Immortality Cultivation: Fellow Daoists, please live for two more episodes!

White bones form steps to knock on the jade palace; deep in the blue clouds, all are demons.

Only three days after entering the park, Zhou Youyuan had already begun to look for a target.

Although he had a preliminary plan to shift the blame after listening to Zhao Xiaotang's introduction, how to do it was a delicate matter.

At the very least, you should clean yourself up completely to avoid getting yourself into trouble.

Fortunately, he recently learned some clues that might be helpful to his plans.

Zhao Donglai, the manager of this Jia-character herb garden, was said to have originally been a handyman. He was able to rise to the position of manager and oversee the handymen by currying favor with one of the disciples of the Lone Star Immortal.

If one could choose a menial servant and place the Dao foundation on him, it would attract the attention of Old Dog Zhao...

So he spent almost two months searching in the herb garden, but he still couldn't find a suitable one.

They're either too stupid or too reckless.

This wait lasted for fifty-three days.

That day, three servants died early in the morning at the Jiazi Medicinal Garden. They were carrying spirit beast manure when they were suffocated by the foul air and bled from all seven orifices. They had to be carried out immediately.

The foreman was too lazy to hire more people, so he borrowed a batch from the neighboring Bingzi herb garden to make up the numbers.

The leader, a burly, shirtless man, entered the room, avoiding the foreman's gaze, and kicked the skinny young man behind him in the back.

"What are you dawdling for? Go move the buckets."

The skinny boy staggered two steps, not daring to utter a word, and went to get the bucket.

Zhou Youyuan hadn't intended to pay any attention. He'd seen plenty of this kind of bullying in this area. Everyone has their own fate, and as long as it didn't happen to him, he wouldn't bother with it.

But as luck would have it, the foreman outside, perhaps not seeing enough people, also yelled at him:

"You, take that new guy, to the seventh row, six buckets of manure, and call it a day once you're done."

"Alright."

……

The seventh row of fields is at the very end of the medicinal herb garden; it takes about 15 minutes to make a round trip.

Zhou Youyuan carried the bucket ahead, with the skinny boy following behind. It was a boring job anyway, so Zhou Youyuan chatted with the boy from the Bingzi herb garden for a few minutes:

"What's your name?"

"Li...Li Xiaoyu, where are you, big brother?"

"Chen Changsheng".

After carrying six buckets, things got complicated when we were heading back to our jobs.

The burly man and his two henchmen blocked the road.

"I'm thirsty, go dig some spirit grain roots from the spirit field for me."

The burly man slapped Li Xiaoyu on the back of the head.

Li Xiaoyu didn't move. There were rules in the herb garden: if you were caught stealing spirit grain roots, you would be whipped, but it wasn't him, a strong man, who would be whipped.

"Can't you understand?"

The burly man grabbed him by the back of the collar and shoved him toward the spirit field.

Li Xiaoyu staggered a couple of steps, then bent down and rummaged through the weeds by the field.

The burly man might not have noticed and genuinely thought the kid had backed down and gone to dig, but Zhou Youyuan, with his eyesight honed from breaking through the barrier, could see it clearly.

This kid didn't reach into the spirit field at all; he pulled out four spirit grain roots that he had hidden under his shoes.

In other words, he had already stolen it, but he didn't take it or eat it. He hid it under his shoe and just happened to use it to avoid further trouble at this time.

In a medicinal garden teeming with thieves, stealing things isn't difficult; the real skill lies in hiding them afterward.

Li Xiaoyu handed over the spirit grain root, which the burly man snatched, chewed a couple of times, and spat the crumbs in his face.

"roll."

Zhou Youyuan watched Li Xiaoyu wipe her face and walk away. He turned back and counted again with his eyes. There were exactly four sticks. Just enough to feed her and just enough to keep her from causing trouble.

"Well done, kid. You're quite interesting. Even he was fooled by the kid's timid behavior at first. Li Xiaoyu may not be that strong in martial arts, but he's quite quick-witted and agile."

