The Mad Bull and the Maiden

##DONE## First day of the fourth month, clear. Good for opening business, weddings. Avoid red clothing.

Moo~

Hanyu lay listlessly on a yellow ox's back, limbs splayed, swaying side to side with the ox's undulating gait.

Hanyu on the ox was drowsy. Apart from occasionally pulling the rope to keep the ox from straying, he spent the rest of his time with his eyes closed.

Though his eyes were closed, he was actually chattering incessantly in his mind to the Glazed Bottle.

"Say something! Can't you give me some reaction?"

"If you really can't, just move a little to let me know you can hear me! We can communicate, right?"

The Glazed Bottle remained unmoving as a mountain. It floated quietly in his mind, leaving Hanyu dry-mouthed and hoarse, yet it remained indifferent.

This was the first day of Hanyu's journey again, after half a month of hiding... no! Resting.

After being expelled from Yujin Prefecture, Hanyu had taken back roads, and as he walked, he stumbled into a small village.

The people in the small village were very hospitable. Hanyu wanted to stay there for a month or so, until the side effects of the Nine Ox Great Strength Pill disappeared before leaving.

From now on, for any pill he had to take, he would not consume it until he had thoroughly analyzed every word and sentence.

In half a month, all sorts of strange pills had appeared. He had helped a seventy-year-old woman restore her half-missing teeth to the level of a young person, the side effect being a weakened digestive system.

The old woman could now only look at chicken, duck, and fish, and eat thin congee, using her good teeth to chew the rice even finer before swallowing.

The fishmonger Ah Qiang, who lived next door to the old woman, constantly complained that his wife Ajin always had a scowl on her face, and their tofu stall business couldn't sell a few pieces a day.

After taking the medicine, Ajin became enthusiastic with everyone she met, and the tofu stall business boomed. But Ah Qiang had no interest in selling fish anymore. Several times he saw the young man from next door, Tian Ji, hanging around the tofu stall, making Ajin smile and laugh.

So Ah Qiang gave up selling fish, and the couple started selling tofu together.

One day, Hanyu obtained an Insect Repelling Pill. Out of kindness, he diluted it with water and threw it onto the village's farmland. The locusts indeed lost interest in the crops, but the village's chickens, ducks, and geese suffered. They were chased and bitten by a swarm of locusts every day.

The village's pedantic scholar had repeatedly failed the imperial examinations. Now in his forties, he still held the books of sages. His old wife could only secretly shed tears when facing difficult times. Ever since she heard of Hanyu's miracles, she secretly obtained a pill for him.

The pedantic scholar lost interest in books and spent his days working in the fields. What worried his wife was that the scholar had developed a great interest in plowing. And it wasn't him urging the ox to plow, but rather he had dismantled the plow and hitched himself to the front to pull it.

These were just the things he happened to encounter. Some strange and bizarre effects required Hanyu to coax others into taking them.

Some people gained sudden enlightenment overnight, becoming incredibly intelligent, and then lost all their hair.

Someone timid as a mouse suddenly became brave, but would occasionally meow.

Someone with night blindness could suddenly thread a needle at night, but their vision was blurry during the day...

In half a month, the small village gradually descended into chaos.

This morning, the villagers pooled money to get an ox. The villagers, armed with various farming tools, "enthusiastically" "sent" Hanyu and the ox out of the village.

The yellow ox walked slowly on the small path, wagging its tail from side to side. Hanyu was jolted into drowsiness and simply closed his eyes to catch up on sleep. Soon, he was snoring.

Gradually, the path the yellow ox was taking began to deviate. It smelled the scent and followed its favorite green grass, chewing as it walked onto the main road.

Once on the main road, there were noticeably more people: traveling merchants, peddlers carrying loads on their shoulders, and cultivators coming and going in a hurry.

"Tea! Get your tea here!"

Beside the main road, a banner over three meters tall with a large "Tea" character fluttered in the wind. A tea stall, built of wood and thatched with straw, had a waiter wiping sweat with a towel and leaning out to shout at the passing pedestrians.

Six or seven tables had been set up under the tea stall, but business was not good. Only one table had three people sitting at it.

"Do you think we'll get beaten if we go over there?"

Zhang Kui, with a gaunt face, forced a strained smile. Among the four at the table, he was the youngest, in his early twenties, a junior disciple who had just joined.

The senior disciple, Wang Xuanbei, had sharp sword-like eyebrows and starry eyes. He was handsome, and at just twenty-five years old, he was already a cultivator at the Divine Bridge Realm.

