Chapter 166

Wang Ping'an swaggered down the street, completely putting on the airs of a newly rich man, looking east and west; if there weren't no women on the street, he might have flirted a bit.

However.

If you look closely, you can still see him occasionally glancing sideways behind him, as if there were something back there he couldn't look at.

It's because someone is following him!

"The fish is hooked!"

Wang Ping'an secretly felt pleased.

He just didn't know whether those following him were Fang Lu and others luring him with a treasure map, or whether they were drawn by his flashing wealth just now in public.

In front of countless monsters and Dao cultivators, he openly took a cloth bag from his storage bag without hiding it, and before outsiders he showed no fear of being spied, opening the bag to reveal the low-grade spirit stones inside.

He did it on purpose!

If he hadn't been without a single low-grade spirit stone, the four hundred low-grade spirit stones left over from looting the two evil cultivators—after he spent them on four Five Elements Escape Techniques and earned money selling talismans—would have been used either to buy spirit fruit saplings or to purchase a cultivation method, or else to buy some rudimentary spirit wood.

He was completely broke—no low-grade spirit stones, not even a single copper coin could he produce.

He even imagined himself as a nouveau riche, tossing low-grade spirit stones around for fun, feeling the urge to lure others into murder and robbery.

Just as Wang Ping'an stepped out of the street, the bored Hu Jiushisan, who had been sitting idly on a chair resting, was tapped by Zhu Wu; he first stared in surprise, then, following Zhu Wu's gesture, immediately spotted Wang Ping'an.

Hu Jiushisan hurried over, fawning smile, and said, "Dao friend, did you gain anything at this market? Is there any clueless thing that offended you? If anyone clueless has offended you, dao friend, just say the word—I'll bring that person over for you to make them kowtow and apologize."

Wang Ping'an shoved a piece of paper into Hu Jiushisan's palm, then, without waiting for him to speak, strode out to the Peregrine Falcon Little Gray that had long been waiting, and leapt onto its back.

Hu Jiushisan watched Wang Ping'an's retreating back, quickly took out the paper Wang Ping'an had shoved into his hand, was about to open it, saw Zhu Wu wanting to peek, and glared at him fiercely.

Zhu Wu gave an embarrassed chuckle and hastily increased the distance between himself and Hu Jiushisan.

If it weren't for fearing that shouting abuse would make Zhu Wu bear a grudge and possibly act against it, it would have cursed Zhu Wu:

"You clueless thing, daring to sneak a look at the note the Paper Daoist gave it!"

Hu Jiushisan snorted coldly, stifling his inner displeasure, not wanting to glance at Zhu Wu again, turned away, and just as he opened the note, his expression shifted slightly.

It never expected that Wang Ping'an would have written the following on the note he gave it:

"Soon someone seeking death will come after me—don't interfere, or you'll ruin my fun!"

Having just finished reading the text on the note, Hu Jiushisan's mouth twitched slightly; he wanted to retort a few words, but a sudden slap on his shoulder startled him, and he could no longer contain his inner anger, bursting out in curses:

"You bastard, don't you know that demons scaring demons can scare demons to death? Are you trying to scare me to death, or are you just trying to sneak a look at the note the Paper Daoist left for me?"

"Brother Hu, I didn't mean to scare you on purpose, nor did I mean to scare you into peeking at the note the Paper Daoist gave you; rather, just now three demons ran out, heading in the same direction as the Paper Daoist—likely the Paper Daoist flashed his wealth at the market, and they're preparing to murder and rob."

Zhu Wu said full of apology.

"What are you saying?"

Hu Jiushisan was instantly startled.

"Brother Hu, we don't have time to waste talking here…"

Before Zhu Wu could finish speaking, he saw Niuda chase after them with lightning speed; Hu Jiushisan recalled the note the Paper Daoist had left for him, thinking that if Niuda pursued, it would ruin the Paper Daoist's plans.

It would surely cause the Paper Daoist to blame it!

"Niuda, stop right there!" Hu Jiushisan shouted; seeing Niuda seemingly not hearing him, he threatened, "If you don't stop, do you believe I'd take back the talismans I sold you?"

Originally.

Niuda saw that Hu Jiushisan had done nothing but simply pass the talisman along to earn half the profit; he had no intention of engaging in Zhu Wu's buy-low-sell-high scheme, but instead wanted to take a ten percent cut.

Merely.

Not long ago, Zhu Wu had explained to it in detail: buying two talismans from Hu Jiushisan for three low-grade spirit stones, even if they couldn't be sold at the Nine Heads Mountain market, they'd still turn a profit, and indeed could make a lot of money.

In the end.

It was persuaded by Zhu Wu to likewise give up its ten percent cut, cheaply buy talismans from Hu Jiushisan, and then sell them at a high price to others.

Although Niuda was furious at Hu Jiushisan's threat, since it needed Hu Jiushisan—and had not yet connected with Wang Ping'an to obtain talismans from him—it had no choice but to obey Hu Jiushisan's orders.

It dared not offend Hu Jiushisan, even though at this moment it was full of anger toward him.

Niuda angrily said: "Hu Jiushisan, do you know what you're doing? You haven't seen that three evil demons are coming to kill the Paper Daoist."

In this novel, you have arrived.

If we delay, letting the Paper Daoist lose his life, and if the Paper Daoist finds out we stood by and did nothing, aren't you afraid he'll stop selling us talismans?

"You don't know anything—this is all just the Paper Daoist's amusement!"

Hu Jiushisan gave a cold snort; seeing that both Niuda and Zhu Wu wore puzzled expressions—not just them, even he himself looked strange—he handed over the note in his hand and said:

"This is what the Paper Daoist just gave me—if you don't believe me, look for yourself!"

"I'd like to see what kind of note the Paper Daoist left for you, to actually say such strange words!"

Niuda gave a cold snort, strode forward, and with one hand took the note Hu Jiushisan handed over; but as soon as he glanced at it, his face turned extremely odd, and he exclaimed in astonishment:

"How… how… how is this possible?"

Whether human or demon, any cultivator must be literate; if illiterate, one cannot cross the threshold into cultivation.

It's not that illiteracy forbids cultivation, but rather that without literacy one cannot study cultivation methods—how could one possibly enter the cultivator's gate?

"What's wrong, Brother Niuda? Is there something off with the note the Paper Daoist left?"

Zhu Wu watched Niuda's stunned expression, a little curious what words on the note could have made him like this; he subconsciously glanced up, took a look, and after seeing the text clearly, remarked oddly:

"No, what kind of person is this Paper Daoist, to actually have such a hobby?"

"What else could it be? Naturally an evil cultivator—evil cultivators having some strange hobbies isn't abnormal, is it?"

Although that's what was said, Hu Jiushisan's face likewise showed speechlessness; the special fetishes of evil cultivators, though he hadn't seen much of them, he had heard rumors—but seeing someone like Wang Ping'an was still his first time.

"Brother Hu, are we really just going to watch those three demons chase after him?"

Zhu Wu worried: "As the old saying goes, "Fear not the ten thousand, fear the one in ten thousand." Brother Hu, aren't you worried about capsizing in a gutter?"

(End of chapter)