> Beggars have their rules: three jin of liquor for a life. Want an immortal’s head? That’ll cost extra!
Jiang Jiu is best at two things: going hungry and using a bamboo pole to snag crab roe buns from the Drunken Immortal Tower.
A seasoned beggar on the docks of Haizhou, he lives by one motto:
Never rob widows, never hurt children, never touch government silver. That is, until he pinches the City Lord’s daughter’s mermaid pearl and lands himself on the immortal realm’s most-wanted list.
From the start, he has nothing but a broken bowl, and all his teammates are “dead weight”:
- His alcoholic master, Xiao Tieqi, teaches him the “beggar’s sword style” to steal roast chicken by day, then drunkenly mutters about “the blood debt owed to seventy thousand brothers in Suzhou” by night.
- The runaway bride, Shen Mingzhu, turns into a fish on the night of the full moon. Her dowry is a pearl that calms the seas, attracting the sea folk who want to claim her as a bride and the immortal sects who want to capture her.
- The reclusive gadgeteer, Mo Shisan, is always trying to take Jiang Jiu apart to build a mech, solemnly declaring, “A dragonkin spine is top-grade material.”
Then Jiang Jiu discovers that
His wounds bleed dice, and his broken bowl can catch the tribulation lightning of Heaven’s Gate;
His alcoholic master is a general who once slaughtered immortals, and the City Lord’s daughter is the orphaned heir of the Mermaid Emperor;
And the so-called “immortal realm” is actually a gluttonous machine powered by devouring the fortune of the human world…
Jiang Jiu weighs his chipped pottery bowl in his hand and grins:
“Immortals? They’re just a bunch of landlords who need a good beating!”
“Today I beg for food, tomorrow I collect debts. The blood debt in Suzhou will be settled, with interest!”
