Starting with the flesh-based stimulant

Old Liu looked somewhat embarrassed, his small eyes narrowed, and his lips moved slightly:

"Guest, Seventh Brother is already scooping out the meat."

Zhou He smiled easily, adjusted his fisherman's hat, which was pulled low, revealing only the lower half of his face.

"It's alright, a word or two... it's fine to say it in front of Mr. Liu Qi."

Before Liu Laoda could react, he continued speaking, his eyes clear and his smile evident:

"I bought this meat for myself today, but I need to borrow your esteemed place for a while. Please look after me, Boss Liu. I will definitely repay you handsomely afterward."

Old Liu looked up and sized Zhou He up and down.

He didn't know where Zhou He got the confidence to try and profit from his own territory.

Or is it...?

Old Liu thought of a possibility, his pupils shrank, and he cursed Chen Erlv under his breath.

All day long, he's causing trouble and only making things difficult for himself!

After a long pause, he hesitated before speaking: "In principle, we are not allowed to eat meat in our mine."

"If it's not allowed in principle, then it's allowed?"

Zhou He paused, his gaze shifting from under his hat brim to the side door.

"Boss Liu, could you arrange a place for me... After all, Chen Erlv has already arrived in Jincheng, right?"

Boss Liu was truly shocked this time.

He hurriedly waved his hand; his hand was small, but proportionate to his body.

"Sir, my mine has nothing to do with that wild donkey. But... if you need some of this meat, that's fine. Just go outside and I'll close the door. Anyway, there aren't many customers around right now."

As they spoke, water splashed and Liu Qi's chain, pulling a piece of meat, flew out of the mirror.

It was an ordinary-looking black-haired man with his eyes closed, his shirt slowly turning gray.

The hook was embedded in the top of his head, and water droplets dripped down his toes.

Zhou He looked at the piece of meat, took a deep breath, recited an incantation, and bent down to carry the meat to the Eight Immortals table.

Old Liu closed the side door tightly.

Zhou He replaced three incense sticks and added some oil to the lamp.

Flames leaped out, blue smoke rose, and fragrance filled the air.

He slowly pulled out the knife, which was neither too long nor too short, with a blood groove on the blade, and the yellow cloth wrapped around the handle was slick with oil.

Pressing the knife tip against the wild meat's chest, suppressing his fear and nausea, Zhou He slowly closed his eyes.

"Clang—clang—"

The sound was crisp and clear.

The travel expenses flowed down the knife and into his body.

Zhou He stood still, waiting for the sound to dissipate.

No memory flashbacks, no emotional shocks, just a clean and simple experience.

With a soft sigh and a forced smile, Zhou He cupped his hands in a respectful gesture towards Boss Liu:

"Thank you, Boss Liu. I'm sorry to trouble you again. Please protect me for another half a day. I'll have enough money for my journey. I'll also take this opportunity to be a 'good morsel' here."

Boss Liu's lips twitched, as if he wanted to say something but then swallowed it back.

"Hurry up, don't waste time."

He bolted the door with a sour face.

Zhou He knelt on one knee in front of the octagonal table, opened the iron box that looked like it had vitiligo, and saw a foreign woman on the box smiling brightly.

Open it, and inside lies the guidebook for meat vendors.

The metal material is still unrecognizable. On both sides, the front is the familiar "Jincheng Zuolong Road," but Tuozi Township is gone, and below are the meat cutters.

The reverse side is covered with dense text, which now seems less like it was engraved.

"Avoiding karma, huh? They're all clever people."

Zhou He muttered to himself.

Without further hesitation, he cleared his throat and slowly read aloud the words on the travel permit:

One lamp, three sticks of incense;

The sword is drawn, and cause and effect are lost.

The skin and flesh were cut off and placed on a copper plate.

Cut off the cause and effect box and hide it.

Cut off the old self and discard the remaining bones.

He exchanged his golden statue for a better homecoming.

The travel permit serves as proof.

After reciting the last four words, Zhou's vision blurred.

The smoke from the lamp and incense sticks seemed to be stirred by an unseen hand, surging towards him from all directions and swirling around the blade.

The bluish-gray smoke enveloped the blade layer by layer, growing thicker and thicker.

Then a voice rang urgently in my ear.

Her voice was extremely fast, like a chattering old lady, squeezing out each word before the next, as if afraid she wouldn't have time to finish.

But Zhou He couldn't hear clearly.

Even with my eyes closed and all my attention focused on my ears, I could only catch faint syllables.

One word appears repeatedly.

"Ten-day monk".

It shouldn't be those characters. Zhou He only vaguely felt that the homophone should be like this.

He tried hard to memorize these syllables.

The sound faded into the distance, as if the gossipy old woman had finished talking and turned to walk into the depths of the smoke.

He opened his eyes.

"Buzz—"

The next second, my mind went blank again.

Familiar mist rose from nothingness, layer upon layer like ocean waves, filling Zhou He's mind.

The three incense sticks in the incense burner had burned out completely at some point, and the grayish-white ash was mixed in with the burner and could not be seen.

He desperately tried to maintain his last shred of clarity, curling up his right thumb and slowly tucking down his remaining four fingers one by one.

The index finger is tucked in, the middle finger is tucked in, and the ring finger is tucked in.

The little finger was still sticking up.

"Buzz—"

The fog won't wait any longer.

It flooded in, completely disregarding whether there was still enough space in that mind.

It just expanded wildly and then took over every inch of space.

Zhou He's eyes were clouded with dust, and he knelt on the spot, no longer moving.

Boss Liu leaned against the door, watching this scene unfold.

"Damn it, that damned donkey deserves to be cut into a thousand pieces!"

He sighed, his expression complex.

Then he slowly walked towards Zhou He, his steps were very light, and his cloth shoes made almost no sound when they stepped on the rammed earth.

He picked up the knife from the ground, stared at it for a long time, clicked his tongue, and then gripped the knife as he walked around behind Zhou He.

Zhou He was completely still, kneeling on the spot, his eyes open, his pupils reflecting no shadows.

Boss Liu suddenly erupted!

He grabbed Zhou He's fisherman's hat, tossed it to the corner, then grabbed his greasy, dirty hair and pulled it back sharply, exposing Zhou He's forehead.

"Terrible!"

He spat on the ground.

The knife was flipped around in Boss Liu's hand.

His hand was comically small compared to the knife, but the knife seemed to have a spirit of its own; no matter how he twisted and turned it, the hilt remained firmly against his fingertips.

Upon closer inspection, the way the knife danced concealed a strange rhythm, becoming faster and more chaotic, yet within this chaos, a subtle order emerged.

The tip of the knife drew a circle in the air.

Where the blade sliced, something invisible was cut off.

"The butcher's knife cuts through cause and effect... and I, the master, am all smiles!"

A ferocious look flashed across Liu Laoda's face.

He turned the knife tip around and aimed it at Zhou He's forehead.

Zhou He's eyes began to move, a struggle between clarity and confusion within his pupils.

He could feel the coolness between his eyebrows, and he could feel Boss Liu's breath on his face, but he couldn't move.

His little finger was still sticking up; he hadn't fully regained consciousness.

With a flick of his wrist, Liu Laoda sent the knife tip forward an inch.

The skin in the center of the forehead is very thin; it would break if touched by a knife tip.

A drop of blood seeped out and slowly trickled down the tip of the knife.

"bite."

A crisp sound.