Outside Fengshan Commandery, unbroken mountains and rivers mirrored one another in an enchanting landscape.
"This river is named the Weishui River. During the rainy season, its waters stretch sixty zhang across, originating from Yeshan Lake."
Precipitous cliffs rose on both banks, flanked by winding sheep-gut trails, while the surging Weishui churned below.
Thorns choked the terrain, and wild wormwood grew half the height of a man.
Looking down upon the Weishui, boats could be seen drifting past from time to time.
"If I were a poet, taking in such a scene would probably compel me to compose a verse. Alas, I'm just a kitchen cleaver; all I want to do is butcher fish."
Stirred by the scenery, Qi Yuan couldn't help expressing his feelings.
Of course, he wasn't homesick, nor did he lament unrecognized genius, so he couldn't write poetry anyway.
"Fish buns must taste wonderful!" Chen Kangbao chimed in.
His mind was fixed on food every waking moment.
As he spoke, he looked toward the Weishui, a glimmer of excitement in his eyes. "I heard that in Yeshan Lake upstream, there's a Water Lord whose true form is a massive fish. It might taste exceptionally good."
"When the time comes, we'll catch it and find a cook to make you fish buns," Qi Yuan said casually.
Just then, a crisp, charmingly childish voice drifted over: "You certainly talk big, sir. That Water Lord of Yeshan Lake has already reached the peak of the Earth rank and commands the waters of Yeshan Prefecture. Within Yeshan Lake, he is invincible. Even if a legendary Heaven-rank weapon wielder were to arrive, they likely wouldn't be able to slay him."
As the words fell, two graceful figures—one tall, one petite—appeared.
Both wore light veils over their faces, obscuring their features.
However, the speaker had a petite frame, and she was quite well-off—already possessing an airfield at such a young age.
The taller one beside her wore an ink-black gown embroidered with gold thread. It possessed an extraordinary texture that clung to her voluptuous, exquisite curves and slender waist—a blossom too lush to be plucked lightly.
Though her face remained hidden, with such a magnificent figure, her appearance hardly even mattered.
"Hmph, my young master is a heavenly deity descended to the mortal world! What right does a mere Water Lord have to act arrogant?" Chen Kangbao snapped back.
The petite woman let out a bell-like laugh, sharp and clear. "The Water Lord currently oversees Yeshan Lake. If your young master is so capable, why doesn't he go to Yeshan Lake right now and slay him?"
"Whatever my young master chooses to do, my young master has his own plans."
"Hmph, I suspect your boasting blew a hole in the sky, and now you're scared!" the petite woman scoffed disdainfully.
"Junior Sister, quiet," the tall woman said, her voice piercingly cold.
At that moment, even Chen Kangbao felt a chill, as if frost were descending in midsummer.
It was a bone-chilling, biting cold.
If Zhishuang's chill merely froze the skin, then this woman's chill froze both skin and bone.
Her voice alone produced such an effect.
This led Qi Yuan to marvel inwardly that this truly was an extraordinary world.
Back on Blue Star, he had heard sultry voices, squeaky voices, young lolita voices, and mature sister voices, but he had never heard a voice of such tangible, freezing chill.
"Senior Sister..." The petite woman felt wronged, yet she dared not talk back, clearly in awe of her sister.
The tall woman turned her gaze toward Qi Yuan. "If you two aspire to slay the Water Lord, you might consider participating in the upcoming implement-crafting conference."
She offered the invitation in a voice that remained frigid enough to make one forget the sun overhead.
"Sure, I'll go if I have time." Qi Yuan yawned.
He had been too busy lately, and his sleep quality was quite poor.
The petite woman eyed Qi Yuan with contempt, convinced he was merely spouting empty boasts.
"Farewell." The frost-cold woman's voice was like an icy spring nestled deep within a snowcapped mountain.
She led the petite woman away.
"Beauty, hold on a moment!" Qi Yuan called out.
The petite woman's face flushed. "You lecher! How dare you address me like that?"
"You misunderstood. I wasn't calling you. I was calling the one next to you."
"You!" The petite woman puffed up with rage, looking thoroughly adorable beneath her veil.
"What is it, sir?" the frosty woman asked politely, maintaining a cool detachment.
"I'm in need of a mount, and you... seem pretty good. How about coming to be my mount?" Qi Yuan made the offer with a completely earnest look at the frosty woman.
The air froze in an instant.
Chen Kangbao shivered from the sudden drop in temperature.
The chill in the frosty woman's eyes deepened considerably.
"What... did you just say?!" The petite woman nearly detonated like a landmine.
*A mount?! To say such things—what an insult to her senior sister!*
"Why not think it over? Five insurances and a housing fund, room and board covered, excellent compensation, and tremendous room for advancement. If you perform well, you can even be promoted from a mount to a bed-warming maid," Qi Yuan offered generous terms.
Such benefits back on Blue Star would have had college graduates scrambling to apply.
The frosty woman's gaze remained indifferent. Without another word, she turned and walked away.
Seeing this, the petite woman hurried after her.
"My word, those two have no manners at all, walking off without so much as a goodbye," Chen Kangbao grumbled, standing up for Qi Yuan.
