Chapter 14

Li Shifu, congratulations, congratulations! Xixi's first birthday, happy birthday!

Pure white snowflakes flew about, landing on the black tiles, extremely conspicuous.

The courtyard gate stood wide open, footsteps on the snow rising and falling, congratulatory voices continuous and unending.

One after another, figures came from outside the courtyard, each presenting first-birthday gifts.

They were all familiar faces from the woodcarving shop; Li Che and Zhang Ya wore fine clothes, standing at the door to greet these guests.

In the courtyard, Chunfeng Lou's assistants had already set up the canopy and arranged tables and chairs; the chef, in a corner, had prepared the stove and lit the fire, sending fragrant appetizers to each table early on.

All together, nine tables were set, not few, after all many senior craftsmen in the shop came with their families, just wanting a lively celebration.

Chen Dabao held Xixi, who had changed into a red jacket and skirt, pink-carved and jade-like, extremely cute, as he showed her off to several old-timers, his face piled with smiles, that affection rich to the point of overflowing.

The uncle's family also arrived; the elderly scholar held a smoking pipe but didn't light it, accompanied by a young couple holding a baby still in swaddling, a boy, chubby-cheeked, eyes wide with curiosity looking around.

Uncle, aunt, cousin, cousin-in-law, please come inside!

Li Che saw this family, the corners of his lips curling into a gentle smile.

Toward his uncle's family, Li Che felt grateful; if not for their adoption and raising him, he could not have lived so easily in this troubled world.

Moreover, his marriage to Zhang Ya was also arranged with the help of his uncle's wife.

The elderly scholar's wrinkled face broke into a smile as he looked at Li Che, now fully transformed into a proper person, feeling moved.

You've made it, you've made it, A Che.

Your parents in the afterlife will surely be pleased.

The elderly scholar patted Li Che's shoulder, his smile full.

His aunt then took out silver ornaments wrapped in red cloth and handed them to Li Che: "A Che, this is Xixi's first-birthday gift; you must accept it."

Li Che did not decline, accepting it solemnly, then turned his gaze to his cousin Li Zhengran and his cousin's wife Liu Chunming, who held a boy in her arms.

"Zhouzhou is about half a year younger than Xixi, right? He'll soon be one too—can he roll over now?" Li Che asked with a smile.

"Very agile—just a kick with his little legs and he flips over like a windmill, lively and strong!" Cousin's wife Liu Chunming said with a smile to Li Che.

Being able to become a woodcarving master at Xu Ji Mu diao Pu, Cousin's wife Liu Chunming well understood the weight of it, so her attitude became much more enthusiastic than before.

After exchanging pleasantries for a while, Li Che led his uncle's family to their seats.

When the time came, the banquet began; Chunfeng Lou's assistants shouted out dish names as they served one delicious course after another onto the banquet table.

Li Che now possesses the 【Immortal Craft】 Dao fruit; the woodcarvings he creates, rich in conception, are highly sought after—though not on par with old masters like Chen Lao, he has even sold a piece weighing fifty taels at most!

His finances are now far different from before; though Chunfeng Lou's banquet is pricey, he can afford it.

Moreover, the senior craftsmen from the big courtyard bring gifts when they attend the feast; actually, after a first-birthday banquet, he not only breaks even but even gains quite a bit.

Che Ger, the third manager has arrived!

Li Che, who was in the midst of exchanging cups with several senior craftsmen, upon hearing that the third manager had arrived, hurriedly carried Xixi and brought Zhang Ya along to go greet him.

"Hahaha, I came especially to see Xixi's first birthday; this is her first-birthday gift."

The third manager, Xu You, is mild-mannered and highly regarded in the shop; of course, he may also have come with the intention of winning over Li Che.

After all, Li Che can produce woodcarvings of extraordinary spirit, and they have become highly sought after in the inner city.

"Thank you, manager; Xixi, come thank your Uncle Xu." Li Che held the pink-carved, jade-like Xixi and shouted with a smile.

Xixi's eyes were lively, her lashes long, her skin white as jade; Xu You glanced at her and took a liking, taking her from Li Che's arms to play with for a while, even somewhat reluctant to give her back.

"I won't stay for this first-birthday feast; I have other matters. Recently the Guiyi Miao in the outer city has been restless, many Xiejwu have emerged, and the great clans of the inner city have organized teams to exterminate them… I too must go."

Xu You explained in a sentence.

He then bade farewell and left.

"Manager Xu really is a good person…" Zhang Ya whispered from the side.

Li Che nodded; Xu You is indeed a good person, mild-mannered, not pretentious, rarely showing the arrogance and extravagance of noble clans.

