Chapter 172

"Knock knock!"

Footsteps came from outside, followed by a knock on the door.

Lin Jue and Fuyao both turned their heads to look, and the Silver-Eating Ghost turned into a wisp of smoke and drilled back into the wood carving, leaving only some official silver and broken silver on the bed.

"Who is it?"

"The Daoist arrived so late, have you eaten dinner?" The voice of the inn waiter came from outside. "Do you want to eat something in the shop? The little one can deliver it to the Daoist's room."

"Is there any convenient and affordable food?"

"There are soup noodles and mixed rice. Soup noodles are ten wen a bowl, and the mixed rice is fifteen wen, which is smooth and nourishing for the stomach, has meat, and is oily enough."

The two talked through a wooden door.

Lin Jue thought for a moment: "Then I want two bowls of soup noodles."

Given the habits of the bottom-level people in these years, the mixed rice could really be made from the leftovers of other guests, and neither the shopkeeper nor the guests eating the mixed rice would think there was anything wrong with it, but Lin Jue was still unwilling to eat people's leftovers unless it was a special time.

"Two bowls?"

"Yes."

"Alright!"

The footsteps slowly went away again.

"Come out."

"Hoo..."

The Silver-Eating Ghost then came out again, turning into the appearance of a big-headed child ghost. At the first opportunity, it looked at the silver on the bed again, as if afraid it would disappear.

"Don't panic, I locked the door. It was just the inn waiter just now." Lin Jue looked at it. "How does this silver taste?"

"Hmm? These two portions..."

The Silver-Eating Ghost did not know why he asked such a question, but looking at the two portions of silver in its hand, one was a ten-tael honeycomb silver, and one was some scattered broken silver, totaling more than ten taels. It leaned over and sniffed carefully, and answered truthfully:

"These two portions of silver don't smell strange, but this ten-tael ingot smells very fragrant, and this bag of broken silver also smells very fragrant, and some smells are a bit lighter."

"This ten-tael ingot was given to my Third Third Shixiong for finding a soul for someone, and more than half of this bag of broken silver was earned by me for exorcising demons and catching ghosts in the city, and the rest was from my Third Third Shixiong selling pills."

"So that's how it is..."

The Silver-Eating Ghost almost knew why he asked this, so it endured the weakness and told him what it knew:

"The True Man exorcises demons and catches ghosts for people and receives silver given voluntarily, so the money earned this way is naturally very fragrant. The True Man's Third Third Shixiong sells pills, which is very ordinary, but it is not easy to breed a strange smell because of this. But when two kinds of silver with different smells are put together, hmm, not just put together, as long as they are given to the same person, after a long time, they will also cross-contaminate."

"If fragrant silver and ordinary silver are put together, the ordinary silver will also be stained with some fragrance, and correspondingly, the fragrant silver's smell will become lighter."

"If fragrant silver and silver with a strange smell are put together, the silver with a strange smell will not necessarily become fragrant because of this, but the fragrant silver will definitely be stained with a strange smell because of this."

"The reason for this is not clear to the little one, but after a long time, there is such experience."

After speaking, it held the silver and looked at Lin Jue.

"It turns out to be like this..."

Lin Jue sat by the table and fell into thought. When his eyes met with it, he immediately said: "Why don't you eat? Aren't you starving?"

"Then the little one will eat this bag of broken silver first! And keep this ingot to eat next month?"

"Eat it all."

Lin Jue said to it, and turned his head to see his own fox resting its front paws on the stool, as if standing up, staring straight at the ten-tael honeycomb silver in the Silver-Eating Ghost's hand. He smiled:

"It is because this bag of scattered broken silver was earned by me, and this ten-tael official silver was earned by my Fuyao for exorcising demons, they are not the same. As for next month, next month will have its own way."

"Good!"

The Silver-Eating Ghost could no longer hold back. It picked up a piece of broken silver and took a deep sniff, then threw it into its mouth like eating a candy bean.

The Daoist and the fox both stared at it with their eyes wide open.

Only a squeaking and crunching sound was heard.

After a while, it turned into a rustling sound.

