My Years in the Folklore World

Chapter 510 The Disappearing Spiritual Platform

Cows, sheep, pigs, chickens.

Jiang Xinghuo looked at the four monsters in Lingtai Town and thought that this was really a good place for livestock to thrive.

It doesn’t matter which area you go to first, you won’t miss it in the end. It’s just a matter of time.

Moreover, judging from the description of Lingtai Town in the game text, this place is obviously not a tourist resort, and it is probably a place where people are eaten without leaving any bones.

If nothing unexpected happens, those gourmet diners who come here would probably have become food on the plate long ago.

Jiang Xinghuo randomly chose an area and planned to go to the place where the pig butcher was first. If there was really some dirty creature causing trouble, he would flatten the Lingtai Town and at least earn a large sum of money.

"You have come to the south of Lingtai Town. The pig butcher's stall is here. It is also a well-known meat supplier. It is said that the blood on the butcher knife has never dried. Whether it is the carefully selected good meat or the pig offal, they are especially popular with diners."

"Moreover, the pig butcher is naturally warm-hearted and likes to set up buffets at his doorstep. As long as you are a guest who comes to the town, no matter what your status is, as long as you want to eat, you can join the table without charging a penny. On the contrary, the more you eat, the happier the pig butcher will be."

"You have come to the pig butcher's buffet."

"You see quite a few diners feasting there. The butcher, with a huge pig head on his head, wields a butcher knife with a curled blade, and keeps cutting up the pork on the chopping board in front of him. He stir-fries the pork while it's still hot. Soon, a dish with good color, aroma and flavor is freshly served on the table. The rich aroma hits you in the face, making you salivate. Do you want to go over and taste it?"

"You have triggered the Tathagata's talent."

"You used your innate ability of Tathagatagarbha to discover the secret hidden in that dish. It turned out that the dish was laced with medicine. Once you eat it, you will become unconscious in a short while."

"At the same time, your Tathagata also discovered the true identity of the pig on the chopping board. It was the diner who came to Lingtai Town to satisfy his appetite."

"When the butcher sees you standing in front of the buffet, he puts down his meat cleaver and warmly invites you to come over and taste his cooking skills. Do you want to go over and give it a try?"

Jiang Xinghuo didn't think too much about it and directly chose no. He had no interest in tasting these things.

Just after he rejected the pig butcher's invitation, new game text popped up on the screen.

"You rejected the invitation of the pig butcher, and he seemed to feel that you had humiliated him. He immediately looked fierce and walked towards you with a meat cleaver in hand. However, he still had a warm smile on his face and tried his best to invite you to taste his cooking skills."

"So, what are you going to do next?"

"Would you choose to take the easy way out and accept the pig butcher's invitation to taste his food, or would you glare at him and slap him twice, forcing him to take out all the valuables on his body, so that you can spare his life?"

When Jiang Xinghuo saw the options in the game text, he thought, why bother thinking about it? He would definitely choose the latter, if for no other reason than to see the other party's reaction.

"You glared at him, walked up to him quickly, and slapped him twice. The fat on the pig butcher's face trembled, as if he was stunned by your two slaps. He didn't react for a while. When he reacted, he immediately let out an angry roar, swung the meat cleaver in his hand, and slammed it towards your head."

"You started fighting with the pig butcher, but you found that the pig butcher's skin was extremely tough. Your evil bite could not cause serious damage to it. It could only barely leave some inconspicuous skin injuries. But during the fight, the pig butcher's apron suddenly fell off his body, revealing a hideous scar, which was right on his lower abdomen."

"Many years ago, Longpi Taibao, who served under the throne of King Taiping, came to Lingtai Town. The pig butcher coveted Longpi Taibao's tangled muscles and wanted to knock him unconscious and then decompose him into food."

"I never thought that the strength of Dragon Skin Guard was far beyond the Pig Butcher's imagination. Instead of being knocked unconscious by the drug, he was pierced through the abdomen by a dragon claw. If the Pig Butcher's skin was not tough enough to resist most of the force, I'm afraid he would have died in the hands of Dragon Skin Guard."

"This wound has also become the Pig Butcher's weak point. You can try to attack from here. Perhaps you can break the Pig Butcher's unusually tough skin."

