Chapter 51 (Part 1)

“Ahem. Did you two fight again?”

When Yu Yu saw the fur, he could not help wanting to press a hand to his forehead.

What left him even more speechless was that the azure spirit bird was actually missing a few feathers too.

Great. Today was another day with no clear winner.

The iron-eating beast was powerful, but the current Yuanyuan still could not fly! The azure spirit bird could fly, but its strength was inferior to Yuanyuan’s.

Every time this bird and bear fought, they traded blows back and forth, and neither could gain the upper hand.

Do not look at the azure spirit bird’s current low strength. Once it reached adulthood, with the luan-bird bloodline it carried, its strength would also become very formidable.

So here was the question: why did the azure spirit bird steal Yu Yu’s spirit fruits?

Because it wanted to become stronger. With its low strength, it was bullied by other birds and beasts every time. And also because the azure spirit bird wanted to reach adulthood, just like the iron-eating beast, it needed a huge amount of resources.

For an azure spirit bird without parents, just like Yuanyuan, growing up safely was very difficult.

Their own species’ grades were relatively high. For the demon race or beast race, eating them was greatly nourishing, so cubs and fledglings often became the targets of hunters.

The azure spirit bird was not a local bird of Holy Sun Peak. It was not even a bird of the Taizhen Immortal Sect, but an outsider bird.

This azure spirit bird had inherited its parents’ ability and could enter other people’s homes without damaging the barrier.

The sect’s mountain-protection array and Holy Sun Peak’s mountain-protection array were as if they did not exist to it. It had flown in with ease.

So Yu Yu’s array was even less difficult for it. If it had not gotten too carried away stealing food, it would never have been caught and made to work off its debt.

Of course, that special ability of its had also gotten it seized by an elder from Spirit Beast Peak and studied for half a day. In the end, the conclusion was that it was a bloodline divine ability inherited from one side of its parents. No one else and no other spirit beast could learn it. Only then was it released back. Yu Yu had to feed it several high-grade spirit fruits before coaxing the bird back into a good mood.

“Chirp!”

We fought, yeah. Who told it to have such a cheap mouth?

The azure spirit bird perched on the table and lightly pecked his hand. The fur on its beak drifted down with the motion.

“If you hadn’t provoked it, Yuanyuan wouldn’t have run its mouth.”

It was not that Yu Yu was biased. It was that this bird was not a proper bird. It often stirred up trouble. It was a bear of a bird.

“Chirp, chirp, chirp!”

The azure spirit bird would not accept that and opened its beak to defend itself, but it was useless against Yu Yu, because he knew exactly what kind of bird this was.

“Chirp.”

Fine. What did you call me here for?

Seeing that it could not fool Yu Yu, the azure spirit bird admitted it very straightforwardly.

“Help me deliver a letter to Senior Brother Lingbao.”

Yu Yu put the written prescription into a small bamboo tube and tied it to its leg.

“Chirp!”

Leave it to me. Guaranteed mission success. It was usually unreliable, but when it came to work, it was still very reliable.

Because Yu Yu had threatened it: if it did not work properly, he would pluck its feathers and make it into beggar’s bird.

Not wanting to become beggar’s bird, it worked with special effort and focus.

The azure spirit bird went to deliver the letter. Yu Yu temporarily had nothing to do, so he had Jingxin help him gather herbs.

“These spiritual herbs are all ones you’ll need to use. Memorize them today. In the future, you’ll pick them yourself every day.”

As Yu Yu gathered herbs, he taught Jingxin how to handle the freshly picked spiritual herbs. Naturally, he did not forget to have him memorize these herbs. In the future, Jingxin would be the one to pick them himself.

“Yes. This disciple will remember.”

Jingxin crouched beside Yu Yu, learning from him how to pick and prepare the medicine, while also memorizing all the names and appearances of the herbs.

They needed around several dozen kinds of herbs. Relying on memory alone was a little difficult, so Jingxin took out an image-recording stone, memorizing them with his mind while recording them at the same time.

These spiritual herbs were all tied to whether he could successfully change his constitution. Jingxin did not dare be careless in the slightest.

