More than half a month passed, and nothing happened. The sorcerer had probably wandered off somewhere unknown.
During this time, aside from Du Yueyao moving into the Liu household, everyone’s daily routine remained largely unchanged.
Shen Ying didn’t stay permanently in Tonglin County, leaving only a few Peach Blossom Celestial Maidens behind before returning to Peach Blossom Ridge, though she visited more frequently than before.
As for Lu Zheng, he naturally continued his… diligent cultivation.
After all, cultivation trumps everything.
When his cultivation reached a high enough level, with a single thought spanning thousands of miles, he could spot and eliminate a Yuansheng Sect sorcerer hiding at the edge of the world with ease. Why bother with all this hassle?
So…
“Listen to Luo Hongyi’s mournful, resentful singing, her voice lilting, ‘The beauty of youth cannot be retained, it flows away like the endless river…’”
“Well said!”
“That wretched Scholar Huang is so heartless. If I married Miss Luo, I’d never leave her alone in an empty room, full of sorrow and despair!”
“Reward!”
The owner of Leping Tower had some skill. The newly hired storyteller often brought fresh tales, both short and long, with engaging narratives.
Since spiritual energy was abundant in the ancient world, cultivation and recovery were faster here than in the modern world, so Lu Zheng spent most of his time here.
Listening to storytellers was one of his entertainments.
“Reward!”
Master Lu, lounging comfortably, raised his hand grandly, summoning a waiter and tossing a handful of copper coins onto a wooden tray.
“Thank you, Young Master Lu, for the reward!”
One waiter shouted his thanks, while another, quick on the uptake, refilled Lu Zheng’s tea.
The storyteller on stage clasped his hands in a bow, giving a half-bow specifically to Lu Zheng, then struck his gavel and launched into another tale.
At noon, Lu Zheng strolled leisurely out of Leping Tower and noticed a crowd nearby engaged in cockfighting.
Shaking his head, as a peace-loving man who’d never even killed a chicken, Lu Zheng had no interest in such bloody games and passed by without joining.
But as he turned, he sensed a fleeting aura in the crowd.
“Great!”
“Ugh, another loss!”
“This Red Sky General is too strong, winning three matches in a row!”
“Haha, much obliged!”
“Li the Fourth, you wait. I’m heading to town to check out chickens today, and we’ll continue tomorrow!”
“I’ll be waiting!” a voice laughed. “That’s it for today. I’ve won enough, time to head home with the General.”
Lu Zheng saw a man clutching a large rooster emerge from the crowd, a bag of money in hand, strutting proudly toward the west side of town.
In the crowd, as the idle man left, two others brought their fighting cocks into the ring. The bookmaker shouted to open bets, and the onlookers started wagering, thirty or fifty coins at a time.
Lu Zheng didn’t join the crowd, his eyes flickering as he glanced at Li the Fourth, then slowly followed.
He trailed through South Street, into the west side, and around two small alleys.
Li the Fourth looked back a few times but naturally couldn’t see Lu Zheng, who had cloaked himself with an invisibility spell.
“Quick, count how much we earned today!”
In a rundown courtyard, it wasn’t Li the Fourth who spoke, but the rooster that had won three matches.
“No rush, no rush, I’m counting.”
Li the Fourth set down the rooster, spreading the money bag on the table, copper coins spilling out.
“Three wins: each opponent’s owner paid a hundred coins, plus the bookmaker’s cut. First match was over three hundred coins, second was much less, third earned two hundred. Total’s nine hundred seventeen coins.”
“Enough to buy century-old ginseng or lingzhi?” the rooster asked.
“Of course… not enough!”
Li the Fourth stared at nearly a full string of coins, his eyes red. He’d never had this much money!
“With this, I could spend a night at Chunfeng Tower…”
The rooster flapped its wings. “How much for the spiritual herbs?”
“At least ten or eight strings, right?” Li the Fourth said.
“So, another ten days of fighting?”
“Tricky. You’re too strong. In a few days, no one might dare fight you!”
“What then?”
“No rush, keep fighting, but hold back a bit, don’t win too easily.”
“I know, I let those weak chickens peck out a few feathers.”
“Good, good!” Li the Fourth soothed the rooster. “Win a few more days, and Squire Wang, the county’s cockfighting enthusiast, will hear of you. He’s got a whole farm, hundreds of fighting cocks. Our big break depends on that.”
As he spoke, Li the Fourth scooped a large spoonful of millet from a jar, poured it into a clay bowl, and set it on the ground.
The rooster flapped over, pecking at the grain.
“Win a few more matches, make some money, and Squire Wang will surely offer to buy you. He’d pay fifty or sixty strings at least. Then I’ll sell you to him, and at night, you sneak out. We take the money, hightail it to the next county, and buy your spiritual herbs!”
“Cluck, great!”
Lu Zheng: “…”
He’d thought he sensed something significant, but it was just a spirit-awakened demon teaming up with a human to scam money.
As for the rooster’s strength…
It could handle other roosters, but probably not even an ordinary human. A grabbed neck would be its end, far weaker than Hou Ping back then.
How these two met was unclear, but this was far more entertaining than storytelling. Intrigued, Lu Zheng decided to keep tabs on them.
So…
The next morning, Lu Zheng returned to the street cockfighting arena.
Sure enough, Li the Fourth and the rooster were there, battling another robust-looking cock.
Three matches, all wins.
But compared to yesterday’s near-string haul, today they only won five hundred coins.
No help for it—too many wins meant even the bookmaker’s cut was slim, let alone their share.
On the way back, Lu Zheng learned how they’d met.
Li the Fourth was a lone drifter, living hand-to-mouth, his only asset a rundown courtyard in the west side slums. He survived by gambling, eating well one day, starving the next. When broke, he’d catch crickets or wild chickens in the woods outside town for betting.
A few days ago, he’d lost everything and went to the woods to try his luck, where he met the rooster poking around the forest’s edge.
This rooster, whether through bloodline awakening or consuming some rare treasure, had gained sentience, but its strength hadn’t kept up.
The woods were too dangerous—tigers, leopards, even wildcats or foxes could make it lunch.
So it decided to try its luck in the human county, figuring it could hide as a wild chicken and cultivate slowly, better than living precariously in the forest.
Thus, the two—one man, one chicken—hit it off.
Cockfighting! Money-making!
Li the Fourth could almost see the prettiest girl at Chunfeng Tower smiling at him.
The rooster envisioned itself soaring high, stunning the world.
Under Li the Fourth’s experienced guidance in cockfighting, they devised a plan to build fame through fights, then fleece Squire Wang for double the money.
With over a hundred strings in hand, they could leave Tonglin County and continue their scheme in another county.
…
Sure enough, no one suspected the rooster was a sentient demon. They thought Li the Fourth had stumbled upon an exceptionally fierce fighting cock.
Everything went according to plan. On the fourth day, two men, clearly servants of a wealthy household, came to fetch them.
