Please bring your best friends to practice immortality

Chapter 772: Water Town
The little turtle blinked and spoke in human language,
"It's true. When I was very young, I heard about it from my fellow tribesmen..."

Wangyue took two steps, fixed her eyes on the fruit plate on the table, stretched her neck to look around, as if she was thinking about where to start eating, and said,

"At that time, we were all born on a shallow beach. We all swam into the river to live together. Some of our people met their parents and heard from them... We originally lived in the water of the Great Abyss, where there were tens of thousands of our people. Then one day, the ancestors of our branch suddenly left there, swam thousands of miles and lived in the river..."

"Oh... why do you want to leave? This abyss is full of water. Isn't it a good place for you to live?"

The little turtle looked at the moon and shook his little head, blinking his green eyes and said,
"I heard from my fellow tribesmen that our ancestors passed down a message saying that the Great Abyss has become a land of demons. If the fellow tribesmen living there don't leave, they will also become demons. Our ancestors told us never to go back there!"

Gu Shiyi looked at Pu Yanlan after hearing this.
"Devil's Land?"

Pu Yanlan raised her eyebrows and thought for a while.
"This... is somewhat consistent with what Feng Laoliu said earlier..."

The land of the abyss can connect to the demon world!
Gu Shi nodded,

"It's possible that the abyss over there is really connected to the demonic world. The demonic energy from the demonic world has spread here, which is why the creatures in the water may have been demonized..."

Gu Shiyi asked Wangyue again,
"Even so, why are you still following us to the Great Abyss?"

Wangyue blinked and said,

"I want to ascend!"

Although she is honest and straightforward, she is not stupid. She has been dormant in the river for thousands of years, and has acquired some magical powers only by accumulating years. Now that half of her life span has passed, she can only barely transform into a human form. She is still a long way to go before she can ascend to heaven!
Although they are a turtle-like monster with a long lifespan that can be compared with the True Spirit clan in terms of lifespan alone, when it comes to supernatural powers, there is really a difference between a firefly and the sun and the moon. She doesn't know how powerful the two people in front of her are, but she has a hunch that these two people may be her hope for ascension. If she misses them, she may never be able to embark on the path to immortality in this lifetime!

That's why, after thinking it over again and again, she resolutely followed Gu Shiyi and Pu Yanlan!

Gu Shiyi and Pu Yanlan also came from humble beginnings, so they naturally understood the helplessness of the weak and their determination to hold on to even the slightest hope. Pu Yanlan sighed and said,
"Then when we enter the Great Abyss, you better be careful!"

The little turtle nodded, climbed into the fruit bowl, picked a grape, opened his mouth and bit into it, and the juice splashed everywhere.

"This fruit... is quite sweet!"

Pu Yanlan smiled slightly when she saw this, and said to Gu Shiyi,
"I think she's as cunning as you are..."

No wonder, you think she's cute!
Gu Shiyi laughed and said,

"What a great heart! If she didn't have a big enough heart, she wouldn't have lived so many years!"

The merchant ship went all the way to the imperial city in the Great Abyss. When they first entered the Great Abyss, all they could see was water. There were many aquatic plants with vines growing in the shallow water, and clusters of emerald green in the deep water. With the spiritual sense of Gu Shiyi and Pu Yanlan, they could only explore fifty feet at most and could not go in any further!

However, the water is indeed deep, with no bottom visible even after fifty feet. The faint breath coming from it is indeed somewhat unusual!
Ten days after the ship entered the Great Abyss, they saw a small town. This city in the Great Abyss is very unique. It is a large dock built on the water. This small town on the water covers an area of ​​about dozens of acres. Countless wooden stakes were driven into the shallow water, and wooden boards were placed between the stakes, dividing the water area into several pieces. Densely packed large and small boats were connected together by iron chains and docked neatly in them. In the middle of this small town on the water, there is an area of ​​four or five acres, all of which are platforms made of wooden boards, which are provided for trading activities by residents in the city.

When their merchant ship approached the huge dock, someone came to collect taxes and arranged for the entire merchant fleet to dock in a designated area. After that, everyone could get off the ship and go to the center of the small town. Gu Shiyi and Pu Yanlan had never seen such a town, so they were naturally very curious. With two toads in hand and Wangyue, which had shrunk to the size of a palm, Gu Shiyi walked on the wooden planks towards the center of the small town in the water.

When they arrived at the market in the city center, they saw everything new and novel. All the products sold in the market here were from the water, such as fish, shrimp, crab, clams, lotus root, lotus root and water chestnut. These were the ones they recognized, but there were many others they didn't recognize. When they asked, they all said they were grown in the water. This one could be eaten raw, that one could be fried, this one needed to have its head plucked and the fibers removed, while that one only needed to be peeled and eaten. Gu Shiyi looked at them curiously, and bought whatever he saw. He put them in a special storage bag and only kept some in his hand for show!

