Before they knew it, the sun had climbed high, its heat drilling through the gaps in the bamboo forest.
Gu An and Zhang Song were combing the feathers of the spirit chickens. This was a daily task.
Colorful-Feather Chickens were naturally active, often messing up their feathers, and also loved cleanliness. If they saw uneven feathers, they would peck them off. If one didn’t comb them, in just a few days, they would be bare and bald in patches.
Just then, a green leaf flew over from afar. Gu An looked at it with envy.
Although this Sky-Traveling Leaf was only a Low Grade magical artifact, flying artifacts were inherently expensive, their price matching that of ordinary Middle Grade magical artifacts.
Apart from the Spirit Boat journey from Blackstone City to the Qingyuan Sect, Gu An had never flown.
Every year around this time, sect cultivators came to collect spirit chickens for Qingyun Tower.
In previous years, Gu An had also seen this Sky-Traveling Leaf magical artifact twice. He figured that this year, Deacon Wang would still be the one to come.
After a moment, the leaf magical artifact flew closer, and a middle-aged cultivator jumped down from it, smiling as he greeted Steward Liu.
“Brother Liu, how have you been lately?”
“Very well indeed. Eat well, drink well, and the days are peaceful.”
Steward Liu shook his head, his expression carefree.
After some pleasantries, they finally got down to business.
“Brother Wang, I wonder how many spirit chickens the sect needs this year?”
“Things have been unsettled lately. Demon beasts keep causing trouble in the northern Cloudmist Mountains, and they’ve already overrun a nearby market. The Sect Master has ordered our Qingyun Tower branches in Cloudsmoke Market and Cloud Lake Market to pull out.”
“The number of spirit chickens needed this year has also decreased. Your Green Bamboo Peak’s Spirit Chicken Farm will provide one hundred and twenty. If that’s not enough, I’ll go to other peaks to collect.”
“That’s fine, Brother Wang. You must stay and have a few drinks with me today. Old Man He from the peak just gave me two jars of Green Bamboo Snake Wine. The taste is absolutely wonderful!”
“Haha, then I won’t refuse.”
Gu An followed behind the two, listening to their conversation, trying to analyze some useful information.
Steward Liu and Deacon Wang had been friends since their younger days. Whenever Wang came to collect the chickens, he made the handover easy instead of giving Liu trouble.
In return, Steward Liu also gave Deacon Wang plenty of perks.
The sect was well aware of this. If the water is too clear, no fish can live, so there was no need to interfere!
Anyway, the sect only provided so much spirit grain and Spirit Bran. If you had the skill to raise more, that was your own ability, as long as the sect’s tasks were completed without error.
Once the sect had received its share, whatever remained was theirs to keep.
Steward Liu led Deacon Wang to his small courtyard. Steward Liu’s residence was right there in the Spirit Chicken Farm’s small courtyard.
It was scarcely larger than the courtyards Gu An and Zhang Song lived in, but it was far more tastefully arranged.
The small courtyard wasn’t large, but it was extremely serene and secluded.
A pool of quiet water reflected the sky’s light, with two spirit fish swishing their tails inside, stirring up half the pool’s cloud shadows.
Beside the pool stood a hexagonal small pavilion, its flying eaves and interlocking brackets like an immortal crane spreading its wings. Inside the pavilion were a small table and four stone stools, truly elegant and tasteful.
Beside the pavilion was a clump of green bamboo, each stalk like green jade, each leaf bringing coolness. When the wind came, it rustled, and the bamboo shadows danced.
“Gu An, Zhang Song, you two go kill two Colorful-Feather Chickens. Gu An, you go to the kitchen to prepare them. Zhang Song, you assist.”
Steward Liu instructed the two.
Gu An’s family ran a restaurant. His parents often took him into the kitchen, intending for him to inherit the family business.
Now he couldn’t inherit the family business, but Gu An had learned some basic skills. After coming to the Qingyuan Sect, unwilling to eat the pig slop from the communal kitchen, he had figured out a few dishes on his own.
Steward Liu had once tasted Gu An’s bamboo-fragrant chicken pieces and praised them endlessly, complimenting Gu An’s talent. He had Gu An make it many times.
And Gu An was happy to do it, because each time he could get a few pieces for himself.
Zhang Song went to cut bamboo, while Gu An went to the chicken coop to catch chickens. After observing for a while, he chose two plump chickens with bright feathers.
“You two it is.”
“Today, this Daoist will send you off to your next lives!”
Two water-blue spiritual Qi threads extended from Gu An’s hand. With a sudden bind, he caught the two plump chickens in his hands.
Seeing that Zhang Song hadn’t arrived yet, Gu An went ahead to kill the chickens himself.
Although Colorful-Feather Chickens were spirit beasts, the adults were only at the first layer of Qi Condensation. Killing one was much the same as killing an ordinary chicken.
He gripped both wings tightly with his left hand, pinched the comb with his right hand and pulled it back, exposing a patch of fine down on the neck. He plucked a tuft of down from the chicken’s neck.
He formed a blade of spiritual qi and drew its blue edge across the chicken’s neck. A thin red line spilled down, falling in scattered drops.
Gu An then cast a Cleaning Spell. All the feathers fell off, revealing the goose-yellow skin underneath.