It was clearly harsh to the ear, but seeing it chew slowly, intoxicated and enjoying it, and even a bit moved, the Daoist and the fox looked at each other and felt that their mouths were unknowingly filled with saliva.

Lin Jue thought for a moment, then took another piece of broken silver and handed it to the fox:

"You try it too."

The fox looked down at the silver, then looked up at him. Out of trust in him, it actually walked half a step forward, stretched its neck, and took the silver from his hand.

Lin Jue clearly saw it exerting force with its mouth.

"Ying ya!"

After biting it a few times, it couldn't stand it and had to spit out the silver covered with tooth marks. It turned its head in confusion to look at the Silver-Eating Ghost, then looked at Lin Jue, blinking its eyes, not knowing why it couldn't chew it.

Not only could it not chew it, but its teeth also hurt.

While thinking, it pushed the silver to Lin Jue with its paw and looked up at him expectantly.

"I'm not eating it."

Lin Jue said very directly: "I'm not stupid."

"??"

The fox was immediately shocked and dull.

Fortunately, not long after, there were footsteps outside again.

The man and the fox turned their heads at the same time again.

The Silver-Eating Ghost was extremely cautious, took the silver and drilled back into the quilt again, and even the sound of chewing silver stopped.

Lin Jue went to open the door, and outside was the waiter carrying two bowls of soup noodles.

"Just give it to me, no need to trouble yourself to send it in."

"Alright! After the Daoist finishes eating, just put the bowls and chopsticks outside the room door, and the little one will come to collect them later."

"Many thanks."

"The Daoist is really polite..."

The waiter left. Lin Jue carried the bowls back into the room. The fox pushed the door to close it naturally, one on each side. It closed it in the wrong order, paused to think, and then closed the door properly.

With a flick of its paw, the bolt was latched.

The Silver-Eating Ghost also came out.

"Eat it all."

Lin Jue put down the two bowls of soup noodles.

So in this narrow inn room, it was full of the sounds of a man, a fox, and a ghost eating, each different, but all mixed together, with no one speaking.

All three finished eating almost at the same time, and were full and satisfied.

Lin Jue took the bowls and chopsticks out and placed them at the door. When he turned back, he saw the Silver-Eating Ghost with a look of being in a fairyland, its belly bulging and bulging, as if something was moving inside. Spiritual light also emerged from its body, and spiritual energy visible to the naked eye rose above its head, then it burped:

"Burp!"

It opened its mouth and spat out two spiritual pills, which floated in the air as if they had no weight.

The Silver-Eating Ghost hurriedly caught them with its hand and handed them to Lin Jue.

"Thank you."

After Lin Jue took them, he looked down at the spiritual pills in his palm, then looked at the Silver-Eating Ghost, always feeling strange, and it would have been better not to see the process of it spitting out the spiritual pills.

Then he divided the two pills into two portions.

He handed one of them to Fuyao.

"Take it and eat it. This was earned by your hard work in exorcising demons. Don't say I blacked your money, and don't say I didn't give you spiritual pills to eat," Lin Jue said to it.

"Ying~"

The fox's eyes were bright, and it leaned over, took the pill, thought for a moment, and turned its head to look at the Silver-Eating Ghost, learning Lin Jue's words, but its voice was clear and crisp:

"Thank you!"

After speaking, it didn't rush to eat, but continued to stare at Lin Jue.

Lin Jue smiled and swallowed it in one gulp.

Only then did the fox feel relieved and swallowed it in one gulp.

Lin Jue sat cross-legged.

The fox sat upright.

Both sides calmed their minds to cultivate, digesting and comprehending the spiritual rhyme and mystery in the pills.

When Lin Jue opened his eyes, the Silver-Eating Ghost had already drilled into the wood carving and fallen asleep. This thing was quite comfortable as long as it was full and drunk, if it hadn't fallen into the hands of an evil person.

Lin Jue put away the wood carving and saw his own fox still sitting with its eyes closed, and even didn't know when it had revealed its original size, looking as big as an ordinary leopard, sitting upright, with two fluffy tails behind it, looking quite heroic in addition to being beautiful, so he looked at it for a while longer.

Then he sat back on the bed and took out the ancient book.

"Whoosh..."

