Chapter 91: Smell the Pleasure

Chapter 91: Smell the Pleasure

Chapter 91: Smell the Pleasure
The clerk was stunned and was about to stop him, but Li Wuxiang had already walked through the crowd to the store door.

The shop owner saw him, looked him up and down as a businessman would, then bowed and said, "Sir, we are closed today."

He sighed again, "I won't be in Deyang anymore. Please go somewhere else."

Li Wuxiang looked at the birds in the cages. He didn't recognize many of them, but he could tell that some of them were hawks or falcons, with their eyes wide open and feathers puffed up, obviously not liking this chaotic scene.

One of them struck him as quite beautiful. It looked about the same size as a chicken, with all its feathers being grey-white, except for its black beak and a few slightly reddish feathers on top of its head. It was moving its claws restlessly in the cage.

He pointed at it and said, "Unfortunately, I like this one. It's rare that I like it. Name a price. I won't bargain."

The shop owner frowned and looked at his clothes again - they were still the ones that the Chen family sent him during the Jinshui period, made of cotton and linen, and short, and they looked worn out after days of exposure to the elements. He didn't have a sword with him, so he didn't look very wealthy. So he sighed and said, "This one... Oh, you should look at something else... Forget it, pick one of these gray falcons here if you like it, and I'll give it to you. Anyway, you'll be scared to death on the road."

Li Wuxiang shook his head: "I like that one."

The shop owner then looked at him carefully and thought for a moment: "The market price of this blue dragon is twenty-two taels of silver, but if you want to pay in cash, two taels will do, and I'll give you a cowhide eagle horn as a gift." [Note 1]

Li Wuxiang nodded: "Unfortunately, we don't have enough silver and gold at the moment. Shopkeeper, you just said that if we set out on the road, these birds will be frightened to death. How much are these birds worth in total?"

The shop owner looked at him again and said hesitantly, "It must be much more than this. Alas, you..."

He suddenly smiled bitterly: "Oh, if you want to take advantage of me. Well, no matter who you are, as long as you can keep my shop in Deyang, 70% of the profits are still yours, and it can make a living for me and my daughter. But I advise you to go somewhere else. Do you see what's on the ground?"

He pointed to the ground, and Li Wuxiang saw some bloodstains on the yellow earth.

When he walked over, he saw blood, feces, feathers and other things outside many shops, which were left when the animals were slaughtered. He thought it was the same here. But the shop owner said, "Last night and today, several people came one after another, but the person in my shop is not easy to mess with, and he will show no mercy at this time. You have to weigh it yourself and see if it is worth it."

The man was not very polite, but his words were good. Li Wuxiang smiled and said, "Is the guy from your store here? Ask him to come out and talk to me."

The owner sighed, turned and walked inside.

The crowd at the store door suddenly became lively, and Li Wuxiang realized at this time that the group of people gathered here not to watch the birds, but to watch people. He turned his head and saw the young man who led him here - he was surprised and frightened at this time, as if he had not expected that his customer was also a wandering cultivator. He seemed to be planning to leave quickly, but after all, he was young and couldn't help it, so he quietly shrank into the crowd and found a gap to watch the fun.

Not long after, Li Wuxiang heard someone cursing in the store: "You've brought this old thing here again, haven't you? Which blind, unlucky bastard is looking for death and is rushing to reincarnate? You're reluctant to leave? Fine! When we get outside the city, I'll dig up your ancestral graves and take all your ancestors with me. I'll see if you still want to leave—"

The sound of footsteps quickly grew louder, and a short, yellow-faced man jumped to the door with a pair of short spikes in his hands, which frightened the people around him and they all took a step back: "Who?! Who is here to look for--"

The words stopped abruptly. Sun Dihuang stood on the ground, still holding the short spear in his hands, but he remained motionless in that position. His eyes stared straight at Li Wuxiang, his throat rolling, and his yellow face suddenly turned pale.

Li Wuxiang stared at him for a while before asking, "Did you hear what I said to Feng Ji on the mountain path?"

"I..." Sun Dihuang glanced around, "I heard it... No, I didn't..."

"What did I say?"

"Since you don't want to leave, then... don't leave..."

Li Wuxiang smiled and said, "It seems you were there at the time. Then I am very curious about one thing, why did you not leave after you came back? Don't you like it?"

