Chapter 338: Donkey

"What is the origin of this false Emotion Root?"

Feng Daiku explained, "A true Emotion Root is transformed from an Emotion Seed, nurtured in the depths of the heart, rooted in the eyes,

this false Emotion Root is transformed from an illusion, born in the eyes, remaining in the eyes, dissolving in the eyes, both real and false, both empty and solid — it is a technique forged by illusion arts."

The two of them were talking like this in the cinema, yet weren't afraid of others overhearing?

They really weren't afraid.

The people around them couldn't see Feng Daiku, nor could they hear the conversation between the two.

Using illusion arts to forge the techniques of Emotion Cultivators — this act made Feng Daiku somewhat angry: "Wulang, where did this handkerchief come from?"

"From a close friend at Black Stone Slope, left behind when a false Emotion Root was extracted."

Feng Daiku murmured, "False Emotion Roots appeared at Black Stone Slope, but Trouser-Belt Ridge has never seen one — what could be the reason?"

Ma Wu said, "The other party isn't reckless either. Forging Emotion Cultivator techniques on your territory — wouldn't that just be waiting for you to come punish them?"

Feng Daiku shook his head slightly: "That's not what I mean. What I mean is, with the same film, why can't a false Emotion Root be left behind here with me?

If one has already been left behind, I need to deal with it early. If not, where exactly is the difference?"

Ma Wu understood Feng Daiku's meaning — the film shown at Black Stone Slope and the one possibly shown at Trouser-Belt Ridge might not be the same.

Where exactly is the difference?

Ma Wu was actually prepared on this matter: "My men will arrive at Trouser-Belt Ridge tomorrow. They will bring the Black Stone Slope film over."

Feng Daiku looked at the screen, raised his brows, and said, "Just this one film? This 'Blood Blade Detective' is a bit too dreary."

Ma Wu put his arm around Feng Daiku: "There are plenty of good films. We'll savor them one by one."

……

The next day, Feng Daiku was in the hotel, watching the Black Stone Slope 'Blood Blade Detective' together with Ma Wu. Feng Daiku was meticulous; after watching for about ten minutes, he found the key point.

"Wulang, rewind this part a bit."

Ma Wu rewound the film, going back about five-plus minutes.

The leading lady, Xiao Xiufei, was bathing under the shower. At a poignant moment, a teardrop suddenly rolled down.

The teardrop traced from the corner of her eye, down her cheek, slid to her neck, and then slipped down to her conscience.

The leading man, Chu Ningsheng, suddenly walked into the bathroom and drew that teardrop into his mouth.

It had to be said, this sequence of shots was used very skillfully. Analyzing purely from an artistic standpoint, Ma Wu was genuinely impressed — 'Blood Spear Detective' couldn't produce a long take like this.

What Feng Daiku noticed in detail was the frame when the male lead swallowed that teardrop.

That single swallow seemed to swallow up all the heroine's sorrow and melancholy.

"Wulang, this shot shouldn't be in the film shown at Trouser-Belt Ridge."

"It isn't?" Ma Wu was stunned for a moment. In his memory, it seemed he had also seen this scene yesterday at the cinema.

Feng Daiku shook his head: "Wulang, I truly don't have this shot. This shot is filmed very delicately, and the impression it leaves runs very deep.

The reason Wulang didn't notice is that Wulang has had too much experience in this area. There are also some people who are naturally uninterested in such matters and won't fall for the trick,

but such people are extremely few. Ordinary people who watch this scene will surely be moved in heart and spirit, and that's how this false Emotion Root is planted.

Wulang, look carefully — first look at that teardrop, then look at this woman's conscience. Within it is the technique of illusion arts."

Ma Wu looked carefully, and indeed it was a bit different.

He had slept with Xiao Xiufei; Xiao Xiufei's conscience was very pale in color, but here the color and texture had both become very deep.

The illusion arts began right from here.

To sell a few more movie tickets, they actually went to such painstaking lengths.

Ma Wu shook his head and sighed: "After Ling Miaoying died, I don't know who's running this film company. This business is rather despicable."

Feng Daiku frowned slightly: "Wulang, I cannot tolerate this. No matter what their purpose, using such despicable tricks to forge the techniques of my Daoist sect — I absolutely cannot tolerate this!"

