Demon, come and cultivate for me.

Zhou Chu took the red cloth bag, opened it, and saw that it contained the red beads spat out by the giant centipede.

The bead is smooth and round, with a flowing red light all over it, and feels cool to the touch when held in the hand.

This object is neither gold nor jade, and its material is unknown.

But one thing is certain: this thing is extraordinary.

Xie Ning said, "The pawnshop owner didn't recognize this item either. He estimated it to be worth ten taels, but I thought it was worth far more than ten taels, so I didn't sell it to him. Do you know what this bead is used for?"

Zhou Chu shook his head.

I've only been here a few days, how could I possibly recognize this thing?

You should ask the white fox instead of me; she's lived longer than me on Guniu Mountain.

"Xiaobai, do you recognize this?" Zhou Chu looked at Hu Xiaobai and found that the other person was also staring at him.

"Ah." Hu Xiaobai was staring at Zhou Chu in a daze, completely ignoring their conversation. He only snapped out of his reverie when Zhou Chu called him.

"I don't recognize it. We foxes rarely go near the mountain god's temple, let alone know there's a centipede cave below." Hu Xiaobai couldn't help but get goosebumps when he recalled what happened that day.

Xie Ning pondered for a moment, then seemed to have thought of something else:

"That day at the pawnshop, we met a strange old man. He followed me and Xiaobai out of the pawnshop and offered twenty taels of silver for this bead."

The old man seemed to be blind in one eye, and he had a black cloth wrapped around his head…

"What does he need this for?" Zhou Chu asked.

The old man was willing to spend twenty taels of silver to buy this bead, so he must know its purpose.

Otherwise, why would they spend so much money to buy a bead that is neither edible nor drinkable?

Xie Ning shook her head and said, "I didn't ask. I was in a hurry to get your medicine, so I ignored him and thought I would make a decision after you woke up."

"You guys eat first, I'm going out for a stroll," Zhou Chu said, tucking the red bead into his pocket and getting up.

He decided to go out and try his luck to see if he could run into the one-eyed old man Xie Ning had mentioned again.

He was old and had lost one eye; these were very obvious signs.

If this person is still in the city, they can definitely be found.

If you happen to encounter it, ask about its purpose.

Even if we can't get the answer from him, it's still worth selling it to him at a higher price.

Anyway, the bead is in my possession and is of no use to me for the time being, but exchanging it for silver can solve my immediate problem.

Wuyang City was a large city within the territory of the Yan State.

In terms of both scale and prosperity, it was second only to the capital city of Ji.

Because of the rampant evil spirits in the wild, most of the wealthy families within a hundred miles of Wuyang City moved to live in the city.

There are many registered martial artists in the city, so ordinary demons dare not enter the city to cause trouble.

As noon approached, the streets and markets were bustling with people, and vendors were calling out their wares along the way, creating a lively atmosphere.

As Zhou Chu walked down the street, he suddenly felt as if he had been transported to another world.

Compared to the peaceful and prosperous Wuyang City, the villages near Guniu Mountain were like a living hell.

The villagers relied on the harvest from their few acres of meager land to pay not only the government's land tax but also to save their food rations to offer to the mountain god.

Families with daughters should always worry that their daughters might be favored by the mountain god.

Once chosen as a living sacrifice, there's truly no one to turn to for help.

Now that the mountain god is dead, the villagers can finally breathe a sigh of relief.

This cannibalistic world...

Zhou Chu had his left hand behind his back, while his right hand fiddled with a red bead. He deliberately raised his arm high, intending to attract attention.

This item won't fetch much at a pawn shop; it can only be sold for a good price if it's sold to someone knowledgeable.

Zhou Chu wandered through three or four streets, but no one approached him to talk about the beads in his hand, nor did he encounter the old man Xie Ning had mentioned.

Several courtesans, seeing his expensive clothes and unfamiliar face, and wondering which noble family he might be, gathered around him.

"It's hot today, young master, why don't you come up and have a cup of fresh tea?"

"Please come upstairs, young master. We sisters are skilled in playing various instruments and singing."

"I have a very clever tongue; I can not only sing..."

Three or four women with rosy cheeks and red lips came up to Zhou Chu, hugged his arm, and invited him upstairs to drink tea and listen to music.

The fragrance of cosmetics was intoxicating, and the melodious chirping of birds made one's bones feel weak.

Zhou Chu gazed at the deep furrows, swallowed hard, and waved his hand in refusal.

"I have something to do today, so I won't have tea today. Let's do it another day."

