When Ling Nü and Susu returned carrying their small buckets, they looked up and saw their lady lying on the rocking chair, resting with her eyes closed.
The eyes of the two little ones lit up. Dropping their buckets, they immediately rushed over to cluster around Yuan Heng.
“Daojun! You're back!”
Hearing the noise, Yuan Heng opened her eyes. Seeing the happy look on her attendants' faces, her lips curved into a slight smile. “Yes, I'm back.”
“These past three thousand years... Huh? Why have the two of you gotten chubby?”
Yuan Heng picked up the two little ones, one in her left hand and one in her right, and gave them a hearty heft. Yes... they indeed felt a bit plumper.
Ling Nü & Susu: Σ( ° △ °|||)︴
The two little ones looked at each other, their eyes filled with utter disbelief. How did they get fat?
Would Daojun stop liking them?
Wuwuwu, it must be because they ate too many spiritual fruits and medicines over these past three thousand years, and the medicinal efficacy hadn't been digested. How terrifying! They had to lose weight!
Yuan Heng set them down, raising her hand to pinch their chubby, tender cheeks. “It's fine. Being a bit chubby is cuter. As long as you like it, it's fine.”
After comforting the two little ones, whose gazes were fixed on each other's slightly bulging bellies, she walked off to inspect her territory.
The sea of flowers had become much more lush.
Yuan Heng walked over to her pool of Three-Light Divine Water and placed the White Lotus of World Cleansing inside. “Lian, take a good soak. You've worked hard.”
The White Lotus of World Cleansing's stem quivered slightly as its petals unfurled. “Hehehe, serving Master is not hard work at all~”
Yuan Heng gave a soft chuckle, raising her hand to gently stroke its petals. “Have a good rest then.”
Ah, Lian was truly her little cutie.
Then she made her way to her small garden... Hmm, a place where medicinal herbs, spiritual flowers, grass, and spiritual roots gathered?
She might as well call it the Spiritual Plant Garden.
She planted the final remnant of the Innate Gourd Vine inside and diverted the Three-Light Divine Water from the lotus pool to irrigate it, nurturing it with her own Dao rhyme.
The seed's tiny sprout soon grew to the height of a finger.
“From now on, you shall grow here. Let's make one thing clear first: you are the absolute last hope of the Innate Gourd Vine, so you aren't allowed to just up and die on me whenever you feel like it.”
Gourd seed: “...”
Daojun shouldn't take advantage of its inability to speak.
After saying her piece, Yuan Heng paid it no more attention, only instructing the two little ones to water it and loosen its soil daily.
Then, after a brief contemplation, she decided she would ask Fellow Daoist Nuwa for some Nine-Heavens Soil later on. After all, it originally grew in such soil, and she really didn't want to accidentally kill it.
Though, with the Three-Light Divine Water, the probability of it dying was very low anyway.
Strolling around a couple more times, Yuan Heng nodded in satisfaction. Excellent, everything looked absolutely perfect~
Until she saw her ugly little palace... This wouldn't do. She would have to find an opportunity later to see if she could ask Fellow Daoist Yuanshi to help forge a new home. Worst case scenario, she would just pay him extra for the material costs.
Sigh, she wondered if artifact refining also covered architectural engineering.
Oh well, she would worry about that later.
Remembering that she was supposed to visit Mount Kunlun in about a thousand years, Yuan Heng called Ling Nü and Susu over and casually wove a fruit basket out of the vines in her courtyard.
She handed it to the two little ones and told them, “In about a thousand years, your Daojun will be visiting Mount Kunlun. Keep an eye on the fruits and spiritual materials in the garden. When they ripen, pluck some and fill this basket up, okay?”
After a moment of thought, she added, “Remember to arrange them beautifully.”
Mhm... style-over-substance fruit basket culture, it was time for you to shine in the Primordial World~
With her instructions given, Yuan Heng went into secluded cultivation, leaving only the two little ones standing there, staring at the a-meter-wide fruit basket in deep thought.
Daojun was as generous and extravagant as always... Ah well, they had plenty of things in the garden anyway.
