Chapter 371 - 370: First Entry into the Demon Kingdom

Chapter 371: Chapter 370: First Entry into the Demon Kingdom

Catching the tail end of May, the Stone Gate Merchant Team set foot in the Beiga Kingdom’s territory.

The sky was clear and the air was crisp. The fields beside them stretched as far as the eye could see. The crops were a lush green, and farmers were bent over, busy weeding.

Hee Lingchuan was sizing up these crops.

It wasn’t rice, it wasn’t wheat, and it wasn’t even tea. "What are they growing in these fields?"

It wasn’t that he couldn’t tell one crop from another. When he helped his father scout the counties around Dunyu, he had spent his time running to and from the fields and had learned a thing or two just by watching.

But he had truly never seen this plant before. The scale was magnificent, covering hundreds of acres. They had been traveling for more than a double-hour and had yet to see a second type of crop.

Shi the Second was right beside him. "Tobacco leaves."

"Hm? This is tobacco?" The answer surprised Hee Lingchuan. "The land is so flat. I thought they would plant grain."

"Grain doesn’t grow well in this kind of red earth. But regardless, this whole vast stretch of land near the border, good or bad, is all planted with tobacco," Shi Congshan said with a smile. "Almost every Demon King plants tobacco in their fiefdom. This stuff is much more expensive than grain."

"Do they still grow grain then?"

"They do, of course they do. The Demon Kingdom’s territory is so vast, with countless fertile fields. Are you afraid they won’t have enough grain to eat?" Shi Congshan chuckled. "No need to worry about them."

Staring at the tobacco fields beside him, Hee Lingchuan suddenly recalled the Chewing Tobacco that Hee Chunhua had distributed to his subordinates before they entered Xiazhou.

Exquisite, flavorful, and forcibly imported.

"This stuff... the Fu Kingdom has to buy it too, right?" He remembered the faint look of resignation on Hee Chunhua’s face. The Yuan Kingdom had signed an agreement with the Beiga Kingdom; they had no choice but to buy it.

"Of course," Shi Congshan said. "But the Fu Kingdom People happen to like Chewing Tobacco. No need for allocations; all the Commerce Associations scramble to get into this business." He pointed back at the merchant team. "We’re in it too."

One of the Stone Gate Commerce Association’s important businesses was providing "Cage Pearls" for the Cyan Jade Bamboo of the Treasure Tree South Realm—the round stoppers for the bamboo tubes.

From his explanation, Hee Lingchuan learned that while it was all Chewing Tobacco, the quality and packaging varied between the fiefdoms of different Demon Kings. The Chewing Tobacco from the southern realm of the Treasure Tree Kingdom had to be sealed with cloud-scented wood. This not only prevented the tobacco’s aroma from escaping, but the cloud-scented wood itself, besides being moisture-proof, had a unique fragrance. After aging inside the bamboo tube, it would add a new flavor to the Chewing Tobacco.

Over time, this had become a very important, distinguishing feature.

However, cloud-scented wood was rare in the Beiga Kingdom and more common in the Fu Kingdom. Thus, the latter established cloud-scented wood plantations specifically to provide processed cloud-scented wood pearls—the "Cage Pearls"—as accessories for the Treasure Tree South Realm.

They really wanted to name them "Dragon Pearls," but it was a taboo.

The Shi Brothers had struggled for many years before finally spending a fortune to secure two plantations. They meticulously cared for, harvested, and processed the wood, supplying the Treasure Tree South Realm three times a year.

Don’t underestimate these inconspicuous Wooden Pearls; they supported countless Commerce Associations in the Fu Kingdom.

And this was just one industry under a single Demon King in the Beiga Kingdom, and not even a pillar industry at that.

On this journey, the Stone Gate Merchant Team traversed the border along the outskirts of the Demon Nest Swamp, entering the territory of the King of Treasure Tree, one of the Thirteen Demon Kings—also known as the Treasure Tree Kingdom. Under the Commerce Association’s protection, Hee Lingchuan passed through the checkpoint smoothly, without any trouble.

In fact, the checkpoint was very lax. The customs officers sitting there were a few Ape Demons, not as tall as a human, with white fur around their mouths. They kept yawning when they had nothing to do, clearly old. After collecting the toll, they barely glanced at the people and goods before stamping the papers and letting them pass.

After passing through, Hee Lingchuan asked Shi Congshan, "Is even the border crossing this perfunctory?"

The Yuan Kingdom’s border inspections were extremely strict. If you didn’t offer up a "Brother Kongfang," there was no telling how much trouble you’d face.

"Checkpoint crossings are all about efficiency," Shi Congshan said, pointing behind them. "Look how many caravans are here. Can they afford to dally? Besides, the Beiga Kingdom collects low road taxes. What’s the point of holding people up?"

Back on Red Cliff Road, Hee Chunhua had been the one collecting tolls, just with an official title. So Hee Lingchuan knew all too well that the tolls on Red Cliff Road and in Black Water City were very high, always making the traveling merchants squeal. Liu Baobao’s family, for example, was always trying to find ways to evade them. Now, upon asking, he learned that the Treasure Tree Kingdom only collected one-fifth of the toll!

Shi the Second added with a laugh, "Although the road tax is low, some checkpoints used to invent all sorts of excuses to levy fees, collecting even more than the original tax. After the current Grand Tutor came to power, he cracked down hard, throwing tens of thousands of people in jail. It’s much cleaner now."

No wonder this trade route was so bustling, even livelier than the main road outside Shihuan City.

Hee Lingchuan also noticed that the road beyond the checkpoint was the smoothest and widest Official Road he had ever seen, wide enough for seven carriages to travel side by side.

Although this was a wide-open plain where roads could be built easily, most kingdoms wouldn’t put in this much effort.

