Chapter 46 Chapter 46 Who is the bad guy?

The pedestrians on the road just watched silently. After they cleaned up the door, they started walking again. Some of them even talked about the master and servant who had just been scared away in a joking manner.

Niu Rao and others were stunned.

Granny Hua said calmly, "Look, do you see clearly? This is a shady shop that specializes in scamming outsiders."

Huo Xin: "...Since that Ji Huangmao is the owner of this tavern, why is he the one getting beaten?"

Granny Hua: "Because it's a warning to others."

Yun Miao pondered.

Yun Miao suddenly realized: "Great!"

Niu Rao: "I was wondering how a Jindan-stage demon like him could be beaten to a pulp by a few mortals. Turns out he was lying."

Tan Xiaobai's eyes were hazy. "Uncle and aunt are right. The world is a dangerous place. I still have a lot to learn. So what's with the blood?"

Granny Hua exposed it directly: "It's fake, it's just beetroot juice."

"Are you curious about that restaurant? If you want to go, I can take you there. Their food is delicious, the prices are reasonable for locals, and you can occasionally see them perform operas. So business is pretty good, and I sometimes go there to get a bottle of wine."

"But since the owner is a chicken demon, this restaurant doesn't serve any chicken-related dishes."

Yun Miao: "Do you have roasted whole lamb?"

Granny Hua shook her head, saying that a tavern like this wouldn't use up a whole lamb in a day, so they didn't have a dish called roasted whole lamb. However, Yunlai Restaurant did have honey-glazed roasted whole lamb, and it was their specialty.

I heard that the lamb was roasted with spiritual honey and some low-level spiritual plants as seasonings. The roasted lamb had a golden, crispy skin, and a mellow, sweet and delicious meat inside.

Limited to ten pieces per day, each priced at one hundred spirit stones.

Yun Miao was stunned: "So cheap?"

Granny Hua smiled and shook her head: "This price is not cheap in a small town like ours."

The spirit stones accumulated by ordinary cultivators are all used for cultivation. They will not spend a hundred low-grade spirit stones just to satisfy a momentary appetite.

However, this price was just a drop in the bucket for the wealthy young woman Yun Miao, so she immediately finalized the itinerary. They would first go to Yunlai Restaurant to order three roasted whole lambs, one to be taken to the Huangmao Tavern to eat, and the other two to be taken back for Tian Laokou, his master, and his senior brothers to taste.

*

The door of the tavern was open. As soon as Yun Miao walked in, he smelled a mixture of sweet wine and spicy food. There were more than a dozen old tables and chairs on the first floor, most of which were already filled with diners.

Following her two sudden realizations, she became more alert and perceptive in the game, so she noticed at a glance that most of the diners, regardless of gender, age or status, had one thing in common: short and thick hands, thick calluses, and black ash between the fingers.

They drank cheap liquor, ate simple snacks, and talked and laughed or boasted in rough voices, with words like "mine", "obscure stone", and "low quality" popping up from time to time.

"Hey, Granny Hua, you're here."

There was no sign of Ji Huangmao on the first floor. Instead, the sturdy woman from before was standing behind the counter. When she saw Grandma Hua come in, she immediately greeted her with a smile. Because of her fierce appearance, this friendly smile looked like a ferocious grin.

Granny Hua took this well. She nodded and greeted the woman. After chatting for a few more minutes, she took Yun Miao and the others to an empty table at the back.

A burly man who had just "beat up" Ji Huangmao came over with a smile on his face and asked them what they wanted to eat or drink.

Granny Hua glanced at the horns on Niu Rao's head and then ordered a few home-cooked dishes that had nothing to do with beef. Niu Rao sensed Granny Hua's kindness and gave her a simple smile.

Tan Xiaobai turned his head to look at the burly shopkeeper behind the counter, his eyes full of confusion.

"It seems like everyone here is a mortal except us. That chicken demon is at least a great demon in the Golden Core Stage. I guess we can't make any spirit stones by running this shop, right?"

Generally speaking, as long as a cultivator reaches the foundation-building stage, the spiritual energy in his body is sufficient to supply his own activities. At this time, the cultivator will consciously stop eating ordinary food to prevent the impurities in these foods from accumulating too much in the body. This behavior is the so-called fasting.

Therefore, usually only the cultivators in the Qi Refining Stage would consciously hoard silver to trade with mortals and buy food to fill their stomachs.

