Start practicing from Mr. Fox

Chapter 184 Martial Uncle and the Mud Loach Demon
The next morning, before the roosters crowed.

Lu Xiaoyou returned to the City God Temple, panting, holding a gray pottery bowl in his hands.

The young Taoist priest guarding the gate had met Lu Xiaoyou yesterday. Upon seeing him arrive, he respectfully bowed and greeted him as "Uncle-Master."

Upon hearing this, Lu Xiaoyou was filled with fear and quickly waved his hand in a gesture of respect.

"Immortal, this is unacceptable! I am just an ordinary person, how could I be worthy of being your senior uncle?"

The young Taoist priest smiled and looked at him.

“Uncle-Master, Daoist Xiyun is my grandmaster. Since you have become my grandmaster’s disciple, we should naturally call you Uncle-Master. Please don’t refuse to bow to me again. If my grandmaster sees this, he will scold me for not knowing manners.”

"Then God... Master hasn't gotten up yet? I'll wait for him outside."

"I'm up, Xiaoyou, come in."

Before the young Taoist priest could speak, Master Xiyun's voice came from inside the house.

Lu Xiaoyou dared not delay.

Looking at the young Taoist priest at the door, she wanted to pay her respects, but didn't know what to do. She felt that doing nothing would be a bit inappropriate.

So he hurriedly nodded and clasped his hands in a haphazard manner before rushing off to see Master Xiyun.

inside the house.

Master Xiyun is meditating and practicing breathing exercises.

Upon seeing Lu Xiaoyou enter, she waved for a futon to sit on before asking him why he had returned in such a hurry.

Lu Xiaoyou didn't dare to sit down and quickly got up to reply.

“Reporting to Master, last night after I returned home, I told my family about this matter. They all said that my ancestral graves were emitting auspicious smoke, and that I was able to become a disciple of an immortal. So they helped me find something to offer to the City God.”

"I have some money, silk and grain, but I always felt that it wasn't as my master said that sincerity brings results. So I searched all night and finally found something to offer."

As Lu Xiaoyou spoke, he presented the ceramic bowl in his arms with both hands, which contained a handful of fine soil.

"What is this?"

Taoist Xiyun asked.

"It's grain."

“Before my sister got married, she said that once she got married, we would have real food to eat and wouldn’t have to eat this kind of food anymore.”

Master Xiyun understood, and sighed as he looked at the contents of the bowl.

I had just thought the yellow clay and white ash in the bowl were leftover incense ash after offerings to the gods, but now I realize it's Guanyin clay.

This is indeed grain, but it was fake grain made from temple incense ash mixed with extremely fine yellow soil during a year of great famine when people had nothing to eat.

When eating, the dough is mixed with water to form a cake, which is then baked and served with tree leaves and wild vegetables to stave off hunger, much like wild vegetable pancakes.

Although it can fill you up, this food is not easy to digest. If you're unlucky, it will stick to your intestines and you won't be able to pass it, which can easily lead to you choking or suffocating.

A living person won't die from holding in their urine, but they can die from holding in their feces.

Therefore, no one would eat this kind of thing unless they were desperate.

Now Lu Xiaoyou uses this item to make offerings to the City God.

Master Xiyun understood what he meant.

"Giving someone a chance to live at the brink of death is indeed a sincere gesture. I think Fellow Daoist Chen will be satisfied with this offering. You should put it up and explain it to him. He will understand when he returns."

"Is the City God no longer here?"

"He has already gone to Shanghe Village."

Taoist Xiyun said slowly.

Lu Xiaoyou was stunned. After a long while, his eyes reddened, and he knelt down and kowtowed heavily towards the location of Shanghe Village.

Master Xiyun did not stop them.

After he finished kowtowing and got up, they took out the pills and taught him the breathing techniques.

This is not a secret technique of Qingfeng Temple; even some knowledgeable martial artists in the Jianghu know it. However, Lu Xiaoyou has never come into contact with it before, so there are many key points to explain.