"Do you want to attack the weak spot in the pig butcher?"

Jiang Xinghuo chose yes without hesitation.

"You dodged the butcher's cleaver, and the evil star bit into the gap and drilled into the butcher's scar, easily breaking through its defense. What are you going to do next?"

"Would you choose to quit while you're ahead and let this pig butcher go and make friends with him, or would you rather cut the grass and root out the trouble forever and kill the pig butcher completely?"

Jiang Xinghuo looked at the two options before him, thought for a moment, and finally chose to kill the pig butcher completely.

"You used the evil star bite as a medium to perform the dragon-catching hand, plundering all the vitality in the pig butcher's body, and used it as nutrients to strengthen the evil star bite's level."

"Your level of the evil star's bite is slightly improved, +1."

"You killed it, pig butcher."

"You have obtained, Incense +1200."

"Are you going to touch the corpse of the pig butcher?"

"You have been rummaging around in the butcher's carcass, and have found something."

"You have obtained a meat-smelling butcher's kitchen robe, a rolled-blade meat cleaver, a Guanglu Temple cookbook, a key to the pig's house, and a pig butcher's skin."

"Meat Butcher's Kitchen Robe (Common Item), the kitchen robe worn by a pig butcher. After putting it on, you can temporarily disguise yourself as a pig butcher. However, after attacking other creatures, the disguise will be temporarily invalidated. You can restore the disguise after ten minutes."

"A meat cleaver with a curved blade (common item). It is used by pig butchers to cut meat. It has been used for too long, so the blade has become curved. But overall, its sharpness is well maintained. It can be used as a personal weapon, or as a material for forging and strengthening."

"Guanglu Temple Cookbook (Ordinary Item), a cookbook circulated by Guanglu Temple, one of the three major food organizations in the secular world. It records some basic food preparation methods, which can't be considered advanced cooking skills."

"Pig House Key (Ordinary Item), the key to the Pig Butcher's house, can guide you to find the Pig Butcher's residence and open the special door lock."

"The skin of a pig butcher (ordinary material). The pig butcher had a fortuitous encounter when he was young. He was bathed in a mountain stone spirit, which helped him develop a tough skin. This can be used as a material for refining protective gear, which can greatly improve his defense capabilities."

There are five items in total, all of which are ordinary props. Although the quality of the props is not high, they may play an unexpected role when used in specific places.

Take the meat-smelling butcher's kitchen robe for example. You can disguise yourself as a pig butcher, and then when you go to find the three cows, sheep and chickens later, you might be able to get rid of them without bloodshed.

Moreover, judging from the description in the game text, the Pig Butcher seems to be related to the Guanglu Temple. Hui may be able to use this disguise to sneak in quietly.

"Now that you have killed the pig butcher, what are you going to do next? Are you going to go to the pig butcher's house or look for the other three people in the town?"

Jiang Xinghuo narrowed his eyes, thought carefully, and decided to go to the pig butcher's house first to see if he could find some clues that were not mentioned in the game text.

"Under the guidance of the key, you came to the pig butcher's house. You tried to use the key to unlock the door, but you were stung by a poisonous insect hidden in the door. Fortunately, you were immune to all kinds of poisons, so the poisonous insect not only did not hurt you, but instead bit you to death." "You have obtained, Incense +100."

But just in case, Jiang Xinghuo still opened the magic bag, took out a jar of realgar wine, and clicked to use it.

"Take out a jar of realgar wine and pour it on the door. You will hear a rustling sound, and the poisonous insects hiding in the door will flee through the cracks. You can open the door with confidence now."

"You pushed open the door and walked into the pig butcher's house. You saw the skins of various species of creatures hanging on the walls on both sides. They were all trophies and evidence of the pig butcher's killing of his diners."

"Do you want to explore this room?"

Jiang Xinghuo directly chose yes.

"You conducted a thorough search of the house, but unfortunately there was nothing of value. You only found some secret letters behind the crack in the wall next to the bed."

"You opened these secret letters and learned the identity of the pig butcher and the origin of Lingtai Town."

"It turns out that the pig butcher and the other three monsters in the group are all disciples of the Guanglu Temple. They specialize in using the method of creating animals to harm people here and provide the best food for the Guanglu Temple. Over the years, countless diners have died tragically here."

