Actually, I need something from the Hunter's Pagoda. In the Bloody Valley, Shun Jin will experience a drastic mental decline, and if she can't control it, not only will she go crazy, Shun Jin will lose control of herself and become someone else due to a mental disorder. In the worst-case scenario, she could die. Die by suicide after going crazy, or die emotionally like me.
I will explain it further after Shun Jin and I get to that place, before that I need a special medicine to prevent it.
Because of that, I called the shop attendant again. But unfortunately, another female attendant came out.
"Madam Mao is not in the mood to serve customers. I apologize, if there are any requests, you can give them to me." This time, the female shop attendant seemed more obedient and shy. She seemed more professional to serving customers not like the previous shop attendant.
"Hmm, I've changed my mind. Writing down my order won't guarantee that my order will be made quickly. How about you call the manager of this shop. I want to meet the manager."
"Umm... Uh... alright, please wait a moment, sir."
The shy-looking shop attendant walked behind the wall. After waiting a few minutes, the shop manager finally appeared.
It was none other than the beautiful shop attendant who had just been angrily raging at me.
"I will kick you out this time if you dare to bother me again, no matter who you are."
"Oh." I just shrugged once. Not taking her seriously. "I want to order something."
"Tell me quickly." The woman, whom the shy shop attendant had just called Madam Mao, crossed her arms in front of her chest. I was a little surprised that this shop manager was such a hot-tempered young girl. Her appearance as a shop attendant was deceiving.
"Can you find certain items? Ah, and if you have an alchemist, please make a pill from these ingredients."
"Alright, quickly tell me your order. I will charge you depending on the ingredients you mention."
Mao, the shop manager, still seemed angry at me. She didn't even want to look at my face, her customer.
"I need red ginseng, make sure it's more than five years old. Whale's eye, bird frog's spleen, and lightning chicken's heart. I want to get those ingredients within three days. Is that possible?"
Mao, the shop manager, frowned at my order.
"You want to make a pill from those strange ingredients? What kind of pill is it exactly?"
I shrugged. "A mental pill."
The shop manager nodded hesitantly. "I'll try to get them. We happen to have red ginseng being delivered here from Nanjing. But the rest... It seems it will take longer. Whale's eyes are hard to come by in the middle of mountains like this. Bird frog's spleen is a rare animal. Lightning chickens are not in mating season and are hard to find in ordinary mountains."
"I need them within three days. If not, forget my order." I was about to leave the shop, before Mao, the manager, called me.
"Wait! What's your name, crazy man?"
I turned around. "Are you going to try to get them?"
"Depends on the payment."
"Name the price."
"Two silver coins plus two hundred bronze coins."
I pulled out a pouch of bronze coins.
"There are a hundred bronze coins in this pouch."
The shop manager looked at me with a lazy gaze. She seemed to be insulting me as poor from her look.
"Are you kidding? Get out of here." Mao, the shop manager, was about to turn her body and go inside before her steps stopped when she heard me mention her master's name.
"My name is Long Yi. Ye Jing and I once helped Elder Enwan when the Hunter's Pagoda was almost bankrupt. He gave me and Ye Jing extensive access to request equipment and necessities from the Hunter's Pagoda for life as a form of his gratitude."
The angry girl turned her body back towards me. "The Elder Enwan is the owner of the Hunter's Pagoda throughout the inner continent. He would never say anything to help a foreigner like you. You're lying."
Mao looked at me with narrowed eyes, suspicious and disbelieving.
"Hah, you'll believe it if I tell you this."
"A charcoal seller, cutting wood and burning charcoal on South Mountain.
His face covered in ash and smoke,
his hair turned white, his fingers blackened.
What is the money from selling charcoal for?
For clothes on his body, for food in his mouth.
Pity—his clothes are thin,
yet he hopes the weather gets colder,
so the price of charcoal rises.
Last night, a foot of snow outside the city,
early in the morning he drove his charcoal cart, wheels pressing on ice.
Oxen tired, people hungry, the sun already high,
he stopped in the mud in front of the market's south gate.
Two riders came—who were they?
Court envoys in yellow, servants in white.
Documents in hand, mouths speaking decrees,
they turned the cart around, pulling the oxen north.
One cart of charcoal, more than a thousand jin,
forcibly taken—could not be refused.
