The Little Life of a Big Landlord

Chapter 177 Strange

(Please subscribe and support...)

(A loud plea for monthly votes! Brothers and sisters, does anyone have any monthly votes?! Please vote for this forum! If you don't, they'll expire at the end of the month... It seems like it's only the middle of the month... Hehehe...)

Yang Ming originally wanted to go find the old pervert. Although their voyeurism was uncomfortable, he was still an elder, and he couldn't just leave him out of the meal. But after searching for a long time, he couldn't even find a trace of him. Finally, the old swindler spoke up: "If the old pervert is hiding, no one will find him..."

"What kind of egg is this? Why does it taste like grapes? Just one whiff makes my golden core jump wildly..." The old swindler picked up a piece of fried dragon egg, his eyes bulging out of their sockets.

"Hehe, there are a lot of Chinese medicinal herbs added to this..." Yang Ming laughed.

"Bullshit, do you think I can't smell whether there's Chinese medicine or not? This is the purest egg, hmm, the scallions don't count..." the old swindler said, pursing his lips.

"Then tell me, how was this egg made?" Yang Ming asked.

"Of course it's fried..." The old swindler rolled his eyes at Yang Ming, stuffed the dragon egg into his mouth, and said, "Hmm, not bad, tastes good. I really don't know what kind of divine bird's egg this is. It's very beneficial to us Qi cultivators..."

"Hehe, could it be a dragon egg???" Yang Ming laughed.

"Hmph, maybe..." The immense primordial energy contained within the dragon egg circulated within the old swindler's stomach before being absorbed into the golden core. The golden core, originally only the size of a soybean, immediately grew larger.

"Let me try this one..." The old swindler, having tasted the deliciousness, also had high hopes for the other plate of scrambled eggs. He picked up a piece, brought it to his nose, and took a gentle sniff. He immediately felt refreshed and clear-headed. "Great! This is to replenish my vital energy..."

"I'm saying, can you please stop with this fantasy? You're corrupting the children..." A black line appeared on Yang Ming's forehead.

This old man is really something, talking about Golden Core and Primordial Spirit. I just said Golden Core doesn't care about you, and he's already getting all worked up...

"Hehehehe, brain-boosting..." The old swindler chuckled and stuffed the scrambled eggs into his mouth.

Next, the old swindler went after these two types of eggs. These two types of eggs tasted good and were also very beneficial to his cultivation, so the old swindler naturally didn't hold back.

After they had eaten and drunk their fill, the old swindler dragged Yang Ming away without saying a word, leaving the three girls who wanted to hear more martial arts stories feeling quite disappointed. Little Bao'er, however, went to school happily with her little schoolbag on her back. She had learned a lot of martial arts secrets and two new terms today, which she was going to show off to her friends.

"Kid, tell your uncle, what exactly are those two eggs of yours???" The old swindler pulled Yang Ming onto the bridge, and the two stood by the railing.

"My two balls???" Yang Ming was sweating profusely. He looked down and saw that his pants were on properly and the zipper was zipped up. He couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

"You little rascal, don't try to fool me. I'm almost a hundred years old. Do you think your little tricks can fool me?" the old swindler said disdainfully.

"Hehe, sir, I'm a little puzzled. Why did you disgust me outside the train station back then?" Yang Ming laughed.

"The reason? It's very simple..." The old swindler grinned wickedly. "I just wanted to plant a little inner demon in you so that you could officially embark on the path of cultivation. But who knew that you would be so unmoved and not affected at all..." He became quite frustrated as he spoke.

"That's pretty mean..." Yang Ming said.

"What's with the 'slander'??? This old man is trying to help you..." The old swindler's eyebrows and beard twitched. "Later, I also fooled your two female classmates, who knew..."

The old swindler became even more conflicted when Zhang Fenghuang and Liu Lili were mentioned.

"Hehe..." Yang Ming chuckled.

"I really don't know why you kids have such good mental fortitude. Neither of those two girls believed me..." the old swindler muttered.

"Grandpa, you're so out of touch. This is an information-overloaded society. What can't you find online? Your tricks have been used to death online..." Yang Ming said disdainfully.

"Okay, okay, I guess I'm out of touch. Tell me, what kind of egg is that?" the old swindler said.

