"Haha, I was busy with some trivial matters not long ago, and I did leave the city for a while. Let's not talk about this. Shopkeeper Shen, let me introduce to you. This is fellow Taoist Yuan Ming, who has some friendship with me." Cui Wuran said.
"It turns out it's Senior Yuan, whom I've admired for a long time. Senior came to the store and wanted to buy some elixirs? Since it was introduced by Senior Cui, I'll give you a 10% discount and also ask Senior to take care of the business of the store in the future." Upon hearing this, shopkeeper Shen immediately went to the store. Yuan Ming also raised his hand.
Cui Wuran suddenly smiled when he heard that shopkeeper Shen offered a discount to save himself a lot of face.
Yuan Ming was not polite when he saw this, and said directly: "In that case, I don't know how many Yanxudan there are in Shopkeeper Shen's store. I want to buy more at once."
"Hey, Yan Xu Dan? Does Fellow Daoist Yuan know the side effects of this medicine? Don't be fooled." Cui Wuran was stunned and immediately reminded him.
"Oh, Fellow Daoist Cui, thank you for your kind reminder. How could I not know the side effects of Yanxu Pill? I'm just short of money, so after much calculation, I had no choice but to buy this pill and practice it." Yuan Ming smiled bitterly, looking lonely.
Seeing this, Cui Wuran's lips twitched twice, as if he had remembered something sad, and for a moment he was speechless.
When Shopkeeper Shen saw this situation, he immediately smoothed things over and said, "Senior Yuan, please put down a lot of Yanxudan in our store. If you want it, a bottle of one hundred and sixty spiritual stones will do."
Yuan Ming nodded and reported an amount that was enough for him to practice for a year. After hearing this, Shopkeeper Shen hurriedly made arrangements.
After Shopkeeper Shen left, Cui Wuran suddenly sighed and said: "Oh, fellow Taoist Yuan is living in such an embarrassment now. It makes me heartbroken. In this way, I recently received a request from the Fanshasan Alliance in the city to obtain a large amount of elixirs. Although this task is difficult, the reward is extremely generous, and the alliance only wants to select trustworthy candidates, so it is not posted to the outside world. If Yuan Daoyou is willing, I can help you recommend him and get a share of the pie."
"Please also ask Fellow Daoist Cui to elaborate." Yuan Ming pretended to be interested.
"It's like this. Near the Sand City, a fire-throated lizard nest was discovered not long ago. There are many second-level upper-level beings in it. Our mission is to completely destroy this nest. It's done. After that, each participant will be rewarded with at least eight bottles of four spiritual pills or equivalent spiritual stones." Cui Wuran said.
Yuan Ming was a little surprised. The reward at this price was not worth mentioning to him, but for ordinary casual cultivators, considering the prices here, it was indeed quite generous.
But he was not really short of elixirs and spiritual stones, so after pretending to be confused for a long time, he shook his head and said:
"I'm sorry, Fellow Daoist Cui. Yuan's strength is limited. A group of second-level monsters may be difficult to resist. I'd better not cause trouble to Fellow Daoist Cui."
Hearing this, Cui Wuran knew that Yuan Ming might not like this task, so he looked disappointed and tried to persuade him a few times. Seeing that Yuan Ming was resolute, he could only give up temporarily and gave Yuan Ming a communication charm to tell Yuan Ming if he changed. When you have an idea, you can go to yourself.
Yuan Ming nodded and accepted the communication talisman. At this time, shopkeeper Shen also came back with Yanxudan. Yuan Ming briefly counted them, said goodbye to Cui Wuran, and left Chunfeng Hall.
After returning to his residence, Yuan Ming did not take what happened in Chunfeng Hall to heart and started practicing as usual.
However, when he was about to absorb the wish power to cultivate his soul, he suddenly discovered that there was another strong wish power outside the Tiantian Cauldron.
Different from the wish generated by his readers, this wish seems longer and more mellow, and seems to have another source.
Yuan Ming introduced this wish power into the divided soul, and while refining it, he faintly felt a complex emotion containing gratitude, prayer and supplication.
At the same time, he also sensed that the owner of this wishing power was a house located in the eastern part of the outer city.
Although Yuan Ming lived in Shensha City for a short time, he already had a lot of understanding of the layout of the city. In addition to the difference between the inner city and the outer city, the city was further divided into different areas, such as where the scattered alliances gathered. Residential squares, merchant squares lined with shops, etc.
The location where this wish came from was the very famous Black Tufang in the outer city. No monks were willing to visit there, and the people living there were all poor mortals.
Yuan Ming was curious, so he sent the soul crow again to check the source of the wish power.
…
A pair of feet wearing shabby cloth shoes fell on the dirty black soil.
Hu Ji carried a cloth bag and walked on the street, carefully pushing away the garbage residue that appeared on the street, as well as the wet sand and mud with a strong odor.
The khaki walls on both sides of the street are dilapidated and dilapidated. Temporary barriers made of dirty cloth and gravel are used to separate the houses, which are not well-off, into more than a dozen rooms.
