Taichu Yandao: Starting from the Villain

“Is it that serious…” Zhao Rui was stunned. He waited until the other party put away the stone bowl before asking, “My name is Zhao Rui. May I know your name, fellow Taoist?”

"No problem. I'm Luo Kai, and I'll be the deputy captain for now. If you have any questions, just ask me."

Zhao Rui slowly clasped his fists and said, "Thank you first, Brother Luo. I have benefited a lot from our discussion just now. I plan to recover from my injuries as soon as possible."

Luo Kai nodded, but he had no intention of leaving. After a moment's pause, he said, "Well, that... I wonder if you need my help to force out some of the poison. Not many of these people have enough mana left every day. The price is not expensive, only two spirit stones are needed."

"This Luo Kai is a good man... Wait, two spirit stones!" Zhao Rui frowned and clasped his fists, saying, "Daoyou, I appreciate your kindness, but I don't have spirit stones, so I can only rely on myself."

"We can buy on credit. We don't need to pay the spirit stones right away."

"To be honest, I was sent here because I didn't pay back the twenty spirit stones. I would rather die than owe anyone another spirit stone."

Luo Kai was stunned at first, then he laughed and said, "Daoyou! I'm sorry, it's really too unfair for you!"

"There are roughly two types of people in this cave. One is the old debtor who keeps borrowing money, and the other is the piglets who have been cheated. People like you are really rare."

Zhao Rui sighed and said, "It's not all bad. If it weren't for the lack of spiritual stones, he might have turned into a fierce ghost in the knife now."

Zhao Rui wanted to talk about his own affairs, but Luo Kai didn't care. He nodded perfunctorily and asked, "Daoyou, do you really not need my help? If you miss this opportunity, you will never get it again."

"Thanks, I'll just take my time!"

Luo Kai shook his head, turned around and left with the stone bowl.

After the other party left, Zhao Rui looked around and found himself in a large round hole.

The big cave can accommodate about a hundred people. There are densely packed holes on the walls, and various ropes and wooden stakes are interspersed between them.

In countless caves, there are people sitting cross-legged with their hands on their dantian or knees.

They closed their eyes and concentrated, capturing the spiritual energy through the acupoints throughout their bodies, transporting it through the body and condensing it into the spiritual coins in their hands.

The moment the spirit stone takes shape, a faint blue light will flash, just like the stars in the night sky.

However, no one noticed this beauty. Everyone lowered their heads and stared at the ground beneath their feet like cattle and horses.

Zhao Rui took a deep breath, and while no one was paying attention, he took out a small alchemy furnace from his chest.

He held on to the Yuan and practiced the Five Elements Return to Origin Technique, joining the team that was absorbing spiritual energy.

Noon on the second day.

The sound of gongs rang out on time. Zhao Rui opened his eyes and found a dozen men gathered in the big cave.

A moment later, Luo Kai appeared and led everyone into the mine tunnel on the left.

After the group left, some people appeared in the densely packed cave, walked down along the ropes and wooden stakes, and gathered in the middle of the big cave.

About half an hour later.

Luo Kai led a group of people back, carrying a porridge bucket and a cloth bag in his hands.

At this time, hundreds of white-skinned people had already gathered in the cave, staring at the porridge bucket and cloth bag with burning eyes.

However, no one behaved excessively. Instead, they obediently lined up in a long queue, leaving the middle space for Luo Kai and his group.

After all the food was neatly placed, Luo Kai scooped a bowl of dry porridge from a wooden barrel in front of everyone.

Next to him, a man in yellow clothes had been waiting and hurriedly handed over a tray.

Luo Kai put the dry porridge on the tray, took out two white steamed buns, and ordered: "Go, send it to Elder Sun first."

The man in yellow nodded, held the plate in one hand, and with a few leaps, he delivered the food to a cave at the top of the cave.

After a while, when the man in yellow came out of the cave, Luo Kai looked at everyone and said, "Okay, let's eat."

The team of several hundred people immediately became agitated, and everyone tried to move forward half a step.

But when they reached the front of the team, everyone immediately behaved themselves.

They presented the spirit stones with both hands, and only after Luo Kai and his party verified that they were correct did they go to the side to receive half a bowl of porridge and half a steamed bun.

If someone did not hand in enough porridge, they would only be given half a bowl of porridge and would be repeatedly warned.

About quarter of an hour later, everyone had received their food and many had returned to the cave.

At this time, Luo Kai held up a cloth bag filled with steamed buns and said, "Some people did not complete the task today. According to the rules, the steamed buns will be auctioned to make up the number of spirit stones. Let's get started."

There was complete silence in the cave, and no one responded.

After a while, an old man with a mustache said, "We just scraped the land a few days ago, and everyone has no spirit stones. Can you give us a discount?"

"The rule has always been two spirit stones. If we break the exception, what will we do in the future?" Luo Kai said.

The old man with a mustache sighed and said, "I only have one spiritual stone and I want half a steamed bun."

"can!"

Seeing someone was making a bid, others started to offer their money, but most of them only bought half a steamed bun.

After seven or eight people passed by, no one came forward.

Luo Kai frowned and shouted, "Are there any more? There is no such place after this village."

The shouts echoed in the cave, like a stone falling into the sea.

After a while, Luo Kai took out four spirit stones and said, "I'll buy these last two steamed buns. Everyone, please see clearly."

No one in the cave said anything, only a few monks distributing food said: "Deputy Captain Luo has always been fair! We all believe in you."

Luo Kai sighed and said, "We have gotten through today, but you all have to pay me back tomorrow. You are almost destroying my family's wealth."

"Did you all hear that? You all have to pay your dues tomorrow!" shouted several monks who were distributing food.

Luo Kai shook his head, picked up a steamed bun, took a big bite, and chewed it slowly.

But when he took the second bite, he took very small bites. It was obvious that the steamed bun could be finished in two or three bites, but he took more than ten bites before he finished it.

He finished eating one steamed bun and took another one out of the cloth bag.

Just as he was about to take action, he seemed to remember something and ran straight to Zhao Rui's cave.

"Fellow Daoist Zhao, you will need four spirit stones to have half a bowl of porridge and half a steamed bun in the future, but this steamed bun only costs two spirit stones. Are you interested?"

Zhao Rui raised his eyebrows and said, "Then I will save up my spirit stones and buy this kind of steamed buns at the end. Isn't it a good deal?"

"You're overthinking. This situation happened today because everyone has been hungry for three days. Normally, there won't necessarily be any leftovers." Luo Kai finished speaking, and added:

"Oh! By the way, I have something to tell you. If you don't pay your daily spiritual stones for three consecutive days, they will be sent to Brother Zhong again."

Zhao Rui's pupils shrank, and he said, "Is there such a rule? Then I pay one day and pay again the next two days. Wouldn't that be a perfect way to avoid it and save a lot of spirit stones?"