Thirty Years of Demon Slaying at the Demon-Slaying Department

Chapter 39: Expensive Tiger Bone in Luojing

Quite some time had passed since Zhou Yi first obtained the Purple Ying Sword. All this while, it remained inside his energy center.

Zhou Yi had used the sword as a magical item, like how he would use the Mirror Cauldron Charm when he fought the immortal fox.

All Zhou Yi had to do was force his energy into the sword to summon the sword energy, and its power would increase dramatically.

Now that he had gotten the Swordsmanship Divine Art, he suddenly felt that he was connected to the Purple Ying Sword by blood and could feel its power increase by multiple times.

Swords could be considered as the forefather of melee fighting and the master of all weapons. They were created solely for the purpose of killing.

And swordsmanship was the art of killing.

The Immortal Swordsmaster was a master of killing in battle, one that would rather die on the battlefield than run away cowardly. He was the most lethal amongst his peers.

“The Disha Divine Arts sure is amazing. Once I understand its basic principle, I can, in theory, create my own sword style.”

Zhou Yi had seen a lot of books and movies in his past life, and the swordsmen were always the people who shined the most.

He may forget all of the martial arts he had seen in those stories, but he would always remember the legendary sword styles even into his adulthood.

“It’s a little slow to just imagine it… What if I merge the sword styles that I remember from my previous world with the ones in this world? It could help with me materializing all the moves that I’ve seen before.”

Zhou Yi quickly decided that he would go ahead and buy a few tutorials of basic sword styles once he finished his shift that day.

In the past, he would not bother learning the normal sword styles as there was no point in learning them. Not when he could use his Ten Thousand Year Magic to fight instead.

However, now that he had achieved unlimited swordsmanship talent, he could start merging different styles to create one of his own that looked way cooler and was more powerful.

As to why he didn’t just buy the advanced sword styles tutorial…

It was because Zhou Yi was completely broke.

Zhang Cheng walked into the room, whistling casually. He noticed that Zhou Yi wasn’t paying attention to his job.

“What’s going on? Why don’t you tell little old me?”

“Oh… I’m thinking of learning how to use a sword for self-defense. Do you have any recommendations?” Zhou Yi asked, hoping that Zhang Cheng had some books lying around. “I don’t think I’ll need any expensive books. Just something that you’ve used is enough.”

Zhang Cheng rolled his eyes. “You’re sure getting more and more shameless every day, huh? I heard that Fahai even asked you to join the Buddhist Sect and you declined him. Looks like it’s true.”

“The sect is too quiet for me. I’d rather spend my time with you,” Zhou Yi said jokingly. “I’m just a small-time official, and I have to use any means necessary to learn as much as I can.”

There was no way Zhou Yi would be stupid enough to spend his money to buy some low-quality tutorials when there was someone who could give him a few advanced versions standing right in front of him.

Only the weak would care about their own pride. Being shameless was just a part of becoming stronger. Even the high-ranking monks climbed their ways to the top by pleasing their seniors in any way possible.

“Well… I do have some lying around, but I can’t just give them to you for free, right?” Zhang Cheng quickly wrote something down on a piece of paper. “This Hundred Beast Drunken Wine is pretty hard to brew. If you can help me brew… a hundred units of it, then I can give the books to you.”

“One hundred? Forget it. The Demon Slaying Department is pretty safe anyway. I don’t need self-defense,” Zhou Yi said without even thinking twice.

“T-ten! Just ten, not a hundred!”

“You’ll have to give the books to me first.”

“Get lost!”

…

Zhou Yi arrived at the Western Market with the list of ingredients he needed to brew the Hundred Beast Drunken Wine.

The brewing method was pretty similar to the tiger bone wine he had in his previous world. It included the process of brewing rice wine in the bones of 18 different beasts and a dozen different herbs.

In his instructions, Zhang Cheng had mentioned that brewing one pot of the Hundred Beast Drunken Wine would use 15 taels of Pear Blossom Wine as its base.

Since he had to make a total of 10 pots, Zhou Yi had to order a hundred bottles of Pear Blossom Wine. He felt like he could hear his wallet crying.

“Man, if that dude gives me a basic book, I’m going to give him a scare when he goes to the Spring Breeze Court. He won’t even think about going there for a whole month.”

It didn’t take long for him to collect 17 of the 18 beast bones needed for the wine. The final thing he needed was tiger bones, but he couldn’t find anyone selling them.

There was only one place left that Zhou Yi could think of that might have the bones, which was Wantong Company. The shop claimed to be the biggest store in all of Luojing that sourced their products from all 16 states in Great Qian. Some even said that the company was backed by the kinsmen of Emperor Li.

Zhou Yi approached the counter and asked if they had any tiger bones on sale.

“Our deepest apologies, but we are out of stock. I would suggest you make a pre-order first,” the owner of the place said. “It would take at least seven to eight days for the bones to arrive. If you need tiger teeth or claws, it would take around half a year…”

“Why is there a shortage? I still see a lot of tiger meat on the market, and the price is dropping,” Zhou Yi asked.

