Chapter 374: Yunyou

South of Tongxiancheng, on the mountain road outside Shangtaicheng, a carriage moved slowly along.

Mo Hua, thirteen years old, sat inside this carriage.

Besides Mo Hua, there were Mr. Zhuang, Old Gui, his senior brother Bai Zisheng, and his senior sister Bai Zi Xi.

Xue Yi had not been permitted by Mr. Zhuang, so she did not accompany them.

This carriage belonged to the Bai family.

Externally plain, it was unusually sturdy; inside, it was not luxurious but comfortable and spacious enough to hold five or six people.

Since Mo Hua and the other two were still young and took up little space, the interior felt even more roomy.

But they could only sit cross-legged, not lie down.

Old Gui drove from the front, Mr. Zhuang sipped tea inside, and Mo Hua and the other two leaned over a small desk, completing Mr. Zhuang's assignments.

These assignments focused mainly on arrays, with some cultivation secrets mixed in.

The pine nuts were meant for Old Gui, who disliked the sound of cracking them—eating rice was fine, but cracking pine nuts was not.

As noon approached, Old Gui stopped the carriage to rest.

Bai Zi Xi finished eating with loud gulps, shook her head, "Still not as good as Aunt Liu's."

I've only ever eaten pork, but I've seen pigs run.

Not long ago, Bai Zi Xi had eaten Mo Hua's cooking and nearly cried from emotion, especially compared to her own.

It's lucky we don't have a little white horse pulling the carriage, or the journey would've been even harder.

One was used for steaming, one for dry-frying, one for boiling, and another for steaming pastries.

Mo Hua was spoiling her—he snorted and said:

Cao Yidong rubbed his chin, "Logically, culinary skill should be hereditary—his mother cooked so well, he ought to be decent too."

Bai Zisheng disliked the name, feeling it lacked grandeur and was not imposing.

The array beneath the stove was drawn by Mo Hua, but the spirit stones used to build it were paid for by Bai Zi Xi, not Mo Hua.

After a few days, it turned out messy and unrefined.

Mo Hua said, "If you have a problem, draw it yourself."

"Big brother, you built that stove, but who drew the array for you?"

Mo Hua found the original name too awkward, so he renamed the horse "Da Bai."

Mo Hua had never seen a cultivator who could fly.

So Mo Hua actually drew the array right before her eyes.

But those were things Mo Hua refused to eat.

The eight of them slept under the open sky inside.

At night, they would not reach Xiancheng, a large town, or any mountain hermit temple or major sect—they had to camp in the mountains.

Mo Hua sighed and had to cook for them again.

Even after Mo Hua paid the spirit stones and left the artifact workshop with the stove, I still hadn't snapped out of my daze…

Bai Zi Xi admitted honestly, "I'm hungry…"

Along the way, what we ate was mostly Fasting Pills.

Mo Hua blinked, "How did you even know that…"

Unlike what he had imagined, yunyou was not about floating ethereally and wandering the seven directions—it was about eating in the wind and sleeping under the dew, laboring tirelessly.

Flight should be a capability only of Jin Dan cultivators, or even lower.

After drawing the blueprints and designing the array, when they passed through a major Xiancheng, Mo Hua stayed for several days, spent extra spirit stones, and hired an artifact craftsman to forge the stove.

Only when he was sick of the Fasting Pills would he eat them, or when he missed home, he'd take one bite.

The blanket was also from the Bai family, but Mo Hua had redrawn the array on it.

Bai Zi Xi declared boldly, "Fine, I'll do it!"

Qi Refinement cultivators cannot fly or wander ten thousand miles—they must walk on foot.

Tongxiancheng's expression was unreadable, but it didn't look very promising.

Occasionally, after walking long distances, they would stop to rest.

Out of politeness, they took one bite and could eat no more.

Bai Zisheng also stared at him.

Cao Yidong took a bite and nodded slightly.

Too bad Jin Dan was still far off—I haven't even reached Foundation Establishment yet.

He drew seven arrays, one for each stove opening.

Bai Zisheng couldn't eat it—he thought for a moment and looked toward Mo Hua.

Finally, he came up with a solution: build a separate stove.

Da Bai was picky—whatever Mo Hua fed it, it ate.

At mealtime, Mo Hua cooked.

After the stove was built, Mo Hua tried using it for seven purposes at once.

Moreover, after Bai Zisheng left Mr. Zhuang, though his complexion had improved slightly, his aura still felt off.

This beef was demon meat—cheap, but took long to stew, used many spices, and was very spicy.

Soft, chewy, sweet…

Behind lay villages, ahead lay inns.

Seeing everyone's hopeful eyes, Mo Hua could only grit his teeth and nod.

"The things you eat now… are those?"

Thus, the carriage swayed gently along, and before they knew it, another half-month had passed.

Bai Zisheng offered an encouraging word.

It was probably because the provinces I was in were all seventh-rank provinces, where the lowest cultivation level was Foundation Establishment.

According to Bai Zisheng, though the horse looked ordinary and its fur wasn't especially white, its bloodline was unique, and it had a very flashy name—something like Yun, something like Long, something like Ji…

Cao Yidong also sighed:

But the meat that came out was dry and tough, didn't absorb flavor, was hard to chew, and still had a fishy stench.

Mo Hua could handle that kind of hardship.

All eight of them froze, then turned to look at Kui Lao.

Fish used spirit beasts; they couldn't be steamed clean, nor could they be steamed soft.

