daoist had spent nearly half of it at once. The remaining four hundred-odd coins were not even enough to cover three days of meals for Chen Yan.

He had already decided that if this old Daoist was deceiving him, he would sink him in a pond and feed him to the fish.

The old Daoist's hand holding the wine gourd trembled. Dissatisfied, he said, "You young fellow, you're not old, yet your killing intent is quite heavy. Don't be so murderous..."

"Just follow this old Daoist."

With that, he hooked the wine gourd on his finger and headed in a certain direction.