Wen Xiaoyi and Wen Leyang were already coupled up for some time. However, facing him naked, her face was still blushing. She was preparing to run back into the toilet for a towel when Wen Leyang roared with laughter. He jumped over, pulled her soft body that was still covered in crystal clear water droplets into his arms, he jumped high up into the air. Holding on to Wen Xiaoyi, he somersaulted with agility within the not so spacious room. As he somersaulted in mid-air, she wondered if any other woman would be interested to marry a master cultivator to be able to be held by their husbands like that.
As the somersault was only halfway through, Wen Xiaoyi slid out of Wen Leyang’s arms.
Wen Xiaoyi crashed onto the floor in an earthshaking manner. She slid for another meter and a half before slamming onto the door. Wen Leyang screamed out in surprise. He hastily ran over to help her up. Wen Xiaoyi was both amused and annoyed, “Next time at least let me wash off the shower gel first!”
Wen Leyang felt his heart ached as he lifted Wen Xiaoyi onto the bed. He stretched his hand and flipped open the ‘City God Temple of Shanghai Travel Guide’ that he was reading earlier and held it up to Wen Xiaoyi’s eyes, “Look!”
Wen Xiaoyi took a look at Wen Leyang with a puzzled expression before she received the book. She read through it for a few seconds before she squealed. She had forgotten that she was undressed. She jumped off the bed as she pulled along Wen Leyang, “We should go now!”
On the album, within a few pages of ‘Introduction to Unique Shops’, within the densely covered small words, there was a row of words that appeared impressively, “Year 221 Before Christ’– Traditional Arts and Craft Gallery – No. 43 Zhong Nan Wu Street.
Wen Xiaoyi had finally understood why Wen Buzuo’s expression was so peculiar when he came out of the toilet and why he deliberately stuffed this album into Wen Leyang’s hands right before he left.
Wen Buzuo was taking refuge in the toilet. He was flipping through the album conveniently when he stumbled upon this row of small words.
Wen Leyang stretched out his hand and pulled Wen Xiaoyi’s hand. He shook his head, “It is best to do our first trip there during the daytime.” They were incapable of hiding their breath and could definitely not hide from cultivators’ telegnosis ability. As soon as they were near they would soon be discovered. Since they were only ordinary people in the eyes of cultivators, they could visit there pretending to be tourists during the daytime. Not only their identities were protected, the opposing party would not be suspicious as well.
After Bushuo and Buzuo left, Wen Leyang started raking his brain.
Wen Xiaoyi’s eyes were glimmering, at first her eyes were filled with heartfelt worship and admiration. She suddenly saw that Wen Leyang’s malicious gaze cruised past her body from head to toe. She immediately became dubious and asked smilingly, “For real?”
Wen Leyang nodded righteously, “For real!” As he was saying that he pulled Wen Xiaoyi into his cradle at one go, two young bodies were scorching hot yet moist… Hust as the both of their breath gradually became heavier and Wen Xiaoyi was removing Wen Leyang’s T-shirt strenuously, Wen Leyang gave out a squeal and bounced off the bed all of a sudden.
Wen Xiaoyi was astonished, “What happened?”
Wen Leyang frowned, “This isn’t right. Now that Wen Bushuo and Wen Buzuo are not here with us, I ought to be extra focused! We have just lured the enemy today. It is possible that we have already revealed our tracks. Wait for me, I shall bid them a few instructions!” As he was saying that, he turned around and walked towards outside.
Wen Xiaoyi held herself back for a long while and finally burst out with a savage word, “Wen Leyang, next time you should only come and seduce me only when you are done managing all the matters!”
Wen Leyang separated ‘You’ve Got Me’ and the pair of Mo Ya into the other two rooms and he finally returned. Wen Xiaoyi’s charming eyes were akin to silk. Only her beautiful head was revealed from underneath the blanket, just like that night from a few days ago…
The next morning (Author’s Note: It seems like something is missing here ^_^), Wen Leyang informed Little Chi Maojiu and Luo Wanggen about Wen Buzuo’s discovery on the ‘City God Temple of Shanghai Travel Guide’. Just like how Wen Leyang reacted at the time, these two youngsters’ expressions were a mixture of surprise and puzzlement. No one would have thought that ‘Year 221 Before Christ’ did not represent the unification of China by the First Emperor of Qin, but it was the signboard of a shop.
