He was so anxious he scratched his head and ears, but didn’t know how to describe it specifically. After all, he was a wolf, not a human, and his vocabulary was limited.
“Anyway, she smells really good, especially when she smiles.”
“I really like… being close to her.”
He suddenly shoved his furry head right in front of Mo Cheng, “Can’t you smell it?”
The corner of the lips beneath the plain veil twitched: “…Get lost.”
The wolfman crouched back beside Shen Ci with a wronged expression, his paw gently resting on her sleeve.
Mo Cheng: “Speaking of which, this girl is somewhat unusual.”
He glanced at the silk thread on his wrist, forged from Myriad Year Ice Essence. Ordinary cultivators would suffer soul-rending pain upon touching it, yet this girl had been entangled twice and remained completely unaffected.
That demoness who struck fear throughout their lands, born with the Innate Bewitching Physique and peerless enchantment arts, had no effect on Shen Ci whatsoever.
That day, she had simply been coveting Ling Yimian’s beauty!
Mo Cheng’s divine sense swept over Shen Ci again. Though he couldn’t see, he could perceive:
—Utterly ordinary.
Low cultivation, unclear Spirit Root, by all appearances she was just an ordinary minor cultivator.
If there was anything special about her…
Perhaps it was that her cooking was exceptionally fragrant, her smile exceptionally bright, and…
Exceptionally foolish.
So foolish she dared to pat the Wolf King’s head, completely unguarded against strangers.
“Senior?”
Shen Ci had woken up at some point, rubbing her eyes as she looked at him, “Did I cause you trouble again…”
Xiao Lie frantically shook his head nearby: “No trouble! A-Ci is the best behaved!”
Mo Cheng’s brow lifted slightly, “Of course you’re no trouble. The trouble falls on me.”
Xiao Lie turned and bared his teeth at Mo Cheng.
Shen Ci suddenly jolted, eyes widening as she slapped her forehead, “My bamboo tube rice!”
With that, she immediately dashed down the mountain.
Xiao Lie’s jaw dropped, then he also raised a paw and frantically slapped his own forehead, “Her bamboo tube rice!”
Then he vanished in a puff of smoke as he chased after her.
Mo Cheng: “…”
At the mountain’s base.
Shen Ci screeched to a halt before the stove, trembling as she lifted the steamer lid:
The water had long boiled dry, the bamboo tubes charred black like coal, emitting thin wisps of smoke.
“Wah…” She pouted and poked at the bamboo tubes, when suddenly a thud sounded behind her.
Xiao Lie grabbed the doorframe as he skidded to a stop, a few leaves still stuck to his nose. His tail fluffed up in panic: “D-don’t cry!”
Mo Cheng’s divine sense swept over the commotion at the mountain’s base.
Beneath the plain veil, the corner of his lips lifted almost imperceptibly.
“Two fools.”
…
The next day, the sun beat down fiercely by the Spirit Field.
Xiao Lie crouched on the ridge, his furry paws clumsily gripping a hoe, a few grass blades still stuck to his tail. Shen Ci wore a crooked straw hat, a smudge of mud on her nose tip, looking like a little calico cat.
“Brother Xiao, what do you like to eat?” she asked while digging in the soil.
The wolfman’s ears shot upright: “Fish!”
Then he hurriedly added, “But everything A-Ci makes is delicious!”
Shen Ci blinked, suddenly having an epiphany: “Oh right, wolves do like fish…”
She muttered quietly to herself as she made a mental note.
“You, girl, instead of focusing on cultivation all day, you’re either farming or cooking.”
A cool voice came from behind. Shen Ci turned in pleasant surprise: “Senior!”
Mo Cheng stood at the field’s edge, having arrived unnoticed. Seeing the young girl’s bright, shining eyes fixed on him, he slightly turned his head away.
Shen Ci started to run toward him, then stopped, remembering how dirty she was.
She brushed the soil from her clothes, smiling somewhat helplessly, “It’s not that I don’t want to cultivate, but A-Ci has to fill her stomach first.”
The Sect was so poor even the mice had moved out—she couldn’t possibly form her Golden Core by drinking the northwest wind, could she?
