The Mad Ox and the Girl

April 1, clear skies. Auspicious for opening a business and weddings; avoid wearing red.

Moo~

Hanyu lay limp across the back of a yellow ox, arms and legs sprawled out, swaying from side to side as the ox ambled along.

Drowsy atop the ox, Hanyu occasionally tugged the reins to keep it from wandering off course. The rest of the time, he kept his eyes closed.

Or so it seemed. In truth, he spent the whole time in his head, chattering away at the Glazed Bottle.

"Come on, say something! Give me a sign, will you?"

"If nothing else, move a little so I know you can hear me! Can't we have a conversation?"

The Glazed Bottle remained as still as a mountain, quietly floating in his mind. No matter how much Hanyu prattled until his mouth went dry, it didn't react.

This was the day Hanyu had set out again after hiding out—no, taking a break—for half a month.

Ever since he'd been thrown out of Yujin Prefecture, Hanyu had stuck to the small roads. Eventually, he'd wandered into a little village.

The villagers were very welcoming, and Hanyu had planned to stay for a month or so, until the Nine Ox Great Strength Pill's side effects wore off.

From now on, he wouldn't take any pill without first analyzing it word for word.

Over those two weeks, all sorts of strange pills had appeared. He'd helped a septuagenarian woman grow back the half of her teeth she'd lost, restoring them to a young person's condition. The side effect was that her digestive system had weakened.

Now the old woman could only gaze at platters of chicken, duck, and fish while holding a bowl of thin porridge, chewing the grains to mush with her fine new teeth before swallowing.

A-Qiang, the fishmonger next door, complained every day that his wife, A-Zhen, always wore a sour face, and that they could barely sell a few pieces of tofu at their stall.

After taking the pill, A-Zhen became friendly with everyone, and business at the tofu stall boomed. But A-Qiang lost all interest in selling fish. Several times, he'd seen Tianji, a young man from the neighborhood, circling the tofu stall and making A-Zhen laugh delightedly.

So A-Qiang gave up his fishmongering business, and he and his wife started selling tofu together.

One day, Hanyu got an Insect Repelling Pill. Out of kindness, he dissolved it in water and scattered it over the village's fields. The locusts did lose interest in the crops, but the village's chickens, ducks, and geese suffered instead, chased and bitten by swarms of locusts every day.

The village's sour-faced scholar had failed the imperial exams time and again. Now well into his forties, he still clutched the sages' books, while his old wife could only secretly wipe away tears whenever life grew hard. After hearing about Hanyu's miraculous pills, she secretly brought one over.

The scholar lost interest in books and spent every day working in the fields. What worried his wife was that he'd developed an overwhelming passion for plowing. He didn't drive the ox; he took apart the plow's handles, harnessed himself to it, and pulled it through the fields.

Those were just the strange happenings Hanyu happened to witness. For some of the more bizarre effects, he had to coax people into taking the pills.

One person suddenly became brilliant overnight, then lost all their hair.

A timid person suddenly grew bold, but kept meowing now and then.

Someone who was night-blind suddenly became able to thread a needle in the dark, but could barely see during the day...

Over the course of half a month, the little village had descended into chaos.

That morning, the villagers pooled their money to buy an ox. Armed with all kinds of farming tools, they "warmly" "escorted" Hanyu and the ox out of the village.

The yellow ox ambled along the little road, swishing its tail from side to side. Jostled until he was drowsy, Hanyu simply closed his eyes for another nap. Before long, he was snoring.

Gradually, the ox strayed from the path. Following the scent of its favorite grass, it chewed as it went, until it reached the main road.

There were clearly more people on the main road: merchants hurrying along, peddlers on foot with loads balanced on shoulder poles, and cultivators coming and going in haste.

"Tea! Come have some tea!"

Beside the road, a three-meter-tall banner bearing a huge character for "tea" flapped in the wind. At a thatched teahouse built of wood, the waiter waved a sweat towel and called out to passersby.

Six or seven tables had been set beneath the canopy, but business was slow. Only one table was occupied, by three people.

"Do you think we'll get beaten up if we go there like this?"

Zhang Kui forced a faint smile onto his thin face. He was the youngest of the four at the table, a junior brother who had only just joined the sect, barely in his twenties.

Senior Brother Wang Xuanbei had striking brows and bright eyes, and was handsome. At just twenty-five, he was already a cultivator of the Divine Bridge Realm.

