I was forced to cultivate immortality when I just wanted to lie down

Chapter 20 Undercurrent
Linhefang has been in turmoil recently. The city wall that prevents refugees from entering the town has only been half built when a major event happened outside the town!
When the patrol captain Zhao Zhonghe and a group of yamen runners came to the outskirts of the town, they saw groups of refugees huddled together on both sides of the official road like a scattered chessboard.

The light snow that fell a few days ago failed to accumulate and has now turned into a muddy swamp, which makes people feel irritated just by looking at it.

Zhao Zhonghe strode forward in the mud, and the refugees wearing coarse clothes hurriedly made way for him.

"A total of 106 victims were killed. Without exception, all of them died from exhaustion. The Silver Seal Demon-Catching Captain of the prefectural city has already determined that these people were killed by evil demons."

County Lieutenant Dong, who was in charge of supervising the construction of the city wall, sighed and said, "The prefect has already issued an order. If the case is not solved and the demon ringleader apprehended within three days, these refugees will be allowed to seek refuge in the town."

As Zhao Zhonghe examined the shrunken corpses, he asked, "What did the people from the Monster Hunting Bureau say? Could it be that they also agreed to allow these unidentified refugees into the town?"

County Magistrate Dong pondered, "The Demon Hunter Captain is returning to the capital to report. They won't interfere too much in local affairs. Before he left, the Captain simply said they would conduct a thorough investigation. If there are no abnormalities, they will most likely follow the prefect's advice."

Zhao Zhonghe stood up and looked at Linhefang where fortifications were under construction.

If nothing unexpected happens, once the city wall is built, Linhefang will only need an opportunity to transform into a county.

It is impossible that the prefect did not take these things into consideration.

"In my opinion, the prefect has long been considering bringing these refugees to Linhe. After all, this is a good opportunity to increase the population."

"But the unrest in the southwestern states was caused by refugees. Those evil people from the Tianxin Sect are good at cheating. If there are any of their people among these refugees who keep pouring in."

Hearing this, County Captain Dong looked at Zhao Zhonghe in surprise. He had always known that this captain was extremely brave, but he never thought that he had such a delicate mind.

"Captain Zhao, there's no need to worry. We just need to do our job well. As for the rest, we should trust the prefect's judgment."

Zhao Zhonghe neither agreed nor refuted. If he really believed the prefect, he would not have come again after the demon-hunting captain had checked it.

After all, one's words carry little weight. Who would care about the judgment of a constable?

"Where are you going, Captain Zhao? Why don't you come to my place for some tea?"

"No, my brothers and I woke up early, without even having a bite to eat, just to come and check on the situation. Now that the prefect and the captain have made a decision, we won't interfere!"

"Brothers, I'm hosting you today and I'm going to treat you to mutton soup!"

Several yamen runners were hungry and their legs were covered in mud. Seeing that they had not accomplished anything, they felt a little resentful. But when they heard the head constable's offer to treat them to a meal, their dissatisfaction disappeared in an instant.

Apart from the gambling houses and brothels, the most lively place in Linhefang is the East Market Street, where you can see people selling powerful pills, selling dog-skin plasters, or performing acrobatics.

The more elegant ones also sell antiques, calligraphy and paintings, flowers, birds, fish and insects. In short, there are all kinds of strange and varied things. There is nothing you can't think of that is not available in the miscellaneous street.

Xu Qing wandered around for the entire morning, spending over two hundred taels of silver before he managed to collect most of the materials needed to break through the armored zombies.

He only spent over one hundred taels on the materials he actually needed, and the rest was some miscellaneous items he bought specifically to cover up his tracks.

Arriving at the stall selling animal hides, Xu Qing asked, "What kind of hides do you have?"

The hunter who was hammering deerskin boots only looked up once and continued to fiddle with the boots in his hand.

"We have musk deer, deer, and wolf skins. Some are kept at home. If there's anything you want, I'll bring it to you in a couple of days."

Xu Qing looked at the hunter in front of him. He was wearing a bone ring on his right hand that could only be used when hunting with a bow. He was wearing bear skin. Looking at the thick and powerful finger bones, he knew that this hunter had real skills.

"The leather I want is a little off-the-beaten-path. I wonder if you have any."

"What kind of skin? Come on, besides human skin, there's no other skin I can't get."

"Are there any mountain scoundrels who are over ten years old?"

The bark of the mountain basil is extremely yin and turbid, and is one of the raw materials for refining the armored wandering corpse in the Corpse-Nourishing Sutra. The older it is, the better the effect!

The hunter put down his boots upon hearing this and began to look the young man in the face. "The skin of a mountain thug is very rough and cannot be used as material. You want this thing for some other purpose, right?"

