The Journey of Immortal Cultivation
Chapter 86 - 72: Food for Everyone_2

Chapter 86: Chapter 72: Food for Everyone_2

"A frog at the bottom of a well." He couldn’t be bothered to show his disdain anymore, "Remember to transfer the corpse of the Bear Demon into the God Demon Prison before the merchant team sets out tomorrow morning. Its demonic power is even richer than the bat imprisoned on the fourth layer. For every two hours it stays outside, a fraction of its demonic power diminishes," he spoke with a profound sense of regret.

"Uh, will it be okay if it’s been contaminated with deadly poison?" A lesson lies right outside in a certain carriage.

"It’s fine. Neither the God Demon Prison nor the soil are picky eaters." He closed his eyes, "The night is deep; you better go rest soon."

What’s that, you ask why Ning Xiaoxian doesn’t take advantage of the night to rob graves? You really don’t think much of the night watch sentries, especially since He Xiaojiu has already had an incident tonight, now anyone getting close to that demon bear corpse will be under strict surveillance.

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The next morning, the merchant team set out as usual. Of course, Ning Xiaoxian took the opportunity to slip away after the sentries ended their night watch. It wouldn’t raise any concerns for a girl to walk a bit further away early in the morning as girls need some privacy too, right? Luckily, the Bear Demon was not buried in the direction the merchant team was heading; otherwise, everyone would be shocked to see a big pit suddenly appear where the body was buried.

On this journey, it became clear that last night’s thunder and torrential rain were truly formidable. Many big trees have since fallen, never to stand tall again. And it wasn’t just their merchant team that ran into the bad luck of encountering a rockslide in this deep forest. Of course, the merchant team referred to this natural disaster as a "collapse," and every two hours or so, they would witness a new area of destruction caused by the rockslide, with minor cases involving blocked roads due to fallen trees and major ones leading to altered mountain shapes.

The most troublesome issue was that the familiar trade path had been destroyed by the rockslide. Deng Hao had no choice but to order detouring, which meant taking a three-day longer path through the mountains than originally planned to reach the next station.

The only good news was that quite a number of wild beasts were buried in the rockslide, and within the day the merchant team often found various wild rabbits, pheasants, wild boars... The largest wild animal they discovered was a wild ox that weighted at least eight hundred pounds, with its entire body buried in the mud and only a sharp horn exposed. The merchant team passed by its side, mistaking it for a piece of wood sticking out of the ground; thankfully, Bai Jing and Bai Hong’s keen sense of smell prevented them from missing out.

As soon as these preys were discovered, He Xiaojiu immediately became the butt of everyone’s jokes. He risked his life to steal bear meat last night, causing chaos throughout the camp. And today, there were plenty of heaven-sent wild flavors scattered all over the ground, more than enough to enjoy, so what was all the fuss yesterday for?

He Xiaojiu had woken up today, aware that it was Ning Xiaoxian’s medicine that had saved his life, and he didn’t know how to express his gratitude well enough. Being a pauper himself, after much mumbling, he could only say like Changling: "If there’s ever anything I can do for you in the future, I will go through fire and water." Ning Xiaoxian listened and dismissed it with a smile. How many people in this world would truly risk their lives for a friend? It’s enough not to stab your friends in the back at a critical moment, but such words are only to be listened to idly.

Without realizing it, the more time she spent with Changtian, the more cautious she grew towards humans.

As soon as the wild ox was dug out from the ground, Deng Hao immediately ordered a rest right there. It was nearing 3 p.m. (end of the 13:00 hour), and with three extra days of mountain travel ahead, Deng Hao was not so eager to rush to the station. What for anyway? Isn’t it just for supplies? And now, when Heaven itself has delivered such a large wild ox, it’s what is meant by "heaven offers you a gift and you refuse at your own peril"; if Heaven wants to give you something and you pretend to be too noble to accept it, then you might actually offend Heaven itself.

On this day, the happiest event in the camp was "everyone has meat to eat," instantly elevating the standard of living above that of some small neighboring country of Huaxia. Liu Yimian ordered the merchant team’s clerks to work together, clean up the wild Wagyu, shave off the meat from the legs, and made their specialty soup dish.

The wild Wagyu beef was very chewy, he chopped the meat into pieces the size of a thumb tip, threw them into a deep pot, and stewed them for one and a half hours before they were barely tender. Then he shaved some yams found on the mountain, along with carrots and dates, and stewed them with the beef. Therefore, dinner time that day was a bit later than usual.

However, everyone had no complaints, as he really outdid himself this time. In fact, beef is always fragrant no matter how it’s cooked, and the people who hadn’t feasted for a long time ate with joy in their eyes and smiles on their faces. Ning Xiaoxian was different; she spooned herself a bowl of soup and had barely taken a sip when she found the soup to have a fishy smell. After a bit of thought, she realized that certainly Liu Yimian had stewed the beef directly after washing without blanching it first. This caused the blood foam and fishy taste to remain in the pot. Moreover, the coriander scattering the hillside could have been added to the soup, a perfect match with beef flavor.

Nonetheless, the wild Wagyu beef was also a great tonic for her, and this bowl must not be wasted no matter what.

Speaking of which, it was quite amusing — since the shared danger with everyone the day before, the male guests seemed to enjoy sitting around in the camp to eat. Perhaps to men, a bond formed through shared adversity is the most solid.

She’d planned to go back to her carriage, but the chubby merchant whom she had saved the day before pulled her aside to thank her, engaging in idle chatter about this and that, before finally revealing his purpose: it turns out he also planned to buy some Quhuang Powder and golden sore medicine, and wanted to pre-order the Small Peiyuan Pills that she was planning to refine. Although this elixir is particularly useful within Cultivation Sects, due to its special effects, it is also highly sought after by the wealthy families among the common folk. He said he would eventually return to Xingzhou in the north, where the grassland tribes are thriving and the folk are valiant, but alchemists are scarce, making for a lucrative medicine market.

Ning Xiaoxian’s interest was piqued; this plain-looking, round-headed little merchant actually possessed a storage bag or Storage Ring, which slightly surprised her. But this time, he was a bit too greedy; the amount of medicine he ordered was something that couldn’t possibly be carried away by hand. Heading to Xingzhou, eh? With such a long journey, would he dare take such heavy goods if he didn’t have such treasures?

She reminded herself once again to never judge by appearance in the future. Afterwards, the two discussed and settled the price and quantity.

This bowl of soup, she ate while also trying hard not to furrow her brows, enduring the struggle.

－－－－－－－－－－－－－－Announcement－－－－－－－－－－－－－

Starting tomorrow (June 1st) the novel will be live, ten consecutive updates in exchange for pink tickets. If it successfully goes live after midnight, Shui Yun will immediately upload 4 Chapters. Around 9 a.m. tomorrow, another 3 Chapters will be uploaded; the last 3 Chapters will be delivered at 2 p.m. tomorrow afternoon. Stay tuned! For those who want to give Update Tickets, please give them to me today, as the Update Tickets take effect the next day.

Also, to not affect everyone’s reading experience, acknowledgments for gifts will from now on be moved to the "related works" section, thank you everyone!