Chapter 3 - Chapter 3: Tianjiao List 003 (1/2)
Chapter 3: Tianjiao List 003
Translator: 549690339
After nightfall, Gu Yang, carrying a jar of wine, went to Liu Shitou’s house next door to invite him for a drink.
The wine was made by himself, and it had been exactly a year now.
After a few cups, Gu Yang said somewhat pensively, “Two years ago, had you not given me something to eat, I would have starved to death. This cup is for you.”
Liu Shitou drained the wine and said, “We all survive in the mountains. We should naturally help others when they are in trouble.”
“For you, it was a mere act of kindness. For me, it was life-saving grace.”
Speaking, Gu Yang took out a book and said, “This is the ‘Xuan Yuan Method’, although only the first layer is outlined, it’s enough for cultivation.”
Liu Shitou looked at the book, which was densely filled with characters, obviously handwritten by Gu Yang.
He filled another bowl of wine and drank it dry, burping, “I can’t read, though.”
“You could ask the village chief or hand it over to your son.”
The village chief was the only literate person in the village. Gu Yang had learned from him.
“Are you leaving?”
“Yes.”
Liu Shitou stopped talking, enjoying his wine in silence.
After a while, the jar of rice wine was almost empty. He drank the last bowl of wine and slammed the bowl on the table, saying hoarsely, “The outside world is perilous. Don’t die out there.”
Gu Yang laughed, “Don’t worry, I have a strong will to live.”
As he was leaving, he said to the room, “Take care.”
…
By early morning, the rain had already stopped.
Gu Yang arrived at the village entrance, where the caravan was ready to depart.
Speaking of a caravan, it was actually a mule train of a dozen or so mules. Old Gao, with a third of that, and the rest were owned by three other traveling merchants.
The Lian Mountain range was vast, with countless villages like Liu Family Village. The villagers lived by hunting and amassed countless animal skins every year.
Merchants merely needed to offer some cheap daily necessities, such as salt, to get the precious animal skins and medicinal materials in return.
Because of this, despite the numerous dangers in the mountains, fearless traveling merchants like Old Gao came punctually every year to buy goods.
Now, they even dared to open a new trade route through the dangerous area of Wang Family Gorge.
One had to say, they dared to take any risk for profit.
As soon as Gu Yang appeared, Old Gao came over with the other three merchants and greeted him.
“Young Master Gu, we discussed it yesterday. If you’re willing to accompany us to the Wang Family Gorge, we are willing to offer a hundred silver taels. We only have a small request that if we encounter any dangers, we hope you could assist us.”
Gu Yang looked at their humble appearance; they avoided mentioning the role of a guide and only talked about accompanying them, even proactively raising the fee to a hundred taels.
Thinking back to yesterday, when he asked for just twenty taels, Old Gao almost had a fit.
Comparing the two situations, the only difference was his status.
Yesterday, in their eyes, he was just an ordinary hunter from the deep mountains.
But now, they knew he was a ninth-rank martial artist and immediately became obsequious.
Gu Yang said, “Alright.”
Old Gao promptly handed over a money bag.
Gu Yang received it, noting how light it was. When he opened it, it turned out to be gold leaves, roughly one tael each.
It seemed that the gold to silver ratio in this world was around 100 to 1.
“Let’s go.”
Gu Yang pocketed the gold and set off with them.
…
[Top-up success. The current balance is 104.5.]
[Would you like to use the Life Simulator? Each use costs 20 gold.]
After receiving the money, Gu Yang topped up immediately and then chose ‘Yes’.
[At the age of 22, you became a ninth-rank martial artist and decided to venture out with the caravan. In Wang Family Gorge, you encountered a hunting party and were attacked. You managed to kill a few of them before being killed on the spot. You lived until the age of 22.]