“Purple Dawn Grass can only be picked in the early morning, when the sun has just risen. We won’t pick it today. We’ll come back first thing tomorrow morning.”

Yu Yu spoke as they passed by a patch of purple spiritual herbs.

“Yes. This disciple will get up before dawn tomorrow.”

Jingxin nodded heavily and memorized the key point.

“Heh. Not bad.”

Yu Yu glanced sidelong at him. This person was rather perceptive, knowing to take the initiative and take on work.

Before the azure spirit bird and Lingbao returned, this ancestor and grandson, one big and one small, went all over the mountain gathering herbs. Very soon, aside from the Purple Dawn Grass and the spiritual herbs Yu Yu lacked, all the rest had been gathered.

One dose of medicine could be used for three days. In the early stage, it would be taken by drinking. In the later stage, he would need to soak in medicinal baths, and the spiritual herbs needed would only increase.

However, that would be several months later. There was no hurry to gather them for now.

That afternoon, Lingbao brought the azure spirit bird and the gathered spiritual herbs to Holy Sun Peak. At that moment, Yu Yu was teaching Jingxin how to take a person’s pulse.

“You’ve been ill yourself for so long, so you should have some experience too. For cultivators, our pulse-taking is different from that of mortal physicians. We use our own spiritual energy, spiritual sense, or primordial spirit to perceive the patient’s body. So the difficulty is greater than true pulse-taking. With one careless moment, a diagnosis and treatment can go wrong. You must also be careful not to leave your own spiritual energy inside the patient’s body. If your spiritual energy clashes with theirs, then you’re harming them.”

Only after Yu Yu finished speaking did he turn his gaze toward Lingbao, who was waiting to one side.

“Sect Master Senior Brother.”

He stood and bowed.

“This disciple, Jingxin, pays respects to the sect master.”

“Little Junior Brother, there’s no need for ceremony. I’m the one who interrupted you. Good child, you get up too.”

As Lingbao spoke, he helped Jingxin up.

Then Lingbao simply looked at Jingxin like that. If this child was cured, he would be his grand-disciple, so after gathering all the spiritual herbs, he had personally made this trip because he also wanted to see the child.

“You’ve seen him now. Satisfied?”

Yu Yu took out tea implements and began brewing tea. Seeing Lingbao staring at Jingxin, he teased him.

“Not bad. This elder brother is very satisfied.”

Lingbao was not afraid of being teased by his junior brother and replied with a beaming smile.

“This bet is guaranteed profit.”

Yu Yu offered tea to his Sect Master Senior Brother and had Jingxin sit down too.

“…”

Jingxin did not dare sit. Instead, he looked toward Lingbao.

He was already the sect master’s intended grand-disciple. At a time like this, he still needed the direct elder to speak.

“What are you looking at me for? Your Little Martial Uncle-Grandmaster’s words are an imperial decree.”

Lingbao held his tea as he said this to Jingxin.

“Yes. This disciple obeys.”

Jingxin sat down tremblingly between Yu Yu and Lingbao, not even daring to sit fully on the seat.

“This tea has spiritual energy. You can’t drink it for now. Later, I’ll have the dining hall send over some mortal food for you to eat temporarily. Once your body is better, you can drink however much you want.”

Yu Yu explained this to Jingxin. It was not that he was stingy and unwilling to give Jingxin tea, but that for now, it was best if he did not touch food containing spiritual energy.

“This disciple understands. Many thanks, Martial Uncle-Grandmaster, for considering this disciple.”

Jingxin hurriedly waved his hands, indicating that he did not mind. With elders present, how could a junior question them? Besides, this elder was doing it for his own good.

“It’s good that you understand. Senior Brother, when did you go to the mortal world? You even know what an imperial decree is.”

After Yu Yu finished explaining, he started chatting with Lingbao.

The Holy Feather World also had mortal emperors. It was just that ordinarily, they did not interfere with the immortal cultivation world. Any cultivator whose mind had not gone stupid would not run off to the mortal world to become some damned state preceptor.

If one formed karma with the mortal world, one would not be able to repay it even in the next life.

