Living steadily in the world of gods and mystery

The moon shone bright and the stars were sparse tonight, carrying a hint of chill, with the occasional strange call of birds echoing from afar.

Walking on the road, Chen Li’s boiling blood gradually calmed down.

Murder!

Murder!

Murder!

Ever since he had been transported to this world, it seemed like he had always been killing.

Most of the time, it had been in forced self-defense.

But this time, it was to take the initiative to demonstrate his power, to remove hidden dangers in advance.

Over a dozen lives, snuffed out as easily as slaughtering chickens.

"Sigh, in this dog-eat-dog world, if you don’t eat others, you’ll be eaten," Chen Li sighed, "Why is it so hard to just live peacefully and earn some money to provide for the family!"

He meandered all the way home.

He soon sneaked back home with light footsteps.

Chen Li changed his clothes and struck himself with a Cleaning Talisman, then carried the bundle into his quiet room to carefully tally this time’s gains.

A total of 16 Mid-grade Spirit Stones, and over 300 Low-grade Spirit Stones, mostly from Zhang Lin, the leader of the Spirit Fox Gang.

Just this alone amounted to 19 Mid-grade Spirit Stones.

In addition,

there were a total of fourteen Magic Artifacts.

One high-grade artifact, five mid-grade artifacts, and eight low-grade artifacts.

The stock of Magic Artifacts that Chen Li had nearly sold out was greatly replenished.

Apart from that, there were also three Golden Light Talismans that Chen Li valued the most.

As for other various Talismans, such as Amulets, the value was too small for him to count one by one.

"It seems a gang leader is just like this, the Loose Cultivators of Green River District are really poor..." Chen Li felt somewhat disappointed in his heart. Except for the few Golden Light Talismans that gave him a slight surprise, the rest could only be exchanged for some money, with no real treasures among them.

It made sense.

Before the sect wars, these people were just ordinary Qi Cultivators in the late stage, like Qiao Guanyuan. Due to fortuitous encounters plus ambition, they had gradually emerged, with no real heritage to speak of.

...

When dawn was breaking, Chen Li, as if nothing had happened, once again shouldered a large bag of meat and hurried to the market.

Yu Fan Zhen and several clan members had been waiting for a long time.

"Yu Fan Zhen has seen Fellow Daoist!"

"Fellow Daoist Yu, you’ve come quite early," Fellow Daoist Chen glanced at her and said carelessly, "Don’t worry, there’s plenty of meat this time; you won’t make a wasted trip!"

Facing the notorious brute of the market, who might even have killed a Second Order Demon Beast, Yu Fan Zhen couldn’t muster her authority and said with a smile, "Fellow Daoist jests!"

"Am I joking?" Chen Li glared at her.

"Ah, no, no, I misunderstood Fellow Daoist," Yu Fan Zhen hurriedly said, secretly thinking how difficult it was to serve this man.

"Haha, just kidding with you," Chen Li laughed heartily.

Yu Fan Zhen’s heart skipped a beat, then she forced a couple of dry laughs.

Chen Li ignored her, put down the large cloth bag, and then untied the ropes of the bag, spread out a relatively clean, tattered cloth on the ground, and dumped all the meat out, forming a small mountain of flesh.

"Fellow Daoist Chen is truly a peerless hero; it must have been dangerous to kill a Second Order Demon Beast this time, right?" Yu Fan Zhen crouched beside him, complimenting with a smile, yet her eyes stealthily examined the meat seller’s awkward and fierce face, not missing any detail.

The killing of a Second Order Demon Beast had stirred even the old patriarch of her family.

After days of investigation with no results, they only knew that this Demon Beast, suspected to be a Second Order snake demon, had caused havoc in the residential area days ago, and then its corpse had been flamboyantly sold by the meat seller in the market.

The body of a Second Order Demon Beast, no matter how valuable, was of little concern to the Yu Family.

The Yu Family had long passed the bloody pioneering stage and had transitioned to a focus on consolidation. The income from just the monthly pill shops and Talisman stores was worth several Second Order Demon Beasts, enough not to covet others.

But who had killed it and how?

The Yu Family was very concerned.

It pertained to the safety of their clan!

"Coming to snoop for information again!" Chen Li gave her a half-smile and said, "You think I can’t see it? You’re still too green!"

Yu Fan Zhen, whose face wasn’t thick enough, turned red with Chen Li’s blunt remark, feeling extremely embarrassed.

"Blatantly telling you that the Demon Beast was slain by me," Chen Li didn’t look at her, waved his Magic Sword vigorously to chop the meat, and casually said, "Those not afraid of death can come at me."

"Fellow Daoist Chen, you’ve misunderstood. The family patriarch specially instructed us to befriend you outdoors," Yu Fan Zhen said nervously, trying to explain.

Whether true or not,

it set Chen Li somewhat at ease.

"That’s good. Of course, I have great respect for your family patriarch," he said as he quickly finished cutting the meat and portioned out a pile, "I estimate there’s about 1,100 pounds of meat here; the extra hundred pounds represent my respect for your family patriarch."

"Fan Zhen will definitely convey this to the patriarch," Yu Fan Zhen said solemnly with a salute.

The extra hundred pounds weren’t worth much, maybe just half a Mid-grade Spirit Stone.

But it signified goodwill and attitude.

Watching Yu Fan Zhen and the others walk away, Chen Li reluctantly shifted his gaze.

"Having a storage bag really is convenient,"

he exclaimed with envy as over a thousand pounds of meat were packed into a palm-sized embroidered bag.

It was as though stuffing an entire realm into a mustard seed.

If he had such an item, there would be no need to carry meat back and forth laboriously every day.

He wondered how much that sort of thing would cost?

Probably astonishingly expensive!

At least no Loose Cultivator in Green River District he knew had ever possessed one, and perhaps even ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators rarely had one in hand. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

"This woman isn’t even afraid of being robbed,"

...

Meanwhile, as Chen Li continued selling meat,

the matter with the Spirit Fox Gang was beginning to ferment.

In a single night, someone had destroyed the lair of the Spirit Fox Gang, and even the leader had been found dead in his bed, stark-naked—a truly shocking turn of events.

The only survivor, the gang leader’s wife, had initially been hesitant to speak up.