Decided Just Like That

Su Qing was speechless, but naturally not because Ao Yiyi already knew everyone there.

She was simply speechless that Senior Guanyin Bodhisattva had spoken ill of her...

She really hadn't expected that in Guanyin Bodhisattva's eyes, she was actually so unreliable.

However, Su Qing was too lazy to go and ask Ao Yiyi exactly what kind of bad things Guanyin Bodhisattva had said... after all, she already had a few guesses of her own.

She shrugged helplessly and said, "Even though you already know everyone, it's still better to give a proper greeting."

Ao Yiyi looked at Su Qing.

Although she still had some doubts in her heart.

But since the senior had said so, it was always right to listen to her.

She nodded and said, "I understand."

Seeing her nod, Su Qing knew this girl was the very obedient type, so she said no more.

She simply found Ao Ying and Leng Xiang and recounted the situation to them, even though they likely already knew.

Ao Ying did not have much resistance to Ao Yiyi's arrival.

After all, she knew this was Senior Guanyin Bodhisattva's disciple.

She also knew that Guanyin Bodhisattva was a protective senior who looked after her own...

So she had no objections.

In any case, it was just a matter of adding another set of bowls and chopsticks.

Oh, wait—after Morning Glory left, another person had arrived, so it seemed there wasn't even a need to add more utensils.

Since Ao Ying had no objections, Leng Xiang naturally had none either.

Leng Xiang was even more direct than Ao Ying; she followed Su Qing's lead in everything. Whatever Su Qing said, she would do... after all, she was Su Qing's sword, her sword spirit, and Su Qing was her most important and only master.

And so, Ao Yiyi settled in without much fanfare.

Life on the Changbai Mountains remained as lively as ever.

The night passed quickly.

In the blink of an eye, it was a new day.

In the early morning, when Su Qing came out of her room, she saw Ao Yiyi in the courtyard reciting her morning sutras.

"You're just like Morning Glory, reciting sutras here every morning," Su Qing said in surprise.

Hearing this, Ao Yiyi stopped her recitation, turned back with a slight smile, and said, "It's been a habit for hundreds of years, after all."

Su Qing nodded slightly, having no objection to this, and said, "There's still some time before breakfast. You can continue; I'll call you when it's time to eat."

Hearing Su Qing's words, Ao Yiyi was stunned for a moment...

She had been practicing Bigu for many years and hadn't eaten breakfast in a long time. In fact, she hardly ate at all; the Incense Power and the spiritual energy of heaven and earth were enough to keep her from feeling hunger.

So she couldn't help but find it a bit strange...

Su Qing's strength was clearly far greater than her own.

But why hadn't she started Bigu yet?

In truth, she found it strange that no one on the Changbai Mountains seemed to practice Bigu.

She hadn't interacted much with Su Qing, and the two weren't particularly familiar, having only helped each other a few times. Much of her understanding of Su Qing came from her master.

And Guanyin Bodhisattva's evaluation of Su Qing was highly subjective.

Therefore, Ao Yiyi's understanding of Su Qing was naturally very incomplete.

Regarding the lifestyle habits on the Changbai Mountains, she was naturally not very clear either...

Well, to put it bluntly, her ascetic cultivation had left her lacking in certain areas of 'common sense.'

Fortunately, her personality was quite straightforward. Once a question arose in her mind,

after a brief moment of deliberation, she spoke up and asked Su Qing.

Facing Ao Yiyi's inquiry, Su Qing was also slightly stunned for a moment.

A moment later, she showed an amused expression.

"Of course I've reached the stage of Bigu... In reality, I'm just keeping the habit. Well, although I occasionally feel a sense of hunger, it wouldn't actually matter if I ignored it."

"Keeping the habit?"

"Yeah! If one discards all past habits after becoming an immortal, wouldn't that be quite boring? Look at those people in the Heavenly Court—don't they still hold banquets every few years? Not to mention the Peaches of Immortality Banquet!"

"But that's different..."

"It's not that different. It's all just for the pleasures of the palate."

Su Qing said with a smile:

"Alright, don't overthink these meaningless things. When breakfast is ready later, remember to come and eat! Trust me, the culinary skills of Leng Xiang and me are definitely worth your trust."

