Chapter 16: Two Little Cultivator Babies!

Meng Baixu tore apart his steamed bun as he ate, watching the bun stall below.

A government runner came to find Situ Nanchun and said something to him. Situ Nanchun nodded. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he looked up and saw half of Meng Baixu’s face exposed. His tone turned admiring.

“Da-shixiong wakes up so early.”

Meng Baixu said, “Same to you.”

Situ Nanchun said, “Do you want to come down and eat buns? This master’s skill is no worse than the one outside the city gate yesterday.”

Meng Baixu stretched lazily. “No, I’ll sleep a little longer.”

Afraid that he would really fall asleep, Situ Nanchun said, “The government runner just told me that a landslide happened west of Yongzhou, blocking the official road. It would be best for us to detour north. The route will become longer, so Da-shixiong should pack up and prepare to set off.”

Meng Baixu glanced at the bun seller and replied, “All right.”

A potbellied middle-aged man stood in front of the bun stall and threw down a piece of silver.

“Three jin of meat buns. Here, no need for change. The rest is your tip.”

Meng Baixu’s gaze flashed. Who was this old bastard trying to fool with fake silver?

He snapped off the window latch and threw it down fast, accurately, and ruthlessly. With a dong, it pinned the middle-aged man’s wrist.

The middle-aged man screamed. “Who! Who dares hurt this great master!”

“It was me.”

Meng Baixu looked down from above. “Using silver-plated stone to buy buns. Even beating you to death wouldn’t be unjust.”

The middle-aged man only felt guilty for a moment before continuing to shout arrogantly, “Do you know who the city lord is to me?!”

Situ Nanchun had just gone in, but immediately came back out. “Oh? Who is the city lord to you?”

The middle-aged man merely had someone in his family working beside the city lord. When he saw Situ Nanchun’s clothes, he hurriedly glanced at the inn’s name again.

It was actually Lingshan Inn!

That damned vendor had actually set up his stall in front of the Hengxue Sect’s door. No one usually set up stalls here, so he had been careless and forgotten to look at the occasion. The people of the Hengxue Sect were the most righteous. Today, he could only consider himself unlucky.

“Immortal, forgive me. It was my fault. I’ll leave right away.”

The middle-aged man had just tried to slip away when his feet slid, and he fell flat to the ground again.

“You think you can leave after apologizing?”

Meng Baixu flipped down from the window, grabbed the man by the back of his collar, and lifted him up. “Shidi, send him to the authorities.”

Why were there always people making trouble for a bun seller?

Situ Nanchun accepted the order and sent the man to the authorities. He told Meng Baixu to wait until he returned, then they would set off. He also told him not to go back to sleep.

Meng Baixu replied with an “all right.”

Why was Situ Nanchun a little naggy?

“Thank you, gongzi, for helping me. Please accept this small token of my gratitude.”

Wen Tingshu stopped Meng Baixu, holding two wrapped, steaming-hot buns.

Meng Baixu pursed his lips. If he accepted these buns, wouldn’t that mean this sect leader was doing a good deed?

“I can’t take your things.”

Wen Tingshu: “…”

What should he do when his disciple was too kindhearted and upright? Then what use did his puppet have?

Meng Baixu turned and left. Behind him came two urgent cries of “Da-shixiong.” Why did it sound a little like Shen Luoyan’s voice?

He turned around. Sure enough, it was.

“Da-shixiong, Da-shixiong! It’s great that you haven’t left yet.”

Shen Luoyan took out a letter from his robes. “This is a letter from the Sect Master. It was sent overnight.”

An urgent letter from Shizun?

Meng Baixu snatched it over. Could Wen Tingshu have encountered some accident on Hengxue Mountain?

He opened it and froze.

In the letter, Wen Tingshu only instructed him to eat properly, to eat hot food and not cold food. The dry rations inside his qiankun pouch were for emergencies, not for three meals a day. Usually, he should follow Situ Nanchun and eat proper meals. Shifu had already given Situ Nanchun enough food expenses.

At the end of the letter, he also listed a “must-eat list,” requiring Meng Baixu to eat fish thirty times, chicken and duck thirty times, and so on during his three months of training.

This old thing really managed quite a lot.

Shen Luoyan looked at Meng Baixu’s furrowed brows and carefully asked, “Da-shixiong, is it something important?”

Meng Baixu pressed down the corners of his mouth and said, “Shizun assigned me some tasks.”

Shen Luoyan said, “Da-shixiong has worked hard.”

“Shidi is the one who worked hard.”

Meng Baixu took out two gold leaves from his pocket and stuffed them into Shen Luoyan’s hand. “Thank you for running this errand.”