"Not bad, you know you're out of touch..." Yang Ming sweated a little and laughed, "Don't you think your request is too rude? You know what you're talking about, you naturally understand the value of those two plates of scrambled eggs..."

"Kid, I'm afraid you'll go to hell after you die because you're wasting such precious things... Both kinds of eggs are divine, but you know, the way you're doing it, you're wasting more than 80% of the good stuff inside..." the old swindler said.

"Oh? You mean..." Yang Ming raised an eyebrow.

"I can use alchemy to retain more than 90% of the nutrients in those two types of eggs," the old swindler said.

"Alchemy???" Yang Ming's face darkened. "You're not going to need lead and mercury, are you??? Are you making poison???"

"Nonsense..." The old swindler's beard twitched with rage. "Who told you the Way of Lead and Mercury is about refining poisons? That's the Great Golden Elixir, okay? It's made by using the human body as a furnace, with essence, energy, and spirit as the three treasures, to refine the Human Golden Elixir. That's a coded language, don't you understand? The alchemy I'm talking about is the Lesser Golden Elixir, made by combining various medicinal herbs and boiling them into pills with honey. You... you ignorant little bastard..."

"Uh, so that's how it is..." Yang Ming nodded repeatedly, giving an awkward smile.

"Hmph... Now you know how awkward it is to talk to this kid, right? It's like talking to a brick wall..." The old lecher's voice came from under the bridge. The two looked down and saw that the old lecher was sitting cross-legged on the ice. A large hole had been carved into the ice in front of him, and some small fish were breathing around the hole.

"You know what..." the old swindler sighed, then leaped off the bridge and sat cross-legged next to the old lecher. "No wonder you two are master and apprentice! You really know him well..."

"Hmph..." The old lecher snorted twice through his nose, "What kind of eggs are you talking about???"

"Oh!" the old swindler drawled, "They're just two very ordinary eggs, one that can so-so boost your energy, and the other that's passable for supplementing your brainpower..."

"My God..." The old lecher staggered, almost falling into an ice hole, staring at the old swindler in astonishment, "Is what you said true? You haven't relapsed into your old habits???"

Mentioning his old habits, the old swindler immediately jumped up like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, pointing his finger at the old lecher and cursing, "You old bastard, who are you calling a jerk?! You're the one who's having those old habits! Your whole family has those old habits..."

"Brother, don't blame me for suspecting you, it's just that you have a criminal record..." The old lecher said with tears in his eyes, excitedly grabbing the old swindler's hand, but what he said was extremely infuriating.

"Hey, what are you two doing???" Yang Ming leaned over the bridge railing and looked down. Seeing that the two old men were about to get angry, he couldn't help but shout to remind them that there was someone else watching the show up above.

As soon as Yang Ming's voice rang out, the two old men immediately stopped, revealing unusually sincere smiles on their faces, although their ashen complexions made it clear to anyone that they were being fake.

Yang Ming didn't have the skills of those two old men. He went down the bridge first, then walked across the ice, and sat down with them around the ice hole. Yang Ming said, "What exactly did you come here for? You should tell me now, right?"

"Didn't you say you didn't want to know??? Weren't you afraid of an awkward silence???" The old lecher rolled his eyes, still holding a grudge against Yang Ming's "polite words" from back then.

"Ah! Well, I just feel that I'm just an ordinary person, so if you have any dangerous missions, you don't need to assign them to me..." Yang Ming smiled awkwardly.

"The task will naturally not be given to you, but it is indeed quite dangerous..." the old lecher said leisurely.

"Danger? What danger could I possibly be in?" Yang Ming frowned. "Is it targeting me?"

"That's right, it's definitely aimed at you. Do you know who Gu Pan is?" the old swindler said seriously.

"Gu Pan???" The image of the girl suffering in the cold cave appeared in Yang Ming's mind.

"That's right, it's her. She's the current direct descendant of the family I was talking about. Her kung fu skills have reached a superb level. However, when she came to you, she quickly disappeared without a trace. Gu Pan is very important to that family, so as long as Gu Pan doesn't show her face, that family will definitely not give up..." the old swindler said.

"That Gu Pan has such a big background???" Yang Ming was surprised.

"Of course..." The old swindler nodded heavily. "She is the only daughter of the current head of that family. Her future husband and the inheritance of the alchemy skills all depend on her..." At this point, the old swindler laughed maliciously: "Hehe, speaking of which, Gu Pan's father is already dead, and the alchemy skills are passed down orally. Without Gu Pan, that family would have lost the alchemy skills..."