"Ah, you think too highly of people. High emotional intelligence like mine is a scarce resource in this world."
Not far off, the petite woman nearly tripped when she heard that, fuming with indignation.
About a quarter of an hour later, sitting on a boat, the petite woman rested her hands on her hips. "Those two are utterly outrageous! Not only arrogant, but foul-mouthed as well! Am I not a beauty? Senior Sister, if you hadn't stopped me, this lady would have hung them on fishhooks and used them as bait!"
"Why bother arguing with madmen?" the frosty woman said coldly.
"Madmen?" The petite woman blinked, then thought back. "They really were two madmen?"
At that realization, she felt entirely exasperated.
Getting worked up over madmen was truly senseless.
The frosty woman spoke with a hint of suspicion in her voice: "The direction they were heading seemed to be Kunling Ferry."
"Kunling Ferry?" The petite woman frowned.
She and her senior sister disembarked from the boat and proceeded to Kunling Ferry in accordance with their master's instructions.
According to their master, the evil sect Thorn Blood had been exceptionally active recently, raising concerns that anomalies might have arisen in various spirit-nurturing grounds.
Kunling Ferry, near Fengshan Commandery, happened to house one such spirit-nurturing ground.
Thus, their master had instructed them to stop by Kunling Ferry and inspect it on their way.
The two women headed to the ferry, and after scouting around, everything appeared normal.
"Could they be from Thorn Blood?" the petite woman muttered, a glint of killing intent in her eyes.
"No, those old freaks from Thorn Blood have mostly abandoned their human bodies. They're neither human nor ghost. That madman from earlier... although insolent, was actually rather handsome." The petite woman shook her head.
"Perhaps... a coincidence," the frosty woman said indifferently.
"Senior Sister, now that you're going home, will you stay overnight at the manor?" Something crossed the petite woman's mind, and excitement lit up her face. "I want to meet Senior Sister's husband... hehe."
"No. The situation at Yeshan Lake is severe. Once I see Father and collect the Gilded Black Stone, we will return to the lake immediately. As for him, he should be at the manor right now. A brief meeting is fine," the frosty woman said, her tone detached.
When mentioning her husband, she spoke as though referring to a complete stranger.
After all, she had never seen him before.
Naturally, given her icy temperament, she felt no nervousness whatsoever.
"I hope he's... decent-looking. Otherwise, he'd be getting off far too easy!" the petite woman said, sneaking a peek at her senior sister.
Her senior sister said nothing, quiet and serene.
...
Kunling Ferry.
Watery marshes stretched outward, forming a tributary of the Weishui.
The aquatic weeds grew rampant, not emerald green, but an eerie, pitch-black color.
They looked like human hair, constantly spreading.
"The *Annals of Fengshan Commandery* record that in the seventh year of Tianyuan, a great flood submerged Kunling Ferry, drowning all seventy-five households. At first, everyone thought the flooding of Kunling Ferry was a natural disaster. But later, when the spirit-nurturing ground was exposed, people realized it was not a natural disaster, but human malice. To forge a spirit-nurturing ground and raise guiling, Thorn Blood unleashed the waters and drowned Kunling Ferry."
Chen Kangbao spoke calmly, showing neither sorrow nor joy.
"So the guiling here were all residents of Kunling Ferry when they were alive?" Qi Yuan asked.
"Yes. This was originally a ferry crossing, and most of the people living here earned their living doing manual labor at the docks," Chen Kangbao continued. "The money from a full day's hard labor was probably just enough to keep a family barely fed and warm. They probably couldn't even afford a few extra meat buns. Sigh, truly pitiful."
"It really is rather difficult to enter," Qi Yuan murmured as he looked at Kunling Ferry, sensing quite a few guiling lurking within.
There were far more here than at Red Cloud Stockade.
Dense miasmas and toxic vapors blanketed Kunling Ferry ahead, barring ordinary people from setting foot inside.
All manner of dangers lay hidden beneath the mud.
Even an invulnerable Earth-rank weapon wielder would likely find themselves easily ensnared.
Presumably, only a Heaven-rank weapon wielder could traverse it with ease.
The miasma and poison inside were exceptionally troublesome.
"It seems I'll need to craft some gas masks and a large drone before heading inside," Qi Yuan evaluated.
Attempting to enter directly right now would be troublesome and a waste of time.
"Young Master is mighty!" Chen Kangbao flattered.
"Let's scout a bit more to see what other hazards there are, then resolve them all at once," Qi Yuan said casually.
The greatest obstacle at Kunling Ferry was simply getting in.
He needed to use his eyes to carefully observe what difficulties he would encounter upon entering, then devise solutions.
Afterward, he would return to the Shen Manor, purchase the materials, and craft countermeasures.
A few hours later, late into the night, Qi Yuan did not return to the Shen Manor, heading instead to the ghost market.
After purchasing the necessary materials, he resumed setting up his stall.
"Sigh, so broke, so broke!" Qi Yuan lamented. "If only there were a white moonlight in this world who was rich and provided experience... how wonderful that would be."
Qi Yuan couldn't help sighing.
