Chapter 15: Taking a Bowl of Blood Together

Last night’s banquet had been cold, but today there was hot food and warm dishes—slices of fatty white pork that made Li Qiuchen feel as if he were experiencing a different lifetime.

Who could understand the sense of salvation that came from fat melting in the mouth like jelly?

Setting aside this past month, back in the village, he had been a vegetarian every day due to strange religious beliefs; he could only occasionally visit Boss Guan’s noodle shop to have some meat broth and satisfy his cravings.

Li Qiuchen ate this meal until he was stuffed to the gills. Finally, unable to eat another bite, he simply lay on the ground, clutching his stomach and massaging his digestion.

After resting for about the time it takes an incense stick to burn, the White Crane flapped its wings and descended from the sky.

“Ga!”

Just as expected.

Sure enough.

Li Qiuchen sat up, the corners of his mouth curling slightly.

Someone was hiding in the shadows, peeping.

But that person only noticed Li Qiuchen burying his head in his meal and completely failed to notice the White Crane flying in the sky.

Li Qiuchen had finished his performance; next, he had to see what the background of this voyeur was.

If the person returned to the village to report to the old man, it would mean the old man had something to hide.

Otherwise… he was the mole!

“Follow him and see where he runs… do your job first, I’ve saved all the meat for you!”

Watching Ga Ga Pig fly away reluctantly, Li Qiuchen turned around and started working.

The half-carcass of raw pork left by the villagers needed to be processed quickly, otherwise, it would easily attract beasts from the forest.

If he really ended up inviting the Mountain Lord over, it wouldn’t be fun at all.

Last night, Li Qiuchen had specifically instructed the old man to have people come here to start a fire. Besides scheming for their family’s iron pot, he was also very interested in their kitchen knives and stove.

If there were no one to help, he didn’t know how much effort it would have taken to build such a stove by himself.

Cutting the raw pork into long strips and hanging them over the stove with branches, Li Qiuchen built a smoking kiln on the spot. Only by smoking this raw meat into bacon could it be carried away and preserved for a long time.

Those Stone Clams in the lake were particularly sensitive. If there was even the slightest movement by the shore, they would absolutely not come onto land, so Li Qiuchen didn’t consider them for now.

When the moon rose above the branches, the White Crane flew back. Without a word, it lifted the pot lid, buried its head in the food, and began devouring it ravenously.

“Ga ga—!”

The person had run off; not only did he not return to the village, but he had also run quite far.

If nothing unexpected happened, he was likely going to tip off the bandits.

Li Qiuchen packed everything up and whispered to the White Crane, “Do you want revenge?”

The White Crane, its face covered in lard and shredded pickled cabbage, froze for a moment and looked up toward the lake.

How to get revenge?

Those things slipped away too fast.

“Let some blood.”

The White Crane retracted its neck and shook its head frantically.

But under Li Qiuchen’s gaze, it hesitated for a moment before cautiously puffing out its chest.

Letting blood it is; if this grudge isn’t avenged, this bird is not fit to be a bird!

But when Li Qiuchen picked up the kitchen knife, it immediately lost its nerve again.

Are you trying to let blood or are you trying to stew a bird?

“Hurry up, letting a little blood won’t kill you. Don’t act like a sissy.”

Li Qiuchen’s words somehow touched a sore spot on the White Crane, and it slapped him hard with a wing.

Li Qiuchen had no idea where a bird’s artery was, so he fumbled around and made a small cut under its wing root, letting out a small bowl of fresh blood.

Although the wound wasn’t large, the White Crane’s cries were exceptionally tragic; anyone who didn’t know better would think it was being ravaged.

It only finally quieted down after Li Qiuchen also made a cut on his own wrist and let out an equal amount of blood.

Li Qiuchen was skeptical about the other things the old man had said.

But the story about his great-grandfather seeing a large tiger get injured and its blood attracting aquatic creatures to devour it was likely true.

People cannot imagine things they have never seen; some stories cannot be made up.

In other words, blood could indeed lure those Stone Clams to the bait, and it had to be high-quality blood.

Li Qiuchen didn’t know if these Stone Clams were picky eaters, so he took half the blood from the White Crane and half from himself, then added some of his dried and ground medicinal powder to the blood.

His blood carried the Pharmacist’s Blessing, and its life energy was exceptionally vigorous.

If he couldn’t emit the scent of vegetation as a disguise, he would probably be as delicious as a little cream cake in the eyes of those carnivores.

But he also had to be wary of omnivorous beasts, such as Bears and wild boars; these things ate anything.

Holding the small bowl containing the fresh blood, Li Qiuchen tiptoed to the other side of the lake.

Those villagers had been busy by the lakeshore for half the day, starting fires and chopping meat; the more alert fish and shrimp in the water had long since scattered.

But the area of the lake itself wasn’t too large.

The other side was quiet; in the words of fishing enthusiasts, this was a Holy Land for baiting.

Li Qiuchen spread a freshly peeled pig skin on the shore, casually sprinkled some meat scraps and leftover yellow millet rice, splashed a small portion of the blood from the bowl into the lake, poured the rest onto the pig skin, and then quietly retreated.

After hiding in the forest and waiting for about the time it takes an incense stick to burn, he saw ripples beginning to appear on the water’s surface.

