Making Dumplings Just for This Bottle of Vinegar
The sweet, crisp pork tenderloin was crunchy outside and tender within, the spicy stir-fried young beef pleasantly chewy, the clear-stewed silver carp soup milky white, and the plate of verdant baby greens crisp and delicious.
Sweeping away the three dishes and soup like a gale scattering clouds, Qi Yun rubbed his slightly bulging belly and let out a long, satisfied sigh.
Ever since transmigrating, this was the first meal he had eaten like a proper human being!
Before becoming a reserve talent of the Holy Sect, he had eaten coarse grain buns and pickles. After becoming a reserve talent of the Holy Sect, he had eaten pickles and coarse grain buns.
Next, it was time for business.
Picking up the cloth on the table to wipe the grease from the corners of his mouth, Qi Yun's gaze cleared. He rose and went downstairs, following an inconspicuous path through the inn's rear courtyard. After turn upon turn, he arrived before a cluster of artificial hills bristling with jagged rocks.
Without stopping, he walked straight into them.
The path gradually sloped downward, and the light dimmed with it.
After several winding turns, the view suddenly opened up, revealing an enormous plaza that looked as though it had been hollowed out beneath the ground!
Rows of wooden buildings in wildly different styles, some exquisite and others rough-hewn, stood underground. Roaring flames burned on enormous wooden posts that took two people to encircle, with faint figures visible within them, screaming in agony. They lit this sunless underground space as brightly as day.
Among them were no few presences distinctly different from those of humans.
Wuji Sacred Sect Market No. 735!
Scanning the wooden sign at the market entrance, Qi Yun felt a stir in his heart.
According to that black-clad menial, although the Holy Sect had built and managed this market, any cultivator could rent a space here to conduct business.
Thus, the entire market was a jumble of fish and dragons, with every sort of person to be found.
So long as you neither robbed nor fought within the market, the Holy Sect stayed out of everything.
"This isn't a market at all. It's a straight-up black market."
With a soft chuckle, Qi Yun walked in, all the more pleased for knowing it was a black market.
A black market was good.
If it weren't a black market, how would I fence my stolen goods?
Inside, the market was a dazzling, bizarre spectacle. Its wooden buildings took all sorts of shapes. Some shimmered with brilliant colors, red blossoms and green willows, suffused with decadent fragrances that set hearts itching. Others gleamed with golden light, heat rushing out to meet him, with occasional shouts of either fury or wild delight.
Wine, lust, wealth, and indulgence-everything was available.
Within the market, there was both trading and business.
Qi Yun surveyed this vivid, sensual scene with interest, only for a warm, soft, silky arm to halt his steps.
"Young man~ Come in and have some fun~" The sultry voice carried a hook.
Qi Yun stiffened slightly. Feeling the softness against the crook of his arm, he unconsciously swallowed.
Unfortunately, his pockets were cleaner than his face.
He could only politely decline the warm, fragrant beauty clinging to his arm and hurry deeper into the market, toward the comparatively quiet trading district.
The farther he went, the more the clamor faded and the sparser the crowds became.
Qi Yun stopped before a plain, old-fashioned wooden building, neat and proper, with a large character for "pawn" written over its entrance.
Glancing left and right, Qi Yun stepped into the pawnshop.
A quarter of an hour later.
Qi Yun emerged from the pawnshop looking thoroughly satisfied, his robes bulging at the chest. Clearly, he had gained quite a haul.
Meanwhile, across from the pawnshop, a figure with bloodshot eyes lurked in the shadowed alley between two wooden buildings, staring fixedly at Qi Yun as he emerged. Blood-red Sword Qi flickered in his palm.
Were it not for the market's rules, Tang Shun would already have sent a slash of Sword Qi straight at him.
Forcing down his fury, Tang Shun strode into the pawnshop.
A moment later, he emerged, all anger gone from his face, replaced by killing intent like ice frozen for a thousand years.
I really underestimated you... Qi Yun!
Having learned from the pawnshop that this mud-legged peasant he had looked down on had stolen his Storage Bag, Tang Shun quickened his pace to follow Qi Yun, inwardly resolving that, whatever it took today, he would make him cough everything back up!
Qi Yun soon returned to the vicinity of the inn.
To Tang Shun's surprise, however, Qi Yun did not go straight inside.
Instead, he stood in the shadows outside the inn and glanced around with seeming casualness, even looking up at the inn's lights. Then...
He actually turned and headed toward the city gates!
What was this little bastard trying to do?
Had he pawned my things and decided to grab the proceeds and run?
Seeing Qi Yun head out of the city, Tang Shun first froze, then revealed a sinister sneer.
Perfect!
It would have been difficult to strike inside the inn, but you're courting death yourself!
Already considering Qi Yun a dead man, Tang Shun gave it no further thought and swiftly followed him.
As for whether it might be a trap...
What sort of trap could a petty thief who only dared steal while I was distracted possibly lay?
Besides, we entered the city together today. When would this little bastard have had time to set anything up?
The night was thick as ink. Heavy clouds swallowed the waning moon, and the stars hid themselves.
Without lamps or candlelight, the wilderness seemed especially deep and dark.
Following Qi Yun out of the city and east along the main road, Tang Shun watched the county town's hazy outline vanish completely behind them. The chill in his eyes deepened, and the vicious Red Night Sword Qi in his left hand lit up.
Just as he was about to sever both of Qi Yun's legs with a single slash, the outrageously brazen thief suddenly darted into the woods beside the road.
Trying to run?!
Thinking he had been discovered, Tang Shun snorted coldly, instantly accelerated, and darted after him.
Leaves and branches brushed his cheeks with a touch of coolness, but by the time he plunged into the woods, Qi Yun was nowhere to be seen.
He'd run off again?
Thinking Qi Yun had used a spell to escape, Tang Shun looked both shocked and furious. He was about to give chase when his earlobe suddenly twitched, and he abruptly twisted sideways.
A streak of Sword Qi skimmed past his temple and snapped a branch with a crack.
"Qi Yun!"
Whirling in shock and fury, Tang Shun looked toward the source of the Sword Qi, where a figure appeared!
"You actually didn't run?"
Looking at Tang Shun's ferocious gaze, as though he wished to swallow him alive and flay him, Qi Yun shrugged and chuckled.
"I made these dumplings just for that saucer of vinegar-you.
After putting on an act all evening, how could I leave when the ending was just in sight?"
"Heh, do you want to kneel and beg me to spare your life?" The Red Night Sword Qi in his hand blazed ever more fiercely as Tang Shun looked Qi Yun up and down without restraint.
Slowly shaking his head, Qi Yun looked calmly at Tang Shun.
"I'm killing you to silence you."
"Hahaha, hahaha!" Unrestrained laughter suddenly burst from his mouth, startling countless birds into flight through the woods. Tang Shun rocked back and forth with laughter, tears nearly spilling from his eyes.
"Kill me? You?"
Hiss-
Before his words had finished, a streak of Sword Qi abruptly appeared out of thin air and flashed across Tang Shun's cheek.
A warm drop of liquid slid down his cheek and fell onto a dead leaf, making a faint yet piercing sound.
Frozen in place, Tang Shun touched his face in disbelief. The blood covering his hand stabbed at his eyes.
When he raised his head to look at Qi Yun before him again, he saw him slowly dissolve into a fresh breeze and disappear.
Only a lingering voice, cold and level yet laden with boundless murderous intent, echoed through the woods.
"That's right. Me."