FVN Chapter 12 Interesting Anecdotes from the Mountains
Chapter 12 Interesting Anecdotes from the Mountains
Song Quyou followed the Earth God into the street, listening to his detailed introduction.
"This Demon Street has been established for nearly six hundred years. In the beginning, there were only a few minor demons and monsters, but now more than a thousand households of spirits and monsters live here..."
"Master, would you like to buy flowers?"
Song Quyou felt a gentle tug on his sleeve. Looking down, he saw a little girl with red eyes and buck teeth carrying a flower basket. Strangely, despite it being late autumn and a cold moon, the basket contained out-of-season flowers such as peach blossoms from March, apricot blossoms from April, and lotus flowers from midsummer.
"Taoist priest, buy a flower; it's only for half a day's worth of life."
Seeing that Song Quyou was entangled, the land deity turned around and grabbed the little girl's long ear hidden in her hair, saying, "Quick, go play somewhere else."
The little girl pouted, looking pitiful, and kept turning back to look at Song Quyou.
The lark perched on Song Quyou's shoulder, its black bean-like eyes sparkling, asked, "Lord, what is this half-day of life that the child mentioned?"
After chasing the little girl away, the local earth god, leaning on his cane, slowly said, "The money here is different from the gold and silver of the mortal world; it is based on lifespan and incense offerings."
"I see."
Just then, a hedgehog covered in white quills rushed into the wild boar demon's stall and roared:
"Boss, a bowl of sausage noodles, please. Don't make the noodles too firm, and add extra chili."
"Please have a seat, the noodles will be ready soon."
But the wild boar demon moved swiftly, slicing its round belly with its cleaver, and instantly blood spurted like a jet into the meat soup in front of it.
Then, the four-fingered hoof reached into the abdominal cavity and pulled hard, pulling out a wrinkled, oily intestine.
The wild boar spirit held a net, caught the intestines, rolled them in the bright red broth, slammed it against the edge of the pot to drain the water, and then put them into a white porcelain bowl full of red soup.
"Sir, please enjoy your sausage noodles."
The hedgehog spirit picked up its chopsticks, stirred the noodles in the bowl, took a sip, and nodded in satisfaction.
"The noodles at Pig Shopkeeper's are still the most affordable."
"That's right, our shop is honest and fair, if it says it's sausage noodles, then it's sausage noodles."
Song Quyou witnessed this scene.
The so-called spicy sausage noodles were just a half-cooked sausage with filling and raw blood. When the hedgehog took a bite, the foul-smelling, greenish pig feces inside were sucked into its belly with relish.
Song Quyou frowned, marveling at how strange this noodle shop was.
The landman noticed Song Quyou's doubts and explained:
"That wild boar spirit was enlightened by the Western Paradise and became one of the Eight Divisions of the temple. However, due to the persecution of Buddhism by Emperor Wuzong of the previous dynasty, the temple was destroyed, so he ran here and started a noodle stall business. He did this in order to cultivate himself, imitating the Western Paradise Buddha's act of cutting off his own flesh to feed the eagle."
Continuing forward, passing by a weasel stall that looked like a Taoist priest, Song Quyou suddenly stopped.
He glanced at the banners fluttering in the wind, then pointed to the copper needles on the stall that resembled the golden needles left by the old man with the stone statue, and asked, "How much is that rusty copper needle in front of you, Taoist priest?"
The weasel, barely seven inches tall, swung its boneless body and jumped off the bench. It picked up the verdigris-covered needle and said, "Young Taoist priest, you have a good eye. This is leftover incense gold from the Heavenly Court and Earthly Officials. It's worth two hundred years of lifespan."
Song Quyou shook his head, turned and left. Seeing that the customer was about to run away, the weasel took the copper needle and chased after him.
"Honest and fair dealing, please name your price, sir."
Land stood to the side, stroking his beard and watching with a smile.