Ma Wu said, "How do you want to deal with them?"

"Wulang, is there any way to lure them to Trouser-Belt Ridge?"

Ma Wu thought for a moment, then shook his head: "These people generally stay in Green Water City. Luring them out is really too difficult."

Hearing "Green Water City," Feng Daiku sighed: "If the matter had happened elsewhere, I wouldn't mind going to find them once. But if it's Green Water City…"

Green Water City is the territory of the Green Flower. Which local earth god would dare say they aren't afraid of the Green Flower?

Ma Wu comforted Feng Daiku twice, and Feng Daiku's mood improved slightly.

"Wulang, do you also want to learn their method and sell more movie tickets?"

"What kind of person do you take me for?" Ma Wu shook his head. "No matter what business you do, the basic bottom line can't be discarded. Once I get back, I'll expose this immediately and not let anyone else be deceived."

Feng Daiku stroked Ma Wu's cheek: "I'll teach Wulang some illusion arts techniques. In the future, when you encounter similar things, Wulang will be able to see through them at a glance."

Ma Wu was overjoyed — being able to learn illusion arts from a local earth god was too rare an opportunity.

Feng Daiku poked Ma Wu's forehead: "Always letting you learn skills here with me would be far too cheap for you."

Ma Wu hugged Feng Daiku tightly: "How could I let you suffer a loss? I'll just pay tuition!"

……

Early in the morning, Qiu's Pharmacy hadn't opened its doors. The Mourning Cultivator old man sat at the entrance early, holding his smoking pouch.

With his gloomy appearance, the pharmacy shouldn't expect any business all day.

Even if there were people coming to buy medicine, to avoid this Mourning Cultivator, they wouldn't dare enter Qiu's Pharmacy.

Did this Mourning Cultivator have nowhere else to go?

He had been to other places too. After repeated comparison, he felt the spot before him was the most suitable.

The main reason was that this Mourning Cultivator's level was not low — ordinary people couldn't withstand him.

Qiu Zhiheng had people inquire and found out this man's name was Yu He Shun, a sixth-layer Mourning Cultivator. In his lifetime, he had successively turned eighteen villages into deserted villages.

The villagers couldn't withstand his affliction — some died, some left.

The village had fallen into ruin, and he could no longer cultivate there. With no other choice, he had been moving from place to place. Now that he was getting on in years, he truly didn't want to move anymore, so he wanted to find a suitable household to latch onto and get by for a couple more years.

Households that could withstand a sixth-layer Mourning Cultivator were few and far back, like that baozi shop in Ligou. Yu He Shun had gone there once too, but the baozi shop owner was an honest man.

An honest man runs an honest business and can't take too much tormenting. After Yu He Shun disgusted him with a few words, the baozi shop nearly shut down. If disgusted for a few more days, the baozi shop owner would probably have been driven to suicide.

Qiu Zhiheng was clearly no ordinary sort. In Yu He Shun's view, tormenting someone like this for ten or eight years might not even kill him — this rice bowl absolutely had to be held onto.

Of course, if he had heard of Qiu Zhiheng's name, he wouldn't have dared to keep pestering like this.

Tolerating him for the moment was because he didn't want to be tainted by bad luck. That didn't mean Qiu Zhiheng would keep tolerating him.

"Old Seven, I'm leaving the Lu family newspaper's business to you. You should be familiar with the people at the Medicine King Gully newspaper, right?"

Li Banfeng said, "Not that familiar, but I know them."

"Knowing them is enough. Invite them over in a bit."

"Brother Qiu? You're not thinking of having the newspaper expose this old bastard, are you? He has no sense of shame at all — doing that probably won't work."

Qiu Zhiheng shook his head and said, "He knows shame, it depends on the matter. Wife, follow this prescription and make a good medicinal meal, send it over to Yu He Shun."

The Lady looked at the prescription, blushed, and said, "Will this really work? He's already at such an old age…"

Qiu Zhiheng answered very seriously, "He's old, so he needs to build up his body. Caoye, stop crying. Lend me those two donkeys you use to pull the cart."

