Red Fox Boutique

Zhu Jiusi: "???"

He immediately withdrew his skeleton. He was afraid that if it stayed another second, it would fuse with the Beast Nest.

If the Beast Nest couldn't be moved for twenty-four hours, he'd be done for!

The power of a Heavenly Tribulation wasn't something an ordinary person... or an ordinary pig could withstand.

Although he had two chances to defy the rules, he couldn't waste them here.

He would set off as early as possible tomorrow morning. He'd put cultivation on hold for a day and travel at full speed, covering enough distance before noon.

The skeleton would remain fused for the entire day. He could start covering the next day's distance at noon the day after tomorrow, and an afternoon would be plenty of time to complete the task.

The food would take a while to detoxify, so Zhu Jiusi opened the Scroll and checked the chat.

Quite a few people were trading for basic supplies. After looking around, he noticed that the shop had started selling Life Stones and Soul Jades.

The prices were sky-high, though. An ordinary Path Seeker could sell everything they owned and still not afford them.

And buying directly from Journey Survival meant first exchanging basic supplies for gold, silver, and copper coins. You lost out on both ends.

But Journey coins were a necessity. Judging by the timing, after the next rankings, secret manuals would surely go on sale too.

Journey Survival wouldn't truly leave people with no way out. Once someone obtained a secret manual, it would become a commodity.

Whether Path Seekers could afford to buy it was their own problem.

Journey Survival had a simple rule: what you obtained inside a Secret Realm was the cheapest.

To exchange for a one-step cultivation manual inside a Secret Realm, you had to hunt seventy Green-Haired Zombies. Outside, even killing three times as many wouldn't get you enough resources to exchange for one.

As Zhu Jiusi lurked in the chat, a private message came in.

Orchid Pavilion Scholar: "I'm paying you back! Do you want resources, or should I exchange them for Soul Jades?"

After visiting the Journey Market, he wasn't short on resources. Now that Soul Jades and Life Stones were on sale, it was only natural to pay the debt.

He'd get the principal back first. As for the times he'd promised the Cave Master he'd come to his aid, he'd just wait to be summoned.

"Resources. Soul Jades are no use to me," Zhu Jiusi replied.

Before Scholar's resources had even come through, a trade from someone else arrived.

Sword Seven Doesn't Learn Sword: Soul Jade × 5

Zhu Jiusi froze for a moment. Was this woman stupid? She was sending him Soul Jades? Journey Survival would make twice the profit off the exchange!

Even if she was aloof, surely she wouldn't do something like that?

He was about to ask when Sword Seven sent a message: "Watch out. Someone in District 33 is teaming up to attack."

It came out of nowhere.

Zhu Jiusi paused, then asked, "Did they drop the Soul Jades?"

Sword Seven Doesn't Learn Sword: "Yes."

Zhu Jiusi turned and sent a warning to the few people he knew.

Dao Discussion Cards weren't so rare anymore. If they had the resources, they could trade for one. If trouble came, they should run.

Zhu Jiusi stared at the Scroll, his pig's head cocked as he pondered.

He'd expected the people from District 33 to merge and immediately ambush those on the rankings here. In his previous life, those sinister bastards had done the same thing.

But after getting killed once and taking a hard knock, they should've learned their lesson. It made no sense for them to keep going.

Had the video posted in the group not curbed their greed? Were they really lining up to hand out resources?

There had been too many people on the Monkey's path earlier, so Zhu Jiusi hadn't dared use the Cursed Map. His haul hadn't been all that great.

If anyone crossed his path today, though, Zhu Jiusi wouldn't go easy on them.

He waited with his eyes closed inside the Beast Nest. Time passed, but no one came looking for him.

Zhu Jiusi was rather disappointed.

The Pig Trough had finished detoxifying the food. He wandered out and had a bite. Apart from the flavor being a little blander, nothing seemed amiss.

The night passed quietly. No one attacked him, and not a single monster appeared. He only woke once in the middle of the night, starving. Food treated by the Pig Trough didn't keep hunger at bay.

He slept groggily until dawn, ate a little, packed up the Beast Nest, and set off at once.

He channeled spiritual power into all four hooves and charged through the woods like a tank.

Faster!

He had to cover today's distance as quickly as possible, then immediately let the Beast Nest fuse with the skeleton.

The faster he went today, the more time he'd have tomorrow. Journey Survival was full of unexpected turns, so he had to leave himself plenty of time.