The zombie corpse and the giant pangolin Po Tu stayed behind in the guesthouse. They were getting closer these days, the zombie corpse turned fairer and fairer, while the pangolin turned darker and darker, their skin complexion was slowing merging into one.
Wen Leyang was considered fully armed this time, ‘You’ve Got Me’ was on his chest. Two bronze ants Mo Ya, the size of a sparrow, were kept in his pocket. The Poison of Utmost Metal Stream shrunk and directly stuck underneath his shoes. Wen Xiaoyi stood next to him, holding his hand. There was a guitar bag slung over her shoulder, hiding the big-muzzled weapon. Little Chi Maojiu and Luo Wanggen brought along their weapons on their bodies, especially Little Chi Maojiu, who was carrying a heavy backpack on his back. When he was walking, occasionally the sound clanking could be heard…
Before they departed, they intentionally hired a tour guide from the travel agency. He was a young lad from Shenyang. After he graduated he worked around Shanghai, his name was Xiao Liu.
Xiao Liu heard that they were only going to the City God Temple of Shanghai. He was at a loss whether to cry or laugh, but his attitude was honest, “Boss, the City God Temple of Shanghai is only a small area for shopping and snacking. It is in the Old City, there is no need for a tour guide. Since you are not planning to go to the Yu Garden…”
Wen Leyang was elated, “I feel safer if I have a tour guide with us.”
The City God Temple of Shanghai’s commercial area still retained its original structures. Small bridges and flowing waters, shops and stores stood in great numbers. The stream of people interweaved. The Yu Garden lied quietly next to it, just like a recently awakened quiet maiden, looking towards the bustling crowd in front of her eyes that were unrelated to her with smiling lips.
Wen Leyang brought along the tourist map. He dared not dive towards ‘Year 221 Before Christ’ directly. Akin to an artsy spendthrift son of a rich man, he entered any shop that carried arts and crafts products, buying something every time he entered a shop. It only took a while, kites clay figurines porcelain statues colorful paintings shadow puppets, he bought anything that appeared slightly unique. Even though the tour guide was feeling baffled by this trip, he was still engrossed in his job and carried out all his responsibilities professionally. He was capable of explaining basically every arts and crafts product in the shop, introducing the products continuously to them.
Wen Leyang pointed towards the album’s ‘Year 221 Before Christ’ and asked him conveniently, “This shop’s name here is rather peculiar, what do they sell?”
Xiao Liu had been a local guide in Shanghai all along, every month he brought his tour groups to the Old City for countless times. He knew the City God Temple of Shanghai like the back of his hands and answered without the slightest hesitation, “They make porcelain dolls and clay carvings. The boss is a strange person, he put up a long face all day long, his expression is always unpleasant to anyone he saw. The products he sells is always at a fixed price, the moment a tourist haggles with him, he gives a sneer, turns around and refuses to acknowledge the customer anymore.”
Wen Leyang too laughed, he said to Wen Xiaoyi that was standing next to him, “Judging by Xiao Liu’s words, this shop is owned by the Fourth Grandpa.”
Wen Xiaoyi was slightly nervous initially, upon hearing that she sniggered, “If it is owned by the Fourth Grandpa, the moment a customer haggles, he will sneer once, and then flicks his finger once and poison the customer to death.”
Little Chi Maojiu and Luo Wanggen’s mouth widened into a smile, Xiao Liu looked towards them with a puzzled expression, “Who are all of you talking about?”
Wen Leyang laughed as he diverted the topic of conversation, “Is this an old shop? How many years?”
Xiao Liu shook his head, “I am not so sure about that. Anyhow, this shop existed for many years. Ever since I started working as a tourist guide it was already there, anything before that you will have to ask the boss to find out. Nonetheless, I doubt he will acknowledge us.”
The few people strolled about the City God Temple of Shanghai aimlessly for over two hours. Only then they carried their big and small bundles and walked unintentionally to the door of ‘Year 221 Before Christ’. Xiao Liu laughed as he said to the group, “Here we are! If there is anything that you’ve taken fancy one, do not ever haggle, otherwise, you will never purchase it.”
