I Want to Eat Fish

Carrying the first-grade Foundation Establishment spiritual item, the Yellow Flower Fruit, Qi Yuan returned to Seven Colors Peak. Before long, he was back in his courtyard. His junior sister, Jiang Lingsu, was cultivating, seemingly at a critical juncture. Qi Yuan glanced toward her thatched cottage, where white mist billowed; her cultivation had indeed reached an important moment. Skirting around her hut, Qi Yuan headed up the mountain slope. Before he had walked very far, a barrier materialized before him. It was a restriction placed by his master, Ruan Yixi, preventing Qi Yuan from ascending the peak. "Open Sesame!" Qi Yuan called out tentatively. Unfortunately, the restriction remained completely motionless. "Could it be that I misunderstood Master's intentions?" Qi Yuan fretted inwardly. His master had seized a first-grade Foundation Establishment spiritual item on his behalf—did her feelings even need to be questioned? Could it be... that he had been too subtle? Seeing no movement, Qi Yuan raised the Yellow Flower Fruit high in his hands. "Master, your disciple Qi Yuan has brought the betrothal gift!" The restriction did not budge. Qi Yuan looked up, only to see the clouds in the sky converge at that very moment, as though a peerless ferocious beast lurked within! A bitter, icy gale swept past, stinging Qi Yuan's face. Only after a good while did these strange phenomena disperse. A look of perplexity crossed Qi Yuan's face. "Could it be that I really misunderstood Master's intentions? "No, the symbolism of the Yellow Flower Fruit must be bad. Yellow flower, yellow flower—withered blooms of yesterday! "Or maybe, is it possible she's already my wife, so why would I still need to present a betrothal gift?" At this thought, Qi Yuan grew excited again. After all, with his own eyes, he had clearly seen: [Her name is Ruan Yixi. On the surface, she is your beautiful master, but in reality, she might be your wife.] He had seen it with his own eyes, so how could it be false? As everyone knew, the eyes never lie, and things seen with the naked eye couldn't be Photoshopped. Of course, if Homelander heard Qi Yuan's reasoning, he might well call him a hopeless simp like Feiyangyang. Qi Yuan set the Yellow Flower Fruit down and prepared to head back to his thatched cottage. Just then, Jiang Lingsu stepped out of her hut, a suspicious look on her face. "Eldest Senior Brother, did you sense something strange just now?" While cultivating, she had suddenly felt the seasons of heaven and earth shift. It seemed as though the emotional turbulence of a powerhouse had stirred the spiritual energy. "It was probably Master," Qi Yuan said without hiding it. "Master?" Jiang Lingsu thought that sounded reasonable. She looked at Qi Yuan, convinced that this bizarre senior brother of hers must have somehow offended their master again. If it was Master, then such an occurrence was only to be expected. Jiang Lingsu's gaze fell upon the box in Qi Yuan's hand. Her dainty nose twitched. "A first-grade Foundation Establishment spiritual item, the Yellow Flower Fruit? Eldest Senior Brother, hey, not bad at all." She looked at Qi Yuan with utter astonishment. In her eyes, while her eldest senior brother certainly possessed talent, his combat prowess was likely lacking. After all, what opportunity would someone obsessed with a game have to hone their practical combat abilities? Qi Yuan also looked at Jiang Lingsu in confusion. "Your surname isn't Zhou, is it?" "???" Jiang Lingsu was baffled. Her senior brother's train of thought was always bafflingly strange. "You know, the one living in Charlotte's shadow," Qi Yuan said, racking his memory. Jiang Lingsu was at a loss for words. She felt that her eldest senior brother had definitely played too many games and could no longer tell virtual reality from the real world. "Eldest Senior Brother, are you going to take your cleaver for a walk again in a bit?" Jiang Lingsu changed the subject, having no desire to engage in his nonsensical chatter. "Not today." "Huh? Don't you go every day?" "Today, I'm sharpening the knife!" "What for?" "I want to eat fish." "Eldest Senior Brother... I don't know why, but whenever you speak, it always sends a chill down my spine." *** At the Divine Light Sect, Zheng Jianghe's complexion was rather pale; evidently, his injuries from last time had not yet fully