Carrying a Hoe to Cultivate

Liu Si Qian held that onion in his hand, his eyes narrowed into a thin line, “This land of mine, only half of those Mu Ges could grow and blossom. After blossoming, only half of those could produce fruits. The fruit had a strange aroma to it at its first stage, attracting a lot of Mu-Ge-eating monsters. Even if I protect them every day and night, only three or four of them could grow to its harvesting stage. Moreover, it’s even harder to have such great quality.”

“I heard that Meng had two Mu Ges from his ancestors. They look okay. But he would not let me have them. He only said something like he would give those to me if I get married.”

“Xia. If you can sell this one to me, I am okay with the destruction. I can even fetch you a few cores to help you cultivate. How about this?” He was afraid that Xia Yi might underestimate his cores. Liu Si Qian immediately explained, “Those cores made by me, every one of them needed me to refine them for days with all my heart. Everyone in the cultivation world would love to have one.”

Xia Yi grinned and said to Liu Si Qian, “Don’t even mention it. You can keep this onion.”

“Onion?”

“I call it onion. Mu Ge is too hard to pronounce.”

“You are really an interesting person. Yi. Ho ho.”

After saying so, Xia Yi told 179 to take a bunch of those out and had them in his arms. The pile was too high. The topmost one thus rolled down beside his feet. Xia Yi then kicked it away with his foot. That made Liu Si Qian frown. He quickly picked it up and carefully blew off the dust from its surface.

“This is compensation for your mental loss.” Xia Yi stuffed all the onions in his arms into Liu Si Qian’s arms.

Liu Si Qian swiftly held all of those, he replied quickly, “Slowly. Slowly. Don’t break the skin of the fruits.”

Don’t they have skin beneath their skin?

Xia Yi thought about it. Then he ordered 179 to talk out a few radishes to give to Liu Si Qian, “I have been here for a few times now. I haven’t given you anything for your hospitality. I should give you these fruits of the heavens as a thank you gift.”

Looking at all the Mu Ges and fruits of the heavens, Liu Si Qian’s face became all red. In shock, he hardly produced any sounds with his throat.

When Xia Yi watched him with a concerned look and suspected if he would faint just like Cheng Ming, he exhaled heavily, withstanding the shock. Then Xia Yi began to give every apprentice around him gifts.

Everyone had a radish and an onion.

“Come come come. This is a little token to show my respect. Please have it.”

Who would choose to not have it? Who could say no to the fruit of the heavens and Mu Ge?

All these apprentices of the Qi Shan Sect had heard of the names of the fruits. They might not even have the chance to look at one, let alone having one for themselves. If they had the chance to look at one of those, they could tell stories about it for a good few years. Now that not only could they touch it, they could also have it. They could look at it all they want whenever they wish to. They could even have a bite of it. A feeling of disbelief rose from their heart.

“My fellow apprentice. Is this the real thing?” asked one of the apprentices, observing the onion and the radish in his hands carefully.

The elder apprentice was also lost, “How am I supposed to know? You think that I have seen this before? But if the Elder said that it is the real thing, it is the real thing.”

Some apprentices were already rubbing off the tears due to their excitement, “I have to go back and put it on the offering table. I am bringing it home during the new year holidays to let my parents see it.”

Liu Si Qian had already recovered from the shock of seeing and having all those Mu Ges and fruits of the heavens. He put away all the onions and radishes. Then he tidied his clothes.

Xia Yi saw him opening his mouth and about to tell him something, he quickly stopped him with his hand, “Don’t ask. Don’t ask anything. I didn’t do bad things to earn these. You can just keep them.”

Liu Si Qian thus closed his opened mouth. It’s fine not to ask. Those fruits are real, that’s what matters. A gift from the gods. Thank you, my leader.

Standing before Gu Wen Zhu, he smiled and nodded, “Gu and our leader Ciang Yi do look alike. It is not Ming’s fault to have mistaken you. However, despite the similarities, the difference between you is huge.”

Our leader Ciang Yi was elegant, out of this world. No mortals could compare with him.

Xia Yi stood in front of Gu Wen Zhu, nodding and touching his own chin, “Yes. They only look alike. There is a huge difference between them.”

My Zhu is handsome and dignified. How could Ciang Yi catch up to his youth?

“Let’s go. You two should return to the sect.” Liu Si Qian jumped onto his gourd, he turned to talk to Xia Yi and Gu Wen Zhu, “I still have something to do. You can go. Thank you for Xia’s gifts to me and our apprentices. I should give you something in return if I have the chance.”

Then, he rode the gourd under his feet, ascended to the sky and flew away. The other apprentices thanked the two sincerely and finally rode their magical items to go back.

Concerning Gu Wen Zhu, he was still having an issue with Kirin. Kirin had been wanting to walk up to him and rub him, but Gu Wen Zhu had been shouting at it and pushing it back with his hoe. Kirin did not understand. It only swung its tail more vigorously, making the soil that Gu Wen Zhu had turned up splashing everywhere.

“Yi. What is this thing that you have just rode?” Gu Wen Zhu could only ask Xia Yi and blocked it with his hoe.

Xia Yi rolled his eyes and walked towards Kirin. Seeing this, Gu Wen Zhu quickly tried to pull him away, but instead, Xia Yi smiled and called that monster, “Kirin. Son. Come to Papa.”

That monster then came to Xia Yi. It licked his hands and rubbed him affectionately.

Such a familiar scene.

An idea came to Gu Wen Zhu’s mind. He suddenly remembered seeing a dark figure coming with him when he jumped into that light swirl seeing Xia Yi get transmigrated.

Would that dark figure be our dog? It came here too and became like this?

Thinking of this, Gu Wen Zhu asked Xia Yi, hesitating, “Kirin? Is this our Kirin?”