“That used to be the past. I assume you haven’t seen this book yet?” The owner took a book out from behind the counter. “This tells the story of Ministry Councilor Zhu from the north. He was cursed and no doctor could find a cure. Just as people were starting to lose hope, guess what healed him?”

Zhou Yi glanced at the book and saw a familiar title.

It was the Tale of Executioner written by Liuquan Jushi.

Unfortunately, judging from the low-quality binding and paper, Zhou Yi could tell it was a pirated copy.

“Tiger bones?” Zhou Yi guessed, feigning ignorance.

Out of the108 stories told in the Tale of Executioner, there were 36 that talked about strange news that the executioners had come across. Among the 36 stories, the seventh one had something to do with tiger bones.

The story told of how tigers were fierce enough to control a ghost servant of their own. By wearing the teeth and claws of a tiger around a person’s neck, it could boost a person’s Yang energy and prevent demons from causing any harm to the wearer.

“That’s right!” The owner then flipped to the story and said, “The councilor’s son bought a dozen tiger teeth and turned it into a necklace for his father. The curse was dispelled as soon as the councilor put the necklace on. Ever since people learned of this story, tiger’s teeth and claws have become a must-have item to prevent curses. The bones also work but the effect is cut in half.”

“I see…”

Zhou Yi had no idea if he should cry or laugh at the situation. At the same time, he also felt a sense of relief. Knowing that the book he wrote could save a person’s life was much more important than how well it sold.

“Do you still need the tiger bones? We are the only store in all of Western Market that can guarantee you will get your hands on the bones if you pre-order,” the owner promised as he leaned in to whisper. “We have a team dedicated to hunting tigers in the wild…”

“Yes,” Zhou Yi nodded. “I want 50 kilograms of the cheapest tiger bones.”

“That’ll be 1,300 dollars in total. We’ll be taking a hundred dollars as a down payment first.” The owner brought out a piece of contract.

“…” Zhou Yi let out a silent sigh when he heard the amount of money that it was going to cost him and started to pray that the Tale of Executioner could sell even better.

He waited for eight days for the tiger bones to arrive. They were so fresh that blood was still on them,

The process of brewing the Hundred Beast Drunken Wine was very complicated as every bone had to be handled differently. Zhou Yi had no choice but to ask Zhang Cheng for specific advice each time he worked on a different type of bone.

He only managed to get 5 kilograms of essence from the 50 kilos of beast bones he had prepared, and it took him another month of endless grinding to turn them into bone dust which turned pale white after mixing in the herbs listed in the recipe.

The crystal clear Pear Blossom Wine bubbled as soon as the powder was poured into it, which reminded Zhou Yi of how witches would create potions from the movies he had seen in his past life.

The mixture was then left to sit for three months before going through a seemingly endless distillation process.

When the process was completed, a sweet aroma filled the neighborhood, causing everyone to wonder where it came from.

“Hmm…” Zhou Yi pondered as he stared at the wine. “Can normal people even consume this?”

He then poured himself a small cup and took a sip.

The wine was like lava as soon as it went down his throat. He could feel his lungs, stomach and intestines burning up.

“This tastes amazing!” he exclaimed as he let out a deep sigh of relief.

After testing it, Zhou Yi concluded that the wine wasn’t meant for normal people. One would have to achieve at least the refined form to consume it or else their insides would not be able to handle it.

When Zhang Cheng walked into the Resource Division the next day, his nose picked up the scent of the wine almost instantly.

“This! Isn’t this the smell of the Hundred Beast Drunken Wine? Where is it?”

“Stop! Give me what you promised first!” Zhou Yi requested. There was no way he would let Zhang Cheng delay any further after he had spent the last six months brewing the wine.

“Right! One sec!”

Zhang Cheng dashed into his office and rummaged through his stack of books. It took him a few minutes to locate the right one before he gave it to Zhou Yi.

The date on the book was Jingtai Year 32, and it was obviously a transcribed copy and not the original.

When Zhou Yi flipped the book open, the first page had the drawing of a human body with the different meridians detailed out. Next to the picture was an explanation of the sword style, which clearly was the personal opinion of the author.

“This is the first volume of the Sword Scripture of Great Qian. You can only find this in this place and it’s written by none other than the founder himself. This is definitely a bargain for you. Come on, give me the wine!”

When Zhou Yi handed Zhang Cheng the wine and nonchalantly asked, “I don’t have to castrate myself to learn the sword style, right?”

“Of course not. Any martial arts that require you to castrate yourself is considered unorthodox. Do you think the founder would write something like that?”

“That’s a relief then.”

Zhou Yi began to read the scripture and soon, was completely enchanted by it.

As soon as he read the first line, his unlimited Swordsmanship Talent was activated. Everything he read from the book was explored by the talent in his head and it kept merging different forms as Zhou Yi continued to flip through the scripture.

When he finished reading the scripture, he had already mastered everything in the first volume.