Chapter 10: Demons And Humans Throng, Emaciated Horses Ashore
As Old Daoist Lu cried out in pain, a skinny figure hurriedly scrambled up, trying to flee to another spot.
But Old Daoist Lu was quick with his hands and eyes. Enduring the pain, he grabbed that person with one hand and punched him repeatedly.
That person didn’t resist at all, just hugging his head and whimpering in pain from his mouth.
“I’m forty-eight this year. Although I pride myself on my exceptional talent and vigor in old age, I still can’t withstand your knife torture!”
Old Daoist Lu beat that person while cursing loudly:
“I’ve always been the one stealing from others. How dare you, while I was asleep, lie behind me, steal my money, and damn it, your skills are so poor that you made me wake up in pain.
What if you ruined my top-notch goods?!”
His shout echoed throughout the boat.
The crowd, who had been frightened, were stunned for a moment, then all showed strange expressions and snickered repeatedly.
Fang Shu, whose tense body was about to stand up, slowly sat back down and pressed his back tightly against the edge of the covered boat.
With a mischievous look on his face, he watched Old Daoist Lu like he was watching a play.
Vaguely, Old Daoist Lu noticed the crowd’s reactions and said aggrievedly:
“If you gentlemen don’t believe me, look behind me. This guy not only used a knife to cut open my underpants, but also sliced my two buttocks, and nearly…”
Fang Shu’s gaze shifted downward, and sure enough, he saw that the back of Old Daoist Lu’s clothes had a large tear, with his crotch sagging and wind blowing between his legs.
The one caught and beaten by the old Daoist hugged his head even more silently.
The commotion alerted the snake head boatman, who poked his head in. He was originally too lazy to care, but seeing the crowd making noise, and since it was the second night’s latter half, the monsters and vicious things inside and outside the river had decreased but it still couldn’t be too noisy.
The snake head boatman then lit a lamp and came over to mediate.
Old Daoist Lu still wouldn’t let go of that figure, looking like he wanted to beat him to death.
The boatman had no choice but to threaten:
“I don’t care if you commit crimes, but if you kill someone and cause blood on my boat, ruining my business, I can only send you back, and you won’t get your boat money back.
If the blood and death aura attract the mountain monsters to target us, be careful the whole boat accompanies you to the grave.”
For the snake head boatman’s first half of the words, everyone just listened.
But for the second half, the others on the boat immediately reacted and began to persuade and tease:
“Daoist, you’re entering the mountains to seek immortality. Once at the marketplace, you can learn magic and refine magic tools. Why still covet a mortal’s genitals.”
“We’ll hold this rude guy and make him apologize to you, Daoist brother, and pay money as medicine fee, how about that?”
At this time.
The crowd had the boatman hold up the lamp, forcibly pulled apart Old Daoist Lu, and lifted the face of the beaten one.
Everyone discovered this person was actually a sixteen- or seventeen-year-old young man.
This young man wore brocade clothes, had clear brows and bright eyes, quite handsome in appearance. Even now with a bruised and swollen face, he didn’t look like a thief.
He looked at the people around with melancholy, and finally his gaze fell on Fang Shu’s side—on the middle-aged man Tian Tian Quan.
Tian Tian Quan, stared at by the crowd, flushed red in his old face. He hugged his legs and said nothing.
After a long commotion and interrogation, until nearly dawn, the people on the boat finally figured out the reason.
It turned out that the man Tian Tian Quan, though plain-looking and honest-faced, was especially skilled at ventriloquism and could make youthful voices.
Even more peculiarly, this person also had exceptional talent, but opposite to Old Daoist Lu, not like a male. According to what Tian Tian Quan revealed, his parents had nearly thrown him into the pigsty because of this back then.
And last night, while relieving himself, he used a fake voice to tempt the brocade-clothed young man, privately negotiating a price with him to trick a few talisman moneys, but failed to fool the young man, who instead threatened him to help with the theft.
As for why the young man had to cut open Old Daoist Lu’s underpants pocket, it was because people on night boats often sew coins and important items inside their underpants.
