Don't farm, cultivate immortality!

It would be a lie to say that Bai Yu wasn't afraid. She was human too, and of course she would instinctively feel fear upon seeing a wolf demon the size of a calf. However, when she arrived in front of the three wolf demons, with Zhuang Xing and Yun Ling by her side, she wasn't entirely unsure of herself.

As for how to assess the wolf demons, there's actually no need for assessment; their strengths are readily apparent.

Who doesn't know what kind of wild beast a wolf is?

They are natural hunters, and the wolf demon before them is undoubtedly the best at hunting and fighting.

Zhuang Xing sat and talked with the wolf demon about many things, and learned more about the wolf demon clan. He got up and discussed a few things with Bai Yu, and told her everything he had heard from the wolf demon.

"Do you know that a group of Westerners have come to Yidu?" Bai Yu suddenly interrupted Zhuang Xing as he was speaking.

"The Western Barbarians, huh?" Zhuang Xing paused for a moment. "I bumped into them at the temple fair before the New Year, but why are you suddenly bringing up the Western Barbarians?"

He vividly remembers taking his younger sister to the temple fair in Yidu last year. He remembers the visitors from other ethnic groups, including a young Tibetan boy named Agula, with whom he exchanged names.

Zhuang Xing didn't know much about these Western Barbarians; he only heard Liu, the constable, talk about when they came to Dayu and why they came to Yidu in Chenzhou.

He remembered that among the Westerners there was a non-human being whom they worshipped as the "Sheep God," but he didn't know what the "Sheep God" was.

At this moment, hearing Bai Yu talk about the Western Barbarians again inevitably feels a bit strange.

“After the temple fair, the Westerners stayed in Yidu,” Bai Yu said. “One of them said he was the ninth son of the lord, who was the emperor of the Westerners. His name was Agula. Agula said he came to seek a way for his clan to survive.”

“Agula told His Majesty that he admired the prosperity and flourishing of Dayu and wanted to learn Dayu’s culture and technology, and bring these precious wisdom back to his clan. He said that if he brought back everything he saw here to his clan, he would inherit the title of lord, and then he could bring the Dayu people their cattle, sheep and wealth to repay their kindness.”

"Has His Majesty granted Agula's request?" Zhuang Xing asked.

"His Majesty specially ordered the Prefect to set up a school for the Western Barbarians, to teach them our language, and to let them visit our fishing, agriculture, and metallurgical industries," Bai Yu said.

"But what does this have to do with the wolf demon?" Zhuang Xing asked.

“Not long ago, the people from the Western Regions said they wanted to return to their homeland,” Bai Yu said. “They wanted to return to their land before the snow fell this winter. It took them more than two hundred days and nights to travel from the Western Regions to Dayu. They were not familiar with the route they came from, so it took them a long time. But now that they have traveled the route once, it seems that it won’t take that long. They said they could return to the Western Regions within three months.”

“Agula promised that next year he would return to Dayu with the reward from the Western Barbarians. He hoped to establish a trade route between the Western Barbarians and Dayu. He asked His Majesty for carriages, horses, and books. In addition, he told us how treacherous the road from the Western Barbarians to Dayu was.”

“Those Westerners are different from us. They… seem to have a lot of experience dealing with demons.” Bai Yu looked at the wolf demon beside him. “Let me be frank. Yidu can’t tolerate these wolf demons now. Even if they can speak human language and communicate, they are still too dangerous for the people of Yidu and for the police.”

"Cat demons and dog demons are fine. The people are used to seeing cats and dogs, and they don't need to show their faces on ordinary days. Fox demons also have magic tricks to hide themselves. But these wolf demons... I'm afraid they can't swagger into the city, at least not now. We don't have enough trust between us yet. Just like they won't let us into their tribe, we can't let them into our town yet."

"So you thought of the Western Barbarians?" Zhuang Xing said.

“The Westerners told us how treacherous that road was; it was a desolate wasteland, uninhabited by anyone,” Bai Yu said. “But these wolf demons live in such a desolate place. You know, in winter they can run hundreds of miles away in search of prey and go hungry for more than ten days.”

“I think this is their greatest strength. They have lived in that place for a long time. Perhaps they can establish some kind of relationship with the Westerners and use their experience and skills to reach that distant place together with the Westerners and our envoys.”

