Chapter 75: Essence Fire Perfection

Chapter 75: Essence Fire Perfection

The trio had departed, but upon their return, only Meng Yuan and the little weasel in his arms remained.

Following the path they had come, they hadn't walked for long before the faint light of dawn revealed the rising sun.

The mountain forest was cool and damp, with mist rising as birds flew through it.

Meng Yuan had a knife at his waist, a longbow on his back, and only a few broken arrows left in his quiver.

After walking for a while, Meng Yuan felt Xiang Ling's feet kicking inside his jacket, and then he heard a yawn. Xiang Ling's head poked out from the opening of his jacket.

"Oh my, it's already daylight!" Xiang Ling's eyes widened, "Where are we?"

She wrinkled her little nose, "Why do you smell of blood? Did you get into a fight?"

Xiang Ling quickly climbed out, standing on Meng Yuan's shoulder. She leaned over, examining Meng Yuan's face, then rummaged through his quiver before climbing down.

She carefully inspected him and, seeing no wounds, climbed back up to his shoulder, "Why didn't you wake me up when you were fighting? Don't underestimate me just because I'm small, I can be capable too!"

Xiang Ling, annoyed, tugged at Meng Yuan's hair, "My wet nurse says, one person can't steal peaches as fast as two!"

What kind of twisted logic is this? Meng Yuan continued walking, laughing, "You were sleeping so soundly, there was no waking you up."

Hearing this, Xiang Ling stared with her eyes wide, scratching her head, "My wet nurse said sleeping in is a waste of time, she wasn't lying to me! You pinch my ears, scratch my itches!"

She used her tiny claws to scratch Meng Yuan's neck, saying earnestly, "Little Castration Smith, next time you fight, call me!"

Then she added, "But you can't keep fighting, you have to be friendly when doing business!"

"Of course," Meng Yuan immediately agreed.

"Hey? Where's Li brother?" Xiang Ling had learned to call Li Wei Zhen 'Li brother' from Meng Yuan, and now she remembered him. She quickly climbed to the top of Meng Yuan's head, standing straight, with her front paws shading her eyes as she looked around, "Where is he? Is he dead?"

Xiang Ling sighed, "Next time we burn paper for the wet nurse, prepare two sheets for him too!"

She was surprisingly kind.

"He's already left," Meng Yuan said, intentionally quickening his steps, jostling Xiang Ling as he spoke, "We've driven away all the demons, so your home will be safe from now on."

"You're so amazing!" Xiang Ling climbed back onto Meng Yuan's shoulder, leaning over to look at him, and asked curiously, "Little Castration Smith, how did you become so amazing?"

"..." Meng Yuan smiled.

Xiang Ling must have slept well, for she kept chattering non-stop, unable to stop talking.

Soon, she remembered the matter of poetry and pestered Meng Yuan to teach her.

Although Meng Yuan didn't have the habit of being a teacher, he was always willing to help. Since Xiang Ling wanted to learn, and he had already prepared, it wouldn't hurt to teach her.

"Writing poetry isn't difficult. It's about the four-part structure of 'qi, cheng, zhuan, he' (beginning, development, twist, and conclusion). The 'cheng' and 'zhuan' parts are two couplets, with level tones matching oblique tones, and empty words matching solid words. If you have excellent lines, it doesn't matter if they don't match the tone or word type. The rules and regulations are minor details; as long as the words are genuine, it's good." Meng Yuan instructed.

Xiang Ling listened intently, then paused for a moment before saying, "Little Castration Smith, you're speaking in a way I can't understand."

What is this, a lesson? What did she learn? Meng Yuan had to explain it to her in detail, and Xiang Ling listened carefully, nodding occasionally, though it was unclear if she understood.

"I... I..." Meng Yuan began.

"I brought you a rhyme book and a character book, didn't you put them away? You can look through them when you have time," Meng Yuan said.

Xiang Ling nodded in agreement and then said, "Recite a couple of poems for me."

Meng Yuan was prepared and recited some simple and easy-to-understand poems, like "I went to see the great river, and came back to drink noodle soup."

"You're so good at this!" Xiang Ling, being a country bumpkin who started learning late, was impressed by Meng Yuan's fluent recitation and couldn't stop praising him.

The two chatted as they walked, mostly with Xiang Ling talking. She chattered away, listening to all the odd poems Meng Yuan had written recently. She was so enraptured that her throat went dry, and she had to drink mountain spring water several times.