However, Li Che had heard that in the inner city, Xu You is not favored, having been demoted to oversee Xu Ji in the outer city, effectively removed from the Xu family's center of power.

Compared to the inner city's enterprises, the Xu Ji woodcarving shop in the outer city is ultimately not a major business.

"In this world, the more mild-mannered one is, the more easily one suffers; misdeeds… are nothing but a beating handed to honest people."

Chen Lao held his wine cup, walked over, and shook his head with a somewhat complex expression.

"Just like this dangerous venture of going out of the city to exterminate the Xiejwei that have emerged from the Guiyi Miao, which of the great noble clans would send their true core descendants?"

"Xu Beihu's cultivation is profoundly strong, yet he was never sent; instead they sent the weakly cultivated Xu You—isn't it because Xu You is not favored in the clan?"

Chen Lao sighed.

Li Che held Xixi, gazing at Xu You's solitary figure disappearing into the wind and snow, also silent.

……

……

After a round of toasting.

Chen Lao was in exceptionally high spirits today, drank himself into a stupor, and fell asleep early.

Zhang Ya, meanwhile, took Xixi to the inner room to lull her to sleep.

Li Che wiped a handful of cold snow on his face, sobered up, then sat in the workshop of the side courtyard of the wing room, lit an oil lamp, and continued crafting mechanisms.

With a stir of his mind, information surfaced before his eyes.

……

【Name: Li Che】

【Bond: Daughter (Li Nuanxi)】

【Dao Fruit: Immortal Craft (lv2, 89%), Dragon Elephant Prajna (lv1, 2%)】

……

His gaze fell upon the 【Immortal Craft】 Dao fruit; over the past year, its maturity had risen to 89%, drawing near the breakthrough to level three, yet it was still swift.

Just need to finish crafting one more mechanism.

He stood up, walked to a corner of the workshop, lightly turned the wooden carving, and instantly a hidden compartment popped out.

From it he took out a Guanyin statue seated upon a blood-red lotus mountain.

The Guanyin had kind eyebrows and kind eyes; upon close inspection, one could see that this light-and-shadow statue was actually piled together from tens of thousands of slender wooden spikes!

This is precisely one of the three mechanisms in the Tangji Jianji Yaowu that has no requirement for inner strength, the Guanyin Blood Lotus.

Besides the Guanyin Blood Lotus, there were two square matchboxes nearby; taking out one, he placed it palm-up, and instantly a faint mechanism sound came from within, and eight slender spider legs sprouted, embedding into Li Che's palm skin.

Li Che lightly waved his hand, and instantly an incredibly fine silver thread shot out soundlessly, slicing a piece of wood several meters away with immaculate smoothness, the cut surface shining brilliantly.

As his fingers flicked, the silver threads throughout the room danced wildly, a mournful wind howling—this was the sound of air being cut and ruptured.

After a long while, countless silver threads, as fast as lightning, returned to the matchbox.

"What a Thousand Silk Spider! With my Mo Xiao Xiaocheng cultivation level controlling it, even an ordinary martial artist who has just opened his meridians would find it hard to resist the spider-silk strangling."

"But martial artists, upon reaching the meridian-opening realm, will cultivate inner strength; if one adds inner strength, as Chen Lao said, power will increase by another thirty or forty percent, and with inner strength combined with inner-strength martial techniques, killing power becomes even greater……"

"One must not be careless."

"Still, the focus should be on enhancing one's own martial prowess; once I can cultivate inner strength and drive the Thousand Silk Spider with it, its might will surely be greater!"

Li Che placed the Thousand Silk Spider and the Guanyin Blood Lotus, the two mechanisms, back into the hidden compartment.

He sat down again before the oil lamp and began attempting to craft the other mechanisms described in the Tangji Jianji Yaowu.

Because he lacked inner strength and sufficiently vigorous qi and blood, his attempts to craft the other mechanisms during this period all ended in failure.

However, it's no big deal; failure is also summarizing experience, and once he cultivates inner strength, he will be able to complete them in one go.

Suddenly.

Li Che, who had just picked up the carving knife, frowned slightly.

He stepped out of the workshop, a few paces brought him to the courtyard gate, his gaze sweeping into the distance, where he saw a black shadow, as fast as lightning, smash through the darkness and vanish into the night.

Li Che's eyes instantly sharpened, and he slowly lowered his gaze.

He then saw a familiar……

A three-headed, six-armed Spirit Infant statue.

However, this time the three-headed, six-armed Spirit Infant statue was not like before, with its eyes opening and closing; instead, it glared angrily with both eyes open.

As if it were staring him down fiercely!