I am Jinshan Youxia

A middle-aged man dressed in short-sleeved shirts and hakama (traditional Japanese jackets) shouted as he entered the temple, followed by a young samurai in a haori (traditional Japanese kimono) with a sword.

The two went deep into the temple and arrived at the main hall.

The fat monk with a mustache was fast asleep, his head resting on a wine jar. The strong smell of alcohol emanating from him made the young warrior cover his mouth and nose with his hand, showing disgust. He then gave the middle-aged man in front of him a look.

"Master Mengxin, Master Mengxin!"

The middle-aged man called out to the fat monk a few times, then turned around and whispered, "Master Mengxin is the most powerful monk in this area. If we want to catch that monster, we have to find him."

Even if you praise me, I won't charge you a penny less.

The fat monk yawned, without even opening his eyes, and sat up, asking, "What do you want?"

The middle-aged man smiled ingratiatingly and said, "Master Mengxin, our young master would like to ask you to capture a monster."

"I see." Monk Mengxin glanced at the family crest on the samurai's waist with his half-open, drunken eyes.

Is he the young lord of a nearby city? If it's not about eliminating him, but capturing the monster...

“Tell me about that monster,” he said, yawning.

The middle-aged man immediately said, "It should be a very weak monster that only steals food from other people's homes. However, it is excellent at hiding and escaping. Young master is worried that the monster will harm the common people, so he wants to pay you to capture the monster."

Stealing food, um.

Monk Mengxin squinted, thinking of the rumor he had heard yesterday when he went to buy wine: that a monster was exchanging gold for food in other people's homes.

A family secretly saw that the monster looked like a little mouse.

It turned out to be the case.

Monk Mengxin chuckled. What concern about harming civilians? He probably just wanted the gold from the monster.

“Our young master is willing to pay this price.” The middle-aged man held up five fingers and emphasized, “However, the monster must be captured alive.”

Even if I don't go, I'll probably find someone else.

Monk Mengxin thought that he could exchange gold for food or something. It was a strange little monster, but it shouldn't be bad.

"Leave it to me." He patted his chest, yawned, and said, "Let's set off now."

The three left the temple, and no one noticed that the fiercest bird was floating silently in the sky before turning and disappearing.

-----------------

Two days later, in a town, in a traveler's cabin, in the kitchen.

"Not bad, not bad, the food here is really good."

Zhang Chengyi took a bite of the peeled shrimp meat. His deliberately shrunk body allowed him to eat several mouthfuls of plump meat from a single shrimp. It was fresh, sweet, and delicious. It was really good.

The so-called "lülong" is a privately-run accommodation that is smaller than the officially operated campsites. It is somewhat similar to a homestay in a futuristic world, but it is basically located on the edge of villages or towns. The architectural style is no different from that of ordinary houses. They are small houses with thatched roofs, where many people sleep on a large communal bed. The meals are usually a combination of coarse grains with pickled vegetables, wild vegetable soup, and the like.

After traveling for some time, his reputation has spread throughout the Musashi region.

Everyone called him the Golden Rat.

He was a rat that transported gold to others. Although it sounded unpleasant and he himself hated the nickname, it greatly facilitated his daily life.

Basically, wealthy families, as well as inns, guesthouses, temples, and shrines, will prepare a meal and fruit in the kitchen. They will leave gold behind, and if the food is delicious, they will give more tips.

Later, Zhang Chengyi discovered that the food made by private families, especially ordinary families, was not as delicious as that made in hotels. Moreover, hotels had a huge advantage in terms of food variety, so he simply focused on going from hotel to hotel.

This intensified the competition among hotels, prompting them to enhance the variety and quality of their food in an all-out effort to attract the Golden Rat.

For example, this small restaurant in front of us is not large in scale, but it has prepared very fresh and delicious seafood, and the fruits are so fresh and juicy that they must have been just picked and delivered.

"Hiccup~"

After enjoying his meal, Zhang Chengyi let out a burp and turned around, presenting his backside to the box that had been prepared for him.

"Puff puff puff!" Grains of gold fell into the cloth-lined box.

Through countless deliveries of gold, his efficiency in distributing gold has greatly improved, and his accuracy is now such that he can make the gold land wherever he wants within ten meters.

[Speaking of which, will this skill have any future applications?]

After paying the bill and giving a tip, Zhang Chengyi stroked the rat's chin. He had a strange feeling that this odd skill might be useful in some future world.

He must have faced a very critical situation by then to resort to such a desperate measure.

He nodded seriously, then let out a burp. Just as he was about to leave, Cui Zi spoke up: "Lord Rat God, this travel cage has been sealed with a seal."

Tsk, looks like they've come to cause me trouble?

Footsteps approached, the kitchen door opened, and the fat monk with a bulbous nose chuckled, "Finally found you, little fellow."

"It has no demonic aura, but rather spiritual power. What a strange little mouse."

Zhang Chengyi retorted, "It's not a rat, it's a field mouse."

"Whatever." The fat monk picked up his wine gourd, took a swig, and said with a contented expression, "Do you know you're being watched by humans?"

"Whatever," Zhang Chengyi replied with the exact same words, then asked, "Are you here to arrest me? Or to eliminate me?"

