Chapter (18)

Wang Hua saw a formidable brown horse and veered around to Jia Yi who was trying to escape a few young girls that kept stalking her. They had no idea who was disguised behind this male figure.

"Hey, grandson, I am going to buy this horse."

Wang Hua notified him, and Jia Yi turned to the girls, lowering her voice and alerting them, "Look, that is my grumpy nanny, if you keep following me she might perform a spell and make you all ugly, this way you won't be entitled to find good-looking husbands in the future. She has an ominous background for making pretty girls into ugly hags."

"Hag! Like herself…"

A girl scoffed but when she discovered the handsome man frowned upon her insult, she ate up the rest of her words.

The girls' faces paled, they didn't want to be chastised because of their reprehensible conduct and pleading with this young man to pay attention.

"Be careful, silly girl, did you not hear what he just said."

Another pretty girl with a noble dress and brown hair expressed harshly.

They sent their gazes through Wang Hua's way who gave them dangerous grave glares. Before even assessing the young man's declaration's validity, they quickly escaped. The old hag seemed to be arrogant and cruel. She might take out their spiritual essence and make the regular humans with no spirit animal, if not an old hag.

Yu Jia Yi rushed to Wang Hua. The horse she was tending to buy sounded beneficial and potent.

"Let's buy it." Jia Yi agreed.

"Go inside and bring the owner." Wang Hua was looking at the 'for sale' label, wondering why no one bought such a promising horse, perhaps it was expensive.

The horse was tied by a magical rod, near a tavern where many men were drinking inside.

The hurly-burly assaulting the air from inside proved that they were all drunkards listening to the storyteller. Certainly, it was an amusing story that made them question the old man.

Wang Hua approached the window to avoid any fuss from her slow pace.

Even though some people blocked the doorway to listen to this story, Jia Yi roughly made the way open to get inside.

Wang Hua put her ear on the seam of the window, her hearing had weakened since she exploited her urge to consume the 'Face Slap' elixir.

She cleaned the glass that was shrouded by the vapor of hot gusts from inside. The man was a Wanderer, they were famous for their significant stories and clean sacred appearance. He was wearing a white clean robe, his hair was as white as snow and when he turned his face to the window, Wang Hua's eyes met his.

She winced in her place, his gaze was piercing and mysterious!

A young man?! His hair was white and she supposed he must be old but... His face was young and his Green eyes were glinting, captivating.

She quickly shoved herself away, why did he look so familiar? Those rare eyes, she had seen them somewhere before.

Sharpening her ear, she paid more heed to what he said.

"Goddess Qi Guan Shi was a haughty immortal but very considerate about the mortal world, she loved peace between immortals, demons, and humans. She couldn't endure that her sister was teaching people dark magic and it caused a quarrel between them and their adherents. Therefore, the devil god used the chance to make the sisters fight against each other, and this way the dark source could enfold the world, and the devil god could feast on his arrival."

"Her sister was the Dark Queen, why didn't she kill her to end it back then?"

One of the men in that crowd asked out loud, Yu Jia Yi was going to reach the same man. He was the horse owner.

"The Dark Queen was her sister, she loved her and tried to show her the right path and despite being more powerful than her, Qi Guan Shi could not convince herself to kill her sister. Instead, she took out the dark Queen's spiritual magic core and assigned the Fenghuang bird to seal it. The best option was the Empress of birds and the mighty candidate to protect that core.

After that, no one saw the dark Queen, and people regarded her as having been sealed in the Dark world."

"Nonsense! How did the demons and devils come out to swarm upon our borders, she must be alive and mighty."

The storyteller chuckled, "Not all demons are dark devils, many of them follow the light. Perhaps something enticed them."

Whispers burst into the air and the storyteller walked away and disappeared between the people who were disputing with each other.

"He was right, The white peacock has brought us abundance and kept protecting us. We can't conclude to place them all in one category."

Another man pushed him, "Demons are devils, they are followers of the dark queen, such a fool you are, if she returns they will help her. They vowed to her by blood."

"That is a rumor. They consume from the common Qi with us, some don't practice dark magic."

