My Journey to Immortality Begins with Hunting
Chapter 179 – Turmoil in Northriver Prefecture, A Plump Lamb Enters Ghost Street, Forced Buying and Selling - Part 2

Chapter 179 – Turmoil in Northriver Prefecture, A Plump Lamb Enters Ghost Street, Forced Buying and Selling - Part 2

Night fell.

The moon’s chill light washing over everything. Li Yuan bundled the five-year-old Sheng'er in warm layers and a hood, then guided his carriage beyond the township gates to a deserted grove. There, they boarded a small boat on a lakeshore, with Li Yuan cradling Sheng'er in his arms.

Inside the black market ghost domain, the struggle against the human-skin rouge shop ghost domain still raged. For ghosts, their ghost servants were akin to shadow blood for martial artists. Destroying one seldom meant anything final. A ghost servant could die, only to reappear a few days later.

These two ghost domains had been locked in a tug-of-war for almost a year. Any small imbalance had long since evened out, thanks to Li Yuan’s involvement. The fight was now deadlocked.

Yan Yu materialized. She still could not embrace her husband or their daughter like a normal family, forced to remain at a slight distance. After chatting briefly, she focused on teaching Sheng'er how to draw the crows inside her body, a technique that maintained better control over Sheng'er’s ghostly power.

The crows Sheng'er controlled weren’t ordinary birds but a weaker manifestation of the black market ghost domain, merged with Li Yuan’s bird taming skill. To draw a comparison, if Sheng'er were a ghost, then the crows were her ghost servants. A full ghost, along with its ghost servants, could be endlessly reborn, but Sheng'er was still human. If her crows died, they could regenerate, but each time they did so, they siphoned her strength...and hers was not infinite.

Yan Yu taught her daughter for a while but eventually got fed up with the girl’s clumsiness and retreated to Li Yuan’s side. Sheng'er, meanwhile, remained perched on a black boulder, her pale eyes fixed on the ongoing ghost servant battle between the two domains.

“I’ve been working on a way to break through to the fifth rank,” Li Yuan said. “If I can manage that, I’ll be strong enough to help you swallow up the rouge shop ghost domain.”

“Mhm,” Yan Yu responded softly. Then, as if recalling something, she asked, “How about the idea of taking a concubine or maybe a maid? Have you done anything about that yet?”

“As my wife, why are you so intent on this matter?”

“Because rather than clinging to one man, one woman, forever and ever...I’d rather see our little family of three simply survive in peace. I want you to find some stability so you won’t let impatience get the better of you,” she said gently. “Husband, you’re on edge. You’re too eager to break into the fifth rank. And when people become impatient, they make mistakes. If a child slips up, it’s easy enough to fix. But for us, if we make a mistake...we might not be able to take it back.”

He hesitated. “I don’t want to go looking for someone else. Xue Ning suggested we let Xiao Zhu help attend to my needs.”

“Xiao Zhu? That’s not really enough,” Yan Yu replied. “She’s just an ordinary girl, and you’re a sixth rank martial artist—a body strong enough to be frightening. Honestly, I’ve seen how you restrain yourself when you’re with me or Big Sis... You need a seventh rank woman, maybe even sixth rank, as a proper concubine.”

“Let’s not talk about that for now. Xiao Zhu is fine,” Li Yuan said, looking out at their new home, which felt as unsettling as it was full of possibilities. “Anyway, I’ve been keeping an eye on Northriver Prefecture. The fights between undying husks and martial artists over there will likely send more lost souls wandering into the ghost street marketplace. Yan Yu—”

She cut in softly. “Husband, ordinary people who stumble into the ancient street don’t really do so by accident.”

Li Yuan paused. “You’re implying...they’re already stained by karma, and that leads them there?”

Yan Yu nodded with a sigh. “Maybe that place really is a kind of underworld—evil ghosts imprisoned, sometimes slipping out through the cracks in the ghost domains. Meanwhile, those with burdens of sin end up stepping in by chance, paying their due while still alive...”

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

Later that evening.

Li Yuan brought Sheng'er back to the estate. Xue Ning took Sheng'er to bathe before tucking her into bed. Li Yuan returned alone to his own room. Even from outside the door, he could hear the quick, nervous rhythm of a young girl’s heartbeat.

Pushing open the door, he saw the green-robed maiden Xiao Zhu jump up at once. Her voice trembled with nerves, “M-master, you’ve just returned. I-I’ve heated water for your bath... Let me help you get changed.”

He nodded. Soon, steam curled thickly in a wooden tub behind a folding screen, its scented water diffusing a pleasant warmth. Red candles flickered in the cold winter night, their glow illuminating the cozy interior and the soft presence of the girl.

A copper mirror on the table reflected Li Yuan’s youthful features; he still looked like a 17-year-old boy. Were it not for his reputation as the Blood Blade Patriarch, one might have taken Xiao Zhu for his older sister.

