Chapter 343: The Two Are Gradually Growing |
As they passed Ewe Ram Mountain, they happened to see people coming out of the Zang family estate one after another, most of them carrying big sacks of rice on their shoulders. Quite a few had swords, blades, or other magical weapons strapped to their backs.
Liu Xiaolou slowed down and took a closer look.
Lin Twin Fish was walking beside him . “What are you looking at, Xiaolou?” she finally said.
“The Zang family finished their spring planting pretty early this year,” he said. “It’s already over. That’s almost half a month earlier than I figured.”
“Spring planting?” Lin Twin Fish looked surprised. “You know about growing spiritual crops?”
“Not really,” Liu Xiaolou shook his head. “I just helped out at their place before. Harvested rice for them and all that.” He laughed. “Back then I actually had this dream. Dreamed that one day I’d make it big, and when I came back to help them harvest the rice, at least when it came time to weigh it they wouldn’t have the steward kick me hard in the ribs. Haha…”
“Kick you?” Lin Twin Fish did not quite get it.
“It’s nothing,” Liu Xiaolou said, waving it off. “Let’s head back.” He picked up his pace.
When they reached Wuchao Town, Liu Xiaolou did not cut straight through. Instead, he led Lin Twin Fish to a grain shop. Walking up to the counter, he greeted the shopkeeper. “Boss, got any of this year’s fresh spiritual rice in stock?”
A man who spent his days buying and selling spiritual grain was bound to eat plenty of it himself. Even a man with no cultivation at all could add decades to their life just by eating spiritual grain every day. At eighty, they would still look like they were in their early fifties.
His memory was just as sharp. He broke into a smile right away. “Immortal Master Liu, it’s been many years. How have you been?”
“Doing great, thanks to you,” Liu Xiaolou said. “No complaints at all. Got any newly arrived spiritual rice?”
“How could I not?” the shopkeeper replied. “What’s this, though? Immortal Master Liu isn’t selling spiritual rice this year but buying it instead?”
Liu Xiaolou chuckled. “Come on now. It’s been so many years. You don’t think I’d still be stuck where I was back then, do you?”
The shopkeeper pulled out a sack. “How much do you want? Ten pounds? Twenty? Same old price. One tael and five mace per pound.”
Liu Xiaolou started haggling. “One tael and two mace.”
“Immortal Master Liu, you’re an old customer. You know that price leaves me no profit. No way.”
“You still make two mace.”
“This is spiritual rice,” the shopkeeper protested. “Only two mace of profit? How am I supposed to keep this shop open?”
“I’ll buy a hundred pounds.”
“One tael and four mace!” the shopkeeper cried. “You’re killing me here. I can’t drop it a single bit more. If I do, I might as well jump into the Wuchao River!”
In the end, they settled on one tael and three mace per pound. Liu Xiaolou bought a hundred pounds, packed into two burlap sacks, and tossed them into his Qiankun Pouch. It nearly filled all the remaining space inside.
After that, he went to buy wine, then various spices and seasonings, and a few other odds and ends.
Lin Twin Fish watched him bustle around with obvious curiosity. Once he was done, she followed him back up the mountain. Halfway there, she couldn’t hold it in anymore. “All these little errands… you handle them all by yourself?”
“What else would we do?” he said. “That’s life as a rogue cultivator.”
Lin Twi Fish made a suggestion. “Being a rogue cultivator doesn’t mean you have to do everything alone. You’re the head of an ancient sect, after all. Now that you’ve reached Foundation Establishment, you’re qualified to take disciples.”
He let out a sigh. “Take disciples? That sounds like way too much trouble. I’m not that old yet, and I still have a shot at pushing higher. Where would I find the time to teach disciples?”
“Then at least hire a household servant,” Lin Twi Fish said. “Someone to take care of your daily life and meals.”
Liu Xiaolou laughed. “What’s there to take care of? I’ve been on my own so long it’s second nature... The only reason I stocked up on extra food is because you came, and you brought two people with you. Normally it’s dead simple around here, and honestly? I like it that way. No need for servants. Having someone hovering around just means I’d have to worry about them too. Exhausting…”
As the sun dipped behind the mountains, this was Lin Twin Fish's first night on Wulong Mountain. And her first as a guest elder of the Sanxuan Sect. And from this very first dinner, she immediately got why Liu Xiaolou didn't need any servants.
She watched with her own eyes as Big White dragged over a pile of dead branches and withered leaves, then pecked at them like crazy. Next thing she knew, there's this blur of white flapping everywhere and smoke starts puffing up...
