Chapter 14: Tongues Cut From Slaves Whose Lives Are Thinner Than Paper
“Second Uncle.”
Fang Shu snapped back to reality and spoke.
It turned out the other party had discovered him long ago.
Yu Lao Er nodded, patted his shoulder, then pointed to the bowl of milk food, gesturing for him to eat it.
As Fang Shu hesitated, he suddenly heard a familiar teasing voice from inside the milk shop:
“Oh, young sir. Are you worried our shop’s milk isn’t fresh?”
He looked up and saw the roughly thirty-something milk shop beauty smiling charmingly at him and his uncle.
“Don’t worry, it’s all freshly squeezed.” After a teasing remark, the milk shop beauty seemed to know Second Uncle and tilted her red lips towards Fang Shu, asking:
“Your nephew?”
Second Uncle nodded, a reserved smile on his face.
“No wonder you’re being so generous today, bringing money to do business with old me.” The milk shop beauty shot him a glance and said indignantly:
“So it’s deep uncle-nephew affection, you specifically came to nourish your nephew and save face. I thought you scoundrel had a change of heart.”
It was clear the milk shop beauty had noticed that among the four who had landed, only Fang Shu had no money for milk.
Second Uncle didn’t reply, he just smiled, then tugged Fang Shu along, squatting beside the milk shop and urging him to eat quickly.
Fang Shu said softly, “I haven’t sold blood yet, I don’t need to eat.”
Second Uncle was not surprised and still urged him to eat quickly.
Fang Shu had no choice and couldn’t refuse. He went to the milk shop beauty and asked for another bowl, splitting the bowl of milk food into two portions.
Second Uncle also couldn’t refuse him. The uncle and nephew squatted by the street, each taking half, and ate with delight.
Once the milk food entered his stomach, Fang Shu’s gaze subtly changed, and he immediately sensed something different.
He slowly ate half the bowl and realized that although the milk food was cold, his body felt warm, but not in a feverish way.
Furthermore, a faint coolness began to spread within him, invigorating his spirit.
Fang Shu seemed to have an inkling of something.
He silently summoned his Dao Talisman and immediately noticed that the lifespan line had increased by three years, indicating his physical body had been nourished.
“You get what you pay for. Fifty Qing Fu Blood Money for a portion of milk food, it really has something.”
He thought to himself, suspecting the faint coolness within him might very well be the spiritual energy from the rumors.
Beside him, Second Uncle’s complexion changed even more dramatically. After half a bowl, his deathly pale face instantly gained a touch of color.
After eating, both of them, pathetic as they were, licked their milk bowls clean.
Finally, Second Uncle shamelessly managed to get the milk shop beauty to give them two bowls of leftover fermented water from the milk food.
Half a bowl of milk food and a bowl of fermented water went down.
Fang Shu immediately understood why Old Daoist Lu and the others had been so dazed when they were eating.
As the uncle and nephew finished their bowls, the milk shop beauty suddenly said:
“By the way. That Cheng Guanzi fellow is hounding for rent money.
If you have spare cash, don’t spend it here, and definitely don’t go drawing opportunity talismans. Lest you fall into arrears and Cheng Guanzi burns down your house.”
Second Uncle’s brows furrowed at the words, but he quickly smiled jovially, cupped his hands towards her, and then ambled off, leading Fang Shu away.
Besides eating milk food, Second Uncle also took Fang Shu to the marketplace for some simple supplies, even purchasing two sets of clothes on the spot.
After shopping, the sky had already darkened, but the marketplace remained lively, even more so than during the day, having transformed into a night market.
However, the lanterns lit in the night market were all a deep crimson, as if blood light was everywhere, which was quite peculiar.
As dusk approached, after they had a meal, they left the marketplace to return home.
Along the way, Fang Shu had already mentally prepared himself for a simple dwelling, and wouldn’t have been surprised even if they had to hide under a bridge.
Yet, when the house appeared before him, he was still taken aback.
He saw rows of thin-skinned houses arranged along the gutter.
The largest house was no more than ten feet, and only four to five feet high, with a low lintel, requiring them to bow their heads to enter.
They were uniform, stark white, like paper houses burned in a graveyard, just a bit larger…
Not like, but exactly!
*Crickle crackle.*
Second Uncle opened a house and invited Fang Shu in after entering.
The house’s door was made of paper, as was the bed, the low table, and low chairs. The window frames and walls were even more so.