The façade of the shop was not huge. The signboard appeared rather old. Other than the exceeding number of words on the signboard, it was utterly not eye-catching in the midst of all the other shops. As compared to the some of the antique style façade design of the surrounding, or those eye-catching façade renovation, the ‘Year 221 Before Christ’ appeared slightly stingy, akin to a quail in the midst of a group of roosters, looking rather unpleasant and bald.
Wen Leyang pulled along Wen Xiaoyi’s hand as they crossed over the doorstep as high as one foot. As they entered the shop, a gust of gloomy silence suddenly enclosed their bodies, it was as if the bustling noises outside suddenly became extremely far away.
The walls were not repainted in a very long while, there were already signs of yellowing and mottling. Some of the green tiles on the floor already cracked. In the surface area of a few square meters, three rows of dark brown-colored long tables were arranged into a C-shape to form a simple display counter. The counter displayed a few hundred porcelain dolls of all sizes messily. There was an ancient table clock in the corner, swaying and giving out the sound of tick-tocks.
A row of narrow wooden staircases, twisted into two folds behind the counter, connecting to the second floor.
The sunlight was bright outside but the shop was dimmed and murky. It was as if a huge stretch of warm sunlight intentionally circled around away from here.
Xiao Liu followed Wen Leyang as he entered the shop, he chuckled and shouted, “Fifth Brother, your customers are here!” Upon saying that he explained to Wen Leyang softly, “No one knows what is the surname and name of the boss, the people who frequent here all addressed him by Fifth Brother.”
There was a muffled humph coming from upstairs. After that, all sounds and movements ceased, Xiao Liu was unimpressed, he shrugged as he smiled and explained, “It is the same every time I am here. The room upstairs is his workshop. Not even a customer’s arrival can delay his work in molding the porcelain dolls. The customers will have to wait for a while. I don’t think he opened up this shop in the City God Temple of Shanghai for the purpose of business and profit.”
Wen Leyang laughed but he did not speak, he held onto Wen Xiaoyi as they circled around the display counter. The products there were nothing other than small-sized porcelain carvings including some dolls, figurines, and animals. Even though the carvings were exquisite and delicate, but they were not considered unique. On the other hand, Little Chi Maojiu was looking with great interest, whichever he liked he took out and put it on the side. As he was looking, he suddenly laughed and took up a porcelain frog with a huge mouth that was looking skywards as he asked Wen Leyang, “Look, does it look like Xiu Er?”
Wen Leyang laughed before squinting, this porcelain toad really did look like Xiu Er. It was like the Xiu Er before Wen Leyang absorbed all its poison of earth element.
Strands upon stands of golden silks crept past its body, Xiu Er had three golden-colored stripes on its forehead back then. However, this one had nine full stripes. Wen Leyang did not study much, he had only studied until grade one of high school but he knew that this form of toad almost did not exist in this world now unless the person who molded it had seen the earth-splitting toad.
Meanwhile, a stiff voice stuffed into Wen Leyang’s ears, “Young lad, let me take a look.”
Wen Leyang was startled. He had been carrying the jade knife Guo Huan on his body in the past few days. He hastily turned around with his back facing Xiao Liu, and asked softly, “Are you awake?” He suddenly recalled something even more important, “You…have not been awakened for the past few nights right?”
Guo Huan asked in reply in puzzlement, “What nonsense are you talking about?”
Wen Leyang had only heaved out a long sigh of relief. He procured the jade knife from his chest pocket and hung it around his neck, he shook his head while he chucked, “It’s alright, it’s alright.” As he was saying that he weighed the porcelain toad in his hands, “Is this a demon?”
Guo Huan answered yes, “Three streaks of golden silks, the sitting toad transforms into the earth-splitting toad; six streaks of golden silks the earth-splitting toad’s spiritual intelligence first blooms, it is known as the earth-swallowing toad; by the time it grew nine streaks of golden silk, it has already cultivated into the form of a half human body, and that is considered a demon.”
Wen Leyang was toying with the demon toad’s porcelain statue in his hand, “Half human body?”
