“It’s actually about to hatch? What unfortunate timing. If it hatches now, it can only serve as my gatekeeper. Besides, the spiritual energy here is so scarce. This Divine Beast is destined to suffer from childhood.”
Hu Hu excitedly circled around the Divine Beast Egg.
“It’s alright, Master. You can use the channel I built to send this young Divine Beast to the World of Cultivation!”
Jiang Manman shook her head while cleaning, glancing at the two children playing with mud outside.
“If I go over, would it be with my physical body or my Divine Sense?”
“Well, naturally it would be with your Divine Sense. If your physical body were to go through the Space Channel, it wouldn’t withstand the pressure and would explode.”
Just as she expected.
“Then what’s the point? If I go back to settle this Divine Beast, I’ll have to leave seclusion. That would delay me for several days – what about these two children? Might as well let this Divine Beast help me look after them! It’s been this long, why hasn’t it hatched yet?”
While sweeping the walls, Jiang Manman kept an eye on the Tamed Beast egg on the second floor.
The entire second floor contained only that single egg, surrounded by spirit gathering arrays. One could imagine how much spiritual energy had been consumed to hatch this egg.
From the time she obtained this egg as a mere Qi Training cultivator, eight hundred years had passed, and it remained just an egg. Now that it was finally about to hatch, how could Jiang Manman not be nervous?
After sweeping the walls, she cleaned the kang bed, then the floor. Fortunately, she had covered her nose and mouth – the dust was so thick she had turned into a snowman.
“Ah! Xuanwu!”
Her exclamation immediately brought the two children playing with mud outside running in.
Jiang Manman took the opportunity to bring out the newly hatched Xuanwu.
“Look, Mommy found a little turtle!”
Little turtle…
Xuanwu was a Divine Beast. From birth – or even before birth – it could extend its Divine Sense to observe the outside world, with intelligence no less than a human’s.
Back when it was still an egg, Jiang Manman had formed a soul contract with it. They could communicate telepathically.
“Master, I am not some lowly creature like a turtle. I am the Divine Beast Xuanwu. You may also call me the True Martial Emperor.”
The two children were thrilled to see the turtle, fearlessly playing with it despite the risk of being bitten.
“Why don’t you play with the little turtle in the yard while Mommy continues cleaning the house?”
“Okay, okay!”
“Mommy, we’ll take good care of the little turtle.”
Seeing the children happy, Jiang Manman sent a telepathic message to Xuanwu:
“Alright, since you’re my Divine Beast now, help me look after the children first. I still have lots of work to do! By the way, the symbiotic snake on your shell must not emerge. Stay well-behaved. This world has rules – animals aren’t allowed to become spirits after the founding of the nation. Don’t let anyone notice anything unusual.”
After giving these instructions, Jiang Manman continued cleaning.
After tidying the main room, she moved to the kitchen, then the outhouse, followed by the woodpile.
The reason nobody had touched the woodpile was because the grass inside had rotted and couldn’t be used for burning, so it had been left there.
Jiang Manman wasn’t sure what to do with it for now, so she first built a fence around their house.
Since bringing the two children to the mountains wasn’t convenient, she directly used her will to cut a pile of wood from the seventh layer of her Dimension to build the fence walls.
At the very least, surrounding the house with a fence would mark it as private territory that couldn’t be entered without permission.
She had been thinking of planting roses around the fence garden, but there were no roses here. However, she did have iron thorns in her Dimension.
That thing was just like a vine, except it was covered in thorns—perfect for defense.
“Laicai! Laicai~ Laicai ah~”
Just as she was working enthusiastically, she could still hear the Wang family searching for Wang Laicai!
At noon, she sent the two little ones inside to eat the meal she had prepared last night in the seventh layer of the Dimension, while she gulped down a few mouthfuls of Spirit Spring Water and continued working.
She had to finish building the fence around the house before dark.
This house was originally built by a wealthy Educated Youth who came here, and later it was given to a family of three to live in. Somehow, that family of three ended up dying inside this house.
There were many rumors about it, but she didn’t care. As a cultivator, why should she fear such things?
If gods come, she’ll slay gods; if demons come, she’ll slay demons.
“Let me help you!”
Jiang Manman looked up and saw it was her eldest nephew, Tang Yumin.
The young man looked spirited, but was it appropriate for him to help her?
“No need. You Educated Youth still have work to do. I wouldn’t want to trouble you.”
Tang Yumin seemed to have inherited the domineering genes of the old Tang family. Without another word, he started helping, leaving no room for refusal.
“I went to the brigade this morning to ask, and there really was no letter for you. I’m sorry for misunderstanding you before. But I really did see my Third Uncle write letters to you and heard that he mailed them. I still don’t know what happened. I’ll write back to ask. If my Third Uncle knew you gave birth to two children for him, he would be overjoyed. Once he finds out that you, Third Aunt, didn’t remarry and that you have two adorable children, he’ll definitely regain his fighting spirit and come here as soon as possible.”
Jiang Manman listened to him chattering away by himself.
She thought: …
This kid is something else. She had already decided to focus on raising the two children properly. When they reached the third level of Qi Training, she would teach them to use Magical Arts. They were destined to be different from ordinary people.
Once their Cultivation advanced further and they reached the Golden Core Stage, she could take them to roam freely in the World of Cultivation. Why would she want to be confined here?
“Tang Intellectual Youth, you should go back to work! Otherwise, you’ll have work points deducted.”
“Let them deduct them. I can just pay with money at the end of the year. I’ll spend the money.”
What a spoiled rich second generation.
As he spoke, he pulled out five large banknotes from his pocket and handed them to Jiang Manman.
“Third Aunt, take this money. I see there’s nothing in this house except a kang bed, not even an iron pot. Use it to buy what you need. Oh, and I also have Industrial Coupons and Food Stamps. When I left, my mom was afraid I’d go hungry or lack anything, so she stuffed me with a lot. I don’t need them—take them all.”
“I don’t want them. Take them back. If I need anything, I’ll buy it myself. I still have work points. I don’t need yours.”
Tang Yumin was such a stubborn, sincere kid!
If he said he’d give, he insisted on giving—just like how he insisted on helping with work, whether she refused or not.
The same went for the coupons, tickets, and banknotes—he just stuffed them into Jiang Manman’s pocket.
“Aiyo! In broad daylight, what are you two doing? All this pushing and pulling—how improper!”
A sharp, shrill woman’s voice rang out as she rushed over.
It was the eldest sister-in-law, Wang Guihua, who was forced to bring food to the mother and her two children. Upon arriving, she saw them tugging at each other. While shrilly questioning them, she stepped forward, intending to pull the two apart.
Jiang Manman would never let her touch her, so she sidestepped to avoid her.
Tang Yumin arrogantly rolled his eyes and glanced at the woman before him, not recognizing her.
“Who are you, auntie? What’s wrong with me giving something to my Third Aunt?”