Cultivating In Secret Beside A Demoness

On the same afternoon, Cheng Chou and the others returned.

“Master, I’m back! I brought you some gifts!”

The beast hopped in front of Jiang Hao and handed him some fruits. “Master, have one!”

Jiang Hao picked one up and took a bite. It was surprisingly bitter.

Fifteen spirit stones were gone just like that.

Xiao Li lowered her head and approached Jiang Hao. She handed him a bag of pastries.

“These were left by… my mother. I didn’t eat them.”

“Why?” Jiang Hao asked as he took the pastries.

Xiao Li fidgeted with the hem of her shirt. “She used to say that if I gave them all to you, she would make me more next time. She is not there anymore to make more…”

“I see.” Jiang Hao accepted them. “Thank you.”

“This one is from Father…” Xiao Li handed Jiang Hao a bamboo shoot. “Can I plant it somewhere?”

“I’ll help you plant it.” Jiang Hao remembered the bamboo shoot he had helped Xiao Li’s father dig up in the mountain.

His courtyard had plenty of things, and one more bamboo shoot wouldn’t make a difference.

“Also…” Xiao Li hesitated for a moment. “Mother said that you were my family if anything happened to her. She told me that if they died, I should take your surname. Senior Brother Jiang, please call me Jiang Xiao Li from now on.”

Jiang Hao was surprised, but he nodded. “If that is okay with you, I don’t mind either.”

“Really?” Xiao Li was surprised. “So… are you my elder brother from now on?” Jiang Hao was speechless, but he nodded.

After the beast and Xiao Li left, Jiang Hao turned to Cheng Chou. “Tell me about your journey.”

This time, Cheng Chou looked a little disheveled, but he wasn’t injured.

“After you left, the spirit beast suddenly appeared. With the help of the villagers, the funeral went smoothly. However, Junior Sister Xiao Li seemed to be in denial for a few days. She kept saying that her parents would wake up. Nobody knew what to tell her. Without the spirit beast, I didn’t know what I would have done, either. After the burial, Junior Sister Xiao Li stayed inside the house and refused to come out.”

“She didn’t talk to anyone. She was completely different from before. She didn’t smile or jump around. Fortunately, the spirit beast comforted her through her grief. She tearfully gave away the chickens and ducks that her parents had raised. She also gave away the fishing nets and boats. She couldn’t bring herself to give away the farming tools. She kept saying that if her parents somehow came back, they would feel sad to see their tools gone.”

Cheng Chou sighed. “After that, we cleaned the house, washed the bedding, and closed the door behind us. Every few steps, Junior Sister Xiao Li kept looking back as though she expected to see her parents waving at her.” Jiang Hao listened quietly while eating the red bean cake.

“And then?” Jiang Hao asked.

“The journey was relatively smooth. Just as we were about to arrive, the beast went to pick some fruits to make Xiao Li happy. When it came back, I realized that it had caused trouble with someone. Fortunately, no one followed us. The fruits were too bitter, so Xiao Li didn’t eat them..

‘So… they are just leftovers. I really thought the beast had brought it for me.’

Jiang Hao understood the situation. The spirit beast wasn’t reckless or stupid. It was just that those who had seen it happened to recognize it.

He headed to the Candlelight Pill Pavilion and handed the fruits to Lian Daozhi and apologized.

Lian Daozhi gave him two hundred spirit stones in return.

Jiang Hao used that to buy some Foundation Establishment Pills and handed them to Cheng Chou. He had thought of splitting the two hundred spirit stones into three equal portions and distributing them to Xiao Li, Cheng Chou, and the beast. However, the beast and Xiao Li didn’t need spirit stones.

Cheng Chou had done well over the past few years, so Jiang Hao bought him some pills. Cheng Chou was overjoyed.

He only received twenty spirit stones per month. It would have taken him a year to save enough spirit stones to buy pills.

After that, Jiang Hao went to meet Han Ming and explained his intentions.

Han Ming was overjoyed to switch places with Jiang Hao. He didn’t like working with spirit herbs. He would rather venture out on an adventure any day than stay back and farm. If it weren’t for the fact that he couldn’t refuse the mission assigned to him, he would have gone out long ago.

Jiang Hao then went through the necessary procedures to switch places with Han Ming. Everything went smoothly.

Late that night, Jiang Hao successfully accepted the sect’s mission. They would depart for the mission next month.

In Heavenly South Prefecture, Bi Zhu sat in the hall, waiting for further news.

She had learned from Jing that the dragon was in the Huangsha River.

However, after observing for a while, she hadn’t found anything remarkable about the Huangsha River. There was no reason for the dragon to venture there.

She was about to reach the exact location. She wouldn’t be delayed for more than a few days.

‘I still don’t believe that he’s so capable and can complete missions ahead of me.’

Bi Zhu wanted to see for herself. She waited anxiously. After a moment, a crane’s cry was heard.

She smiled. ‘It’s finally here!’

She walked out to see an immortal crane landing in the courtyard.

As she approached, the crane flapped its wings, and a sheepskin scroll fell to the ground.

Bi Zhu picked up the scroll, threw a bottle on the ground, and went into the house.

The crane looked at the bottle on the ground. It obediently picked it up and turned to leave.

As it left, it angrily cried out toward the house.

Boom!

A thunderbolt struck the crane, burning off half of its feathers.

“If it weren’t for your master’s sake, you would be tonight’s dinner,” said Bi Zhu from inside the house.

The crane let out a mournful cry and quickly fled.

Bi Zhu sat at the table and opened the sheepskin scroll.

Inside was a map of Hidden Cloud Prefecture. A red circle marked a location on the map with the words:

“The exact location of the dragon.”

The circle indeed enclosed a river. It marked the upper reaches of the

Huangsha River!

Bi Zhu was surprised. Jing was right!

After hesitating for a moment, she decided to set off immediately to see if she could find what she was looking for.

If the dragon was indeed there, then Jing wasn’t as simple as he made himself out to be.

Back at his lodging, Jiang Hao took out the stone tablet and observed it for a while.

He found that Gui had finally found the location.

[Gui: I found the location of the dragon. Jing was right! I’m heading to the Huangsha River right now.]

[Liu: Really? That’s impressive! I’m still cultivating my clone. It’s so difficult. I want to find another way!]

Watching them chat, Jiang Hao wanted to tell them that there was indeed a better way, but he couldn’t do it. Not yet anyway. Maybe next time..