Chapter 44

"Uh..." Yu Qing was somewhat hesitant. If he didn't know the price of the incense, he would definitely say the more the better. Now, having grown up in poverty, he found the incense to be ridiculously expensive and couldn't figure out how long it would take to find the fire crickets. He was afraid of wasting money and worried that the other party might have an opinion, so he was hesitant to make a decision.

Tie Miaqing seemed to understand his thoughts. "It's fine, estimate generously."

Yu Qing hesitated and said, "Then, shall we buy a hundred sticks?" He wasn't sure if the other party would be willing to spend so much money, but to him, it was definitely a large sum.

Tie Miaqing confirmed with him, "Will a hundred sticks be enough?"

Yu Qing wasn't quite sure and hesitated again, "Maybe it will be enough."

Tie Miaqing considered for a moment and then said to the mountain porter, "We need two hundred sticks."

"Alright!" The mountain porter beamed, immediately counting the sticks. However, he found that there were only about a hundred and sixty sticks. He had to awkwardly raise his head and say, "Madam, will a hundred and sixty sticks do? I'll charge you for a hundred and fifty sticks."

Tie Miaqing nodded at Sun Ping, who immediately paid the money, 1,350 taels in total, and the transaction was completed.

Yu Qing, standing nearby, couldn't hide his envious look as he watched the mountain porter collect the money.

He knew the price of incense very well. It was often used in the temple, and such a small amount usually didn't even cost one tael of silver. Yet, here it was being sold for over a thousand taels, making a profit of nearly two thousand times. It was truly a huge profit!

Such a large profit made him want to become a mountain porter himself. However, he knew that being a mountain porter wasn't something anyone could do. The key was the high entry barrier; one needed to gain recognition from various parties. For example, the mountain porter in front of him wouldn't be able to enter and exit the demon realm freely without the demon realm's recognition.

How could various parties recognize you if they didn't know your background? If you wanted to be a mountain porter in different territories, you had to clearly explain your background. This was something Yu Qing couldn't do, as the Linglong Temple had strict rules and couldn't easily expose the secrets of the sect.

Many cultivators found it difficult to pass this hurdle.

Sun Ping also bought some necessities for their stay and bought clothes for Yu Qing and the others who weren't wearing coats, thus concluding the transaction.

The mountain porter closed the shop, lifted the shop, and pulled four horizontal bolts. He repeatedly pulled a rope to retract the four legs into the building, then pushed the four horizontal bolts to lock the legs, and carried the large object away, bidding farewell to everyone.

Everyone watched him go, and Xu Bo couldn't help but ask, "In this remote mountain, carrying so much wealth, isn't he afraid of being robbed?"

Yu Qing rolled his eyes, "Rob? There are agreements in place for those who enter this profession. If you dare to rob, he doesn't mind. If he is robbed in the demon realm, the demon realm will compensate him for all his losses. It's like you're helping him sell all his goods at once. As for the culprit, he doesn't care who it is, but you'd better not let the demon realm find out, or you'll die a terrible death."

Sun Ping and the others glanced at him, realizing that this scholar knew a lot about the world, and wondered how he had time to read so much.

Xu Bo nodded, acknowledging the insight, "Carrying such a heavy load and running around, it's hard-earned money."

"Those who can bear it have the strength. Those with lower cultivation carry smaller houses, and those with higher cultivation carry larger ones. The one in front of us is probably a Xuan-level mountain porter. Brother Xu, don't worry unnecessarily." Yu Qing patted his shoulder, his eyes implying, "Remember to give me the four thousand taels when we reach the capital."

Xu Bo didn't notice, still marveling at the new experience, "Humans carry mountains, demons travel a thousand miles, and Erlang connects heaven and earth. Reading ten thousand books is not as good as traveling ten thousand miles. Today, I've seen it."

"Human carries mountains, demon travels a thousand miles, and Erlang connects heaven and earth" is a common saying in the world, and most people have heard of it.

"Human carries mountains" refers to mountain porters, and "demon travels a thousand miles" refers to the "thousand-mile porters," who are as famous as mountain porters.

Mountain porters are merchants who travel between two worlds, while thousand-mile porters are messengers who can travel between two worlds. If you want to send a letter or some items quickly, you can find a thousand-mile porter to help. Most thousand-mile porters are birds that have cultivated into demons, capable of flying quickly and possessing unique advantages that other cultivators don't have, allowing them to deliver items quickly.

However, the price is also high. It's not cheap to have a demon cultivator run errands for you.

"Human carries mountains, demon travels a thousand miles" is the result of a long-standing compromise between humans and demons.

Mountain porters are controlled by human cultivators, while thousand-mile porters are controlled by demon cultivators. However, sending letters can involve leaks, and the high cost is secondary. Therefore, the government prefers to use the less efficient postal system to transmit official documents or secrets involving demon cultivators.

"Two Erlang connect heaven and earth" means that mountain porters and thousand-mile porters can travel between the two worlds and reach any place in heaven and earth.