"Did you all hear that?" Zhuang Xing turned to look at the wolf demon.

The wolf demon twitched its ears. Wolves have excellent hearing, and Zhuang Xing and Bai Yu didn't deliberately avoid talking to them, so they naturally heard everything clearly.

"I don't quite understand what you're talking about," the wolf demon said. "Who is the Westerner? If we know him, you'll be willing to give us meat to fill our stomachs?"

“The Western Barbarians are not a single person,” Zhuang Xing explained. “The Western Barbarians are a place, just like this forest, a piece of land. It’s just that the land is far away from here, and the people who live there are all called Western Barbarians.”

"I understand, and then what?" the wolf demon asked.

Zhuang Xing and Bai Yu spent some time explaining to the wolf demon what exactly was going on.

The wolf demons had no concept of nations or races, nor did they care about such things. After listening to Zhuang Xing and Bai Yu talk at length, and once they were sure they understood what they were supposed to do, they finally asked the question that concerned them most.

"If we do as you say, then what will we get?"

“You will get a lot of meat,” Bai Yu said. “And the friendship between the Dayu people and the Xifan people. If the trade route is really established, you will probably be recorded in the history books and called wolf spirits or wolf gods, instead of being called demons.”

The wolf demons didn't hear Bai Yu's last sentence; they only heard four words: "lots of meat."

"How much meat is 'a lot'?" the wolf demon asked.

Bai Yu pointed to the box containing the fish for the cat demon: "See that box?"

The wolf demon nodded.

"It's probably ten or a hundred times more fish than that box, and it's not just fish, there are also beef, mutton, pork, chicken, duck and goose for you to choose from."

The wolf demon stared blankly for a while, seemingly wondering how many times it was tens or hundreds of times.

After they finished calculating, they suddenly stood up, raised their heads, and howled.

I don't know what they're saying, or maybe they're saying nothing at all.

You could feel that their previous drowsiness and fatigue had vanished, and they seemed to have become very excited and energetic.

Chapter 331 Monsters on a Boat

The next day, Zhuang Xing didn't sleep a wink, spending the entire night chatting with the local monsters around the campfire.

Compared to his previous caution and prudence, the demon felt more at ease with him the second time they met.

It seems the Taoist priest wasn't lying to the demons; he truly had a way to help them out of their predicament.

The morning was bright and clear; dew soaked the grass, and the tarpaulin was covered with mist.

On the makeshift stove made of stones, someone was baking flatbread and gathering the things that had been taken out yesterday onto the carriage.

Bai Yu said to the old fox, "If you are interested, you can come with us to Yidu to see for yourselves what is true and what is false. After you have seen it, you can go back to your clans and discuss it with your clansmen."

"This is troublesome," said the old fox.

Bai Yu then ordered someone to clear out a carriage and invited the cat demon, dog demon, and fox demon to board.

The three-headed wolf demons also accompanied them, but their fierce appearance inevitably frightened ordinary people. Zhuang Xing had them gather around him and Yunling, walking at the very back of the caravan, using magic to conceal their forms.

And so, the group headed towards the town.

This place is quite a distance from Yidu, but the carriages and horses we brought here will be useless on the way back.

After traveling for five days, they switched to water transport.

They were traveling on a ship belonging to the Pucao Merchant Guild. Bai Yu had considered everything in detail; the ship had been prepared before she arrived.

This ship was originally a merchant ship used for transporting goods. It was a three-masted sand barge with a square bow, square stern, and flat bottom, making it look very square.

Compared to these sand boats, the small covered boats and fishing boats used for ferrying people in Yidu are like a leaf floating on the water. Even the smallest sand boat can carry about 40,000 catties of cargo and provide food and drink for dozens of crew members.

Sand barges can go wherever the canal can reach, and they can even go into the sea. However, sand barges are best suited for shallow water. In shallow water, even if they run aground, the flat-bottomed cabin can help them easily return to the water. But in deep water, this design can easily cause them to malfunction.

Bai Yu led the demons onto the large ship, which was over fifty meters long, at the ferry crossing.

When had the monsters living deep in the mountains and forests ever seen such a large ship?

