Chapter 51: A Single Penny Can Beat a Hero

Zhao Yu was just about to ask someone for directions when he subconsciously shook his head.

No, no, the woodcutter's blade had said that the independent origin possessed self-awareness. If he just went around asking people casually, wouldn't that origin run away? Even if it didn't run, it would definitely go into hiding.

After racking his brains for quite a while, Zhao Yu finally surrendered to helplessness: "Shall we go home?"

He truly had no idea how to go about searching.

It was even less reliable than looking for the herbs for the Seven-Color Profound Pill, since at least he knew what those herbs looked like from books.

The woodcutter's blade raised no objection; instead, it happily chimed in: "Actually, I'm not in any rush to find the origin either. I'll listen to you, let's go home."

A wave of relief washed over Zhao Yu. He had genuinely worried that the woodcutter's blade wouldn't agree... and if it didn't want to leave, as a good friend, he naturally wouldn't have the face to turn back alone.

After all, aside from his wife, his younger brother, and his sister-in-law, the woodcutter's blade was the one he trusted the most.

Go home.

Just as he was about to leave, Zhao Yu turned his head to look at the small town again.

There were many novel and interesting things in the town.
Things he had only ever seen in books, like sugar-coated haws on sticks and sugar figurines.

Since he was already out, he should take some back for his younger brother and sister-in-law.

Subconsciously, he started walking toward a vendor selling sugar-coated haws.

When he got close, Zhao Yu stopped in his tracks, a troubled expression washing over his face.

The haw vendor proactively approached him, asking, "Would the young master like a stick?"

"I don't have any money," Zhao Yu said with a bitter face.

He had read plenty of books, so he naturally knew that you had to pay for things when you bought them.

A penniless bum?

Without a word, the haw vendor silently hoisted his bundle of sugared haws and turned away.

Holding the woodcutter's blade once more, Zhao Yu whispered, "Blade, blade, tell me, how does one make money? I want to buy some sugared haws and sugar figurines to take back for my wife, my younger brother, and my sister-in-law."

The woodcutter's blade was baffled: "I've never made money either."

It was merely a woodchopping blade after all.

Zhao Yu's face grew even more bitter.

The woodcutter's blade pondered for a moment and suggested, "Why don't you do what you did when you went to the Youxiong Tribe to take their incense crystals? Just go and threaten them into giving it to you. If they refuse, you can hack them to death."

Zhao Yu was left speechless: "Are you an idiot? This place looks so much like the small towns written about in storybooks... If I really did that, some young chivalrous hero would definitely pop out and beat me up."

The woodcutter's blade didn't care in the least: "What is there to be afraid of? Nobody can kill you anyway."

"Not being able to kill me doesn't mean it won't hurt. I'm terrified of pain."

With that, Zhao Yu shrank his neck back defensively: "Besides, I've turned into someone with a short lifespan now. Someone might actually manage to beat me to death."

The woodcutter's blade thought about it and agreed: "That sounds about right... You've started cultivating now, so you might not be the same as before. I suppose we should be a bit more careful."

Although it, the great woodcutter's blade, could unleash its origin to go all out, its origin recovered far too slowly. The current situation was different, so they truly couldn't afford to be careless.

Zhao Yu glanced sideways at the woodcutter's blade, falling into a silent daze.

He wanted to make money, but he couldn't.

Could it be that he was just going to go home empty-handed?

However, his wife was so gentle, beautiful, and understanding; his sister-in-law was so innocent and cute; and his younger brother spent every day locked away in his room—he must have been stifled out of his mind...

Since he had already come all this way, not buying anything back was simply inexcusable.

After struggling with this distress for quite a while, the woodcutter's blade felt a bit bad seeing Zhao Yu so tormented, and hastily offered a suggestion: "Zhao Yu, Zhao Yu, how about this? You use me to kill everyone here. I'll use my origin to help you—one slash, and everyone will be dead. That way, absolutely no one will know you did it."

Zhao Yu hurriedly shook his head: "You're even more useless than I am; you definitely couldn't pull that off. Let's not do anything reckless."

In the past, he and the woodcutter's blade had been equally useless. Now that he was cultivating, he was much stronger than the blade. Even he couldn't kill this many people, so how could the blade possibly do it?