The first to crawl ashore were crabs; these crabs, attracted by the blood and meat, began to feast without a second thought.

As time passed, those Stone Clams also silently appeared on the shore.

The White Crane lay beside Li Qiuchen, staring fixedly at the movement on the shore.

When it saw that the crabs had already flipped over and were foaming at the mouth while the Stone Clams were still unaware, its wings couldn’t help but tremble.

Finally, this day had come.

Li Qiuchen wasn’t actually sure if the toxicity of those herbs would work on the Stone Clams. But that was just how this world was—who could say they were one hundred percent certain about anything they did?

If it seemed feasible, he would take a gamble; anyway, there was no loss if he lost.

Gambling behavior was certainly not worth encouraging, but this time he won the bet again.

The effect was outstanding.

After about an hour, the shore was covered with various fish, shrimp, crabs, and turtles, as well as Stone Clams lying motionless with their shells open.

Li Qiuchen picked up a burlap sack and began harvesting.

There were too many Stone Clams here, likely because they had no natural enemies, and combined with their innate Earth Escape Divine Ability, they could grow wildly. With almost no effort, he gathered a full burlap sack.

Carrying the sack back to his temporary residence, he lit a campfire, poured out the Stone Clams from the sack, and began extracting the pearls.

He didn’t know if it was because of the poisoning, but the shells of these things were all open, saving him a lot of effort.

Peeling back the tender white clam meat, a round pearl plopped out.

This pearl was as large as a thumb’s fingernail. It wasn’t the pure white of an ordinary pearl, but rather had a silvery-gray luster that was almost metallic. Held in the palm, it was icy cold, and one could feel the hidden chill within it.

No wonder it was called a mysterious pearl; this thing might be used in medicine.

But Li Qiuchen was not a professional physician and couldn’t easily make deductions without a prescription. Even the Pharmacist’s Blessing seemed to have no reaction to this inorganic substance.

Li Qiuchen spent a full hour peeling over a hundred mysterious pearls from this pile of Stone Clams. The vast majority of them were less than a centimeter in diameter, and he felt they were likely inferior goods.

Pearls were, of course, better the larger and rounder they were.

But these things weren’t crops; how large and round they grew was entirely up to fate.

The small portion he considered decent reached about the size of a thumb’s fingernail, which was one to two centimeters in diameter.

There were also a few exceptional ones, as large as pigeon eggs, shining brightly under the moonlight with a piercing coldness. Just holding them made his fingers ache from the cold.

This was good enough; what more could he ask for?

Li Qiuchen had a good mindset. He hadn’t really sacrificed anything anyway, just let a little blood, so he was already very satisfied with this harvest.

Now that he knew the method and the location, he could come back to fish for more whenever he needed them.

He couldn’t be too greedy and drain the pond to catch the fish.

What if there was some Foundation Establishment Stone Clam King or Core Formation Stone Clam Old Ancestor behind these Stone Clams… or as the old man said, what if their ancestors really had Dragon Clan blood?

From the pile of mysterious pearls, Li Qiuchen selected a medium-to-small pearl and tucked it into his pocket, planning to give it to the old man to repay the kindness of the two meals from his family.

Any more and their family wouldn’t be able to handle it; it would fall into the hands of the bandits sooner or later.

As for whether it was worth the price of a pig… that was a matter of opinion. This wasn’t about the pig, but a matter concerning the lives of their entire family.

Packing up the other mysterious pearls, Li Qiuchen glanced at the White Crane nearby, which was venting its anger by skipping clam shells across the water, and then lay down to sleep.

Before he could even roll over, he was stepped on the butt by the White Crane.

“Ga—!”

Li Qiuchen thought for a long time before understanding what it was trying to express.

“You want to split the loot?”

“Ga!”

“But you can’t eat those pearls…”

“Ga!!!”

“Fine, fine, I’ll give you half. When the time comes, I’ll make you a necklace to hang around your neck?”

Ga Ga Pig finally nodded in satisfaction, walked away proudly, and continued skipping its shells.

When he woke up the next morning, Li Qiuchen was in no hurry to go to the village.

Since the old man already regarded him as a Spirit Monster of the mountains, he was happy to maintain this mysterious image.

Being too familiar wasn’t good; people held a sense of awe toward Spirit Monsters, but not toward children.

He spent an entire day cleaning up all traces by the lakeshore. Whatever could be taken away was taken; what couldn’t be taken was buried in a hole to be moved next time.

It wasn’t until the sun set that Li Qiuchen slipped into the village.

The mourning shed hadn’t been dismantled yet. The old man lay in the coffin, anxious as a cat on a hot tin roof. The table was covered with food and wine, but he waited and waited without anyone appearing.

Suddenly hearing footsteps outside, the old man hurriedly climbed out of the coffin and ran to open the door.

Seeing Li Qiuchen appear, the weight in his heart finally dropped.

“I’ve done the job for you. As for whether this pearl is good or not, I don’t understand it.”

Li Qiuchen took the mysterious pearl from his pocket, tossed it casually into the old man’s hand, and feigned nonchalance: “If it’s no good, don’t blame me…”

Hearing no sound, he turned his head to look, only to see the old man’s eyes bulging. His two hands were trembling as they held the pearl, as if he were frightened.

“Ex… Exceptional! Heavens! This is an exceptional mysterious pearl!”