Undeterred by the enthusiastic invitations of the courtesans, Zhou Chu followed the aroma of food and entered a street lined with food stalls.

The streets are lined with stalls of all kinds, offering a wide variety of dishes, from steaming and boiling to stir-frying, attracting a constant stream of diners.

A bowl of steaming hot braised pork noodles costs only four copper coins. A bite of a juicy meat bun costs one coin.

Zhou Chu ordered a bowl of noodles and a steamer of buns, and sat down under the shade of the roadside pavilion.

Before long, the stall owner brought out the steamed buns.

Zhou Chu grabbed the steamed buns, not minding the heat, and stuffed them into his mouth one after another.

While waiting for his braised pork noodles, he saw two men in short blue shirts sit down at the next table.

The two, one fat and one thin, presented a striking contrast.

He had seen these two people when he was entangled with the prostitute earlier.

It's too much of a coincidence that we've met here again.

Zhou Chu turned to look at them and found that the skinny man was also staring at him.

The moment their eyes met, the skinny man's gaze flickered, and he immediately turned his head to look in the other direction.

At this moment, the braised pork noodles were served. Zhou Chu lowered his head and pretended to be only focused on eating the noodles, but secretly he was keeping a watchful eye on things.

The two men each ordered a bowl of noodles. The fat man slurped his noodles with such gusto that it sounded like a pig, while the thin man chewed each noodle slowly and carefully.

Zhou Chu ate six large bowls of noodles and two steamers of buns before he felt slightly full.

Then look at that skinny man; he hasn't even finished half a bowl of noodles.

The fat man's bowl was empty of soup; he stared blankly at the noodles in the skinny man's bowl.

Zhou Chu raised his voice and called out, "Check, please."

The noodle stall owner ran over, wiping his hands on his apron: "Sir, that'll be forty-four coins in total."

Zhou Chu first took out a red bead from his pocket and placed it on the table, then reached into his pocket for silver.

The two men at the next table didn't turn their heads, but they stared at the beads that Zhou Chu had placed on the table.

Zhou Chu saw everything and understood.

After paying the bill, Zhou Chu put away the beads and left.

The two men indeed got up and followed behind.

Zhou Chu deliberately chose to walk through the less crowded alleys, his pace varying in speed.

The two men were in hot pursuit, but after many twists and turns, they accidentally lost sight of each other.

"You fatso, I told you to eat less! You walk so slowly, how are you going to explain this when you get back?" The skinny man complained, looking around at the crossroads of the alley.

"Even your lightning-fast kicks can't catch him, let alone mine..." the fat man retorted.

"This Crimson Mirage Pearl is more important than our lives. If we can't find you, we'll both die." The skinny man scratched his head anxiously.

So much has happened these past few days. First, the mandrill on Guniu Mountain was killed, and then the giant centipede under the mountain god temple also met a tragic end.

These monsters are dead, so what? It's no big deal.

The crucial issue is that the pearl nurtured by the centipede's venom has been lost, which is a major problem.

I heard that the old Taoist priest had nurtured this bead for many years, and it was almost ready to be completed, but someone beat him to it and took the peach.

When the old Taoist priest learned of this, he acted like a mad dog and immediately smashed the senior brother who had brought the news into a pulp.

The skinny man felt a churning in his stomach as he recalled his senior brother's death.

The old Taoist priest sent all his fellow disciples out to search for the whereabouts of the bead.

There's a hefty reward for finding clues, but those who slack off will be killed by the old Taoist priest when they return.

In just a few days, only five of the sixteen fellow disciples remained.

If they can't deliver on their promise today, they won't dare go back to the Taoist temple to see the old Taoist priest.

"Senior brother, why don't we run away?" The fat man was broad and stout, and spoke in a deep, muffled voice. "The old Taoist priest has gone mad. If we go back like this, he'll get so angry that he'll feed us insects."

The skinny man slapped the fat man on the head: "Where are you going? You and I are both lowly people now, it's good that we have the old Taoist priest protecting us..."

"It's all that damned Zhou Chu's fault. If it weren't for him, would we brothers be suffering like this?" The fat man clenched his fist. "If I catch him, I'll beat the shit out of him. He'll be considered clean for sure."

"Come on, we don't even know what he looks like, how are we supposed to catch him?" The skinny man glanced at him sideways and said:

"The old Taoist priest said that if we find this Crimson Mirage Pearl, we can learn the immortal techniques from him and achieve eternal life. Do you believe it?"