Chapter 46: A Bit of Luck, But Not Much

Chen Ye immediately felt a bizarre sensation rippling across his spine!

It felt as though countless fuzzy legs were wrapping around his torso, slowly crawling upward toward his face.

Simultaneously, his body grew heavy, as if being tugged downward by some unseen force.

Two sharp, tooth-like objects pressed heavily against his neck.

As the creature crawled and wriggled, it left behind a faint, sticky dampness, yet the sharp appendage slithering over his shoulder and pressing against his spine gave Chen Ye the chilling sensation of a blade held right to his throat.

For a fleeting second, Chen Ye almost wanted to rip off the black blindfold to see what on earth had possessed him!

The next second.

An angry roar echoed from beside him:

"You little beast, get down here right now!"

The creature clinging to his body suddenly kicked off with several of its legs, using Chen Ye's back as a springboard, and leaped away instantly.

The heavy dragging sensation and the eerie tactile contact vanished in a single breath.

From not far away, a young man's apologetic voice rang out:

"I am terribly sorry. I haven't fully mastered this Emperor Spider yet, so it tends to wander off."

"It has caused you unnecessary trouble."

"If you don't mind, please just consider it a little joke."

A joke?

Chen Ye almost laughed out loud.

If he hadn't used the black strip of cloth to cover his eyes, but had instead merely closed them or covered them with his hands...

He probably would have been unable to resist opening them, thereby violating the taboo rules.

He turned his head toward the source of the voice and observed the man's aura, which was shrouded in dense, dark fog.

A streak of blood-red light connected the man to another entity beside him.

The silhouette of that entity resembled a crawling creature with eight legs, looking much like a spider.

However, countless tentacles seemed to be branching out from the edges of those eight legs, swelling its size to nearly a meter in diameter.

Faint crimson lines linked the human figure standing opposite to the spider.

Realizing he was in the wrong, the other person quickly offered an explanation:

"I'm sorry, this pet is a new breed called the Emperor Spider."

"Word is that it's a new species born from the ovaries of a Three-Eyed Giant Spider thrown into the lower reaches of the West River estuary, where they hybridized with king crabs!"

"A miracle of life!"

"From now on, nature has welcomed a brand new cross-species product—the Emperor Spider!"

However, the Emperor Spider's temperament is extremely unstable, and even as a Beastmaster, I find it difficult to control."

"Please forgive my mistake; I didn't mean to cause you any trouble."

Judging by his tone, the apology seemed sincere, and he didn't sound very old.

Just as Chen Ye was hesitating whether to let the matter slide, the old woman selling roasted chestnuts chuckled and said:

"You should know what the fifth rule is."

The young man instantly fell silent.

The old chestnut-selling woman continued: "Everything you did came dangerously close to harming my apprentice."

"Rules are rules, and the appropriate punishment must be meted out."

"However, you may choose to resolve this privately or officially... Which path is better depends entirely on your own choice."

The "Beastmaster" fell silent for a moment before seeming to pass an object over, saying:

"This is a silver coin admission ticket."

"If you wish to exchange items using silver coins, this voucher should come in handy."

Chen Ye lowered his gaze slightly and saw the object being handed over radiating a silvery moonlight.

"What is the use of this voucher?"

The Beastmaster paused. Confirming that Chen Ye was unaware of the silver coin voucher's purpose, he explained:

"You must rarely visit the Yong'an Market."

"There are a total of nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine pawnshop locations here."

"Among them, pawnshops numbered zero through one hundred are gold coin trading grounds. Those from one hundred to one thousand are silver coin trading grounds. All other areas are copper coin trading grounds, which is where we are currently standing."

"However, entering the silver coin trading ground requires accumulating one thousand copper coin consumption points."

"Heh, of course, this silver voucher isn't anything particularly valuable; just consider it a small token of my apology."

According to the fifth rule of the Yong'an Market—one must not arbitrarily engage in aggressive or dangerous behavior.

Clearly, the young Beastmaster's failure to properly control his Emperor Spider had already posed a safety hazard to Chen Ye.

Punishment was only natural.

Since it was a punishment, its nature was akin to compensation rather than a commercial transaction, meaning there was no need to worry about the rules of equivalent exchange.

Seeing that his aura remained normal, Chen Ye reached out, took the silver voucher, and rubbed it in his palm for a moment.

The silver voucher was similar in size to paper currency, and its frosted texture sliding across his fingertips evoked the very scent of wealth.

After this brief twist and turn...

Finally.

Chen Ye finally figured out where the lingering purple qi he had noticed upon entering the Yong'an Market likely came from.

"Purple qi should represent the fortune of a benefactor."

"I thought it was a crisis, but I ended up scoring a free silver voucher instead."

"Consider it a bit of luck, though not an overwhelming amount."

However, when Chen Ye observed his aura again, he was surprised to find that the purple qi at the edge not only had not been depleted, but had actually grown slightly denser!

Logically speaking, after the Beastmaster's little interlude, wouldn't the "purple qi" in his aura have been triggered and consumed?

In that case.

This bit of fortune ought to have been used up...

Yet it showed a tendency to continue strengthening instead?

Chen Ye couldn't help but feel a bit surprised.

Could it be that [Riding the Wave of Fortune] was continuously exerting its effect?

He continued following the old woman selling roasted chestnuts deeper into the Yong'an Market.

At the same time, he silently kept track of his steps in his mind.

If his calculation was correct, his step count was now somewhere between 84,000 and 85,000 meters...

He was drawing closer and closer to completing this week's milestone mission.

Unlike yesterday.

Throughout the entire night, Chen Ye had been following the chestnut-selling old woman across such a vast distance.

The efficiency of racking up steps was clearly much faster than in the previous few days.

Since he didn't need to practice the suona, didn't have to divide his focus, and—walking alongside the mysterious and powerful old woman—didn't even need to be on guard against surrounding perils...

Chen Ye was able to pick up his walking pace.

If his progress stayed on track, he might just complete this week's milestone mission tonight!

After walking a distance further...

The handcart slowly came to a halt.

Not far away, a shop emanating a metallic iron-hued aura had a few figures faintly visible inside. The auras hovering above their heads were unremarkable, purely white with a touch of wheat yellow, making them look solid, healthy, and reliable.

The old woman's voice drifted back from the front of the handcart:

"Alright, we have arrived."

"This is Pawnshop No. 8888, and the owner is an old man who sells sundries."

"The handcart and kitchen utensils you need are right here. As for the remaining seasonings, you'll need to go further inside to Pawnshop No. 5655 to buy them."