Chapter 48 The Crucial Medicinal Material

Mr. Liang who had entered the tavern glanced at the middle-aged woman standing by the counter several times and then looked at Li Fuyao who still drank alone sitting at the table.

This Confucian cultivator named Liang Shu wasn’t anxious to take actions or speak. He just stood on the way to come out and thought of something.

As one of the more than ten cultivators in the army of the North Military Government, Liang Shu was leisurely at ordinary times and had nothing else to worry after practicing every day. Although they were guarding the north border, Yanling and Dayu didn’t start a war, so he didn’t need to take actions. However, when such a cultivator who was absorbed in cultivating found that he couldn’t make progress, and even moved ahead slowly, he felt sad. So since he worked in the North Military Government and guarded the north border for Yanling more than ten years ago after he left that Luoshui Academy, he found for the first time that he was about to break through while he had remained in a stage for long, so he almost cried and worshiped those Confucian sages. But good things were a long time in coming. He didn’t finish the last step five years ago, and then he stopped making progress in the past few years, always staying at the peak of the Awakening Stage. He didn’t break through to enter the Fundamental Stage he had always dreamed about.

After all, although it looked like only one step away, there would be a great difference after he crossed it. Once he finished the Awakening Stage and entered the Fundamental Stage, he would be officially walking on the road to cultivation. More than that, he could live for three hundred years. It meant that then he would have over two hundred years to seek for the next stage step by step and might even live forever. The chance was slim, but Liang Shu couldn’t resist that temptation, even though he was clear that he couldn’t live forever.

But at least there was a chance.

So in the past five years, Liang Shu was sleepless at night and thought about nothing but how to break through and enter a new world. In the period, he had tried many ways but failed at last. When he was almost crazy, he found an ancient book in the library of Luoshui Academy unexpectedly. It was said in the book that the demon core of a demon who had become like a human could be used to make an elixir. After eating the elixir, the cultivator could have a chance to break through. Liang Shu had collected all the other medicinal materials to make this elixir, and he just needed the last and crucial material.

The demon core.

There were countless demons who had become like people on the demonic land in the north, but it was difficult to see a demon like a person in this human world. Even if there were, they would hide in the deep mountains and forests. If he, a cultivator at the Awakening Stage went to such places, he would court death.

So after he knew that there was a snake demon like a human somewhere at the north border, this Confucian cultivator intended to capture her.

He wanted to kill the snake demon, took out the demon core and then entered the Fundamental Stage.

He was in a daze for a short while.

“Who are you?”

Then Liang Shu asked that teenage boy.

The boy who drank at the table put down the wine bowl and looked as if lost in thought. He stayed silent for a while and then replied seriously, “A customer.”

This answer obviously couldn’t satisfy Liang Shu, who looked at the half of the machete next to the boy and frowned, “A warrior?”

Li Fuyao nodded with a smile, “I have learned some family martial skills and can’t be presentable, but I think it’s more than enough to catch several arrows.”

Liang Shu rebuked angrily, “Ignorant. Do you know what kind of demon this woman is?”

Li Fuyao was surprised, “The shopkeeper just has big boobs. How can she be called demon woman? Sir, even if you are from the government, you can’t slander her, right?”

Liang Shu was furious and said coldly, “If you know yourself well enough, just leave now. I don’t want to hurt the innocent people from Yanling.”

Li Fuyao stood up and lifted his broken machete, responding with a smile, “It happens that I am not from Yanling.”

Liang Shu frowned and said in a rage, “Even if you are from Dayu, you don’t have a reason to give unprincipled protection to this demon. We don’t know how many people were swallowed by this demon. You are just a warrior, and if I don’t have a plan today, do you think you can leave here alive? I don’t want to kill anybody for no reason, and it wouldn’t be helpful to my cultivation. Just step aside.”

Li Fuyao shook his head, “But this shopkeeper once offered me free wine.”

Li Fuyao didn’t know how a cultivator who hadn’t entered the Fundamental Stage dared to kill a snake demon who had become like a person, but since that shopkeeper who must be at a higher stage than Liang Shu didn’t speak till now, no matter how stupid Li Fuyao was, he knew that there must be something wrong with her. Otherwise, how would she be so cautious in front of such a cultivator at the Awakening Stage?

Moreover, after what happened by the Luosang River, Li Fuyao didn’t like such cultivators from Yanling.

Li Fuyao turned around and looked at the shopkeeper of the tavern, asking seriously, “Have you eaten people before?”

The middle-aged woman showed a vague expression and replied calmly, “They don’t taste good.”

Li Fuyao stretched out his hands and smiled, “That’s it. Since she has never eaten people, you shouldn’t say that she is vicious. Sir, if you still insist on fighting, just fight with me first. But I tell you in advance. Even if you defeat me, the fight won’t stop because I will ask somebody to help me later.”

Liang Shu looked at the two customers bending over the table who hadn’t woken up, with a complicated expression in his eyes. He didn’t find any vital energy on this boy’s body, but since this boy was not from Yanling, he might be from Dayu where there were different kinds of people, including cultivators from the three religious sects. And many cultivators at this young age could be at a higher stage than Liang Shu. Moreover, a lot of cultivators in the human world liked to make themselves look like at a certain age, and ordinary people didn’t know how old they were.

This boy in front of him might be that kind of cultivator with a weird character, so Liang Shu didn’t dare to reach a conclusion easily.

Seeing that Liang Shu had no reaction, Li Fuyao asked with a smile, “Will you fight? If not, I will continue to drink.”

Liang Shu displayed a more complicated expression, being afraid that he might meet a big shot by chance that he couldn’t afford to offend. If so, he might lose his life here, not to mention breaking through.

Liang Shu hesitated, but the middle-aged woman asked, “Sir, you came here just for a demon core, and in fact, it is not a big deal. If you can ensure my safety at the north border in the future, what matters after I give the demon core to you?”

After all, Liang Shu just wanted this demon core and it didn’t matter whether he killed the snake demon. It was not six thousand years ago when the two races would fight till death as soon as they met.

After keeping quiet for a while, he nodded, “Since you know the purpose of my arrival and you are so straightforward, I won’t pester you. If you give me the demon core, I will ensure that you are always safe and sound at the north border. I don’t think there will be many years.”

The middle-aged woman smiled faintly and saluted Li Fuyao, saying, “Sir, thanks for your kindness, but I don’t want to fight in this tavern. It’s fine and much trouble would be avoided in the future.”

Li Fuyao didn’t say anything but just thought that if Qing Quai was not drunk and sleeping, perhaps Liang Shu had been torn into halves. It was fine that he bullied a Demonic cultivator in front of Qing Huai, but it was a snake demon, so he would be in trouble.

At the moment, before the middle-aged woman did anything, the old Confucian scholar who had been sleeping at the table opened his eyes.

He looked at this uninvited guest and stated indifferently, “If you come into the tavern not to drink, then you are not a customer. Since you are not a customer, what are you doing here? Why don’t you get out?”

Li Fuyao was astonished.

The Confucian scholar scratched his head and looked at the middle-aged woman with a smile, “You are the shopkeeper. How can you let others bully you?”

Liang Shu felt something wrong. Before he spoke, he saw that the old Confucian scholar bent his fingers on the table and waved his hand casually. Then Liang Shu was hit by strong force.

He knocked the door of the tavern broken and flew out backward before falling in the heavy rain, with mud all over his body.

The old Confucian scholar came out of the door and said peacefully, “Since you have forgotten how to be a scholar, I will reason with you in the way of the cultivator’s.”