502. Eating Crab

“B- boss…”

The shop assistant stared after the azure-clad customer, his face deathly pale.

Even if he’d seen a ghost, he wouldn’t have looked so terrified. After all, he’d never seen a ghost before, but today he’d watched a madman down nearly half a pound of arsenic in one gulp.

“Quick, fetch a doctor from the Golden Needle Clinic…”

The shopkeeper screamed, but then froze. “No, quick, catch him and make him vomit!”

The two rushed out of the shop, looking all around, but the azure-clad customer had already vanished into the crowd.

…

Buzuiju, one of the best restaurants in Yongzhou City.

For a normal table, the average spend per person was half a tael of silver. For a private room, two taels per person. The best rooms for overnight stays cost three taels a night.

Mu Nanzhi and Xu Qi’an walked unhurriedly for a long time, asking directions along the way, and finally reached the restaurant.

At the entrance, a busy shop assistant saw them approach and immediately came forward, bowing with a smile.

“Honoured guests, are you here to eat or to stay?”

“To stay!”

Xu Qi’an handed the reins to the assistant, took off his waterskin, poured out the arsenic-laced, milky-white water, and gently smeared it on the saddle.

As he did, his palm turned an inky green-black. When he finished, he raised his hand, the flesh of his palm had returned to normal.

With the power of Poison Gu, he could use the surroundings and materials to create special toxins.

Xu Qi’an had used arsenic to create a slow-acting poison to smear on the saddle. If anyone dared ride the mare, the poison would gradually evaporate with body heat, seep through their trousers into the skin, and then into the bloodstream.

Within a quarter of an hour, even an immortal couldn’t save them.

The shop assistant, ignorant of the mystery, only looked puzzled for a moment before seeing Xu Qi’an toss him a hefty piece of silver, saying:

“Feed my horse only the finest grains: beans, wheat, corn, salt, eggs, honey, none can be missing. I’ll check later. If you cut corners, I’ll skin you alive.”

Freeloader Xu’s aura of ruthlessness and menace was on full display; when he frowned and glared, he was downright intimidating.

The shop assistant, clutching the generous silver, replied in fear and delight, “Don’t worry, sir, I’ll look after your precious horse myself!”

He hurriedly led the horse to the back.

“In the jianghu, you have to know the jianghu. If you act all polite and modest, people will just see you as a fat sheep and everyone will take a piece out of you.”

Xu Qi’an explained cheerfully to the most beautiful woman in the Great Feng.

The jianghu and the court were two different worlds. In the capital, you had to act low-key but get things done boldly, always mindful of relationships and reputation.

But the jianghu was chaotic, full of all sorts; youthful bravado, blades flashing, if you didn’t look fierce, you’d attract endless trouble.

Inside the restaurant’s main hall, Xu Qi’an led Mu Nanzhi to the counter. Along the way, they heard nearby diners chatting:

“I heard someone found a huge tomb in the mountains thirty li south of the city. More than a dozen people went in, none came out.”

“I heard even the Gongsun clan sent people in and they all died. Now there’s a rumour there’s some rare treasure inside. Otherwise, why would it be so dangerous?”

“Probably the Gongsun clan spread that rumour, to lure drifters into being cannon fodder.”

“Not necessarily, the more dangerous the tomb, the greater the treasures. If there were only some shoddy grave goods, who’d bother to set so many traps?”

“Good point.”

“The Gongsun clan are recruiting heroes in Yongzhou City lately, especially those skilled in feng-shui or mechanisms. Too bad I’m just a martial artist, otherwise I’d join in too.”

Mu Nanzhi’s face changed slightly at this.

Xu Qi’an frowned.

The underground palace outside Yongzhou had been discovered? Yes, the commotion from Shenshu’s battle with the ancient corpse had caused some collapse in the mountains, naturally, people would come exploring afterward…

Given Shenshu’s rank, in just half a year, the ancient corpse shouldn’t have broken free yet, hopefully not, or this trip to Yongzhou would be wasted…

Lost in thought, he walked to the counter and said, “Two of the best private rooms, side by side.”

Beside him, Mu Nanzhi quickly said, “N-no, just one is enough…”

Her voice trailed off, her head lowering in embarrassment.

She chickened out… Xu Qi’an glanced at the princess consort. For himself, sharing a room with the number one beauty in the Great Feng brought no delight, only a frown.

First, the side effect of the Desire Gu constantly drove its host to procreate, Xu Qi’an was afraid he couldn’t restrain himself.

Second, the Dark Gu’s side effect was that the host craved darkness and dampness, and needed two hours of privacy every day, unseen by anyone.

The princess consort’s spiritual essence couldn’t be “harvested” until he reached peak Rank Three. The Gu’s side effects couldn’t be satisfied, which would affect the Sevenfold Gu’s development, and thus his own cultivation.

