Day and night tour

Chapter 447 The Blood Well with its "Exorbitant Prices"

The gates of the City God Temple were wide open, a gentle breeze was blowing inside, and dozens of bright red flames hung high on the temple ceiling, casting a lazy glow.

It's sparse and lazy, but it exudes a festive feeling.

Clearly, Blood Well was also looking forward to this "gluttonous" feast.

"Jingzi, I'm just treating someone to a meal, why are you making such a high-class scene, like a candlelight dinner?"

Looking at the scene created by the blood well, Zhou Xuan smiled and threw Zhao Jinjia's corpse on the ground.

"See that? A genuine nine-stick incense stick, and he's even wearing armor."

On the walls of the temple, all the eyes were blinking with joy.

Since they followed Zhou Xuan, when had they ever eaten such a tough meal? Although they had shared food with gods before, those gods were Daoists descended to the mortal realm, their combat strength less than nine incense sticks' worth.
"And look at this... Wanzang Mountain... the leader of the 'Ba people,' a wicked fellow, just what you like."

When Zhou Xuan used to serve food to the eyes of the Blood Well, he never said much; he would simply call out to the Blood Well to eat after killing someone.
But today's dishes are too "high-class," so he, as the "chef," should explain them to the guests in detail.

This principle is similar to going to a famous restaurant and seeing its famous dishes; you not only need to see the dishes and ingredients, but also the story behind them.

The eyes listened with great excitement, nodding repeatedly, their anticipation for the feast growing even stronger.

The Blood Well originally represented the "blood" element within the "blood, flesh, spirit, and Dao" of the Well Kingdom. Those sects that follow the evil path, such as the "Ba people," prioritize the "Dao," but their incense offerings also contain a significant amount of "blood."

For Xuejing, this dish was indeed very much to his liking.

"That's enough. Now, listen to my command..." Zhou Xuan paused, then raised his hand with a flourish, and said, "Damn it!"

Snore~ Snore~
This was clearly consuming "blood food," yet those countless eyes made it sound like "pigs rolling around in their troughs."
They ate with such gusto!
If one didn't see what the creatures were eating, just by listening to their infectious sounds and noises, Zhou Xuan would probably be tempted to eat as well.

In no time at all, Zhao Jinjia's two arms seemed to have evaporated, all the flesh and blood disappeared, leaving only two clean, bare bones lying quietly on the floor tiles.

Whoosh~ Bang~
A deafening crash resounded throughout the room.
A black wave surged into the Chenghuang Temple.

Blackwater couldn't resist any longer and wanted to share the bodies of the two nine-stick incense burners.
Not just it,

The two blue and red fish also swam in, thrashing about with their mouths wide open, also wanting a share of the soup.

Meanwhile, Miss Wall, Big Brother and Third Brother, Blood Well Brain, and the Engineers all peeked out from under their heads.
The most outrageous thing is that even the mastermind behind the Buddhist kingdom came.

"Well God, what are you eating? It smells delicious."

"I'm laughing awkwardly," Da Wa said.

Zhou Xuan couldn't help but chuckle. This kid, begging for food while pretending to be "innocent and naive"—the corpses of Zhao Jinjia and Wan Zangshan have been lying in the black water outside for a long time, how could you not know what the Blood Well is eating?
There was a hint of evasion in those eyes; after all, once the food was in their mouths, it would be difficult to share it.

But after careful consideration, they finally restrained their greed, and their eyes became more amiable.

These people have lived in Zhou Xuan's secret realm for a long time and have gradually developed feelings and tacit understanding. They are all one of us. It's no big deal if I eat less and you have a cup of soup.

Moreover, the Blood Well eats flesh and blood but not bones. Since it's just sitting there, it's better to share it and eat it to avoid waste.

So, with the blood well's permission, the group surged forward and began to divide up Zhao and Wan's remains.

Zhou Xuan, however, grabbed the main brain of the Buddhist Kingdom and said, "Little Brain, it's understandable that they eat blood."

They're either spirits or consciousnesses, both connected to living beings. You're different; you're just a machine. What are you doing here causing trouble?

