Hunger

Casually walking away from the High God Shen-Ming's statue, Chen Xuan took his time to appreciates this so-called Fenghuang Square. Located right in the middle intersection of this Fenghuang Town, an enormous pond was built here.

Inside the water is an unaccountable number of a special breed of Koi fishes.

From what he heard by eavesdropping on the loud locals, the fishes inside the pond were known as Yinyang Worldly Koi. This breed of fish was known for the myth behind their birth that was older than the Fenghuang Town itself.

According to the myth, the number of Yinyang Worldly Koi represents how prospering the human settlement is. Some sources also said that the Yinyang Worldly Koi Pond protected the town from the evil spirit.

The rumors said that the Yinyang Worldly Koi was also a spiritual container for the souls that have yet to find a body to reincarnate.

(As described in chapter 5, Hell closed the door, and the people here no longer get judged for their sin. This means the story will follow the rules where those bitten by Jiangshi will turn into one. Those died of all other reason would wander into the unexorcized body and turn into a ghoul. It would be the same, where exorcized Jiangshi will be reincarnated back to a human, but they'll need a vessel to hold their spirit. And since a human has to conceive, be pregnant, and give birth, the Yinyang Worldly Koi becomes the container for them until a body is available to reincarnate.)

But it wasn't that important whether the myth was real or not. What was essential here was the spiritual support it brought to the people living here.

Although Chen Xuan was nothing more than a conman in his previous life, he has basic knowledge of Fengshui and their placement. With so many people gathering here daily, it was indeed a spot filled with positive Yin and Yang Energy.

Wandering without a destination set in his mind, Chen Xuan quickly arrived at a considerably crowded spot filled with half a thousand worshippers. If nobody volunteered to take care of the tributes, it would have rotted on the ground due to negligence.

Chen Xuan's attention was immediately attracted to the beautifully preserved statue these people were worshipping. It was an accurate depiction of how the Middle God Yuan-Ling looked. If he had to be picky about something, it had to be the hair.

In real life, the Middle-God's hair was akin to an ancestral willow tree, green, lush, and full of life.

'How weird... How can the Middle-God seem to be more popular than the High-God himself? Is there something I had no idea going on here?' Chen Xuan was puzzled by the difference between the two gods.

But having worshippers or not, it seems that the two gods' prestige wasn't low. Their exact real-life statue wouldn't be here if their reputation was too plain in this Lingyu Realm.

And in regards to the god's statue, there seems to be more than just Shen-Ming and Yuan-Ling. In fact, there are over a hundred of them here and there. But in terms of significance and worshippers, the two seem to have a much better reputation than the others.

As he walked closer to the Middle-God statue, Chen Xuan noticed an individual sitting on the goddess' feet, weeping.

"Middle God Yuan-Ling?" Chen Xuan called her name softly to make sure he didn't recognize someone mistakenly. It might be offensive to some individuals if he ended up getting on the people's nerve.

"Chen Xuan... Hwa..." the Middle-God immediately wept when she saw Chen Xuan coming to her.

"I'm sorry for screwing up the transfer! I thought you would be arriving today instead of last night!" she still crying, but from her look, there must have been an accident in between. As for what accident, Chen Xuan has to wait until she explains it to him.

It took her like ten minutes to calm herself down.

To Chen Xuan, this was a bewildering experience as he thought a goddess would have a composed character. But the goddess before him was like a wild, young, and free lass, and it seemed that the gods were not all the same.

Of course, he only had met with two so far.

After her head was cooled down, the goddess started to explain what happened during the transfer. It seems that Chen Xuan's assimilation rate to this Lingyu Realm was absolutely compatible, which shortened the transfer time by half.

Furthermore, because he received a hint of divinity from Shen-Ming while he was in the spirit form, the blessing he received was enhanced further. And all of these created an abnormality, which comes in the form of a peach seed and wood.

Based on her words, the seed and wood in his hand would definitely help him in the future. But how it would happen would still depend on what Chen Xuan did.

"Well... There's no harm done on me in the end, correct?" Chen Xuan smiled. He wanted to make Yuan-Ling pay for all this blunder before but soon discovered it was unnecessary for him to feel this way. Suppose everything was going accordingly to her arrangement. Won't he still be a flower inside a greenhouse right now?

"En. Does that means you'll accept my apology?" the goddess continued to look at him with a pair of teary eyes.

"Yes." Chen Xuan nodded. He had no idea that his answer would be bringing him an enormous benefit next.

"Yay!" the goddess wiped the tears around her eyes as the droplets floated around them. With a flick of her finger, an exquisite-looking bottle appeared from nowhere. The droplets of her tears soon condensed into beads before entering the bottle.

"I can't be stingy and not rewarding you with something, right? But make sure no one knows that you possess something like this, alright?" the Middle God Yuan-Ling pushed the bottle into Chen Xuan's body after her sentence.

