IS Chapter 46
by Volare“We haven’t eaten rabbit meat yet,” he said to Ye Zhuo.
*When did I ever agree to eat rabbit meat with this dragon?* Ye Zhuo wondered, but he just perfunctorily replied, “Next time.”
Li Yuan reluctantly put the matter aside.
If he couldn’t have rabbit meat, at least he could have fish.
And the Micro-Snow Palace Master wouldn’t be woken up.
Because he was already awake.
Dark clouds loomed overhead, and a long wind surged through the mountains.
Standing under the eaves of the main hall, Wei Sheng Xian silently sighed as he looked at the bucket of small fish in Feng Jiang’s hand.
“You’re back?”
His tone didn’t sound very welcoming.
Ye Zhuo: “Aren’t you in seclusion?”
“I suddenly felt something, so I ended my seclusion,” Wei Sheng Xian stared at them. “First, I sensed that Brother Fish was about to visit the kitchen, and second, I sensed that a visitor was coming to Green Mountains.”
“Since you sensed it, then let’s cook them,” Feng Jiang smiled warmly and personally handed the fish bucket to Wei Sheng Xian.
Wei Sheng Xian sighed again and looked at Ye Zhuo.
Ye Zhuo: “Something happened down the mountain.”
“Things happen in the world too,” Wei Sheng Xian said, carrying the bucket as he turned and walked towards the kitchen. “Alright, no matter how big the matter is, as long as it’s not life-threatening, we’ll talk about it during the meal. Brother Li Yuan, please come help.”
Ah Jiang’s skill in making poison was exquisite, but he couldn’t cook properly.
As for the one named Ye, who had never touched water in his life, there was no hope for him. Although Brother Li Yuan hadn’t touched water either, at least his attitude was good.
As expected, Li Yuan agreed and walked with him towards the kitchen.
Under the eaves, amidst the shadows of the Yulan Magnolia tree, Master Xia was still embroidering stitch by stitch.
Ye Zhuo returned to his original spot and continued to wipe his sword.
Feng Jiang also laid out his bottles and jars, his expression gradually becoming inscrutable.
Everything was just an ordinary day in the Micro-Snow Palace’s mountain life.
From the pile of things Feng Jiang had purchased, Li Yuan selected the spices Wei Sheng Xian needed and handed them to him. “Brother Wei Sheng, how are you planning to cook them?”
“I don’t want to cook, I’ll just boil a red soup and throw them in,” Wei Sheng Xian said.
Then, Wei Sheng Xian skillfully processed his fish brothers one by one, finally pouring spices and strong liquor over them and setting them aside. He then walked to his side and began picking out other ingredients.
“By the way, Brother Li Yuan, are you used to red soup? Should I make a clear soup for you too?”
Li Yuan said, “It doesn’t matter, I can eat it.”
He found it hard to appreciate other things cooked in red soup, but if it was fish, the taste wasn’t bad.
Watching the Micro-Snow Palace Master skillfully process the spices, select the side dishes, and prepare the soup base, Li Yuan couldn’t help but think of the scenery of Sichuan, and the red and white copper pot in the Dish Xia Restaurant.
Located in the southwest, the Green Mountains and Sichuan were actually not far apart.
“Brother Wei Sheng, are you from the southwest?” Li Yuan asked.
“That’s not me,” Wei Sheng Xian said. “I am a person without a home. Since I was a child, I have been traveling around with my master, without a fixed place to live. Only after I had the Micro-Snow Palace did I settle down.”
Li Yuan thought thoughtfully, “If not Brother Wei Sheng, then who?”
“A gentleman does not deceive in a dark room, how can one discuss others behind their backs?” Wei Sheng Xian threw a few spring bamboo shoots to him.
Li Yuan caught them, thinking that Brother Wei Sheng wanted him to help peel the shoots.
“Then that is something you know and I know,” Li Yuan said.
“Brother Li Yuan, oh Brother Li Yuan, you are truly a wonderful person,” Wei Sheng Xian said with a smile, picking out a few things from his hand to process. “Green Mountains is located in the southwest, and I’ve been here for a long time, so I’ve naturally learned the local cuisine. The mountains are snowy and cold, so it’s good to eat some Sichuan flavors.”
“Is that why everyone in the Micro-Snow Palace wears red clothes?”
“Red looks good,” Wei Sheng Xian answered decisively.