Fortunately, Lu Xiaoyou could read a few words, so he wasn't completely lost by looking at the notes.

However, many details still need to be explained by Master Xiyun in order to understand.

They talked for about an hour.

Seeing that the young Taoist priests had finished their practice and were preparing for their morning prayers, Master Xiyun turned to look at Lu Xiaoyou.

"Understand?"

“Master’s explanation is very good. It is because I am foolish that I only understand a small part of it.”

"It's alright. You've only just begun your cultivation journey. It's already good enough that you understand a part of it."

"Your body is still a bit weak. After taking the pill, you can go find Ziqing and cultivate with him. If you have any questions, just ask me."

"Thank you for your guidance, Master."

After bowing in thanks, Lu Xiaoyou left the room and went to seek guidance from the Taoist priests at Qingfeng Temple on the path of cultivation.

The young Taoist priests did not dare to look down on their senior master, and each of them explained earnestly. Some of the bolder young Taoist priests even asked many questions about Lu Xiaoyou's apprenticeship.

Upon learning that he knew Chen Ji, they excitedly inquired about how they met.

Lu Xiaoyou then explained that Chen Ji and Si Hu had gone to change the river course.

The young Taoist priests listened with their eyes lighting up.

"As expected of the master, this magic is indeed powerful. Even the techniques described in the book, such as moving mountains and filling seas, cannot surpass this."

The young Taoist priests exclaimed in amazement, but Lu Xiaoyou seemed to have thought of something and asked them curiously.

Why do you address the City God as "Sir"?

"Because our teacher also taught us how to cultivate ourselves."

"I remember those fox spirits also called the City God 'Sir'?"

"Oh, Uncle-Master is talking about Fellow Daoist Fox. They are the real students of Master. We just happened to attend a few classes."

"Ok?"

Lu Xiaoyou listened with wide eyes, quite puzzled, and asked Ziqing to explain clearly.

Zi Qing then recounted many of the things Chen Ji had done.

Teaching foxes to cultivate, capturing plague demons alive, killing painted-skin demons...

Lu Xiaoyou was completely stunned.

Looking towards Shanghe Village, my heart warmed.

The City God is so powerful, he should be able to save my sister, right?

Thinking about it, she looked down at herself again, pursed her lips, and decided that she must cultivate diligently.

If I achieve success in my cultivation in the future, even if I only have one-tenth of the City God's abilities, I should no longer fear demons and ghosts. So, without further ado, I asked about the key to breathing techniques.

……

Shanghe Village.

Chen Ji had already descended with the wind.

Since the mission would be carried out in the water, Chen Ji did not come alone. Instead, he returned to Tiejin Town to find the Mud Loach Demon and the Copper Toad Demon for assistance.

Since it concerns dealing with the river god, it's better to have some aquatic creatures handle it.

The mudfish demon is a local aquatic creature, familiar with the Hutuo River, and has also been to the aquatic territory of Ziyun Mountain. According to him, it seems that wherever this dragon goes, there are no fellow villagers.

It's great to have fellow villagers!

When I went to deliver the message to Hutuo River, I had to ask a fellow villager of the Mudfish Demon to deliver it.

If we can meet fellow villagers in Shanghe Village this time, things should be much easier.

As for the Bronze Toad Demon...

He said he hadn't seen the Stone Mill Demon for a long time, and that he could practice magic with Chen Ji and broaden his horizons.

Since both sides are aquatic creatures, it's good to come and take a look together.

It might come in handy if the opportunity arises.

"Fellow Daoist, if you ask me, why go through all this trouble? It's just a tributary river god. Why not just ask the Dragon Lord of the Hutuo River to handle it? Why did I have to come all the way here?"

"Anyway, when Xidu invaded the water system last time, you also sought out the Dragon Lord. Isn't it the same if we shout it again now?"

The voice of the mudfish demon came from the gourd on Chen Ji's body.

Ever since the mudfish demon discovered that it could go out like this, whenever it had the chance to go out, it would have someone or another demon carry the gourd on its back so that it wouldn't have to walk and could stay in the water all the time, which was extremely pleasant.

