My Years in the Folklore World

Chapter 462: The Marketplace

"The Toad God discovered that he had been deceived. In anger, he tore the two paper figures to pieces and vowed to make those who deceived him pay the price."

"You don't have much time to waste. It will come back soon. If it finds out that you have deceived it, I believe you will pay a heavy price."

"What are you going to do next?"

"Should you take advantage of the opportunity before the Toad God returns to collect the Lord of the Secular World's severed finger and run away, or should you ambush here and trick the opponent intentionally? If you succeed, the rewards will be unimaginable, but you must also be prepared for a tragic death."

"You know, risks and opportunities always coexist, and they are just one step away. If you make a mistake, you will end up in disaster."

Jiang Xinghuo took a quick look at the two options and quickly made his decision. He chose the second option and lay in ambush here waiting for the Toad God's arrival. If it succeeds, everyone will be happy, but if it fails, it will only be a matter of life and death.

Of course, before that, the severed finger of the Lord of the World must be collected first.

"You collected the severed finger of the Lord of the Secular World, but you did not intend to run away from here. Instead, you prepared to ambush in the secret room under the well and try to get rid of the Toad God."

"You have obtained the severed finger of the Lord of the World."

"For some unknown reason, the Queen Mother of Heaven left this severed finger here and asked the Toad God under her seat to guard it. I didn't expect that by chance it would fall into your hands."

"However, the Queen Mother of Heaven once left a seal here. When the seal outside the door was removed, she had already sensed something and used her unique method to deduce your identity and whereabouts."

"The divine talisman for eliminating the evil traces of cause and effect has taken effect."

"You have triggered the law of cause and effect contained in the talisman. The divine talisman for eliminating the filth of cause and effect has obscured the secrets of heaven for you and severed the cause and effect. No deduction method below the myth level can affect you."

"The Empress of Heaven's divination was in vain, and she was attacked by the law of cause and effect, attracting nine heavenly thunders."

Jiang Xinghuo looked at the game text and felt a little surprised. In the past, when someone used magic to deduce him, the text only prompted to conceal the secrets of heaven and cut off cause and effect, but there was no backlash or thunder.

Is it because the Queen Mother of Heaven is too powerful, or is it because of her own identity? ?
Jiang Xinghuo thought about it for a while, but couldn't come up with any clue, so he simply ignored it.

Moreover, Jiang Xinghuo discovered that the Queen Mother of Heaven did not come in person to cause trouble for him. As for the reason, he thought there were probably two possibilities.

The first reason was that she was temporarily unable to come over and stop herself due to some special circumstances.

The second reason is that the severed finger of the Lord of the Secular World was not a particularly important thing to her, so it didn't matter if it was taken away.

Jiang Xinghuo thought in his mind that the former possibility was more likely. This was a part of the lord of the secular world. Even if the Queen Mother of Heaven was rich and powerful, she would not ignore this thing.

Besides, if she really didn't care about this thing, she wouldn't have let the Toad God guard here and left the seal and talisman outside the secret room.

While he was thinking about these things, new game text popped up, reminding him that the Toad God had rushed back from outside.

"The Toad God has returned to Lingshen Village and is heading towards the Stone Pavilion. If you change your mind and want to escape now, you may still have time. If you hesitate for a while, it will be too late even if you want to leave. Do you want to change your mind?"

The game text still gives two options: either escape from here immediately or wait for the Toad God to come back.

Jiang Xinghuo didn't think too much about it and still chose to ambush in the well. Since he had made the decision, there was no need to change it.

As I said, it's just a life, the worst that can happen is to start over again. Anyway, the severed finger of the Lord of the Secular World is already in his hands. Even if he dies at the hands of that big toad, it will not cause any impact on himself, and the things that have been found will not fall from his body.

"You insisted on staying in the well to ambush the Toad God. I have to say that you are a very courageous adventurer. I hope your luck will be as good as your courage. Otherwise, you will die. I wish you good luck."

Jiang Xinghuo ignored the implicit sarcasm in the game text and just waited quietly for the subsequent interactive options.

At the same time, he was also thinking about how to deal with the Toad God. The Toad God should be a monster of the fire element, with a red wedding candle on his head. He wondered if the water from the three rivers and four seas would have any effect on him.