Guiling were all penniless paupers, capable only of providing experience bars.
He was short on silver—desperately short.
After buying a pile of materials, his funds had hit rock bottom.
To scrape together a bit of humiliation pay, he had no choice but to keep running his stall.
Unfortunately, business was abysmal, and not a single loaded chump like Third Young Master Tu was anywhere in sight.
"Old man, is the implement I crafted really that... lousy?" Qi Yuan asked, genuinely puzzled.
In television dramas, the male lead's egg fried rice would cost several thousand a bowl, yet because it was delicious, customers queued up every single day.
The lead would scowl and snap at his patrons every day, treating them like dirt while they revered him like a god.
By contrast, Qi Yuan had even swapped the speaker's voice to a sweet, melodious tone, yet still no one came to buy his goods.
"Young Master, the world is ignorant and fails to recognize genuine goods," Chen Kangbao replied matter-of-factly.
"You're not ignorant, so why don't you buy one?" Qi Yuan stared at Chen Kangbao.
"Ahem, Young Master, aren't you making things difficult for this old servant? Though this old servant is not ignorant and possesses startling wisdom, this old servant has no money!" Chen Kangbao protested sheepishly.
"If you're not ignorant, how come you still have no money?"
"...They just got lucky!" Chen Kangbao's expression practically pleaded, *Hear out my excuse!*
Right then, a surprised voice rang out: "Senior Sister, look, it's that pair of madmen!"
A faint, delicate fragrance accompanied a pervasive chill, reminiscent of a snow lotus.
The two women, tall and petite, whom they had encountered on the banks of the Weishui, appeared.
The petite woman peered at the items on Qi Yuan's stall with curiosity, clicking her tongue. "So you're an implement master after all... though your skill is rather lacking. What sort of junk are you forging here?"
Whenever he left the Shen Manor, Qi Yuan used Myriad Transformations to alter his and Chen Kangbao's appearances.
After all, he had to play the matrilocal son-in-law. If members of the Shen family saw him showing off outside, wouldn't he turn into the Dragon King Son-in-Law?
He was playing a humble son-in-law, not a Dragon King Son-in-Law; mixing the two up would be bad.
Because of that, the petite woman recognized Qi Yuan and Chen Kangbao in the ghost market.
She cast a critical eye over the bizarre gadgets on the stall. However, when her gaze fell upon the speaker, a spark of delight flashed in her eyes. "This one, however, can emit sound. It's somewhat interesting."
"Would you two like to buy an implement?" A single coin can daunt a hero, and the current Qi Yuan offered an amiable smile. "Although this stall has only been open for three days, business is booming. On average, it sells three thousand taels' worth of goods each day!"
Qi Yuan was adept at using statistical averages.
"What? Three thousand taels a day?" the petite woman gasped. "You aren't trying to swindle us, are you?"
Three thousand taels was enough to purchase a Mystic-rank implement—and not just an ordinary one, at that.
Most of the implements piled on this stall had no rank, and none possessed certification.
All of these items combined probably weren't worth a thousand taels, yet he had sold nine thousand taels' worth?
"Hehe, this fellow isn't lying to you," the neighboring stallholder chuckled.
Ever since seeing Qi Yuan return to set up his stall in the ghost market, the neighbor had treated him with far greater courtesy and warmth.
After all, Qi Yuan had raked in ten thousand taels on his first day, which inevitably drew the attention of ill-intentioned figures.
Yet here he was, peddling his wares as good as ever, which proved that those with malicious designs had already been dealt with.
Hearing the neighboring vendor's words, the petite woman believed it and remarked, "You truly know how to fleece people! I wonder which fools would spend so much money buying this junk."
With her discernment, she could tell at a glance that everything on the stall combined was worth roughly a thousand taels at best.
"How much for this? This lady will buy it!"
The petite woman pointed at the speaker, exuding grand generosity.
"Ninety-nine taels!" Qi Yuan answered honestly.
"A bit pricey..." The petite woman wrinkled her nose, but paid anyway. "Still, this lady has plenty of money. I'll take it."
She pulled out the silver and bought the speaker.
In truth, she was quite curious about the principles behind it.
Moreover, she felt the speaker was genuinely intriguing; if produced in bulk, it could prove immensely useful, hiding immense commercial potential.
"Splendid!" Toward paying customers, Qi Yuan was always respectful.
Beside her, the frosty woman stood as quiet as jade, her delicate brows sweeping across the implements on the stall with mild surprise.
Just then, hurried footsteps approached.
"Senior, I didn't expect you to actually be here!"
The newcomer was none other than Third Young Master Tu.
He visited the ghost market almost every day, yet running into Qi Yuan was by no means a guarantee.
Seeing his premier customer, Qi Yuan's smile grew even warmer. "What's this? You want to buy the other two lightsabers as well? I'm in a good mood today, so I'll give you a discount. For just 21,998 taels of silver, you can take both lightsabers."
Qi Yuan was exceedingly enthusiastic.
Beside them, the petite woman's eyes went wide.
*The fool has arrived? Ten thousand taels of silver... for a Yellow-rank implement?!*
Chapter 501