Milk Skin and Milk Tofu

Fang Shu naturally could not despise his second uncle over what he had witnessed in Blood-Replenishing Hall, nor pretend he had never met the man.

He simply did not wish to reveal himself and acknowledge the other man while his second uncle was in such an embarrassing state.

After silently committing his second uncle's current appearance and attire to memory, Fang Shu moved elsewhere and asked around again about "Yu the Second."

Some had heard of his second uncle, while others had not. But at the mention of "lying work," all of them recalled an idle fellow who sold blood to make a living.

Hearing this, Fang Shu's mood sank even further.

As he stood there lost in thought, three figures suddenly appeared beside him.

"What's Fang thinking about? Just wait, this old Lü will take you all to eat something good right away."

The three figures were none other than Lü Daoist and the other two.

Leaning against the wall, undoing their belts to piss, they excitedly discussed:

"How much did you sell for?" "I sold nine hundred coins!"

"Haha, too little, too little. I sold a full thousand—the boat fare came right back! This bastard had even bigger guts; he actually fucking sold for twelve hundred coins."

Fang Shu's heart jolted at their conversation, and he hurriedly looked up at them.

Three deathly pale faces immediately filled his view.

As they pissed, their bodies swayed and tottered as though they might collapse to the ground the next moment.

Lü Daoist in particular was in a dreadful state.

Alarmed, Fang Shu immediately pushed aside his stray thoughts, rose, and approached them as if to lend a hand and keep an eye on them.

"Hehe! No need, no need. We're steady."

Lü Daoist waved at Fang Shu, braced his head against the wall to steady himself, and spread his legs.

Yin Xiaojian and Tian Tianquan beside him followed suit, all of them looking just like drunkards.

After finishing their piss, the three of them trembled unsteadily, their weakness visible to the naked eye.

Yet their eyes were flushed red with excitement.

Seeing this, Fang Shu could not help but sigh inwardly.

While waiting outside, Fang Shu had not only inquired about his second uncle, but had also asked around and eavesdropped on matters concerning blood-selling.

Without counting the blood hall's discounts, ordinary people supplementing their household income would generally sell two hundred to four hundred talisman coins' worth of blood at a time. That did no real harm to the body; he had even heard it could be beneficial.

But if one sold more than five hundred coins' worth at once, yet less than a thousand, it would harm the body. One would need to rest and recuperate, and it would damage one's vital essence. If one sold more than a thousand coins' worth at once, one would have to stay in bed and take various restorative medicines before recovering.

If one sold more than fifteen hundred coins' worth at once, one would faint, perhaps even suffer organ failure. And if one went further still and sold more than two thousand coins' worth, then unless blood was immediately replenished into the body on the spot, it was basically a matter of one word: "death."

Of the three before Fang Shu, even the one who had sold the least had sold nine hundred coins' worth in a single go. Even after deducting the blood hall's consideration for newcomers, that was still over eight hundred coins' worth of human blood—long past the point of harming the body.

They're all ruthless men, Fang Shu thought, glancing at Tian Tianquan.

This fellow was the fiercest of the three, the one who had sold twelve hundred coins' worth in a single breath.

While Fang Shu sighed over the three of them, Lü Daoist and the others sighed over him as well.

"Why should Fang be stingy with a bodyful of mortal blood? When first entering the market, one cannot get by without money."

They swung their sleeves about, coins jingling in each of their pockets as they strutted with pride.

The four did not linger long outside the blood hall before Lü Daoist gave a light shout.

"Let's go! Brothers, after selling blood, we have to eat it back."

Fang Shu and the others followed the Daoist deeper into the market.

Before long, they arrived at a market street, banners fluttering on both sides much like a mortal bazaar. Rice shops, oil shops, tea sellers, wine sellers—cries of hawking rose without end.

Yet it was clear this place could not compare to any mortal market, for people and beasts walked its streets, and even scattered demons wandered about.

The vendors burned not dry firewood, but grease, incense candles, or firewood like bone. The flames gave off no smoke and carried a different fragrance.

As Fang Shu walked along, the scent of incense grew thick around him, making him suspect he had stepped into a temple or shrine where incense offerings flourished.

"Come, come! After selling blood, the first thing you eat must also be blood. That's called using form to replenish form."

Lü Daoist called them over to sit at a small street-side stall, then slapped the table and chairs.

"Waiter! Blood sausage, pork blood soup, beef blood porridge—bring each of us a full set."

"Right away!" the stallhand answered.

Before long, as if performing a magic trick, the stallhand's hands blurred into afterimages as he set all twelve dishes before Fang Shu and the others at once.

Still wiping his hands with a towel, he glanced over the group and said with a cheerful smile:

"Our shop is an old establishment on this street. Back when many talented disciples of Daoist halls and sects were scraping by here, they often came to us to build up their bodies.

Gentlemen, be sure to come often in the future."

The waiter's words immediately caught Fang Shu and the others' attention.

"Sect disciples... sell blood too?"

The waiter dusted off his robe and said with reserved pride:

"Who hasn't walked up step by step from the mortal world? Looking at you gentlemen, I can see immortal air on your faces. When you join a sect in the future, remember to revisit this old place and favor our business."

Yin Xiaojian, Lü Daoist, and the others had not even begun eating, yet their pale faces had already gained a little color. All of them grinned happily.

