Chapter 380: Mountain God

On an exquisite porcelain plate, divided into four sections, were neatly arranged slices of chicken leg, chicken gizzard, pork ribs, and pig head meat. Besides choosing chicken legs for the braised chicken, the most symmetrical sections of the ribs were chosen, and the pig head meat was chosen from the part with the most even distribution of fat and lean. Little Shimei was responsible for the cutting, either cutting them into uniform sizes or thin and neat slices.

The four types of braised meat were neatly arranged, with even gaps between them, and a braised egg in the middle. Just looking at it, one could feel the effort put into it.

It wasn't just today that it was like this.

In fact, it was like this every time.

Broadly speaking, the Mountain God is the deity of Mount Yishan, and their nine shixiong and shidi, including their master and the generations of Fuqiu Temple, are all inhabitants of the mountain, relying on his protection to live in peace.

On a smaller scale, he is a guest.

Saving good things for guests to eat is the hospitality passed down from generation to generation on this land.

The method of oil-braising, although it consumes oil and is more troublesome, has the advantage of a richer fragrance and better taste. And it had just come out of the pot, still steaming, making the fragrance even more enticing.

"Respectfully offered to the Mountain God..."

Lin Jue inserted the incense sticks, bowed respectfully, and then said:

"Mountain God, this junior has one more matter to ask:

"This junior is practicing the technique of carving beans into soldiers. Now, fortunately, a Long Bo giant is willing to help, and I need to carve a body for it. The spiritual gold for the armor and weapons has already been prepared by this junior, but it is too huge. I need to find a piece of top-tier spiritual wood that is two chi taller than a person and more than two chi wide to carry its body and heroic spirit. Such spiritual wood is really hard to find. Helplessly, I have to ask the Mountain God where I can find it..."

"Whoosh..."

A clear breeze blew from the mountains, and the incense sticks burned out rapidly.

The green smoke first flew into the sky, then rolled back down, drilling into the earth of Mount Yishan. The clear breeze also didn't speak, just rolled up the offerings and flew away, flying toward the depths of the great mountain.

The world became quiet.

"Many thanks to the Mountain God..."

Although Lin Jue didn't receive any revelation, since the Mountain God had already accepted the offerings, he would naturally inform him.

Putting his mind at ease, he turned his head and saw the three little Daoist boys at the kitchen door staring at him. Even though the two slightly older ones had seen it many times, they still felt this scene was very miraculous, and their clear, dark eyes flashed with surprise and longing.

Lin Jue returned to the kitchen and smiled lightly.

"I'll show you a trick!"

He picked up the kitchen knife, looked at the ingredients on the stove, and said to Little Shimei:

"Shimei, you must remember this well."

Little Shimei faced a formidable enemy and nodded solemnly.

In the dead of winter, transportation was inconvenient, and ingredients on and off the mountain were very limited. The richness and freedom were destined to be restricted, but living in the mountain village, there were also ways of eating in the mountain village.

There was no shortage of mountain delicacies in the mountains; wild chickens and rabbits were plentiful, and fish could be beaten with sticks from the Jin-Yu Creek.

During the New Year, people off the mountain slaughtered New Year pigs, and the market excitement would last until noon. The shixiong had only gone down the mountain to buy them early in the morning.

This land had never lacked wise people. No matter how hard life was, the people would find ways to add color to it. In the dead of winter, there weren't many vegetables, so they planted whatever would grow, and used various methods to preserve the vegetables that grew in spring, summer, and autumn, leaving them for the winter and for future generations.

So Lin Jue asked Eldest Third Shixiong to dig for young ginger, using the newly emerged young ginger to cook the wild rabbits from the mountain, and took some spiritual plants from the mountain from Second Third Shixiong, adding the dried fragrant mushrooms he bought to stew the wild chickens from the mountain.

He asked Seventh Third Shixiong to choose pork belly and cut it into strips, first frying a small plate of pepper-numbing crispy meat. People in the kitchen, whether they were human or not—even the fine dog lying at the door—had to be fed a strip. As for those Daoists who were bored and making tea by the fire in the courtyard, they had to wait until the table was set.

