Chapter 292: Rong City

Whether Li Yunxin was truly an honest young man or a liar who never spoke a word of truth, the Wolf Daoist had to accept reality for now.

He felt he was incredibly unlucky—he had wanted to achieve a great feat but met this disaster instead.

He didn't know whether to be happy about getting a treasure sword or worried about being stuck with this man.

But Li Yunxin didn't care about his thoughts. After those words, he carried the Wolf Daoist down in a dive, landing in the backyard of Plain Temple in the blink of an eye.

He had seen the layout of the temple from the sky—it was a luxurious compound with four courtyards. In front of the main hall was a wide plaza paved with Bluestone. There were figures in the plaza, likely the sweeping Daoists of the temple.

Behind the hall was a garden with flowers and trees, kept clean and tidy, possessing an Intent Realm similar to Old Daoist Liu’s Dragon King Temple.

Further in were the living quarters, with some clutter in the courtyard. Behind the quarters was a small yard screened by thick shade—this was where they landed.

Once Li Yunxin stood still, he was slightly taken out by the sight.

The backyard was a vegetable garden. Greens were growing in the patches, looking lush and ready for harvest. To the south was a chicken coop; a few hens were leading chicks, pecking at the ground. They were startled by the two arrivals and scrambled around the yard, flapping their wings to get over the walls, which were too high for them.

Li Yunxin turned to the Wolf Daoist: "Yours?"

The wolf stammered, "Uh..."

But it quickly added, "...Ah, they're still small... if the Great King wants a blood sacrifice—"

It looked nervously at its chickens, fearing Li Yunxin might grab one and tear it apart on a whim.

But it had misread Li Yunxin’s mind—Li Yunxin stared at the wolf's face for a long time, frowning.

Was this thing really a monster?

A monster that grew vegetables and raised chickens in its backyard? Or had the monsters of Yu become secularized to this degree?

He harbored this doubt but didn't say it. Instead, under the wolf's incredibly anxious gaze, he walked around the backyard and looked things over.

He hadn't felt this way in a long time.

When he first arrived in Weicheng and stayed at the Dragon King Temple, his cultivation was low and his Snow Mountain Qi Sea was sealed, so he had actually lived a few happy days as an ordinary person—though it was finding joy in hardship.

Cooking with Old Daoist Liu, drinking and watching the moon at night. Roaming the streets by day, occasionally flirting with pretty girls and chatting about trivialities. Later, things happened one after another, and he had lived like a wild man ever since.

He rarely had a chance to satisfy his appetite, mostly eating things stored in the Dragon Palace. Although his Yin Spirit body didn't need food like a human’s, in his original era, people ate for more than just survival—it was for the pleasure of the palate.

Is there any joy in this world more convenient and accessible than good food?

After suffering through those days, seeing the scene in the yard filled him with a comfortable sense of lethargy.

Li Yunxin stood by the thin bamboo fence of the garden for a while, looking at the green vegetables. He turned to the Wolf Daoist and sighed slightly: "I won't eat your chickens. But I want something else. Does your Rong City have any good food? Get me some."

The Wolf Daoist wondered if he was hallucinating—a soft expression had appeared on the face of this "Wei River Dragon King," making him look truly human!

If he hadn't seen this man's methods, he would have thought this was just some wealthy young master living in Rong City. But he soon shivered, remembering how Li Yunxin had smiled when he gave him the sword in the sky.

He was terrified, thinking this guy was up to no good again.

He asked cautiously: "What does the Great King want? The Three Sacrificial Animals? Fresh flesh? I know there's a type of pufferfish in the Rong River with very tender meat. If caught alive and gutted..."

Li Yunxin frowned. "Are you saying this Rong City doesn't have—Crystal Pig’s Trotters, White-Sauce Round Vegetables, Oil-Exploded Three Shreds, Spiced Braised Beef, Jade Belt Shrimp, Drunken Meatballs, or Red-Braised Mushrooms?"

The Wolf Daoist was dazed for a moment, blinking its yellow eyes. "...We do."

"Then we'll eat those." Li Yunxin took a few steps. "Any good restaurants in town? Take me—I want to see this 'human-monster utopia' of yours on the way."

The Wolf Daoist didn't seem to have recovered yet. He thought for a while and said woodenly, "Wood South Residence."

Li Yunxin’s eyes lit up. "They have those in Yu too?"

Then he laughed: "Let's go."

He walked toward the front yard for a few steps, then suddenly stopped. He stared at the wolf with bright eyes: "Oh, this is your territory. So, a heads-up—don't try anything."

He flipped his hand and took a small bell from his sleeve, holding it up for the wolf to see: "Look at this. Tsk tsk. Refined from living souls; it's a cruel and sinister method. If you touch it, you're poking their souls directly. Agony."

He smiled and pointed at the wolf: "If you're naughty, I'll refine you into this bell too."

The old wolf shrunk his head back, chanting prayers for safety in his heart, only wishing this disaster would finish his business and leave soon.

Li Yunxin walked in front like a master, hands behind his back. The old wolf followed like a cautious servant, guiding him—first through the living room. There was nothing special here; it looked like a normal house. He saw two mats, likely for the wolf's meditation.

Then through the front yard into the Central Hall, where he saw a statue of a woman. There was no nameplate, so he couldn't tell which deity it was.

There were two other monsters in the hall, also with wolf or dog heads, wearing short blue cloth clothes, adjusting the candles on the altar. Seeing Li Yunxin, they were stunned—the Wolf Daoist waved them away: "Get out, get out!"

The two monsters ducked their heads and went into the side hall.

They looked just like little Daoist acolytes in a normal temple.

They walked to the door of the front hall and looked out at the plaza.

There were about a dozen monsters in the plaza, but they weren't all wolves or dogs—there was a pig-headed monster among them. Another had orange fur and looked like half a fox.