"The Toad God has returned to the stone pavilion. When he saw the stone door on the ground was opened, he immediately roared angrily, and endless flames poured down from the wellhead, as if he wanted to burn you to death here."

"You used the fire gathering method passed down by the Kitchen God, and at the same time, you used the limb splicing method. Countless decayed remains roared and swept out, like a copper wall and iron barrier that firmly sealed the secret room."

"But the Toad God has been blessed by the Queen Mother of Heaven. Its power is far beyond what you can match now. Your Dharma image can't last for too long. What are you going to do next?"

"Will you choose to bathe in the flames released by the Toad God and leave this dry well as soon as possible, or hide in the secret room under the well and wait for the flames to dissipate?"

There were two options. Jiang Xinghuo pondered for a moment and chose the former.

He had originally planned to ambush the opponent here, but the Toad God didn't give him this opportunity at all, so he might as well think of other ways.

But before going out again, Jiang Xinghuo became smart and took out the scorpion king tail talon toxin from the magic bag and used it on himself.

Afterwards, Jiang Xinghuo controlled the game character to rush out of the dry well before the poison took effect.

"You left the secret room in the well and returned to the surface. The Toad God looked at you with anger. Not only did you deceive its feelings, but you also took away the thing it was ordered to protect. This is something it absolutely cannot tolerate. It wants to swallow you into its stomach and grind your body into pieces, leaving you with no place to rest."

"Are you going to fight back against the Toad God's attack?"

Jiang Xinghuo chose no.

"You seemed to know that you could not escape death, so you stood there with all your might, watching the Toad God rush over, open its bloody mouth and swallow you into its stomach."

"The Toad God's stomach began to move, just like grinding beans, and it grinds you into plasma without hesitation."

"You are dead."

"But when you were swallowed by the Toad God, you first used the venom of the Scorpion King's tail claws on yourself. The horrible toxin dissolved into your flesh and blood. So after the Toad God swallowed you into its stomach, the Scorpion King's toxin also invaded its blood."

"The terrifying toxin power boiled up in the body of the Toad God, ruthlessly destroying its internal organs. Although the Toad God realized that he was poisoned, he had no way to solve it. He could only lie on the ground and groan continuously. In the end, he was defeated by the toxin of your scorpion tail pincers." "You have killed the Great Joyful Toad God."

"You have obtained, Incense +3000."

When Jiang Xinghuo saw the game pop up a prompt about the Toad God's death, he couldn't help but grin. He didn't expect that his plan was really successful. It seems that the saying is true that a fortress is often easiest to break from the inside.

However, he also took advantage of the Toad God's mentality. First, he was fooled by him, and then the things he was guarding were stolen. When he saw himself as the culprit, he would naturally deal with him in the most cruel way.

He was also betting that the Toad God would swallow him. If the Toad God slapped him or simply burned him to death with fire, this plan would not succeed.

"Do you want to activate the effect of the scapegoat?"

"You activated the effect of the scapegoat and resurrected in Lingshen Village. Do you want to touch the corpse of the Toad God?"

"Exploring, please wait..."

"You have obtained: a red wedding candle of the Toad God, a toad skin with golden patterns, a stomach of the Toad God, a bowl from the market, a technique to induce the birth of grain plants, a lantern passed down from ancient times, a broken noon lantern, and the corpse of the Toad God."

Jiang Xinghuo took a look at the harvest. It was quite a lot, but he didn't know how much it was worth. He hoped it was worthy of the identity of the Toad God.

Then, Jiang Xinghuo began to count them one by one.

"The Toad God's Red Wedding Candle (rare material) is the foundation of the Toad God and the source of its power. It was once blessed by the Queen Mother of Heaven and possesses the power of the streets and the lights of hundreds of houses. It can release endless fire of the mortal world. As long as the mana in the body is not exhausted, it can endlessly urge the candle to release flames."

"Please note that the flame burning in this candle is the fire of the mortal world, so it contains a very special power that cannot be compatible with the power outside the market."

Power beyond the city? ?

Jiang Xinghuo didn't quite understand the meaning of this sentence. Could it be that the world of the city can also be considered a form of cultivation system?
Does the Kitchen God Fire count as a force of the city and the underworld?