Chen Ji grabbed the gourd, struck its body to shake out the mudfish demon, and then slowly spoke.

"Previously, it was because it was related to the Xidu River and was also an ancient riverbed of the Beidu River that we sought out the Dragon Lord Jiming to handle it."

"Now it's the river god of the West River, not the North River's business, so how could I trouble others?"

The mudfish demon shook its head, completely unconcerned.

“Fellow Daoist is mistaken. Ji Ming Dragon Lord is not a human, but a dragon.”

"..."

Chen Ji's lips twitched.

These days, he's been serving as the City God of Fenshan Town, so he hasn't had time to inquire about the medicine shop. He also doesn't know where the mudfish demon has been staying lately, let alone say such things.

"Recently, I have taken to traveling incognito among the people, and listening to their stories of the past."

Chen Ji nodded, understanding dawning on his mind.

No wonder the mudfish demons all speak in different styles; they've obviously listened to too many stories.

but……

"You have the money to listen to storytelling?"

"Ha! Ridiculous, how could I possibly be short of money?"

After saying that, he opened his mouth and spat out a piece of silver the size of Chen Ji's fist.

"I'm rich!"

Then, worried that Chen Ji might overthink things, she took the initiative to explain.

"However, fellow Daoist, I didn't steal or rob this money; I earned it myself!"

"Oh?"

Chen Ji raised an eyebrow, curious about how the mudfish demon could make money using its magic.

The mudfish demon curled up and exhaled a breath onto the ground.

The air around Chen Ji suddenly turned cold, and a layer of frost formed on the ground.

"The fox used to use the well water I refined after absorbing moonlight to learn magic from blacksmiths in the human world. Now, Taoist priests are also using the well water I refined to learn forging and refining techniques. It's not unreasonable for me to ask them for some silver, is it?"

"That's really not an exaggeration."

Chen Ji smiled.

So it was indeed a legitimate source, which put him at ease.

After all, demons and ghosts who don't interact with people don't usually use money, so if they need to, they might resort to robbing passersby.

Although the mudfish demon didn't have the opportunity to rob, it was understandable that it would take some money when it was short of cash to pay its bills.

However, such spending of money is not righteous wealth, and using it will pollute one's merits. Unless one is in dire straits, ordinary practitioners will not use it.

"Fellow Daoist Mudfish, did you go alone without Fellow Daoist Copper Toad?"

"Am I such a person as to forget my friends?"

The mudfish demon shook its head.

“Every time I listen to a story, I bring Fellow Daoist Tongchan’s bronze puppet with me. After he finishes listening, he can exchange the bronze puppet for copper coins to pay the bill.”

"..."

The scene from that time flashed through Chen Ji's mind.

The storyteller struck his gavel on the stage and announced, "To be continued..."

Everyone left behind their money and cloth and departed. Only in an inconspicuous corner did a mudfish demon find a gourd, open the jar, and slowly slide inside.

Beside the mudfish demon, there was a tiny figure, barely an inch tall, walking around. Before it could take more than a few steps, it suddenly stopped, its body went limp, and it collapsed to the ground. In just three or four breaths, it flowed onto the ground like molten copper, turning back into the shape of copper coins.

Chen Ji shook his head, remarking that this pair of clowns were truly quite amusing.

Then he looked at the bronze puppet left behind by the bronze toad demon.

"How has your cultivation been lately, fellow Daoist?"

"call……"

The bronze toad demon let out a long sigh, somewhat wistful.

"With Fellow Daoist Shimo gone, the pace of cultivation has slowed down considerably. Fortunately, the Daoists from Qingfeng Temple are still here collecting copper ingots, otherwise we wouldn't even be able to complete this cultivation."

"Fellow Daoist Stone Mill Demon, please investigate a place for me. It will be done soon."

Chen Ji replied with a smile.

Before he could say anything more, a squad of armored soldiers suddenly appeared and blocked Chen Ji's path.

"Who are you? What brings you to Shanghe Village?"

(End of this chapter)