Chapter 164

Fucheng, with tens of thousands of households and over two million people, saw constant streams of travelers and merchants coming and going; sealing and patrolling the city was extremely difficult.

Riding into the city in a carriage, Li Yuan lifted the curtain.

"Steamed buns, fresh out of the oven…"

"Candied chestnuts, thirteen cash a jin."

"Charcoal for sale, charcoal…"

Though the New Year had just passed and the weather was still cold, the streets were already crowded, and the cries of vendors filled the air.

"No wonder Old Hu wants to go fishing—finding a team of experts skilled in concealment and disguise within the city is like searching for a needle in a haystack."

Li Yuan shook his head inwardly; without the Heavenly Net, finding someone meant door-to-door searches, but that held little meaning for experts.

They'd search, and as soon as the troops left, the experts would climb back over the walls—how could ordinary soldiers catch them?

"No wonder the profession of Fuxiu Fuxiu Daoren emerged—warriors must be caught by warriors."

Inside the carriage, Li Yuan gave an order, and the disciple driving slowed to stroll through the streets while he scanned the pedestrians on either side.

After wandering several streets and seeing they were near the Forge Shop, Li Yuan changed course and headed there.

He found Liu Zheng and Wang Wang Peiyao, who had gone down the mountain a few days prior to handle transactions.

"What's that smell on you? It's disgusting!"

As soon as Li Yuan entered the room, Wang Wang Peiyao complained, and a foul stench hit him.

"Senior Brother Li."

Liu Zheng bowed slightly, awkwardly explaining: "These past few days, I've been recruiting Night Shit Men; it's inevitable I picked up some of the odor."

"Night Shit Men?"

Li Yuan opened the door wide and sat down: "The Zhao family has been down for a long time—has no one taken over this business?"

Night Shit Men had a hard job, but the Feces Tyrants did not.

Night Shit Men traveled the streets at night, collecting silver from every household, gathering the waste and hauling it outside the city—it was excellent fertilizer.

This business had always been fiercely contested; the Zhao family had secured it years ago through ties with Qiu Qiu Zhengxiong.

"After the Zhao family fell, many tried to seize it, but they were all small clans—larger families were frightened and dared not reach out."

Wang Wang Peiyao pinched her nose: "The Zhou family—the very first to cooperate with us—also got involved. Liu Zheng feared they'd monopolize it, so he joined in too."

Liu Zheng added:

"Senior Brother Li, this trade seems insignificant, but it's a huge one—the Zhao family alone made at least five thousand taels of silver annually from this alone."

"That much?"

Li Yuan knew Feces Tyrants made money, but he hadn't expected it to be this profitable—after all, the Zhao family only monopolized a few city districts.

"After splitting the profits among the various households, it probably won't amount to much, but our share should still reach over a thousand taels."

Liu Zheng said.

Li Yuan nodded, a sudden thought striking him: "I heard Night Shit Men collect and return the chamber pots from every household?"

"Senior Brother Li knows about that too?"

Liu Zheng nodded: "Cleaning the chamber pots is included, but it's truly hard-earned money—Feces Tyrants never take a cut, or they'd seem too cruel."

"Hmm, I see."

Li Yuan's mind stirred:

"When you have time, inform all the Feces Tyrants to keep an eye out for travelers with foreign accents…"

"Don't use my name—handle it however you see fit, spend some silver if needed, and try to contact as many as possible."

"Yes!"

Liu Zheng didn't ask questions, nodded, and went off to bathe.

"Senior Brother Li is looking for someone?"

Wang Wang Peiyao opened the window too; once the stench had mostly cleared, she rose and poured Li Yuan a cup of tea:

"I heard the Yunshu Tower's intelligence is even more complete than the Inner Surveillance Hall's—though it's very expensive."

"The Yunshu Tower? I'll check it out later."

Li Yuan nodded; any force bold enough to publish rankings must have a powerful intelligence network.

But Jing Jing Shuhu had no reason to be unaware—likely he simply didn't have it,

or couldn't afford it, given how sensitive the timing was.

Wang Wang Peiyao didn't press further, only went to the inner room to retrieve the intelligence she'd gathered during this period.

Li Yuan didn't look at it yet, just tucked it into his robe and asked:

"Have those few leather shops replied?"

After experiencing the benefits of the Master-Controlled Boots, Li Yuan couldn't stop thinking about them.

"I did ask, but…"

Wang Wang Peiyao shook her head: "Fucheng has far more spiritual beasts than Gao Liu, but their uses are also greater.

Half the spiritual beast hides collected by those few shops are supplied to the Forge Valley; the rest are absorbed by various families, mostly for making inner armor and outer robes—only a tiny fraction are used for boots.

She naturally knew Li Yuan's preference and had already inquired thoroughly:

"The only bootmakers in the city are 'Liuhex Tang' and 'Yangxue Zhai'—they're easy enough; if they have spiritual beast hide, they'll make boots, but the price is much higher."

"So spiritual beast hide is still hard to come by?"

Li Yuan nodded and pulled out several hundred-tael silver notes, handing them over: "Keep an eye out—whenever spiritual beast hide appears on the market, buy it even at a premium."

Raising spiritual beasts was difficult; most were wild and lived deep in the mountains and ancient forests, hard to capture.

Spiritual beast hide was, in some ways, even more popular than spiritual beast meat—once it appeared on the market, it was snatched up instantly.

"Alright, I'll keep watch."

Wang Wang Peiyao was secretly shocked; the treatment of a true disciple was truly beyond her imagination.

Clearly someone who came from a poor family, yet in such a short time she had already picked up extravagant things like "Spirit Beast Boots" and "Spirit Beast Belt."