Therefore, Tan Xiaobai could not understand why Ji Huangmao opened this store. The silver earned by this store was just a brighter stone to the big monster in the Jindan period. It could not buy rare treasures or elixirs or magic weapons.

Granny Hua glanced at the counter when she heard this. "This shop was originally called Pan's Tavern. It's a family business run by the owner Pan. I heard it's been open for two hundred years."

Tan Xiaobai became even more curious: "Then why has it become a chicken-yellow-feather shop now?"

Yun Miao swore confidently, "Maybe he got it by lying on the ground."

Huo Xin pondered, "That Ji Huangmao clearly saw that Senior Brother Niu was stronger than him, so he didn't dare to confront him head-on, so he resorted to blackmail. I think he might have robbed this store."

Granny Hua said that a few years ago, someone did want to buy the Pan family tavern by force, but it was not Ji Huangmao, but a young master from the Yun family's branch, whose name was heard to be... Yun Lujia, and the thugs following him were all cultivators in the Qi Refining Stage.

Although Xuantian Sect has always had the intention of protecting Luohua Town, it has not directly included Luohua Town into its sphere of influence. The Yun family is the top family in Yunzhou. If they want to use power, coercion and inducement to make Manager Pan give in, even Xuantian Sect will not be able to say much.

It was at that time that Ji Huangmao came to Luohua Town. No one knew what he said to Manager Pan. In any case, when Yun Lujia brought people here again, Manager Pan stood up and said that she had sold the store to Ji Huangmao.

From then on, Pan's Tavern was renamed Huangmao Tavern. However, apart from having more special programs, fewer chicken-related dishes, and better-tasting wine and dishes, the shopkeeper is still Pan, the waiters are still the same waiters, and the business model is no different from before.

"After all, Young Master Yun didn't want to clash with Ji Huangmao, so he gave up the idea of ​​buying this tavern and sent someone to buy another store. Then the Yunlai Restaurant was opened."

Yun Miao was shocked: "So that big restaurant is the bad guy, and Ji Huangmao is really a good chicken?"

Granny Hua shook her head: "It's not a good chicken, but it's certainly not a bad chicken either."

Tan Xiaobai, a young master from an aristocratic family, rested his folding fan against his chin upon hearing this and muttered, "Something's wrong. Luohua Town may be prosperous, but it's just a remote town after all. They can't make that many spirit stones a day running a restaurant this big, right? And I remember the Yun family's main business wasn't Yunsha. Why would a branch of the family come all this way to open a restaurant..."

Huo Xin frowned: "If we talk about the most attractive benefits of Luohua Town, it's probably those obscured stone mines."

Tan Xiaobai: "Low-grade quartz ore isn't worth much, right?"

Huo Xin glanced at him. "Of course it's not worth much to you, but for the Yun family's branch, it's already a piece of fat meat. What's more... they might want more than just the obsidian ore."

Tan Xiaobai: "Could they be trying to steal the Xuanxin Mine? No, the Yun family probably doesn't have that guts yet. This is probably just a pawn planted here by the direct lineage to gather intelligence from the sect. Find a way to befriend the sect."

Huo Xin's face turned cold. "The sect is powerful, so they will naturally try to make friends with it. If it ever declines, they will use Luohua Town as a springboard to bite off a piece of flesh from the sect."

Yun Miao looked around and said in surprise, "You guys are really knowledgeable about this."

Tan Xiaobai, who had just looked thoughtful, immediately smiled shyly: "Hehe, after all, I come from a wealthy family. I've heard these things since I was a child. It's impossible for me not to understand them."

Huo Xin pursed her lips slightly and said, "Since the sect is determined to protect Luohua Town, why not openly incorporate this place into the sect's sphere of influence?"

Niu Rao hesitated and said, "It seems that the sect rules left by the ancestors say that there is a difference between immortals and mortals. Although cultivators are not immortals, they are already very different from mortals. They should stay away from each other to avoid hurting others and themselves. Therefore, disciples of the sect can save the world, but they cannot be greedy for the world and get too close to mortals."

Granny Hua nodded, saying that mortals and monks lived together in Luohua Town, and mining was hard, tiring, and dangerous. Normal people would rarely volunteer to do this. The ancestors of these miners in Luohua Town were all poor people who fled from their hometown many years ago. After settling down here, their ancestors made a living by mining.

