Chapter 23: Taking the Initiative

  The other two also drank the fish soup and sat still with their eyes closed, practicing inner alchemy.

  Liu Bu-yi sneered inwardly, swept his large sleeves and stood up, drifting away. Since he wanted to pretend, he naturally had to put on a show.

  After sitting for a quarter of an hour, the two bailiffs finally began to feel the medicinal effects of the Power-Infusing Broth. They exchanged a glance, and their eyes widened in shock. At this point, there was no longer any doubt about Liu Bei's identity.

  "Old Yang, since the immortal master of Yuanshuo Temple has settled down in your village, it's a blessing for you all. Considering the face of the immortal master, this year you can pay less taxes..."

  A small village of a hundred people can only squeeze out so much oil, why must they offend the disciples of Yuanchuang for just a few melons and dates?

  As for those who ask them to cause trouble, just ignore them! I don't believe that a loose cultivator like him would dare to mess with a disciple of Yuanshuo Guan.

  Liu Bu returned to the newly built thatched hut in the village, and was too close to Zhen Yangzi, which always made him feel a little uneasy.

  So Zhenyangzi closed the mountain gate and refused to come out, Liu Buyi simply moved down the mountain to live. The behavior of these yamen runners was strange, making Liu Buyi feel that something was not quite right.

  He spent the price of five contribution points to buy a miniature eavesdropper from the Tian Gong Temple, and secretly installed it on Qin Shu Li's body.

  Firstly, this kind of person has always played the role of a chief advisor who comes up with ideas. Secondly, this guy hasn't practiced martial arts, yet he's good at getting his hands dirty.

  Wearing earphones, Liu Bu Yi could clearly hear the signals emitted by the eavesdropping device within a range of four or five li. To say the least, this time Shen Xiao Tian Gong had given a reasonable price, not too expensive.

  Three men were about to leave under the thousand thanks of Old Yang and a large group of villagers, when they came to Liu Bu's thatched cottage door to thank him.

  However, several hundred meters away from Liu Bu's house door, a loud voice suddenly rang out: "I am busy with my cultivation and will not receive you. Treat the common people well, and there will be good fortune in the future!"

  Everyone was startled by the huge voice, stopped and suspected for a long time. Only then did they believe that it was Liu Bu's voice, and they were even more surprised in their hearts. They just bowed to the grass hut from afar and left.

  Yunlai Village was even more enthusiastic in seeing them off, and this time Yunlai Village really got a great deal. Although the world is called "summer grain and autumn tax", in fact, what is collected are all currencies.

  This time the three of them gave Liu Bu-yi a huge favor, and they only collected a little, averaging no more than ten cents per person. That's a full ten times less than last year.

  But there's no need to worry about these guys either. They'll just charge a bit more in other villages, and they won't lose out themselves anyway.

  "Unexpectedly, this small Cloud Come Village actually has a disciple of the Yuanxu Temple. That Song Yuanzi doesn't know if he knows or not, but if he does, and is still inciting us brothers to come and cause trouble, then his heart is truly detestable!" Qin Shuyi said coldly.

  The words were transmitted into Liu Bu's ears through the eavesdropping device, fading away as they left. Whatever else was said, Liu Bu could no longer hear it.

  As soon as Liu Bu heard the three words "Zhen Yang Zi", he suddenly became furious.

  You're a sly one, Song Yuanzi! It's been so quiet for so long, I thought you'd retreated and stopped making trouble. But unexpectedly, you dare to stir up the government office and look for fault!

  Liu Bu had already figured it out, Song Yuansu didn't dare to take direct action against himself. He just attacked his own Xiang Huo followers. With the presence of Zhenshengzi, Song Yuansu also didn't dare to go too far.

  It's just that even Song Yuansub wouldn't have thought of it, but Zhen Yangzi is so incredibly powerful. He has even obtained the Dao disk of Yuanxuguan, and who knows how he managed to do it.

  Just by looking at how those three guys from Qin Shu Li regard Yuan Xuguan, you can tell what a massive entity Yuan Xuguan is!

  No, can't keep going on like this, it's too passive. Who knows what other tricks Matsumoto will come up with?

  The principle of "the first to take action is strong, the last to take action suffers" was still clearly understood by Liu Bu-yi.

  Thinking of this, Liu could no longer sit still. He pulled the young man who had brought him news today to row his boat and set out without regard for the fact that it was already afternoon.

  "Dao Zhang... Oh, Gongzi." The young man called Xiao Hei rowed the small boat with great respect and admiration for Liu Bu.

  His mother was ill recently and was cured by Liu Bu Yi, so he has great respect for Liu Bu Yi.

  Liu Bu Yi changed his clothes today, not wearing the eye-catching Taoist robe, but instead wore a brocade robe, which actually gave off the air of a rich young master from this world.

  This is also nonsense, Liu Bu-yi was originally a disciple of a scholarly family and a Confucian scholar's family, and he was born into a wealthy and noble family.

  This set of clothes can't be found in this poor and remote village of Yunlai. Liu Bu Yi spent 5 contribution points to buy it directly from Shen Xiao Tian Gong.

  "Do you know how to get to Bao Yang City?" Liu Buji asked.

  Little Hei rubbed his head and smiled foolishly: "During the New Year, I followed my dad there twice! It's really bustling and lively... The whole street is full of people..."

  Liu nodded and put his mind at ease. As long as this silly guy knew the way, it was fine. The Smoke Wave Lake was thousands of miles in circumference, even larger than the Dongting Lake in his original world.

  Although most of the areas around this great lake have not been developed, there are several large cities, and Boyang is one of them.

  Compared with Zhenyangzi bringing Liu Buji to Yunlai Village, a place where birds don't even shit, Songyuanzi is developing Boyang, which is exactly the county seat of Yinnan Prefecture.

  No matter whether it's capital, connections or even cultivation, all must be stronger than Liu Bu Yi.

  If Liu hadn't made it clear that they were just sunlight-killed Qingyang sect disciples, he would have secretly resented Zhenyangzi for being biased and leaving the best place to Songyuanzi.

  The two set out late and by the time it got dark, they still hadn't arrived at Bo Yang City. They could only spend the night on a reed sandbank in the middle of the river.

  This vast smoky lake, although covering a huge area, seemed more like the Cloud Dream Lake of his world to Liu Bei. The water was extremely shallow, with many areas having depths of only one or two meters, and sandbars existed everywhere.

  I'm afraid it will slowly degenerate into a wetland in the future, gradually becoming a large swampy lake.

  "Master, let's spend the night here tonight. I remember there's a house on this sandbank, although it's a bit worn out, but it can still accommodate people!" Xiao Hei was still smiling foolishly.