Chapter 171: Shopkeeper, I Feel Guilty

Next, inside this small shop, the shopkeeper commenced an internal praise convention for his new assistant.

Yan Jing checked the ledger; Tiger wrote down "First-rate" under the "Skill" category.

Yan Jing took the initiative to sweep the floor; Tiger wrote down "First-rate" under the "Work Attitude" category.

Yan Jing attended to a customer buying Vanishing Cream; Tiger wrote down "First-rate" under the "Performance" category.

...

By the time the morning passed, Tiger's notebook was almost full.

Now, it wasn't just because of Yi Ji's original instructions. Tiger was genuinely satisfied with his newly recruited assistant.

"Shopkeeper, here's your tea."

Yan Jing carried a teacup over to where Tiger sat on a stool.

"What would you like for lunch? I'll go buy it for you."

"No need!"

Tiger took the tea, took a sip, and looked incredibly comfortable. "I'm already full."

"How can you not eat lunch?"

Yan Jing wiped his hands with a towel. "I saw quite a few eateries and restaurants on my way here. I'll go buy something. If you starve and the shop closes, wouldn't I have to go back to the streets and find another job?"

"Where else could I find a shopkeeper like you in a place like this?"

Hearing Yan Jing's words, only one word could describe Tiger's mood right now: wonderful!

How was he full? This was exactly how he got full.

"I really don't need anything, Xiao Yan. You go eat."

Tiger said, "You can't just go to any restaurant on East Street. Places like Liang's Porridge Shop and Wang's Meat Pie are relatively safe. Keep track of how much you spend and expense it when you get back."

"Alright then, I'll head out." Yan Jing smiled.

"Go on, go on. You can stroll around the street after eating, but remember... don't buy things carelessly. A place like Bianliu County isn't simple."

After a morning of conditioning, Tiger was gradually starting to look the part of a proper shopkeeper.

"Okay." Yan Jing nodded, then walked out the door.

He didn't go far, heading straight to the entrance of the Funeral Shop diagonally across the street.

At this moment, Dong Pingping and Dong An were sitting at the entrance, sizing up the pedestrians coming and going.

However, judging by their eyes, they weren't waiting for customers. They were looking for someone.

Yesterday afternoon, Boss Bai had held talks with Wei Nantian.

As for the result of those talks, according to the Intelligence Cultivators on the street, Wei Nantian had left the restaurant where the meeting took place with a gloomy expression.

And before dinnertime even arrived, the Killing Cultivators of the Wei Faction withdrew from East Main Street in unison, retreating to South Street.

Because of this, East Street resumed normal business that morning.

After all this commotion, it seemed that apart from some people dying and the merchant tax doubling, nothing else had changed.

"Sis, did we miss him?" Dong An asked, looking nervously at the pedestrians on the street.

"We couldn't have. Didn't Mr. Yi say the person would come to the shop to find us? We just need to wait."

Despite her words, the tension written on Dong Pingping's face was barely less than Dong An's.

Right at that moment, her eyes suddenly lit up, and she excitedly tugged at Dong An's sleeve.

Pulled by her tug, Dong An shifted his gaze and saw Yan Jing walking over. He immediately swallowed hard to keep his throat from going dry with nerves.

However, he was also somewhat confused, because the person in front of him seemed to be a human.

But... never mind that.

Steeling himself, he stood up and looked at Yan Jing. "Are... are you..."

After stuttering for ages, he had only managed to spit out a few words. Dong An instantly felt incredibly frustrated with himself.

What was he doing? If it really was the human in front of him, wouldn't he just ruin everything...

Unexpectedly, Yan Jing spoke. "I am."

Those two simple words instantly made Dong An's eyes light up.

"Then, the se... secret code..."

"One, two, three, four, five," Yan Jing smiled.

Hearing the familiar code, Dong An grew instantly excited. "Yes, yes, yes, it's you! Are we leaving now?"

"Let's leave now," Yan Jing smiled. "I don't have much time."

"Okay, sounds good." Dong An stood up and bid farewell to Dong Pingping. "Sis, I'm going."

"Okay. An'an, be careful on the way." Dong Pingping nodded vigorously, wiping her eyes with her sleeve.

The two set off.

Along the way, feeling the intense malice exuding from the shopkeepers on both sides of the street, Dong An couldn't help but swallow hard.

He had been in Bianliu County for some time now, but this was his first time feeling such pure malice. It was obvious they wanted to scare away the halo around the human beside him so they could eat him alive.

But... they couldn't eat him. If they ate him, where would Dong An go to enter the ranks?

Thinking of this, even though he was terrified, he unconsciously stepped forward to shield Yan Jing.

Watching this, Yan Jing smiled and didn't say anything.

The two crossed East Street, took a small path around to West Street, and then, after experiencing another series of threats in Artisan Alley, finally arrived at South Street, where Old Monkey was located.

By this time, Dong An's face was deathly pale, and his legs were weak.

The shops on West Street felt much more terrifying than those on East Street.

Several times, he had felt heavy killing intent aimed straight at them.

Fortunately, they finally made it to the entrance of Old Monkey's wonton shop.

"Hello. Two bowls of wontons. One with chili oil, one with double chopped green onions," Yan Jing smiled.

Hearing this, Old Monkey, who had been taking a nap on a recliner, opened his eyes.

Those slightly cloudy eyes erupted with a sharp light after seeing the halo around Yan Jing.

"We're out of chili oil, and out of green onions."

He was testing them, worried that the human in front of him had just blindly stumbled onto the code.

"Then I'll still have one bowl with chili oil, and one with double chopped green onions," Yan Jing smiled.

Hearing the code again, Old Monkey finally confirmed his identity.

