A Mortal’s Immortal Gourd
Chapter 75: Reflecting on One’s Mistakes

Ergouzi had caused trouble for himself and felt a bit guilty.

He had casually bought some black salt, several bolts of coarse cloth, and more than a dozen large iron blocks in the city, then left the city overnight.

But this time, luck was somewhat on his side—the iron blocks he bought weighed at least over five hundred pounds, enough to forge many weapons once brought back.

Outside the city, a large number of refugees still gathered, blocked by the city’s guarding soldiers who forbade them from entering.

Some refugees stubbornly stayed outside the city, unwilling to leave. They gathered in groups with their families, wary of one another.

Beside the official road lay several fallen trees whose bark had long been stripped away, and even their roots dug out and eaten.

At this moment, a few people refused to give up, still biting the tree trunks with their teeth.

They chewed on the wood chips slowly in their mouths before painfully swallowing them down.

One family was hiding in a corner, furtively gulping down food.

They had managed to get some fresh tree bark mixed with locust powder to make cakes, savoring every bite as if it were a delicacy.

Further away in a corner, several people were mysteriously butchering a corpse.

Suddenly, two families in the crowd broke out into a violent fight.

“This is mine...”

“I discovered it first...”

“I killed it first...”

It turned out these two families were fighting over a dead rat, willing to come to blows over it.

Seeing this scene, Ergouzi felt that the dead rat tossed into the soup pot was a bit of a waste.

It had simply been handed over cheaply to that old rascal, the county magistrate.

Recalling how he had stolen a lot of ingredients from the Hongyan Restaurant’s kitchen,

he thought, since it was all unjust gains anyway, today he might as well do the county magistrate a favor.

He walked to a quiet corner, letting the giant geese fly away first. Then he changed into a shabbier set of clothes and put on a mask bought from the black market.

Only then did he carry a large sack of food out.

He pulled out two chickens from the gunny sack and threw them into the crowd, immediately causing a scramble.

Two men even picked up sticks and walked toward him with fierce expressions—no good deed goes unpunished.

He kicked these two men flying with a single foot and shouted loudly:

“No one is allowed to grab anything!”

“Or I won’t distribute any more!”

“Everyone, sit back in your places.”

Having witnessed his ruthless kicking just now, no one dared to fight over the food anymore.

Everyone obediently sat down, waiting for Ergouzi to distribute the food.

He then threw one chicken to each family group gathered together.

Luckily, the chickens and ducks stolen from the Hongyan Restaurant kitchen were enough; after handing out to all, there were still leftovers.

After finishing at the city gate, he didn’t say another word and turned to leave.

He didn’t even dare to ride the giant goose, afraid the county magistrate would know it was his doing.

Passing by the small hill known for abundant Guanyin soil again, it was still nighttime and some people were digging the soil to eat.

Eating a small amount of Guanyin soil could stave off hunger but caused constipation; eating too much was a dead end.

For the refugees to eat it was like drinking poison to quench thirst, just hoping to have one last full meal before starving to death.

One refugee pinched a piece of Guanyin soil, closed his eyes, and imagined it was a chunk of delicious pork.

Just as he was about to put the soil into his mouth, suddenly a piece of pork fell in front of him.

Opening his eyes, he realized it really was a piece of pork.

He looked around but saw no one nearby.

Could it really be a divine miracle?

Since then, whenever this refugee ate, he always closed his eyes to imagine the food first.

As for never succeeding again, he simply attributed it to his lack of sincerity.

Wearing the black market mask, Ergouzi threw stolen food to refugees wherever he saw groups along the way.

Many refugees were dizzy and faint from hunger and suddenly saw chicken legs, pork, and rice falling from the sky.

They thought they had encountered a miracle; afterwards, many shared their experiences with one another.

That night, he visited several refugee gathering spots.

By dawn, most of the ingredients stolen from the Hongyan Restaurant had been handed out to the refugees.

Only then did he mount the white goose again, flying toward Shekou Mountain.

After an exciting night, the passion faded and calm returned. Sitting on the goose’s back, Ergouzi reflected deeply on his mistakes.

He regretted his impulsive actions from last night.

There were so many experts in the Hongyan Restaurant; if caught, even Sima Yi might not be able to save him this time.

Also, using such an expensive invisibility talisman was really unjustified.

He had originally planned to eat more to make up for the loss, but ended up using a talisman, resulting in no profit and an even bigger loss.

Though he stole many ingredients from the kitchen, barely breaking even, once outside the city, he impulsively gave them all away.

Sigh! It seemed he was just cursed with poverty—once he had a little money, he thought only of extravagance and waste.

He vowed to change, knowing wealth must be accumulated bit by bit.

Just as Ergouzi was painfully reflecting and deciding to be more cautious and thrifty,

he saw two people chasing each other on the ground.

The young man in front was desperately fleeing, hiding here and there, looking quite miserable.

The big man chasing behind was impatient, shouting angrily as he failed to catch up.

After finally closing some distance, the big man couldn’t help but grab and even bite the other.

“Help, fellow cultivators from the sky!”

The man being chased finally noticed Ergouzi riding the goose and shouted for help.

Well then, the giant goose lowered its height to take a closer look.

When it reached a certain altitude, Ergouzi used the Qi Observation Technique and was shocked.

Neither of these two was ordinary.

The young man being chased looked about the same age as Sima Yi, and the aura he emitted was extremely powerful and mysterious.

Ergouzi had never seen anyone in the entire Anchan County with such a strong aura before. Could he be a foundation establishment expert?

As for the big man chasing the youth, he was even more terrifying—not human at all.

This big man was a fearsome zombie.

Much stronger than the zombie Ergouzi had killed last time, he couldn’t even estimate how many times more powerful.

A thought arose in Ergouzi’s heart—could this be the drought demon that escaped?

Seeing this, Ergouzi had the giant goose fly higher again.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to save them, but the strength gap was just too huge.

Both of them were at least foundation establishment level, while he was only a lowly Qi Refinement stage five—what right did he have to interfere?

If he got involved even slightly, he might lose his life.

“Fellow cultivator, help me! There will be a great reward!”

Ergouzi did not immediately leave but circled around the man and the corpse in the sky on the goose.

After circling for a long time, he realized that although the zombie was very fast and strong, it still could not fly.

That gave him a stable position in the air.

Even if he couldn’t save the man, his own life wouldn’t be in danger.

“Try to keep your distance as far as possible.”

Ergouzi instructed the fleeing young man below, thinking of a plan.

The flying arrows Huang Fugui made earlier had never been used; perhaps today he could try them out on the zombie.