Beginning with the Ubume Bird - Chapter 104 - Chapter 104: Chapter 3 Kui and the Encounter

Chapter 104: Chapter 3 Kui and the Encounter

Li Yan took a few steps before suddenly leaping backward, then stood still, looking somewhat baffled.

“No matter which direction I go, I get closer to that door.”

Li Yan inwardly sighed with headache.

Inside the house, men and women, old and young, stared at Li Yan, their faces emotionless beneath their deathly pallor makeup.

Li Yan stood still, but the door seemed to move closer and closer as if a strange mouth was lunging at him.

Without panicking, Li Yan withdrew his hand from the Ring Dragon Sword and stepped towards the door.

Crossing the threshold, he found himself in a different world.

A three-story building with red-lacquered columns, yellow and blue carved beams decorated with Copper Coins and pagodas, and blindingly bright light bulbs were used outside; Li Yan turned his head to see a white air conditioning unit hanging on the wall.

Looking ahead, there were narrow alleys barely wide enough for two people to walk shoulder to shoulder, with plastic signs reading “Copying” in large letters above the windows. People crowded each floor, all craning their necks to look at Li Yan.

[Yin Market]

“Brother, you break someone’s stuff and you’re thinking of leaving without so much as a word? That’s not quite appropriate, is it?”

The speaker wore a melon skin hat, draped a white towel over his shoulders, and had a long box hanging from his neck, filled with various brands of cigarettes. His attire didn’t resemble that of the post-liberation era at all.

He stepped out of the crowd with a smirk on his face, his face powder flaking off.

Li Yan’s gaze flickered as he handed over the two blue banknotes he had just picked up.

“Sorry about that, will this be enough?”

The cigarette vendor didn’t even look, “We don’t take your kind of money.”

Li Yan relaxed his hand, crumpling the banknotes.

“Then how do we settle this?”

“Yin Market has its own rules. If you can’t pay, that’s fine, but you need to leave something behind as collateral.”

The man in the melon skin hat smiled broadly.

“What sort of thing?”

“Arms, legs, liver, spleen…” The vendor’s eyes flickered with a murderous intent from Li Yan, but he quickly changed his tone.

“I guess you wouldn’t be too keen on that, let me make a suggestion for everyone.”

He reached out a hand.

“Leave the sword.”

“…And if I don’t?”

Li Yan’s smile was hollow as he surveyed the onlookers and vendors who were closing in.

The cigarette seller gestured to keep the crowd back, grinned at Li Yan, revealing a set of gleaming, sharp teeth.

“Main Street Alley has a reputation, big enough but not too big in Yan Capital City. The rules haven’t been broken in many years, my friend. You should think carefully. If I’m not mistaken, we’re going to be dealing with each other for a while.”

Li Yan thought for a moment while the cigarette vendor didn’t rush him.

“I can’t give you the sword, but…”

Li Yan reached into his pocket and pulled out a small Gold ingot.

“How much will this cover?”

The vendor glanced at it and replied indifferently, “More than enough.”

“Take your stuff, but just so you know, I’m only paying my share,”

Li Yan pointed outside.

“That guy just now, I can’t do anything about him.”

“Deal.”

The vendor took the gold ingot and gave a thumbs up.

“Generous! There are plenty of good things here; feel free to look around, brother.”

“No rush, we’ll talk about it later.”

Li Yan turned to leave, raising his hand to catch an object that flew at him.

A crumpled pack of cigarettes with a girl in a qipao depicted on it.

“I’m Hat Zhang, and I don’t take advantage of people. This one’s on me.”

[Little Golden Mouse Cigarettes]

Category: Consumable

Quality: Fine

Price: A large piece of living flesh.

Smoking increases one’s jumping ability by a very small amount; to be calculated in conjunction with the inheritance state.

A thought flashed through Li Yan’s mind, and he genuinely considered browsing the Yin Market. But he had to be quick tonight, and truly had no time to spare.

“Thank you,”

With that, he turned and stepped through the doorway, walking out smoothly.