The bold but inexperienced young man thus caused this absurd incident.
Hearing this twist-filled funny story, everyone clicked their tongues. Fang Shu also marveled.
Under the crowd’s persuasion.
The brocade-robed young man looked ashen-faced. He had no choice but to take out talisman money from his own underpants and pay it all to Old Daoist Lu—three hundred in full!
Old Daoist Lu directly took the talisman money, not minding the dirt, and immediately stopped yelling.
The farce ended.
The people in the cabin returned to their positions.
Because the boat space was too small, Fang Shu and the other four had to squeeze together again.
Old Daoist Lu saw Tian Tian Quan right in front of him, glanced at the latter, his old face showing both pride and hateful disgust.
He muttered curses: “You shitty thing, you’ve caused me so much trouble.”
With a cold snort, Old Daoist Lu no longer looked at Tian Tian Quan. He even turned his back, as if his anger hadn’t subsided and he was ashamed to face people.
But Fang Shu, sitting beside the old Daoist, immediately heard a faint clinking of metal, like someone counting coins.
Originally thought the matter was over.
But who would have thought, among the five, the youth surnamed Yin kept looking up, hesitant to speak.
After a long struggle on his face, the youth surnamed Yin lowered his voice and quietly asked the nearby Tian Tian Quan:
“In the first half of the night… the one with me, wasn’t you, right?”
These words made the previously quiet crowd all widen their eyes again. Even Old Daoist Lu, with his back turned, blankly turned his head.
Clink! Several talisman moneys fell from Old Daoist Lu’s sleeve to the ground. His old face reddened, and he hurriedly stepped on them.
Yin Xiao Jian was stared at by the crowd.
This person’s face was extremely ugly, like he had eaten feces, but his eyes held a bit of hope.
Tian Tian Quan, hearing this, blankly lifted his head from his knees and looked puzzled at the youth surnamed Yin.
After thinking for a moment, Tian Tian Quan shook his head.
This answer immediately restored the youth Yin Xiao Jian’s face. He became lively again, grinning widely.
But at that moment, a croaking frog sound rang from above the five.
And eyes peered down from above, looking at them:
“Young master, the one who was good with you last night was I, the Toad Woman.”
A hideous green toad face appeared. It had no nose, no hair, and many sores on its face.
The Toad Woman grinned, dangling her long tongue, greeting Yin Xiao Jian.
Yin Xiao Jian’s face stiffened abruptly, then his eyes widened.
He showed a terrified expression, even uglier than before, lips trembling, unable to speak for a moment.
“Go go, all get out!”
At this time, the snake head boatman rushed in and hurriedly drove away the Toad Woman on the second-level stone slab.
In an instant, the cabin shook.
One figure after another sprang up from various places in the cabin.
Croak croak! Quack quack!
The frog calls weren’t just one; there were duck calls, and sounds indistinguishable as snake hisses or lizard tongue flicks.
They swept past the boat passengers, scrambling to drill out of the cabin and slip into the river water outside, disappearing.
Seeing this scene, everyone on the boat was shocked.
The crowd had no idea when so many monsters had mixed onto the boat.
Especially some people, whose minds cleared, faces immediately showing disgust, yelling that they might have been poisoned by monster toxins.
A few grabbed the snake head boatman, faces angry, questioning him: Didn’t you say this trip was worth every penny!
The snake head boatman just grinned:
“I only said no life risk, didn’t say no risk to chastity.”
It added: “Traveling the route into the mountains, a little mishap is normal.
Just think of it as road toll!”
The boat passengers, both disgusted and angry, cursed nonstop: “Bullshit! You really think we’re piglets?”
Seeing he couldn’t calm them after a while, the snake head boatman lost his good temper and snorted coldly:
“If your hearts were pure, how could you be bewitched by monster hags, letting them take your essence for nothing!”
After speaking, it turned and left the cabin.
The noisy boat passengers were suddenly both ashamed and annoyed.
