Chapter 81

Catching insects in the herb garden, Wei Yuning naturally couldn't keep them all to himself; depending on each day's harvest, he would leave one or two insects for Hongle.

To Hongle, these were all extra gains, and he didn't mind how many he got.

Besides, the relationship between the two had long since shed the constraints of seniority; it was now entirely one of equal partners.

If Hongle wasn't there, he would have Qingyun pass it on.

After the previous incident, Wei Yuning no longer harbored his initial hostility toward Qingyun, nor did he deliberately avoid him like before.

Of course, their relationship wasn't particularly close either—just a normal relationship between fellow disciples.

Hongle was indeed not there, which was the usual state of affairs.

Despite having long been part of the sect's management, Hongle still loved manual labor; he had a private plot of about ten acres, and all the farming was handled entirely by his own hands.

In a side room of the Pill Room's office hall, Wei Yuning found Qingyun.

Judging purely by appearance, Qingyun was the model immortal sect disciple—outstanding bearing, upright and imposing, exuding the air of an expert.

He was speaking in low voices with three menial disciples; seeing Wei Yuning suddenly enter, he immediately stopped the conversation.

The three menials looked a bit flustered upon seeing Wei Yuning and said in unison, "Greetings, Uncle Qingmo!"

The several menials were all unfamiliar faces, possibly newcomers or from another room; otherwise, Wei Yuning would certainly have recognized them.

"You may go first, remember what I said!" Qingyun waved off the three menials.

Once the menials had left, Wei Yuning took out a jade vial containing a single Moon Centipede. Since Hongle wasn't there, he saw no need to occasionally put on a show of generosity, and decided to get by with just one insect today.

"Junior Brother Qingmo, the Moon Centipede is called 'Ten-Mile Fragrance' outside the sect. Not only the fellow Daoists on Bixi Island, but even friends in the Extreme Heaven Sea have long heard of its renown, and in the mortal world it has been hyped to astronomical prices. I think the selling price of this thing could be raised a little more!" Qingyun accepted the item and said half-jokingly.

"Senior Brother Qingyun, that's not quite right. No matter how delicious something is, it's still just food. If the price is too high and affects fellow Daoists' cultivation, I'm afraid they'd rather endure the craving than buy this thing. Besides, the current price is already not low!" Wei Yuning responded with a smile as well.

Seeing that Qingmo was neither humble nor arrogant toward him, Qingyun not only didn't get angry, but instead revealed a look of appreciation, saying, "Junior Brother has not only outstanding aptitude but is also a hand at business—very well-suited to serve in the External Affairs Hall of Guest Arrival Peak, just like Uncle Hongzhi!"

Qingyun seemed to particularly enjoy promoting newcomers; back then, he had even proposed introducing Wei Yuning to the Pill Refining Room, and Wei Yuning had refused him then as well.

However, this manner of his was very popular among new disciples; although Qingyun handled matters in a plain and low-key way, his reputation had always been good—he was a textbook model of a good senior brother.

Unfortunately, Wei Yuning had long seen through his true face and was completely unmoved by his routine.

"I offered my heart to the bright moon, but the bright moon shone on the ditch." If Qingyun knew this poem, he would surely paste it onto Wei Yuning's face.

"I'm too lazy and not good at socializing; I can't do the greeting-and-farewelling business. But you, Senior Brother Qingyun, with your wide circle of acquaintances, are very well-suited for that!" Wei Yuning launched a small counterattack.

Since he had no desire to curry favor with Qingyun anyway, his words were naturally much more direct.

"Junior Brother jests. I have always been interested only in cultivation. My greatest goal is to reach the Great Dao and achieve immortality; all other vain reputations can be discarded, and I certainly have no thought of taking up a sect position," Qingyun said.

Wei Yuning thought to himself: "I don't believe a ghost of that. If you don't want to hold a position, then why have you always been the head of the herb garden menials? Isn't that self-contradictory?"

"What's more, you're a demonic cultivator. When it comes to tribulation success rates, demonic cultivators don't even reach one percent of orthodox cultivators. The orthodox path is clearly the broad highway, yet you insist on choosing demonic cultivation. I don't think you want immortality at all—you're just courting your own death!"

These words, of course, Wei Yuning couldn't say out loud. But given his death-seeking personality, continuing to humor Qingyun was rather uncomfortable; otherwise, sooner or later, he'd let his true thoughts slip out.

Wei Yuning fell silent for a moment, then cupped his hands and said, "Then I wish Senior Brother an early attainment of the Great Dao. I still have matters to attend to, so I'll take my leave!"

"Many thanks for Junior Brother's auspicious words. Farewell!" Qingyun likewise cupped his hands in a salute.

Wei Yuning left the office hall, let out a long breath, and thought: "Talking with Qingyun, this demonic cultivator, is too exhausting. I should deal with him less in the future!"

Little did he know, in the side room inside, Qingyun was likewise breathing a sigh of relief. Conversing face-to-face with a body cultivator put considerable pressure on him as well.

Leaving Pill Peak, Wei Yuning first went to Spirit Beast Peak and released six of the nine Moon Centipedes near the Floating Petal Grass in the Hundred Flower Garden, then brought the remaining three insects to the Wind Lotus Residence on Guest Arrival Peak.

Ever since Qiu Gu and Ye Ying left, this place had gradually become Wei Yuning's crafting workshop.

Cultivation was dull and tedious. Apart from the daily required tempering of spiritual Qi within the body, during their other time, most cultivators would choose to learn a new technique or do some sect missions to earn money—and if they could simultaneously improve their combat power, so much the better.

Wei Yuning had no interest in improving his combat power; he devoted more of his spare time to making money and entertainment.

Sometimes, Wei Yuning would also reflect on the crises facing himself and the sect—Thorn Demon, Immortal Palace, Immortal City—each and every one a ruthless character.

Only, a peaceful life could wear down one's will, and he soon forgot everything. Besides, these major matters were not things he could worry about anyway.

He still missed life on Earth. In his mind, the things that best represented the daily life of Earth, apart from good food, were entertainment.

The essence of good food lay in the seasonings. Since arriving in this world, Wei Yuning had subconsciously collected many things corresponding to Earth's ingredients—scallions, ginger, garlic, chili peppers, Sichuan peppercorns, star anise, fragrant fruits, and so on and so forth—he had found corresponding similar items for all of them. Beyond these, he had even discovered many seasonings unique to the spirit beast world.

After all, this world was simply too vast, its species so rich and diverse as to be dazzling.

The culinary industry in this world was underdeveloped. On one hand, this was because the living conditions of ordinary mortals were not good; apart from the extremely small fraction of the population comprising great nobles, great merchants, prominent families, imperial clans, and imperial officials—people with money and leisure—the vast majority were struggling for survival and had not yet formed a widespread demand for fine food.

On the other hand, the cultivators, who represented another segment of humanity, though they had plenty of time, would not waste it on fine food, because the Great Dao was their pursuit.

Thus, although everyone loved good food, those truly willing to spend time researching it were exceedingly few.

And as for the intelligent beast races of this world, even less needed to be said—as long as they didn't eat raw flesh, they could already be considered civilized.

Besides collecting various cooking seasonings, Wei Yuning also liked tinkering with image-recording stones.

Apart from avian message delivery, this was another item in the cultivation world that possessed a strong sense of technology.