In exchange:
half a roll of red cloth and a thin piece of silk,
tied to the ox's head as the 'price of charcoal'."
The shop manager gaped wide, hearing the poem I recited as if she had just heard an imperial decree.
This poem is a special poem created by the owner of the Hunter's Pagoda as their motto and a sign of their justice. Only the shop manager and high-ranking officials of the Hunter's Pagoda know it, and whoever knows this poem must respect its content and its reciter.
The shop manager now looked at me with full respect. She bowed as a sign of her reverence.
"Forgive me for being presumptuous towards one of the executives. I will try my best to get the materials you need within three days. I will also not take a single penny from you."
Humans are strange creatures. I can't believe a poem like this could be made into a special decree.
But that's what makes humans unique. They have loyalty to something. And those who have loyalty have nobility within them.
I put the bag of bronze coins back into my robe.
"Alright, I will look forward to the results."
"Yes, Master Long Yi. We will send you news as soon as we successfully obtain the order you requested."
I then left the Hunter's Pagoda without saying anything else. The shop manager didn't seem entirely convinced by me. I heard her whisper.
"I need to ask the boss about this."
***
Late afternoon. The sky turned orange. Birds chirped, telling their friends and families to quickly return to their nests. Because the nocturnal animals would soon awaken.
A few thin clouds passed by. Creating such an orange sunlight from the Western horizon.
I was drinking at an open-air tavern. The alcohol here tasted a little strange. Like river water.
But their wine was quite refreshing, even though I didn't taste it like a normal human. I couldn't even get drunk because my body was no longer human. No demon can get drunk.
Seeing the people at the table across from me getting drunk and laughing heartily or getting angry to their heart's content made me envious. Well, even when I was still human, I never once got drunk from drinks. The one who often got drunk was Ye Jing, he was a monk who liked to drink.
"Pathetic."
"Exactly."
Suddenly everything stopped. The people at the table across from me cursed. The tavern waiter who was delivering food. The birds flying in the sky. Everything turned black and white.
And in front of me sat a woman.
A woman I knew. Smiling mysteriously at me.
"I didn't expect to meet you here. My love~"
"Rastella. How many years has it been? Was the last time when I stabbed a sword into your heart?"
"Ahhh~ ~ ~ those were the most beautiful moments of my life."
"When love pierced me with a sword full of love and passion~ ahhh~ I get aroused by just remembering it."
"What are you doing here?"
Rastella.
The witch. She has the ability to enchant the consciousness of any living creature, including animals and plants, if those animals and plants possess consciousness.
She entered my consciousness and appeared before me.
Her appearance hadn't changed at all since we last met. Long white hair and blood-red eyes. She possessed a very beautiful face that would easily tempt any man. I even heard that two kingdoms were wiped off the face of earth just to fight over her. Because of her beauty, she easily controlled men, even women.
"I was just walking around this city and accidentally met my darling~"
"Lies. You were clearly looking for me."
"Ara~ Always sharp as usual~ My darling is amazing. Our leader was beheaded by you and now you have risen as a demon into this mortal world. I really, really, really, really, really, really miss your touch, darling~ ~ ~"
"Get out of my consciousness, Rastella. Right now, I can easily kill you anytime from within my consciousness."
"Ahhnn~ darling wouldn't dare to do that~"
I drew the demonic sword from its sheath and placed it against Rastella's neck, who was sitting in front of me. Her neck was scratched and blood slowly flowed. Black veins tensed all over my body.
"Oops~ if darling kills me~ I'll make sure your female disciple has a very pleasant experience~ like non-stop rape, for example? I want to see her beautiful face ruined by crazy people who have lost their minds~ Ahhhhh~ how beautiful!"
I sheathed the demonic sword again. The black veins on my body faded.
"I will kill you. Rastella. I will definitely kill all of you."
Rastella chuckled happily.
"I really, really, really, really, really, really can't wait, darling~ We will meet again in the Jin kingdom. I will wait for you on the day your female disciple dies by that trash king~"
Rastella leaned forward, gently touched my face, and pushed her lips against mine.
I remained silent, ignoring her.
"Goodbye, my love~"
Then everything returned to normal. As if the recent conversation was just a dream.
The sky was orange. The sound of people laughing and cursing. Servants walking with food. Birds fly, flying.
And Shun Jin sitting in front of me.
***