The Rebel Armies Rise

Locust Flower Old Lane wasn't very big, and the gong-and-drum procession soon arrived outside Ge Xian's courtyard.

In a daze, he found himself surrounded by a crowd of wraiths. At the same time, two entirely different aromas tangled together and wormed straight into his nose. They seemed to contain some extraordinary power, stirring the greedy worms in Ge Xian's belly until his mouth flooded with saliva. What disgusted him most was that this instinctive hunger wasn't aimed only at the fragrant rice. It was also fixed on the slices of rank, bloody meat.

Ge Xian opened his eyes and saw, sure enough, "Taisui Rice" and "Thigh Meat Slices" inside a row of Bronze Cauldrons.

He didn't want to look at the meat. What truly made Ge Xian raise an eyebrow was that the grains of crystal-clear rice turned blood-red the moment he focused on them for a second glance. At the same time, an intense, inexplicable perception welled up in his heart: this rice must not be eaten. Anyone who ate it would have their life cut short.

The original owner had already known that Taisui Grains couldn't be eaten.

The warning about a shortened lifespan was the latest result of his Supernatural Perception.

But before he could look any closer, the male and female wraiths had already crowded around him. Ge Xian sensed clearly that he didn't know what sort of people they'd been in life, but after becoming ghosts, they all seemed to have taken after their "master." Their eyes were full of distortion, and they radiated a kind of madness held in check by sheer restraint.

As before, after Ge Xian handed over his money, they let him keep his thigh.

But as they left, they were obviously doing it on purpose when they let one comment after another drift into his ears:

"That peddler's pretty well-off, but his savings probably won't last more than a few days."

"What are we supposed to do with someone who keeps refusing to cut off a piece of his flesh and has no money to pay the levy?"

"The master said we could have him as a reward."

"I want to eat his thigh. Both of them."

"I want to eat that tender face of his. Hmph, I've always hated pretty boys."

"You lot are a bunch of brutes. Don't even think about him. Our sisters have already claimed that boy for ourselves. Look how tender he is. He'll keep us sisters fed for three days raw before he dies. We'll have a lovely time."

Clearly, these vicious, twisted male and female wraiths already regarded Ge Xian as a plaything in their hands.

He listened to every word in silence, then returned to the house without a change in expression.

Only now did he truly settle into his new reality. He fully understood what kind of world this was, what sort of age he had landed in, and gradually adjusted to his new identity as Ge Xian, the Dayuan Dynasty Peddler.

The original owner knew his circumstances and had already come up with a plan.

Nothing more than serving as a servant to many masters and a spy with many faces.

He was already someone who had awakened a talent, which set him apart from ordinary people. Though he hadn't found a Cultivation Path yet and couldn't enter the service of an Immortal God, he could easily solve the problem of the wraiths coveting him by using his Supernatural Perception to attach himself to some organization.

More importantly, that would give him a chance to come into contact with the Cultivation World he yearned for.

For that reason, Ge Xian had accepted every invitation sent his way through different channels.

Of course, accepting an invitation was one thing. Whether he could get rewards and benefits from these organizations depended on what valuable intelligence he could offer as a "spy."

Ge Xian had yet to provide any intelligence, so for now he was only an outsider.

No, not even an outsider!

Just a nobody.

"Trying to be a spy for several masters really was a bit reckless."

"But my two talents, Supernatural Perception and Bewitchment, really are perfect for this line of work."

At the thought, Ge Xian immediately got moving.

As a peddler, he usually followed one of two routes to sell his wares. First, he could wander the streets and alleys of the County City, selling to the neighbors. Second, he could go up into the hills and out into the countryside, selling to the townsfolk and villagers.

Earlier, when the Demon County Magistrate had surrounded the city with Demonic Mist, he'd had no choice but to follow the first route.

Later, perhaps the magistrate had realized that plenty of rulers in the surrounding area were even more brutal than he was, so he simply lifted the Demonic Mist and let the county's people come and go as they pleased.

The result? No one fled. Instead, people praised him far and wide as a kind and benevolent ruler.

That was what it meant to be less rotten than the rest.

Even though he could leave the city now, Ge Xian had no intention of going this time.

He wanted to dig up a piece of first-rate Secret Intelligence, and he needed to do it in the city.

With that in mind, Ge Xian changed into a brightly colored short jacket, put on his Felt Hat, and hung a special necklace strung with Eyeball Runes around his neck. Then he went to the corner and hoisted up his fully laden peddler's pack.

Fortunately, his muscle memory was still there. Otherwise, he might not have managed to play Ge Xian so smoothly.

As he passed a broom tied with Seven-Colored Silk Thread, something seemed to occur to him. He flicked it with his foot, sending it onto the bed, and tossed out a line:

"I'll have to trouble you, Sister Bai, to tidy up my humble abode."

"A small token of thanks. Please don't take it amiss."

With that, the fellow went out.

After he left, green smoke drifted through the room, and the lovely young widow dressed in mourning appeared. She didn't bother dwelling on his asking her to clean his room, but looked puzzled as she murmured, "A token of thanks?"

Luckily, she was clever. The moment the words left her mouth, she glanced over and saw her own Soul Residence lying on that impossibly messy, utterly unsightly bed. Putting that together with their conversation from earlier, she understood at once.

