Chapter 500

"What is this?"

The young girl held a bowl of dark green dessert that looked like jade. Seeing it drizzled with honey and sprinkled with dried osmanthus flowers, a few peach blossom petals, and garnished with sesame seeds, diced fruit, and raisins, it looked extraordinary at first glance.

"They say it's called Immortal Tofu," said the boy a few years younger than her beside her. "The True Lord just sent it down and told us all to have a taste. It's delicious."

"Immortal Tofu..."

The hand holding the bowl swayed slightly, and she saw the dark green jade in the bowl had been cut into neat little cubes. With a gentle shake, it actually wobbled just like tofu.

Looking around, there were already quite a few empty bowls set aside.

It seemed everyone had a share.

"Guests came today, from the heavens. They stepped on five-colored clouds; they are immortals," the boy said. "We must have basked in the immortals' glory."

"Oh..."

The young girl scooped up a spoonful and put it into her mouth.

The honey, newly brewed this year, was collected from the flowers that had just bloomed in the mountains. Before she could even taste the sweetness on the tip of her tongue, she first caught the faint, ethereal fragrance of flowers in the honey, and then the sweetness blossomed.

The honey water combined with the tartness of the raisins formed the flavor upon first entering her mouth. Then, savoring it, she could taste the faint fragrance of green leaves and a slight, negligible bitterness. The Immortal Tofu, which melted in the mouth, and the chewy raisins, which were completely the opposite, created a rich sense of layering.

The young girl only felt it was delicious, absolutely delicious.

"So immortals eat this!"

"It's not called Immortal Tofu because immortals eat it. Senior Sister Fuyao said that when the common people at the foot of the mountain couldn't afford to eat, an immortal told them that this kind of leaf could be used to make tofu, that it could be eaten—it's the leaves from that small tree growing over there. Some people survived by relying on this, so they called it Immortal Tofu."

"Just that kind?"

The young girl pointed in surprise to the side.

"Yes! Just that kind!"

"Do the people here know?"

"I don't know," Xu Yi replied. "I'm from here, and I've never heard of it."

"Then I'll tell the people at the foot of the mountain tomorrow!" the young girl said immediately.

"Are you going down the mountain again tomorrow?"

"Not tomorrow. I'm going down the mountain in a little while," the young girl said. "When I come back, I'll ask Senior Sister Fuyao how to make it."

"Are you going out to fight yaoguai too?" Xu Yi was very interested.

"Yes! I haven't collected enough roof tiles yet..."

"Is fighting yaoguai dangerous?"

"I think it's dangerous, but the Celestial Soldiers and Generals given by the True Lord are very powerful; they can kill a yaoguai in one blow!"

"That powerful?"

"Yes! Very powerful!" The young girl couldn't help but beam with excitement. "I heard from Wan Hufa that the True Lord still has many such divine soldiers!"

"Then are you afraid?"

"I'm a little afraid too... but not that afraid..."

"You're really brave."

"I am brave!"

"Is Wan Hufa going with you today?"

"He's not going with me."

The young girl suddenly became a little nervous: "The True Lord gave me a talisman and said that if I burn or tear it, a little ghost will appear. It will tell me its name is Chen Niu, and I'll tell it where I want to go, and it will show me the way. It can find all the villages nearby."

"You're going alone?"

"Yaoguai are causing trouble in many places at the foot of the mountain, and Wan Hufa has to go to other places too. The other protectors are the same," the young girl said. "None of the protectors have had time to fix the houses lately."

"I see..."

Xu Yi glanced at the unfinished hanging-style building on the cliff: "The protectors can all fly and move fast, so they must be going to far-off places."

"You're really smart," the young girl said. "That's exactly it. But the True Lord was afraid I wouldn't move fast enough, so he also gave me a paper donkey. If I recite a spell, it can turn into a donkey, and I can ride it."

"Wow..."

Xu Yi looked at this girl who was a few years older than him. With a youth's temperament, he couldn't help but feel a bit of envy.

The divine soldiers and donkeys that could be summoned by reciting a spell, the little ghost that could be seen by burning a talisman—weren't these all the immortal arts from legends? Plus, being worshipped and thanked by the common people like a high immortal, which youth who came to seek the Dao wouldn't yearn for this?

But he also knew that he was still young and hadn't grown up yet; he was only as tall as an adult's armpit, so he couldn't go out to eliminate yaoguai.

Fortunately, making a living by chopping wood had taught him patience.

He could only settle his heart and earnestly plant trees.

Hoping to become an apprentice soon, and to grow up soon.

At this moment, just hearing Pu Mei talk about her yaoguai-eliminating affairs was enough to make him yearn for it and have a good dream at night.

After finishing the Immortal Tofu, Pu Mei quickly summoned the paper donkey, tore the talisman, let the little ghost lead the way, and went down the mountain.

The boy also continued to plant flowers and trees.

Only a six-tailed white fox in the shadows thought this was bad—

Today, it had eaten six full bowls of that Immortal Tofu. Every time the Daoist made it, it had watched from the side, but it didn't take the process into its own head. If asked how to make it, it could only vaguely recall the general idea; as for the specific process, it knew absolutely nothing.

No! Must go back and ask the Daoist first!

Otherwise, when that girl asked, and it acted as stupid as Xiao Hua, wouldn't it be a waste of them calling it "Senior Sister Fuyao"?

The white fox flashed through the mountains.