Yu Qing naturally knew more about this than Xu Bo, but it wasn't the time to explain further.

With everything prepared, Tie Miaqing, who appeared calm but was actually anxious, didn't want to delay any longer. She ordered everyone to continue, and after consulting Yu Qing, they headed straight for the underground cave where they had previously found fire crickets.

It didn't take long, and the distance wasn't far. It was the same cave where Yu Qing and Tie Miaqing had first met the previous night, not far from where Yu Qing and his companions had spent the night. It felt like they were running back and forth, especially with two burdens.

However, Yu Qing didn't trust these people and insisted on bringing Xu Bo and Chong'er with him, not giving them any excuse to leave, especially because of Cheng Shanping's suspicious gaze.

Outside the cave, there were still traces of the previous night's campfire. The scene was different during the day, and the group didn't linger, lighting a few torches and entering the cave directly.

The cave walls showed clear signs of excavation, and the marks of time were evident, though it was unclear from which era they dated.

The underground passage was not smooth, and they had to detour around large rocks that were difficult to dig through. The overall trend was downward.

As they went deeper underground, the outside light disappeared, and the light from the torches didn't reach far.

For Xu Bo and Chong'er, the endless darkness ahead was like an uncertain future, and they had no choice but to take one step at a time, with no control over their fate.

The two were on edge, their hearts heavy, unsure of what had happened in the past two days, always feeling like they were on the brink of death.

When they saw the light at the other end of the underground, Yu Qing didn't know how deep they had gone, but he estimated they had walked about ten miles underground.

The end was bathed in red light, and the temperature was noticeably higher even before they approached. After walking a bit further, Chong'er, a regular person, couldn't tolerate the heat and had to stop, feeling suffocated. Xu Bo was slightly better but was also left behind for his own good.

Tie Miaqing had Sun Ping take the two back a distance to a cooler spot to rest.

The others continued, and when the red light enveloped them, they found themselves in a large underground space, several acres in size, with red-hot lava and dry heat. Small islands dotted the area, and un-melted stalactites connected the upper and lower levels. Occasionally, bubbles of lava would rise from the ground.

"Here," Tie Miaqing pointed to a corner, "We found a fire cricket here yesterday. It ran into a crack before we noticed it. When it was still, it blended perfectly with the scorched black rocks, making it hard to distinguish. You wouldn't notice it until it ran away."

Yu Qing observed the environment and asked, "Just one?"

Tie Miaqing looked around, "We can't be sure. The lava is like water to fish. The fire cricket might have swum here from elsewhere or might have lived here all along."

Yu Qing glanced at the annoying Cheng Shanping and said, "Have everyone else step back."

Tie Miaqing didn't know what he was planning, but she took a package from Zhu Shangbiao and nodded for the others to step back.

Seeing the boss lady obey, Cheng Shanping grunted but turned and left.

With only the two of them left, Tie Miaqing asked, "What do you plan to do?"

What to do? Yu Qing felt a wave of despair. He had never seen the environment of a volcanic lava area before, and now he realized that the space, combined with the rising heat, made burning incense one by one ineffective. Burning all the incense at once wouldn't last long.

But he knew that if he didn't give a satisfactory answer, he wouldn't be able to leave easily.

Given the current situation, he had no confidence in catching the fire cricket and had to start thinking about how to escape from these Xuan-level experts.

After some consideration, and based on the terrain he had observed, he had a plan to escape. He asked, "What will you use to catch the fire cricket?"

Tie Miaqing immediately took out an apple-sized iron can from her package and handed it to him. "We had a few specially made for catching fire crickets. We don't know what they are like or their habits, so we put extra effort into the lid, which can be turned to switch between having holes and not having holes."

Yu Qing took it, opened the lid, and said, "I need two pots of water, a towel, and a tree to be cut down."

The place was hot, and they could easily get thirsty, so the water and towel made sense, but cutting down a tree was confusing. Tie Miaqing asked, "Why do you need a tree?"

Yu Qing calmly replied, "I didn't know about the environment here before. After observing, I decided to build another altar."

An altar? Tie Miaqing was skeptical and didn't understand but didn't refuse. She thought for a moment and asked, "How big of a tree? If it's too long, it might be hard to move in here."

Yu Qing said, "It can be cut into sections."

Tie Miaqing didn't say anything more, turned, and left. A moment later, she returned and said, "It will take some time. We need to go back and forth."

Yu Qing nodded, took the incense from her, and put it on his back. He took out a stick, walked to the edge of the scorching lava lake, squatted down, and lit the incense in the red-hot lava. The incense head immediately started smoking.

He stood up, held the incense with both hands, and appeared to be praying, but was actually observing the smoke to see if the air was circulating underground.

Tie Miaqing, seeing him in a trance, held her breath and didn't disturb him.

After a while, while waiting for the tree, Yu Qing began to jump around the islands in the lava lake, carefully observing the terrain to prepare for his plan.