Chapter 631: The Young Violet Rakshasa
After Chen Ye squeezed into the crowd, he saw the scene that had everyone gathering round.
It was a middle-aged man in a Taoist robe. He was tall and thin, the robe hanging empty on his frame.
He had two little mustache tufts above his upper lip in a character-eight shape, a small tuft of beard dangling on his chin, and a pair of narrow, slippery eyes that made him look sly and cunning.
He was holding a peach wood sword, his slippery eyes scanning the crowd in every direction.
The aura about him was somewhat similar to that sloppy-looking Daoist from Divine Elephant Village, so he was clearly a Superhuman of the Celestial Master Sequence.
In front of this tall, thin Daoist was a stall.
On one side of the stall lay many kinds of talisman papers, several of which looked familiar.
There were Five Thunder Talismans, protective talismans, and so on...
Celestial Master Sequence users could produce talisman paper, and Rune Sequence Superhumans could also make talismans.
But the talismans made by the two sequences were different.
Rune Sequence Superhumans made all kinds of talismans.
Celestial Master Sequence-made talismans were more targeted; various thunder talismans and Evil-Dispelling Talismans were their specialty.
Of course, every Rune Sequence and every Celestial Master Sequence practitioner was different.
For example, that sloppy Daoist from Divine Elephant Village could make Cleaning Talismans, but there wasn’t a single Cleaning Talisman on this Daoist’s stall.
On the other side of the stall stood an iron cage. Several talisman papers were pasted on the cage, making it seem very mysterious.
Inside the iron cage was an Anomaly, entirely purple, with a pair of horns on its head.
This was what had attracted the crowd’s attention—the Anomaly in the cage.
The Anomaly was entirely purple, its shape roughly a cross between a human child and a monkey: long arms and legs, squatting in the cage with its hands touching the ground and its hind legs folded beneath it.
It had no fur at all, and its eyes looked at everyone around with venomous hatred.
Its expression was terrified, yet with a hint of arrogance, as if those being caged were not it but the people peering at it.
It was clearly a juvenile Anomaly that hadn’t grown up yet. From its eyes one could tell it perhaps still had some intelligence.
Generally, Anomalies with intelligence were harder to deal with than those without.
Also, intelligent Anomalies were slightly more likely to be advanced Anomalies.
Of course, exceptions like the Resentment Dragon and the Great Serpent under Mist River Bridge are excluded; it’s still unknown whether the Mist River Great Serpent and Resentment Dragon possess intelligence comparable to humans.
As if noticing Chen Ye’s stare, the purple, horned Anomaly squatting in the cage turned its head and glared fiercely at him, making a threatening “hiss!”
It seemed to sense a threat coming from Chen Ye.
But when anyone tried to touch the cage, the little Anomaly quickly withdrew its hand, as if the cage carried some energy it feared.
This base occasionally sold things related to Anomalies.
But usually it was just Anomaly materials, and those materials tended not to be high-grade.
After all, people preferred to keep high-grade Anomaly materials for themselves.
Only the truly useless ones were sold off.
Selling a living Anomaly outright was something the base had done before, but it was rare.
Chen Ye could feel the greed radiating from Hundred-Ghost Eater. That greed felt familiar to him, like his eyes falling on something he wanted.
It seemed this little creature suited its taste.
“Heh heh, young man, you want to buy this little thing?”
Because of Chen Ye’s attention, the Daoist stall owner noticed.
Chen Ye did not hide it: “Taoist, where did this thing come from?”
He didn’t immediately ask what he would trade because he didn’t want to reveal his intentions too fully.
Judging by the Daoist’s sly look, it would be easy for the man to take advantage of him if Chen Ye exposed himself.
The Daoist didn’t seem surprised by the question; instead he said smugly, “No harm in saying. I suppose you’re all dying of curiosity! I’ll tell you then!”
“Originally, I was a Daoist at the White Cloud Temple. From a young age I followed my master to learn the Dao. Then the apocalypse came...”
Unexpectedly, Chen Ye’s single question had prompted the man to start from before the apocalypse.
Chen Ye was speechless—are you going to start from Pangu creating heaven and earth?
This fellow’s personality rivaled Dantai Bie’s.
“Stop, stop... you Taoist, who the hell wants to know what you did before? Just tell us what this thing is!”