"Isn't this weird??? Is Gu Pan that important???" Yang Ming blinked and said.

"Of course..." the old swindler nodded.

"Why don't I believe it? I remember you said that the thief who went to our backyard yesterday seemed to be a practitioner of alchemy, right?" Yang Ming said.

The meaning is quite obvious, isn't it? Didn't you say they only care about one successor? Then what was that thief doing yesterday?

"You kid can't be that stupid, can you? That alchemy technique is powerful, but it's divided into several stages. First, there's the hundred-day foundation building, then the refining of essence into qi, then the refining of qi into spirit, then the refining of spirit into emptiness, and finally the refining of emptiness into the Dao... That thief last night at most knew the incantation for refining qi into spirit, but the rest... Hmph, he definitely wouldn't know, because the incantation for the rest is the true essence of the entire alchemy technique..." the old swindler said.

"Not only that, but the processes of transporting the river chariot, the birth of infants and girls, the meeting of dragons and tigers, the convergence of the five elements, and the gathering of the three flowers at the top are extremely complicated..." the old lecher added.

Yang Ming's gaze fell on the old lecher.

"Tell us, where did you take her???" The old lecher squinted, sensing Yang Ming's gaze, and said, "Although I hate to admit it, you really have a sinister side. You've definitely got Gu Pan under your control..."

"Ahem..." Yang Ming coughed twice. "You two, tell me first, what exactly is the profound cultivation method of the alchemy that Gu Pan's ancestor seized?"

Yang Ming's attitude was tantamount to admitting that Gu Pan was indeed in his hands. This shocked the two old men, but they did not show it on their faces.

"Dan Gong is Dan Gong, and Xin Fa is Xin Fa; they're not the same thing," the old swindler said, scoffing at Yang Ming's ignorance for a moment. "I don't know the name of that book, but anyone who's read 'The Legend of the Condor Heroes' should know it's the martial art that Ouyang Feng longed for day and night..."

"The Nine Yin Manual???" Yang Ming's eyes widened in disbelief.

"It's the Nine Yin Manual, a Taoist classic on alchemy. I don't know how it happened, but it ended up in the Qing Dynasty's treasury..." the old lecher sighed.

"The way of Heaven is to take from the excess and give to the deficiency. Therefore, emptiness overcomes fullness, and deficiency overcomes excess." Yang Ming could still spout a few lines like that. It was really interesting that Guo Jing was reciting the text. Basically, anyone who had read "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" could say it.

"Not bad, not bad, just like that..." The old lecher nodded repeatedly.

"But...but..." Yang Ming felt that the world was in some chaos.

"But what???" the old swindler asked.

"But this alchemy technique is said to be included in the Siku Quanshu..." Yang Ming said weakly.

As soon as Yang Ming spoke, the two old men were so shocked that they stood up.

"What did you say???" The old lecher grabbed Yang Ming's arm, squeezing so hard that Yang Ming grimaced. The old man's grip was incredibly strong, like an iron clamp.

"Kid, you're not lying to us???" The old swindler grabbed Yang Ming's other arm.

"I'll talk, I'll talk, don't get physical. I just heard it from netizens, I don't know if it's true or not..." Yang Ming quickly said.

"Right, right, just verify it and we'll know, right???" The old lecher was also in a panic. He immediately released Yang Ming, took out his phone from his pocket, and dialed his apprentice: "Youngest, this is your master. Hurry up and check if there's a 'Nine Yin Manual' in the 'Complete Library of the Four Treasuries'... No, no, it's not called the 'Nine Yin Manual.' 'Nine Yin Manual' is the name in the novel. What's it called in reality again... Anyway, just check it for me. Find all the parts about alchemy in the 'Complete Library of the Four Treasuries' and email them to me in a bit... Okay, hang up now..."

Just as the old lecher finished his call, the old swindler called his apprentice and gave him the same instructions.

"Kid, if what you're saying is true, you've done a great service. It's not impossible for me to make an exception and let you learn my kung fu..." the old lecher said.

"Didn't you say you were my master? Why do I have to make an exception to learn your kung fu?" Yang Ming said.

"You don't understand, do you??? Do you know what your master did before joining Xingyi Sect?" The old swindler curled his lip, his face full of disdain.