“No, no, no. The Sect Master already gave me a mental cultivation method,” Shen Luoyan refused.

Meng Baixu said, “He is him, and I am me. Keep it. I still need you to help bring a letter back. Go inside and drink some water while you wait for me.”

“Gongzi, two buns aren’t worth much. Please accept them.”

The letter Wen Tingshu wrote last night had finally arrived this morning.

Fortunately, on the second day after his disciple left, he had discovered that Meng Baixu was not eating properly. He could still write a letter to advise him. If Meng Baixu went farther, it would be impossible to catch up.

Meng Baixu looked at the letter, then at the buns. In a good mood, he accepted them and ate while running upstairs to write a reply.

“Shen-shidi, help me pay.”

Upstairs, Meng Baixu bit the end of the brush and racked his brains to reply.

“I ordered storybooks for you, one book a month, to be delivered to Lingshan Inn.”

After the storybooks arrived, if any cultivators passed through the inn on their way back to the Hengxue Sect, they would bring the books along, hand them to Zhongli Yun, and then pass them to Wen Tingshu.

What else should he write?

Meng Baixu propped his chin with one hand and touched his belly with the other. He could feel that the fetus in his belly was absorbing spiritual power very quickly. It was an unexpectedly strong little demon. For now, only his spiritual power was draining. In the future, when it was Shizun’s turn…

Meng Baixu kindly reminded Wen Tingshu once more to obediently stay in seclusion on Hengxue Mountain. He was already old, so he should not participate in any disputes.

Downstairs, Shen Luoyan had just helped Meng Baixu pay when he saw the bun seller preparing to close his stall and leave.

“You still have so much left. You’re not selling anymore?”

Wen Tingshu asked, “Do you want to eat?”

Shen Luoyan said, “I mean, you can continue setting up your stall here.”

Wen Tingshu said, “I have to go to the next place.”

This puppet’s mission had already been completed. He needed to change to another one and wait for Meng Baixu at the next place.

His disciple was very clever. If he kept appearing in front of him, he would easily be discovered.

Wen Tingshu did not want Meng Baixu to know the puppet’s ordinary, plain, powerless appearance, surrounded by dark malice.

A Shizun should be self-controlled and powerful, as lofty as a mountain, and omnipotent.

When Situ Nanchun returned from reporting the man to the authorities and set off with Meng Baixu, the entrance of the inn was already empty.

Situ Nanchun felt something was wrong. He had come to this inn many times. Since when were stalls allowed at the entrance?

The team continued forward. Situ Nanchun discovered that even when they stopped at extremely remote places, there would always be decent cooks.

Meng Baixu traveled absentmindedly. Only on the third day did he realize they had taken a detour. According to their current route to Mingyue Mountain, they would likely run into another one of the Fuguang Sect’s secret realms.

There were no secret realms above the mortal realm, nor any spiritual qi. But three months ago, Meng Baixu had secretly carried out a huge project.

He wanted to connect several secret realms, like a rainbow at the edge of the sky, stretching across the air above Yongzhou City. Both ends would stand in the cultivation world, continuously sending spiritual qi toward the center.

In this way, cultivators could cross between the two cultivation realms through the secret realms, instead of bitterly passing through Yongzhou City.

Li Hengnian’s death made Meng Baixu hate the powerless feeling of being restrained in the mortal realm.

Even though cultivators’ bodies were several times stronger than mortals’, humans were naturally able to use tools to defeat stronger enemies.

They could use fire attacks. They could shoot arrows. They could make Li Hengnian die without even leaving a corpse behind.

During these three months, the members of the Fuguang Sect had all been sent by him to do hard labor. Huffing and puffing, they had dragged over several of the most suitable secret realms. They now floated above the northwest corner of Yongzhou City, waiting for the sect leader’s return so he could personally connect the secret realms end to end.

Before Meng Baixu went to the Hengxue Sect, he had gathered the sect members to discuss this matter. The Great Elder had never heard that something like this could be done and was afraid it would be like drawing water with a bamboo basket, ending with nothing. Moreover, connecting secret realms would make it easier to be exposed before the righteous path.

Meng Baixu asked the Great Elder to calculate how much toll money they could collect in a year if the “cultivation corridor” was built. The Great Elder immediately changed sides.

“At most, we only lose a few large secret realms. Sect Leader is wise and mighty. If you want to do it, then do it.”

This was also why Meng Baixu had been in a hurry to get pregnant and had no time to keep wasting away with Wen Tingshu.