Even the old fox, who had lived for a very long time, had only ever seen the small boat that the boatman had rowed from afar. This was the first time in its life that it had ever seen a boat like this, and it was quite shocked.

There were no outsiders on the ship, and since they intended to live with the demons, they informed the crew of their existence.

The Taoist priest also dispelled his magic, revealing the three-headed wolf demon to everyone.

The crew members were terrified when they saw the enormous wolf demon, but fortunately a Taoist priest calmed them down. Yunling also brewed some calming and nourishing tea on the ship and gave it to everyone, which finally put them at ease.

By this time, they had already ventured into the human world and were at a smaller ferry crossing.

The post station was right next to the ferry crossing. It was a small post station a little far from Yidu, but it was still bustling with people coming and going.

Mule and horse carts were everywhere on the official road. Those were merchants on their way, and there were also people dressed as scholars carrying bundles. These were candidates recommended by private schools in various counties of Chenzhou. They were going to Yidu to take the provincial examination, which was held in Yidu every three years.

Several cat demons climbed up the mast to the top of the canvas net and looked around.

They were whispering something, their voices carried on the breeze, but they were simply praising "so many people" and "so many horses."

After a short rest, the sails were raised, and the sand barge set sail on the canal, which was several tens of meters wide, into the wind.

The cat demon on the mast squatted down and looked at the blue river surface.

On this river, there is more than one sand barge moving forward, and other sand barges can also be seen.

Both large and small boats were available. On the small boats that carried people, there were boatmen wearing hats who ferried passengers across the water, and the long, drawn-out boat calls could be heard from afar.

The cat demons opened their mouths wide and stood on high ground, gazing at the human world.

The old fox's gaze was mostly fixed on the sand barge where he was.

It paced back and forth on the deck. In the past, demons would hide in front of people to avoid being discovered, but there was no need for that today. It wandered around, and no one would come after it with sticks or swords.

Not knowing that no one was chasing it away, and that someone was willing to answer its questions, Bai Yu walked beside the old fox, answering its questions as they went.

The old fox asked, "How many days would it take to build a ship like this?"

“We have a shipyard in Yidu,” Bai Yu said. “A three-masted sand barge like this takes about two months, roughly sixty days, to complete.”

"Sixty days..." the old fox silently calculated in his mind.

The fox then asked, "Was this ship made by your elders using magic?"

Bai Yu said, "Shipbuilding does not require magic."

"Not using any magic at all?"

"Of course not. We build ships with our own hands. Apart from a small number of carpenters and shipmasters, everyone else in the shipyard is an ordinary person."

The old fox looked at the ship's planks beneath his feet, finding it hard to imagine how such a large ship could be built in sixty days.

At least foxes couldn't make it. The fox demons had made bamboo rafts to cross rivers, which involved cutting down bamboo and tying it together so that it could float on the water when stepped on. But this sand boat in front of them was not simply made by splitting wood and tying it together. They couldn't do anything more difficult.

For example, those little boats on the rooftops—they can't build them, but even though they can't, they understand what they're all about, so they don't feel anything special about them.

But this sand barge was different. The old fox followed Bai Yu to visit the wheeled vehicles under the deck. Large ships like this used a structure similar to a carriage wheel instead of oars. Looking at those ingenious structures, it couldn't help but admire human craftsmanship and wisdom.

Before coming to this boat, it thought that the people in the villages outside the woods who raised chickens and ducks and farmed the land were people. But after coming to this boat, it realized that it was just a frog looking down into a well.

The frog looked up and thought that the sky it saw was the whole sky, but it didn't know that it was in a deep well and what it saw was not even the tip of the iceberg of the sky.

Throughout the ages, dynasties have risen and fallen, but no matter what, humanity has continued to reproduce and thrive in this world, and there is a reason for that.

Even the most powerful demon, once it dies, will turn into dust and vanish into the mist.

But people can pass on their knowledge from generation to generation and continue to progress.

Even the weakest person has things they can do.

"Humans are truly the most intelligent of all beings..." the old fox exclaimed.

It felt somewhat frustrated because demons were no match for humans.

But at the same time, there was a hint of relief and joy.

Because it was a demon, it boarded a human's ship.

This ship might be able to carry it and its kind further.