“Right. That’s it.” Xia Yi scratched Kirin’s chin. Kirin was tilting its head to make him more comfortable, “You didn’t like it in the first place. It only has one horn more and you did not recognise it.” He then side-eyed Gu Wen Zhu’s hoe, “And you wanted to hit it.”

Gu Wen Zhu immediately put down the hoe in his hand. He surrounded Kirin to look at it, “…I think there is not just one horn more.”

“You are talking as if you recognised it right away. Who got scared and ran around in the mountains?” 179 scoffed, “I can’t understand you guys. Kirin hasn’t changed at all. It’s just another world, then everyone becomes blind.”

“It’s been an eye-opener for me. The things that I have seen these days are all mentioned by the elderlies and the old books. How could I know that everything was real?” Gu Wen Zhu looked at those figures that were disappearing at the edge of the sky, feeling shocked.

Xia Yi curled his lips, he wanted to tell him that those were nothing, he had his magical item as well. But when he thought about the stability of his winter gourd, he thought things would be better left not mentioned.

“Zhu. How did you get their swords just now? I didn’t see it.” Xia Yi recalled what Gu Wen Zhu had just done and asked with curiosity.

Gu Wen Zhu heard him mentioning it, his face turning gloomy again with a hint of anger. However, with Xia Yi waiting for his reply curiously, he tried to suppress that anger and began to think, “I can’t describe it. I only wanted to stop those swords so badly that their motions began to slow down in my eyes.” Gu Wen Zhu closed his mouth after answering calmly, clearly did not want to talk about it anymore.

Seeing him like this, Xia Yi stopped asking. He only used his head to bump his forehead softly, making Gu Wen Zhu relaxed and started to show his gentle expression.

“Let’s go. Bring me to your house in Qi Shan.” Saying softly, Gu Wen Zhu used his hand to tidy Xia Yi’s hair on his face.

Xia Yi pulled in his lips, then he took Gu Wen Zhu’s hand, “Then let’s not ride Kirin. We will walk there.”

“Okay.” Gu Wen Zhu had always been obedient to him.

They followed the sidepath beside the medicine garden. Xia Yi introduced everything to Gu Wen Zhu on their way. Kirin dashed to the very front to try catching some rabbits or little animals, jumping left and right.

The site of this cultivation world had been surprising Gu Wen Zhu. Everything was shocking to him. Xia Yi knew that the view was beautiful, but he had been thinking of ways to get back, being anxious all day, hence he did not have the mood to appreciate the surroundings.

Now that his darling Gu Wen Zhu was right beside him, he could finally relax and look around. Looking up, they could see strange mountains that blocked the sky. There was water floating beside them with odd-looking stones in between.

The island floating in the air had a thin white layer of clouds around it. They could vaguely see it but it was hard to tell if it was close or far away. The cranes were flying above them, looking like some drawings done with ink, creating brushes on the blue sky. Some weird sound echoed from behind them, breaking the silence.

That sounded like someone hitting the ground with a stick rhythmically.

Xia Yi halted and turned, thinking, haven’t all the apprentices of the Qi Shan Sect flown away? I didn’t see anyone just now. Where did this person come from?

When he looked, there was nothing behind him on the road. The lands on both sides were empty. Only two birds with their name unknown and colorful tails flew through on top of them, tweeting.

“What?” Gu Wen Zhu saw him stopping and looking around, so he turned to look back as well.

“Nothing. I thought I heard something and someone was behind us. I must have made a mistake.” Xia Yi turned and walked forward, holding Gu Wen Zhu’s hand.

A breeze of wind softly touched their faces, bringing with it the scent of the grass. Xia Yi was in a great mood. He swung their arms while he was walking. Smiling towards the person beside him, showing his canine teeth, his clear eyes were filled with shards of sunlight.

Gu Wen Zhu’s sharp outline had softened, he rubbed his head, “Are you this happy seeing me?”

Xia Yi nodded heavily, then he took his hand, rubbing his own face on the back of Gu Wen Zhu’s, saying gently, “I am just happy.”

Gu Wen Zhu halted his breath, he felt he could not walk anymore. He pulled Xia Yi into his arms softly and kissed him on his fluffy head, “I am happy too.”

When the two of them continued to walk forth, that strange noise rang again. This time around, Gu Wen Zhu heard it as well. He turned in confusion, but he saw nothing again. He carefully turned back to walk for some distance, looking around with his eyes on the way. However, he could only see the wind brushing on the herbs. It was just like a wave hitting on the wheat. He could not see anything more than that.

“179. What was following us just now?” Xia Yi asked System without knowing what more he could do.

After a while, the voice of the system rang, sobbing, “I didn’t notice.”

“What’s wrong?” This was the first time that he heard 179 so emotional, Xia Yi hurried and asked, “Did something happen?”

It must be huge to make 179 cry.

“Are you out of electricity over there in the room?” Xia Yi asked with a serious expression.

“No. It’s the technical system. We have found him at last.” 179 sobbed. He was so excited that he could hardly control himself.

Xia Yi knew that the technical system had been missing for a long time and 179 had been worrying about him. Upon hearing this news, Xia Yi was excited as well, “Really? Where did they find him?”

“Our colleagues saw him on TV.”

“On TV? Has he become an actor?” Xia Yi spoke, stunned, “Your technical system is alright. He can even become a star after doing MLM.”

“No. Not an actor. It was a news reporting program. The most updated episode was about how a few departments in that place had demolished an illegal mine, saving a lot of people.” 179 had not fully calmed down yet, “Our colleagues saw him, among those who had been rescued.”

“He was sitting on a bench of the police station, eating mouthfuls of noodles.” 179 was about to cry, “There were two empty food boxes next to him.”