Living steadily in the world of gods and mystery

The slum district residences weren’t densely packed, which here meant that one could occasionally see a patch of woods, a grassy area, or even low-lying slopes.

Chen Li ducked into a grove of trees, and after emerging from the other side, the blood-stained ordinary robes he wore had been replaced with a grey spell robe, and his appearance had changed once more, his back now slightly hunched as if he had suddenly shrunk several inches.

He didn’t stop zigzagging, taking several lengthy detours before straightening up and reverting to his original appearance, his mood relaxed as he headed home.

Zhou Hong was still busy processing demon beast meat.

Five tons of demon beast meat was not something that could be dealt with in a short time.

"Did everything go smoothly?" Zhou Hong asked.

"I sold out in no time. Food prices are skyrocketing, and we sell at a bargain, so we sell as much as we have!" Chen Li said with a laugh, not mentioning the attempted robbery he just experienced.

With fatigue on her face mixed with joy, Zhou Hong said, "We’ll keep some for ourselves to make into cured meat. If we sell the rest, I reckon we could get nine mid-grade Spirit Stones... When it’s time to travel with a merchant caravan to other places, the expenses will obviously be high. With this money, our home will be much more comfortable."

"Don’t worry about money. Haven’t I picked up quite a few magic artifacts recently? Selling them could be worth a lot, but they’re difficult to sell right now," said Chen Li, also feeling a bit troubled.

It wasn’t that he feared being targeted again.

He was indebted but not worried.

With the golden gleaming talisman he acquired today, his confidence had grown significantly.

At worst, he could use it to save his life.

The key issue was that magic artifacts, unlike demon beast meat, were not easy to sell.

With today’s addition of four more, he now had a total of sixteen magic artifacts on hand: one high-grade artifact, six mid-grade artifacts, and nine low-grade artifacts.

Even the least valuable was worth one mid-grade Spirit Stone. Nowadays, most Loose Cultivators didn’t have spare money to buy them. Depending on setting up a stall, it was uncertain how long it would take to sell all sixteen artifacts.

Besides, he had another worry: talismans. After accumulating them all winter, the talismans he had drawn had piled up into a thick stack. Evil-Repelling Talismans, Arrow-Evasion Talismans, and the least abundant Featherweight Talismans amounted to more than two hundred in total.

Fortunately, these items wouldn’t go bad.

Better to wait for a more favorable situation before selling them.

...

In the evening, Chen Li once again took stock of his savings at home.

Before winter, not counting the small change, he had only seven Spirit Stones. After winter, his expenses were not small, but unexpected income was even greater. Including today’s earnings, he now had eight mid-grade Spirit Stones and three hundred and fifty-five low-grade Spirit Stones.

Converted to mid-grade Spirit Stones and rounding down, he had 11 mid-grade Spirit Stones.

"Once we sell this batch of demon beast meat, we’ll have twenty mid-grade Spirit Stones. If we also count the yet-to-be-sold magic artifacts and talismans, all told, I’d have at least fifty mid-grade Spirit Stones," Chen Li calculated in his heart.

"Indeed, a horse can’t get fat without night grazing, and a person can’t become rich without windfalls!"

Chen Li sighed, satisfied as he neatly collected his money bags and picked up the scroll he bought in the morning titled "Three Attack Spells of the Qi Cultivation Stage" and started to browse through it.

Of the three attack spells, he had long learned the Scolding Skill, and the Ice Skill required the seventh level of Qi Cultivation, which he couldn’t learn yet.

The only one he could learn right now was Palm Thunder.

Like the Traction Skill, it was also a tier-one intermediate spell.

...

For the next several days,

As soon as day broke, Chen Li would carry a large bag of demon beast meat to the market to sell, selling at least half a ton a day, and up to a ton on good days, raking in hefty sums of money without encountering another attempt on his life.

At the same time,

Word of the meat seller’s fierce reputation quickly spread through the market.

After such an intense fight, and not in some remote wasteland, it was impossible for there to be no witnesses; they just watched from a distance, not daring to come closer, only able to catch the gist of what happened.

Facing four adversaries alone, the meat seller not only escaped with his life but also counter-killed them all.

Without considerable skill, who would dare to provoke such a formidable person?

Five days later, the last batch of demon beast meat was starting to smell a little off.

But that didn’t matter.

Chen Li still sold it at the same price.

Fortunately, Loose Cultivators were not the picky type, either. Although they would complain a bit, they still flocked to him like ducks. With cheap Demon Beast Meat to eat, what was a little odd taste?

"All gone, all gone, no more, no more... Hey, kid, you haven’t paid yet."

When all the Demon Beast Meat was sold out, Chen Li breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.

Lately, his house had become increasingly smelly, almost enough to smoke someone out. Thankfully, that was now over.

"Fellow Daoist, is there any meat left? I heard there was Demon Beast Meat for sale here and that’s why I came." One Loose Cultivator who didn’t manage to buy any showed a face full of chagrin.

"You’re one step too late, it’s all sold out!" Chen Li said while packing up.

"Will you sell more tomorrow?"

"No, everything’s gone," Chen Li said as he picked up his cloth bag, ready to leave.

"Fellow Daoist, when will you go hunt another Demon Beast again?"

At this, Chen Li paused in his tracks and said irritably, "Do you think Demon Beasts are so easy to kill?"

...

In the following days, Chen Li never went out again.

His practice of swordsmanship, spells, Qi Cultivation, and Talismans almost consumed all his time, and he also had to carve out time to learn and research the new spell, Palm Thunder, working until he could barely sleep by midnight each day.

Ever since he had crossed over to this world.

It seemed he was in a state of relentless busyness, seldom having time for leisure or relaxation, as if there was a whip lashing behind him.

In fact, it was nearly so.

At the bottom of it all.

It was this world that made him lack a sense of security.

The rampages of Demon Beasts, the inscrutable hearts of people, a simple outing might mean never being able to return.

And this sense of security, in this world, he could only seek it through his own strength.

...

One afternoon.

Chen Li opened his eyes from meditation, exhaled a breath of stale air, and slowly ended his practice.

With a thought, he opened the game panel.

"Qi Cultivation Fifth Level: 45/100"

"Without the Qi Replenishing Pills, the pace really has slowed down a lot!" he thought ruefully.

His stock of Qi Replenishing Pills had dwindled to the last bottle, but this bottle was for emergency use like combat, to quickly restore Spiritual Power.

"Fortunately, even my self-cultivation pace isn’t considered slow."

Chen Li found that perhaps the higher the realm, the slower the cultivation speed.

Although the proficiency level of the Longevity Skill had continuously improved, from proficient to expert and then to master, his own cultivation speed had not increased by much, and now it was about two points every two days.

This pace, fortunately, was still astonishing.

He moved to ease his stiff body, stood up and was just about to go outside for a breath of fresh air.

An excited voice came from afar.

"A caravan, a caravan is here, the caravan has arrived..."

With a "buzz," the entire shanty area became noisy.

Chen Li’s expression froze for a moment, then a surge of ecstasy followed within his heart; the caravan had arrived, at last he could leave this dangerous godforsaken place.

"I’m going out to take a look," he called out to Zhou Hong, then swiftly walked out of the hole.