Brother Wei Sheng was also a wonderful person.
The founder of a sect must have such a resolute spirit.
In a dark room, a gentleman does not discuss others, but he can discuss world affairs.
After Li Yuan finished peeling the spring bamboo shoots, he remembered that Wei Sheng Xian had said earlier that “things happen in the world,” and casually asked, “What’s happening in the world?”
Wei Sheng Xian gently stirred the soup, examining its color, his expression calm.
“The things down the mountain, whether big or small, are things that can be dealt with,” he said. “The things in the world, no matter how big or small, are things that affect the whole body with a single move.”
It wasn’t anything new for Brother Wei Sheng to speak mysteriously.
Li Yuan: “How does one move affect the whole body?”
“The boundary between humans and ghosts, a storm is brewing. Does that count as affecting the whole body with a single move?” Wei Sheng Xian said, leaning against the stove and turning to him. “Brother Li Yuan, what do you think, is it better for people to have a past life, or not?”
The dragon race had no reincarnation, so Li Yuan thought seriously.
“This life has its own fortune, there is no need for a past life,” he said.
Wei Sheng Xian looked at him with a smile: “Then does Brother Li Yuan think it’s better to have a next life, or not?”
If one was at the end of their life, they would naturally feel that it was better to have a next life.
But Li Yuan thought about himself and said, “I’d rather not.”
“Oh? Why?”
“This life has too much,” Li Yuan said. “If there is a next life, I’m afraid I will become one of your fish brothers under the knife.”
Wei Sheng Xian blinked at him, and immediately couldn’t help but laugh.
“Brother Li Yuan, you really are…”
He couldn’t say what he “really was,” so he could only say sourly, “Those are really words from the bottom of your heart, only you could say such unreasonable words.”
It seemed unreasonable.
At least, today, Li Yuan couldn’t think of anything in the world that fate had not given him.
… Except for that Reverse Scale.
Thinking of this, he immediately became annoyed.
He really wanted to press Ye Zhuo on the chopping board and cut him up like a vegetable!
Wei Sheng Xian was already excitedly putting the fish brothers into the pot.
Li Yuan could only sneer.
No matter how delicious these yellow bone fish were, so what?
They were cooked with their skin and bones together, even if the sky fell and he was starving, that person wouldn’t eat a single bite.
Soon all the ingredients were ready, and the kitchen work was done.
The boiling copper pot was set up in the main hall, and the aroma filled the hall.
The children in the Micro-Snow Palace were only just beginning their cultivation, and they were not at a high enough level to handle such meat.
So they could only sit around another table, eating a few plates of green vegetables that the Micro-Snow Palace Master had mercifully stir-fried for them.
“You are still young, and you should focus on pure cultivation now. It’s already good enough that I haven’t given you stir-fried Bigu pills,” Wei Sheng Xian patted a Little Daoist’s shoulder, comforting him.
Smelling the aroma wafting from the red pot not far away, the Little Daoist’s bamboo chopsticks trembled as he picked up a root of oil-free green vegetables. He felt that he was only halfway through his cultivation, but his inner demons had already been born.
With hatred in his heart, he exchanged glances with the four companions at the table, and they all saw the eyes of their inner demons lingering within each other, as if dark thoughts were gradually taking shape.
Among them, two cultivated Dao, one studied medicine, one studied poison, and another cultivated the sword.
Together, they were enough to form a Demon Cultivation sect that could shock all directions.
“It’s so lively,” Wei Sheng Xian brought the last two plates of side dishes and looked at the number of people in the hall, satisfied. “The Micro-Snow Palace has never had so many people eating together.”
“We are no longer people of the Micro-Snow Palace,” one of the Little Daoists said gloomily.
Another smiled and said, “People with different paths cannot work together. Tonight, we have betrayed Green Mountains and formed the Micro-Blood Palace.”
Wei Sheng Xian: “Congratulations, congratulations.”
After congratulating the establishment of the new sect, those with sufficient cultivation naturally sat around the red pot to taste the yellow bone fish.
As expected, Ye Zhuo didn’t move his chopsticks. Li Yuan tasted it first.
Brother Wei Sheng’s cooking skills were indeed excellent, he could open a shop in the mortal world.
The flesh of the fish brother was even more tender and delicate, melting in the mouth, even more suitable for the flavor of the red pot than the fish slices he had eaten in the Dish Xia Restaurant last time. No wonder Fourth Palace Master Feng missed it.
