Living steadily in the world of gods and mystery

Chen Li hurried home without stopping.

He saw Zhou Hong in the living room, gesturing over a huge serpent demon skin.

"What are you planning to do?" Chen Li asked as he hung his sword on the wall, puzzled.

"This skin is quite tough, hardly damaged by ordinary magic artifacts. I was thinking of making you an inner garment," Zhou Hong replied with a pursed smile.

Chen Li’s interest was piqued when he heard this.

After all, this was the skin of a Second Order serpent demon.

His Spiritual Power could injure it, but only barely.

And a Grandmaster-level Spiritual Power attack could compare to a level five, First Order magic technique, not weak at all—stronger than a Qi Cultivation fifth layer practitioner wielding a mid-grade Magic Artifact with all their might.

Such strength was already above the middle-high tier in the shantytown, and an elite backbone in a gang.

"You’re worried about me!" A warmth welled up in Chen Li’s heart, and he reached out to hold her hand.

"I don’t dare ask for much, just your safety is enough for me," Zhou Hong leaned into Chen Li’s arms and whispered.

"Don’t worry, nothing will happen," Chen Li consoled and then changed the subject, "However, this skin is still too hard, we need to find someone to process it."

Compared to ordinary demon beast skins, this serpent skin was already quite thin, but with a thickness of roughly three millimeters, it felt as hard as rubber to the touch. Wearing it was definitely not comfortable, and it would hinder movement.

Next door, just so happened to live a master skin craftsman.

After exchanging some intimate words,

Chen Li rolled up the serpent skin and walked out the door.

...

"Uncle, what brings you here?" Zhang Shuniang opened the door, her eyes twinkling inquisitively.

"Shu, where’s your dad?" Chen Li asked.

"My dad is busy skinning in the talisman room and can’t step away, so he asked me to open the door. Come in, Uncle!" she said.

"Why haven’t you been over to play lately?" Chen Li entered and said with a smile to Zhang Shuniang.

Zhang Shuniang shut the yard door and quickly followed behind Chen Li, earnestly saying, "My dad won’t let me go out, he says there are demon beasts outside, and I can’t leave the house these days. I’m learning to draw talismans now.

My dad said because you took all the money, we’re going to starve if I don’t learn to draw talismans."

Chen Li was speechless, "Your dad is tricking you; don’t listen to him. He’s just stingy. Taking his money is like taking his life."

"Hee hee, I thought so too," Zhang Shuniang said with a sneaky laugh.

"Is your dad always cursing me behind my back?" Chen Li couldn’t help but tease.

Zhang Shuniang immediately widened her eyes, her face turning red, "No... no, my dad has never cursed you... Uncle, I’ll go make some tea for you."

And with that, she quickly scurried away.

Chen Li couldn’t help but chuckle, striding into Zhang Yan’s talisman room.

He had visited many times before and was familiar with the place.

Zhang Yan was there, carefully scraping skin, cleaning bits of flesh from a beast hide. Seeing Chen Li come in, he barely lifted his eyelid and continued to work, saying, "Fellow Daoist Chen, you see I’m busy, so I won’t entertain you. Make yourself at home."

"Fellow Daoist Zhang, take a break from your work. I’ve just received some fine skin and need your expertise. I assure you, it’s material you’ve never seen before," Chen Li confidently challenged.

"Oh, such bravado. I’ve worked with skins for thirty years; there’s nothing I haven’t touched. Let’s see what kind of skin it is that’s so special," Zhang Yan chuckled, but could not resist putting down the hide and standing up:

"Spread out the skin, let me have a look."

Chen Li walked over to an empty table and spread out the serpent skin.

"This pattern, it’s clearly serpent demon skin—" Zhang Yan began dismissively, but his tone quickly turned serious as he started examining it closely, bringing it up close and inspecting it inch by inch. As time passed, his brow furrowed more deeply, and his expression turned solemn.

"Where did you get this skin?" Zhang Yan asked with a grave tone.

"I bought it at the market!" said Chen Li. "It cost me thirty low-grade Spirit Stones. I’m not sure if I got a good deal or not."

"This makes no sense... this aura, this toughness, this subtle elusive gleam of spiritual energy, it’s obviously Second Order serpent demon skin. And it’s fresh, too. Look at the bloodstains still on the material; it was probably skinned not long ago!" Zhang Yan muttered to himself in disbelief, "Could the Yu Family’s Foundation Establishment expert have acted... Maybe I’m mistaken, let me look again..."

"All right, enough with the questions. You’ll have plenty of time to look at it later. I want to craft an inner garment out of this skin, but it feels too thick and hard, so I came to you. Could you get it done by tonight?" Chen Li broke in with a cheerful interruption.

"Tonight? Impossible, processing a hide takes many steps and is extremely time-consuming, at least ten days to half a month. Not to mention I’ve never worked with this type of skin before; I can’t even say for sure if I can handle it," Zhang Yan said, shaking his head in haste upon hearing this.

By the time ten days to half a month passes, the demon beast meat will have spoiled.

What’s the use of selling it then?

"No need to make it as complex as creating talisman skins, a simple process will do. Once the inner garment is made, if there’s material left over, I’ll give it all to you," Chen Li said.

Zhang Yan’s eyes lit up, and he quickly said, "You mean that for sure?"

An inner garment wouldn’t need much skin; such a large piece of skin would leave plenty left over.

"What use do I have for the leftover materials? But let’s make it clear upfront, if the processing isn’t satisfactory and I can’t make the inner garment, then there will be no leftover skin for you," Chen Li stipulated.

"Good, Fellow Daoist Chen, I like your straightforwardness. We have a deal, and just watch my skills," Zhang Yan said, slapping his chest in promise.