Chapter 18 Ming Yao
Tianjiang is located on the outskirts of Zhongzhou, bordering Cangzhou and Chizhou. The spiritual energy here is far less than that of Zhongzhou, and the resources are relatively scarce. Therefore, there is no separate prefecture here, and theoretically it can be under the jurisdiction of Zhongzhou.
However, the Zhongzhou mountain range is rich and diverse, with many different races living there. Many cultivators who couldn't make a living but were still quite powerful chose to stay in the shadows and simply live on the Tianjiang River.
Over the years, more and more cultivators with problems appeared on and off the riverbank.
These demon kings ruled independently, causing considerable chaos in Tianjiang, turning it into a lawless and chaotic area.
This also attracted many meat-loving cultivators to settle in the Tianjiang area, resulting in an unusual prosperity both inside and outside Tianjiang.
Therefore, Huang Pinjie told Ji Er's family not to wander around at night.
They're fine while they're on the boat, but if they get off, it's none of the boatman's business.
In the middle of the night, the river was shrouded in mist, and melodious sounds drifted in and out.
Ji Rong was asleep when she heard the beautiful singing outside. Her thoughts drifted, so she got up and opened the window to take a look.
She remembered Huang Pinjie's instructions, but the sound of her voice was so captivating that she thought of opening a crack in the window of the boat to take a peek. She thought to herself, "Is it alright?"
Ji Rong opened the window a crack and, with her tiny, beady eyes, saw a group of dazzlingly handsome men bathing outside. She wanted to go closer to admire them, but Huang Pinjie grabbed her by the neck and threw her into the boat.
"Why don't you learn your lesson?" Huang Pinjie squatted down and looked at Ji Rong, who was crying from the fall, and asked, "What did you see?"
Ji Rong honestly replied, "There's a group of dazzlingly handsome men taking a bath outside."
As soon as she heard it mentioned, she gradually realized something was wrong.
Ji Rong has already gained intelligence; her five senses are much more acute than before, and her mind works better than it did.
She immediately realized that no one could have lit a fire on the river at night, so what exactly was she seeing?
Huang Pinjie looked at Ji Rong, whose expression was gradually turning to astonishment, and said coldly, "Continue."
Ji Rong hesitated and said, "Auntie, was I just bewitched?"
"Hey, little Ji Rong, you've finally grown up." Huang Pinjie said with satisfaction, "If I hadn't held you back just now, and had slapped you awake with my paw, you would have stretched your neck down to cook for someone else."
It was nearly dawn, and Huang Pinjie ordered Ji Rong to cultivate diligently.
Huang Pinjie rang the bell and asked the waiter in a low voice for a while before receiving a beautifully presented order.
——————
Two days later, Huang Pinjie instructed Ji Er, Qing Shi, and Ji Zhuang to cultivate diligently in their room. She then took the bewildered little Ji Rong and the servant who had come to invite them downstairs.
After watching a performance by the clam maiden, they saw a large wooden board simply placed in the middle of the large hall. Eight crab demons at the Dissolution Realm carried an ugly creature with its fins pinned to the board.
This ugly thing has a tail as thick and slippery as a black fish, but four legs grow from its belly;
Its feet shimmered with phosphorescence, and its head was round;
It has two pairs of eyes on its face, the upper pair is larger and the lower pair is smaller.
It also has two nostrils, which are evenly spaced on the sides of its face;
There is also a fish mouth that takes up half of the face and protrudes forward;
Three pairs of whiskers sat symmetrically beside its mouth.
The ugly thing was moved onto the giant wooden board, its eyes filled with fear, and tears streamed down its face.
The tears dripped like saliva, making a "pat-pat" sound as they fell onto the floor.
Huang Pinjie looked at Ji Rong and smiled ambiguously, "Looks good. Maybe this is one of the handsome men you looked at last night."
As Huang Pinjie was speaking, a pelican adorned with various colored feathers came to the front of the stage and said, "Distinguished guests, this is Pelican. Today, this is a Ming Demon of the Dissolution Realm, eighty years old, and the chief surgeon is Venerable Bai Si of the Cat Clan."
Come, play the music!
Then a group of small beavers emerged from the red cloths on both sides, carrying even smaller seven-stringed instruments, and began to play. Ji Rong thought they weren't playing very well, but she could feel that there was some rhythm to it, and her mood became pleasant.
The nailed demon gradually stopped crying; it closed its four eyes, as if it were asleep.