"Honey, even machines need oil, right? My cerebellum needs to work faster, so it needs some energy too."
Besides, I've done incredibly well for this secret realm these past few days, from the Night Parade of a Hundred Ghosts to exposing the Fish Monk's crimes to the world. You can't be biased towards one over the other."

"Your brain isn't usually very sharp, but it really works when it comes to eating and drinking. Alright, go eat."

Zhou Xuan thought the main brain made sense, so he let go and put the cerebellum into the "pig trough".

To be honest, the cerebellum is a bit of a show-off; it had barely flown to the corpse when it started to speak in a bossy manner.

"These corpses are a perfect fusion of humanity and the sacred way of worship, a clever combination of humanity and heaven and earth, it is... Big brother, are you still eating? Can you listen to my artistic philosophy!"

“Sanwa, when facing a work of art, you must be refined and dignified. Look, smell, taste, and savor it. You must feel the blood, flesh, and bones pulsating on your tongue... Pulsating, you’re biting into cabbage one bite after another, you bastard.”

"If you keep babbling, you'll be licking the floor tiles."

Zhou Xuan gave a reminder.
With so many people eating, the amount of food that ends up in each person's mouth is less; the flesh and blood of the two corpses dwindled right before our eyes.

After being reminded, the cerebellum jolted awake and, abandoning its speech, rushed forward to absorb the essence of flesh and blood.
Zhou Xuan laughed and scolded, "See that, Xiao Nao? You're always talking about art all the time. Art doesn't feed you. Get down to earth and fill your stomach first."

"That's too crude, it's an insult to civility! It's an insult to civility!"

He cries out in pain from his cerebellum, but he's incredibly fierce when it comes to eating, even a bit possessive of his food. If anyone gets too close, he'll start making "ee-yah-yah" noises like he's performing a theatrical show.

"Well, they say one thing but do another."

While everyone else was busy eating, Zhou Xuan became somewhat bored.

Fortunately, he has a lot of ways to kill time.
He tore off a chunk of flesh, sat on the black water, and used his bone teeth to cut off pieces of flesh one by one, throwing them into the water.

The Pisces were newcomers and not particularly large, so they had a tough time getting food.

Now that Zhou Xuan was feeding them, the two fish were very obedient. Following the fragrance of blood, they swam over and pecking at the pieces of meat that Zhou Xuan had thrown down.

this moment,
Zhou Xuan seemed like a leisurely old man feeding koi in a park...

……

After a hearty meal, Zhao Jinjia and Wan Zangshan were devoured by the people of the secret realm.

Everyone in the secret realm is discerning; they know that "Black Water" and "Blood Well" are the elders of the realm. When eating, they only eat a little to satisfy their cravings, and they certainly can't bring themselves to feast.

For a time, both host and guests were delighted and satisfied.

After everyone left, Zhou Xuan said to Xue Jing, "Jingzi, I left you quite a lot of incense here, two sets of nine incense sticks. Adding to the previous stock, it's almost three sets of nine incense sticks, if not a complete set."

He stood ramrod straight and said, "This time, I want to consult the oracle."

The eyes of the Blood Well, of course, know that there is no such thing as a free lunch.

Moreover, they knew that only by putting in their best effort and helping Zhou Xuan more during the divination would Zhou Xuan be able to bring more and better food next time...

The Buddhist Kingdom is clashing with the Well Kingdom, war is imminent... a chaotic era is likely to come.

When chaos erupts, top-tier masters will inevitably fall like mowing grass—and those are all top-notch dishes! Famous dishes!

The eyes of the Blood Well not only need one full meal, but they need to be full every single meal.

Thus, their eyes were filled with intense morale, eager to fight back and defeat Zhou Xuan.

Zhou Xuan said, "There is a clear instruction from the heavens that I must produce sufficient evidence within seven days to prove that I am the one and only alchemist."

"I want to consult the oracle, and the content of the oracle is this evidence. What exactly is it?"

Zhou Xuan stood with his hands behind his back, waiting for the answer.

Meanwhile, a heavy snow began to fall inside the City God Temple.

This snowfall was much heavier than the snow that closed the mountain. The snowflakes were as big as goose feathers, and in no time, the entire temple was covered in a silvery white.

In the center of the silvery-white blood-red landscape, a spring of blood appeared.
The blood fountain was slowly spewing out, drawing a line of words on the silvery-white ground.