"You bastard, it's none of your business, go do what you're supposed to do..." The old lecher glared at the old liar, his eyes blazing with fury, and roared.

"..." The old swindler's mouth moved, but he ultimately kept it closed.

"Hearing you say that, I'm starting to understand. You weren't a lecher in the past, were you?" Yang Ming looked at the old lecher with disdain in his eyes.

"That's not what I said..." The old swindler stepped forward at the opportune moment to clear himself of any involvement, immediately confirming just how promising the old lecher's former profession was.

The old lecher's face instantly turned purplish-blue, and he roared, "Bullshit! I just finished two crimes and my mentor caught me, took me under his wing, and I eventually reformed and became a good person. I even married both of them in the end..."

"Oh??? Bigamy..." Yang Ming looked at the old lecher with disdain.

"Bullshit! Back then, the People's Republic of China hadn't even been established yet. Our marriage was legal then," the old lecher retorted angrily.

"Don't say it anymore, just keep it to yourself. Hurry up, let's get down to business..." The old swindler tugged at Yang Ming with a sly look on his face.

"There's one last question, and I guessed it too. That yellow book you gave me must be the internal energy cultivation method you practiced when you were a flower thief, right? You seem to have told me that it can only be used one-on-one, so how can you pick flowers in one-on-one..." Yang Ming said.

"You believe that? Are you crazy???" The old lecher's face turned ashen. "What kind of supernatural skill could there be in this world?"

"Alright, alright, let's not talk about that anymore. Let's get down to business. How did you manage to catch Gu Pan? With your skills? You didn't actually take advantage of her, did you?" the old swindler said.

"Am I that kind of person???" Yang Ming rolled his eyes.

"I believe that. You've practiced that kind of kung fu, plus you eat and drink well here, you're full of energy, and your desires are naturally quite strong. Last night, you were able to be a virtuous person all night long, which shows that you have a lot of self-control, at least much stronger than someone else..." The old swindler said, glancing at the old lecher.

The old lecher's face flushed red. He pretended not to hear the old swindler's words and instead asked Yang Ming, "So how did you catch her?"

"I didn't catch him, my wife caught him..." Yang Ming said.

"Wei Qingqing???" The two old men were both stunned.

"Ah..." Yang Ming nodded.

"Your fart doesn't stink at all..." The old swindler shook his head repeatedly. "Your wife is pregnant, how could she catch Gu Pan? Gu Pan could kill her with a flick of her finger..."

"That Gu Pan is a martial arts prodigy. Because the Dan Gong is written in classical Chinese, she grew up in China from a young age in order to completely decipher its secrets. During her time in China, she absorbed the essence of various martial arts schools, and her skills have become superb. In the country, there are definitely no more than a handful of people who can defeat her..." the old lecher said.

"That powerful???" Yang Ming's expression changed. He was terrified. If Gu Pan had suddenly attacked, he would probably have regretted it for the rest of his life.

"But you don't need to worry too much. The so-called martial arts world is definitely not as mysterious as it is in novels. Have you seen 'Wulin Feng'? Anyone who is slightly better than that is considered a martial arts master. But dealing with ordinary people is still a piece of cake..." the old swindler said.

"Really, I have no reason to lie to you. That Gu Pan was really caught by my wife..." Yang Ming said.

"Why don't I believe it? Can you take me to see it?" the old swindler said.

"Are you really sure you want to go see him???" Yang Ming asked the old swindler with certainty.

"Of course..." The old swindler nodded seriously.

"I've realized now that there's a saying that's absolutely true: birds of a feather flock together. You two are truly cut from the same cloth..." Yang Ming looked at the old swindler with disdain, then at the old lecher.

"What do you mean by that, kid???" The old swindler felt Yang Ming's gaze was somewhat sharp and couldn't help but shout angrily.

"Hmph..." Yang Ming snorted twice, a wicked smile appearing on his lips. "Ms. Gu is completely naked. You, a man, want to see her? That's quite a feat..."

"I don't even know if she's wearing clothes or not, how dare you say that? Let me tell you, don't try to pin this on me. If you dare to talk nonsense again, I'll beat you up..." The old liar was fuming as he spoke, but he kept glaring at the old lecher.

P.S.: Please recommend and add to your favorites...

(End of this chapter)