Xiancheng, curious, tried kneading a ball of dough too, but it didn't cook—soft and limp, like a lump of white mud…

Besides, I've eaten a lot of meat and seen Mo Hua's cooking process; such a simple thing, given my comprehension, shouldn't be hard.

It had already been over half a month since I left.

Previously, when I was with Bai Zi Xi and Xiancheng, we shared one blanket and slept on the ground.

If we tried flying into a seventh-rank province, we'd likely activate our cultivation the moment we rose into the sky—and be instantly obliterated by heavenly lightning, truly "ascending to heaven"…

Flying through the heavens…

After camping, Mo Hua planted stone arrays around them and set up a warning formation to guard against spirit beasts or bandits.

Mo Hua also hoped Bai Zisheng could rest well.

It could keep warmth, allow airflow, felt cozy, didn't suffocate, and was comfortable to sleep under.

Bai Zi Xi took a bite, and his whole face wrinkled up.

Though not exactly delicious, among the short-statured generals, Mo Hua's meals were undoubtedly the best—so cooking naturally fell to Mo Hua, the senior junior brother.

Bai Zi Xi frowned in distress.

But the horse seemed to love it; whenever Mo Hua called it "Little White," it would nuzzle its head affectionately against Mo Hua.

Each of the eight wrapped themselves in a blanket, like eight giant caterpillars, sleeping peacefully under the moonlight.

Mo Hua gradually grew accustomed to the wandering lifestyle.

Before departure, Liu Ruhua had prepared many dried meats, stored them in her storage pouch, and made sure I took them along.

She made a dish of steamed fish.

She cooked a pot of beef.

This horse also belonged to the Bai family, and was a spirit beast—gentle in nature, unafraid even when encountering spirit beasts.

But thinking of what to eat at noon, Mo Hua lost his enthusiasm again.

Xiancheng devoured the snacks in big bites, his eyes sparkling.

Mo Hua fed Little White, turned back, and gazed at the layered mountains, the distant sky and long road—he was already far from Mr. Liu, and couldn't help sighing softly.

Bai Zisheng couldn't help wondering whether teaching Mo Hua formations had hindered his culinary development…

The two could only stare helplessly at Mo Hua.

Aside from the Fasting Pills, Mo Hua had nothing else to eat.

Bai Zi Xi still finished every last bite, then sighed regretfully: "Still not as good as Aunt Liu."

"Are they thinking of making something to eat themselves?"

Later, Mo Hua recalled his mother's cooking methods and tried making a meat stew.

Xiancheng tasted it and nodded vigorously.

Not just Bai Zi Xi and Xiancheng—even Bai Zisheng and Kui Lao were deeply shocked.

Bai Zisheng was their master; respecting the master was only natural.

On the seventh day at noon, Kui Lao brought out a pot of meat, and we understood.

Night fell, the mountain moon cool and clear.

Kui Lao said calmly: "I don't mind, as long as you don't mind."

Bai Zi Xi and Xiancheng's eyes lit up, and they both turned to look at Mo Hua.

Mo Hua scratched his head in frustration.

After crafting it, the alchemist frowned and asked:

So Bai Zi Xi tried cooking a pot of meat himself.

Just the appearance was already off-putting…

Mo Hua grew even fonder of Little White, so whenever they stopped to rest, he'd think of ways to find food for it, extending his spiritual sense to gather grass everywhere and feed it to Little White.

"He made this himself?"

Normally, it should've been Kui Lao doing the cooking.

But since this was wandering, there was no need to be so particular.

The carriage naturally went to Cao Yidong.

Bai Zisheng frowned, then suddenly said:

"So he ate it all clean?"

The alchemist was deeply shocked.

During the day, we traveled, and in the carriage, we learned formations from Cao Yidong.

Mo Hua would hop off the carriage and gather grass from nearby hills to feed the horse.

It's hard to adjust from luxury to simplicity; having grown used to spicy beef, eating nothing but Fasting Pills every day was truly unbearable.

Mo Hua silently thought to himself, filled with longing—wouldn't there come a day when he cultivated a Jin Dan and could fly through the heavens and vanish into the earth?

Old Gui gave me a skeptical look. "His tastes have grown picky now—it has nothing to do with you. If it's not that flavor, you can eat it if you want."

Mo Hua felt a pang of nostalgia.

Bi Gu Dan are convenient and can satisfy a cultivator's hunger, but eating them long-term grows tedious, and they don't nourish the blood and qi.

Mo Hua sighed.

Perhaps he truly inherited Liu Ruhua's culinary talent—Mo Hua learned cooking, but slowly and poorly.

So at that lunch, everyone ate Bi Gu Dan again.

Even Old Gui was watching me.

As I thought about it, my stomach grew hungry.

But it's hard to please everyone—there were still plenty of problems.

They steamed a pot of cakes.

They stir-fried a pot of pine nuts.

Mo Hua and Bai Zi Xi exchanged a glance with Tong Xiancheng—they understood what we were getting at.

That was made by Mother's own hands—I wandered far from home, and returning felt like coming back; eating one more piece meant one more piece, and when it was gone, there was nothing left…

Bai Zisheng had strong blood and qi and wanted something light; Old Gui wanted something crisp, chewed without sound; Bai Zi Xi wanted something spicy, preferably meat; Tong Xiancheng wanted something sweet, preferably cakes…

Thank you to the readers Yigao Yan Zuzu and for the tips~

One more chapter before twelve.