With only two units of Origin Power remaining, he had no way to advance the Golden Goose Skill to the third layer.
There was no rush, either.
Although he now had the Turtle Breathing Art to conceal his strength, the actual execution and comprehension of the Golden Goose Skill could not be faked, and he would easily give it away in combat.
In the coming days, he would be heading to Master Liang's house every day to spar with Senior Brother Han Mo.
Advancing gradually could easily be chalked up to astonishing comprehension, improved rapidly through daily live combat.
...
Three days later.
On the road to Bidan Teahouse, every household was setting off firecrackers and making offerings to the deities.
Crack-crack-pop!
The sound of firecrackers erupted all around as children chased each other, playing with boundless joy.
"On the third, honor the stove; on the fourth, sweep the home; on the fifth, steam the buns; on the sixth, butcher the pig..."
"We get pork to eat!"
They ran and played, chanting the folk rhymes.
Watching this familiar sight, Lin Zheyu could not help but recall his childhood in his past life.
Back then, he had been just as carefree and joyful as these children.
Arriving at Bidan Teahouse, Lin Zheyu asked curiously, "Manager Wu, what day is today? Why is everyone setting off firecrackers and praying to the gods?"
"Today is the day to worship the Kitchen God, the True Lord Siming. Doesn't your family offer sacrifices?" Manager Wu replied as though it were the most natural thing in the world, though he quickly caught himself, remembering that Lin Zheyu was a refugee who had been separated from his family along the road.
"I'm sorry, my mouth got ahead of me," Manager Wu apologized.
"It's fine."
Lin Zheyu waved a hand. "Worshiping the Kitchen God, the True Lord Siming... no wonder it's so lively today."
This world was very similar to his past life in many respects.
Worshiping the Kitchen God, the True Lord Siming, could ward off calamities and evil spirits, ensuring family peace, bountiful harvests, and plenty of fish and meat in the year ahead.
Besides the Kitchen God, there were the Door Gods, Earth Gods, Bed God, Well God, Privy God, River God... and Water God, among others.
In Great Wei, the structure of authority was quite interesting. It did not emphasize the divine right of kings, but rather the sovereign conferral of divine authority; all gods and spirits were officially titled and ordained by the emperor.
For instance, the full title of the Kitchen God was Heavenly Venerable of the Yellow Heaven, Arbiter of Fate, Bestower of Good Fortune, and Reporter of Virtue, a deity in charge of the imperial palace's royal kitchen.
Meanwhile, the imperial ancestor was the Supreme Emperor of the Golden Gate, Paramount Lord of Ten Thousand Paths and the Highest Dao of the Yellow Heaven—shortened to the Yellow Heaven Emperor.
In this world, the emperor was not merely the Son of Heaven; the emperor was Heaven itself!
"There are a lot fewer people today!" Lin Zheyu glanced at the teahouse patrons, noticing far fewer than before.
"Nothing we can do. Anyi City has fallen, and more and more people are worried it'll spread to Songyi City," Manager Wu sighed.
Lately, as bandits proliferated outside the city, the cost for merchant caravans to pass had surged, driving up commodity prices within the city as well.
If not for Han Mo and the other City Guards periodically going out to suppress bandits and keep trade routes clear, prices would have probably skyrocketed to the heavens.
Over the past few days, even the storytellers seeking to buy material from Lin Zheyu had dwindled, simply because people were no longer tipping.
Everyone was strapped for cash and pinching pennies.
...
About half an hour remained before storytelling was scheduled to begin.
Lin Zheyu walked over to sit with Jia Yanyong and a few others to chat.
Having been in the Feihong Gang for some time now, he had grown quite familiar with them.
As they were chatting, Manager Wu drifted over as well.
"Manager Wu, come, have a seat."
Seeing him approach, Lin Zheyu invited him over.
With fewer patrons around, the smile on Wu Yinghe's face had diminished considerably, replaced by a frequent look of worry.
"Times are tough. Who knows when it will ever end?" Manager Wu let out a heavy sigh.
Bandits outside were multiplying, and refugees were now strictly barred from entering the city altogether.
Previously, literate scholars or skilled craftsmen were still permitted entry to look for work, but even that had been completely banned.
"With more and more people pouring in from other cities, things inside are starting to get chaotic. Yesterday, three clashes broke out on Baiwei Street," Xie Jiang said. Order had begun deteriorating under the mounting panic.
Even with the Feihong Gang patrolling everywhere to keep the peace and handle disputes, conflicts still erupted from time to time.
When order broke down, business suffered, protection fees dried up, and their own days ahead would not be easy.
The group ordered a few dishes and drank some cheap liquor to pass the time.
Then Manager Wu lowered his voice mysteriously. "Have you heard? Something happened over at Qinghe Mountain."
"You mean the Nine Stars Gang's Qinghe Mountain?" Lin Zheyu asked.
Over this period, he had gained a clearer picture of the factions across the city.
Qinghe Mountain was a coal mine rich in resources, belonging to the Nine Stars Gang's territory.
The Nine Stars Gang was formed by several prominent families, and the revenue from mining coal was distributed among them according to an agreed arrangement.
"That's the one—the Nine Stars Gang's."
"Hurry up and spill it, what happened?"
Jia Yanyong perked up; hearing about bad luck befalling the Nine Stars Gang always made him happy.
He had clashed with people from their gang a while back, taking a gash to the neck during a brawl that had taken quite a few days to heal.
"I heard Qinghe Mountain ran into something sinister. A whole bunch of people vanished out of thin air,"
Wu Yinghe said solemnly. "Someone saw a dead worker wandering the camp as a wisp of a ghost, scaring everyone half to death.
"Plenty of men who went deep into the mines came running back in terror, including a few from my Wu Family Village."
No one from Wu Family Village had died this time; otherwise, the village would have already marched over to cause a scene.
"Pfft, and here I thought bandits had raided the place."
"What's the big deal about running into something sinister? Coal mines, iron mines—all sorts of weird things are buried down there. Dig long enough and you're bound to dig up something ominous."
"What's so strange about that?" Jia Yanyong curled his lip, completely unfazed.
"He's right, it's nothing,"
Xie Jiang chimed in. "Back when I was stationed out to guard the mines, I ran into things far weirder than that.
"No need to panic when you bump into that stuff. Just grab some explosives, blast it a few times, and that's the end of it. Nothing comes of it."
The Feihong Gang had their own mines as well, and members took turns guarding them to prevent disruptions from bandits and rival factions.
Out in the desolate wilderness, encountering such things was hardly novel.
Only someone like Manager Wu, who stayed cooped up in the city year-round, would find it astonishing.
Lin Zheyu was left speechless.
His interest had just been piqued, but listening to Jia Yanyong and the others brush it off completely deflated his curiosity.
Sure enough, all fear truly stemmed from insufficient firepower.
Chapter 34