One had to know that becoming the state preceptor of a nation was not such an easy thing to do. If one could not make that country better, then this state preceptor would shoulder the debt of an entire nation. They might truly need to reincarnate a hundred times before they could pay it off.

If they did not finish paying it off, the Holy Feather Heavenly Dao would not let them ascend. Want to leave? What a beautiful dream. Be honest and go pay your debt.

So the cultivation world was still very cautious about the mortal realm.

Normally, everyone moved about in cultivator cities. Very few people went to mortal towns. Those places were basically where mortals lived, and cultivators were rarely seen.

In cultivator cities, however, most residents were cultivators. Only a small portion of mortals were relatives of cultivators. They had been brought there by cultivators and did not count as true mortals.

That was why Yu Yu had asked. The term “imperial decree” was not commonly seen in the cultivation world.

“I haven’t. I just recently read a storybook written by mortals. The plot was quite interesting. Using your words, Junior Brother, it was an upgrade-flow story. A cultivation upgrade-flow story written by mortals. Although most of it was nonsense they made up, some of the human relationships and worldly dealings inside were still quite good.”

Lingbao folded his hands into his sleeves and said this to Yu Yu.

“…Senior Brother, after throwing your work to Wuchen, were you so bored that you developed to the point of reading mortal storybooks?”

Yu Yu simply wanted to cover his head. This was way too boring, wasn’t it?

He had also read storybooks written by mortals in this world. The others were still all right, roughly the same as ancient storybooks on Blue Star. They were either about talented scholars and beauties or phoenix men eating soft rice.

As for the cultivation novels they wrote, they were even more ridiculous than the ones on Blue Star and had no reference value whatsoever.

“Ahem. More or less.”

Lingbao nodded, looking slightly awkward. Right now, he only needed to prepare for his tribulation, so a fair amount of his time had been freed up.

With nothing to do, he found himself some storybooks to read.

“Lingji is about to undergo tribulation soon, right?”

To prevent Yu Yu from bringing the topic back to him, Lingbao hurriedly changed the subject.

“Yes.”

Yu Yu looked toward the sky above Lingji’s cave residence. The tribulation lightning above it was becoming more and more distinct.

“After Junior Brother Lingji finishes his tribulation, I’ll also have to prepare for mine.”

If Lingbao had not had so many affairs after becoming sect master, he could originally have undergone tribulation even earlier than Lingji.

“Eldest Senior Brother and Senior Brother Lingbao both won’t have any problems. This is spiritual liquid I refined. If your spiritual energy isn’t enough during tribulation, drink a mouthful. It can restore more than half your spiritual energy.”

Yu Yu had prepared these for his senior brothers long ago. The spiritual liquid had been refined from various spiritual plants and spirit fruits. One mouthful could restore more than half of a Soul Transformation cultivator’s spiritual energy. One could not say the effect was anything but good.

“What is this?”

Lingbao picked up the jade bottle containing the spiritual liquid and opened it to sniff.

“It smells nice.”

Fragrant and sweet, a little like spirit rice honey, but not as thick. Instead, it was like freshly squeezed fruit juice.

“This bottle can be drunk ten times. There are ten bottles here. Take them.”

Yu Yu had refined a total of one hundred bottles, meant for the sect’s Soul Transformation senior brothers to use during tribulation.

“Thanks, Little Junior Brother.”

Lingbao put away the spiritual liquid. Whenever his family’s little junior brother made a move, it never missed. Everything he produced was good stuff.

This spiritual liquid was not simple either. At the very least, Lingbao guessed that Martial Uncle Qingquan likely could not refine it.

The stronger Yu Yu’s abilities were, the more worried Lingbao felt for him.

Even a Tribulation stage cultivator could not refine this spiritual liquid, yet a tiny Foundation Establishment cultivator had succeeded. Looking at Little Junior Brother’s manner, his success rate was probably not low either.

This was too abnormal. It was simply like Heaven was pushing things along from behind, waiting until Little Junior Brother was fattened up before slaughtering and eating him in one go.

“Between you and me, brothers, why speak of thanks?”

Yu Yu calmly drank his tea. Unfortunately, he looked too small. With this movement and expression, he looked a little like a child imitating an adult.

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