If Xuantian Sect incorporates Luohua Town into its sphere of influence, these dark stone mines will become the sect's assets. The sect has its own more efficient mining methods. Whether according to the sect's rules or for the sake of the sect's reputation, they cannot hire these mortals to mine for the sect.

In this way, thousands of ordinary people in the town will really have no way to survive, so Xuantian Sect’s choice is the best choice at the moment.

Although Luohua Town seems to be a mixed bag to outsiders, with unscrupulous merchants and shady shops everywhere, the miners, both men and women, are rude and untidy. Apart from the dark stone, there is nothing worth looking forward to here.

But Granny Hua felt that the mortals here had a tenacity like weeds. No matter how long they stayed in the dark mines, they would eventually walk back into the sunlight, smiling and calling their friends to come to the tavern to buy the lowest quality wine and the cheapest snacks, and they could brag for an entire afternoon.

Even if they will soon return to the darkness underground, the next time they return to the surface, they will still laugh the loudest laughter in the sunshine.

At this time, the waiter brought up the drinks and dishes that Granny Hua had just ordered. Yun Miao poured himself a glass of wine and smelled it curiously: "Is it really delicious?"

The diners at the next table had been listening to their conversation for a while. Perhaps Granny Hua's words had touched their hearts, a sturdy middle-aged woman, her face flushed, spoke in a hoarse voice.

"Haha, of course it tastes good! This is Shopkeeper Pan's secret family recipe. The brewed wine is very strong and tastes really strong! I live for this sip of wine!"

Another middle-aged man took a gulp of wine and said, "That's right. If one day I were trapped in a cave, even if I turned into a ghost, I would have to float up and take another sip before I could close my eyes."

Their voices were not much different from Niu Rao's, rumbling like thunder. When the other diners heard this, some of them immediately responded with laughter.

"Haha, Li Erniang, you don't sound like someone like us who work in mining."

"What does that look like?"

"Like an old drunkard!"

"Hahaha!"

…

Another younger woman at the next table quickly grabbed the other two people at the table and nervously apologized to Yun Miao and the others, "I'm sorry, they're drunk. Please forgive me, Immortals."

Huo Xin and Niu Rao shook their heads to indicate that there was no need to apologize. However, when they turned around, they saw Yun Miao had already drunk the wine in the glass in a gulp, and then... "Ahem!"

Yun Miao's face wrinkled, and she drank three cups of tea before looking at the wine jug on the table in disbelief: "There's actually wine in this?!"

It tastes just like the white wine in real life, bitter and spicy, and very hard to drink.

Huo Xin couldn't understand what she was thinking: "Of course the wine jug is filled with wine, what else do you think it is?"

Yun Miao thought, logically speaking, for the sake of teenagers' physical and mental well-being, the taste of alcoholic beverages in holographic games would be changed to resemble beverages. She naturally assumed that the alcoholic beverages in "Asking the Three Thousand Questions" would also taste like cola and orange juice, but...

But she only wondered for a moment before she figured out the answer. Oh, by the way, "Ask Three Thousand Questions" is an 18+ game, and minors are prohibited from logging in.

Suddenly, Ji Huangmao's surprised voice came from a distance.

"Why are you here?"

He quickly realized he had said the wrong thing and immediately came over with a smile: "It is a great honor to have such distinguished guests here. I wonder if you are satisfied with the food?"

Yun Miao sat on the chair and looked up at him, only then did he realize that although this chicken demon walked with a hunched back and a slovenly manner, he was actually almost two meters tall. He had a tall bright red comb and a sharp beak, and two red whiskers on his chin swayed as he walked and talked.

She made her request: "Is there any juice? I want freshly squeezed juice, the kind with honey."

When Ji Huangmao saw that it was her who spoke, he said without hesitation, "No."

Yun Miao: "Why not?"

Chicken Yellow Feather: "Because this is a tavern."

Yun Miao narrowed his eyes. "If a store doesn't learn to innovate, it won't be able to attract more customers."

The chicken is only afraid of the cow, not her. Hearing this, he crossed his arms and said disdainfully, "Thousand-year-old restaurants usually have only a few items on their menus. Those that sell too many things but not enough quality often die quickly."

Yun Miao immediately grabbed something on the table and said, "Ah, there's a hair in your dish!"

