When Xiao Ran went back to the Sword-Wielding Mountain, it was already afternoon.
His master had yet to return from buying wine in the imperial capital and, judging by her character, Xiao Ran would not be surprised if she had stopped along the way for a song, to gamble a bit, or flirt with someone in the palace.
The sun was shining bright on the peak of the Sword-Wielding Mountain, but it was not hot.
If one looked at the mountains in Zongzhi from the cliff, the scenic wonder looked like a wonderful Chinese ink painting. As he looked at the Sword-Wielding Mountain beneath him, however, Xiao Ran found the bald mountain as ugly as a child’s scrawny scribbles.
His master kept rejecting this and that person for their looks, but the place where she meditated, slept, and peed was the ugliest. Were her eyes impaired from drinking too much fake wine?
He then made up his mind to give the Sword-Wielding Mountain a thorough makeover. He was going to beautify it, make it look better than the Hundred Herb Hill, and turn it into the best mountain where one could stay among the Zongzhi Mountains.
Thanks to his great harvest that day, Xiao Ran started making wine first. He took out two stone pots, one for the crushed black yeast mushrooms so that he could culture them into natural yeast and another for the malt, hops, and starch from the crushed grains.
One hour later, yeast was fermented in the first pot and malt juice was squeezed through a cheesecloth in the second pot.
After mixing the contents of both pots and filtering them with diatomite, he semi-sealed them with bamboo pieces and buried them into the warm underground, where a spiritual vein passed, to begin the fermentation.
From the beginning of the fermentation, he went straight ahead into the carbonation phase. When the malt juice bubbled violently, a bubbling sound could be heard and an alcoholic aroma wafted as well.
If the spiritual energy and warmth were sufficient and stable, they could be lucky enough to drink malt rice wine before the end of the day.
After he prepped the ingredients, the fermentation was the only process he had to anticipate.
Then, Xiao Ran planned to develop a few barren plots.
The top of the Sword-Wielding Mountain could accommodate four to five football fields. The disciple house and broken sword area were slightly higher, while the rest of the place was flat.
After surveying the peak, Xiao Ran made a perfect plan.
In the south, where the disciple house was facing, the geography was the flattest and the area was the widest, taking up about one-third of the mountain peak. A sea of flowers, a medicine farm, and a grain farm were lined up for execution.
Once the doors opened, a vast, fruitful, extensive grain field and blankets of clouds would merge into a painting.
Hence, the south would become a plantation area!
In the east, where the ridge with the rocks and the lonely pine tree sat, was where his master usually drank. There was a cool underground water point there too, and Xiao Ran could dig up a pool and channel the soil to create a brook that would flow through the rocks and form a small waterfall.
The rocks and pine tree would create a picturesque image. Other than that, they could rear or catch fish in the pool. A pavilion could be built on the side with a chess table for their leisure time.
Shaded by the pine tree, the maple trees, and the cherry blossoms, the area would become a quiet and meditative space.
The east would thus be a leisure spot!
The west cliff was where the wastewater would go. It could be utilized again when a vegetable farm and orchard were built, and some spiritual animals would be reared there.
Therefore, the west would be a fruit and vegetable area!
The north area was slightly higher, so tall bamboos could be planted to create a backyard hill.
Bonsai and plants that did not need too much sunlight could be planted in the bamboo forest to attract small animals like rabbits and squirrels. Xiao Ran could indulge in some meat occasionally.
The edge of the north area was steep and faced the Hundred Herb Hill, where Yinyue Zhenren stayed. It was also where the warm water flowed underground, so a hot spring pool could be dug.
Showered by the sun and pillowed by the clouds, mist drifted in the air slowly. After a day of hard work, it would be heavenly to come to the hot spring and relax at night…
The north area would be a perfect health and wellness section!
His plan was ready.
Xiao Ran checked his storage. Tools, seeds, trees, seedlings, fertilizers, and everything else were in stock and ready to use.
It was too bad that he was still a mortal. The project was too heavy work-wise, and there was no way it could be completed in a day. He needed at least a week.
It was now evening, and the warm-colored canopy of cotton colored half of the west sky.
Upon reaching the west side, Xiao Ran decided that the vegetable garden was the most urgent. He had to start with it because he had to eat and his master had to drink daily.
Common vegetables and yeast mushrooms had to be planted and cultivated as soon as possible.
After retrieving a shovel, Xiao Ran began to loosen the earth outlined by the setting sun.
A short moment later, he suddenly heard the soft, icy voice of a female come from behind him.
“Cricket Hill’s Jiang Chuyan would like to see Elder Lingzhou.”
Jiang Chuyan?
Xiao Ran was startled.
The young girl who had been rejected by his master for being too talented?
Goodness!
The disciple challenge would start tomorrow, but she was here to pick a fight today?
If the entire encounter with Chen Gongxing was a coincidence, Jiang Chuyan was being proactive by coming. How would Ye Fan surprise him then?
Xiao Ran felt nothing but a headache. He continued doing his chores and answered without even looking, “Master’s gone out. Please head back.”
The soft voice behind him unexpectedly became excited.
“I’m just in time then—I’m here for you!”
He was not getting away from her, huh? Xiao Ran turned and leaned against his shovel. The setting sun blocked her, so he could not see the girl’s face. He could barely make out a petite figure. She was about 1.5 meters tall, and her thin legs were bare in the air and looked straight and long.
Was she a child?
Xiao Ran felt patronizing.