Jiang Xinghuo clicked on the text and took the object to have a look in reality. It was just an ordinary candle.

He then tried to use the method of gathering fire, trying to merge the flame on the candle into the Kitchen God's fire, but the flame on the candle did not move at all, and was completely unable to merge with the power of the Kitchen God's fire.

It seems that the Kitchen God's fire does not fall within the scope of the power of the common people.

Jiang Xinghuo didn't take it too seriously. Since it couldn't be integrated, then don't integrate it. There was no need to force it. Why bother doing something that is thankless?

He put the candle into his trick bag and looked at the remaining items.

"Golden-patterned toad skin (high-quality material). The Toad God hibernates every ten years. By then, his vital signs will drop to the lowest point, and the toad skin on his body will begin to shed and fall off."

"The toad skin shed by the Toad God has golden patterns on its surface. It can not only be used as a medicine to induce some yang-tonifying medicines, but can also be used as a material for forging and strengthening protective gear and armor."

Jiang Xinghuo read the description of the toad skin and thought that he would not be able to use it as medicine, so he decided to go find Taoist Shen Ji Bai Lian to strengthen and upgrade the Huaishan Xiangling robe.

"Toad God's Stomach (Rare Material). The Toad God once accidentally swallowed a medicinal herb, which caused him to vomit continuously. His stomach was churning and difficult to heal. In desperation, he could only ask the disciples of Qi Huang, the Medical Immortal, to cut open his stomach and remove the stomach from his body, thus curing his illness."

When Jiang Xinghuo saw this, he thought to himself that this person was really a cruel toad who dared to let someone cut him open to treat his illness.

"As for the stomach sac that was taken off, the Toad God did not discard it, but kept it with him."

"You can go find the Taoist Master Shen Ji Bai Lian and ask him to use this stomach sac to upgrade your magic bag. It can greatly increase the storage space of your magic bag."

"You can also choose to use it yourself. If you integrate this stomach sac into your body, it will not only greatly improve your digestive ability, but you can even use it as a storage item."

"Of course, if you choose to fuse this stomach sac, there will probably be some minor side effects, such as liking to eat insects and other creatures. You may be more energetic in the hot summer, and more sleepy in the cold winter."

"Do you want to choose to fuse this stomach sac?"

Seeing the description of the game text, Jiang Xinghuo nodded repeatedly. What a joke! If he really merged this stomach sac, wouldn’t he become a human-shaped toad?

"You refused to merge with the Toad God's stomach sac and put it into your trick bag."

Jiang Xinghuo put away these things and continued to count other items.

"The Hundred Bowls of the Jianghu and the City (rare item). This is a magical instrument bestowed by the Empress of Heaven on the disciples. It can be used to borrow the power of others for your own use. No matter whether the person being borrowed is still alive or not, as long as the other party has made a promise before his death, you can borrow the other party's power at any time. There is no upper limit to the number of times you can borrow power. However, the more power you borrow, the greater the pressure you will bear."

Jiang Xinghuo raised his eyebrows. The ability of this prop is really rare. It can borrow the power of others for one's own use.

Moreover, it doesn't matter whether they are alive or dead, which is a bit against the will of heaven.

However, other people’s promises may not be so easy to get, especially those from top masters. A promise may just represent a favor.

Out of curiosity, Jiang Xinghuo took out the Baijia bowl and took a look at it. It was a broken black porcelain bowl in ancient style.

To be honest, even if you throw this bowl on the street, not everyone will even look at it. The junk collector might even think it takes up too much space.

"You can't judge a book by its cover, and you can't measure the depth of the ocean by its depth... The value of this thing really can't be judged by intuitive feelings."

Jiang Xinghuo played with the bowl in his hands for a while, then carefully put it into his magic bag.

"Grain Planting Stimulation Technique (common magic), the Queen Mother of Heaven is in charge of all aspects of people's lives in the market, and farming is naturally an ability she has mastered. This magic is specially developed for grain plants. It can stimulate the rapid growth of grain plants by consuming mana. Even in the long and cold winters in Kanto, grain can be harvested three times a year, or even five times a year."

(End of this chapter)