The old village chief, his back hunched, shot Xu Xian a look of feigned annoyance. "You stinky brat, you've been in the immortal sect for six years now, and you still haven't learned to act with a bit of dignity."
Xu Xian grinned. "What did I do to you now?"
The old village chief shook his head and let out a mysterious sigh. "Sigh... you've grown up."
Xu Xian pursed his lips and clicked his tongue. "Tsk, tsk. It's not that I've grown up; it's that you've grown old."
The old village chief lamented, "Since ancient times, reaching seventy has been a rarity. I'm only two years away from seventy myself. How can I not be old?"
A flicker of melancholy passed through Xu Xian's eyes. In Houdao Village, seventy was indeed a rare and long life. In this era, the lifespan of mortals was not particularly long.
He estimated that in a few years, the village chief would likely ride a crane to the heavens.
Fortunately, he had returned.
"Alright, little old man. I'm an immortal now, and I'm quite powerful. Just relax. I'll guarantee you live to a hundred. Your best days are still ahead of you."
The old village chief huffed, his beard twitching. "You boy, you've loved to brag since you were a kid. Becoming an immortal isn't that easy. Do you think your grandfather knows nothing? You've been gone for six years, and I can't even say if you've touched the threshold yet. You're just talking nonsense."
Hearing this, Xu Xian became displeased. He immediately jumped onto a table and pressed his hands down for silence.
"Everyone, quiet!"
The surrounding noise died down as everyone looked on with burning curiosity.
Xu Xian looked toward the distant trees and beckoned with his hand.
"Come!"
Seeing the signal, the four people in the trees immediately perked up.
Zhang Yang said excitedly, "It's our turn to go on stage!"
The four of them summoned their long swords and flew side-by-side on them. Amidst the shock of the Houdao Village residents, they landed in the small courtyard.
The villagers stared with wide eyes, some swallowing hard and others gaping in disbelief.
Once they landed, the four of them cupped their hands and bowed to Xu Xian in perfect unison.
"Greetings, Little Grand-Uncle!"
"Greetings, Little Grand-Uncle!!"
Whoosh~!!
A collective gasp erupted from the crowd, their shock intensifying.
This kind of display?
Incredible!!
Xu Xian stood with his hands behind his back, his gaze sweeping over the surroundings as if looking down upon the world. "Everyone, to tell you the truth, I, Xu Xian, am now the Little Grand-Uncle of the Wendao Sword Sect!"
Zhang Yang chimed in, "That's right!"
Hao Ren cooperated, "I can testify to that!"
The villagers looked at each other.
"What kind of official is a Little Grand-Uncle?" someone asked.
Hao Ren adopted a formal tone and shouted, "It's extraordinary! You could say he is below one but above ten thousand!"
Zhang Yang added, "Yes, we all follow the Little Grand-Uncle's orders!"
The old village chief was half-doubting. "Really?"
"Of course!"
The old village chief: "..."
The villagers: "..."
After showing off a bit, Xu Xian said generously, "Alright, these are all just empty titles, not worth mentioning. Today I've returned to the village, and I'm inviting everyone to eat meat and drink wine! Haha!"
Hearing this, the children cheered and jumped for joy.
"Great! We're eating meat!"
"Eating meat is good! Eating meat is good!"
"..."
Action followed words. They began chopping wood and preparing to cook.
Zhang Yang performed a small trick of lighting a fire with his bare hands, drawing gasps of amazement from everyone.
Hao Ren fetched water without using a bucket, leaving the villagers dumbfounded and clapping in admiration.
As for Lin Qianqian and Wen Qingxue, they were surrounded by a group of women asking all sorts of questions. One didn't even need to listen to know the content...
Whenever the women of these mountains saw a beautiful young girl, their first question was inevitably whether she was betrothed, and if not, they would offer to introduce someone.
There was no escaping it!
Xu Xian took out the meat and bones of Xiushe and began to brew soup and boil the meat.
Mortal fire certainly wouldn't be enough to cook it, so he conjured a handful of spirit fire.
Before long, the aroma of meat filled the courtyard. People flocked over again, poking their heads in and swallowing their saliva repeatedly.