The fat monk curiously examined the small mountain of gold inside the box. No matter how many times he looked at it, he found it amazing. This gold was not an illusion, but real gold. But where did a field mouse that was running around get gold? Could it really be as the rumors say, that the Gold-Giving Mouse was a monster that could create gold?

He smiled and shook his head, saying, "No, I just came to see you."

To be more precise, he took this job to prevent others from capturing a harmless little monster, and to make sure the little monster was truly harmless.

Now it's all right. Heaven knows why a monster would possess a priestess's pure spiritual power.

Thinking it over, the fat monk gripped the prayer beads hanging around his neck, muttered a few incantations, and released the seal, saying, "I won't catch you, but you should be careful. The Golden Rat is too famous, and too many people want to catch you."

"Human greed is a terrible thing," he said with concern.

Zhang Chengyi looked at the fat monk whose expression of concern was genuine and muttered, "Strange fellow."

"If you don't arrest me, I'm leaving."

The fat monk stepped aside, spread his hands, and warned, "Be careful not to go to the next inn; they've already set up many traps there."

"Okay." Zhang Chengyi swaggered out of the kitchen like a normal person, then turned back and asked, "Hey, monk, what's your name?"

“Mengxin,” the fat monk replied.

"It seems somewhat familiar."

Zhang Chengyi thought about it, but to be honest, the difference between the comic and the real appearance was quite large, and Meng Xin was not a particularly outstanding or famous character in the original work, so he didn't pay much attention and left on his own.

Monk Mengxin first smiled with relief, then revealed a sorrowful expression.

The task assigned by the young lord of a nearby city has been botched; this will cause trouble later.

Oh well, let's just live for today. Anyway, ever since that kid Maitreya grew up, he's had no shortage of trouble.

Chapter 163 Life is tough, the cat sighs.

A mountain stronghold of demon exorcists.

"stop!"

The exorcist gripped his bow and arrow and shouted loudly at the red-clad boy with dog ears below.

In the past, he would have already shot arrows at those who resembled monsters and were full of demonic energy as a warning. However, the Rat God had been running around everywhere recently, and now there's another person in the village who looks exactly like a Suiko, asking everyone to cooperate in setting up a barrier. So, he's bound to be more patient with those who resemble monsters.

Moreover, this dog-eared boy wasn't alone; he was accompanied by two genuine humans, one of whom appeared to be a monk, making it even more unwise to attack him.

If it weren't for the recent revelation that a half-demon named Naraku was secretly plotting against the bandit group, his attitude might have been much better.

"Excuse me, is this the stronghold of exorcists?" the handsome monk asked loudly.

Considering Lady Midori's description of Naraku as treacherous and cunning, controlling human cities and capable of transforming into other forms, the exorcists on guard became wary and said, "You'd better leave quickly; we don't welcome outsiders these days."

The leader, along with the experts from the stronghold and Lady Cui, went out to exorcise demons. The stronghold will not be open to the public until they return.

As long as the door is not opened to welcome guests, the barrier can block all outsiders.

As for why he didn't set the barrier to be able to hide the manor, that was something an ordinary demon hunter wouldn't know.

"I told you, you can't convince someone with just words." The dog-eared boy said nonchalantly, his hands clenched into claws, grinning as he said, "Hurry up and hand over the Shikon Jewel shards, or I won't hold back."

The exorcist, seeing his intimidating expression—overflowing with demonic energy yet possessing an unyielding saintly aura—couldn't help but chuckle. This guy certainly didn't seem like the legendary Naraku.

"Damn it!" The dog-eared boy's eyes were too sharp. He saw the demon hunter's suppressed laughter and immediately became furious. Without thinking, he rushed forward.

"Boom!"

"Buzz!"

The transparent barrier flashed by, and the dog-eared boy landed dizzy, his vision blurred, and his nose stung. Most of his demonic power had been absorbed during the contact, which prevented him from getting up immediately.

The young monk looked amazed. "What an amazing barrier!"

Even if it was only for a moment, he could clearly see that the barrier enveloped the entire mountain stronghold, possessing at least the functions of defense, reflection, purification, absorption of demonic power, and high concealment.

Such a barrier must have been set up by an extremely powerful priestess.

"Damn it!" The dog-eared boy finally recovered, angrily drawing his sword from his waist. The slender, broken blade transformed into a gleaming broadsword as it left its sheath. Before he could even swing it, a sound rang out—

"sit down!"

"Damn it, Kagome!"

Outside the village, the scene has completely transformed into a light comedy.

Coral, crouching at a distance, fully armed and wearing a mask, sighed upon seeing such a comical scene.

Did their carefully prepared trap end up with an even dumber half-demon walking into it?

Naraku, as expected, is not an easy guy to outmaneuver.

Mica lay nearby, watching its mistress, and sighed in a very human way. Even though it had seen its mistress grabbing and kneading the field mouse poop, it still endured the humiliation of being grabbed by the fur and ridden by its mistress in the face of the monster.

Life is tough, even a cat can't help but sigh.

-----------------

Meanwhile, in a certain camp.

"You have nowhere to run, here comes the golden rat!"

The middle-aged man shouted into the kitchen, "We don't mean to hurt you, and we'll provide you with plenty of delicious food!"

The nearby soldiers surrounded the kitchen, all wearing thick clothes in the sweltering heat, even their hands were covered with cloth. Just as they said, they did not want to kill the gold-delivering rat, and no one could bear the guilt of killing it.