The secret realms were already in place. Hanging there, they would constantly lose spiritual power. Each extra day brought another measure of risk that they would be discovered.

If these secret realms were run into by Situ Nanchun’s team, a major battle would be unavoidable.

Meng Baixu sat on horseback, his little face solemn.

Xie Jing urged his horse forward and glanced at Meng Baixu’s expression. “You eat quite a lot every day. Why do you look like you’ve become weaker?”

Meng Baixu glanced at him.

You try getting pregnant and see.

Xie Jing said cheaply, “Are you unused to the soil and water anywhere outside Hengxue Mountain?”

Hengxue Mountain was full of spiritual qi, and there was also the Sect Master’s care. Meng Baixu enjoyed blessings every day. His eldest aunt was always saying that Xie Jing had been raised delicately, and Xie Jing was somewhat unconvinced.

Look. Meng Baixu was the real delicate flower.

Meng Baixu said, “A dog’s mouth can’t spit out ivory.”

Xie Jing said, “There’s another relay station ahead. Why don’t you tell Situ-shixiong you’re not feeling well and ask us to rest for a while?”

Meng Baixu said, “Heh. I think you just want to eat the donkey meat huoshao up ahead.”

Xie Jing swallowed.

That was right. He was craving it.

The air was filled with the rich fragrance of stewed donkey meat. That steaming hot pot—scooping out a spoonful and stuffing it into flatbread, then taking a bite… the taste was beyond imagination.

Before leaving the mountain, no one had told him the mortal world had so much delicious food. Even an unremarkable roadside stall was a delicacy!

Compared with this, the Hengxue Sect’s dining hall, which claimed to be number one under heaven, was inferior!

Xie Jing asked, “Are you resting or not?”

Meng Baixu also wanted to eat, but he insisted on opposing him. “No.”

Xie Jing huffed. Unable to resist the temptation, he went to Situ Nanchun himself and said his stomach hurt and he needed to dismount and rest for a while.

Although they had only rested an hour ago, Situ Nanchun would satisfy such a small request. After all, the Sect Master had instructed that the journey must not be too tiring.

“Thank you, shixiong.”

Xie Jing raised his arm and called out, “My treat! Everyone, come eat donkey meat huoshao.”

Meng Baixu followed the flow. Mm, then this sect leader would eat one too.

Meng Baixu sat at a table with several cultivators. Xie Jing squeezed in, looked at the huoshao in his own hand, then looked at Meng Baixu’s, and bit hard into the flatbread.

Good-looking people really did gain advantages everywhere. Every time, Meng Baixu’s portion had the most meat.

Yet it still made him weak from eating.

Meng Baixu was actually not that weak, but Xie Jing kept paying attention to him, and Meng Baixu had not glared at him the way he used to.

Since Meng Baixu no longer glared at him, he must be weak.

Meng Baixu bit into the flatbread and thought that Wen Tingshu must have traveled the world when he was young and known what delicious foods he would encounter on this journey. That was why he instructed him in the letter that he must eat them.

When he gave birth to the little cub, he would also bring the little cub here to eat—

Wait.

There was movement in his dantian. Had the little demon’s yuan core formed?

Counting the time, it was about right.

Meng Baixu still had a mouthful of huoshao in his mouth, cheeks puffed up. He impatiently held his breath and used his own yuan core to sense the other yuan cores around him.

One faint, tiny yuan core quietly hid inside his belly.

Mm!

One tiny little cultivator baby!

Meng Baixu was so excited that he clenched his fist. Seeing Xie Jing eating happily, he even wanted to punch him.

Meng Baixu curved his eyes and sensed again.

Wait. It seemed there was not only one.

…Two little yuan cores nestled beside each other.

Two little cultivator babies!

Meng Baixu was stunned, because the Fuguang Sect had never had twins before.

Wen Tingshu, that old thing, really had some skill!

He had asked for too few steamed buns. He should have made Wen Tingshu make two hundred and seventy steamed buns!

Wen Tingshu watched Meng Baixu from the corner of his eye. That mouthful of meat had stayed in his mouth for so long. Was it too tough to swallow?

It was his first time making huoshao. His skill was still not good enough.

Never mind Xie Jing being able to see that Meng Baixu was “weak.” As his Shifu, who spent every day with him, how could Wen Tingshu not see it?

There was no heaven and earth spiritual qi in the mortal realm for cultivators to absorb. Cultivators could stay in the mortal realm for at most three months. Otherwise, spiritual qi would overflow from their bodies, and their cultivation would regress.

Was Meng Baixu’s yuan core unstable and starting to be affected?

If he had known earlier, he would not have let Meng Baixu come out for training.