Junior disciple Qiu Susu wore a red pleated ru yi skirt. Her eyes were bright and her teeth were white; she was exceptionally beautiful, the same age as him.

However, she had joined the sect only an hour before him.

Originally, the plan was for the senior disciple to take them out for some experience. But halfway through, the junior disciple acted spoiled and asked the senior disciple for help, which led them here.

It turned out Qiu Susu had a marriage engagement before she joined the sect. However, now that she was a cultivator, she was naturally unwilling to marry a mortal woman and return to a normal life. The groom's family had considerable influence, so Qiu Susu wanted Wang Xuanbei to step in and cancel the engagement for her.

"Don't be afraid, Senior Disciple Brother is here!"

Qiu Susu looked at Wang Xuanbei with adoration and said affectionately.

Wang Xuanbei seemed to be very taken with this. He nodded and said with a light laugh, "It's nothing, just canceling an engagement. It's not difficult."

Qiu Susu naturally beamed with joy, covering her mouth as she chatted happily.

"Hey! Where did a cow come from for a stroll!"

The waiter at the side suddenly exclaimed in curiosity, only to see the yellow ox had arrived at their location at some point, leisurely wagging its tail as it walked slowly.

"How strange, is this yellow ox taking a walk by itself?"

Zhang Kui said with a laugh.

"How is that possible? Someone is clearly on it. Look closer."

Wang Xuanbei peered intently and then said with a smile.

Qiu Susu also looked up. The moment her eyes fell upon it, her chest heaved.

"What's wrong?"

Wang Xuanbei noticed Qiu Susu's unusual behavior and asked with concern.

"That person is so annoying, I really want to hit him."

Qiu Susu said angrily, her face flushed with rage.

"Senior Sister, that's not good! We don't even know him."

Zhang Kui quickly chimed in to dissuade her.

As soon as the words left his mouth, a red figure suddenly leaped from the edge of the table.

The yellow ox was leisurely grazing on some grass by the roadside when a flash of red darted before its eyes, its eyes gradually turning bloodshot.

Moo!

The yellow ox's emotions were also stirred by the red, and it pawed the ground, lowering its horns as it charged.

Hanyu was suddenly jolted awake on the ox's back. He sat up, rubbing his eyes, and looked at the rapidly receding scenery. Terrified, he quickly looked back.

"Get out of the way!"

Hanyu shouted to stop her. Who was this idiot, trying to wrestle with an ox? Wasn't she afraid of being gored to death?

He then saw the bright festive red attire and instantly understood. It was his fault!

What a lunatic! Why are you wearing something so festive?

It was too late to stop her. Qiu Susu drew her sword, seemingly oblivious to the ox horns charging towards her chest.

Hanyu could only desperately grab the ox's horns and forcefully pull them aside. Qiu Susu collided with the charging ox and was instantly sent flying.

Hanyu didn't fare any better. With the ox horns pulled aside, he was flung off the cliff along with the yellow ox…

"Senior Sister, it looks like you've killed someone."

The timid Zhang Kui, his face pale with fear, ran to the edge of the cliff. He looked down at the deep abyss below and swallowed hard.

After Hanyu fell off the cliff, Qiu Susu finally regained her senses. Her face turned ashen. "I… I didn't mean to."

"Damn, that hurts!"

Hanyu shakily got to his feet at the bottom of the cliff, clutching his waist. His entire skeleton was still buzzing, like the sound of fine steel being struck.

Looking down, the large yellow ox had already been smashed into a bloody pulp, a pool of gore.

The bottom of the cliff was quiet, with only the chirping of insects.

Green trees shaded the surroundings, and sunlight was blocked by the dense foliage, making the view dim and hazy.

Hanyu slowly walked towards the periphery, following the light. After about fifteen minutes, the path ahead suddenly opened up, and the sunlight momentarily blinded his eyes.

Ahead was a stone platform. Stepping forward, he could see terraced fields stretching for miles down the mountainside.

Hanyu's heart suddenly cleared. This must be Minzhou.

There's an old saying: Quantai is so poor it only has mountains, Yujin is all barren wilderness as far as the eye can see, but only Minzhou has mountains of grain.

This place had been the imperial granary since ancient times. It was said that half of the entire court's grain reserves came from here.

But Hanyu was frustrated. He had wanted to take a small path but ended up on the main road. He didn't want to enter the city, but he had taken a shortcut.

Climbing back up now was unrealistic. The only way was to go down.

When he finally stood at the gates of Minzhou Prefecture City.

He still hesitated, whether to enter or not.

Would they throw me out again?