Her face flushed scarlet, and she spat fiercely, "That young man is getting more and more shameless."

After spitting, the widow had meant to hold back and not give the fellow what he wanted so easily.

But she loved cleanliness by nature. Before a few breaths had passed, she resigned herself to it and got busy.

By then, Ge Xian had fully settled into character.

As soon as he carried his peddler's pack out the door, he took a rattle drum in hand. He shook it as he began to call out, but he wasn't shouting nonsense. What came out of his mouth was a spirited sales chant, full of rhythm and rises and falls.

Besides listing his wares, he threw in a bit of self-praise:

"Neighbors and customers, the Ge Family Young Man is at your door!"

"All kinds of odds and ends and treasures for sale! I can even recite immortal scriptures and read the wind and water!"

"I can write essays and draw up contracts!"

"I treat cattle and horses, and I can cure little children!"

The fellow swayed along, growing more enthusiastic with every line. Before long, he'd made several sales. Anyone who saw him would have had no reason to suspect him of anything; they'd have taken him for a rather handsome Young Peddler, the sort who always caught the eye of young ladies and pretty young wives.

Soon Ge Xian was strolling through the remote alleys, when in a flash he entered the main street of Qiantang County.

With just one turn, the bustle that had been little more than a distant murmur suddenly sprang into vivid life.

What met his eyes was a scene of bustling street life.

It was lively and prosperous, though it couldn't compare in the least with the modern commercial streets of his previous life.

Still, the hawkers' cries, teahouses and wine shops, and the carriages and horses coming and going... all of it finally dispelled the last trace of discomfort in Ge Xian's heart.

He sighed as though resigning himself to his fate, then grinned and shouted, "I treat cattle, horses, and little children!" as he melted into the crowd.

About half an hour later, a teahouse in a corner of the main street was bustling with activity.

The tea here was cheap, and it was convenient for people passing through, so all kinds had gathered: peddlers who roamed the streets selling their wares, hard-working traveling merchants, and a few rough-and-rowdy martial types.

Whether by design or by chance, one of the peddlers—a very handsome young man—started things off as if showing off. Before long, he'd coaxed the whole crowd into chatting and trading stories.

First, the peddlers and villagers who'd come into the city to trade spoke up, one after another:

"Hey, have you heard? Rouge Town, thirty li outside the city, suffered a disaster the night before last. Some Hanging Ghost came out of nowhere and entered the town. In a single night, several hundred people across the whole town were hanged from the rafters. It was awful."

"That's nothing. Horse-Raising Village next to Rouge Town was targeted by a band of Wilderness Horse Bandits who ate raw flesh and drank blood. They spent several days secretly building a Fly God Temple outside the village. On the day it was finished, the Fly God demon descended and turned everyone in the village, young and old, men and women alike, into fleshy wombs for its demon offspring. The sight... urgh."

"That's not so bad, actually. At least they didn't suffer. Have you heard of Fuyang County next door? Its magistrate, Liu Hua, either went astray in his cultivation or something else happened to him. In the dead of night, he suddenly went mad, turning into a terrifying demon with no skin and mouths all over his body. That very night, he spewed poisonous water and surrounded the County City, keeping people from leaving. Then he started eating people. The Imperial Court's rescuers didn't arrive to kill him until the third day. By then, the county had lost more than half its population."

"Shh! Are you trying to get yourself killed? You dare say that in broad daylight? Don't tell me you think wraiths won't come out."

"What's the big deal? Compared to other evil ghosts and demons, County Magistrate Lu was practically a good man. He just... just had a few unusual quirks."

At that point, afraid of saying something taboo, the traveling merchants from out of town quickly picked up the conversation.

The stories they shared were about events in more distant, broader regions, and they were all rumors about Rebel Armies:

"Ahem, let's change the subject. I've traveled here from afar, so you probably haven't heard yet: there's another Rebel Army in the Dayuan Dynasty. Its leader is called Ni Wenjun. At first, he also flew the Red Turban banner, but later, for some reason, he gained the support of the legendary Yin Mountain Ghost Clan. He keeps a hundred ghosts at his command and is extremely brutal. He's taken cities like Hanyang and Xiangyang one after another. I hear he's even killed quite a few members of the Dayuan Royal Family."

"That's nothing special. Have any of you heard of Liu Futong's fearsome name? He rose up early, proclaiming, 'Three thousand tiger warriors will march straight into the Youyan Land. A dragon will ascend to the ninth heaven and reopen the sky of Great Song.' He means to restore the Great Song state. They say Immortal Gods support him, too—and not just one faction. The two Immortal and Buddhist lineages I've heard of are Maitreya Temple and the Red Lotus Cult."

"Nothing out of the ordinary. Zhang Shicheng is the most powerful of the Rebel Armies. I hear his bloodline is special, and he may be connected to the Dragon Nest. His army keeps more than one true dragon. They can summon clouds and rain, and even move rivers and streams... Word is, they've got their eyes on Hangzhou Road. Maybe one day they'll come attack Qiantang County."

"These rebels sound like a bunch of fools who rely on other people's influence but have no plans of their own. I came from Chuzhou, which has now been occupied by another Rebel Army. Its leader is called Zhu Hongwu. I don't know what mysterious Immortal God supports him, but I do know that his ranks are filled with talented people, and prodigies are emerging one after another. He's clearly no ordinary man."