Another cool gust swept through. Little Black burst out of the woods, bounding into the yard in two quick leaps, a rabbit dangling from its mouth...
Then Little Black came back again, this time carrying two bamboo shoots....
The two of them worked by the fire, skinning the rabbit and cleaning out the entrails, peeling the bamboo shoots, snapping branches, and setting up a rack over the flames...
After that, Big White went off to deal with the spiritual rice...
When Big White glanced at Lin Twin Fish, who looked like she was doing absolutely nothing, then at the meager pile of rabbit meat and bamboo shoots, it decided to switch places. It left Little Black to tend the fire, spread its wings, and leapt off the nearby cliff.
Heaven knew Lin Twin Fish was not slacking off. She was simply staring in shock, or maybe completely mesmerized.
The Southern Sea Sword Sect was a sect of sword cultivators. Sword cultivators believed the blade in their hands could overcome anything. They devoted themselves entirely to the sword, with no room for distractions. On Xiqiao Mountain, there were hardly any spiritual birds or spiritual beasts at all. No one had the time, energy, or interest to mess with such things.
But Luofu Mountain did have them. Lin Twin Fish had seen a few spiritual beasts there, all of them raised by the Luofu Sect for hundreds or even thousands of years. Their divine powers rivaled Golden Core cultivators, even Nascent Soul ones. Each was a treasure that protected the mountain, revered and cared for like an ancient ancestor. How could anything she had seen before compare to a scene like this?
Big White had barely leapt off the cliff before Lin Twin Fish could process the shock or figure out why, when her attention was completely stolen by Little Black. The black cat stood half upright, using its two front paws and its tail to turn the rabbit and bamboo shoots roasting over the fire. After a moment, it padded over to the nearby stove, gathered a bunch of jars and bottles, carried them back, and shook their contents over the rabbit, sprinkling on seasonings.
She had no idea how long she had been watching when Big White sprang back up from below the cliff. This time, its flat beak held a big, fat fish more than a foot long.
By the time the rabbit was roasted, the bamboo shoot and fish soup was finished, and the spiritual rice had been cooked, Liu Xiaolou finally returned from the top of the cliff. He had gone up earlier to check on the Thunderfire Essence and the Thunder Leopard Bone Flute. When he came back down, he sprinkled a few tiny granules over the soup and the roasted meat. At once, a rich fragrance spread out and filled the entire little courtyard.
Lin Twin Fish raised an eyebrow and smiled. “July Fragrant Orchid from Dafeng Mountain?”
“I know Han Jiuqian from his family,” Liu Xiaolou said. “When I went to pay a formal visit, he wasn’t around, but the folks at his place were polite. They insisted on giving me a whole bag of it. I tried to refuse, but their Fourth Elder and Han Gao from the second branch absolutely would not take no for an answer. They were like, ‘If you don’t accept it, you’re not leaving.’ Can you believe that? That family is just too hospitable. All right, let’s eat. Little Black, go get the wine.”
The two people and two beasts set the meal out on the wooden platform in front of the house and sat around it together. For a while, all you could hear was nonstop “meow meow meow meow” and “peck peck peck peck.”
Lin Twin Fish looked around, thoroughly amused. The spiritual rice she had long since grown tired of eating tasted fragrant again.
After the meal, she wiped her mouth and asked casually, “Is this little courtyard all you have? Is there anywhere to stay down the mountain?” She was a cultivator. A late-stage Foundation Establishment expert who had roamed the world for years. Where couldn’t she spend the night? Under a tree, on a rock, inside a cave, she could settle anywhere and sleep through the night. Asking was simply a matter of propriety, to avoid any awkwardness.
Liu Xiaolou said, “There’s a place not far down below, a spot called Half-Pine Terrace. It’s an old courtyard the Sanxuan Sect abandoned years ago. It needs a bit of fixing up…”
Lin Twin Fish waved a hand. “That’ll do. No need to fix it.”
Seeing her about to leave, Liu Xiaolou finally couldn’t hold it in anymore. “Senior Sister Lin, you’ve been talking around it this whole time, but who are the other two guest cultivators?”
Lin Twin Fish thought for a moment, then shook her head. “I can’t really say.”
Liu Xiaolou stared. “You can’t say?”
“I invited quite a few people,” she replied. “I don’t know who will actually show up in the end.”
Liu Xiaolou blinked. “And if none of them come?”
She smiled and pointed at the two beasts. “Then we’ll send them in!”