Su Qing didn't mind raising another little glutton.

Anyway, there were already quite a few gluttonous fellows on her mountain.

One more wouldn't hurt.

Ao Yiyi looked at Su Qing and, after a long silence, nodded slightly.

Arguing with a senior was a meaningless endeavor.

And her intuition told her that Su Qing wasn't lying to her.

After finishing her chat with Ao Yiyi, Su Qing headed into the kitchen to help with the cooking.

In no time at all, breakfast was ready.

And just as promised, Su Qing went to call the Pearl-Bearing Dragon Girl to eat.

Breakfast was just a simple fried rice, but thanks to their skills, even simple fried rice tasted excellent.

Originally, Su Qing had planned to make egg fried rice, but since she wasn't sure if eggs counted as meat or vegetarian in this context, she simply didn't bother.

Even so, Ao Yiyi ended up eating three large bowls.

Ao Yiyi's appetite even surprised Yudie, who was already quite the glutton herself.

Yudie said blankly, "Dragon Girl Sister... does your master usually not give you anything to eat?"

Hearing this, Ao Yiyi thought for a moment and then nodded slightly.

However, she didn't speak much.

After all, with a mouth full of rice, speaking would cause it to spray out.

That would be quite embarrassing.

Seeing Ao Yiyi nod, Yudie was also stunned for a good while.

After a long time, she muttered to herself, "I'm suddenly a bit worried about little sister Morning Glory's living conditions... she won't be going hungry too, will she?"

Su Qing: "..."

In her heart, she began to feel pity for the misunderstood Guanyin Bodhisattva.

Though, it didn't exactly seem like a misunderstanding.

After all, they really didn't need to eat.

After a brief thought, Su Qing stopped dwelling on it.

This matter had nothing to do with her anyway.

The breakfast antics weren't worth dwelling on.

Afterward, Su Qing began to handle the series of official duties on the Changbai Mountains as usual.

The primary matter was, of course, the development plan for the small town at the foot of the mountain.

For Su Qing, formulating a development plan wasn't difficult; the difficulty lay in making it practical and feasible.

Otherwise, those so-called plans would just end up as a bunch of empty words.

Su Qing walked through the small town below the Changbai Mountains.

Unknowingly, she arrived outside the house where the White-Faced Fox and the White Deer Old Monster were staying.

Su Qing looked up and saw that the father and daughter seemed to have adapted to life here...

Because the two were currently planting vegetables in the courtyard.

Yes, planting vegetables.

This was somewhat unexpected for Su Qing.

She walked to the fence and looked at them with a smile, saying, "It looks like you've adapted to life here?"

Su Qing's arrival surprised both of them, especially the White-Faced Fox, who hadn't expected Su Qing to show up at this time.

"G-G-Greetings, Sovereign," the fox spirit said with a slight stutter, then seemingly remembering something, she hastily performed a salute.

The White Deer Old Monster was much calmer. After saluting, he said, "Since the Sovereign has allowed us to live here, we must naturally live here properly! Even if we aren't used to it, we must slowly get used to it."

Su Qing looked at the two and nodded slightly, saying, "That's good... Your addition might even bring some changes to this town."

As she spoke, Su Qing suddenly remembered that these two seemed like they could be put to other uses.

However, she didn't have much of a relationship with them, and it seemed a bit improper to just exploit their labor for nothing...

She thought for a moment and, after their flattering words ended, said, "I have some matters to entrust to you..."

Hearing this, the White Deer Old Monster immediately perked up and said quickly, "Please give your orders, Sovereign. This old man will certainly see them done."

"Mhm, don't worry, I won't make you work for nothing," Su Qing chuckled, then gave him instructions on the tasks she wanted him to handle.

In truth, what Su Qing ordered wasn't anything particularly special; it was mainly some administrative affairs for the town.

After all, she couldn't run down to the town every single day...

So she naturally needed a better representative.

Just like the Earth God from before.

As for Leng Xiang...

Well, Leng Xiang was actually even less skilled in these matters.

Everything she did was arranged by Su Qing herself.

When Su Qing wasn't around, Ao Ying was the one in charge of arrangements.

So... Leng Xiang was actually quite unreliable.