"Nine incense sticks, three."

Zhou Xuan was stunned when he saw it. After he came to his senses, he couldn't help but laugh in anger. He pointed at the blood-red words with his finger and complained, "Jingzi, you've changed. You've become greedy. You're just asking for the price based on the quantity of your inventory, aren't you?"

The Blood Well remained silent, utterly speechless.

Zhou Xuan thought for a moment, then asked a new question: "Let me ask you again. I have already manifested as the 'Day and Night Wandering Spirit.' The old incense master told me that these day and night souls need to be nurtured. If they are nurtured well, the day and night souls will help me comprehend the Great Dao."

Is this statement true?

He had barely finished speaking when he added, "I wasn't planning on paying for that question. If you're not willing to let me get it for free, then I'll move on to the next question."

Zhou Xuan now knows that the Blood Well is expensive and has a high appetite; he'll have to be careful with the offerings.
If you can get something for free, then get it for free; if not, at least negotiate a price. And this time, the Blood Well actually agreed to Zhou Xuan's request for a freebie. Not a single eye on the wall blinked, and it simply and neatly wrote the character "真" (true) on the snow.

The word "True" comes from the Blood Well's certification, which means that the importance of the Day and Night Souls has been acknowledged by at least two Celestial Venerables.

"I actually got something for free, Jingzi. You're not greedy at all. You're a good comrade."

Zhou Xuan immediately moved on to the next question: "Jingzi has two souls, one for day and one for night. How should we raise it?"

Crimson once again flowed across the white snow.
Blood Well did not give Zhou Xuan a chance to get something for free; on the contrary, the price it demanded remained extremely high.

"Nine incense sticks, three."

"Three more nine-stick incense sticks, Jingzi, you've really lost your morals."

Zhou Xuan looked at the price and shook his head.

He originally thought he had enough stock to "go all out" on the Blood Well, but he never expected that the well would raise its price so drastically!
Can you please have some decency, Jing?

Zhou Xuan thought about it and realized that the price for these two issues was too high. If he were to dump all his inventory at once, he would definitely feel the pinch.

"Let's start with a question about the price."

Zhou Xuan had a plan in mind, and asked again, "Jingzi, let's move on to the next question."

"The reason I came to Huangyuan Prefecture is ultimately to revive Hua Zi. Tell me, how can we bring Hua Zi back to the human world?"

Zhou Xuan already had half the answer to this question.

The old alchemist Bai Lu Fangshi once told Zhou Xuan that refining Qi pills could "exchange things with heaven and earth".

Offer a high-quality elixir to heaven and earth to save Hua Zi's life.

just,

Zhou Xuan felt that the White Deer Alchemist, with his "no one to support my lofty ambitions" mentality and delusional old man syndrome, didn't seem very reliable.

Now that he has two more nine-stick incense sticks in stock, wouldn't it be better to ask the Blood Well for details than to rely solely on the White Deer Alchemist?
"Based on the Blood Well's past practices, if a question already has a vague answer, then the price to pay to get closer to the absolute truth of that question will be much less."

"I've already figured out most of the way to save Hua Zi. Even if Jing Zi is greedy, he won't be too outrageous."

But he never expected that,
Today, the Blood Well is acting strangely, demanding outrageously high prices.

The crimson waves surged and rolled, writing a line of words in the snow: "Nine incense sticks, three."

"Is this question really worth three nine-stick incense sticks?"

Zhou Xuan suddenly felt that he should think of a set of extremely "insulting" words to properly dampen the Blood Well's arrogance.

This way of asking for a price is absolutely outrageous.

"Jingzi, you've really impressed me."

Zhou Xuan stared at the three identical lines of characters in the snow with annoyance: "Nine incense sticks, three."

He couldn't calm down for a long time. If he hadn't seen the three lines written in chronological order, he would have doubted his eyes and thought he was seeing double.

"The first problem is that gaining the approval of the heavens is tantamount to indirectly and truly possessing Pisces. Although I don't know what great use these two fish have other than eating and drinking, they must be extremely valuable since all those nine-stick incense people in the world want to fight over them."

You charged me three nine-stick incense sticks, and I tolerated it.