Chicken Hair remained calm and composed: "Impossible, I cooked all the dishes, I don't have any hair, only chicken feathers."

Yun Miao: "...As expected of a great demon in the Golden Core Stage, it is indeed difficult to deal with."

Ji Huangmao chuckled and waved his hands in a cupped gesture, "Thank you for the compliment."

Huo Xin and others: ...What is there to be proud of?

At this moment, there was a loud bang, and a narrow door panel standing at the entrance of the tavern was kicked open by someone and hit a table of guests in the tavern directly.

"Ji Huangmao, you are so brave! A pheasant that came from nowhere actually dared to plot against me!"

Ji Huangmao immediately grabbed the wooden board and put it aside. Yun Miao and others frowned and looked towards the door, and saw a short and thin man who looked to be in his thirties rushing in with several followers. It was obvious that he had bad intentions.

Ji Huangmao sneered: "I thought it was someone else, it turned out to be Master Yun, the owner of Yunlai Restaurant. This door of mine is a family heirloom passed down from my great-great-great-grandfather, and now it's been kicked to pieces by you. You have to compensate me with at least a thousand spirit stones."

"This shop originally belonged to the Pan family. What does it have to do with your great-grandfather?"

Yun Lujia drew his sword, his eyes filled with disgust. "Ji Huangmao, stop talking nonsense to me. Tell me, were you deliberately causing trouble today, trying to make me fall off the Winged Tiger's back and make a fool of myself? If you don't tell me the truth today, I will kill you!"

The commotion made the diners in the restaurant feel uneasy, and the originally happy atmosphere was quickly broken. Shopkeeper Pan seemed experienced in this and immediately invited the diners to go to the backyard.

Wing Tiger?

Yun Miao had a flash of inspiration in his mind, and then he exchanged a glance with Huo Xin and Tan Xiaobai. After confirming their eyes, they realized that it was the man who had been riding a Wing Tiger on the street before.

"What a mess."

Ji Huangmao said with an impatient look that he was a good citizen who did business honestly and would never do such immoral things to intentionally harm others.

Yun Lujia pointed his sword at Ji Huangmao and said, "How can someone who runs a black market be considered a good citizen?"

Ji Huangmao raised his hand and deflected the sword he pointed at. "Tsk, you're talking as if you're not running a black market. Any dish costs tens or even hundreds of spirit stones. You're much more shady than me."

Yun Lujia was thrown back and almost fell, but fortunately he was supported by the followers behind him. The anger and murderous intent in his eyes became even deeper.

"A mere chicken demon actually dared to step on my head and openly challenge our Yun family. Do you really think that our Yun family is easy to bully, Uncle Hu?"

The old man called Hu Bo walked out from behind Yun Lujia and looked at Ji Huangmao coldly. Yun Miao took a quick look and found that he was actually a master of the fifth level of Jindan.

Ji Huangmao was still impatiently explaining that this matter had nothing to do with him, but the old man attacked without saying a word, and his five fingers formed claws and grabbed Ji Huangmao's throat.

Seeing that his first move was a killing one, Niu Rao frowned, dodged in front of Ji Huangmao, and slapped the old man with his palm.

The old man staggered back more than ten steps before he could barely steady himself. Although he was not injured, he still looked at Niu Rao with a vigilant expression.

Yun Lujia, who was only in the Qi Refining stage, was startled, but he quickly said in a stern voice, "Where did you come from, monster? How dare you ruin my business? When did it become your turn as wild monsters to act so recklessly under the Xuantian Sect?"

Hearing this, Ji Huangmao sneered, "Yun Lujia, you'd better take a look at what's written on the token on this person's waist before you speak. Don't tell me that the knowledgeable Young Master Yun is as illiterate as a wild monster like me."

Yun Lujia took a closer look and discovered that the black-faced monster with two horns had the disciple order of Xuantian Sect hanging around its waist.

At the same time, Yun Miao and others also slowly stood up. Because the mortal diners had been temporarily taken away from the back door of the backyard by Manager Pan, the originally noisy first floor suddenly became empty, so their movements of standing up were very obvious.

Yun Lujia, Hu Bo, and the others were drawn to the scene, and naturally noticed the Xuantian Sect disciple tokens on the waists of two of the men. Then they noticed the Xuantian Sect disciple uniforms worn by the three men. The bluestone tokens were simple, and the uniforms had plain embroidery. They weren't particularly eye-catching, but Yun Lujia and the others were struck by this.