The lark on his shoulder craned its neck, glaring down at the weasel tugging at Song Quyou's trouser leg, and shouted, "Hey! You yellow-haired rat, can't you tell he's a Taoist priest too?"
The weasel stopped in its tracks, sighed softly, and returned to its stall with the copper needles in its arms.
"Young Taoist priest, this place is a melting pot of all sorts of people, and it's hard to tell the real from the fake."
"My lord, where can I buy the leftover incense money that the weasel mentioned?"
The Earth God shook his head and said, "The incense residue is formed from the incense offerings consumed by the Earth Officials of Heaven. Each piece is like the lifeblood of an Earth Official. To obtain it, one can only obtain it from a deceased Earth Official. If it were here, I, as the Earth Official, would have already spent all my resources to buy it, since this item is related to the Earth Official's cultivation."
After this test, Song Quyou finally learned what the golden needle left by the old man with the stone statue was, and he gave up the idea of exposing the golden needle in front of this land.
suddenly.
The bells rang out, and the street spirits hurriedly walked deeper into the street.
"Judging from this bell, the Ecstasy Pavilion of the Underworld has opened its doors."
The lark hopped onto Song Quyou's other shoulder and said to the local earth god, "Lord, please lead us to see this place so we can broaden our horizons."
……
As Song Quyou stepped onto the stone bridge shrouded in a green, eerie mist, he immediately felt a chill creep straight into his bones.
"The Soul-Destroying Tower of the Underworld is just ahead. You two can go in. As I am an official of the Heavenly Court and cannot accompany you, I will wait for you here."
Following the direction the land indicated, Song Quyou saw a wooden building shrouded in ghostly mist through the dispersing ghostly fog.
A green lantern hangs high in front of the wooden building, and a group of ghostly soldiers with swords at their sides stand on either side of the entrance.
Song Quyou passed the ghost soldiers and entered the gate, where he was stopped by a bald, red-browed, green-skinned little ghost.
"I see that you two are unfamiliar faces, so this must be your first time visiting my Ecstasy Pavilion. I will serve you on either side."
The little devil bowed and extended his hand, leading Song Quyou through the corridor to the spacious hall.
The hall was a hidden world, with a high dome adorned with eerie, ghostly flames. Dozens of round tables were neatly arranged in the pale green glow of the flames. Each table was laden with various fresh fruits and pastries, which looked bright and ordinary, yet always exuded an inexplicable strangeness.
The young rascal led Song Quyou to a corner to sit down, diligently wiping the table and fawningly saying:
"Since it's your first time here, Taoist priest, would you like to try our signature dishes? We have the Forget-Me-Not Wine brewed with Meng Po's soup, the Forget-Me-Not Tea picked from the banks of the Yin River, and the Soul-Stirring Incense that makes you drunk and dreamlike, all of which only require one year to live."
Song Quyou interrupted the little imp, pointing to a table in the corner surrounded by spirits and monsters, and said:
"What are you doing?"
The little devil tiptoed and glanced over, saying, "They're gambling with the gambling ghost about lifespan."
As the commotion subsided, some were filled with sorrow while others were filled with joy.
But then, the spirits among the group of monsters who were sighing and grieving suddenly aged and died one by one in front of the gambling table, their lives ending. They were then dragged away by the ghost soldiers to some unknown place.
"What kind of fun are you looking for, Taoist priest? We have fine wine and delicacies, casinos where you can burn through gold, ghost maidens to enjoy, or perhaps a dream that lasts a hundred years."
The little devil blinked, his split mouth revealing gleaming silver fangs.
Song Quyou waved his hand and said, "I'm not here to have fun, I just want to take a look around."
When the little devil heard that Song Quyou didn't intend to spend any money, wouldn't it be left with nothing to gain?
The fawning face from just moments ago instantly turned repulsive.
"What? You're not buying anything? You poor, starving, and destitute wretch! I've been all polite and humble with you, you old fogey, and you expect to just stroll around without uttering a single word?"