Especially the others in the cabin, casting strange looks at them.
But by the boat edge, Fang Shu and the other four didn’t make a fuss.
Especially Old Daoist Lu and Yin Xiao Jian.
The two watched the farce, secretly relieved, their hearts no longer as stuffy as at the start.
At this time, a curse sounded among the five, from the cold-faced woman surnamed Su.
“Men’s thing is truly disgusting!”
She looked at Fang Shu and the other three, and all the men around, like they were filth, covering her mouth and nose, moving as far aside as possible, as if afraid of infection.
The four exchanged glances.
Among them, Old Daoist Lu looked annoyed, while Yin Xiao Jian and Tian Tian Quan both shamefully lowered their heads, not daring to look up.
As for Fang Shu, he couldn’t be bothered with the woman surnamed Su who was wrongly blaming the innocent.
He crossed his arms and suddenly smiled at the annoyed Old Daoist Lu:
“On night boats, people and monsters are hard to distinguish, perfect for fateful couples.
Is this the reason you wanted to say, Daoist, for sailing at night?”
Hearing this, Old Daoist Lu looked stunned.
He chuckled speechlessly for a moment, his inner resentment gone. He sat back in his place, not arguing too much with Su Qin Gao.
Once recovered, Old Daoist Lu sat with legs spread, continuing to chat big with Fang Shu and the others:
“Rest while you can. When we get off the boat later, remember to stay alert!”
………………
In no time at all.
Light appeared outside the snake boat, unknown if dawn or surfacing.
Soon golden light blazed, like scattered gold, sprinkling into the cabin from the curtain.
Immediately after, the sound of scales grinding on stone slab rose.
After half a tea’s time, the snake head boatman yanked open the curtain and shouted:
“Wake up, wake up, we’re here!”
Clang, thud thud!
The shout instantly woke the dozens in the cabin. Everyone scrambled up, stumbling to squeeze outside.
Squeezed with constant cries of ouch.
Fang Shu was mixed in.
The moment he jumped out of the cabin, he spat out all the foul air inhaled from inside, then deeply breathed the outside air, looking around.
He saw the boat docked at a ferry-like clearing. A hundred paces away rolled the river, behind were layered houses, densely packed extending to the mountaintop, misty, like immortal or ghostly dwellings.
Not a few around him, like Fang Shu, took deep breaths, and some even more exaggerated.
Voices rose:
“The air in this immortal cultivator marketplace is indeed sweeter than the mortal world’s!”
“Madam, I’ve finally arrived.”
These voices joyful, emotional, some with sobs.
Fang Shu’s face was also excited, his heart full of anticipation, feeling the immortal path right before him!
But the next moment.
A bunch of human traffickers and female human traffickers suddenly appeared uninvited, swarming like flies to a stench.
They picked over Fang Shu and the newly disembarked crowd like selecting fat and lean.
Because the crowd was new to the immortal cultivator marketplace, inexperienced and naive, no matter their prior status, all were cautious now.
Afraid of offending marketplace managers or some great immortal’s servants.
Thus the human traffickers and female human traffickers loudly instructed the crowd to bow, walk a few steps, turn around, etc.
Though puzzled, seeing others comply, everyone followed suit one by one.
Until an old woman with two maids stood by pointing and said:
“Look carefully. When saying ‘extend your hand for a look,’ roll up their sleeves fully.
That way, hand out, arm out, skin color out.”
The old woman expertly continued:
“Then tell them ‘young brothers and sisters, new to the immortal market, come smile happily.’
When these piglets grin at you, teeth out, tongue out, you can check their teeth and avoid old goods.”
These words reached Fang Shu and the others’ ears, making them mutter.
Such posturing felt like inspecting livestock.
And they were the livestock being inspected.
So some boat passenger refused to cooperate and yelled:
“We’re here to cultivate immortality, not be livestock. What are you doing!”
Unexpectedly, the nearby old woman heard, pointed at the loud yeller, and instructed her maids:
“Hear that, impatient now, voice revealed. Listen to gauge lung power, any hidden illnesses.”