And it wasn't known if there would be any left when the table was set.

Dried bamboo shoots with salted meat, braised small mixed fish, dried plum vegetables used to make steamed pork, and steamed wax pork ribs could be served. Although they were in the mountains, they tried their best to make it sumptuous.

But it was hard for Little Shimei; she couldn't remember it at all.

A clanging sound, the room full of smoke and fire.

"Ready! Serve the dishes!"

These four words were like a relief to her. She immediately put down the paper and pen in her hand and began to serve the dishes.

Fuyao and Caili were sitting in front of the stove, looking at each other, very puzzled as to why they were only eating now, as they were already almost full.

Looking at the three little Daoist boys, they seemed to be the same.

The only difference was that they were sitting in front of the stove to keep warm, doing nothing, while the three little Daoist boys were diligently learning, and at this time, they were diligently serving the dishes.

Dish after dish was served on the table, steaming hot.

Added with the rice wine from off the mountain and pine needle honey water, with a table of Daoists surrounding it, the taste of New Year was immediately there.

"Ah~~"

The fox and Caili yawned lazily and walked over.

"Finally eating!"

"Hard work, Shidi!"

"The snow is heavy off the mountain; let me put a fire seal under the plate so the food doesn't get cold."

"..."

That's right, Daoists know Daoist magic, and compared to people off the mountain, they have an extra bit of magic and freedom.

At this time, although it hadn't snowed in the mountains, the courtyard was very cold, and the pine branches were covered with a layer of white snow. Facing the silver-clad snow scene of Mount Yishan, ordinary people would find it very difficult to eat in such a place, and even if they came to eat, the food would get cold after just a few chopsticks.

Cultivators, however, didn't worry about these things.

"Eh?" Fourth Third Shixiong said, "Why are Fuyao and Little Hua, and the cats in the temple, all listless?"

"Eh?" Seventh Third Shixiong was also surprised, "Why use such a big plate to hold these few pieces of fried meat?"

"They are full from eating in the kitchen."

Lin Jue answered two questions with one sentence.

He then walked to the side, uncovered the steamer, and the heat mixed with the fragrance of rice rushed toward his face. He scooped half a basin of rice with a large basin, and scooped a few spoonfuls of fish soup from the pickled vegetable fish, stirring it quickly a few times, and it became a basin of rice soaked in soup, rich in oil, fish fragrance, and fish meat. "Don't worry about them; I'll scoop a bowl of fish soup soaked rice for each of them, and they'll be about done after eating!"

Fuyao's bowl, Caili's bowl, a pile of cat bowls, a dog bowl, and the Cloud Leopard's stone basin were lined up in a row. Lin Jue bent over, distributing the rice one by one.

This New Year's Eve, he was the busiest.

"You two, why don't you transform quickly? Look at Ji Yin, Ji Yang, and Little Lingxiao; they know how to help when cooking, but you two can't even grow hands."

Lin Jue said while distributing the rice.

The fox and the cat looked at each other.

"Speaking of which, two days ago when I went to Xianyuan Temple, I heard that Daoist Wangji Zi had recruited a few more little disciples. When will Ji Yin and Ji Yang start cultivating?" Little Shimei asked.

"After spring begins," Eldest Third Shixiong replied, "I've already agreed with Daoist Wangji Zi that after spring begins, the disciples of Xianyuan Temple will come here to listen to our scriptures and teachings."

"Eldest Third Shixiong is going to teach!"

"No other way."

(No content lost!)

"Eldest Third Shixiong has become Daoist Wangji Zi!"

"What nonsense..."

"It's you few; you've been down the mountain for a few years. Do you have any plans to find a disciple to pass on your mantle?"

"By the way, Third Shixiong, when will Dahei in the temple have babies? My Red Leaf Temple now has chickens, ducks, geese, pigs, sheep, and cats; all that's missing is a dog!"

"..."

Everyone chatted while eating heartily.