When it found Lin Jue, it saw Lin Jue standing in the air, facing the cliff beside the pavilion, directly in front of a stone crevice on the cliff, holding a fruit pit and pondering.

After carefully examining it for a moment, Lin Jue placed the fruit pit into the cliff crevice.

This was the pit of an original Dan fruit.

Such a fruit pit, if scattered in the mountains, would take root and sprout when it reached a place with sufficient spiritual energy and encountered a rainstorm. If nourished by the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and the essence of the sun and moon, or carefully tended and catalyzed by someone with intent, what would grow would be the Dan fruit, which was regarded as a treasure by the yaoguai in the mountains. However, no matter what, the yaoguai and Daoists in the world could not cultivate the original Dan fruit, and once the fruit was picked and the pit taken, it would never grow a third time.

But Lin Jue had already attained the Dao and become a True Immortal; if he used immortal energy to nourish it, he could grow the original Dan fruit.

Such a spiritual plant and immortal tree, although it did not have the ability of the Yishan pine to take root in stone crevices, did not need ordinary soil either; what it needed was the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, the essence of the sun and moon, and immortal energy.

Although this was a stone crevice between cliffs, it was enough for it to take root. Plus, this was where the spiritual energy of Mount Fengshan gathered, and it was directly facing the window on the left side of the second floor of the pavilion. If it took root and stretched out its branches, Lin Jue would be able to see it when he opened the window to write at the desk, and when Lin Jue practiced in the pavilion, the immortal energy would also nourish it.

Since this was his own Daoist field, the spiritual plant and immortal tree had to be planted.

There were many benefits—

First, it could add a bit of immortal energy.

Second, it could be eaten by the disciples.

Third, it could be used to entertain good friends. Although the Immortal Tofu was good and the mountain loquat ice jelly was rare, it wasn't good to use these to entertain friends every time they came; one had to change the flavor.

Moreover, when the fruit tree bloomed and bore fruit, it could also serve as decoration.

"The fruit from this tree will be for you to eat." Lin Jue looked down at the two people below.

One was burying his head in planting trees, and the other was walking out of the mountain with trepidation, not yet knowing what a great opportunity it was to find an immortal as a master—this immortal fruit, which ordinary Daoists and yaoguai could hardly seek in a lifetime, was already being prepared for them by their master before they even entered the sect.

Lin Jue smiled slightly, took out another fruit pit, and chose a stone crevice outside the right window to plant it.

These two fruit trees would be like the ancient pine that came with the cliff, serving as decorations by the pavilion window, and also as potted plants for him to tend to, to pass the time in his leisure.

The others would be planted at the highest point of the mountain.

"In a few days, I should go find other Daoist friends and ask for some seeds of immortal fruits and spiritual plants to plant."

The fox saw him planting earnestly, talking to himself while planting and watering, clearly enjoying himself. Just after planting, it was as if he already had the joy of a harvest, and it couldn't help but be influenced by him, watching earnestly, and it was only after a while that it remembered what it wanted to ask.

The fox ran fast, the donkey walked slowly. By the time it heard him finish, remembered it, and went to chase the girl, she hadn't even walked out of this Mount Fengshan.

Day by day, the tiles on the roof of the pavilion became more numerous, each tile carefully selected, without a single flaw.

The flowering trees on this steep mountain also became more numerous.

The two young people often chatted at the foot of the mountain.

It was just that after the spring days of blooming flowers passed, the fruit trees no longer bloomed, and after they were planted, one couldn't see the colorful clusters.

At this time, Xu Yi was no longer someone who could only identify trees by seeing flowers.

At first, he had found various fruit trees and flowering trees and used branches to write on the side what kind of tree it was. If he didn't know what kind of tree it was, he would write what kind of flowers it bloomed, so as not to get confused. But later,

he found that even this was no longer needed—having planted flowers and trees for so long, he knew enough about the trees he planted and the flowers that bloomed that even if the trees hadn't bloomed, he knew what kind of tree it was at a glance, or when he looked at the tree, the image of it blooming would naturally appear in his mind.

In which month the flowers bloomed, how many petals, how many layers of stamens, how thick or thin, what color, whether the fragrance was strong or elegant—all were crystal clear, as if they were right before his eyes.

And the young girl hadn't noticed that since she went out to eliminate yaoguai, every day she thought about how many tiles were still missing from the roof, what she hadn't done well today, where she would go tomorrow, and how to learn from her lessons. The discomfort and alienation of traveling four thousand miles across the country to this strange deep mountain had long since dissipated without her knowing.

At this moment, this deep mountain, this small house under the cliff, had truly become her place of peace.

Wan Xinrong and the others built houses whenever they had time.

It was as if in just a daze, the mountain scenery changed from spring to summer, the greenness deepened, and on this cliff that was often shrouded in mountain mist, besides the highest, largest, and most exquisite and elegant pavilion, a few more hanging-style buildings appeared scattered about.

Wooden pillars supported the floor diagonally from below, and the beams and rafters above were inserted into the mountain body, supporting the eaves and tiled roofs, like hanging stone caves for worshipping immortals, exquisite with a touch of casualness, elegant with a hint of fantasy.

It was just that they were not as high as that pavilion, not as large as that pavilion,

as if they were stars arching around it.

If anyone accidentally entered this place, they would definitely take it as an immortal realm.

At the same time, the spiritual plants and immortal trees planted on the edge of the cliff and the top of the mountain also took root and sprouted.