The chicken stopped struggling and died on the spot.
[One of the Colorful-Feather Chickens you raised has died of natural causes, returning a Spiritual Qi Cluster to you!]
A voice sounded in his mind.
A stream of spiritual Qi simultaneously fell into his dantian.
What is this???
Gu An’s heart shook. He couldn’t even hold the chicken steady, and it slipped from his hands.
But Gu An didn’t care. He was already immersed in ecstasy.
A cheat! He finally had a cheat of his own!
I’ve waited for you for so long!
Gu An was overjoyed. In his previous life, he was just an ordinary university student. In this life, his aptitude and background were also ordinary.
Without a cheat, Foundation Establishment would be a major hurdle, and Golden Core would be an insurmountable chasm.
With a cheat of his own, perhaps he couldn’t call the road ahead completely smooth, but immortality suddenly seemed within easy reach, as though he could attain it without ever leaving his seat among the clouds.
As for conspiracy theories or pride, that was simply a joke. Who would crawl on the ground when they could fly?
What if this cheat was a trap? All he knew was that without it, even Foundation Establishment would be a struggle.
Immortality! Eternal life! Together, they’d make it happen!
Gu An’s thoughts raced. If his new cheat was going to pamper him and carry him all the way to immortality, he was more than happy to let it.
“I should give it a name. I can’t keep calling it my cheat!”
“I’ve got it. Spirit beasts return spiritual power to me, so I’ll call it Spirit Source Feedback!”
But what was this nonsense about dying of natural causes? His cheat seemed to have a mischievous streak.
Although I raised it, I also killed it. It only remembers the kindness and not the grudge, right?
This spirit chicken really knows gratitude!
Oh well. At least he had a cheat. He could forgive it for not knowing what ‘natural causes’ meant!
He could be generous about a little thing like that!
After a long while, Gu An finally calmed his emotions. His breathing slowed down, but his eyes were bright, as if filled with infinite hope.
“What are you doing? The chicken fell on the ground.”
Zhang Song approached carrying bamboo, asking Gu An in a muffled voice.
“Nothing, Brother Song. You kill that chicken. I’ll go wash this one.”
Gu An handed the other, unkilled chicken to Zhang Song and ran out without giving him a chance to speak.
“Why not use the Cleaning Spell?”
Zhang Song was puzzled. He only felt that Gu An was acting foolishly and felt a bit worried.
Gu An didn’t run far. He was afraid that if he got too far away, he wouldn’t receive the spiritual Qi.
Washing the chicken was only an excuse. He wasn’t an idiot; he wanted to find out whether he had to kill a beast himself for his cheat to work.
The voice in his head had already told him it required the chickens he raised. He had also killed quite a few chickens last year, and Gu An had occasionally fed them, but there was no spiritual Qi feedback.
This year’s chickens had been fed by Gu An since they hatched, with only occasional help from Zhang Song and Steward Liu. Yet these chickens gave spiritual Qi.
Perhaps his cheat required him to do most of the feeding, while letting someone else cover a meal or two was fine?
[One of the Colorful-Feather Chickens you raised has died of natural causes, returning a Spiritual Qi Cluster to you!]
The voice sounded in his mind. Another stream of spiritual Qi fell into his dantian.
“Eh, why does this stream of spiritual Qi feel a bit more? Come to think of it, this chicken seemed a bit plumper.”
Gu An stroked his chin, recalling, but his feet didn’t stop.
He might have a cheat now, but his path of cultivation had only just begun. He was still a minor cultivator at the fourth layer of Qi Condensation and couldn’t afford to neglect Steward Liu’s instructions.
Gu An walked into the kitchen. He split the bamboo, drained and washed it, then cut the two chickens into large pieces.
The bamboo tube couldn’t fit a whole chicken, and cutting it into small pieces wasn’t satisfying enough, so Gu An was used to cutting it into large pieces.
He put the chicken pieces into the bamboo tube, sprinkled in bamboo salt. Seeing that Zhang Song had pulled some bamboo shoots, he also cut some bamboo shoots and put them in. He used spiritual Qi to carve a piece of bamboo into a peg and drove it into the joint of the bamboo tube to seal it.
Meanwhile, Zhang Song had dried the bamboo branches over the fire until they yellowed slightly. Burning those branches to roast the tubes would give the chicken an even richer bamboo fragrance.
Gu An placed the bamboo tube over the fire to roast. It made a slight crackling sound. The green skin first oozed some water droplets, then shriveled up, showing scorched yellow patterns.
The flames rose, licking the bottom of the tube, showing a hint of blue.
In the time it takes to burn an incense stick, the bamboo-roasted chicken was ready.
Gu An and Zhang Song each carried a tube to report to Steward Liu.
Steward Liu was in high spirits from the wine. He called the two to sit down and split open the bamboo tube. Gu An took the wine jar and filled the cups for all four.
The fragrance from the bamboo tube mixed with the clear fragrance of the bamboo wine, then was scattered by the mountain wind. Steward Liu and Deacon Wang talked freely, while Gu An and Zhang Song listened quietly.
Amid the clink of cups and the exchange of toasts, the restlessness that had just arisen in Gu An’s heart seemed to be smoothed away by the mountain wind. He felt refreshed and clear-minded.