Without waiting for Xu Qing to reply, the hunter continued, "I don't care about that. You want the mountain thug skin, and I do have one in my possession. Someone originally wanted it, and I prepared it, but the person never came to pick it up. That was two or three years ago."

"I nearly lost my life for this hide, and even lost two of my good dogs. But this hide is rare, and it's rare for anyone to want it. I won't beat around the bush. I'll take the price that person offered and split it in half. I'll sell it to you for fifty taels of silver."

"How much?" Xu Qing thought the hunter was easy to talk to, but he never expected the other party to ask for fifty taels of silver. If that was the case, the person who asked him for the skins should have asked for at least a hundred taels!
"Don't disbelieve me, I don't know how to do business, and I won't ask for too much. If that person hadn't offered a high price, I wouldn't have risked my life to hunt that business."

"I paid my life for this skin. Look at these scars on my face. They were scratched by that guy who pretended to be dead after being injured. If I hadn't reacted quickly, the skin on my head would have been peeled off by him!"

Seeing that the other party did not speak, the hunter added: "Well, you prepare fifty taels of silver, and I will bring the skin of that gang to you the day after tomorrow. Then I will give you a blue wolf skin. What do you think?"

Xu Qing didn't haggle over the price with him anymore. He strolled around Dongshi Street for a long time. This was the only store that had stock.

If he missed this place, who knew how long he would be delayed. Besides, fifty taels of silver was nothing to him.

After the two of them agreed on a date, Xu Qing continued strolling along the East Market. When he arrived at the street corner, several yamen runners with their boots covered in yellow mud came towards him.

Xu Qing moved to another place and prepared to leave, but he was stopped by the leading captain of the police.

"You look familiar to me. Do you have a travel pass?"

Xu Qing looked at Zhao Zhonghe, whom he had met twice before, and felt quite helpless.

For some reason, he always felt that he and this captain of the police didn't get along well.

It's like it's fate.

Zhao Zhonghe took the ivory plaque and looked at the place of origin engraved on it. He couldn't help but ask, "Xiangyin County, Xiaoshitou Village? What are you doing in Linhe?"

Beside him, a yamen runner who had delivered corpses to the coroner's shop recognized Xu Qing and offered his help, "Boss, Shopkeeper Xu is in the funeral business, handling the removal of corpses and burials. I've been there before. Shopkeeper Xu has a shop on Jingxia Street, in that area full of funeral shops."

"Bah! What fucking bad luck!" Zhao Zhonghe had just returned from outside the town. The 106 shriveled corpses had not yet disappeared from his mind, and he met a man who dealt in the corpse business. Why did he encounter these underworld things every day!

At this time, not only Zhao Zhonghe was unhappy, but Xu Qing also felt uncomfortable, because his dream stick was still hanging on the other person's waist!
Just like that, the two people who had always disliked each other parted ways again.

Regardless of why Zhao Zhonghe always picks on him, he still has to live his life day by day from now on. After all, he can't count on that guy named Zhao.

Xu Qing is now only thinking about the Shan Hunzi skin that he will get in two days. As long as he has this skin, he can officially start to upgrade to the Iron Armored Zombie. As for the dog-beating stick, just let the dog take it away!
After returning to the shop, not long after, Wu Yaoxing, the know-it-all from next door, came over with a fish!
"Look, I went to the pier to ask for the carp from someone I know."

Wu Yaoxing said with a smile, "My boy is going to take the imperial examination in the spring. This carp is a good omen. As the saying goes, 'The carp leaps over the dragon gate!'"

"Here, I brought one for you, so you can share in the joy!"

Xu Qing looked at the fish and thought that the Corpse Raising Sutra didn't say that zombies couldn't eat fish. How about cutting some sashimi and trying it later?

While the two were chatting, Wu Yaoxing mentioned the big event that happened outside Linhefang.

It is said that more than a hundred people died at the hands of monsters overnight. How horrible!

"You often go out to attend funerals, so you have to be very careful. Who knows what evil spirits are going on outside the neighborhood?"

After hearing this, Xu Qing was not worried about the evil spirits. The first thing he thought about was whether these more than one hundred dead bodies would be sent to him?
Then, he thought of the demon from Tianxin Sect coming to Linhefang.

After thinking for a moment, Xu Qing advised Wu Yaoxing, "Old Wu, try not to go to the pier recently. I heard from my friends at the pawnshop that it's been occupied by the Jinmen gang, and they're fighting fiercely right now. You might get hurt accidentally!"

"Is that so? Then I won't dare go there again!"

Wu Yaoxing was very careful about his life, and when he heard this, he would never dare to stroll around the pier again!
(End of this chapter)