The maids nodded like chicks and commented:
“This one’s big nose, big voice, perhaps big endowment.”
“Thank you, mama, for the teaching. This slave remembers.”
Thus in less than half a tea’s time.
This fly-like group from the marketplace saw through the whole boat of immortality seekers.
Their standards high, they only picked one or two, pulled them aside for talk, then buzzed off.
Just then, another boat arrived ashore.
It was a house-sized toad that thudded down, then croaked open-mouthed, spitting out messy boat passengers from its belly.
The boat passengers wailed.
Tossed about, many dizzy and nauseous, nearly vomiting their gallbladders. Some pale-faced lay stiff on the stone slab, motionless, unknown if dead or alive.
Seeing this, Fang Shu and the others felt fortunate, thinking their covered boat wasn’t too bad.
In the chaos, Fang Shu quietly observed.
He found among familiar fellow travelers, only Su Qin Gao and the boat’s brocade-clothed youth were pulled aside by the surging human traffickers for talk.
As for him, Old Daoist Lu, Yin Xiao Jian, Tian Tian Quan, the four stood dazed in place. Some came to ask, left messages, but none directly took them.
Old Daoist Lu seemed to know something and sighed:
“No hope. I said I have exceptional talent, why don’t they believe.”
He touched his old face, muttering: “Must be from staying too long on the boat, making me look older, so they don’t want me.”
Fang Shu and the others wanted to ask, when Su Qin Gao suddenly returned with an ashen face.
She looked around, struggled on her face, but finally walked toward the more familiar Fang Shu and three others, huddling together.
Without them asking, Su Qin Gao trembled with anger: “Great humiliation, great humiliation!”
“We’re here to seek immortality. How can they treat us like livestock for sale, even wanting to drag me to a brothel!” she said through gritted teeth.
Fang Shu and the others surprised, asked more, and learned the surging group were truly human traffickers and female human traffickers from the immortal cultivator marketplace.
These came to pick young, beautiful, handsome, lovely ones from the newly arrived, take back to train, sell to marketplace big families, or put in their own brothels to entertain guests.
Knowing this, Fang Shu and others’ faces changed, vaguely feeling the immortal cultivator marketplace wasn’t a good place.
Old Daoist Lu, hearing, looked normal and asked carefully: “Su girl, you didn’t mishear? The one wanting you in the trade was a brothel?”
Su Qin Gao gave the old Daoist no good look and snorted: “Such a humiliating thing, how could I mishear!”
Who knew Old Daoist Lu sighed lightly, shaking his head regretfully:
“Missed it, missed it. Brothel, not whorehouse.
Listen to this old man: if you have no relatives in the marketplace, go find that female human trafficker and beg her to take you.”
“What brothel or whorehouse, all just servicing with looks! Who cares!”
Su Qin Gao still showed no good expression, looking disdainfully at Old Daoist Lu: “Here, I have an intimate sister from years ago who will come care for me.”
Then the woman snorted coldly, no longer regarding Fang Shu and others, looked around, and walked outward in small steps with legs together.
Old Daoist Lu didn’t mind the Su woman’s attitude much.
The old Daoist shrugged, then called to Fang Shu and the others: “Let’s go. This old man will lead you lads to grab the first pot of gold after landing, guarantee full bowls for all.
After a good meal together, then part ways!”
“Lu sir is thorough!” Fang Shu and the others had no objections.
After all, even if they had relatives or friends in the marketplace, disembarkation times varied, they’d still need to find them themselves later; no one would pick up.
With time to kill, everyone could follow Old Daoist Lu to get familiar with the so-called immortal cultivator marketplace.
But all had some doubts.
They were all newcomers, even if knowing some magic, still just mortals.
This immortal cultivator marketplace housed immortal cultivators!
Why did Old Daoist Lu dare guarantee that following him, everyone could make money.
If not for earlier, when no human traffickers picked them, they’d suspect this Lu guy wanted to sell them into a brothel.