Senior Sister Qiu Susu wore a red, pleated Ruyi dress. She had bright eyes, white teeth, and stunning looks, and was the same age as him.

The only difference was that she'd joined the sect an hour before he had.

The plan had been for Senior Brother to take them out for some experience. But along the way, Senior Sister had sweet-talked him into doing her a favor, and that was how they'd ended up here.

Before joining the sect, Qiu Susu had been bound by a marriage contract. Now that she was a cultivator, she naturally had no desire to marry a mortal and return to an ordinary life. The man's family had some influence, so Qiu Susu wanted Wang Xuanbei to stand up for her and cancel the engagement.

"Don't worry. Senior Brother's here!"

Qiu Susu gazed at Wang Xuanbei with adoration and spoke affectionately.

Wang Xuanbei seemed to like hearing that. He nodded and smiled. "It's fine. Breaking off a betrothal isn't difficult."

Qiu Susu was delighted. She covered her little mouth and chatted on and on.

"Hey! Where'd this ox come from? Taking a stroll?"

The waiter suddenly called out in curiosity. At some point, the yellow ox had reached them, leisurely swishing its tail as it ambled along.

"Now that's a sight. Is the ox out for a stroll by itself?" Zhang Kui joked.

"How could it be? There's clearly someone on its back. Take a closer look," Wang Xuanbei said with a laugh, peering at it.

Qiu Susu also looked up. The moment she saw the rider, her chest heaved.

"What's wrong?" Wang Xuanbei noticed her reaction and asked with concern.

"That person's so annoying. I really want to hit him," Qiu Susu said angrily.

"Senior Sister, that doesn't seem right! You don't even know him," Zhang Kui hurriedly urged.

But as soon as he spoke, the red figure suddenly leapt away from the table.

The yellow ox had been peacefully grazing on the roadside. A red figure kept hopping around in front of it, and its eyes gradually turned bloodshot.

Moo!

The ox was riled by the red, too. It stamped its hooves, lowered its horns, and charged.

Hanyu was jolted awake on the ox's back. Rubbing his eyes, he sat up and saw the scenery rushing past. He hurriedly looked behind him.

"Move!"

Hanyu shouted to stop her. What kind of fool tried to wrestle with an ox? Was she not afraid of getting gored to death?

Then he saw her bright red, festive outfit and understood at once. This was his fault!

What was wrong with her? Why dress so festively?

It was already too late to stop her. Qiu Susu drew her sword and stared down the ox's horns, which were about to slam into her chest, without the slightest hint of fear.

Hanyu could only grab the horns and force them to one side. Qiu Susu crashed into the charging ox and was knocked flying.

Hanyu fared no better. After the horns were forced down, he tumbled sideways with the yellow ox, straight over the cliff...

"Senior Sister, I think you just got someone killed."

The timid Zhang Kui hurried to the cliff's edge, his face pale with alarm. He peered down into the deep ravine, swallowed, and spoke.

After Hanyu fell into the ravine, Qiu Susu finally came to her senses. Her face turned deathly pale. "I... I didn't mean to."

"Damn, that hurts!"

At the bottom of the ravine, Hanyu shakily pushed himself upright, clutching his back. Every bone in his body was still buzzing, like steel being struck.

At his feet, the Big Yellow Ox had been smashed to a bloody pulp, reduced to a heap of mangled flesh.

The ravine was quiet, broken only by the chirping of insects.

Green trees surrounded him, their thick foliage blocking the sunlight. The view was dim and dusky, as if shrouded in mist.

Following the light, Hanyu slowly made his way toward the edge. After about fifteen minutes, the path opened up, and the sunlight suddenly dazzled him.

A stone platform lay ahead. When he walked up to it, he could see terraced fields stretching for miles down the mountainside.

Hanyu suddenly understood. This must be Minzhou.

As the old saying went, "Quanzhou's so poor it has only mountains; Yujin's nothing but wilderness; only Minzhou has grain piled high as mountains."

Since ancient times, this place had been the Imperial Court's granary. They said that half the grain stored across the entire realm came from here.

But Hanyu was frustrated. He'd meant to take the small roads, yet ended up on the main road. He hadn't wanted to enter the city, yet somehow he'd taken a shortcut.

By now, climbing all the way back up wasn't practical. His only option was to keep going down.

When he finally stood at the gates of Minzhou Prefecture,

he still hesitated. Should he go in or not?

Would they throw him out again?