Fortunately she didn't seem interested in rings or necklaces — those were the real money pits…

"By the way, do you have any rings, necklaces, or the like polished from spirit beast bone?"

Li Yuan asked.

The appearance of the Five-Step Spirit Snake Skin Belt made him feel that the range of items the Soldier Controlling Register could control was far richer than he had previously imagined.

If belts worked, what about rings and necklaces?

"Huh?"

Wang Wang Peiyao instinctively straightened her back, almost thinking he could read minds, and stammered:

"Th-there should be, right?"

"Let's go, take a stroll!"

"S-stroll?"

Wang Wang Peiyao opened her mouth, her face slightly flushed: "Mm, I'll go wash my face."

……

It was already high noon, yet the streets and alleys were still flowing with people, the noise of voices exceedingly lively.

"The jewelry shop is just ahead."

Wang Wang Peiyao had dressed carefully; a simple martial robe looked quite pretty on her.

With her as guide, Li Yuan strolled leisurely, his peripheral gaze sweeping back and forth; aside from the snack stalls, he didn't need to stop at each one.

Because of the news that the Sanyuanwu army had set out, there were far fewer traveling merchants coming to Zhe Long Mansion than in previous years, but there were still quite a few good things.

Li the Master had deep pockets; whether graded or ungraded, anything he felt had a useful control effect, or was rare, he would buy.

Along the way, he also sized up the weapons on passing martial artists.

All manner of lights wove together in his eyes; before even reaching the jewelry shop, Li Yuan felt his eyes growing somewhat sore and dry.

"If I want to scan an entire city, my eyes will go blurry for sure."

Li Yuan rubbed his eyes, followed Wang Wang Peiyao into the jewelry shop; the first thing to greet his eyes was all manner of gold and silver ornaments, jade and agate everywhere.

Quite a few ladies in the shop were picking out items, all with decent looks and figures.

"This Young Lady, what can I get you, sir?"

A maid came forward to greet them.

Wang Wang Peiyao's expression was as usual: "Do you have any jewelry related to spirit beasts?"

"You mean spirit beast bone ornaments?"

After confirming, the maid bowed slightly: "The spirit beast bone ornaments are in the back; please follow me."

"Mm."

Wang Wang Peiyao responded.

Li Yuan swept his gaze over the entire shop, three floors up and down —

there were some weapon glimmers on the three floors, but most belonged to customers or their swords and sabers.

The ornaments covering walls and cabinets did not emit any weapon glimmers.

"None of them count as weapons?"

Li Yuan mulled over the principles of the Soldier Controlling Register in his heart, but always felt that the Register's definition of a weapon's boundary was somewhat vague.

Yet he believed bone ornaments could count among weapons, because the earliest ancient ornaments could also serve as weapons.

This jewelry shop was very large — front to back it had a full five courtyards; this end was the shop, the far end was also a shop, spanning two streets, occupying more ground than even the weapons forge.

"Two customers, this way please."

The maid called out; from a great distance, a light flashed in Li Yuan's eyes, for he had already spotted the glint of weapons.

Bone ornaments really did count as weapons!

It wasn't a large shop, and compared to the one on the front street it was much quieter — clearly not as popular as gold and silver, which was also related to the price.

"How are these things priced?"

Wang Wang Peiyao was in charge of negotiating with the maid.

Li Yuan paced on his own, picking out those with glimmers from among the many ornaments.

Bracelets, rings, necklaces, jade pendants, hairpins — everything was there.

Over ten ungraded pieces, seven first-grade, three second-grade, and the highest was a third-grade bone ring.

【Spirit Fire Lingniu Bone Ring (Third-Grade)】

【Polished from the skullcap of a Spirit Fire Lingniu, soaked in medicinal soup and forged with raging fire; the bovine nature has not dissipated…】

【Control Requirement: Bovine Form】

【Control Effect: Third-Grade (Deep Blue): Heat Insulation, Fire Resistance

Second-Grade (Blue): Water Affinity, Spiritual Nature】

"Spiritual Nature!"

Li Yuan took the bone ring in hand; it was slightly warm to the touch, then turned cool after a moment.

He squinted slightly; the control blessing of this ring was indeed different from that of weapons.

【Spiritual Nature: The Spirit Fire Lingniu died but its nature did not disperse; residual spiritual nature remains; control can cleanse the spirit】

A fine treasure!

Li Yuan's eyes brightened slightly; this bone ring was even more direct than the belt — it was actually related to "spirit," which was far too rare.

But he didn't interrupt Wang Wang Peiyao's haggling; only after she had settled the price did he buy up all the bone ornaments.

After leaving the shop, Li Yuan went to several other jewelry stores, spending over a thousand taels of silver in less than half a day.

Afterwards, he had Wang Wang Peiyao lead him to leather shops, "Six Harmony Hall," "Boot-Raising Studio," and several other places that sold boots.

This time he wasn't so lucky. Wang Wang Peiyao and Liu Zheng had already bought out the stock earlier, so out of six shops he only managed to buy two pairs of first-tier Six Harmony Boots.

After wandering through more than ten streets and seeing that it wasn't dark yet, Li Yuan simply headed straight for the nearest Crippled God Temple.

He was in urgent need of third-tier or above incense offerings.

……

"This kid is looking for people like this?!"

Outside the Crippled God Temple, Jing Jing Shuhu, who was mixed in among the crowd, had his face turn black.

Told you to be bait, and you go shopping with a woman?!

First jewelry stores, then leather shops…

"Good kid!"

Jing Jing Shuhu was so angry his teeth itched, but he still followed him into the temple, only instructing the disciples of the Supervisory Hall to spread the news.