The only upside was that it was semi-underground, so the ceiling height inside was decent, and he didn’t have to worry about a gust of wind blowing it away.
A conversation soon ensued between the uncle and nephew.
Fang Shu asked cautiously but with confusion:
“Second Uncle, didn’t you say you were living a delightful life in Gu Ling Town?”
Hearing this, Second Uncle *clack*ed and brought out a pipe.
He reclined on the single paper bed, smoking with relish, like a bedridden invalid.
Fang Shu’s brows furrowed, and he asked again:
“You also said you were living it up here…”
Before he could finish, Second Uncle took a deep puff of his pipe and blew smoke towards Fang Shu.
“Cough!” Fang Shu quickly dodged but still felt a strange aroma and a sharp sensation in his nose, making him cough.
What was burning in the pipe didn’t seem to be tobacco, but incense and chili powder!
Seeing Fang Shu cough, Second Uncle looked flustered and apologetic. He quickly reached into the pipe and extinguished the “tobacco.”
Fang Shu recovered, his brows now tightly furrowed.
With his last shred of hope, or perhaps bewilderment, he spoke:
“Didn’t you also say you’d become an introductory disciple at a dojo in the marketplace and were preparing to join a sect?”
At this moment, Second Uncle straightened his body.
He meticulously rubbed his pipe, and with its scorched end, wrote a large character “ever” on the yellowed paper wall.
As if worried Fang Shu wouldn’t understand, Second Uncle added the character “through,” tapping on these words “once” (formerly) with a look of melancholy.
In an instant.
Fang Shu finally understood.
His Second Uncle had… suffered a disaster and fallen on hard times!
While his heart ached for his uncle, Fang Shu looked at the flimsy paper house and could hear the clear shouts and demands for rent from outside.
For a moment, he too felt dejected.
This kind of delightful, comfortable life was truly not what he had imagined.
However, Fang Shu felt a sliver of comfort: his uncle was at least not the scoundrel people described, but merely someone who had lost his spirit and had resigned himself to his fate.
With a thought, he tentatively took out the original Secret Mouth-Sword Technique he kept close and began to ask his uncle for guidance.
To his relief, Second Uncle only offered a few pointers, and Fang Shu gained a deeper understanding of the magic.
It was evident that Second Uncle had also cultivated this technique himself and had been immersed in it for a considerable time.
However, this only made Fang Shu more puzzled. Although the Secret Mouth-Sword Technique was inferior, it was a complete First Tribulation foundational magic.
According to the technique, the cultivated Long Tongue Sword, with a little nurturing and meeting the Essence Blood requirements, could become a First Tribulation Magic Tool!
With such a technique at his disposal, how could Second Uncle have degenerated into a “Blood Ghost” living by selling his blood?
At this, Fang Shu wiped his lips, took out his Long Tongue Sword, and intended to ask Second Uncle to appraise it.
To his surprise, upon seeing the item, Second Uncle’s expression changed drastically, appearing shocked and uncertain.
Fang Shu took a closer look and realized that Second Uncle seemed not to be shocked and pleased that Fang Shu had successfully refined the sword and nurtured it substantially, but rather appeared furious and enraged!
*Bang!*
Second Uncle slammed the table fiercely. He rummaged through the chests and cabinets in the cramped paper house, then clenched something tightly and rushed out of the paper house.
After rushing out, Second Uncle suddenly returned, smiled at the stunned Fang Shu, and gestured for him to be at ease.
Such commotion left Fang Shu utterly bewildered.
In just a few breaths.
He heard sounds of shoving and curses from the gutter outside the paper house:
“You scoundrel Yu Lao Er, I haven’t even collected rent from you, and you dare to come bother me, Cheng Guanzi!”
Fang Shu instantly leaped up with his sword, wanting to go out, but found the paper house door locked.
Although this paper-made door was thin and not soundproof, it was surprisingly resilient.
Subtly realizing something, he stood inside the door with his sword, his expression shifting between anger and doubt, restraining himself.
Just then, the sounds of laughter and curses intensified outside, footsteps became chaotic, and it seemed like applause could be heard.
*Slap slap!*
“Pah!” the person calling himself Cheng Guanzi yelled mockingly:
“You Tongue-Cutting Slave, you can’t even speak properly, how dare you accuse me, hahahaha!”
The curse boomed into Fang Shu’s ears, causing his pupils to contract.
He thought of something, and with disbelief and suspicion, he stared at the Long Tongue Sword in his hand…