By noon, they had walked about twenty miles of winding mountain roads and arrived at Black Pig's territory.

"Black Pig was scared away by Wolf Two, and some of her children were eaten. It's so pitiful," Xiang Ling said with a warm heart. She stood on Meng Yuan's shoulder, calling out to Black Pig.

Soon, the sound of rumbling approached, and a black pig as big as a water buffalo came running.

Seeing Xiang Ling with a stranger, the black pig turned and ran.

"Don't be afraid, Black Pig!" Xiang Ling quickly jumped down from Meng Yuan's shoulder and chased after the pig.

Indeed, after running about two hundred steps, the black pig stopped and turned to speak with Xiang Ling.

Meng Yuan watched from a distance as the two seemed to be cursing Wolf Two together. After they finished, Xiang Ling put her hands on her waist, seemingly teaching Black Pig something.

Then Black Pig directly butted Xiang Ling's bottom and ran off into the distance.

Xiang Ling was furious and stomped her feet before returning.

"Did you convince someone to castrate their son again?" Meng Yuan asked.

"No!" Xiang Ling stomped her feet, "I was teaching her the art of poetry, and Black Pig said it's better to have more children than to learn poetry!"

"..." Meng Yuan didn't know how to respond.

The two chatted idly as they arrived at Old Turtle Pit together.

Xiang Ling took out the rhyme book and character book that Meng Yuan had given her and started reading them seriously, all the while talking, "Let's let's go down the mountain together, we won't be late for the afternoon lesson, and we can watch the old master slap palms!"

"..." Meng Yuan smiled, planning to ask Nie Shifu and Zhang Shu about Xiang Ling, thinking that with her personality, she probably wouldn't like the constraints and rules of the city," he thought.

When they reached the foot of the mountain, Xiang Ling jumped off Meng Yuan's shoulder and said, "Stand here and don't move. I'll go get you a steamed bun to eat! It's my treat!"

She was going to steal, but she still wanted to treat him. Meng Yuan followed her for a while, and less than half a mile away, they saw a small village.

After a while, Xiang Ling returned with a steamed bun.

"Eat quickly, eat quickly!" Xiang Ling urged.

Meng Yuan ate the bun, and Xiang Ling finally smiled happily.

"Here's some money for you to use." Meng Yuan fished out some silver coins and stuffed them into her bag. "Put it in the kitchen of a wealthy household, and it will last you a long time."

"Little Castration Smith, you're really nice!" Xiang Ling was very happy as she carefully packed her bag. "Next time, I'll steal some more pastries for you. Do you prefer sweet or savory?"

"Either one is fine. If you get hungry again, go to the Muzhuang and find my friend." Meng Yuan said.

Xiang Ling nodded repeatedly. "In a few days, when you come back, I'll be able to write poems!"

Meng Yuan smiled and chatted with her for a while before she eagerly said she had to start her class.

After Xiang Ling walked away with her bag, Meng Yuan returned.

Upon reaching Muzhuang, he exchanged a few polite words with Sun Zhuang Tou and took out ten taels of silver. "Tie Niu is working hard at the Royal Manor. Please bear with Uncle Big Head."

Previously, Meng Yuan had mentioned this, and now Zhao Da Tou no longer did heavy work but was only responsible for driving the donkey cart as a coachman.

After saying this, Meng Yuan found Zhao Da Tou.

"Here are ten taels of silver, Uncle Bighead. Keep it." Meng Yuan took out the silver and instructed, "If Miss comes again, prepare a few boiled eggs for her."

"..." Zhao Da Tou took the silver, opened his mouth, and said, "Little Meng, you have a bright future, so be careful."

"..." Meng Yuan nodded.

After a brief chat, Meng Yuan mounted his little red horse and left Muzhuang.

This time out, he gained a lot, especially the Heavenly Diagram Ten Thousand Streams. If he swallowed the Hundred Herbs Pill, his Essence Fire Eye would soon be perfected, and his third Body Tempering was imminent!

The horse's hooves clopped back to Songhe Prefecture City. Meng Yuan bought a jade hairpin and a pair of twin treasure hairpins, each packed separately.

After sending the horse back to the stable, Meng Yuan chatted with Jiang Lao Bo for a while before returning home.

Jiang Diao Diao wasn't there. Meng Yuan fetched water to wash his body and changed into clean clothes.

