The Demon Lords

Tianhu Mountain was originally a renowned sacred site in the Jin land.

From this mountain came two generations of Celestial Masters: one was appointed by the contemporary Emperor Jin as the National Master, and the other was invited by the head of the Wenren family to become a family guest minister, going as far as having his descendants acknowledge him as a Daoist father.

More recently,

the grand elder who sat in the inner palace of the Yan State for nearly thirty years also descended from this mountain.

Originally, Tianhu Mountain was continuously bustling with worshipers, especially during festivals, where pilgrims and visitors flocked to offer their prayers.

Zhou Bian always remembered the prosperity of Tianhu Mountain back then, because his home was right at the foot of the mountain. Later, he took out his family savings and borrowed some, taking over a small inn at the foot of Tianhu Mountain.

There is a small town at the foot of Tianhu Mountain, though in reality, it was smaller than a typical village.

There were less than twenty shops, including inns, taverns, teahouses, and those selling incense and candles. These legitimate shops all had to rent from Tianhu Mountain to do business there.

During those festivals, there would be many worshipers, naturally attracting many small vendors to seize the opportunity to do business. Tianhu Mountain had a specific group of disciples stationed at the foot of the mountain to register them. They all had to pay a fee.

Zhou Bian was a small vendor himself before, often setting up stalls at Tianhu Mountain. Each time he was charged for a stall, he would curse those people of the faith in his heart for being so greedy;

but after he finally took over an inn, and other vendors flooded in during festivals, he would resent why those people of the faith didn’t charge these vendors more, allowing them to steal his food business.

However, the good times didn’t last long. One day, a lord ascended the mountain, and the grand elder in the palace died, a great fire roared on Tianhu Mountain, reducing the Ancestral Court to ashes.

Indeed, a mountain is not sacred because of its height, but because of the immortals on it. Without the people of Tianhu Mountain, it truly became an ordinary mountain.

Not only did small vendors stop coming to steal the business, but even the people in the nearby shops stopped working, yet Zhou Bian still lived here with his wife and son.

Because he initially sold his own house to take over this inn, if he didn’t stay, the three of them would have nowhere to stay.

The business was just barely running, and they did not specifically bring in fresh dishes. Mostly, what the family ate was what was sold, but since wine could be stored, there was still a lot left from before that they could sell.

Every now and then, Zhou Bian would take his wife up to the terraced fields on the mountain. With the Tianhu Mountain Ancestral Court gone, the lands once belonging to Tianhu Mountain were left desolate.

Zhou Bian planted some crops since nobody was taxing or managing it, it could at least add some food to their family table.

Moreover, the rent for the shop place that should have been paid this year was naturally no longer collected, which he thought wasn’t so bad. Originally, he was just taking over a shop, but now at least he had a house.

Today, Zhou Bian planned to go up to the terraced fields again, but later in the morning, two groups of guests arrived.

The first group included a scholar, a heroine, and a monk.

They were easy to recognize,

because the scholar was evidently a scholar, the heroine was clearly a heroine, and the monk was unmistakably a monk.

They asked for three bowls of knot soup, which was originally supposed to be the lunch for Zhou Bian’s family, but how could he refuse to sell it?

The second group of guests were a drunkard and an accountant.

The drunkard’s face was already flushed bright red in the morning and as soon as he sat down, he called for Zhou Bian to serve wine.

The accountant brought a wooden abacus with him, put it aside, didn’t order any dishes, but took some pancakes from his carry bag and asked Zhou Bian for a bowl of noodle soup to soak them in.

During this time, Zhou Bian’s wife brought out a small jar of wine and placed it on the table.

The drunkard, whether because he was too drunk or by nature, pointed at Zhou Bian’s wife’s big behind and said:

"Well, well, in this godforsaken place with nowhere to make business, yet your wife is still with you, tsk, tsk."

When doing business, one cannot easily get angry, but Zhou Bian’s wife directly glared at the drunkard and scolded:

"Shut your dog mouth and drink your horse piss."

Though she scolded,

there was a touch of charm in her scolding,

so it didn’t make anyone angry.

After his wife went to tend to the child,

Zhou Bian chuckled and said:

"My name is just one word, Bian. There’s nothing I can do, Heaven blessed me with good fortune, and I was big enough to work from a young age, my dad always called me:

Donkey, donkey.

Later, when it was time to take a proper name, I simply took it upon myself to name it ’Bian.’

The drunkard heard this and laughed loudly,

and said:

"Alright, alright, I believe you, I believe you. I won’t compare, won’t compare."

"You want some more snacks with your wine?" Zhou Bian asked with a smile.

"Just make do," the drunkard knew well there wasn’t anything good in this little inn.

"Wait a moment."

Zhou Bian went to the kitchen, rolled up his sleeves, and personally prepared some wild vegetables, and fetched two salted duck eggs that were meant for his son. When he was leaving the kitchen, he stopped and said to his wife:

"Wife, steam some more rice and scrape off some of that smoked meat."

"What’s up, more guests?"

"No, but when business is bad, there’s not a single shadow. But when guests do come, if two groups come, there are bound to be more after."

"Got it."

Zhou Bian brought out the cold dishes and salted duck eggs, and immediately saw three people get off from a carriage.