Mo Cheng lowered his gaze to the mud-covered sapling and suddenly flicked his finger.
Splash!
The clear stream transformed into a downpour of spiritual rain, and the newly planted sapling sprouted branches and leaves at a visible pace.
“Wow!” Shen Ci spread her hands to catch the raindrops.
Seizing the chance, Xiao Lie shook his fur, splattering water all over Mo Cheng. The latter’s aura instantly turned icy, frost forming on the plain silk over his eyes, and the surrounding area froze solid.
The wolf-man’s fur bristled all over as he let out a panicked yelp and scrambled up the Moon-Glow Tree, only a pair of terrified dark pupils peeking through the foliage.
“Senior, please calm your anger!”
Shen Ci dashed in front of Mo Cheng, beaming like a sunflower. “You’re so amazing, summoning wind and rain like that!”
She stood properly, not even daring to let her clothes brush against him—she knew how much Mo Cheng valued cleanliness.
A soft chuckle escaped Mo Cheng’s throat. “So young, yet already so protective of your own.”
He looked down at her from his height, then with a sweep of his sleeve, the chill around them vanished, returning everything to normal.
“Still, I’ve saved you three times, yet you side with that foolish wolf?”
Xiao Lie poked his head out from the Moon-Glow Tree, protesting, “Because… y-you’re c-cold.”
Pfft.
Shen Ci couldn’t hold back a laugh, quickly covering her mouth. “Then… how about A-Ci prepares a mushroom feast for you tomorrow as an apology?”
She counted off dishes on her fingers: “Fried mushrooms, stir-fried mushrooms, chicken stewed with mushrooms, rice mixed with mushroom sauce!”
Mo Cheng suddenly turned and leaped toward the Back Mountain. “At dawn tomorrow. If you’re late…”
“A-Ci will go prepare right now!”
Shen Ci gazed at the courtyard full of sprouting saplings, unable to contain her joy. She hopped cheerfully toward the Moon-Glow Tree. “Brother Xiao, come down quickly. Senior Mo has left.”
Xiao Lie leaped down in one bound, then patted his chest in relief.
The young girl stood on tiptoe, her eyes sparkling like stars. “Brother Xiao, could you help A-Ci with something?”
Xiao Lie immediately crouched down, his furry ears brushing her cheek and making her giggle.
“Just say the word, A-Ci!”
“Could you go to the Back Mountain and pick some mushrooms for A-Ci?”
“I’ve already finished what I bought.”
Xiao Lie nodded solemnly. “Alright!”
With that, he transformed into a streak of light and vanished on the spot.
Humming a cheerful tune, Shen Ci smiled to herself. Even though she couldn’t cultivate for now, she was truly happy!
She needed to find time to go down the mountain again—Brother Xiao really ate too much! Before the crops and fruits in the fields grew, she had to stock up on more food.
That way, if her senior brothers and sisters returned someday, there would be hot meals waiting.
Da Hua waddled up to her, clucking softly…
Imagining everyone sitting together for a meal, Shen Ci couldn’t resist picking up the bald chicken at her feet and spinning around. “Da Hua! A-Ci is so happy!”
The bald chicken rolled its eyes: Cluck! (Translation: No ambition.)
At the mountain gate.
Bu Ranchen stood outside, looking up at the plaque. He took a few steps back and scratched his head. “Haven’t taken the wrong path…”
Behind him, a limping little fatty smacked the back of his head impatiently. “Hey, Little Bu, move it! What’re you doing, scratching your head and your butt here?”
Bu Ranchen ignored him, took a few more steps forward, rubbed his eyes, then suddenly leaped back, nearly knocking over Shi Zhouzhou.
“Are you sleepwalking?!” Shi Zhouzhou grumbled as he looked up, following Bu Ranchen’s gaze.
“Hiss—”
Both men gasped sharply at the same time.
The Sect they remembered as gloomy and dilapidated was now so clean they could barely recognize it. The bluestone steps were spotless, the vermilion main gate looked brand new, and even the door knockers and plaque gleamed from thorough polishing.