The cave exit is hard to find.

It took Shang Yanting two whole days to get out of there.

He carried a snakeskin bag on his back (← Jia Xitong insisted on using it to store her treasures), and held a dirty puppet raccoon in his arms, walking very slowly.

When Shang Yanting picked up the raccoon, Jia Xitong was overwhelmed with gratitude.

She repeatedly assured him that the puppet would follow on its own, but Shang Yanting still didn't put it down. He couldn't exert force in his hands, but his arms were extremely steady. However, they had to rest every so often, and it took them three whole days to finally emerge from the dense forest and reach the nearest town.

##

It was early morning.

The villagers, going to work in twos and threes, walked side by side and chatted about recent important events.

"Have you heard? The new young master of Shangmou City is about to marry the eldest daughter of the Song family."

"Didn't these two families already have the intention of a marriage alliance? It's a pity about the previous young master of the Shang family. I heard that he was truly unparalleled and exceptionally talented."

"What's the pity? That was the ruthless person who plotted to kill the most promising disciples of the other seven great families."

"Yes! He even tried to assassinate his own uncle. So ruthless and merciless, he even wanted to kill his own grandfather."

"Anyway, now the new young master of Shangmou and the eldest daughter of the Song family have both become his personal disciples, while his promising future has been ruined. It's just that evil has its retribution."

The news of the deposed young master of Shangmou had already spread throughout the Dongxu Kingdom; even a small town knew about it.

Jia Xitong frowned slightly upon hearing the discussion among passersby.

Shang Yanting was exceptionally good to the Shang Mou family; they must have done something to wrong him, otherwise he wouldn't have turned so thoroughly evil in the original story.

She subconsciously looked at Shang Yanting.

He had a very good attitude and listened to the whole thing without changing his expression as he entered the city.

##

The town was clearly not as prosperous as Shangmou City, and most of the buildings in the town were low thatched huts.

The people here wore coarse cloth and animal skins to cover their bodies. Shang Yanting, dressed in rags, walked along the road and surprisingly blended in somewhat.

The town didn't have a proper market; people just set up stalls wherever they could find a spot along the way to buy and sell things. Shang Yanting followed suit, finding a place to sit down and taking the items out of his backpack.

What he was selling was not Jia Xitong's rare and precious medicinal herbs, but rather the various herbs he collected along the way.

The purpose of coming to the town was to treat my hands and feet; making money was the first priority.

Shang Yanting had read extensively since childhood and had naturally seen various herbs. He followed the example of the merchants next to him, sitting on the ground and waiting for people to come up and ask about prices.

There was no one there in the morning.

There was no one there in the afternoon.

Everyone around him was packing up their stalls, but he hadn't sold a single herb in front of him.

Jia Xitong was very worried.

She earnestly suggested, "Dear host, why don't you try advertising it?"

Shang Yanting: ...He won't.

Just then, the neatly arranged herbs in front of him were kicked away. Three thin men dressed in tattered hemp clothing stood in front of the stall, looking at Shang Yanting with ill intent.

"You're new here, aren't you? You've been setting up your stall all day, it's time to pay your stall fee."

Shang Yanting frowned slightly as he looked at the herbs that had been kicked away. "This place doesn't belong to you alone, so why should you pay?"

"You're on our turf now, so pay up your protection money!"

The man in the lead stepped onto the stall and said arrogantly, "Brothers, let me see what valuables he has on him."

If they don't give it to you, you'll just take it by force.

Unfortunately, they targeted the wrong person.

Although his limbs were crippled, his other injuries had long since healed. His cultivation level started from zero, but with his early-stage martial arts apprentice status and the movement techniques he had practiced since childhood, he wouldn't lose to those three pointy-eared, monkey-faced, and less than seven-foot-tall trash.

Shang Yanting stood up, bent his knees and elbows, and used his agile movements to knock the three of them to the ground.

The surrounding vendors were quite pleased to see the three men being punished.

The group consisted of local thugs who were known for bullying the weak and fearing the strong on this street. Seeing that Shang Yanting was a newcomer, they observed him for a day before daring to come up and cause trouble.

I didn't expect the other side to be such a tough opponent.

The three fled in a sorry state.

People around Shang Yanting's goodwill towards him immediately increased, and some even kindly approached him when they saw that he hadn't sold anything for a while, asking, "Young man, are you selling herbs?"

"Exactly."

"If you want to sell herbs, you should go to the pharmacy in town. Nobody here knows herbs. You've come to the wrong place, young man."

Shang Yanting: ... "Thank you."

After saying that, he left with his bag on his back.

The setting sun

Following the stall owner's words, Shang Yanting found the so-called pharmacy, only to find it was about to close.

The shopkeeper carefully examined the type and quality of the herbs. "They're acceptable. I'll give you twenty coins in total."

"So low?"

Upon hearing this, Shang Yanting frowned. He used to spend about one tael of silver to buy these herbs.

"These herbs are not rare, and their quality is average. Giving you twenty coins is already a lot."

The shopkeeper put the herbs aside and touched the snakeskin used to hold them. "This artemisia python skin is quite nice! Young man, if you want to sell it, I can give you twenty taels. You'll get about the same price in a big city."

Shang Yanting: ...

All that hard work picking so many herbs wasn't worth as much as the herbs needed for installing the system and the snakeskin from the fish fins.

As Jia Xitong crouched in her sea of ​​consciousness, she heard her boss's words and recalled Shang Yanting's arduous journey of searching for herbs in the jungle over the past few days.

I feel sorry for him, but I also want to laugh at him.

Anyway, at least we have money now.

They found an inn in the town and settled down. After being in the mountains for so long, they finally had a place to stay.

night

The simple bucket was filled with hot water.

Shang Yanting sat in the bucket of water, the rising steam making his handsome, fair face flush red. Having suppressed his gloomy and extreme emotions, he exuded an air of nobility even in the simplest surroundings.

Apart from……

There was a grayish-brown unidentified creature inside the bucket.

Even though Shang Yanting's neck was completely blurred out in the censored mode, Jia Xitong still cowered in his sea of ​​consciousness, not daring to move.

"Dear host, I feel much better now."

It's just a puppet; there's no need to be so meticulous.

Do you know you stink?

Shang Yanting reached for the bristle comb that the shop had prepared and combed out the knots in the raccoon's fur.

Despite his complaints, his hands moved with painstaking care.

After changing the water in two buckets, both the male protagonist and the puppet were clean.

The raccoon's limbs and tail bore bite marks from fish, and its left side had large patches of bald patches from being worn away. Shang Yanting placed it on the bed and stared at it for a long time, his expression showing some disgust.

"So ugly."

Jia Xitong was stunned when she heard this. It was all because of him that she had become like this.

Just as she was about to retort, the system's voice sounded again: [Congratulations to the mission participant for gaining 5 trust points from the male lead. Current trust points: 62/100]