Jun Quxiye—the man who nearly shaved her earlobe with his folding fan.
The Spirit Crystal in her hand began feeling uncomfortably warm…
Shen Ci reluctantly returned the Spirit Crystal and immortal fruits to Xiao Lie, “Brother Xiao, that man is really fierce. We should… return these to him.”
Life is precious, but Spirit Crystals are priceless.
She needed money—desperately.
Xiao Lie let out a muffled “awu” and ignored her, continuing to devour his hotpot.
Mo Cheng remarked casually, “If that guy truly didn’t want to give these away, do you think this silly wolf could have run three miles with them?”
Hearing this, Shen Ci’s eyes instantly lit up, and she immediately tucked the Spirit Crystal and immortal fruits into her robes.
Poverty had left her traumatized.
Her mind was filled with calculations:
The furnace for the Alchemy Room would cost at least a thousand Spirit Stones…
The cheapest texts in the library would be five hundred…
Seeds for the Spirit Field…
Several acres of wasteland behind the Sect still needed clearing…
And she still needed to secure a food shop…
“Really short on money?” Mo Cheng suddenly asked.
The young girl nodded like a chick pecking at rice, “Super short!”
She added dejectedly, “Even the mice that come to our Sect… sigh in despair.”
Listening to her sighs, Mo Cheng’s usually cool voice held a hint of amusement, “So young, yet so worried.”
Shen Ci suddenly straightened her back, clenching her fists tightly, “Because my senior brothers and sisters are out working hard to support me! Senior Brother Bu even gave me his only Spirit Crystal!”
She started laughing as she spoke, her eyes curving into crescent moons, “No one has ever been this good to me before… A-Ci must make Xianqi Piaopiao big and strong!”
Xiao Lie, gnawing on a chicken leg, clumsily imitated her, “Big and strong!”
Shen Ci burst into laughter again.
Mo Cheng’s lips curved slightly as he flicked his sleeve, making a Naring appear in Shen Ci’s palm, “Take it. Payment for meals.”
Shen Ci’s hand trembled as she accepted the ring, “Se—Senior, this is enough to buy…”
Mo Cheng rose, his plain robes fluttering lightly as he flew toward the Back Mountain, “For your hotpot and milk tea over the next three years.”
“Remember to add extra mushrooms.”
Shen Ci stared blankly at the Naring in her palm, then looked up at Xiao Lie across from her. Seeing Mo Cheng leave, Xiao Lie grinned, tossed his chopsticks aside, and began eating voraciously with his claws.
She carefully slipped the Naring onto her index finger, turning it over and over in the sunlight, her heart overflowing with warmth.
Counting up, Senior Mo Cheng had given her two things now: the clothes she was wearing, and this Naring.
Shen Ci’s eyes curved into little crescent moons again.
Xiao Lie suddenly leaned in, his nose twitching lightly near her, his furry ears quivering.
Shen Ci shrank back, swallowing nervously, “Bro—Brother Xiao, you’re not really thinking of eating me, are you?”
The wolf-man grinned, showing a simple, honest smile, “A-Ci, so nice-smelling.”
Shen Ci: “…”
She frowned slightly, feeling there was more to Xiao Lie’s words. “What do you mean, A-Ci smells nice?”
Xiao Lie scratched his head anxiously, his claws gesturing in the air for a long moment before he stammered out an explanation, “Cry, not good smell. Laugh, very nice smell.”
Shen Ci blinked, trying to understand him, “Brother Xiao, are you saying I don’t smell good when I cry, but I smell nice when I laugh?”
Xiao Lie’s eyes lit up, his tail wagging rapidly as he nodded vigorously, “Very nice smell!”
Shen Ci skeptically lifted her arm to sniff herself—there was clearly no scent at all?
She shook her head. Forget it—Senior Mo Cheng was right. Brother Xiao was just a silly wolf.
…
The next day, at the foot of Back Mountain.