Aside from fighting, cooking, and housework, she was rather unreliable in other areas.

Hearing Su Qing's instructions and learning that the tasks weren't particularly difficult,

the White Deer Old Monster naturally expressed his loyalty without hesitation and was very willing to help...

For him, if he could gain Su Qing's trust so easily, it was definitely a winning deal.

So, what was there to hesitate about?

"Right, regarding your compensation... To be honest, I'm not entirely sure what to give you. Why don't you suggest something yourself? You should know best what you need."

Su Qing looked at the White Deer Old Monster with a smile and continued:

"Of course, I hope the compensation you propose is reasonable! If it's unreasonable, I will refuse."

Su Qing wouldn't mistreat those who worked for her, but she also didn't want to make a losing bargain...

Treating people with integrity had always been one of her creeds.

Of course, at certain times, this creed could be overlooked.

Well, at certain times.

Seeing Su Qing say this, the White Deer Old Monster fell silent for a moment, then said with a smile, "The Sovereign can probably guess the compensation I desire... I only hope that you will take in my daughter."

Hearing this, Su Qing couldn't help but roll her eyes and said, "If I'm not mistaken, that's your wish, right? Is your daughter truly willing to follow me?"

Su Qing felt this wasn't the first time she had asked this question.

But she still didn't think that fox spirit, who lacked her own opinions, could have thoughts of her own.

In her view, it was mostly the White Deer Old Monster's decision.

And the fox spirit was merely going along with it.

As she spoke, both Su Qing's and the White Deer's gazes fell upon the fox spirit.

Being stared at by the two, the fox spirit felt a great deal of pressure and didn't know how to speak for a moment.

"Don't be nervous, you just need to speak your true thoughts... After all, I'm not a bad person. I won't eat you just because you say the wrong thing." Su Qing didn't quite understand why the girl was so nervous looking at her.

Although her strength was indeed much greater than the fox's...

She didn't look scary, did she? Was there any need to be so fearful?

It made her feel like some kind of heinous villain.

Seeing Su Qing say this, even though she was still extremely nervous, the fox spirit had no choice but to try and appear less so.

She gritted her teeth and said, "I... I truly wish to follow the Sovereign. After all, by following you, I will surely be able to learn more things and see more of the world."

Su Qing: "..."

Although she didn't want to admit it, as a cultivator, she spent most of her time as a homebody, staying at home to cultivate.

So she felt that following her wouldn't actually let the girl see much of the world.

However... since the girl had said so,

she couldn't very well keep rebuffing the White Deer Old Monster.

After all, continuing to do so would be a bit of a slap in the face.

While Su Qing was silent, the fox spirit added weakly, "Sovereign... this humble girl doesn't ask for you to marry her. I-I only ask that you be willing to take me in as a maidservant. I... I'm very good at working!"

Su Qing looked at the fox spirit with a speechless expression...

To be honest, this fox spirit was indeed beautiful, and her soft, delicate appearance just now was quite pitiable.

But... she already had a woman by her side who was an all-rounder in housework and very good at serving people.

Yes, that person was Leng Xiang.

In the past, Leng Xiang was always worried about being discarded or not being needed, so she always did everything to the best of her ability.

Whether it was cooking or housework, Leng Xiang could be called a jack-of-all-trades.

It was the same now...

So, she really didn't need a maidservant to do anything for her.

Only...

Su Qing looked at the fox spirit and thought for a long time before finally nodding helplessly and saying:

"I understand... I will take you with me, but not right now... Also, I hope you won't regret your choice."

Hearing this, the White-Faced Fox immediately broke into a smile and said, "I-I understand. I will quietly await your word, Sovereign."

Su Qing gave a wordless smile, then turned and said, "Alright, I'm leaving now. I'll leave the rest to you. I hope you can handle everything well."

The White Deer Old Monster naturally knew these words were directed at him and nodded quickly, saying, "This old man will certainly do his duty."

Soon Su Qing departed, vanishing without a trace.

Seeing him go, the old white deer let out a sigh of relief, while inwardly grumbling about Su Qing for quite a while.

Only then did he turn his head to speak to the fox spirit, intending to lecture the girl a bit more.