"Huh?" Chen Xuan was surprised by how the bottle entered his body. He doesn't even feel any discomfort from her doing so, except inside his mind.

"Why do you looked so surprised? Didn't I bless you with a system? With it, you can do many things that others couldn't, and many things faster than others could. What I just did is placing that bottle into your system's inventory." Yuan-Ling said.

"Ah... Yes, the system," her sentence made Chen Xuan remembered that he had a system. But since he can do anything with it, Chen Xuan forgot about it after coming into the town.

"Make sure you keep the fact you possessed the Goddess Miracle Tears a secret from others," she added. And based on her look, it seems there's nothing else in her mind.

"Is that all?" Chen Xuan asked. His stomach has been growling nonstop from when he moved on from the High-God statue. It seems that all he needed to do was to come here so Yuan-Ling could apologize to him.

"There's one more before you're going." without telling him what kind of blessings she's giving him, the Middle-God drew two circles in the air and vanished along with the golden lights. From the look of it, both Yuan-Ling and Shen-Ming had the habit of remaining mysterious.

"As you can see, everyone is putting their effort to present an offering to me. If you want something, make sure you bring some offering for me to reward you with something good. Let's meet again, mortal Chen Xuan!" her voice slowly vanished along with the bustling sound from the crowd.

Soon, the growing sound on his stomach gets louder than ever. And from this moment, the hunger finally strikes him in the form of stomachache from all the emptiness.

Like a bell that reminds him to eat every few minutes, Chen Xuan was preoccupied with looking for an eatery or an inn. Driven by the hunger in him, Chen Xuan searched around like a madman for something to eat.

It didn't take him too long to arrive at an inn packed with people. On top of that, they don't seem to be from an ordinary background. Evidently, these people were one of the vanguards of this Fenghuang Town.

They're also known the best as the Jiangshi Hunters. Traveling everywhere with a sword by their side, some of them even had a bundle of Xuan Paper Talisman around them. Evidently, cultivation wasn't the only method mankind could use in this world to fight against Jiangshi.

Unlike the people known as producers, these people relied on hunting Jiangshi to make their living. Their free and easy living style always made the powerless jealous of their excellent wages. Of course, these people were those betting with their lives whenever they went outside of Fenghuang Town.

And unlike the powerless that can only earn their living on production jobs, these people spend most of their time drinking, eating, and doing what they like before going to hunt at night.

Chen Xuan walked into the inn with a growling stomach, looking like he could faint at any moment.

"Good evening sir, is it for the meal only, or meal and stay?" the cashier asked. From the constantly growling sound of Chen Xuan's stomach, he could guess what he was here for.

"The latter. How much would that be?" Chen Xuan inquired. Even if it cost him ten Yang Yuan Pearls, he would be willing to pay for it.

"Two Yang Yuan Pearls a night, sir. After paying, you can go into the canteen right away. Our waiters will serve you some soup very soon." said the cashier as he opened his palm with a smile.

"Here you go." Chen Xuan quickly paid and went into the canteen. After grabbing a seat on the corner, he was immediately served with a bowl of hearty seafood broth with boiled vegetables.

Chen Xuan didn't even have the time to slowly chew them as he poured everything into his mouth, no matter how hot it was.

"One more!" Chen Xuan said. He was still feeling famished even after finishing a bowl of the seafood broth. As there's no restriction on how much he can eat, Chen Xuan finally satiated after two more bowls.

"Would you like to be shown to your room now, sir?" the waiter asked and collected the bowl away.

"Please," Chen Xuan nodded in reply. He was then brought up to his room after the waiter kept the bowl inside the kitchen.

The room only comes with a simple bed, table, and chair. As the guest might need light, there's a table lantern provided if he wants to use it. Taking advantage that the lantern still has some light on it, Chen Xuan quickly took the scroll out to study its content.

The unrefined version of Yang Yuan Pearl, also known as Yang Yuan Sand, was used as the fuel for the lantern. Of course, the light it gave out is less significant compared to the brilliance of a Yang Yuan Pearl.

"Lesser Yang Maturing Technique?" the four words at the end of the scroll immediately caught his attention.

"What was this maturing technique was all about?" Chen Xuan asked himself as he unrolled the scroll further. And to his surprise, this Maturing Technique was actually a kind of energy harnessing method that everyone learned.

The concept of this technique is like a passive fitness skill that strengthens the body of the one practicing it. But instead of focusing on the physique itself, the Maturing Technique concentrated on External Yang Force.

(More this to be included in the future chapters. I'll apologize first to fast-paced readers if my book looks too long-winded and progressing too slowly.)

From production to cultivation, everything in this world can rely on this energy to survive. And by mastering the maturing technique in this world, Chen Xuan could accelerate everything to his favor.

Of course, what he was given was just the most basic Maturing Technique available. And it was just about two pages worth of content on how to practice this technique.

Chen Xuan could choose to look for a much better Maturing Technique, but right now, they're too expensive for him!