Wang Hua was fascinated by the intriguing words she heard, but the Wanderer vanished and she wasn't eligible to chase him. She could figure this out later at a better time. This place was crowded and noisy and way beyond her forbearance.

Using the commotion, Jia Yi appeared in front of the horse owner who was silently drinking.

"Sir, are you the owner of the brown horse outside?" Jia Yi wore a frivolous smile like a naive guy.

"Hmm, are you up to purchasing it?" He scanned the young man.

"Yes, can you come outside, we are in a rush."

The man sighed and stood up, he was bulky, burly, and almost twice Jia Yi, and as soon as watching this potency, she swallowed in terror.

Was he a horse cultivator? The aroma of the horse was tugged to his clothes. His face was rough and his burned skin showed he had spent a long time under the sun. This man had come from the south, the region of the Vermilion Empire.

Going outside, the man tilted his head when he saw the old hag near the horse.

Jia Li immediately jumped beside her, "This is my nanny, I need your horse to take her around."

The man was about to burst out of anger and draw off the woman right away, but hopefully, this young man's explanation could calm his outburst.

"He is a ganger horse, and expensive. Can you pay a large silver Tael for it?"

Jia Yi's mouth ran wide, "One large silver Tael, for a horse?" he shouted.

"Ah, I knew that you were not real customers."

He turned around and tended to leave when Wang Hua called, "Wait, I'll buy it."

She held a large silver Tael in her palm, "Sell it to me. It is a tamed horse, there is no danger." Wang Hua was familiar with horses and this one was rare. Furthermore, after evaluating it, she was certain of her selection.

The man gazed at her blankly, this old hag was rich but why did she have such an appearance? He sighed and grabbed his achievement, testing to see if it was real.

It was real and he guessed that she must be stingy or had other problems to keep herself sloppy, or feigned it. It didn't matter unless she had the wealth to pay him.

The man put his hand in his bag and brought out a scrolling script, performing a spell, his name erased as the owner, and looked at the woman, "Who is the new owner?"

"Yu Jia Yi."

Wang Hua uttered before her light-head maiden could disclose her name.

The man quickly scribbled the name with his magic and handed the bill over to her.

"Good night, la..." he was about to use the word 'Lady' but he changed his mind and walked away. He looked belligerent.

After buying the horse, they headed for the marketplace and bought saddles and baskets to adjust them on the horse. They were using a racehorse instead of a sumpter horse which attracted awareness.

They ignored the staring passengers and kept supplying goods, such as grains, rice, radish, onion, potatoes, and...

Wang Hua saw a farmer who was selling roosters and hens. A notion lured her to buy them; if she purchased them, she didn't need to come out of her father's cabin to buy eggs.

"Buy those!"

She gave Jia Yi a few bronze taels and stood beside the horse, when the maiden came back it was time to leave the Shenghuo village when people screamed and the path drove in chaos.

"Open the way, open the way..."

A man was barking out and fleeing, then he shifted to a demon squirrel and jumped on women's heads, but soon he sensed the scent of gold.

Dishi's eyes spun around the old hag, he couldn't sense her magic, perhaps her spiritual essence was diminished because of her age.

"What a chance, I can take a ship and leave this hell. Those men won't find me anymore."

Aiming at her, he snatched the satchel of gold taels from her belt.

Wang Hua was shocked as it happened in a split second, it was her achievement after going through adversity and surviving a certain murder scheme, she couldn't let a demon steal it. It could pay for their necessities for a good year.

Grabbing the sword from Jia Yi's hand, she rushed after the squirrel. All the people watched the old hag who suddenly evolved at a fast pace and rocketed after the squirrel.

"My lady, oh no, nanny!"

Yu Jia Yi was terrified, she couldn't leave the horse and proceed after her lady. Taking the lariat, she hardly afforded to bring in the animal to follow her.

"You, moron demon, bring my assets back."

"Take that thief!" Wang Hua cried out.

My precious gold!

Her eyes were sharp and determined to catch the thief but suddenly she struck something hard and spread on the ground, wailing in pain.