After another two double-hours of travel, the silhouette of a town appeared ahead. The roadsides were no longer filled with tobacco fields; finally, there were some normal crops.

"Huh? A Demon?"

Hee Lingchuan spotted something unusual about the ox plowing the field. Not only did it have two tails, but its build was also extremely robust. It was twice the size of a normal water buffalo, weighing at least five or six thousand pounds, and looked like a small, mobile house.

A human standing next to one would look tiny.

Hee Lingchuan had hunted these things on the Chipa Plateau. When one went berserk, it could tear down an entire village. In the two months following the Emperor’s Liquid, the Patrol Guards frequently encountered these Wild Bull Demons.

But the Ox Demons before him were actually harnessed to plows, obediently tilling the fields.

Of course, their specially-made plows were huge, each with four plowshares. The ox walked ahead while two or three people guided it from behind. It even turned around automatically, making it incredibly efficient at turning the soil.

Judging by their skilled movements and seamless coordination, these Ox Demons must have been doing farm work for quite some time.

Seeing him stare intently, Shi Congshan chuckled. "Everyone who comes to the Demon Kingdom for the first time has that same look on their face."

Hee Lingchuan looked away. "I guess I’ve been living under a rock."

His Medicinal Ape could perform Alchemy, the octopus at Panlong City’s Economic Revitalization Bureau could inspect a person’s meridians, and the Ape Demons at the checkpoint just now could handle customs declarations. So, Demons doing human work wasn’t strange at all.

With at most one double-hour until sunset, the merchant team decided to enter the town to rest for the night and continue their journey the next morning.

Hee Lingchuan found it all fascinating, looking left and right. In terms of size, however, the town was no different from one in the Yuan Kingdom. It was also predominantly human, with over 1,300 registered local residents, including more than seventy Demon residents.

In addition, there were more than four hundred visiting merchants.

Not far from the border, the small town was clearly accustomed to the constant flow of travelers. Eateries, Craftsman Shops, post stations, and inns were in plentiful supply.

It seemed there was also a market today.

They were very familiar with this route. After arranging all the miscellaneous tasks, Shi the Second was about to invite Hee Lingchuan for a drink.

The words had barely left his mouth when the sound of a gong—CLANG CLANG CLANG—rang out from the center of town. Someone shouted, "The execution at the street corner is starting!"

Shi the Second let out a sigh. "What a coincidence. We actually caught a death row execution? I’ve traveled this road more than thirty times, and including today, I’ve only seen this twice."

Hee Lingchuan shook his head. "How is that a good thing?"

Just as he said that, a little girl of six or seven ran past him, her little face flushed. She was pretty and cute.

Giggling, she pulled her mother forward. "Hurry, hurry! We have to get a front-row spot this time!"

"Slow down..." Her mother stumbled.

The daughter complained, "Last time, Adong got to watch from the very front. He told us later the blood splattered all over his face."

Hee Lingchuan looked at the townsfolk gathering around. They were all laughing and chatting, some even stopping to gossip.

It was as lively as a festival.

He looked at the execution platform ahead; it was different from others.

In other places, criminals were executed on a high wooden platform, where they were then hanged or beheaded.

But at this town’s street corner, there was a huge earthen pit, sunken about five feet deep. It was hard to say if it had once been a fish pond. Its bottom was covered in stains.

He knew with one glance that these were dried bloodstains.

Quite a crowd had already gathered around the edge of the pit. No wonder the little girl said you couldn’t see clearly without a front-row spot; this execution had to be watched from above.

At this moment, constables brought out two prisoners in shackles. The supervising official announced their grave crimes, and by divine decree, they were sentenced to "suffer the Devouring Punishment."

Hee Lingchuan misheard it as "Stone Punishment" and thought they were to be stoned to death. After all, the execution platform was sunken, which would make it easy to hurl heavy objects. Stoning was also a very ancient form of punishment.

When the two prisoners heard this, they began to tremble like chaff in the wind, their faces turning deathly pale.

A wet patch spread beneath one of them, and the crowd pointed and yelled, "He wet himself! He wet himself!"

Just then, someone from the outer edge of the crowd shouted, "The Executioner is here! Make way!"

The onlookers parted in unison to form a path, not daring to delay for even a second.

Two soul-shaking roars were heard, and two massive shadows passed through the crowd, walking in as if no one else existed.

They were two enormous tiger-like creatures. Their bodies were similar to a tiger’s, but their forelimbs were longer and thicker, while their hind legs were slightly shorter. They stood over four feet tall at the shoulder, their frames more robust than an ordinary tiger’s, with stripes only on their backs.

The paws resting on the ground alone were three times the size of a grown man’s hand.

Hee Lingchuan had never seen this kind of Demon Beast in the Yuan Kingdom, but he seemed to recall seeing a drawing in some travelogue. He knew this beast was called a "tiger mimic" and that it liked to hunt huge animals like rhinos and elephants.

However, it seemed they didn’t refuse human flesh either. The way they stared at the prisoners was the very definition of "eyeing one’s prey."

Hee Lingchuan finally understood. The "Devouring" in Devouring Punishment was meant literally.

A tiger mimic licked its lips, and one of the prisoners immediately collapsed to the ground.

A constable gave him a tug and found he had already passed out.

The other prisoner, though also trembling all over, took advantage of the constable looking down. With a surge of determination, he gritted his teeth and, with a loud THUD, slammed his head against a pillar.

The sound was loud and clear.

Hee Lingchuan heard a CRACK and knew from experience that the man had fractured his skull. He watched as the man collapsed from the impact, and blood quickly stained the ground red.

The constable quickly bent down to check his neck for a pulse. After a moment, he said to the supervising official, "He’s dead."

A collective groan of disappointment rose from the surrounding townsfolk.

With one less living person, the show was going to be far less exciting.