“You’re looking for me? Greet your Junior Uncle first.”
The girl’s voice was soft and had a grainy texture, but her tone was cold.
“You killed my Xiao Hong, yet you want me to call you Junior Uncle?”
Xiao Ran was confused.
“Is Xiao Hong the red-spotted tiger?”
Her soft, icy voice quivered.
“You’re the one who killed it, aren’t you?”
Good gracious! What a coincidence!
If it were not for the barely contained rage in her tone and her figure and voice, which did not make it seem like she was very smart, Xiao Ran would have thought that she was trapping him by using the tiger as bait.
“Was I supposed to not kill it and serve it respectfully when it wanted me dead?” Xiao Ran said directly.
“You…”
The girl was speechless. Her red-spotted tiger was dead, but she had to seize this opportunity and stay on the Sword-Wielding Mountain no matter what it took. She kept a straight face and retorted irrationally, “You have your reasoning, and I have my own stance. Since you’ve killed Xiao Hong, I can’t let you get away with it.”
While facing the blood-red sun, Xiao Ran smiled.
“How are you going to do that?”
For a moment, the spiritual pressure of a Golden Core realm covered the Sword-Wielding Mountain slowly. The girl’s face was solemn as she used an icy tone.
“Since you’re a senior, I will allow you to make the first move. Unsheathe your crude, filthy long sword. This is the last time you own it in this life!”
Huh?
Why did those words sound off when they came out of her mouth?
Xiao Ran’s initial plan had been to limit the other party’s cultivation base and compete only on swordsmanship at the disciple challenge for a fair battle based on talent level.
Now, Jiang Chuyan had come to the mountain with the excuse of her red-spotted tiger being butchered while his master was not around. The girl could totally fight with him first and report it later.
Even if she dared not hurt him, she could defeat him easily with her Golden Core cultivation base and humiliate him verbally before spreading the word, thus wounding his pride and rendering him unable to ever set foot on Zongzhi Mountain.
Xiao Ran was being forced into a corner!
Without saying anything, Xiao Ran held his shovel like a sword and began bluffing.
“Young lady, do you want to become a Sword-Wielder?”
The girl was a hopeless romantic, but her mind was sharp. She was not deceived at all. He was bluffing because he could not fight with her. Did he think she was dumb?
“The Sword-Wielding Elder has always been merciless when it comes to pulling out. As long as I break your sword, the Elder will abandon you cruelly. Then, will anyone else in the sect be more suitable than me to become her Direct Disciple?”
She was merciless when it came to pulling out?
Her odd vocabulary was mounting up!
Xiao Ran looked calm and indifferent as he said, “Do you know why Master rejected you?”
“Bias. Because I’m a girl.”
Chuyan was shaking in anger as she answered. She was covered in cold sweat despite the fall weather, and her hands and feet felt frozen. She almost teared up.
Xiao Ran shook his head.
“No. Because you can’t read Master’s mind.”
The girl rubbed her eyes in case she actually cried.
“What do you mean?”
Xiao Ran remained nonchalant, although the girl was now hooked.
“I’ll give you an example. Your red-spotted tiger’s flesh is fresh and juicy. It can nourish one’s dantian and complexion and is incredibly nutritious for a woman. Besides, Master likes drinking. Have you heard of making wine with a tiger’s genitals? If I had a red-spotted tiger, I’d have slaughtered it long ago to serve it to Master. There’s no way I’d keep until it grew to this size.”
The girl was stunned, yet she nearly believed Xiao Ran.
“It was a tigress. There was nothing to make wine with!”
This was awkward… Xiao Ran regretted not checking the tiger first.
“That’s not important. What matters is filial devotion.”
Without sparing any time for the girl to think, Xiao Ran began shooting his mouth off.
“Master cares not about talent or beauty, but about a devoted heart. Look what I did. The first day I came to this mountain, I built Master a house and prepared a warm bath for her at night. Early in the morning on the second day, I gave Master a massage so good that she emitted spiritual energy. When I saw that Master was out of wine, I ran around in search of ingredients to start fermenting malt wine. If things go as planned, the brewing will be completed tonight. Next, I will plant, farm, dig up hot springs, and renovate the barren Sword-Wielding Mountain into the prettiest place in Zongzhi… Do you understand? What Master wants isn’t a child prodigy who doesn’t know how to live life but a devoted disciple who can help her in her daily life. Think about it. Are you as good as me?”
Xiao Ran’s words hurt, but he made sense and each syllable he uttered was true.
The girl scanned the mountain unconsciously.
She did not know anything about the art of construction, but the house had been built with standards and the positioning of the eight foundation bases hinted at the Dao, thus making more sense than the best house in the imperial capital.
The fermentation underground was happening at a bewildering speed as well, and his plowing abilities were only evident in Junior Uncle Chen Gongxing’s grain field…
Chuyan suddenly recalled what Outer Sect Trainer Lin Yunzi had said: Such a man should only exist in heaven. He was a rare sight on earth!
Was it true?
He was only a mortal, so how had he reached such a level? Was this someone else’s work?
She could not be sure if Xiao Ran had done all this, but there was a test that could expose him on the spot.
“You said that you gave Elder a massage so good that she emitted spiritual energy?”
Gotcha! The girl did not look as childish as her figure implied she was, nor as naïve as her soft timbre sounded. Xiao Ran squinted and looked up at the small figure shadowed by the setting sun before speaking up slowly. “You want to try it too?”