Chapter 172: Travelers in Wind and Snow

The moment they entered, warmth enveloped them.

It was completely different from the bitter cold outside. A stove burned inside the room.

The station master had originally been too lazy to pay them much attention. But the moment he saw that every one of them carried a weapon, his attitude changed completely. He personally came over with warm enthusiasm and asked whether they intended merely to rest or to stay the night.

They had not stopped since leaving Jiuling County, traveling day and night. Now they had run into a heavy snowstorm as well, so the group had already intended to rest properly. They rented several rooms.

Duan Hu and the others could not quite understand why Niu Youdao and Black Peony still insisted on taking two separate rooms.

Things had already reached that point between them. Why not simply stay together?

Once everyone had settled in, they regrouped in the main hall and ordered wine, food, and hot soup.

After freezing along the road, they wanted something warm in their stomachs.

They were cultivators, but they still possessed bodies of flesh and blood. The desire for food and drink was not something they could completely escape.

The dishes arrived one after another.

The five sat around a table, eating slowly, talking and laughing.

By now, Black Peony and the others had truly walked out from beneath the shadow of being independent cultivators.

They were still independent cultivators, but the label no longer mattered to them.

Their entire state of mind had changed.

There was a saying: where the heart is at peace, there lies home.

Following Niu Youdao, the four of them had genuinely found that peace.

Lei Zongkang would occasionally add a word or two to the conversation and join in the laughter, though every so often he still glanced at Niu Youdao’s expression.

Niu Youdao had never said he accepted him, but neither had he told him to leave.

After spending so long together, Lei Zongkang gradually stopped feeling like an outsider around him.

He had also learned one thing.

The indentures signed by Black Peony and the others were not in Niu Youdao’s possession at all. He had given them back and let Black Peony and the others keep the documents themselves.

Black Peony and the others could not understand why Master Dao still refused to explicitly accept Lei Zongkang.

Things had already come this far.

What difference was there between this and openly saying he was accepted?

In fact, Duan Hu and Wu Sanliang had already urged Black Peony to plead Lei Zongkang’s case with Niu Youdao.

Niu Youdao had simply refused to commit himself.

He still would not say the words.

That always left the others feeling unsettled on Lei Zongkang’s behalf, but the three had no solution.

For now, they could only let matters remain as they were.

The faint sounds of horses neighing and hooves striking the ground came from outside.

Before long, the entrance curtain lifted and four people entered: three men and one woman.

All four were full of vitality and clearly no ordinary travelers. Every one carried a weapon.

Niu Youdao and the others could not help looking over.

Two middle-aged men followed behind.

Ahead of them, a mature woman attended a handsome young man and helped remove the young man’s fur cloak.

One glance was enough to see that this “young man” was the leader of the party.

The young traveler carried an unmistakably arrogant air, chin lifted and chest thrust forward—rather too far forward, in fact.

Niu Youdao and the others immediately focused on the face.

Bright eyes, clear starry pupils, distinctive plump cherry-red lips, porcelain-pale delicate skin, and pierced earlobes.

Niu Youdao’s group looked at one another.

The newcomer might be dressed as a man, but even a blind person could tell this was a woman.

And from the look of her, a beautiful woman at that.

If you were going to disguise yourself as a man, at least make some effort.

Dressed like this, and still wearing that proud expression as though no one could see through her?

“Interesting...”

Niu Youdao muttered under his breath.

The newcomers soon settled into the relay station.

Afterward they appeared in the main hall as well, ordered hot food and drink, and sat down much like Niu Youdao’s group.

Niu Youdao lightly tapped his chopsticks against the edge of a dish.

“This food has no flavor. I want red-braised pork.”

Black Peony and the others exchanged looks.

Red-braised pork again?

After the trouble it had caused last time, he still dared bring it out?

One after another, they glanced toward the table occupied by the newcomers and vaguely sensed that Niu Youdao was doing this deliberately.

Lei Zongkang, who now rushed to handle practically everything, stood at once.

Wu Sanliang rose after him.

The two went to find the station master.

With enough money, most things were easy to arrange. Borrowing the kitchen for a little while was hardly a problem.

The buildings here were all single-story, and the kitchen was some distance from the main hall, though not particularly far.

After a while, the two returned.

Lei Zongkang carried a basin of red-braised pork and set it on the table before sitting down.

Everyone immediately picked up their chopsticks.

They had not eaten this dish for several days.

After tasting it again, the plain boiled sliced pork on the table, meant to be dipped in sauce, suddenly seemed like garbage.

Before long, an unusual fragrance drifted through the hall.

The people at the other table began looking over one after another.

The young woman dressed as a man blinked her large eyes and stared at Niu Youdao’s table, apparently trying to see what they kept picking up with their chopsticks.

The mature woman noticed her reaction.

She rose, came over, looked into the basin, then turned toward the station master and the others, who had also been attracted by the fragrance.

“Station Master, bring us a serving of what they’re eating.”

Black Peony and the others looked at Niu Youdao.

A mysterious, restrained smile hung at the corner of his mouth.

The station master hurried over.

When he saw what the woman was pointing at, he looked helpless.

“Honored guest, my apologies. This little station truly cannot make that.”

The woman’s face darkened.

“What do you mean? You think we cannot afford it?”

She flipped out a gold coin.

“Make it immediately.”

The station master did not know whether to laugh or cry.

“Honored guest, we truly cannot. This station does not know how to make it. They cooked it themselves.”

Niu Youdao looked up and smiled.

“Elder Sister, don’t make things difficult for him. What we are eating comes from a secret recipe passed down only within our own circle. Only a handful of people beneath Heaven have ever tasted it. They truly cannot make it.”

The woman was left speechless.

She turned back toward her own table.