Blushing, Xiao Zhu helped him remove his clothes. Once he settled into the hot bath, she loosened the belt of her own dress, leaving only a thin, pale undergarment. Climbing the small wooden step, she slipped her legs into the water and settled in opposite him. Warmth rose around them as she began massaging his shoulders, sometimes lightly, sometimes with real force.

Li Yuan allowed her to tend to him but closed his eyes, and opened them again somewhere else...

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

In Tiger’s Back County, Fang Jianlong had chosen not to push deeper. After hearing the grim reports from the outer disciples he brought with him, he decided to retreat to Little Willow County, gather information, and plan his next move carefully.

By the time he and his retinue arrived, it was already well past midnight. Little Willow County, located in the heart of Northriver Prefecture, had no imposing walls...just a sign marking the boundary. The carriage rolled into town and stopped at a tavern whose lanterns still gleamed a vivid red in the darkness, like flowing blood.

Thankfully, this was clearly inhabited territory, with people still roaming the streets. Fang Jianlong, riding inside his carriage, glanced anxiously around. In the flickering lantern light, he glimpsed odd shapes lurking in alleyways—some people prostrating themselves, bowing fervently to...nothing. Beyond the withered willows along the riverbank, others knelt and frantically banged their heads toward the water, chanting.

On the wind came delirious, fanatical cries.

“Immortal! ... Immortal Mountain... Immortal!”

The strangeness of it all sent a chill down Fang Jianlong’s spine. Pushing away his curiosity, he hurried into the tavern with the two female companions, passing under the bright red lanterns. After tossing the innkeeper some silver, he asked in a low voice, “Why are there so many people here bowing to thin air?”

The innkeeper lowered his voice and explained, “They’re from the Immortal Worshipping Cult.”

“Immortal Worshipping Cult?” Fang Jianlong repeated curiously.

“Don’t worry,” the innkeeper said. “They won’t bother you if you ignore them.”

At those words, Fang Jianlong couldn’t help recalling the strange rouge incident in Gemhill County. His heart sank at the memory. He tipped the innkeeper a bit extra, thanked him, and led his two companions to their room.

That night, they all shared a bed, waves of passion rolling until dawn.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

The next morning.

Fang Jianlong rose, opened the window, and gazed out at the lively street below. The sounds of peddlers and hawkers filled the air, a much-needed reassurance after the eerie encounters of the previous night. Only now did he truly feel like he’d returned to some semblance of normalcy.

Yet the more he thought about it, the more he felt that something was seriously off about what he had seen. In his mind, the conflict between the undying husks and the Farmstead Sect should have been straightforward... weapons drawn, flesh and blood flying. Instead, everything took on a bizarre, almost supernatural twist.

This was how anything involving ghosts and otherworldly powers tended to unfold, wreathed in mystery, killing in ways impossible to foresee. Even if, in a fair fight, the undying husks posed no real threat to martial experts, the real problem was that the Farmstead Sect had no clue how these strange beings operated. They didn’t even know who among them was truly human and who wasn’t. Lurking in the shadows, these unorthodox foes were like assassins wielding weapons beyond mortal comprehension.

How to deal with them?

As Fang Jianlong turned it over in his mind, he failed to notice that in the silk pouch inside his robes, a copper pendant began to morph. Gradually, the surface formed a tiny likeness of him—perfect in every detail. Then, a dark stain spread slowly across its surface. The face etched on the token contorted in faint agony, as if it were silently bearing some hidden burden on his behalf.

From the bed came a playful voice calling, “My lord, the night is still young. Come back to bed!”

Fang Jianlong allowed himself a grin. Setting aside his worries for the moment, he crawled back under the covers. Another wave of lustful excitement followed. But what he failed to notice was that although the songstress and the dancer were ordinary women, they acted abnormally insatiable, as if enchanted. They clung to him, again and again, in a fervor that refused to end.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

Hundred Lotus Manor.

“Xiao Zhu, what’s wrong? Xiao Zhu...” Xue Ning watched the green-robed girl walking unsteadily while bracing herself against the wall. Stifling a laugh, she approached and asked, “Did Li Yuan bully you?”

Xiao Zhu quickly bowed. “Mistress...” But her knees gave out, and she almost fell forward. Xue Ning caught her just in time.

“So he really was rough with you,” she teased, feigning displeasure.

“It’s not that,” Xiao Zhu insisted, blushing hard. “He wasn’t bullying me. I’m the weak one. He was incredibly gentle, I could feel it. I’m just...too frail.”

Xue Ning knew exactly how she felt. A sixth rank cultivator like Li Yuan was as powerful as a rampaging bear compared to an ordinary woman. No matter how careful the bear tried to be, the little rabbit was bound to feel thoroughly overrun. Once upon a time, even she had nearly fainted despite his clear gentleness.

With a soft sigh, Xue Ning murmured, “Perhaps he truly does need a wife at or near his own cultivation level.”

Before she had experienced these things for herself, Xiao Zhu had imagined nothing but blissful romance. Now that she had finally spent an intimate night with her beloved master, there was indeed sweetness, so sweet it almost knocked her unconscious. The girl in green could only nod her head in agreement.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.