bookrandom Chapter 36 Return
Chapter 36 Return
Four days later, early morning.
Zhong Ming appeared at the entrance to the mine tunnel, the entrance to the mine tunnel on the surface.
He clutched the genealogy book tightly in his hand. A large, dark-colored robe he had borrowed covered his bandages, and he carried a large bundle on his back containing strips of dried meat cut into small pieces. For the mining mole, who refused to get off his back, it was a decent sleep, equivalent to a human sleeping in a haystack.
It's not great, but it's better than sleeping on rocks.
An old man next to him was carefully measuring something with a large scale, and rows of golden ingots were displayed on the shelf behind him.
He is an exchanger. In the spirit stone mining area, there are also a large number of rare "ordinary" ores. You will find them while mining spirit stones. They are not very useful to cultivators. If you want, you can collect them and give them to him.
Who is Zhong Ming?
A native of Qingxi Town.
That's the kind of person who doesn't forget to fry shrimp even when stewing dragon meat. Last time, the feast that Gao Jin led almost wiped out all the wild animals around the town.
Let alone ordinary minerals, Zhong Ling would hesitate even if it were just a slightly rounded stone.
The most common sight in his mine is him "sneezing" and spitting out some gravel to make room for storage stones, then holding a stone in each hand and agonizing over which one to take.
"Okay, it's all settled."
The exchange clerk took a large gold ingot from the shelf and a small pile of silver ingots, pushing them to Zhong Ming's side.
Zhong Ming could hear his own heartbeat, and the sudden increase in blood flow made his wounds ache slightly.
"That's all, five taels of gold, sixty-eight taels of silver, and I won't count the copper coins."
"That's enough, thank you, Master."
Zhong Ming bowed, gathered the gold and silver into his robes, and fled as if escaping.
The exchange clerk was baffled; why did offering 70% of the purchase price seem too high? This made the young man very happy...
Zhong Ming stuffed the money into his only pocket. Only today did he truly realize just how great the difference was between cultivators and mortals.
With money in your pocket, you can defy gods and ghosts.
The large signboard of Jishuishan Mine was gleaming with gold; the sun was shining brightly today.
Zhong Ming, arrogant and haughty, took a step forward, then shuddered.
Winter is a different story; the cold wind can be deadly, and I wonder how many poor souls will freeze to death on the roadside.
The warm mine shaft suddenly seemed welcoming and inviting.
Zhong Ming took a deep breath, filling his lungs with the cold air, and exhaled a breath of stale air, sweeping away the stuffy and foul-smelling gas in the mine.
The howling wind carries a sense of desolation and annihilation, but it also cleanses the world, preparing for a new beginning.
Zhong Ming strode out, in a good mood today because there was an important thing waiting for him to do.
A momentous event worthy of his incense burning and bathing.
That is......
Count the money!
I haven't even counted how many spirit stones I took from the mine mole's hole yet.
When you're in a good mood, you naturally walk faster and everything seems better.
Hello, towering tree, shaped like a god reaching for the sky. The scorching days have passed, let the withered leaves scatter with the wind. The biting cold wind is blowing from behind, clearing the sky for you, so you can face the heavens directly.
Hello, earth with its crisscrossing paths. The hard work of the year is over. There's no need to worry about the rice growing anymore. It's time to rest. Sleep well and get a good night's rest. When spring arrives and the flowers bloom, the birds will wake you up.
Hello, eagle soaring in the sky, oh, are you an eagle? I can't see you clearly, you fly too high and too far, like a star in the sky that can only be looked up to, and all the beautiful rivers and mountains prostrate themselves under your wings.
Hello, my aunt who wanted to treat me to goji berry tea last time...
Um, Auntie, don't kneel down, it's cold on the ground in the middle of winter.
My aunt didn't crowd in front of the tofu stall today. In this weather, no one would want to go out and set up a stall. Even those who cook on-site would give up because it's too cold and consumes too much wood and charcoal.
They squatted in front of a small, dilapidated house. The door was broken, hanging halfway down, barely blocking out some of the cold wind.
This is a makeshift little house where a group of people are sitting around drinking hot tea, and several people dressed as monks are chanting sutras.
Chanting sermons is a form of proselytizing, involving two people speaking and chanting. The stories are mostly from Buddhist scriptures: great bodhisattvas liberate harmful monsters, and true arhats use their bodies as bridges for deer to cross broken cliffs...
Auntie seemed to be in poor health and had arrived late, so she could only sit in a corner. When she saw Zhong Ming, she remembered for a moment and realized that he was the immortal master, so she quickly knelt down.
"Auntie, good morning... No, no, get up quickly, I need to ask you something, do you know where there's a ferry on the Yelan River?"
The aunt was momentarily puzzled. Such a polite immortal master was truly rare. Could he be a fake?
Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of the genealogy book in Zhong Ming's hand. It was gleaming gold and clearly not a cheap item. She decided not to gamble on this unlikely guess.
Proving you're fake doesn't mean you won't pay....
"In reply to the Immortal Master, the ferry should continue along the road until you reach the riverbank. After walking three miles along the river, you will find an old fisherman who is blind in one eye. He is willing to ferry people across the river. If the Immortal Master wishes to take a large boat, you can walk another ten miles to Qingyi Ferry, where there are large official boats."
"Okay, thank you, Auntie."
When Zhong Ming came here last time, Xiao Yu rowed the only small boat in the Taoist temple to take him here. At that time, he was strong and healthy and was not afraid of encountering any schools of fish again. At worst, he would just swim a while.
But now... forget it, let's just stick to the boat.
After walking for about 45 minutes, we finally saw the surging river. The journey was damp and cold, as if someone were pouring a basin of cold water down your collar.
Even the most experienced fishermen rarely go fishing in the river from this spot. The river is unpredictable, and falling in is almost certain death. Even if they survive the freezing water, they are unlikely to escape the typhoid fever that follows.
Yes, so those who dared to send out ships were those who paid a high price.
and so!
Zhong Ming darted up a tree with few leaves and looked into the distance. He saw several small boats surrounding a large cargo ship on the river, bobbing back and forth.
Iron hooks with long chains broke through the gale and slammed into the ship's side. The cargo ship was not to be outdone, with arrows raining down and long spears propped up on the ship's side to meet the enemy.
There were cultivators or martial arts masters who leaped into the air and landed on the other ship, followed by a fierce battle.
Zhong Ming scratched his head. Is the outside world really that dangerous? He's only been by the river a few times, and he's already encountered river bandits twice?
Thinking of this, he immediately recalled his Taoist robe, which reeked of manure, having been washed repeatedly in the river. What about those who had fallen into the water...?
Forget it, let's just wait until they're done fighting before looking for a ferry.