The beavers' music gradually faded, and the red cloth was slowly pulled down.
Just as everything on the giant tree was about to disappear from sight, it was suddenly pulled open again. Inside, there stood a small cultivator with fluttering white ears, a cat's head, and two gleaming broadswords. On the table in front of him were stacks of large bowls of spirit taro leaves.
He said, "Please enjoy your meal, distinguished guests."
Having said that, he drew his sword and slashed at Ming Yao. As soon as he moved his sword, the beavers' music suddenly rose higher.
As the flesh on its body was sliced off, the demon kept its eyes closed and even showed a blissful expression.
Some of the beavers gradually stopped playing. Except for the four in the very center who were still playing with great enthusiasm, the other beavers orderly took leaves, picked up the meat from the slices of white scallion, and brought it to the audience.
Five portions were delivered to Huang Pinjie's table. Huang Pinjie looked at Ji Rong and said, "Eat up, this is Ming Yao meat. Eating it will improve your eyesight and remove obstacles. Once we leave Tianjiang, it will be difficult to find such good food again."
After saying that, Huang Pinjie licked his lips, quickly swallowed the meat, and then drank two glasses of wine.
Ji Rong stared at the still-pulsating, blood-tinged flesh, suppressed her nausea, closed her eyes, and took a bite: "Ew, delicious!"
The meat melts in your mouth, and it's refreshingly cool and delicious.
Huang Pinjie looked at it with satisfaction and said, "Not bad, Arong. In this place, it's all about you eating me and me eating you. If there's meat, just eat it without hesitation."
Ji Rong obediently nodded and, like Huang Pinjie, quickly picked up the remaining slices of meat and swallowed them into her bag.
Huang Pinjie packed up the remaining meat slices and took them back to her suite for Ji Er and the others to enjoy.
Everyone experienced the benefits of eating the flesh of the Ming Demon.
Unfortunately, according to Huang Pinjie, the meat was only effective the first time she ate it. But Ji Rong felt it was a waste, because if the barrier-breaking effect could be stacked, the Ming Demon Clan would definitely be wiped out.
After finishing the meat, Huang Pinjie asked Qing Shi to play with the children for a while, while Ji Er, understanding the situation, stayed behind.
Huang Pinjie was worried. Based on Ji Rong's description last night, she suspected that Ji Rong had matured, but apart from the words that left no evidence, she had no other proof.
Ji Er was equally helpless in this matter. She had given birth to so many litters, and so many hatched with Qing Shi, but in the end, only Ji Rong and Ji Zhuang were not summoned away by their beastly nature.
The fox and the bird discussed it back and forth, their minds filled with the image of Ji Rong running off to lay eggs in despair.
Remembering Ji Rong's uniqueness, they decided to talk to Ji Rong first.
So, starting that night, Ji Er also squeezed onto Huang Pinjie's mat. The old fox and the old bird ate and cuddled together early on, making Ji Rong continue to explain her past life story, and in detail.
After telling the story and getting only a few hours of sleep, Ji Rong would be dragged out to cultivate again.
Although this only lasted for five nights, Ji Rong felt as if five years had passed; it was truly unbearable.
In the end, Huang Pinjie let her go only when she saw that she couldn't say anything new.
Hey, in her previous life, Ji Rong was only twenty-three years old. She spent sixteen or seventeen years just studying, and she has basically forgotten everything in the books. How many stories can she tell?
She died young; if she were to live another life, she would surely have some regrets.
In her past life, she not only never had a romantic relationship, but she also failed to support her parents. She ended up here seeking survival as soon as she closed her eyes.
The world is bigger and more closed off, and even though she has been consciously living in it for more than ten years, she still hasn't figured it out.
After five days of lectures, Ji Rong felt that she had finally understood. She thought to herself, "No wonder my cultivation is so slow. Maybe I have too many distracting thoughts."
On the other end, Huang Pinjie and Ji Erlian, through a combination of guesswork and deduction, also felt they understood. They discussed, "What is love anyway? It's one thing for Ji Rong to have been a farmhand in his past life, but he doesn't even have a brain."
The females she described as erudite and only interested in hooking up with decent-looking males—don't they realize that if they lack real strength, good-looking males won't even give them a second glance?!
So, when Ji Rong was frantically cultivating as if she had been injected with blood, she even took the initiative to ask Huang Pinjie if there were any methods or techniques to eliminate distractions and aid in cultivation.
On the other end, Huang Pinjie and Ji Er exchanged knowing glances.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
