Changes in the Yao Market

The Yao Market had reopened!

Su Changsheng's heart gave a slight jolt.

But was the reopened Yao Market still the same as before?

"Do you know when it reopened?"

Su Changsheng asked gravely.

"Y-yesterday... it was already open yesterday. Y-you hardly ever go out. Are you... are you heading to the Yao Market too?"

Bird Woman finally untangled her tongue. Inwardly relieved, she worked up the courage to ask.

She knew perfectly well just how much of a homebody the Snake Yao before her was. He would stay home for an entire month without even setting foot outside his door.

And he was exceedingly cautious. As Wu Niao put it, snakes had brooding, meticulous minds, and one must never get too close to them.

That was also one of the reasons Wu Nü was rather afraid of Su Changsheng.

"In a bit!"

"Oh, has there been any trouble in the Half-Demon Grounds lately? I've been staying home for a long time and haven't gone out. If you have any news, Miss Crow, please share a little with me."

Su Changsheng cupped his hands, then offered Bird Woman a Hair-Shedding Talisman. He understood this much of the etiquette. All kinds of information and knowledge were precious in the Yao Stronghold; anything gained had to be paid for.

Free things carried the greatest price!

"M-miss?"

Bird Woman's face instantly flushed scarlet.

She had never heard such a lovely form of address. It sounded like a term used in the Human World, something only formidable yao with immensely rich stores of knowledge would know.

Without taking the talisman, Wu Nü merely shook her head in apparent embarrassment. She grew nervous again, so flustered that sweat covered her forehead.

Watching her gave Su Changsheng a headache.

I'm not going to steal your eggs, damn it! What are you so scared of?

If your husband sees this, he'll think I'm bullying you.

Only after a long while

Wu Nü barely managed to steady herself. But she refused to accept the Hair-Shedding Talisman no matter what, merely stammering:

"The H-half-Demon... Grounds have been very chaotic lately. The friction between the outsider yao and us is getting... getting worse. Wu Niao kept telling me not to take a single step outside the house, so I d-don't really know... about anything else..."

"Oh... oh, right."

"Another family of yao moved in next door!"

From Wu Nü's explanation, a new family had moved in on the other side of Su Changsheng's stone house.

They were supposedly toad yao. Though outsiders, they were quite easy to get along with. Their habit of offering other yao a smoke whenever they met, then puffing clouds together, was rather outrageous, however.

As for that gossip Wu Niao, he had gone to set up a stall at the Yao Market with the big toad next door. Flesh food had grown increasingly expensive lately, and with hunting so difficult, many half-demons had chosen to set up stalls at the Yao Market in hopes of supplementing their household expenses.

Toad yao?

At this, something stirred in Su Changsheng's heart. He instantly recalled the great warty toad who had sold him Toad Oil and called everyone "toad friend" with every other breath.

Had they come because of me?

Even if they hadn't, could they discover my identity as a half-demon white snake later? After all, I bought Toad Oil under that identity.

I still have several jars at home!

Su Changsheng's heart abruptly tightened, and his expression darkened with it, frightening Wu Nü nearby into trembling all over. She mistakenly thought she had said something wrong.

But he soon adjusted his mood and relaxed again, realizing he had overthought things and reacted a little too strongly.

Though few sold Toad Oil at the Yao Market, there were occasionally others. The great warty toad was not the only seller, and there were plenty of buyers too.

Besides, he had already sealed all the Toad Oil in ice. Its scent would not leave a trail that drew those toad yao's attention.

No one could be certain he was the half-demon white snake who had bought Toad Oil. His identity was in no danger of exposure.

Still, I need to confirm who my neighbors on the other side are and see whether they really are that toad yao's family.

Su Changsheng pondered inwardly.

Caution was best; he had to tread carefully.

He dared not be careless about anything. Even without the connection involving Toad Oil, he would still need to observe his new neighbors closely in secret to determine how to deal with them in the future.

"Wait..."

Su Changsheng suddenly frowned, realizing another problem.

If he remembered correctly, the area on the other side of his stone house was a very deep hollow. In summer, it was a mud pit; now, it was buried in deep snow.

It was entirely unsuitable for habitation, and there was no finished stone house there either. Why would the toad yao family choose to settle there?

More importantly, without Wolf Yao's permission, and without being fleeced layer after layer by those little wolves, what outsider yao would dare build a stone house without authorization?

If you dared build it, they dared tear it down. They would even seize you for a hands-on skinning session and toss you into a pot of oil. Everything in the Yao Stronghold belonged to the Great Yao, after all. Did you understand how serious the consequences of unauthorized construction were?

Su Changsheng could not quite make sense of it.

As for Wu Nü, that dull-witted creature was even less likely to know.

Sure enough, when he asked her about it, she looked utterly blank, completely unable to understand what Su Changsheng was saying.

Stupid beyond belief!

Did all your brains grow into your chest?

Su Changsheng sighed. He planned to find some time to take a look himself.

For now, of course, he would make a circuit of the Yao Market. He had yet to trade the talismans for the latter half of the month with Little Four, the Fox Woman, so he could take care of that too.

While he was there, he would see whether there were any metallic minerals, usable demon arts, skills, cultivation methods, or the like.

His Stone-Tempering Art had reached a bottleneck and would not advance. He wanted to see whether he could draw insights from other demon arts, as he had with the Stone-Shattering Art.

If that truly failed, he would use survival points to break through.

He counted every single survival point on his fingers, scrimping and calculating bit by bit, wishing he could make each point do the work of two.

So damn poor!

Fuck!

I've never had a moment of plenty.

The reopened Yao Market had changed considerably.

Not only were there many more yao of every description and more orderly stalls, but several powerful lesser yao and half-demons had also been stationed at the entrance as guards.

Every one of them was at level two.

Two of the yao had even reached level three. Their enormous bodies resembled giants, standing a full five or six meters tall. The yao aura pouring from them surged like a tide as they flaunted their power without restraint.

A massive wooden stump stood at the entrance, with several conspicuous words carved into it in Demon Script.

-Entry fee required!

-Half a jin of flesh food, one talisman of equivalent value, or assorted materials and so forth!

They were charging a per-yao fee just to enter the market?

Absolutely outrageous!

Even those coming to buy supplies had to pay. Which bright spark in the Yao Stronghold had suddenly had this stroke of genius?

Su Changsheng frowned slightly, but still took a Hair-Shedding Talisman from inside his robe and handed it to a guard.

He did not want to invite complications.

His immense size nevertheless drew the attention of those two level-three yao.

One of them had a bizarre appearance.

It was hard to say whether a fox had been unfaithful, a black snake had cheated, or a human had stepped in as the third party.

In any case, densely packed black snake heads covered its head in place of hair, while its body was human-shaped, with a pair of fox tails.

At that moment, the yao was carefully sizing up Su Changsheng with its vicious little eyes.

Only after a moment

did it say in a low voice, "Whenever you enter the outer Yao Market from now on, you must follow the rules! No causing trouble, and no getting into conflicts with other yao. Understand?"

"I'll be watching you at all times!"

"Go in!"

Su Changsheng nodded without betraying anything and entered the Yao Market with a belly full of questions.

He urgently needed to find a yao who could explain the changes in the Yao Market to him. He wondered whether Little Four, the Fox Woman, was still here.

He rather missed the free meat soup.