……

At noon, the Lady carried a bowl of lean meat porridge to the door, handed it to Yu He Shun, and said, "This is for you, eat up."

Yu He Shun took the porridge, looked at it, and said with a long face, "You put poison in the porridge?"

The Lady frowned and said, "What kind of talk is that?"

"What did I say? What did I say? I was just asking if there's any poison! What are you getting angry about? Are you guilty of something?" Yu He Shun's mouth was like a string of firecrackers, unable to stop.

The Lady turned and left. Yu He Shun picked up the porridge and ate it in big bites, muttering as he ate: "This porridge is too thin, all water, more show than substance — you can tell at a glance this isn't a generous household!

How can a household like this even stay in business? A bowl of porridge and they can't even bring themselves to put in some real ingredients — a household like this deserves to stay poor for life!"

While eating the porridge, Yu He Shun kept tasting the seasoning in it — he was also afraid someone had poisoned it.

But the Lady really hadn't poisoned it. The sister-in-law was a high-level Two Shi Xiu, and her cooking was especially good. This bowl of porridge was also made with care. Yu He Shun ate it clean, then smashed the bowl to pieces:

"Feeding me without letting me eat my fill — I can tell you lot have no good intentions!" Yu He Shun even spat.

A passerby asked, "You didn't even give them any money, they gave you a bite to eat, how come you're still cursing people?"

"What did I curse? What did I curse them?" Yu He Shun shouted at the top of his lungs, "I wasn't full to begin with, did I say anything wrong?"

Don't argue with him — every extra word of bickering counts as a loss.

The medicine shop's assistant came out to dump the dirty soil, and conveniently led the two donkeys over to Yu He Shun's side.

Yu He Shun said with a long face, "What's this for? Are you blind? Can't you see there's a person here? Why are you leading the animal over here?"

The assistant ignored him, turned around, and went back into the medicine shop.

Yu He Shun didn't leave either; he just sat down next to the donkeys.

You think two donkeys can drive me away?

What are you thinking?

Qiu Zhiheng came up behind Yu He Shun and gave him a light pat. Yu He Shun turned his head and cursed, "Let me tell you, don't touch me! Touch me one more time and your whole family will die horrible deaths!"

This is called Mourning Words and Mourning Speech, one of the Mourning Cultivator's techniques. If Qiu Zhiheng touched him again, his family might not actually die, but they would surely encounter misfortune.

Qiu Zhiheng raised both hands, shook his head, and said, "I'm not going to touch you. I want to give you some money so you can go somewhere else to stay."

"Not going. I'm not going anywhere! I'm happy right here. What are you going to do about it?"

Qiu Zhiheng nodded. This was the last chance he was giving Yu He Shun.

The Lady's porridge really had no poison in it — only tonic medicine.

But if combined with Qiu Zhiheng's technique, it became a different story entirely.

Yu He Shun sat at the door, smoked another pipe of dry tobacco, and suddenly heard the donkeys braying in his ear.

Hnngh~aah!

Strange — why do these donkeys bray so nicely.

Yu He Shun looked up at the donkey for a glance, then lowered his head again.

Hnngh~aah!

The donkey brayed again.

Yu He Shun's face turned a little red.

It really did bray nicely.

The donkey brayed a third time. Yu He Shun didn't raise his head, but it seemed… he raised it again.

The donkey brayed several more times in a row, and Yu He Shun stood up.

What's happening?

Yu He Shun felt something terrible was about to happen to him.

No, absolutely not…

He wanted to leave.

Hnngh~aah! The donkey brayed once more.

Someone had loosened the donkey's reins, and the donkey walked toward the entrance of Paifang Street.

Yu He Shun left.

He followed the donkey.

Right now, his eyes held nothing but the donkey!

When they reached a densely crowded area, Yu He Shun lost control.

The donkey lost control too.

He got behind a donkey and took care of it.

Another donkey got behind him and took care of him.

All the passersby were stunned.

This is a street corner!

This is a donkey!

Even the reporters from Medicine King Gully were stunned.

Li Banfeng said from the side, "What are you gawking at? Take photos, record video!"

"Ah…" the reporter answered, recording while thinking about how to write the news.

PS: If this gets out, Medicine King Gully will probably become famous, right?

(End of chapter)