Zhu Jiusi ran along the road, but halfway there, he suddenly stopped.

A strange smell drifted from ahead.

Pig eyes couldn't see very far, but the scent was already strong.

There was the musky stink of a fox, carefully masked with perfume.

And there was the distinctive muddy smell of a turtle.

Zhu Jiusi stopped and raised his telescope to look ahead, but he couldn't see anything.

His pig's snout was too good. He could often smell a distinctive scent from more than ten miles away, while his eyes couldn't keep up at all.

Even the telescope could only see three miles.

If he couldn't see them, then it wasn't a Path Seeker merging paths with his.

When Path Seekers merged paths, they'd be much closer.

A Small Market?

Zhu Jiusi brightened. This fox's smell was almost exactly like that of the Fox Waiter at the Journey Market.

He sped up, running nearly ten miles. Sure enough, something finally appeared in his telescope.

It wasn't a Small Market, but there was a building on either side of the road.

He'd come across a special structure!

Journey Survival had all sorts of facilities: eateries, cloth shops, pawnshops, blacksmiths...

He'd stumbled upon a shop.

Zhu Jiusi put away the telescope and jogged over.

When he got closer, he suddenly spat. "What rotten luck!"

On the left, an old turtle was slowly carving a tombstone. The shop had a sign: Prime Minister Tombstone.

It sold tombstones!

Who'd buy something like that in Journey Survival?

But on the right side of the road was a decent-looking shop: Red Fox Boutique.

Zhu Jiusi looked around again and made sure there were no other Path Seekers before heading for Red Fox Boutique.

In Journey Survival, any place where a shop appeared could be a place where paths naturally merged.

The shop might appear on more than one Path Seeker's road.

There was no special terrain on either side of the shop, just dense fog. After leaving the shop and continuing forward, you'd return to your own path.

"Welcome, honored guest!"

Zhu Jiusi had barely approached when he heard a warm greeting.

A red fox wearing a vest came out to meet him. It bowed with its head lowered, one paw held across its chest in salute.

"Don't let the renovations fool you, honored guest. We've got everything you could want. We guarantee you'll—huh? Are you Mr. Cave Master?"

The fox could see Zhu Jiusi, and its eyes lit up at once.

"You know me?" Zhu Jiusi asked.

"Of course! My elder brother works at the Journey Market. He served Mr. Cave Master last time, in District 66!"

So they were acquaintances!

This fox looked almost exactly like the one from last time. But Zhu Jiusi knew they were both Path Seekers who'd chosen the Divine Path after entering Journey Survival.

The Divine Path was a bottomless pit. It took people with no connection at all and made them out to be brothers—even they believed it themselves.

Their perception had been forcibly twisted.

The fox ushered Zhu Jiusi grandly into the boutique. It was still being renovated.

The walls, counters, and shelves all seemed to have come alive, writhing nonstop.

The renovations worked the same way as when the Pig Trough had merged with the Beast Nest. No manual labor was needed.

"What do you need, Mr. Cave Master? Don't worry, everything in our shop is fifteen percent off for you!"

That was quite a deal. Zhu Jiusi smiled. "How come?"

Everyone knew Journey Survival was a heartless profiteer. You could tell from the Scroll's shop alone. At its core, it was a crooked merchant.

And yet it was offering him a discount of its own accord? Maybe they were raising the price first, then calling it a discount.

They were perfectly capable of that.

The red fox looked humble. "At the Journey Market, Mr. Cave Master helped my elder brother complete his task dozens of times over the quota. That earned the Red Fox family the right to upgrade our general store to a boutique. So rest assured, the discount is real!"

Zhu Jiusi was skeptical, but he looked delighted. He congratulated the fox effusively and praised him until the fox's ears perked straight up.

Then, while the fox was basking in the praise, he asked, "So what are you selling?"

At the mention of business, the fox's excitement instantly faded. "There is one item that's especially suited to you, Mr. Cave Master."

Zhu Jiusi's ears flapped as he put on an eager look.

The red fox didn't keep him in suspense. It smiled as it made its pitch. "A Feed Processing Warehouse!"

As it spoke, it pointed toward the counter.

The counter, which had been writhing just a moment ago, suddenly settled down. An object like a rice measure appeared, with some text underneath.

A wild boar that doesn't eat feed isn't a good wild boar!