Once the waiter left, Lü Daoist hurriedly said, "Eat, eat."

The moment his words fell, a chorus of slurping and clattering erupted from the table.

The other three greedily chewed the blood sausages to pieces, gulped down the blood soup, and licked the blood porridge clean, as though they could truly replenish the blood they had sold this way.

Fang Shu immediately began eating as well.

But in the next instant, disappointment appeared in his eyes.

The stall's blood sausages, duck blood, and beef blood were all fresh and of decent quality, but they contained neither demonic aura nor spiritual energy. They were merely mortal blood and mortal meat.

Still, without showing any reaction, he swallowed all the blood dishes into his stomach.

The servings at the stall were generous. After Lü Daoist and the others finished, their bellies bulged and they burped nonstop. Fang Shu, on the other hand, remained calm and unruffled, as though he had eaten nothing at all.

Yet the dishes before him were even cleaner than those of Lü Daoist and the others.

The few of them clicked their tongues in wonder and glanced at him, but asked no questions.

After eating and drinking their fill, Fang Shu thought they would part ways then and there. To his surprise, Lü Daoist pulled them along again, swaying down the market street.

"Blood sausage and blood soup only replenish blood. If you want to nourish your body, they also sell the finest milk skin and milk tofu here."

The others looked up, and their eyelids immediately twitched.

They discovered that even a single bowl of milk skin was far from cheap, starting at fifty coins.

Before they could ask, the Daoist smacked his lips and explained:

"This place is nicknamed Blood Street. It specializes in doing business with blood-sellers like us.

Anyone able to have a storefront here naturally won't be like that stall just now, selling nothing but pig blood, sheep blood, and beef blood. High prices have their reasons."

Fang Shu's heart stirred. Looking at the plump, lovely, fully ripened women behind the dairy shop, he hesitantly spoke.

"Brother Lü means...?"

Lü Daoist slapped his palm and cut in:

"Exactly! Human milk is the spirit of all things. What they sell here is human milk skin and human milk tofu!

And it all comes from wet nurses of many years. A single portion of their milk is no less valuable than a portion of blood from our bodies. What a pity—we can't produce this stuff."

Having said that, he eagerly ran over, found the most pleasing dairy-shop beauty, and struck up a shameless conversation with her before calling the others over.

"This stuff is too expensive. If you brothers want to nourish yourselves, pay for it yourselves."

Muttering this, Lü Daoist promptly bought a bowl of milk skin.

Seeing that they were unfamiliar customers, the dairy-shop beauty, a woman around thirty, deliberately came out herself and tremblingly delivered the bowl of milk skin to the Daoist.

Lü Daoist dug in with great mouthfuls, savoring it with delight.

After wolfing it down, he went back to the dairy-shop beauty and asked for a bowl of milk tofu.

This made Yin Xiaojian and Tian Tianquan swallow their saliva. After whispering together for a while, the two took talisman coins from their pockets and each bought a bowl of milk skin and milk tofu, then exchanged bowls as they ate.

Standing off to one side, Fang Shu smiled at them and turned to look down the street instead.

He had already noticed the great variety of blood foods here. There were not only blood sausages and human milk, but also blood buns, blood cakes, blood tofu, roasted blood maggots, blood silkworm pupae, blood wine, and more.

Anything related to blood could be found here.

He had no talisman coins and could not afford human milk, but he could still trade the remaining pearl in his hand for something to eat.

That way, he would not have to stand there awkwardly while everyone else felt embarrassed.

Lü Daoist noticed Fang Shu's movement. He looked at the milk tofu in his hand that he had yet to eat, his face conflicted.

But after only a breath of hesitation, Fang Shu had already gone far away.

When Fang Shu returned, he held a bowl of tofu made from some unknown kind of blood, its bloody scent rich and heavy.

All four of them squatted by the roadside, watching the countless different sorts of people passing through the immortal market.

"This immortal market is really lively..."

"We can finally count as masters too!"

In that instant, the fragrance of milk, the scent of blood, strange aromas, and the fishy, pungent odor they had brought from their journey mingled into a vivid, living perfume. The four of them grew pleasantly lightheaded, as if drunk.

But every fine feast came to an end, much less one shared by four immortal-seekers who had met by chance and each harbored their own thoughts.

Before long.

Fang Shu was alone again, strolling through Blood Street and looking about in every direction.

After making a round.

By sheer coincidence, when he returned near the dairy shop, his eyelids twitched. He immediately looked toward the storefront.

Someone was talking with the dairy-shop beauty, asking for dairy food.

The man wore a faded white Daoist robe and looked poor from head to toe. Though his back was turned, Fang Shu could not possibly mistake him. It was his second uncle!

Taking a deep breath, Fang Shu did not hesitate this time. He strode forward, then slowed his steps again.

Once he stood behind the man, his throat grew slightly dry as he began considering how he should greet him.

Just then, his second uncle turned around on his own.

Fang Shu instinctively took a step back.

But as though he had known, his second uncle reached out and patted Fang Shu's shoulder. In his other hand, he held out a bowl.

Inside the bowl lay half milk skin and half milk tofu, the milk thick as water, white and smooth.

Fang Shu looked up.

His second uncle's aged, pallid face was split in a wide grin at him.