Perhaps, it was the bait he used to fish...

The rest of the journey was peaceful, and the two parted ways, returning to the familiar Jia-character medicinal field. Perhaps it was some inexplicable fate, but Zhou Youyuan encountered the burly man from before once again.

"Was he digging too fast just now? Could he have hidden it on his person beforehand?"

The burly man gestured with his chin towards his two lackeys:

"Go, intercept that kid again and search him thoroughly. Turn his body and bed upside down. If there's any stock, take it all back. If not, beat him until he confesses."

It's easier to deal with the King of Hell than with his underlings. Sometimes you can fool the tricks of the high and mighty immortals and elders, but you can't do anything about these lowly scoundrels.

The two turned and gave chase.

Zhou Youyuan passed by carrying an empty bucket.

This has nothing to do with him, really nothing. There are consequences for acts of bravery. He can barely protect himself, so why would he bother with other people's business? What if he gets into trouble because of what happened today?

After walking about ten more steps, I stopped.

It wasn't a sudden pang of conscience, but rather a very practical problem.

If this kid's old stock is really found today, I'm afraid the strong man will beat him to death.

He had been searching for this bait for almost two months, and it was uncertain whether he could find a more suitable one. A dead seed was worse than a pile of dung.

Manure can at least fertilize the fields.

Thinking of this, Zhou Youyuan turned around and walked back.

By the time we arrived, the scene was already quite bad.

Two lackeys cornered Li Xiaoyu next to the manure pile, one holding down her arm and the other flipping through her clothes.

The man rummaging through his clothes pulled a tattered rag from a hidden pocket close to his skin.

"Found it!"

The cloth was opened, revealing not some kind of spirit grain root, but two golden beans.

Each person was given five pills upon entering the park, and this kid only had two left.

"Wow, you even had some gold nuggets hidden away? I heard you even died..."

Before he could finish speaking, Li Xiaoyu lowered his head and bit the wrist of the person holding him down. As soon as the other person let go, he snatched back the cloth and rolled backward, landing in the manure pile.

The smell of the spirit beast's internal organs mixed with half a month's worth of fermented excrement was so strong that a normal person would vomit up their dinner after just one whiff.

He was curled up inside that lump of stuff, his body covered in indescribable things, his hands tightly clutching the cloth to his chest.

The two lackeys covered their noses and took two steps back:

"You fucking... is it really worth crawling into a dung heap for just two gold beans? Are you out of your mind?"

"Alright, that's enough. Go back and tell Monkey King we didn't find it. Who the hell would go rummage through a dung heap?... Put your hand out, or I'll tell everyone..."

"puff."

The empty bucket in Zhou Youyuan's hand tilted, and the remaining half-bucket of excrement was precisely poured into the back of the speaker's neck, flowing down his spine and into his crotch.

"Sorry, bro, the bottom of the bucket slipped and I couldn't hold on."

Zhou Youyuan looked completely innocent.

"You and him..."

"All of you, get back here! What are you dawdling about when we're done for the day!" The foreman shouted from afar, saving the day.

A single golden bean—no need to spend any money or offend anyone; it's a great deal.

The two men, covered in excrement and cursing, walked away.

Li Xiaoyu poked her head out of the manure pile. She was covered from head to toe, but the cloth wad was neatly wrapped around her.

He glanced at Zhou Youyuan.

"No need to thank me," Zhou Youyuan said, carrying the bucket away.

"Go wash up first, I'm afraid I'll die if I stand next to you."

That evening, Zhou Youyuan squatted by the Lingfei Ditch to get some fresh air. This place was so smelly that no one came here, and it was his usual spot for solitude every day.

Footsteps sounded behind him; it was Li Xiaoyu. He wondered how Li Xiaoyu had found his secret hideout.

Although the kid had washed, the bruises on his face were still there, and he was clutching half a piece of spirit grain root in his hand, which had been chewed on and had teeth marks on it.

"Big brother, here you go."

"Need not."

"Keep this. No one has ever helped me in this herb garden."