Finally someone could not stand it and interrupted the Daoist’s rambling.
The Daoist’s face darkened, his small eyes sweeping the crowd as if to find the person who had cut him off.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t find that person.
Chen Ye felt a flicker of amusement: the man looked shrewd but was actually somewhat foolish.
To borrow a Net slang description: he looked like a mastermind, yet some things just didn’t add up.
“All right, all right. Taoist, enough nonsense. If this thing is suitable, I’ll trade for it!”
Chen Ye was tired of the Daoist’s blather and spoke directly.
The Daoist’s expression softened immediately, and he said, “Sir, this Purple Rakshasa was caught by me in Shanghai!”
“Don’t look down on this little thing. It’s actually quite ferocious. If I didn’t have a few skills up my sleeve, you probably wouldn’t be seeing me right now!”
“Shanghai?”
Chen Ye’s brows twitched. Shanghai had disappeared, hadn’t it?
How did this Daoist get into Shanghai?
People around reacted with surprise when they heard “Shanghai.”
Ordinary people didn’t know much about Shanghai’s disappearance, but many Superhumans were well aware.
When the convoy leaders returned to their groups after that meeting, they naturally told their teams some things, but there was no need to tell ordinary people.
The Daoist glanced at the crowd and casually explained, “It was last month, when Shanghai was still there!”
“Shanghai has become a forbidden zone that makes the whole world shudder. So far there’s been no word of anyone coming back alive from there!”
“I’m probably the first!”
“I always wanted to see such a city myself and find out what happened. Maybe I could learn something from Shanghai!”
Even at this point the Daoist couldn’t help boasting.
Chen Ye, annoyed that the man went off-topic again, found the Daoist’s endless chatter infuriating.
But the crowd’s gaze toward the Daoist did change.
That was Shanghai—by its former scale it ranked among the worst forbidden zones in the world.
Hearing “Shanghai” made many people’s legs go weak; you walked well clear of the place.
And yet this Daoist had dared to go there himself.
Regardless of his actual strength, that kind of nerve alone was rare.
Sensing Chen Ye’s impatience, the Daoist hurried on: “This Purple Rakshasa was caught by me in Shanghai!”
“Don’t be fooled by its small size. It’s a juvenile, clearly not fully grown!”
“When I encountered this juvenile in Shanghai, there was also a subadult nearby, about this tall!”
The Daoist gestured a height of roughly one point three meters.
“That subadult was very powerful. During our fight, that subadult’s strength was formidable. I used every trick I had but couldn’t kill it...”
The Daoist recounted his fight with the subadult Purple Rakshasa.
He was inflating the background story to raise the value of the captive juvenile and make later bargaining easier.
Chen Ye didn’t stop him—he wanted to learn where this juvenile came from so he could help Hundred-Ghost Eater find similar sacrifices if needed.
According to the Daoist, the subadult had diamond-hard bones and ultimately transformed into an adult Rakshasa three meters tall, smashing a building with a single punch.
Fortunately, the subadult wasn’t fully mature; it could only maintain the transformation for less than a minute before collapsing, which allowed the Daoist to escape.
Hearing about a punch that could collapse a building, the crowd sucked in cold breaths.
Chen Ye’s mind stirred.
He knew Hundred-Ghost Eater didn’t only have the Sacrifice ability.
Anomalies sacrificed to it were imprisoned within its inner vault.
If needed, hundred-ghost eater could even use those Anomalies’ abilities.
If this Purple Rakshasa really possessed such power...
It was hard to tell how much of the Daoist’s story was true.
“Luckily I had some secret techniques in reserve, so I got away.”
“While escaping, I happened upon this juvenile, and I simply caught it!”
“With the Return to the City Plan, many of you Superhumans have exceptional abilities. I figured someone might need this Purple Rakshasa, so I’d see who wanted it and trade it for something useful.”
After the Daoist’s explanation, people looked at the Purple Rakshasa in the cage with different eyes.
“Taoist, what do you want in exchange for this Purple Rakshasa?”
Eventually Chen Ye asked.
The Daoist’s eyes flicked, his look suddenly conniving. He stretched out a hand and said, “Five hundred jin!”
Without even thinking, Chen Ye turned and walked away!