It's strange to say, after entering the land of the abyss, the Jin Er couple were very silent, squatting on the shoulders of the two men, motionless, like wood carvings and clay sculptures. But Wangyue was extremely excited. In the palm of Gu Shiyi, she stretched her neck and kept looking around. Seeing Gu Shiyi bought food, she crawled over to share a bite. Gu Shiyi bought whatever he bought and ate it. He bought more of the ones he liked and stuffed the ones he didn't like to the little turtle. Although Wangyue's stomach was shrunk to the size of a palm, her stomach was like a glutton that could not be filled no matter what. She didn't dislike it and accepted everything that came to her. She ate happily!

After wandering around the center of the town for most of the day, the two of them looked for the tavern with a flag and went in to eat. The food here was light in taste. Many seafoods were steamed and sprinkled with some coarse salt, or stewed in a pool of clear water, with at most a handful of chopped green onions sprinkled on it for a fresh taste. Gu Shiyi frowned as he ate, but Pu Yanlan picked up her chopsticks quickly. Gu Shiyi ordered another pot of wine, took a sip, and shook her head again and again.

"This wine is so bland!" Pu Yanlan said with a smile.
"This is a land of water and marshes, so there is little spicy and greasy food. Even making a fire is difficult, so there is little frying or stir-frying..."

Gu Shiyi shook his head, feeling very disappointed, and said secretly,
"I have a lot of seasonings in my storage bag. When we get back to the ship, you can help yourself!"

Gu Shiyi thought the cooks here were too slow and unwilling to add oil and salt, so the dishes tasted bad. So she bought some fresh ingredients and brought them back to the fleet, intending to cook by herself. When she went to the kitchen on the ship, the two maids guarding the kitchen waved their hands at her.
"My lord, you may not know that after entering my Great Abyss, the fire on the boat will have a fixed number of times each day. Once it is used up, it cannot be lit again. Otherwise, the Zhurong water will be used up before the day comes, and you will have to eat raw meat for the rest of your life!"

"what……"

Gu Shiyi remembered the suspense Feng Laoliu had left earlier, and became curious.

"How can it be determined? Without the Zhurong water, can't you borrow fire from a nearby merchant ship?"

The two maids laughed when they heard this.

"I can't borrow a fire... If you don't believe me, why don't you go and try?"

"Can't borrow a light?"

Gu Shiyi was puzzled and thought that the other party was unwilling to lend him money, so he just gave more money!
He did not believe what the two women said and went out to look for a few boats. Finally, he saw a small fishing boat moored next to a large ship, which was making a fire and cooking. On the bow of the boat was a pretty boat girl, who was watching over a small stove and cooking fish soup. So he went up to the boat girl and politely asked for a light. The boat girl laughed and looked him up and down.
"I'm afraid the young master is from outside?"

Pointing to the hearth of the small stove,
"Sir, if you can borrow some fire, please do so yourself..."

Gu Shiyi walked over and saw that there was only a reed as thick as an arm in the stove, which was burned by Zhurong water. He took a reed placed beside him and lit it in the stove. He had just taken a few steps when the reed was extinguished. The boat girl saw that Gu Shiyi was frowning and looked puzzled, so she smiled and said,
"Master, the moisture here is heavy. The fire will go out within ten steps of the stove. It is difficult to borrow fire. We can only rely on Zhurong water every day. But this thing has a fixed amount and no one has much. Therefore, neighbors can borrow meat and salt, but no one can borrow fire..."

"Oh I got it……"

"What if Zhurong water is not enough?"

The boat girl laughed and said,

"Then you can only eat raw food for two days. The fish here is delicious. Cut it into thin slices and mix it with salt and vinegar. It has a unique flavor..."

Gu Shiyi nodded. This is almost the same as sashimi!

Asked again,

"Then... is there no extra Zhurong water?"

The boat girl looked around when she heard this and then said,

"If there are any extra, the government will take them back if they find out. But no one wants to hand them over. They just hide them in private, or quietly sell them to people who are short of them, or keep them for future use... If you want to buy some, I know a place. All you need is for you to give me one or two taels of silver as a guide fee!"

Finally, thinking that she was a foreigner, he reminded her again,
"Master, you can't tell anyone that you bought something, or I will be implicated!"

Oh! I see! This thing is the royal patent of Dayuan. In order to prevent illegal businessmen from using it to make profits, the government strictly controls it. No wonder Feng Laoliu didn't tell me before and asked me to inquire after I came here. It's because there are countermeasures for every policy, and there are still people trading in private!
He is considered an imperial merchant, so it is not easy for him to talk about such things openly!
Gu Shiyi actually paid a tael of silver to ask the boat girl to lead him to a dilapidated boat and got a bottle of Zhurong water. When she returned to the boat, she cooked in the kitchen. The women smiled knowingly and said,

"Madam Gu is so lucky that her husband can actually cook. It's really rare!"