The moment the cross-dressed young woman heard that only a handful of people in the entire world had tasted it, she could no longer remain seated.

She stood and walked over, apparently wanting a clearer look at what this mysterious dish actually was.

The two middle-aged men followed her.

They seemed equally curious.

The young woman stopped beside the table and studied the basin.

It looked like meat, but she had indeed never seen meat prepared in this fashion before.

Then she breathed in the enticing aroma.

In a clear voice like a yellow oriole, she asked, “Is this good?”

Not only was her disguise unconvincing, she did not even bother masking her voice.

It was obviously a woman speaking.

Niu Youdao said, “Hard to say. Everyone’s tastes are different. But you can try some.”

The young woman drew out a long, disgusted “Ewwww.”

“Your saliva is all over it. Disgusting! I’m not eating that!”

Yet as she spoke, she tilted her head slightly toward the mature woman.

The woman could only turn to Niu Youdao with an embarrassed smile.

“In that case, perhaps I could taste it?”

Niu Youdao waved both hands outward.

Black Peony and the others rose and moved aside, clearing a place.

The woman did not use their chopsticks.

She returned to her own table for a pair, came back, and carefully picked up a hot piece of pork.

Someone beside her produced a small porcelain vial, dabbed a finger in white powder, and flicked some onto the meat.

Only after confirming there was no problem did the woman slowly place the pork in her mouth.

She chewed carefully.

Her eyes gradually brightened.

The young woman hurriedly asked, “Is it good?”

After swallowing, the woman nodded.

“Young Master, it truly is a rare delicacy beneath Heaven.”

The words “Young Master” nearly gave Niu Youdao and the others gooseflesh.

With that effeminate appearance, she still had the nerve to let people call her Young Master?

Did she genuinely think everyone else was blind?

The cross-dressed young woman immediately looked interested.

She turned to Niu Youdao.

“Make us a serving too.”

Niu Youdao extended a hand in invitation.

“We travel the road and make friends along the way. Meeting at all is fate. If none of you mind, sit down and share ours.”

The young woman again let out a long, disgusted “Ewwww” and shook her head.

“No. Your saliva is in it. Make us another serving.”

Of the two middle-aged men, one looked helpless while the other rubbed his nose in embarrassment.

That tone was hardly appropriate when asking another person for a favor.

If things went badly, it could easily offend someone and cause a conflict.

Yet neither man seemed capable of doing much about the young woman.

The mature woman gave Niu Youdao’s side an apologetic look, apparently asking them not to take offense.

Niu Youdao had been quietly observing every reaction.

He had deliberately arranged this situation as a test in the first place.

He shook his head slightly.

“Young Master, forgive me. We are not hired hands.”

The cross-dressed young woman replied, “I won’t make you work for nothing. I’ll pay you.”

“Oh? You’ll pay?”

Niu Youdao nodded.

“Then we can discuss it. The only issue is that the price is rather high. I’m afraid you may not be able to afford it.”

Black Peony and the others glanced at him.

The same thought ran through all their minds.

Here it comes.

After following Niu Youdao for a while, they had acquired some sense of the way he operated.

The young woman lifted her chin arrogantly.

“Say it. How much?”

Niu Youdao replied with complete indifference, “Not much. One million gold coins.”

The proud chin immediately lowered.

Her eyes widened.

“How much?”

Niu Youdao enunciated every word clearly.

“One. Million. Gold. Coins.”

A faint sweat broke out among Black Peony and the others.

That price...

These four plainly were not ordinary people.

Master Dao, blatantly trying to fleece them like this could cause trouble.

Sure enough, the two middle-aged men narrowed their eyes slightly, while the mature woman’s gaze gradually turned cold.

The cross-dressed young woman cried out, “One million gold coins? You’re robbing me!”

Niu Youdao tilted his head toward Black Peony.

“Gold drafts.”

Black Peony did not know what he wanted to do.

She looked at him questioningly, silently asking how much.

Niu Youdao merely crooked a finger.

Black Peony took out the thick stack of gold drafts she carried and handed it over.

A full eight hundred thousand gold coins’ worth.

She felt uneasy.

Was it really wise to display that much wealth so openly?

Niu Youdao took the stack and tossed it directly onto the table in front of the mature woman.

“I don’t like trouble. Better one thing less than one thing more.”

He gestured at the drafts.

“Can I buy some peace and quiet? Take it. Safe travels. Just stop disturbing our meal.”

Every gaze from the other side snapped toward the scattered stack of gold drafts.

No one could immediately count how many there were, but all of them recognized the largest denomination: ten thousand gold coins per draft.

At a rough glance, there had to be at least sixty or seventy.

The atmosphere instantly congealed.

The cross-dressed young woman suddenly stepped forward, picked up one gold draft, and examined it.

Apparently she could not believe anyone would throw away that much money so casually and suspected the drafts were counterfeit.

But after checking the first, her face flushed slightly.

She grabbed several more and inspected them, then finally slapped them back onto the table.

Humiliation had turned to anger, as though she had suffered some enormous insult.

She spun toward her companions.

“One million is one million! Give him the money. Today, I am absolutely going to make him cook it for me!”

Niu Youdao’s brow moved slightly.

Then he casually lifted his chopsticks, picked up a piece of pork, placed it in his mouth, and chewed slowly.

The two middle-aged men and the mature woman had already understood from the young woman’s reaction that the gold drafts were genuine.

The hostility that had begun surfacing on all three faces immediately receded.

They looked at Niu Youdao with new caution.

A man who could casually throw down such a vast sum simply to purchase peace and quiet, whose origins they did not know, was someone they had to treat warily.

They too were afraid of provoking a person they could not afford to provoke.

The mature woman tugged lightly at the young woman’s arm and advised in a low voice, “Young Master, forget it.”

[End of Chapter 172]