Xu Qi’an sighed to himself: As expected, women only slow down my sword draw speed!

He asked for the finest room, costing a whole tael of silver.

The innkeeper, delighted with the silver, became doubly attentive, personally showing the guests upstairs.

The room was at the end of the corridor, with a view of the bustling main street. Mu Nanzhi was delighted, while Xu Qi’an just found it noisy.

No wonder it was one of Yongzhou’s most expensive restaurants, the room was furnished with yellow rosewood, with writing materials set out on the table.

Mu Nanzhi entered and immediately began to inspect everything, clicking her tongue:

“All these paintings are famous, but they’re all fakes, not a single original.”

There was a genuine Burning Incense at the Wine Lodge in the Zhenbei King’s residence, hanging in her study.

“This inkstone isn’t bad.”

She went to the desk and played with a blue-and-white inkstone. The marbling was as inky as a wash painting. Mu Nanzhi commented with regret:

“Finely made, but not moist enough, good, but not superb.”

No matter how moist it is, are you more so… Xu Qi’an lampooned inwardly.

She continued to critique every item: the brush, ink, paper, antiques, paintings, furniture.

The innkeeper was dumbfounded and could only admire her. “Miss, you really are an expert.”

His slight contempt vanished, these plain-looking guests had to come from a noble house. Only wealth and upbringing could produce such taste.

Xu Qi’an, who understood none of this, pulled the innkeeper over and said with a smile, “May I trouble you for a word?”

“Not at all, not at all.” The innkeeper’s manner was now extremely courteous.

Xu Qi’an asked, “I heard in the main dining hall someone mention a tomb discovered in the southern mountains?”

The innkeeper nodded. “Indeed, though who knows if it’s true. Many people are said to have died. That mountain’s been claimed by the Gongsun clan now.”

Xu Qi’an sipped his tea, pondering. “The Gongsun clan? Innkeeper, what are the top jianghu powers here in Yongzhou?”

Although he’d been here once before, he wasn’t too clear on the local factions.

In the eyes of a Nightwatcher, only the Wulin Alliance of Jianzhou counted as a real power; the rest were rubbish.

Of course, that didn’t mean the jianghu sects were weak, Nightwatchers just belonged to the court and naturally looked down on the jianghu.

The innkeeper began speaking immediately, without any hesitation:

“The strongest powers near Yongzhou City are the Gongsun Mountain Manor, eighteen li to the north, and Longshen Castle by the Wanlong River, twenty li to the east. The gangs under these two big factions include…

“As for the other counties that Yongzhou governs, I’m not familiar with them.”

Yongzhou was one of the thirteen provinces of the Great Feng. Yongzhou City governed dozens of counties and prefectures; only the authorities would know how many factions existed within them.

Major powers like Longshen Castle and the Gongsun clan typically wouldn’t have their main base inside the city, as the authorities wouldn’t allow it.

Mu Nanzhi frowned. “Don’t the government care about the great tomb?”

The innkeeper laughed. “Why should they? It’s not a flood or locust plague, the officials can’t be bothered. As for the dead, they’re all jianghu folk, not ordinary citizens. Even if it were civilians, if you don’t report it, the authorities wouldn’t care either.

“Besides, the Gongsun clan have some connections with the provincial governor, which is how they managed to ‘fence off’ that mountain.”

“You do make a good point.”

The two men exchanged a smile.

From the innkeeper, Xu Qi’an learned that this was the season for fat lake crabs, and Yangbai Lake outside the city was the best place to eat crab near Yongzhou.

At this time of year, the wealthy, officials, and jianghu heroes would rent boats to cruise the lake and feast on crabs.

Mu Nanzhi’s eyes sparkled at this.

After a bit more chat, the innkeeper reluctantly excused himself.

…

Xu Qi’an closed the door, turned around, went behind the screen, moved the bath tub aside, took out an Earth Book fragment, and poured out a large jar. In the jar, the silt was shallow and the water slightly murky, a dark gold lotus root lay at the bottom.

Half its body stuck out from the mud, the other half was buried.

His trip through the jianghu with the princess consort had two purposes:

First, to travel as far as Jianzhou and deliver the lotus root to the old scoundrel of the Wulin Alliance, to fulfil his promise.

But the lotus root hadn’t matured yet, so he brought both the person and the lotus along, figuring it should ripen by the time he reached Jianzhou.

Second, he wanted to find some highly poisonous plants for the Flower God to cultivate, to strengthen the Poison Gu.

For that, Mu Nanzhi had to stay with him.

“Whew…”

Xu Qi’an exhaled. With the Strength Gu’s strength, lifting a big jar of water was still tough, he really needed to eat more.