"The Lingtai Spring water in the town is the medium for performing the Animal Creation Technique. Only after drinking the spring water can the body structure truly transform into that of an animal. Otherwise, it may look like a cow, sheep or animal, but once it is boiled in a pot, its true form will be revealed and it will become a pot of fishy soup and turbid water."

As the plot of the game progressed to this point, Jiang Xinghuo understood what was going on and had a plan in mind. He just had to kill and there was no need to worry about killing innocent people by mistake.

"What are you going to do next?"

"Will you choose to leave Lingtai Town and spread the conspiracy here, or will you choose to go out in person and eliminate those demons that create animals and harm people?"

Jiang Xinghuo chose the latter.

If he chooses the former and spreads the conspiracy here, then the subsequent plot will most likely have nothing to do with him.

Therefore, if you want to participate in the later plot, you can only do it yourself and look for new tasks in the process of killing those three demons.

"You choose to take action yourself to eliminate the evil demons in Lingtai Town."

"You are equipped with the meaty butcher's kitchen robe."

Jiang Xinghuo equipped the chef's robe on the game character and disguised himself as a pig butcher.

Next, as long as he does not actively attack others, the disguise of this pig butcher will not be invalid for the time being.

Afterwards, Jiang Xinghuo controlled the game character to find the other three demons.

His second stop was to the old lady Niu. With the cover of the butcher's kitchen robe, he was able to approach the old lady Niu easily and killed her easily.

"You have obtained, Incense +1000."

"You searched Granny Niu's body and gained something..."

Jiang Xinghuo took a look at what he found. They were just a few ordinary props, nothing special about them.

Then, Jiang Xinghuo took off the sheep's head and the chicken's head. It took a total of two hours. The four evil spirits in Lingtai Town were all dealt with by Jiang Xinghuo using various methods.

Of course, he also paid the price of death.

"You killed it, Chicken Lady."

"You have obtained, Incense +500."

"You were burned to ashes by a bit of the Fire Essence from Lady Chicken, but it can be considered a blessing in disguise as you absorbed this bit of Fire Essence."

"Your Kitchen God Fire level has been increased by +10."

Bang!
A flame ignited in Jiang Xinghuo's palm, and the golden-red flame bloomed like a red lotus. Even the Liaokan Fire and Yen Fire that had been integrated into it before had undergone an unknown change.

Jiang Xinghuo looked down at the phone screen.

"The origin of stove fire (legendary material) is said to be the origin of fire that the Kitchen God once left in the secular world. It can turn ordinary flames into stove fires, but only humans can control this power. Other races cannot use it and can only roughly manipulate flames to burn."

Jiang Xinghuo looked at the text content, then looked at the golden-red Kitchen God fire in the palm of his hand. He clenched his five fingers tightly, and the flame suddenly went out, as if nothing had happened.

"What are your plans next?"

"The four evil spirits in Lingtai Town have been eradicated by you. The innocent creatures that were affected by the beast-making technique have also returned to their original forms and are eager to flee Lingtai Town."

"Are you going to continue wandering around the town, or leave Lingtai Town in time while it's still light?"

"You chose to stay in Lingtai Town."

Jiang Xinghuo spent most of the day in the town, and the plots that were triggered were all options related to the four monsters. He didn't even see what the spirit platform looked like.

He planned to stroll around the town and try to figure out the interactive options related to the spirit platform.

But what disappointed Jiang Xinghuo was that he wandered around the village for several hours, and the options he triggered were all trivial matters, and the spirit platform was not mentioned at all.

To this end, Jiang Xinghuo even activated the function of Risui, transmitted the projection of consciousness over, and unfolded his innate ability to see through things like seeing through fire, trying to find the whereabouts of the spirit platform.

But two hours later, the consciousness projection had collapsed, and Jiang Xinghuo couldn't find the spirit platform, as if this thing didn't exist.

"Weird..."

Jiang Xinghuo scratched his head, feeling that this matter was odd. The game text clearly stated that there was a spiritual platform in the town, which was also the origin of the town's name. How come he couldn't find it?
(End of this chapter)