He looked at the anxious Dong An beside Yan Jing and asked, "You or him?"

"Him," Yan Jing smiled, pushing Dong An closer to Old Monkey.

The next second, Dong An's vision blurred. Old Monkey's hand clamped onto his wrist and squeezed hard, instantly making him grimace in pain.

Immediately after, Old Monkey's lone right palm blurred into a series of afterimages, landing on Dong An's frail body like a torrential storm.

A few seconds later, Old Monkey retracted his hand, and Dong An was covered in sweat.

This was the First Tier ability of a Thief Cultivator: Hand Techniques.

With that one move, Old Monkey had probed Dong An's bones and muscles.

"This guy's not quite up to par," Old Monkey said slowly, his face calm. "His foundation is lacking, and he's a bit too old. He's not cut out to be a Thief Cultivator."

Hearing this, Yan Jing didn't say anything; he just stood there smiling.

He knew Old Monkey wasn't saying this for his benefit.

Sure enough, upon hearing Old Monkey's words, Dong An dropped to his knees with a thud and kowtowed heavily.

"I beg you, please take me in! I know I'm lacking, but I'll definitely be obedient."

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Dong An slammed his head against the ground three times, drawing blood from his forehead.

This sight made Old Monkey frown even deeper.

"It's not just a problem with his foundation; he's also a bit stupid."

"The biggest taboo for a Thief Cultivator is being stubborn and single-minded."

"Then I'm afraid I'll have to trouble you to bear with him," Yan Jing chuckled.

This was one of the reasons he had chosen Dong An.

In Young Master Luo's memories, the Old Monkey sitting in front of him had also lost his left arm because of his single-minded stubbornness.

"It's a bit troublesome." Old Monkey pulled a Smoking Pipe from his waist and took a puff.

"But since I promised Young Master Luo, I'll definitely do it."

"However..." He pointed his Smoking Pipe at Dong An. "He'll have to suffer a bit."

"That's fine."

"He'll also have to work ruthlessly hard."

"No problem."

"After entering the ranks, he'll have to follow me for three years. If he deceives his master, he'll lose an arm. If he betrays the lineage, he'll lose two. This is also for Young Master Luo's sake. Now that he's gone, he definitely wouldn't want to leave a scourge behind."

"Just handle it however you see fit," Yan Jing agreed readily.

"Alright, I'll take him in." Old Monkey nodded.

"If he's ruthless enough, he can enter the ranks by tomorrow afternoon. If he isn't, it will take until the afternoon of the day after tomorrow."

"Okay." Yan Jing nodded. "Sorry for the trouble."

With that, he turned and left.

As long as the kid could enter the ranks, he didn't really care what happened afterward.

Returning to East Main Street, before heading to the grocery shop, he made a trip to a nearby eatery to buy a jug of wine and pack up a few dishes.

"Wriggling Large Intestines Stir-fried with Black Pickled Cabbage"

"Transparent Meat of an Unknown Creature Stir-fried with Chili Peppers"

"Furry Wings Stewed with Tentacles"

Thanks to the chef's deliberate efforts, these dishes all revealed their true forms, looking gruesome enough to send an ordinary Player's Sanity plummeting.

However, the shopkeeper of that eatery stared at Yan Jing for a long time but didn't see the halo around him waver in the slightest, causing him to sigh in disappointment.

'They really don't do this as well as Sun-Swallowing Tower,' Yan Jing thought, his face perfectly calm as he walked out of the eatery.

The dishes the Gluttonous Weirds ate looked far more appetizing than this.

Back at the shop, Tiger was sitting by the table, reading a comic book.

Yan Jing smiled. Tiger was good at everything else, but he completely didn't care about things like cultivation.

Back in Old Sin City, he had rarely ever seen him cultivate, and since coming to Bianliu County, Tiger hadn't mentioned it even once.

"Shopkeeper, come eat," Yan Jing called out to Tiger.

Tiger, who was reading his book, froze for a moment. Then he put down his comic and looked over. "Didn't I say I wasn't hungry..."

He stood up and walked toward Yan Jing.

"You still have to eat even if you aren't hungry. Just put something in your stomach." Yan Jing set out the bowls and chopsticks.

The boss might say he wasn't hungry, but as an employee, you couldn't just not buy him anything.

Sure enough, looking at this setup, Tiger was incredibly moved once again.

"Xiao Yan, how long will you be staying with us this time?"

"Hard to say." Yan Jing sighed. "Shopkeeper, life isn't easy. Taking a trip over to your side comes with huge risks. If we run into some major incident or if high-tier experts start fighting, we're the ones who suffer."

As soon as he said this, Tiger, who had just picked up his chopsticks, paused. Then he nodded rather emotionally.

"Right, right, exactly! Xiao Yan, you hit the nail on the head. Don't just look at how things are for you humans; it's the exact same for us. Life is hard wherever you go..."

"Are your tasks usually difficult?"

"..."

"Ah, I see. Let me tell you, the place I used to be in had far more humans than this..."

"..."

"At the time, I thought that Domain of mine wasn't all that great, but after coming here, I realized it was practically heaven..."

"..."

After one meal and a whole jug of wine, Tiger had completely bared his heart to Yan Jing.

There was a kind of revolutionary friendship born from mutual empathy.

The current Tiger was pretty much exactly like that.

Reaching the height of his excitement, he couldn't help but pull out that notebook and shout loudly:

"Xiao Yan, don't say your shopkeeper treats you poorly! After this entire morning, in my book, you're exactly this!"

He gave a thumbs up, then fiercely scribbled "First-rate" across the remaining unevaluated categories in the notebook.

"Shopkeeper, you're making me feel guilty," Yan Jing smiled gently.