He placed the twin treasure Hairpins in JiangJiang Tang's room, then went to the_training_ground, where Teacher Nie was indeed not there.

Iron Bull had good news; he had already been Ranked and opened an_energy_point.

Meng Yuan grabbed Iron Bull and gave a sermon to the group of young men, "As long as everyone has a belief and knows who they're practicing for, they will surely be Ranked! I did, Hu Qian did, and Zhao Tie Niu did too!"

After his speech, Meng Yuan pulled Iron Bull. "Let's go eat outside!"

"I'll go too!" Hu Qian immediately said.

"Will Teacher Nie allow it?" Iron Bull was afraid of Nie Yanian.

"He won't dare to_refuse." Meng Yuan squeezed the wooden box in his sleeve, which contained a green jade hairpin. Seeing Hu Qian's eager look, he said, "Those whowho have opened an energy point and been Ranked can go!"

The three of them rushed to the Intoxicating Moon Tower.

"Big Sister." Seeing Nie Qingqing, MengYuan immediately smiled, noticing the bulging package in her hand.

"Why did you_come?" Nie Qingqing smiled coquettly, then looked at Iron Bull and Hu Qian, especially staring at HuQian. "I know_the_little_girl_Hu_Qian, but who is this?"

"This is my_brotherZhaoTieNiu." MengYuan introduced with a smile.

Nie Qingqing bowed, while Hu Qian kept looking between Nie Qingqing and Meng Yuan.

Meng Yuan asked Hu Qian and Tie Niu to go upstairs, while he stayed to chat withNieQingqing.

"Looking for my_fah?" Nie Qingqing asked with a smile.

"Looking for Teacher Nie for some serious matters." Meng Yuan said solemnly but still took out an exquisite wooden box from his sleeve. "But seeing Big Sister is also a serious matter."

Nie Qingqing took it with a smile, slightly tilting her head to look at Meng Yuan. "I've seen Hu Qian before. Zhao Tie Niu looks like a_honest_person. When_will you bring_yoursignificant_other to see me?"

"Another day, definitelyMengYuan said.

"I'll wait for you." Nie Qingqing smiled again, then said, "Uncle Zhang tookmy_fatheraway. I don't know what for, but you might as well wait."

Meng Yuan naturally listened.

They went up to the second floor, and the dishes were served. Hu Qian kept asking for alcohol, and Nie Qingqing gave her a bottle of Dream Lake Spring for her face.

However, after chatting for a_long_time, by nightfall, Nie Yanian still hadn't returned.

Seeing this, Meng Yuan could only leave as he came.

After sending Hu Qian and Tie Niu back to the_training_ground, Meng Yuan returned home.

"Brother!" Jiang Tang saw Meng Yuan return and was overjoyed, holding an exquisite wooden box. "Brother, did you leave this on my desk?"

The little girl was getting more thoughtful. Meng Yuan smiled. "It's for you."

"Then put_it_on_me." JiangTang_saidMeng Yuan came to her, took a whiff, and knew she had already washed her hair, body, and changed into clean clothes, with no hair accessories on her head.

He fixed the twin treasure hairpins to secure her hair.

After chatting with her for a while, Meng Yuan returned to his room.

Sitting quietly for a moment to calm his mind, Meng Yuan visualized his Essence Fire, which was growing stronger, then took out the_Hundred Herbs Pill.

Before the battle with Ox Guardian, to prevent any unforeseen circumstances, he had already taken one. He took another one before taking the Fire Bodhi Fruit, and one more at home, leaving seventeen.

Meng Yuan took one, saw his Essence Fire grow slightly, then took another.

He ate sixteen in a_row, leaving only one.

The_Essence Fire grew even stronger, nearing completion.

He didn't eat the last one, leaving it for now. But even so, Meng Yuan felt that within threethree to_five_days, his EssenceFirewould_be_perfect.

After a_night_passed, the_next_afternoon, Meng Yuan_opened_another_energy_point_when_he_woke_up.

Meng Yuan got up, ate, and didn't rush to find TeacherNie. He had already askedNieQingqing to_pass_on_the_message. If Teacher Nie returned, he would surely come to find him.

After five_more_days, Meng Yuan opened three more energy points in the Central Thirty-Three Heavens but still hadn't seen Teacher Nie return.

Moreover, Jiang Tang's daily supply of fish and meat allowed Meng Yuan to indulge, and his Essence fire had already reached perfection.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end