Above the Great Dao
Chapter 405 - 199 Yudou, Rouge Lane

Chapter 405: Chapter 199 Yudou, Rouge Lane

Chen Shi carried the Black Pot into the city, attracting curious glances from all around.

Chen Shi’s attire was normal, but the Black Pot was quite conspicuous; people of Yudou rarely saw a doggy dressed in a red outfit with red trousers.

Especially one that stood like a human, walked on two legs, and wore dazzling dogglasses.

Chen Shi coughed, and Black Pot quickly pushed up the dogglasses and swept a glance at the crowd. People on the street felt everything was normal and no longer made a fuss.

"Black Pot, try to act more normal in the city."

Chen Shi ordered, his gaze flickering. There were experts in the residence of the True King, causing all of his birds to lose control—their strength unfathomable. He wouldn’t recklessly break into the True King’s mansion.

To directly break into the True King’s mansion and assassinate the young master would be a suicide mission.

He must first understand who was within the True King’s mansion, what forces were under the young master’s command, and what the general levels of their cultivation realms were. Only after gaining some understanding of these would he take action.

Yudou’s layout imitated that of Chang’an City in the Divine Land, divided into ten gates and split into fifty areas, neatly arranged and named after fifty provinces, jokingly called Little Chang’an.

Years earlier, it was said that the capital of West Bull New Continent initially was in Fei County, later moved to Xinxiang, and then again to Yudou. freēwēbηovel.c૦m

For some reason, it was abandoned here and moved further to the Western Capital, away from the eastern coast.

Despite the relocation, Yudou’s scale remained impressive, with sorcerers often saying that the place had an imperial aura, predicting that a mighty lord would emerge and become the new king of West Bull New Continent.

This rumor spread widely in Yudou.

Stone Rock Lady sniffed the almost imperceptible Demon Qi in the city and commented, "The demon seeds here must be thriving. That big fellow beneath the ground outside the city was probably attracted by the demon seeds. And there are many Evil Spirits attracted as well."

Chen Shi’s heart stirred: "Lady, can you sense where the demon seeds are?"

Stone Rock Lady shook her head, "If demon seeds were so easy to find, Ying Ruming that little girl would have found them and eaten them already. Demon seeds are cunning; they know how to hide their presence and conceal themselves well to avoid detection. Strange, I can’t detect Ying Ruming’s presence anymore! Could that girl sense me?"

She was quite surprised. In theory, Ying Ruming shouldn’t be able to detect her, but there was no trace of Ying Ruming’s presence in the city.

"Lady, how can one identify demon seeds?" Chen Shi asked for guidance.

"It’s not easy to distinguish."

Stone Rock Lady replied, "When I followed the people of Great Ming to land on West Bull New Continent, I encountered many demon seeds. Some were lotuses in wells, some were clear springs in mountains, there were mutant beasts, and even household utensils in farmers’ homes could transform into demons. There was also one time when a demon seed hid inside a person. That person was always quite normal until the Demon Transformation occurred."

Chen Shi was puzzled, "Hiding inside a person? Can you not tell that this person is a demon seed?"

Stone Rock Lady said, "You can’t tell. Demon seeds often hide in the host’s Sea of Consciousness, quietly growing, waiting for the moment to break through the soil. Even the host doesn’t realize that they are harboring a demon seed, nurturing it unwittingly until the outbreak. The person I encountered, when the demon seed erupted, instantly grew three legs rooted in the ground, rapidly growing into a Demon Blood Tree, with a huge treetop for a head."

She sighed with regret, "I had intended to devour it, but it was taken away by someone under the True King, and incidentally, they suppressed me as well. Didn’t they realize I was one of them?"

Chen Shi felt a shiver down his spine.

To be inhabited by a demon seed, and the host utterly unaware until it erupted. By then it was too late to realize!

"What despair must the host have felt upon discovering they were a host?" he thought to himself.

He turned into an alley with Black Pot and a wooden cart. There was a gate at the entrance of the alley, inscribed with the words "Rouge Lane." Chen Shi had already scoped out that by passing through the alleys of Rouge Lane, one wouldn’t be far from the True King’s mansion.

The alleyway was bustling with people coming and going, quite lively, although most entering and exiting Rouge Lane were men, with very few women.

Rouge Lane was home to many scholars; some wore Scholar Robes, others wore Scholar Robes, and some wore green attire with folding fans and headbands, looking quite elegant. There were also rich merchants, lavishly dressed with rotund bellies, wearing jade rings and followed by several brocade-clad guards, constantly eyeing the upper floors.

Bookstores on both sides of Rouge Lane often stayed shut, with only one door open if at all, whereas the upper stories were all open, emitting the gentle sounds of stringed and woodwind music, along with the singing of girls, melodious and enchanting.

Chen Shi looked up to see some beautifully dressed young maidens lounging by the windows, with delicate makeup and a lazy elegance.

Others accompanied by the sound of the zither were dancing on the upper floor, their colorful sleeves flying.

Whenever this happened, some scholars or merchants would knock on the door, and someone inside would open it—an old woman leading them upstairs to laugh and chat with the girls above.

Those scholars upstairs recited poetry spontaneously, making literary allusions, and discussing a range of arts with expertise, which impressed Chen Shi.

"Such a scholarly atmosphere here."

He remarked to Black Pot, "It’s a good place for studying. No wonder there are so many literati here."

"This is a brothel, the district of willows and flowers, a place for seeking pleasure!" Stone Rock Lady scoffed with a cold laugh.

Chen Shi was taken aback and had yet to recover when a little girl holding a skewer of candied hawthorns pointed at Black Pot and exclaimed, "Evil Spirit!"

"It’s a doggy!" Chen Shi corrected her.

But the little girl was stubborn, "No! It’s an Evil Spirit!"

"It’s a doggy!"

"It’s an Evil Spirit!"

Chen Shi was about to argue further when Black Pot snatched her candied hawthorn and ran off, the little girl furiously chasing after the doggy.

The source of this c𝐨ntent is freewe(b)nov𝒆l