Guo Huan gave a yes, “Creatures like snakes, frogs, it is more difficult to cultivate into the human form than cats, rabbits, wolves, tigers, and leopards. Just like that pangolin, its demon power is stronger than the two demon rabbits, but the demon rabbits can take the form of a human, while the pangolin still has to drag along a tail when it takes the human form…”
While Guo Huan was talking, the rattling sound of footsteps echoed, the boss was coming down from the wooden staircase. Wen Xiaoyi gave out an ‘oh no’, she was startled, for the boss did not walk, but he was jumping down from the staircase step by step with his knees fully straightened.
Xiao Liu grinned hospitably, “Fifth Brother, be careful not to fall.”
After Fifth Brother jumped his way down to the ground. He sized Wen Leyang and the rest up and down with an icy-cold attitude, his mouth widened into a smile towards Xiao Liu rigidly, “I won’t fall, I am used to it” As he was saying that, he wrinkled his nose, akin to a hungry wolf he sniffed around. Only then, he slowly turned around towards Wen Leyang and asked, “What have you taken fancy on?”
The boss that was addressed as Fifth Brother was a middle-aged man, he appeared to be over thirty years old but less than forty. There was nothing unusual about his appearance. However, his complexion was well taken care of, even underneath the dimmed lighting of the shop, a healthy glow emitted from his skin, his complexion was no worse than Wen Xiaoyi’s. He was tall and skinny. His hair was like that of a freelance writer that was messy and unpleasant. Overall, he appeared to be an ordinary person with good complexion at one look. Nonetheless, once one was to spend longer time with him one would notice that this person did not have any expression. When he smiled, his eyes did not narrow, when he was speaking, other than his mouth the rest of the muscles on his face did not budge. His movements also seemed to be rigid. He was slower than any other person by half when he was moving his hands or legs.
Wen Leyang pointed towards the few porcelain dolls that were selected by Little Chi Maojiu, “We like the few of this here. Besides, other than those displayed on the counter, is there anything else?”
Little Chi Maojiu nodded his head strenuously, “The best ones, the most expensive ones!”
Fifth Brother stretched out his hand and received the porcelain toad that was toying in Wen Leyang’s hands, his mouth widened and revealed a row of ghastly pale teeth, he gave what appeared to be a smile, “This one here, are you buying?”
Wen Leyang nodded, “Yes!”
Fifth Brother continued to smile, “Can you afford all these?”
Xiao Liu seemed unwilling to let Fifth Brother offend his customers. He laughed as he tried to make peace from the side, “This few tourists are very wealthy. They bought many things here in the City God Temple of Shanghai, they paid immediately after asking for the price, there was no need for haggling.”
Wen Leyang was stunned for a moment, he turned around and peered towards Xiao Liu, “Are you praising us?”
Little Chi Maojiu pretended to appear defiant, “How much?”
Fifth Brother pointed towards the pile of porcelain dolls that Chi Maojiu picked earlier, “Those are fifteen bucks each, this one here,” As he was saying that he weighed the porcelain toad in his hands, and held out a finger in the direction of Wen Leyang.
Wen Leyang frowned, “One hundred?”
Fifth Brother shook his head, he was still holding out a finger, as he said dully, “One hundred tael, gold.” When he was done speaking he stopped for a moment, as he had just recalled something, he commented, “24K ones.”
Before Wen Leyang could speak, Xiao Liu had already jumped, “One hundred tael of gold?! One hundred tael is five thousand grams, one gram is about two hundred bucks, that means a total of…one hundred thousand!”
The four of Wen Leyang, Xiaoyi, Luo Wanggen and Chi Maojiu’s brows raised in unison. They stared at Fifth Brother as they gasped, “One hundred thousand?! For a porcelain toad?”
Fifth Brother clenched his teeth in an obvious manner. His face revealed rigid helplessness, as he corrected weakly, “It is one million bucks.”
The five people standing opposite him blushed scarlet in unison. Wen Leyang was pondering that it was best for him to bring along Wei Mo from the Heaven-telling Sect for his trips, more convenient for calculating accounts.
Xiao Liu was particularly guilty, he gave a forced smile as he shook his head continuously, “Fifth Brother, those are all fifteen, why is this toad here worth one million? This is too…” Before he could finish the sentence, Fifth Brother picked up a porcelain doll conveniently from the counter and tossed it onto the ground. At the sound of a crackle, ceramic powder was flying everywhere, a perfect little porcelain figurine was shattered into a million pieces, the hollow porcelain doll was no different from any other porcelain china.