Zhou Youyuan looked at the half-eaten thing with teeth marks, took it and took a bite. It was bitter and astringent.

The two squatted by the Lingfei Ditch, one chewing on roots and the other picking at the soles of his shoes.

"You were beaten up like that in section C, why didn't you run?"

"The herb garden is protected by laws; there's no way to escape."

"So, we'll just wait to die?"

Li Xiaoyu didn't respond, and Zhou Youyuan didn't mind. He also glanced at the waistband where Li Xiaoyu had been hiding the tattered cloth bag, which had been torn apart during the day.

"Why are you holding this thing during the day? You can't use it in the garden."

"I won't spend the money here. My sister is down the mountain, she's seven years old and sick. I'll save up enough to go back and take her to see a doctor."

Zhou Youyuan remained silent.

It wasn't that he was moved... he just remembered a sentence he had heard when he passed by the dormitory building numbered C.

"His sister was killed by wild dogs down the mountain... Okay, let's not talk about it, it's bad luck."

If what those people are saying is true, then the person in front of me is saving money for someone who is no longer alive.

That's pretty damn.

He pulled half a dry bread from his pocket and tossed it over:

"You gave me your half, what are you going to eat for dinner?"

Li Xiaoyu took it, broke it in half, put one half in her mouth, wrapped the other half up and put it back in the hidden bag, along with the gold beans.

Zhou Youyuan didn't ask who the other half was for; there was no need to ask.

……

Back in the dormitory, he lay down and stared at the rafters, lost in thought.

He has spiritual roots, is intelligent enough, has strong convictions, and might even be ruthless enough...

He had all the elements of the perfect bait in his mind.

He pulled out the half-section of the spirit grain root remnant, with a dark red stain still clinging to the root, the blood that had seeped from Li Xiaoyu's gums when she was gnawing on it.

Now that we have the blood, there are two more things to do.

First, the bait is buried: the manure from the four medicinal gardens is fermented uniformly by the Jia-character group and then transported from each garden. The day after tomorrow, a batch of buckets will be transported by the Bing-character group, and no one will bother to dig under the manure buckets.

When Li Xiaoyu was beaten, he would hide by the Lingfei Ditch. The contents of the manure bucket would eventually fall into the ditch. Whether he found them in the mud or they were washed out, what did that have to do with Zhou Youyuan?

Secondly, we need to plan how to bring people to the Jiazi Medicine Garden. The binding of the "Record of Sending Off the Dead" requires thirty days of close companionship, not even a day less.

Without the monitoring and assistance from his mind, the plan would be too unpredictable, and he might easily lose control.

He pulled out a crescent-shaped jade pendant and a fragment of the "Spirit Gathering Technique" from the bottom of the shop.

To be honest, there was a moment when he felt like he was a terrible person.

But it only lasted for a moment.

This is the world of cultivation, not a charity. If he had other options, he wouldn't be spending his days squatting by a latrine picking out investment targets.

Besides, if this thing is given to Li Xiaoyu, it's at least a chance to turn his life around; if it's not, that kid will be beaten to death by the strong man in the Bingzi herb garden sooner or later, and there won't even be anyone to collect his body.

Thinking about it that way, I felt at ease.

He wrapped the things up and stuffed them into the bottom of the manure bucket.

The next morning, they found Old Wang and slipped him half a piece of gold.

"Brother Wang, there's a guy named Li Xiaoyu in the Bing section. He gets beaten half to death every day, and the manager dislikes him too. If there's an opportunity to transfer him, could you help us get him over? We're short-handed."

"become."

The gold has changed owners.

Who should go out instead? Of course, it'll be Li Feiyu.

That man is too cunning; we don't yet know what he's planning. Before the plan is implemented, it's best to send it as far away as possible to avoid adding unnecessary complications.

All that's left is to wait—wait for the manure buckets to arrive, wait for Li Xiaoyu to "accidentally" find that opportunity in the Spirit Fertilizer Ditch, wait for him to start cultivating, cause a commotion, and get kicked out of the "C" rank...