Turning several pages, all that were turned were pill formulas.

"Xuangui Pill."

"Meng Huai Pill."

"Liu Niu Pill."

"Soul-Calming Pill."

All were taught to him by the Second Third Third Shixiong.

The Second Third Third Shixiong told him the pill formula once, which triggered the mystery of the ancient book, and more detailed content naturally appeared in the book.

The book contained the author's detailed account of this pill, which inevitably included some of the author's insights into alchemy and pill principles, plus the Second Third Third Shixiong's explanation, which was also of great benefit to Lin Jue.

This was something that could be listened to and savored repeatedly.

It was just that he turned another page down.

"Whoosh..."

Taking objects from a distance, the technique of summoning.

Although this method was a trick, it was mysterious and difficult to learn, and one must have excellent talent to get started.

Beginners chant spells to take objects, taking objects from a few feet away, with no obstruction in between; advanced practitioners take objects by waving their sleeves, taking objects from several zhang away, with a little obstruction in between; if one can reach the peak, one can take objects from a hundred zhang away, and even take objects held in the opponent's hand;

If one can use external forces such as magic arrays and artifacts, one can take objects from thousands of miles away.

"In this way, the Seventh Third Third Shixiong's talent should also be considered top-notch. After all, he seems to only cultivate one door of tricks, but in this door of tricks, there are several mysterious and difficult-to-learn spells."

Lin Jue thought to himself.

Thinking back, the Seventh Third Third Shixiong had taken the hand crossbow from the waist of a Jianghu swordsman, and that hand crossbow was hung with a belt, and he had taken the seal and money bag from the bosom of the County Magistrate of Qiuru, which should already be at an advanced level.

"Fuqiu Temple...

"Sure enough, only the Great Yin-Yang Method is missing."

Lin Jue shook his head, pinched the page, and listened to the lecture in detail.

It was just that with his current level, he no longer believed in authority, and no longer regarded everything the author of the ancient book said as truth just because the author might have high cultivation and broad knowledge. Instead, he rationally realized that the author of the ancient book might indeed have high cultivation and broad knowledge and lived a long time, but his own Third Shixiong Brothers were also talented and excellent, and each cultivated one door, and also had their own unique insights.

And the Third Shixiong Brothers were in reality, right by his side.

Therefore, the two learning channels had different angles and each had its own advantages.

The author of the ancient book won in high cultivation and broad knowledge, his perspective was higher, and he could cite other sources to make later people understand by analogy, and even stimulate new insights.

The Third Shixiong Brothers could teach him more appropriately, hand-in-hand, answer his questions at any time, and even analyze according to the problems he encountered, and think of ways and ideas for him.

Both were excellent learning channels.

Combining the two, there was nothing better than this.

While listening, the fox woke up, yawning and stretching, rolling on the ground, and gradually returned to about the same size as before while rolling.

About the same, but smaller each time, closer to the size of a cat each time.

Then there were footsteps outside again.

Out of vigilance, Lin Jue opened his eyes slightly, loosened his hand on the page, and looked outside the door.

It sounded like the waiter's footsteps.

But listening carefully, it didn't sound like it.

Those footsteps were much more sluggish and weak, like a walking corpse, or like someone who was extremely tired, couldn't walk, and was dragging their feet while holding the wall, dragging a faint sound on the ground.

The footsteps stopped at their door.

The fox stared outside with serious curiosity.

The door moved a little.

Then there was the sound of bowls and chopsticks colliding.

Only then did Lin Jue breathe a sigh of relief, able to imagine the waiter outside the door holding the door and bending down to pick up the bowls.

Just wanting to sigh that life is not easy these days, this waiter was probably busy from before dawn until now, when the moon was high, but the next moment, he heard two thumps and clatters.

As if someone had fallen to the ground, the bowls and chopsticks also fell to the ground, followed by the sound of collision and shattering, and then the sound of someone vomiting.

"Hmm?"

Lin Jue immediately had a few beans in his right hand, and pinched one in his left hand, instantly turning into a long sword, which he held in his hand, and went over to push the door to look.

Outside the door was none other than the inn waiter.

The waiter fell to the ground, vomiting incessantly.