Sun Dihuang's face had turned from white to blue. Looking at the people gradually gathering on the street, his chest heaved. He took a deep breath, stared, and threw a pair of short thorns on the ground with a clang. He knelt on the ground and said, "I can't bear to leave my wife and father-in-law! Sect Master, my wife's family opened this shop, and there are always people coming to bully them. If I'm not here, they will suffer. Sect Master, I was bewildered and wanted to take my whole family with me so that they wouldn't be alone—"

Li Wuxiang turned to look inside the store - the owner just came out at this time, stunned, his body tilted, and hurriedly held onto the door frame.

Li Wuxiang raised his head towards him: "Is what he said true?"

The shop owner looked at the crowd, but when he heard Sun Di Huang Lian mention the two "masters" and saw him like this, the people around him gradually stopped making noise. He steadied himself a little, swallowed his saliva, and spoke with a trembling voice: "Fake, all fake, fake..."

After saying these words, he choked up and knelt on the ground, tears streaming down his face: "Master, please make a decision for us! I am willing to give up all this shop and property! This beast has taken my daughter by force, poisoned my son-in-law, and has occupied my family's property for many years. I only ask the Master to make a decision for me!"

Li Wuxiang nodded and sneered at Sun Dihuang: "You gave it a good name. When you were sniffing around on the mountain, you only had to say it once and I would remember it. I love to hold grudges. When I first asked you to leave on the mountain, I said that sooner or later I would let you sniff enough. It's better to do it today than today."

He turned around and looked across, and a group of people hurried to make way for him - there used to be a horse shop opposite this shop, but now no one is running it. Only two empty stables are left, with some dried manure, straw and the like on the ground.

He turned to the owner and asked, "Is it hard for your family to rent this shed?"

The shop owner didn't know what he wanted to do. He looked up and was stunned: "It's not difficult..."

"Well, then rent it." Li Wuxiang looked at Sun Dihuang, "Go over and kneel down. Choose a position that you feel comfortable in."

Sun Dihuang was stunned for a moment, as if he had thought of something. He immediately stood up, trotted to the stable and knelt down. He then lowered himself to the ground, took a few deep breaths, and turned to Li Wuxiang with a flattering smile: "I understand. I will smell it carefully now. I will smell it carefully for the Sect Master to see!"

Li Wuxiang sneered: "What's the point of drying up all these stinky feces, boss."

"Ah? Hey, the villain is here!"

"Give him a spoonful of manure from your manure pit and tell him to smell it carefully."

At this time, some people in the crowd couldn't help laughing, and hid behind the crowd, some shouted loudly, and some urged the shopkeeper to hurry up. The shopkeeper came to his senses, gnashed his teeth, and immediately ran back to the store. It didn't take long before he rushed back with a dung shovel and dumped a scoop of stinking dung in front of Sun Dihuang.

The smell made everyone step back, but Sun Dihuang didn't dare frown and took a few more deep puffs: "Okay, I'll let you smell it now, Sect Master!"

Li Wuxiang smiled and said, "Don't worry, I told you to choose a comfortable position to kneel in. Have you chosen?"

“…I’ve chosen.”

Li Wuxiang nodded and looked at the shop owner again: "Send him two meals a day, food and drinks. Change the things he smells once a day. Ladies and gentlemen, is this lively and interesting?"

No one else responded, but the young man in the crowd shouted, "It looks great!"

"As long as it looks good. Those of you who have nothing to do can help watch it when you are free. I will be stationed in Feiyun Temple. If anyone sees that he has disappeared from the stable, please come to find me. I will give you some hard work money every time you come." Everyone cheered loudly, and Sun Dihuang nodded repeatedly: "I won't leave, I won't leave, Sect Master, I will smell it whenever you tell me to. Sect Master, you are so magnanimous and kind-hearted... Then, then when will I..."

"Until you want to die."

Sun Dihuang was stunned. The crowd was also stunned for a moment, and they were silent for a while.

"Master...don't...don't...go too far..."

Li Wuxiang laughed: "I think you are so interesting. When you were going down the mountain, you thought you might still have a chance, so you waited on the mountain road. After coming back, I guess you thought I would leave here as soon as possible, or that I would not return to the city so quickly, or that you had forgotten about me, so you were reluctant to leave immediately. What are you thinking now? Do you think I will punish you by making you kneel for a few days, and then the matter will be over?"

He stopped smiling and said, "Now you should know that there are only a few good lucks in a lifetime. Since you missed it, your life is over. You saw what sword I used. Whenever you want to die, you can just get up and leave. But if I am too busy and fail to catch you, then no matter where you go, someone else will naturally come looking for you."