These dozen or so monsters were either practicing martial arts and swordplay or sweeping the yard. Dressed in short blue robes and basking in the sun, they had a lazy, transcendental air about them.

Li Yunxin watched for a while and asked, "Where did these monsters come from?"

There weren't many Yin Spirit monsters in the world—relative to humans. In a city of hundreds of thousands like Weicheng, one or two was rare; having five to eight in the surrounding wilderness was considered a "plague."

But for Plain Temple in Rong City to have a dozen semi-humanoid ones was very strange.

The Wolf Daoist thought and said, "...Many came from elsewhere because of our reputation. We take them in and teach them, which helps restrain their wild nature..."

Li Yunxin gave a faint "Oh," neither believing nor disbelieving.

He continued walking, cutting right through the group of monsters—the Wolf Daoist shouted at them to back off.

But Li Yunxin noticed several monsters looking at him with hostile eyes; it seemed the Wolf Daoist hadn't "civilized" them all yet.

They exited Plain Temple and walked onto the streets of Rong City.

Calling it a "street" might be generous. In Li Yunxin’s eyes, these were just alleys. The main streets of Weicheng were barely acceptable, but in Rong City, they were truly "narrow." A road could fit one carriage and three or four people side-by-side. It was a dirt road, full of potholes. But there were lush trees along the way, their thick canopy blocking the sky, leaving only dappled afternoon sunlight—it had a certain rustic charm.

However, the houses on either side of the road surprised Li Yunxin.

Because they were built very sturdily.

Both Weicheng and Rong City had rivers running through them and forests nearby. So houses were mostly wooden for convenience. In Weicheng, wealthy families liked open, majestic courtyards with large windows and beautiful carvings. Even commoners wanted big windows—if they couldn't afford paper or cloth, they left them open and used shutters in winter.

But that made them poorly ventilated, and every winter people in the city "suffocated" due to heating fires.

However, the houses he saw in Rong City were different from Weicheng.

Few houses had windows facing the street. Even if they did, they were low, small windows—if someone inside wanted to look out, they'd have to crouch or kneel on the floor. And the windows were only two palms wide, barely enough for ventilation.

But there had to be doors. Yet they were also low and narrow. The doors themselves were thick, and most doorframes were made of stone slabs rather than wood.

In this era of low productivity, using heavy stone slabs for doorframes was a luxury—for a commoner.

It looked like they were trying to keep something out.

But then he looked at the people—Rong City couldn't compare to Weicheng; it was a small city. So there weren't many people on the street. But there were some. Some pushed wooden wheelbarrows, others walked in small groups. He saw dozens of pedestrians; though they were all somewhat disheveled and in rags, they were clearly poor laborers.

Their expressions were not lively; they had that "blank face" of those broken by life. But Li Yunxin had seen this expression in Weicheng too; it wasn't unique.

Some houses had their doors open, with people standing or sitting by them, dazing in the sun. They looked at Li Yunxin with curiosity, but when they saw the Wolf Daoist, they quickly looked away, and some even hid inside.

This was normal—in Weicheng, people had the same reaction to Yamen Runners. And the Wolf Daoist was a monster... it was already "peaceful" enough to surprise Li Yunxin.

The Wolf Daoist said humans and monsters in Yu had lived together for a long time. It seemed to be true.

So, were those sturdy, low houses built because the "humans" in the city still feared the monsters?

He watched as he walked and soon turned a corner. Then, something "new" happened.

First, he heard a woman screaming—a sound of panic and helplessness, as if a terrible disaster were about to occur.

The speaker was hidden by a massive tree that would take three people to encircle. Li Yunxin raised an eyebrow and walked faster. The Wolf Daoist, who had been silent beside him, nervously followed: "G-Great King, it's not this way..."

Li Yunxin waved him off, stopping under the tree so he wouldn't be seen, and pulled the wolf back.

"I'm watching a show," he said with a smile.

Behind the old tree was another small street. The houses were in the same style as the main street but looked more dilapidated. Likely because the people here weren't as wealthy—there were fewer stone doorframes, replaced by thick logs.

The screaming woman was from one of the houses. She was a short, middle-aged woman, looking like her moisture had been dried out by time—actually, this was how most women in Rong City looked.

The cause of her panic was that her door had somehow fallen off.

the finger-thick door plank lay diagonally at the entrance. She spoke a local dialect, so it took Li Yunxin a while to realize she was mostly crying "what do I do" and cursing her neighbors for ignoring her. As a woman, she couldn't fix the door alone, and she lacked the tools.

It was afternoon, and golden sunlight washed over the street and walls.

The behavior of the neighbors she was cursing seemed strange to Li Yunxin.

Normally, when something like this happened, neighbors would help. But truly no one bothered with her. The house to the left watched her for a while, then slowly pulled back and shut their own door tight. The house to the right watched through a crack—with his superior vision, Li Yunxin saw a man and a woman inside, likely a couple.

The man looked pitying and tried to step out twice. But both times the woman behind him pulled him back.

The man turned and said something to the woman, and she replied. Soon the man gave up, sighed, and also retreated, closing the door—as if they had some "hidden difficulty" and were making a "tough decision."

Li Yunxin wasn't in a hurry; he stood there for a full half-hour.

During that time, four people passed by on the street. Seeing the scene at the woman's door, they were startled for a moment and then walked away quickly. It was as if they really didn't want to get involved.

As the sun sank lower, the sky turned red. The woman’s expression grew more fearful. She began knocking on neighbors' doors.

But everyone stayed inside and ignored her.

Fifteen minutes later, she seemed exhausted. She ran back to her door, sat on the plank, and wailed in despair.

Li Yunxin looked at the sky, then said: "Alright. Let's go."