If Ye Zhuo couldn’t eat it, that was his own fault, he couldn’t blame others.
“Alright,” Wei Sheng Xian said, “Let’s talk, what happened down the mountain?”
Ye Zhuo concentrated on eating the fish in his dish, with no intention of speaking.
“It’s strange that there are ghost matters down the mountain, don’t you think?” Feng Jiang said, resting his chin on his hand, not looking at Ye Zhuo at all, and explaining the matter in detail to Wei Sheng Xian and Master Xia.
“To talk about the origin of the ghost matter, it’s about a loving couple. The couple who sell this yellow bone fish at the end of the street,” Feng Jiang shook the fish bones in his chopsticks.
He finished talking about how the Guanyin Niangzi suddenly recovered from a serious illness and her temperament changed drastically, and then talked about how the Song scholar hadn’t been beaten for three days and became suspicious. It turned out that the living person had deep obsessions, and the dead person lingered on, and finally returned to his soul, so they could stay together in life and death.
He didn’t forget to mention that Palace Master Ye had helped them achieve their love, using a sword to ensure that the Niangzi’s body would not rot.
Such good deeds were already comparable to his good enemy.
However, there was still a ten-day deadline, and life and death were still different paths.
Master Xia listened attentively, and in the end, he stared blankly ahead, stroking the embroidery on his sleeve, not knowing what he was thinking of.
As Wei Sheng Xian listened, his smile gradually faded, turning into a look of sadness.
“The dead can be born, this is truly the power of love, something we cannot achieve,” he sighed.
Li Yuan paused the action of picking out fish bones.
It was really wanting to condemn someone when one could always find a reason, what obscene words, everyone had clearly heard them.
After he finished eating the fish, the new fish hadn’t appeared in front of him yet, so Ye Zhuo looked up.
“I’ll draw those four talismans for you,” he said to Wei Sheng Xian.
“No need,” Wei Sheng Xian raised his hand and drew a few strokes, and spiritual energy instantly formed a talisman. “Is it like this?”
“Yours are better,” Ye Zhuo said.
“Just some mediocre skills, coming to Green Mountains to pretend to be mysterious,” Wei Sheng Xian’s smile gradually turned cold. “If it was drawn any better, I would have known it when it was buried, and this love affair between humans and ghosts wouldn’t have been achieved.”
Feng Jiang: “So what are these talismans for? Just to attract ghost matters at the foot of Green Mountains? What is the purpose behind it?”
“Just a few broken talismans, going with the flow. Ghost matters will come out sooner or later.”
“Oh?”
“When people die, their souls should dissipate, so how can they have a chance to stay between heaven and earth and hear the calls of the living? It’s just that the yang energy is weak, and the yin energy is heavy, so they have a place to stay,” Wei Sheng Xian stared deeply at the red soup, and said, “After all, the ghost realm and the human realm have been converging recently. When I said that there are things happening in the world, I meant this.”
“…?”
Looking at Wei Sheng Xian’s serious expression, and hearing such earth-shattering words, the fish bone in Feng Jiang’s chopsticks lightly fell on the table.
Then Wei Sheng Xian made a move, and accurately picked up a fish brother from the pot with his chopsticks.
The fish brother landed safely in the plate, and the solemn expression on the Micro-Snow Palace Master’s face instantly disappeared, turning into a spring breeze-like smile.
Turning to Feng Jiang, he smiled and said, “When the realms meet, and the great paths grind against each other, there are opportunities to reach the heavens, and there are also terrors to reach the heavens. What we saw today were just living ghosts, and in ten days and a half, we might be able to meet fierce ghosts. Ah Jiang, are you looking forward to it?”
“Not looking forward to it.”
“–Then do you think your Nascent Soul cultivation level should be raised?”
Master Xia also smiled and touched Feng Jiang’s head, making an upward gesture, as if to encourage him.
“…”
“Alright, eat quickly. After eating, we have to open the door to welcome guests,” Wei Sheng Xian said.
Ye Zhuo: “What guests?”
“Of course, they are unwelcome guests with ulterior motives.”
Ye Zhuo really wanted to tell Wei Sheng Xian that recently, his words were becoming more and more like he hadn’t said anything at all.
But a new fish meat had already appeared in his dish, so he stopped paying attention to what Wei Sheng Xian said.