The double doors behind him snapped shut, sealing off even the faintest beam of light; the alley fell silent and dark, bitter cold and utterly devoid of human warmth.

…

Within Dongcheng District’s Anding Gate, the Imperial College.

The Chinese dynasty’s premier academic institution through the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties.

“This is giving me a headache,”

The man speaking wore gold-rimmed glasses and had brass knuckles on his hands, presenting an odd mix of scholarly and fierce demeanor.

A few people stood outside of Guangye Hall with its bright yellow glazed tile roof, gazing across at the man with glasses inside the building.

Guangye Hall, one of the six halls of the Imperial College, served as a place where scholars taught the imperial students. At the moment, the man with glasses sat below the professor’s podium, his expression conflicted.

“Yunhu, why don’t we wait for you? An opportunity like this is rare,”

The man called Yunhu glanced at the shadowy figures wearing tall hats and wide belts in front of the hall.

He had once experienced a Yan Fu event closely related to the civil service examination system of the Ming and Qing dynasties, carrying with him the “Kui” heritage, a star of influence in the rise and fall of literature.

The lingering soul of this “old scholar” in the Imperial College was key for him to break through his peak and even elevate his heritage.

But after thinking it over, he shook his head resolutely.

“I’ll come some other day. Tonight is crucial; I can’t waste time.”

“But…”

“Among the one hundred and sixty-four Yan Fu competitors, even if you kill an opponent outside of the ‘duel,’ there’s a 20% chance of inheriting their heritage,”

The man cut off his companion’s words,

“Not every competitor actively faces Yan Fu events, many choose to muddle through with the help of ‘fellow travelers.’ After all, life is precious, and with the special abilities granted by their heritage, as long as they have a bit of sense, any competitor can live quite comfortably in reality. There’s no need to fight to the death.”

He looked at the men and women outside the building as he stood up,

“So, of these hundred-plus competitors, there are far too many with almost zero strength and willpower, mere trash filling the ranks. Not to mention surviving the killing among competitors, they might not even make it past midnight. Yet killing them could yield tangible Yan Fu heritages! This includes getting one’s hands on extremely powerful heritages with high rank. With a bit of luck, just by hunting these people, one could receive gains that couldn’t be obtained even from three or four Yan Fu events. No fortunate encounter in the events can compare to that.”

“In at most three days, these weaklings will all be dead, leaving behind only the tough nuts to crack. Nothing is more important than clearing them out. So, let’s move out,”

As the man was about to set off, a woman’s voice came from among his companions outside,

“Since we’re picking the low-hanging fruit first, there’s no need to bring you along.”

The person came out—it was a girl wearing a duckbill cap.

“You stay here; we’ll take care of those people,”

“I don’t trust it,” the man flatly refused.

The girl in the duckbill cap clearly was not planning to back down and locked eyes with the man,

“…Alright then.”

With a frown, the man took off his glasses and started cleaning them with the hem of his shirt.

“Stay safe. Target the ones who are alone first,”

…

“Achoo—”

Li Yan, left only in a white shirt, put on Smith’s overcoat and took a large bite from a carrot he pulled out from his pocket.

“This wind is pretty cold,”

As Li Yan was muttering to himself, someone stepped out of the hardware store to his right, a cigarette dangling from his lip and a thin-bladed kitchen knife in his hand.

Both men noticed each other at the same time.

The atmosphere suddenly grew tense as their eyes met, the only sound being the crunch of the carrot between Li Yan’s teeth.

The man threw the burnt cigarette butt on the ground, lit another one, and took a big draw, clamping the butt between his teeth.

“Clang!”

The kitchen knife clashed against the Ring Dragon Sword, grinding together with a grating sound.

Their noses almost touching, one smoking a cigarette, the other chewing on a carrot, neither seemed entirely serious,

“Huff!”

“Pff!”

The man blew a mouthful of smoke into Li Yan’s face, while his own face got sprayed with carrot bits.

The knife blade and the sword’s spine scraped and separated,

“Damn dirty…”

They cursed in unison.