Shen Ci crouched low, her fingertips brushing through the scattered wildflowers in the grass—daisies, dandelions, bellflowers, asters… Carefully, she dug them up with their roots intact and placed them in a bamboo basket.
“Plant a cluster here, and another over there…”
Humming a little tune, she transplanted the wildflowers into various corners of the Sect—between stone steps, beneath windowsills, at the kitchen entrance. Though they were just ordinary plants, their presence sprinkled across the dull, dusty Sect somehow breathed life into the place.
By the stream, two withered Moon Glow Trees trembled in the wind. Shen Ci knelt, gently tracing her fingers over their cracked bark.
“Just one drop…” She bit her fingertip, and a bead of blood rolled down to the roots.
Whoosh—
The trunks shot upward, branches dancing like silver snakes. In moments, they had grown into towering trees, clusters of Moon Glow Flowers blooming with a pearlescent sheen under the sunlight.
Before Shen Ci could marvel at the sight, a branch swooped down and softly brushed against her cheek.
She touched her face, then shook her head. Good—no dizziness. It seemed the cost of one drop of blood was something she could bear.
And so, for over half a month, Shen Ci kept herself busy.
One day, Shen Ci sat cross-legged on the ground, her fingers nimbly weaving bamboo strips into a fence. Beside her, a bamboo basket was crammed with newly bought chicken and duck eggs, while a few old hens leisurely scratched and pecked at the soil.
“Bawk—!”
Suddenly, a shrill squawk pierced the air.
Shen Ci turned to see Xiao Lie squatting by the flock, holding a speckled hen upside down by its feet, his nose nearly buried in its feathers as he sniffed vigorously.
“Brother Xiao!” Shen Ci scrambled to her feet. “That one’s about to lay eggs—”
Thump!
Before she could finish, Xiao Lie had already tossed the hen back to the ground in disgust, dramatically spitting twice. “Stinky!”
The frightened hen flapped its wings and scurried behind Shen Ci, its feathers puffed up like a fluffy ball. Shen Ci didn’t know whether to laugh or cry as she gently patted its head.
Da Hua lay lazily sprawled at Shen Ci’s feet, cracking one eyelid to glance at Xiao Lie before closing it again, utterly unbothered.
“Grrr!” Xiao Lie bared his teeth in a menacing growl.
Da Hua: “…” (rolled over and continued sleeping)
“Grrr!”
Xiao Lie let out another snarl, but Da Hua still ignored him.
Feeling deflated, he stomped over to Shen Ci and squatted beside her, his eyes sparkling. He pointed at his own stomach and grinned.
The young girl’s eyes curved into crescents. “Are you hungry, Brother Xiao?”
He nodded frantically, mimicking her accent. “Super hungry!”
Shen Ci pointed at the scattered bamboo strips on the ground. “Then wait until A-Ci finishes weaving the fence, okay?”
Xiao Lie’s tail immediately drooped.
Amused, Shen Ci continued to coax him. She leaned in mysteriously, lowering her voice. “I experimented with a new delicacy today.”
Then Shen Ci watched as her Brother Xiao’s ears instantly perked up, and he nodded wildly again.
Shen Ci sat back down to weave, while Xiao Lei circled around her, watching intently. A moment later…
Smack!
Xiao Lie slammed his palm down, shattering a nearby rock. Bamboo strips became a blur in his claws, and in no time, a crooked fence took shape—though it looked more like a wolf’s den.
“Wow!” Shen Ci cupped her face, her eyes sparkling brightly, “Brother Xiao learned it after just one look, so amazing!”
The werewolf proudly puffed out his chest, his tail stirring up clouds of dust: “I! The biggest! The whitest! The most powerful wolf!”
Shen Ci covered her mouth, laughing until she bent over.
Not long after, Shen Ci picked up those old hens and made them sit on the eggs. “Mother hens, thank you for your hard work. Please help A-Ci hatch them.”
The old hens gave her a resentful look—how could they be made to hatch duck eggs, goose eggs, and quail eggs! They were chickens! Chickens!