The woodcutter's blade felt a little offended; Zhao Yu was looking down on it too much.

Yet it didn't argue the point, offering another alternative instead: "Then you can use your Thoughtless Return to Ruins to summon the power of the ruins and turn everything here into nothingness."

Zhao Yu was quite tempted by the idea.

A moment later, he frantically shook his head: "No, no, I tested that in the study before. While the power of the ruins sounds impressive, it's actually not strong at all. Back then, it only managed to swallow a few books."

"Even though the buildings here certainly aren't as sturdy as the ones at my house, by comparison, it would probably only manage to cause the buildings here to collapse."

"Sigh, I never imagined that after starting cultivation, not only would I become someone with a short lifespan, but I still wouldn't be able to act as arrogantly as I imagined."

With these words, Zhao Yu felt utterly depressed.

If he had known this would happen, he wouldn't have bothered cultivating at all.
It wasn't worth it—far too not worth it.

The woodcutter's blade grew weary: "Your house is different, you know. And besides, you're only at the Golden Core stage right now."

Zhao Yu waved his hand dismissively: "You haven't cultivated yet, so you don't understand. I don't blame you."

"As long as you're happy." The woodcutter's blade didn't want to persuade him anymore and quietly reverted to acting like an ordinary blade.

With the woodcutter's blade no longer chatting with him, Zhao Yu could only stand there alone in a daze.

Growing more bored by the second.

"Forget it, forget it. I might as well go home. I'll come back when I have money." Casting one last reluctant look at the sugared haws, Zhao Yu turned to leave.

Now that he could fly, the distance back wouldn't seem all that far.

Suddenly...

A flurry of gongs and drums echoed through the air.

Zhao Yu turned his head to look and saw several dozen people escorting a Taoist priest with an immortal, otherworldly demeanor as he entered the town.

Someone even raised their voice in a loud shout:

"Master Nanshan has arrived!"

Zhao Yu couldn't help but be startled. This fellow had quite an impressive entourage.

Master Nanshan—just hearing the title sounded extraordinarily formidable.

The woodcutter's blade tried hard to score some credit: "There's no magic power inside his body, Zhao Yu, Zhao Yu. He's definitely a fraud! Let me tell you, human settlements are full of frauds."

Zhao Yu became curious: "How do you know he doesn't have magic power?"

The woodcutter's blade answered as if it were the most natural thing in the world: "I sensed it... There are quite a few sensory spells in the study. Although they aren't very useful, once you have some free time, you should learn them. What's that saying? Skills never weigh a person down?"

Zhao Yu was enlightened, but remained skeptical: "What if he actually is very powerful, but you just can't sense his magic power?"

The cultivators he had encountered in the mountains who soared through the skies and burrowed into the earth had all traveled either alone or in small groups; none of them had ever been this flamboyant... Since Master Nanshan put on such a grandiose display with such a powerful-looking facade, he simply had to be formidable.

"I only have a tiny bit of origin left right now, and that fragmented part of my origin has constantly been trying to affect and confuse my perception. So... I really might not be able to sense someone who is truly powerful. What you said... perhaps you're right?" The woodcutter's blade lost its confidence as well.

Lost in the crowd, Zhao Yu gazed with envy at the magnificent spectacle, standing among them like a mere nobody.

Meanwhile, escorted by the crowd, Master Nanshan leisurely made his way toward the center of the town.

Only then did the nearby onlookers begin to chatter among themselves.

"I never imagined Master Liu would actually manage to invite Master Nanshan here."

"The evil spirit in his household is so fierce; in my view, only Master Nanshan will be able to subdue it."

"Hard to say, hard to say. That evil spirit has been at Master Liu's house for two whole years now. If it were that easy to deal with, it would have been wiped out long ago."

"Master Liu's family is truly wealthy, though. Whenever a Taoist master visits, they hand over ten taels of fine silver as a gift. Over the past two years, they must have spent several thousand taels, right?"

"More than that, I reckon it must be tens of thousands..."

Listening to the discussion around him, Zhao Yu, who had initially not cared at all, instantly lit up.

You get paid just for showing up?