The few little Daoist boys were used to hard times; using the braised soup to soak rice made them extremely satisfied. Little Shimei imitated Third Shixiong's way of feeding cats and dogs, using fish soup to soak rice. Some shixiong used large bowls to hold rice, scooping braised mixed fish, dried bamboo shoots with salted meat, wax pork ribs, and steamed pork with dried plum vegetables into the bowl, mixing them together and eating in large mouthfuls.

Everyone had their own way of eating, and they chatted very casually.

The sky darkened, and their stomachs were full.

At this time, it was none of Lin Jue's business.

Lin Jue only felt warm all over and sleepy, so he sat in the courtyard with Little Shimei, letting the shixiong clean up the bowls and chopsticks, and busy themselves washing dishes in the kitchen.

Lin Jue said the capital must be very lively tonight; Little Shimei said Yixian was also very lively; the shixiong who finished washing the dishes behind them walked over and said that the mountains were not necessarily inferior to off the mountain.

A dim yellow light illuminated the ancient pine and the courtyard.

The Cloud Leopard on the pine branch had eyes like glaze, reflecting the figures of the Daoists in the courtyard.

Someone waved their sleeve, dancing out a fierce fire like a dragon, spinning and flying in the air, making the courtyard flicker and warm up a lot; someone rubbed grass into fireflies, dancing endlessly in the courtyard, shining brightly; someone used wheat ears and withered grass to turn into butterflies, filling the courtyard. Even though it was full and sleepy, it couldn't help but raise its claws to catch them.

There were also Daoists who waved their sleeves to create fireworks, exploding in the sky.

At this time, there was not the slightest worry in everyone's hearts.

The Cloud Leopard lowered its head and saw the three little Daoist boys looking up, their eyes filled with even more wonder than its own.

In the middle of the night, Lin Jue was sitting in his room cultivating when he suddenly heard a rumbling sound from the back mountain, like thunder.

Lin Jue went out to take a look and saw something falling from the sky.

"Boom!"

The floor of the Daoist temple was smashed and warped.

Looking closely, it was a piece of spiritual wood.

Lin Jue couldn't help but freeze for a moment.

Originally, he asked the Mountain God, wanting the Mountain God to help point out a direction and location so he could go find it.

He had thought it might be easy to get, after all, the Mount Yishan Mountain God was indeed generous, and his offerings and worship to him were not lacking. And spiritual wood, for cultivators like them, was precious, but for existences like the Mount Yishan Mountain God, it was very worthless.

He had thought the Mountain God would entrust him with a dream to tell him, or send a messenger to take him to find it, but he didn't expect the Mountain God to send it to him directly.

This piece of spiritual wood was about one zhang long and about three chi wide, covered in mud. He didn't know from which deep mountain pit it was dug out, but its spiritual aura was dense, even surrounding it, and it was also clearly extraordinary.

Reaching out to touch it, it was harder than iron.

"Floating Iron Wood..."

With such dense spiritual aura, it must have had ten thousand years of age!

This was originally a top-tier spiritual wood only inferior to Dan Fruit Wood and Longevity Wood, and such things were not constant. Ordinary pear trees become demons after a thousand years, becoming Pear Demon Ancestors, which can also be compared to Dan Fruit Wood. And if this ten-thousand-year-old Floating Iron Wood became a demon, it would probably be a Great Demon or even a Demon King. At this moment, in terms of spiritual aura, it was even stronger than the Dan Fruit Wood Lin Jue had seen.

Lin Jue was shocked and hurriedly bowed to the night.

"Many thanks to the Mountain God."

The lights in the guest rooms of the Daoist temple lit up one by one. The Daoists didn't know why, so they came out to check.

Lin Jue persuaded them to go back one by one.

Spending the New Year with his shixiong, he was already happy in his heart. Now that he had obtained this piece of spiritual wood, it was like a stone falling to the ground, and his mood was even better.

This was like a New Year's gift from the Mountain God.

It was also a reward for years of courtesy.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 381 =====