Chapter 141 Interlude 3: Innkeeper’s Service

It was a beautiful morning, the light of dawn illuminating the roofs of the tallest buildings. However, the streets were already starting to fill with people heading to shops of a particular kind. Liu Deyi admired the scenic route he always took, occasionally greeting a few familiar faces of friends and fellow innkeepers. The market was a feast for the senses, with luscious produce, aromatic spices, and subdued cacophony of small animals.

His feet carried him by habit from stall to stall, each one manned by shopkeepers he had contracted. A common practice for merchants to ensure regular customers and for poorer restaurant chefs and innkeepers like him to procure decent quality ingredients at a reasonable rate. As always, Liu Deyi smiled and greeted each one politely, exchanging a word or two of conversation before paying for his usual orders. The light of day had brightened, and the streets were packed as even the laziest shoppers had made their way to the market when he finished. His spatial pouch was almost full, and he had begun to turn back when he hesitated.

“When was the last time I indulged my lovely wife? She rarely asks for anything, but I know she’s been enjoying experimenting with those new recipes. The inn has been doing well lately, and I can afford to spoil my wife today. Let’s see if I can find something special for her.” It was too lovely a day for overthinking, and Liu Deyi changed his routine to head over to one of the fancier shops on the main streets.

The exotic ingredients on display were those that Liu Deyi wouldn’t normally even dream of buying, but he had a good feeling that morning.

“That young scholar who left two days ago shared some improvements to the recipes my wife taught him the first time he visited. I still can’t forget that subtle taste! If my talented wife can master those, then the food we offer will surely bring more customers.” He might have given up walking the path of cultivators, but he still took pride in keeping an excellent inn. And if nurturing his wife’s passion could also improve his inn, then it was to the benefit of all!

He carefully tucked away the Blazing Amber Grass that looked like solidified flames. The shopkeeper sold it to him with the promise that it would spice up any dish with the slightest hint of both fire and wood qi but cautioned him that it would take a careful hand to prepare it. Liu Deyi thanked him for his advice and left with his money pouch more anemic than it had been in months.

It took him a moment to orient himself, but he started towards home, eagerly anticipating the look on his wife’s face when he gave her the present. Just then, someone bumped into him only to fall over. Though he was annoyed, he started to help the young man up when something odd leapt out at him.

‘This man isn’t wearing a red robe. He’s covered in blood! By the heavens! How is he still alive?!’

He propped up the young man and tried to rouse him, but the young man was clearly delirious. Caught in a quandary, Liu looked around, but most people only gave a curious look before moving on. He too wanted to pretend it never happened and abandon the man to his fate, but some strange instinct told him to take responsibility. Unwilling to get involved with the Discipline Hall by waiting, he hefted up the lad and hurried home.

“Aiyaah! And it started out as such a lovely morning too!” He muttered to himself. He had just reached his little inn when the young man started to stir.

“Darling, what…?” His wife panicked at his dishevelled appearance, her hands waving around in agitation.

He set the limp form down on a table in the hall and turned to his wife. “I’ll explain in a moment. Just get some water and bandages. And…” Liu Deyi paused uncertainly before swallowing his selfish thoughts and said, “and get that healing pill we keep for emergencies. It may be useless, but I can’t let him die here!”

The man weakly put his hands together in a martial salute and whispered, “This Ming Hao, thanks, kind savior!”

“Save your strength, lad; we’ll take care of you.” He went searching for his wife, who was taking too long. He found her struggling to lift up a stone basin of hot water. He lifted up the basin while she went searching for the precious healing pill. He returned in a hurry, splashing a bit of water in his haste. However, the sight that greeted him as he returned to the hall startled him so badly, he dropped the basin, sending pieces of shattered stone flying everywhere.

The young lad on the verge of death was standing on his feet, sword in hand! Strong fluctuations of qi rippled out. Liu Deyi almost found his knees buckling from the overbearing aura of strength and nobility as the qi washed over him. To his immense shock, he could see the large wounds healing at a prodigious pace through the tattered robes. He stumbled backwards in fear as the young man who had called himself Ming Hao raised his sword sharply.

‘Am I going to die here? At the hand of the very person I tried to save? Why did I…’ Liu Deyi’s lamentations ceased as he witnessed the sword strokes carve lines of qi into the air, forming the character for 'health.' He looked on in awe as the floating character released a warm and blissful aura. His body was locked in tension thus far, unconsciously relaxed, and he sank to the floor.

The next thing he knew, Liu Deyi was being helped up by his wife and the young man. He could feel his mouth gaping like a fish, but he didn’t know what to say to the stranger, now in perfect health, pristine flesh visible through the holes in his robes. Fortunately the young man broke the silence first.