Luckily, I left the capital, otherwise, with three more gluttons at home, Auntie would be crying her heart out… he grumbled to himself as he sat at the yellow rosewood desk, thinking about his next steps.

The dragon qi is scattered everywhere, and there’s no such thing as radar. To find the hosts, I only have two options: First, a powerful intelligence network. The hosts won’t show anything unusual at first, but after a while, their talent will stand out, they won’t stay obscure forever.

Second, rely on the aggregation effect of dragon qi and fortune. Maybe I don’t need to search on purpose, travelling around, I might just encounter them. And as long as a dragon qi host is within a hundred metres, I’ll sense it through the Earth Book. I’m like a mini radar with a range of a hundred metres.

No news of Shenshu’s remains yet, but the Nine-tailed Celestial Fox will have leads, as long as I wait for her to find me. For now, the most important thing is to gather materials for the Soul-summoning Bell.

Among the required materials were fingernails and venom from a millennium-old corpse. Xu Qi’an happened to know such a corpse, so his first stop was Yongzhou.

As long as Shenshu’s seal hasn’t weakened, I’m confident the corpse won’t discover my real state. I also need to work on my cultivation. Of the Sevenfold Gu, the Poison Gu is the easiest to nurture, just keep feeding it toxins and it’ll grow rapidly.

Next is the Strength Gu. As long as I keep eating and toughening my body, it’ll also grow fast. Even though my cultivation is sealed, my body is still at Rank Three, so I can skip the training phase and just eat.

Heaven Gu is the foundation of the Sevenfold Gu, already developed to a high level, no need to worry for now. For Dark Gu, as long as I hide for two hours daily, it’ll grow steadily, maybe fighting would help, but I haven’t tried that yet.

Corpse Gu needs to consume corpse qi. That’s another goal for this Yongzhou trip: to cultivate the Corpse Gu. As for Desire Gu and Heart Gu, I’ll put those aside for now.

I don’t want to walk the jianghu and end up as a womaniser. And with the number one beauty of the Great Feng by my side, if I don’t suppress the Desire Gu, one day I’ll lose control.

Same for Heart Gu. Even though I’m riding my little mare, I can’t actually ride her.

There was still time before lunch. Xu Qi’an sat at the desk, sipping arsenic-laced water like wine.

The tidy princess consort prepared a basin of water to wash with, then sat at her dressing table, put up a beautiful married woman’s hairdo, applied rouge and lipstick, and, matching her temperament, managed to raise her looks a few notches.

From plain to actually presentable.

“I’ll sleep in the bed tonight, you take the floor,” the princess consort said, sitting at the table. Seeing he only glanced at her then looked away, she raised her eyebrows.

“Or you can sleep in the bed, and I’ll sleep on you,” Xu Qi’an replied irritably.

The princess consort spat, seemingly used to his flirting by now, and ignored him.

She went behind the screen, reached into the water jar, and idly splashed the water around.

Spiritual energy swirled in the water.

As midday neared, Xu Qi’an packed up the jar, stowing it in the Earth Book fragment. Thanks to Buzuiju’s connections, he had secured a table on a restaurant boat. For ordinary folks, even small boats would be fully booked at this time.

But as a top restaurant, Buzuiju had the connections to meet customers’ crab cravings.

…

Yangbai Lake, the water sparkling and beautiful, willows lining the shore, their branches bare and leafless.

In the late autumn, the lake breeze brought a chill.

A pleasure boat with the sign “Wang’s Fish Restaurant” floated on the water. Mu Nanzhi, wrapped in a fox-fur cloak, sat at a window-side table, with a little clay stove warming yellow wine.

A few small dishes, and twenty fat river crabs.

“The vinegar is nice, though there’s not enough sauce, well, that just brings out the flavour of the crab,” Xu Qi’an said, savouring the al-dente crab roe and nodding with satisfaction.

On his food tier list, lake crab was in the top ten. Of course, not all crabs were equal, female crabs wouldn’t make the list; only male crabs counted.

“Crab roe and crab paste are completely different things. The chewy paste is richer and tastier. Roe is a bit inferior, so I’m not keen on female crabs, but I can’t resist male ones…”

Xu Qi’an picked up the wine pot from the clay stove and poured a cup of warm wine for the princess consort.

“You even have hierarchy in crab eating?”

Mu Nanzhi gave him a massive eye roll, took a sip of wine, cheeks flushed, body warm, and turned to gaze at the lake. Suddenly, she said softly:

“Look, is that the Gongsun clan’s boat?”

Xu Qi’an turned, looking out the window, and saw a two-storey boat breaking through the waves, flying a banner with “Gongsun” written on it.

502. Eating Crab

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