Could it be that these three people are all disciples of Xuantian Sect? !

Yun Lujia froze when he saw the three teenage Xuantian Sect disciples looking at him with cold, frosty eyes. However, he believed he was right and spoke to Niu Rao with confidence.

"It was Ji Huangmao who maliciously plotted against me today. I'm here to seek justice. Even though you're a disciple of Xuantian Sect, you shouldn't take sides just because we're both demons."

This was truly harsh, but Niu Rao didn't show any anger. He simply explained in a muffled voice, "If you're talking about that incident today when you were riding your Wing Tiger recklessly down the street and it suddenly got startled and flew high into the sky, I can testify that it wasn't the chicken feathers that did it."

Yun Lujia thought the black-faced demon was maliciously covering up for him: "You testify? What do you have to prove it?"

Niu Rao: "Because I did it. I used my coercion to scare your Winged Tiger."

Yun Lujia choked, then his eyes flashed with anger: "So it was you who plotted against me from behind, what is the grudge between you and me? Why did you want to harm me?!"

Niu Rao: "I have no grudges or hatred. I just don't want that winged tiger to continue rampaging on the streets."

Huo Xin said coldly, "You deliberately controlled the Wing Tiger to rush into the crowd and stepped on people's heads. You deserve to be punished."

Yun Miao sneered, "We were on that street at the time, and your winged tiger actually dared to step on us with its claws. Senior Brother Niu is good-tempered, so he was just trying to scare you. If it were me, I would have chopped you and the winged tiger into pieces and fed them to the chickens."

Tan Xiaobai opened his folding fan quickly and said, "Boss, you're right! We should all chop it up into minced meat and feed it to the chickens!"

Ji Huangmao: "...Hey, if you want to scold him, just scold him, but don't sneakily involve me, okay?"

Yun Lujia was filled with anger and took a step forward with his sword in hand, wanting to attack, but Hu Bo raised his hand to stop him.

"Young Master..."

Hu Bo used his spiritual sense to send a secret message, advising Yun Lujia not to be impulsive. As everyone knows, Xuantian Sect is famous for protecting its own people, and the disciples of Xuantian Sect are also famous for their unity. If you provoke one person, you will provoke a group of people.

If they attack this group of Xuantian Sect disciples today, not to mention whether they can defeat them, there will be huge troubles afterwards.

Yun Lujia's dull face became more and more uglier, but when he thought of the order given to him by the direct descendants of the Yun family, he gritted his teeth and lowered his head.

"Okay, I was wrong about what happened today. Let's go now."

He stormed out in anger, but before he could even leave the tavern, Ji Huangmao started yelling for compensation. His customers had all fled, the door was rotten, and his fragile heart had been hurt by Yun Lujia's slander. Yun Lujia naturally owed him compensation.

Niu Rao nodded: "Indeed, he should be compensated."

Yun Lujia paused, his face twisted as he turned to the attendant beside him and said, "Give it to him!"

The follower was frightened by his expression and nodded hurriedly and walked over. As a result, Ji Huangmao immediately asked for five thousand low-grade spirit stones as compensation.

Yun Lujia was almost dizzy with anger: "Five thousand, why don't you go and rob?"

"Robbery is not as profitable as this."

Ji Huangmao smiled cunningly, saying that Niu Rao and the others had attacked him due to a misunderstanding. He had only punched him lightly, so he paid him 5,000 low-grade spirit stones in compensation. After all, the Yun family was the most aristocratic family in Yunzhou. They couldn't be that poor, could they?

Niu Rao was stunned: "Five thousand?"

Ji Huangmao winked at him and sent a telepathic message to Niu Rao and the other three: [Just nod your head, and I'll return the 1,000 spirit stones to you later.]

Tan Xiaobai's eyes lit up, and he was about to nod immediately, but at this moment, Yun Miao's voice came to his ears: [No, I want four thousand.]

Niu Rao frowned in disapproval, "No, that's just a lie."

Chicken Feather: [Four thousand? It's only five thousand, and you're going to take most of it? You're asking for too much! No, no... Wait, who's talking?]

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The author has something to say: Who is the villain in this chapter?

A: A scoundrel with yellow hair

B: Arrogant and domineering Yunlujia

C: Yun Miao, a lively, cute, intelligent, and righteous player

D: All of the above