"What kind of meat is this? It's so fragrant!"
"Snake meat?"
"How can snake meat smell this good!"
"I really want to eat some."
The adults were fine, but the children could no longer control themselves and crowded around the pot, stretching their necks.
They looked as if they might accidentally fall in and cook themselves the next second.
Xu Xian quickly scolded, "Back away, everyone! This is immortal fire. Be careful not to be turned into ash."
Only then did the children retreat dejectedly.
"Don't worry, there's enough for everyone. Just wait."
Lin Qianqian and the others naturally gathered around as well. Hao Ren, in particular, stared with wide eyes, saying in disbelief:
"Little Grand-Uncle, if I'm not mistaken, this is... is this king beast meat?"
Hearing "king beast," Wen Qingxue remained relatively calm, but Lin Qianqian and Zhang Yang's eyes went wide.
A king beast.
That meant the sixth stage.
Even in the Northern Borders bordering the Great Desolation, beast beasts of this level were not something one encountered easily.
Xu Xian said leisurely, "Small. Your perspective is too small. Guess higher?"
Hao Ren took a deep breath and said urgently, "Could it be a beast emperor?"
Looking at the four pairs of longing eyes, Xu Xian acted profound. "To be precise, this is the meat of an ancient exotic beast—a beast god."
"Ah!"
"Ah!!"
"Ah!!!"
Even Wen Qingxue, who usually kept her emotions hidden, showed a look of shock upon hearing this.
Xu Xian asked with a smile, "You all know about what happened in Yecheng, right?"
The four nodded.
"You know about the attempt to resurrect Xiushe?"
The four nodded again.
"Xiushe was indeed resurrected!"
"Truly?"
Xu Xian pursed his lips. "How could it be fake? Look... isn't this it right here!"
The four felt a shock in their seas of consciousness, followed by a cold shiver.
"Hiss—"
Wen Qingxue couldn't help but ask, "Xiushe... was really slain by you, Little Grand-Uncle?"
Xu Xian rolled his eyes. "Nonsense. If I hadn't killed it, would I be standing here?"
The four fell into a brief silence...
They felt as if their brains weren't working properly.
They had originally thought Xu Xian's narrow escape was due to some kind of coincidence.
After all, when the Yecheng incident occurred, Xu Xian was only at foundation establishment.
Now it seemed it really was Xu Xian who killed Xiushe.
Even if they wracked their brains, they couldn't figure out how he had done it.
Wen Qingxue knew more than the others; she had personally rushed to the scene. There, they had found the body Xiushe had formed using the blood essence of infants, shattered across the ground and rotted into a murky mess of blood.
That was a forcibly manifested vessel and was inedible.
But what they saw before them was different.
This was the physical meat of a beast beast.
Thus, she was even more confused.
Xu Xian didn't care what they were thinking. He focused on his cooking, not forgetting to tease them:
"So, you're in luck today. Eat plenty later. This stuff is a huge help for increasing your cultivation."
Lin Qianqian's eyes softened, and she nodded obediently. "Okay!"
Zhang Yang swallowed his saliva. "Brother Xian, from now on, my life belongs to you."
The two of them finally understood why Xu Xian had asked them to take leave and accompany him home.
It wasn't for anything else but to give them special treatment.
This favor was very, very heavy.
Hao Ren pondered for a moment and said solemnly, "Little Grand-Uncle, truth be told, I have been a wanderer, drifting through life..."
Hearing the opening, Xu Xian already knew what kind of nonsense he was about to spout and quickly interrupted, "Stop right there. I have no plans to become a father for the time being."
Hao Ren was choked up but didn't feel embarrassed. Instead, he said seriously, "Fine, then tell me when you do have plans."
Xu Xian didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Fine!"
After the others had expressed their stance, they turned their gazes toward Wen Qingxue, as if saying it was her turn.
Wen Qingxue felt a bit at a loss. Although she was already at the seventh stage, the allure of the flesh and blood of an ancient exotic beast was not diminished at all.
After hesitating repeatedly, she said, "I promise not to tell anyone."
Xu Xian: "???"
The other three: "???"
Rate on N.U.