"The second question is that once you understand how to nurture your two souls, you've taken a solid step on the path to comprehending the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth."
This profound principle of heaven and earth must be a very deep-seated method, so it's only natural that it's valuable; I can tolerate it.

"But the third question is, I just want to save Hua Zi. Hua Zi is an ordinary person, and I have a general idea of ​​how to save him. Why do you still want three sticks of incense?"

"I cannot tolerate this."

Zhou Xuan put his hands on his hips and spoke with a combination of persuasion and reason.

"Well, Well, what have I done to offend you? Three questions piled up together, it would take nine incense sticks to burn!"
That's nine incense sticks, not just some cabbage on the street. Those people who stole the fish today, if you put them all together, I don't even know if there are nine incense sticks' worth. Even if you killed them all, it still wouldn't be enough to satisfy your demands.
"Jingzi, you'd better lower the price for me, or I'm going to start thinking of some words to thoroughly humiliate you."

This plea and threat did not make Blood Well give in.

The well god remained silent, simply refusing to speak.

As it remained silent, Zhou Xuan stared at the three lines of blood-red characters, vaguely sensing that something was amiss.

Among these three matters, there is certainly a difference in their inherent value.
In the past, Blood Well's divinations, regardless of whether the prices were outrageous, have consistently proven that the prices were not necessarily fair or completely just, but they were never too far removed from the actual value of the matter.

“Jingzi is not the kind of person who asks for exorbitant prices, yet he priced three things of different values ​​at the same price.”

"This is……"

Thinking of this, Zhou Xuan turned his attention to the three lines of text again. After looking at them carefully for a while, he discovered a small pattern.

These three lines of text are exactly the same in size, orientation, and angle; the only difference is their order and distance from Zhou Xuan.

This seems to conceal Blood Well's ulterior motives.

Zhou Xuan looked up again and asked, "Jingzi, I want to ask you one more question for free. If you're willing to answer, then answer; if you're not, then write down the price you want."

He said clearly, "Obtaining evidence recognized by the heavens, saving Hua Zi, and how to nurture the dual souls are three questions. But do these three questions have the same answer?"

This is Zhou Xuan's guess.
But soon, his guess came true.

Xuejing decisively wrote the character "是" (yes) on the snow.

"As expected, Jingzi, you are still my good Jingzi."

Zhou Xuan struck with both palms.

If the answers to these three questions are the same, then the price Zhou Xuan would have to pay for bundling the three questions together for divination would no longer be "nine incense sticks," but rather "three incense sticks."

Zhou Xuan could afford to pay for three nine-stick incense sticks, even though it would mean throwing all his stored offerings into it, it was still worth it.

Seeing that Zhou Xuan had guessed the secret, the blood well seemed to become excited, and the snow began to melt rapidly.

The eyes on the wall all converged in one direction, eventually forming a "human figure with hands on hips".

Judging from their demeanor, they seemed quite pleased with themselves, as if proudly saying, "Three questions, and I only charged you three sticks of incense. From beginning to end, did I ask you for a single extra penny?"

“I didn’t ask for much money, but Jingzi, you’ve become smarter now and have learned how to engage in bundled operations.”

Zhou Xuan said jokingly.

Blood Well: "..."

“Jingzi, stop talking. I’ve paid for the offering of three nine-stick incense sticks. Let’s start the divination.”

He gave the order, and the eyes on the wall finally started blinking.

Their gazes pierced through the secret realm, through the Kingdom of Well, and seemingly even through the present time of the Kingdom of Well.

What you see may be a long-forgotten part of the history of the Kingdom of Jing, or it may be the not-too-distant future of the Kingdom of Jing...

……

Finally, all eyes fixed on Zhou Xuan and turned to look at him.

Zhou Xuan also saw a scene—

—A towering alchemy furnace, like a mountain, stands in the center of Mingjiang Prefecture.
The lid of the alchemy furnace had been lifted, and the towering flames lifted a seven-colored pill, which slowly flew into the sky.

From the dense clouds above, countless eyes peeked out, and upon seeing the seven-colored elixir, they all revealed expressions of admiration.

Beside Zhou Xuan appeared the Day and Night Souls, who were also gazing at the seven-colored pill. Their faces, illuminated by the firelight, revealed expressions of longing...

(End of this chapter)