healed. The physician from Divine Medicine Peak said in a soft voice, "Your injuries haven't completely healed. Are you still going?" Zheng Jianghe replied with a somber face, "As an on-duty disciple of the Golden Light Hall, I must go. Otherwise, if something like that happens in Rong City again, how could I have the face to go on living in this world!" "Alas, your temperament is simply too unyielding." The physician sighed in pity as he applied the freshly prepared medicinal liquid to Zheng Jianghe's body. Zheng Jianghe had only just broken through to Foundation Establishment. He had yet to cultivate any secret healing techniques and was not skilled in Wood or Water elemental Dao methods, making his recovery exceedingly slow. "Today, the Black Mountain Sect caused trouble, showing just how arrogant they've become! According to the elders on the peak, Old Demon Black Chicken may have already stepped into the late-stage Divine Infant realm. That Chu Tianxiong will likely be even more insufferable. In choosing to spend the night in Rong City, they must surely harbor sinister intentions!" The physician worried for Zheng Jianghe. "If I go, they will certainly hesitate to act recklessly out of fear. Could it be that they would actually dare to kill me?" Zheng Jianghe said, an intense killing intent welling up in his eyes. "Every last person in the Black Mountain Sect deserves to die!" He knew all too well what a wicked, heinous den the Black Mountain Sect was. It was fair to say that not a single disciple in their sect was a decent person; all of them were demonic cultivators whose hands were dripping with blood. A few years ago, an Origin Core elder from the Black Mountain Sect had refined a Soul-Summoning Banner, stripping and refining the souls of an entire town of living beings. Afterward, that Origin Core elder had shamelessly claimed that, seeing how the townsfolk lived in idle slackness, he had merely found them some work to do. Those monsters had long since lost every shred of their humanity. The physician understood Zheng Jianghe's conviction, but still couldn't resist cautioning, "They may not dare to kill you, but they can still maim you. Be careful this time." *** Rong City. A spacious courtyard residence stood devoid of any human presence. Tattered red paper-cuttings still clung to windows riddled with holes. In the courtyard pond, several fish swished their tails, seemingly waiting for someone to feed them. Faint bloodstains lingered on the moss-covered marble paving. Chu Tianxiong stepped into the courtyard and laughed heartily. "Elder, let us stay here tonight." Patriarch Baiji surveyed the courtyard with a pleased smile. "Tianxiong, you truly know how to handle things. Staying here will definitely disgust those sanctimonious, hypocritical righteous sorts." Nearby, other disciples of the Black Mountain Sect stepped forward and asked, "Deacon Tianxiong, is there something special about this place? Why would staying here make the Divine Light Sect feel sick to their stomachs?" Hearing this, Chu Tianxiong burst into uproarious laughter. "That is because half a month ago, the man of this house took a bride. And that bride he wed was truly a beauty—three-tenths more gorgeous than even my master's wife!" At these words, the eyes of the gathered Black Mountain Sect disciples shone with greed. "Three-tenths more gorgeous than Master's wife? Deacon Tianxiong, you were blessed with good fortune!" "Right in front of her husband, just as I was about to... who could have thought the woman was fierce enough to slam her head against a pillar and kill herself? Look, it was that pillar right over there. I spent half an incense stick of time killing everyone here, and afterward, I slept for the night with my arms around her corpse." "Deacon Tianxiong, how did the corpse taste?" "Humph." Chu Tianxiong gave a cold snort. "Do you all take me for some vulgar fiend obsessed with lust and slaughter? If you see me that way, you underestimate me far too much. I snatched a newlywed bride and slaughtered her entire family not for some crude mortal desire, but to cultivate a Dao method! If a man is controlled by mere base desires, he is not worthy of walking the path of cultivation!" Hearing this, the other disciples of the Black Mountain Sect wore looks of sheer admiration. "Well said, Deacon Tianxiong!" "The Dao method reigns supreme!"