Sun Dihuang lowered his head and gritted his teeth, glanced at the pair of short thorns at the door of the store, and then glanced at the owner.

Li Wuxiang looked at him: "Shopkeeper."

"exist……"

"If you feel uneasy, I will find someone to build walls on all sides after I leave, so you don't have to worry about him harming you in the middle of the night. But I guess he must be kneeling here obediently, thinking that if he endures it, he may still have a chance to survive."

The shop owner immediately shouted to his clerk: "Go, go now, find someone to build the wall!"

Then he said to Li Wuxiang: "Please wait a moment, wait a moment..."

He hurried back to the shop, and soon he came back stumbling, holding a small wooden box in his hand: "Master, Master, this is the title deed and store deed of my shop, and..."

"You keep it for yourself." Li Wuxiang smiled at him, "I want the one...what's it called?"

"Canglong, Canglong. Sect Master, look..."

"I have no interest in worldly affairs, but I don't like it when someone offends me. You can keep your shop. Will you still give me the Eagle Bell?"

"…I'll give it to you, of course I'll give it to you!"

Li Wuxiang called out to the crowd: "Dude?"

The clerk immediately ran over, behaved properly, and no longer had a joking expression on his face. When the shopkeeper took the eagle, the clerk thought again and again, and then whispered: "Sir, are you the leader of Ranshan Sect?"

"Ah."

"The city is truly peaceful now, Master, you have done a great thing."

At this time, the shop assistant brought the eagle over. Its claws and beak were covered with hoods, and it was placed in a smaller cage covered with cotton cloth. The shop assistant helped him take the things, and the two of them walked back. The shop owner knelt down again behind him and thanked him profusely. The crowd of onlookers dispersed and made way for him. They were still talking in a low voice when they were a little further away, but when he passed by, they all fell silent.

After the two walked a little further, the waiter hurriedly said, "Master, you are so impressive! From today on, everyone in Deyang will know your name! If there are still those who are ignorant enough to stay in the city, I'm afraid they will all run away once they hear what's happening here!"

Li Wuxiang just smiled and said nothing. The waiter thought he was acting like a clan leader and stopped talking.

After walking for a while, Li Wuxiang asked, "Do you know where there is a temple dedicated to Taiyi in Deyang City? The Taiyi in the temple looks like the one wearing golden armor."

The guy's eyes lit up: "You mean the Wu Temple in the east of the city?"

"Martial Arts Temple?"

"Wearing golden armor? That's Wu Taiyi Temple. People in the city go there to pray for wealth. It's very popular! Do you want to go now? I'll take you there!"

"So there is a Confucian Temple?"

"Ah... yes, we ordinary people are divided into civil and military. Hehe, what you worship is what we call the Wen Taiyi Temple. We pray for health and safety."

Li Wuxiang nodded and smiled: "Let's go again in a few days."

It was still early today, not yet dusk, and he wanted to go to the temple to take a look. But now he had something to do and wanted to return to Feiyun Temple immediately.

He had just done an experiment, and now he felt the results of the experiment slowly emerging.

He didn't have to hold Sun Dihuang hostage and humiliate him in public. In fact, based on his past and present behavior, he would feel more comfortable if he killed him with a single sword.

But he did this for one reason, so that some ignorant people near Deyang would not disturb his peace in the future. Another reason was because after he defeated Zhao Kui in Jinshui, the townspeople knelt down to worship him.

When he was worshiped, the power of will immediately entered his body. And now, what happened just now should have slowly spread, and he experienced that feeling again. It was not as strong as when he was in Jinshui, but more like a trickle, dripping into his body. Although it was not much, it was not comparable to the effort of meditation.

He was originally just one step away from entering the Qi Refining realm, and right now, that little bit was almost enough.

Cheng Peixin cordially invited me to Feiyun Temple. If I were just a swordsman or the new leader of Ranshan Sect, it wouldn't be like this. In this world, if people want to gain kindness, most of the time they have to make people feel that they might be able to earn something from this person.

He was not quite sure what Cheng Peixin wanted now, but the Ranshan Sword Master, who had quickly broken through after meeting her for just one day, would definitely make her think a little more about whatever she planned to do.

……

Note 1: Ying (ying) 鞲 is a protective gear worn on the arm to stabilize falcons.

　Two chapters merged into one. Thanks to a certain uncle in his thirties for the tip!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)