Countless thin ropes hang on the street, connecting the houses on both sides. The faded clothes hanging on them are dripping with light black dirty water, which will fall on pedestrians, causing another round of yelling.
In an alley to the left of Hu Ji, three children stood furtively in the corner, releasing filth at a door. The next moment, the door suddenly opened, and the owner walked out without knowing it. He stepped on the dirt with one foot, and after seeing what was going on, his face turned red with anger, he waved his arms angrily, and chased after the child.
In the room to the right of Hu Ji, two women in ragged clothes were arguing. Various obscenities were mixed with the reason for the matter, which seemed to be just because one of them was wearing the wrong underwear of another.
Today's Heituifang is still as noisy as ever.
Hu Ji did not stay any longer because of these common sights, but quickly moved forward and returned to his residence deep in Heitufang.
He had been living in Shensha City for many years, and had a job in the caravan, so he had some savings. The room he rented was not partitioned, and only he and his wife and daughter lived there. The treatment was considered to be superior in Heitufang.
As soon as he entered the house, he saw his six-year-old daughter sitting in the house washing clothes. Her young hands were wrinkled by water, which made Hu Ji feel distressed.
"Where's your daughter? Why do you do this?" Hu Ji put down the bag in his hand, took the washing tub from his daughter's hand, and asked while washing the clothes.
"Mom, she just fell ill again. I don't want her to have any more hardships, so I just want to help. Dad, don't blame Mom."
As if she heard a hint of reproach in Hu Ji's words, her daughter timidly explained.
Hu Ji's hands froze, he quickly put down his clothes, stood up and said, "I'm sick again? What about the medicine I bought before? Did you give it to your mother?"
"I gave it, but my mother said it wasn't too serious this time. The medicine is expensive, so I should save on it," the daughter said.
Hearing this, Hu Ji suddenly frowned, walked quickly towards the back room, opened the bedroom door curtain, and saw his wife lying on the bed.
His wife was extremely thin, her limbs were like long poles, her hair looked like grass, and there was no blood on her dark yellow face, but there were many blue-gray spots, which made her look particularly scary.
When she heard the sound of Hu Ji approaching, she turned her head with difficulty and glanced at the door, with surprise in her cloudy eyes.
"Aji, why did you come back so early today?"
"The caravan will not be able to find enough people for a while, so they asked me to go back and wait for news. But you, didn't I tell you not to save money and just buy medicine when you are sick? Why do you always refuse to listen?
my words."
Hu Ji murmured while taking out a wooden box from under the small table next to the bed.
He opened the wooden box, his eyes narrowed for a moment, then he pretended to be nonchalant, took out a dark pill from it, then stood up and went to scoop a bowl of water from the water tank in the house.
The water in the water tank is not clear, but has a faint green color, and it also smells faintly. Ordinary people would not dare to drink it after seeing it.
But this water is the only water that the people in Heitufang can obtain. It comes from the wells in the square that lead directly to underground rivers. The quality of the water is extremely poor, so it is not valued by the monks in the city, and only ordinary people can use it.
drink.
Hu Ji supported his wife and fed her the medicine. Seeing that her complexion was much worse than before, he was secretly anxious, but he was afraid of making his wife worried, so he didn't show it on his face.
Then, he comforted his wife with a few words, got up, left the bedroom, and came to an altar table in the main room.
There is a tablet with three red characters written "Heihe God" on the altar table. It is very finely made and decorated with many patterns.
Hu Ji glanced at the tablet, then went to get the cloth bag he had put down when he entered the door, took out a brand new wooden tablet, and placed it on the offering table.
There are only four small characters on this tablet - "Benefactor Yuan Ming". The workmanship is a little worse than the tablet of Heihe God, but it still shows its good intentions.
Hu Ji placed the memorial tablet, then knelt down in front of the altar table, kowtowed three times respectfully, and prayed for a while. Then he actually got under the altar table, took out a small bag of gold and silver from a hidden compartment underneath, and hid it
In his arms, he gave his daughter a few words of advice before turning around and leaving the house.
Soon after, he took the hidden gold and silver to a two-story house. He hesitated for a moment and knocked on the door.
"Who is it? Hey, this is not Brother Hu Ji. What are you doing here in broad daylight?" A fat man opened the door, looked at Hu Ji and said.
Hu Ji lowered his head and said, "Master Divine Envoy, I'm here to buy medicine."
Hearing this, the fat man's eyes lit up, and a smile appeared on his fat face.
"It's easy to buy medicine, but recently, there have been too many people suffering from leprosy in the city, and the medicine given by the Black River God is not enough. The price is probably much higher than before.
"
Hu Ji took a deep breath and gritted his teeth: "Don't worry, Lord God, I brought a lot of money this time."
As he spoke, he handed over the bag hidden in his arms.
The fat man took the bag and weighed it. A satisfied smile suddenly appeared on his face. He stepped out of the way and let Hu Ji into the house.