Fifth Brother continued dully, “Look carefully.” Following that his hands moved about, he swiped his hand across the porcelain toad’s body. The layer of porcelain skin was stripped clean, underneath the porcelain skin the porcelain figurine was surprisingly not an unfired pottery, but akin to real frog that was stripped from its skin. Its bones, muscles, tendons and blood vessels could be clearly seen.
Wen Leyang and the rest opened their eyes wide in bewilderment.
After Fifth Brother stripped away the porcelain frog’s skin, he repeated, “Look carefully.” He tossed the porcelain frog figurine that he reported to be worth one million bucks to the ground as if it was a piece of trash. At the sound of a soft thud, the porcelain frog was shattered. After the thin layer of porcelain shattered, many things came clattering out of the stomach.
Little Chi Maojiu, Luo Wanggen and Xiaoyi screamed out softly in surprise, within the shattered porcelain frog’s body, the porcelain figurine’s internal organs were clearly distinguishable. There was no lack of anything even for the connecting tissue and blood vessels! And even more surprising was the moment the porcelain frog was shattered, Wen Leyang and the rest could sense an agonizing scream echoed from an unseen world.
Just like a living mini-sized Xiu Er that was cast with a spell that froze it into a porcelain carving from its inside to its outside. It was stripped off its skin and shattered by Fifth Brother.
Even the jade knife Guo Huan was transmitting his astonished voice softly into Wen Leyang’s ears, “This is rather interesting.” As Wen Leyang knew that Guo Huan was still awake, he felt slightly relieved in his heart. It was better to have a knowledgeable and experienced great demon that was guiding him by his side than to rely on his pure blind guesses.
The smile on Fifth Brother’s face was rigid yet ghastly, he clasped his hands behind his back as he asked them dully, “One hundred tael of golds, worth it?”
Wen Leyang chuckled as he nodded, “Worth it!”
The well-behaved child Luo Wanggen immediately complemented, “Not if it is already shattered!”
Wen Xiaoyi’s complement was more reassuring that Luo Wanggen’s, “It was you who shattered it yourself!”
Little Chi Maojiu was the most straightforward one. He slung his shoulder and removed the backpack from his back. He opened the bag and placed it on the counter. The wooden counter immediately creaked from the weight, the dazzling golden light that shone from within blurred everyone’s eyes, it was a fully filled backpack worth of gold bars.
Wen Leyang had only recalled that Little Chi Maojiu did not bring money for this trip, but brought lots of gold.
Xiao Liu was dumbstruck, he felt as if his countless brain nerves were akin to the porcelain frog on the ground, shattering at the sound of a crisp thud. Within his eyes, the people who were buying were like monsters, while the person selling was like superman, both had already exceeded his habitual thoughts.
Little Chi Maojiu looked toward Fifth Brother smilingly, “There is three hundred tael here, bring us some porcelain carvings! Must be like this one here that includes real stomach and intestines.”
Xiao Liu swallowed two gulps of saliva before he regained his composure. He muttered to himself, “This child here is quite strong!” A child about ten years old was capable of running about with 15 kg of gold on his back. He certainly had a lot of strength.
Fifth Brother weighed the bag in his hands. He started sizing the crowd up and down once again in excitement, he spoke again after a while, “The good things are huge. They are all upstairs and I can’t move them down. Follow me upstairs.” As he was saying that, he lifted Chi Maojiu’s backpack.
In his hands, 15 kg worth of gold seemed to be lighter than a bottle of juice. When they were walking up the staircase, Fifth Brother still jumped upwards with his knees straightened, his mouth was bidding, “Let me go upstairs first, only then each of you come up one by one, the staircase is too old. It is not sturdy, cannot hold the weight of two persons at one time…” Before he could finish his sentence at the sound of a crash, the staircase collapsed. Fifth Brother carried the gold as he once again fell in front of Wen Leyang with his stiffened body.
Wen Xiaoyi could not help but to laugh out loud, she asked Fifth Brother, “Is the gold too heavy?”
Fifth Brother nodded without making any expression, “15 kg.”