“Nobel Innkeeper, Lady, I apologize for causing you distress. Your aid was most timely, and I am in your debt.” He gave a full deep bow, and that alone erased half of Liu Deyi’s concerns. Surely this polite young man wouldn’t endanger his family. Ming Hao straightened, with a smile on his face, his gratitude shining through.

He suddenly tilted his head as if he was hearing something and then spoke, “If I may ask, who set up this array in your hall? Was it… was it a monk perhaps?”

Liu Deyi didn’t know what to say, so he told the truth, “I don’t know what array you speak of. I haven’t paid for any array in the hall recently, only the usual ones when we first built the inn. Keeping out insects, strengthening the foundations, that kind of thing. And no monk has stayed in our inn of late, only outer sect disciples and scholars.” The old innkeeper found himself almost babbling, his words rushing from his mouth.

Ming Hao looked confused by the answer, and he turned to scrutinize the hall, his eyes stopping at certain pillars. But he didn’t pursue it further. Instead, he brought out a small pouch and offered it to the innkeeper. Liu Deyi’s divine sense picked out nearly two dozen beast cores, and judging by the qi in them, they had to belong to late stage foundation establishment realm beasts!

“This… this is too much! I cannot accept it, especially as I didn’t help all that much!” He tried to refuse, but the pouch was pressed into his hand all the same.

Seeing the young lad go to such lengths, he finally accepted, and with it, he convinced himself to accept the strange turn of events this morning as just receiving a guest as usual. “In that case, you must stay and rest until you are fully recovered. By my honor, you won’t find our inn lacking!” He turned to his wife. “Why don’t you prepare some food for our guest? Here take this,” he said as he handed over his spatial pouch to his wife. “I wanted it to be a surprise, but I luckily bought something suitable for today’s special occasion!”

After examining the pouch, her eyes widened and a genuine smile burst across her face. Seeing her like that made him briefly forget the pouch of enormous wealth he was holding.

“I have just the recipe for this Blazing Amber Grass! It will replenish blood and bolster the spirit, perfect for recovering patients! A most auspicious purchase, husband!” She rushed away to the kitchen in the back.

‘Huh. It was auspicious, wasn’t it?’ Liu Deyi was thinking idly when his eyes fell on the far wall. The plain wall now had the enlarged character for ‘health’ embedded into it. His eyebrows twitched.

“Ahem, I apologize once again! I had just returned from a life-and-death battle, and the unusual clarity and peace the array in your hall imparted helped me break through a mental block I’ve been struggling with.” Ming Hao awkwardly confessed. He raised a hand to his chest and proclaimed, “Don’t be distressed; I swear on my Dao Heart that this character will not harm you. In fact, it should bring you only benefits if you leave it up.

He once again looked around the hall. “In fact, now that I look at it, my Divine Lexicon may even interact with the array to create an amplified field. Those who stay here will find themselves healing quicker in both mind and body. If you leave it up, I can think of nothing better for an inn!” He patted Liu Deyi on the shoulder as if congratulating him.

Not that the innkeeper had any choice in the matter. He might cover up the character physically, but it would take him months to slowly grind away the powerful qi signature of the word.

He also didn’t bat an eye at the ostentatious name Ming Hao had called the technique. It was practically a norm to give techniques powerful names no matter what they were actually capable of. He unexpectedly recalled a memory from his youth when he had first come to that realization. When his friend used a technique called 'Annihilating Wind of Nine Nether Realms,' which only amounted to a puff of foul-smelling wind that wouldn’t blow over a sheet of paper! How he had laughed then! The fond memory brought a smile to his face, helping him face his current situation.

Ming Hao looked relieved seeing the smile on Liu Deyi’s face before saying, “Noble Innkeeper, do you perhaps have cultivation chambers I may borrow to meditate in and stabilize my cultivation?”

Liu Deyi fell back into the comfort of routine as he showed the young man to the rooms he kept for just such an occasion. Once the door locked, he finally examined the pouch of beast cores in detail. They were worth more than months of his inn’s income, though he didn’t need it. More importantly, these beast cores might transform his son’s life! He could finally obtain an official post by ‘donating these to the right person,' or even woo that lady he mentioned each time he visited.

“What a day it's been, and it isn’t even noon! All this because I decided to help an injured young man. As an innkeeper, it is only natural that I serve. But to serve without expecting anything in exchange is rewarding in a different sense!” Perhaps that wasn’t the right conclusion to come to, especially as Liu Deyi had actually received material compensation, but it still rang true to him. Unbeknownst to him, deep inside his stagnant dantian, his meager spiritual sea bubbled.