When Daojun wasn't around, they had also scavenged all over Fangzhang Island. There were plenty of good things in the garden.
They wouldn't miss a few items.
Yuan Heng sat cross-legged on her small bed, and before long, she closed her eyes and entered a new round of cultivation.
In cultivation, one loses track of time...
Who knew how much time had passed, but Yuan Heng finally fully absorbed all the knowledge from the Dao Ancestor's second sermon, and had mostly digested her insights from her time with the Wu tribe.
She opened her eyes, exhaling a soft breath, her face filled with sheer delight. Hehehe, she had reached the peak Daluo realm!
Ah, she hardly dared to imagine—after the third sermon, she might actually have a shot at breaking through to the Quasi-Saint realm~
How delightful.
Yuan Heng got up and stretched her limbs, then stepped out into the courtyard.
Taking a deep breath, the air smelled so wonderfully fragrant~
Seeing her emerge from cultivation, the two attendants immediately scurried over on their short little legs. They hugged her legs from either side, their voices full of affection. “Daojun, you've finished your secluded cultivation.”
“We did a really good job with the task you assigned us~”
Yuan Heng reached down to ruffle their small heads. “Then you two are simply wonderful.”
Ah, they felt incredibly soft to the touch.
“Hehehe~”
Pride filled the faces of the two little ones. They let go, glanced at each other, and ran over together to the side of the stone table, gesturing for Yuan Heng to see if she was satisfied with the fruit basket on the table.
“Daojun, look! Doesn't this count as a beautiful arrangement?”
Yuan Heng shifted her gaze to the stone table, her pupils shrinking slightly. That fruit basket, how should she put it... was so vibrant and complex that she felt as if she were staring at a rainbow.
How could a single fruit basket have such a convoluted color design?
The expression on Yuan Heng's face remained smiling and cheerful, but the complicated feelings in her heart were something no one else could possibly comprehend.
Was using the Huangzhong Plum as a substitute for orange a bit of a stretch? The Chixiao Fruit was red, the cross-pear was yellow, the Heart-Cleansing Grass was green, and the Huiwen Jade Marrow Fruit was white...
Oh dear, she was going to be blinded. The spiritual glows emitted by these treasures gathered together, creating a blinding brilliance.
She had better take it to Mount Kunlun immediately and let her fellow Daoists of the Three Pure Ones evaluate it; she herself simply couldn't appreciate it.
But looking at the two little ones' watery eyes as they eagerly begged for praise, Yuan Heng couldn't bring herself to say anything that would disappoint them.
She slightly averted her eyes, blinding her own aesthetic sensibilities to highly praise the two little ones' handiwork. “Not bad, not bad at all. It's very beautiful. I'm sure Fellow Daoist Tongtian will absolutely love it.”
Fellow Daoist Tongtian aside, she really couldn't bring herself to speak against her conscience regarding the other two.
With a wave of her sleeve, Yuan Heng quickly put away the fruit basket, grabbed the lotus from the pool, threw in some magic treasures warmly gifted by the Wu tribe, and left Fangzhang Island without a moment's delay.
Fellow Daoist Tongtian, Mount Kunlun, here she comes~
“Achoo—”
Tongtian rubbed his itchy nose and looked at his eldest brother sitting across the stone table from him, his sharp, handsome face filled with confusion. “Eldest Brother, am I really not sick?”
“Then why did my heart beat like thunder when I was on Mount Buzhou that day, leaving me so flustered?”
“And I just sneezed, Eldest Brother.”
As Tongtian spoke, he even tugged at his eldest brother's arm. “Eldest Brother, Eldest Brother~ help me take another look. I really feel like something is wrong with my body... It just feels weird.”
“Do you get it, Eldest Brother?”
Taiqing: “...”
He indeed did not get it.
Taiqing looked at his making-a-fuss-over-nothing younger brother and massaged his forehead in exasperation. His third brother was as sturdy as a Kui ox, how could he possibly be sick?
Yuqing frowned, looking at Tongtian's pleading face. On one hand, he felt his third brother's behavior was completely unseemly, but on the other hand, he felt relieved that he himself was not well-versed in medicine, otherwise he would be the one suffering this torment.
A whole two hundred years! His eldest brother had truly suffered.
Phew—
At this moment, even with a Dao Heart as firm as Yuqing's, he couldn't help but feel a bit fortunate.
With a glance from Taiqing, Yuanshi instantly gathered his stray thoughts. He let out a light cough to draw Tongtian's attention. “Little Brother, stop bothering Eldest Brother. Quasi-Saints do not get sick.”
“But I really was very out of sorts earlier...”
Seeing that Tongtian was about to fall into another endless loop of self-contradiction, Taiqing raised his hand and pinched his fingers to calculate, finally divining their future savior.
He looked at Tongtian, changing the subject. “Fellow Daoist Yuan Heng will arrive in a few days. Have you pondered over the question asked previously?”
Tongtian: “...”
He mumbled in a low voice, “Yuan Heng said she wasn't in a hurry.”
Meeting the slightly disapproving gazes of Taiqing and Yuanshi, Tongtian suddenly shuddered. He stood up immediately, his eyes shifting as he quickly fled the scene.
“Duobao, Duobao, my boy! Quickly clean up! A guest is coming!”
“What? You're asking who? It's the one you wanted to gift a house to...”
Watching Tongtian's feigned busyness, Taiqing and Yuqing exchanged a helpless glance.
But the two of them still cared deeply for Tongtian.
Yuanshi tapped his fingertips lightly against the table, his tone carrying a trace of contemplation. “Eldest Brother, then why exactly was Little Brother's heart beating like a drum?”
Taiqing shook his head slightly. “Heaven's secrets cannot be revealed... His body is fine. Do not overthink it.”
Yuanshi: “...”
Why was Eldest Brother speaking in riddles again?
Despite Taiqing's calm exterior, he was actually pondering in his mind how to explain the possibility of their little brother's romantic feelings being stirred to their second brother.
But at the moment, it was only a one-sided interest from their third brother, and he hadn't even realized it himself yet; there were only some faint signs of it.
What if he spoke up, and their third brother's marriage prospects ended up falling through in the end? Then...
Sigh.
Taiqing raised his hand to gently massage his brow. A headache.
Tongtian found Duobao, who was curled up by the spiritual pool playing with a little yellow dragon.
“My boy, Fellow Daoist Yuan Heng will be visiting Kunlun in a few days. Stop playing and go clean up. Don't leave a bad impression on Fellow Daoist Yuan Heng.”
Duobao: Ah? This mouse has to sweep as well?
Duobao stretched out his little paws and pointed at himself, attempting to dodge the chore. Little did he expect Tongtian to immediately call him out. “My boy, you've already taken human form, even if it was accumulated by stuffing yourself with too many spiritual fruits.”
“But you do have a Dao body now. Stop acting cute, quickly revert to your human form, and go sweep the floors, chop-chop!”
Hearing this, Duobao was filled with disbelief. With a flash of spiritual light, he abruptly transformed into his three-head-tall child form. He pointed at himself, blinked his incredibly clear big eyes, and looked up at his giant of a master.
“But, Master, my Dao body isn't even as tall as your shins. Do I still have to sweep all of Kunlun like this?”
Must I really?
He wasn't even as tall as a broom!
Tongtian looked down at his eldest disciple and fell into deep thought. “...Never mind, I'll just clean up with spiritual energy.”
“Duobao, you can keep playing.”
With those stubby legs, even climbing onto a bed would be a struggle. Forget about it.
Duobao: (◕ˇ∀ˇ◕)
This mouse gets to see Senior again~
He couldn't help but imagine how happy Senior would be after he presented her with a gift. When the time came, she would definitely absolutely adore this little mouse~
Thinking of this, Duobao happily chatted with the yellow dragon in the pool. “Little Yellow Dragon, let this mouse tell you, that senior is really a wonderful person...”
“When we met for the first time, she gave this mouse so many treasures and even purified my karma... Oh, let's stop here. I need to go prepare a greeting gift for Senior!”
“Goodbye, Little Yellow Dragon~”
Purified... karma...
Rate on N.U.
