Chapter 44: Spiritual Essence

Zhang Ke watched dazedly as Song Yu and Fu Li blew human figures into being. The mass of ‘Fu Li, Song Yu, and Zhang Ke’ figures morphed into green smoke and drifted out the window. Zhang Ke nearly tumbled down the hotel’s bed. Were all great yao so powerful?

“No worries, they’re similar to doppelgangers; all the things they’ve done will become part of our memories when they’re back,” Fu Li explained, thinking that Zhang Ke was worried about their work. “They act on our will, so it’s equivalent to us completing the task personally.”

“Fu ge, it’ll have been good if I’d known you during high school,” That way, he could have his doppelganger attend class while he slept in. He wouldn’t have to do homework and practice magic at night either; that would practically be a beautiful paradise.

“Your cultivation base is too weak, forget about relying on it as a shortcut,” Song Yu exposed him without the slightest shred of mercy. “Although you can’t be faulted either. The human cultivators nowadays are all very weak.”

“Oh,” Zhang Ke’s expression was indifferent.

The Suanyu was willing to ingratiate himself to Fu ge, but had never been tactful when conversing with anyone else. However, their social structure was based on strength, so he chose to accept it with a smile.

Coming to terms with this, he adopted a positive attitude and changed the topic. “Then what will we do now?” Were they just going to remain in the hotel and wait for the doppelgangers to finish registering the cultivators in Sichuan before heading to the other provinces?

“I have some personal things I would like to do, would you like to tag along?” Fu Li asked Zhang Ke, a broad smile on his face.

“Sure, sure,” Zhang Ke nodded repeatedly.

He was young after all; he would have a stronger sense of curiosity.

Fu Li carried Zhang Ke and flew to the top of a tall mountain. Trembling, Zhang Ke wrapped both arms around himself. Stepping on the snow beneath his shoes, he dared not move recklessly. All of a sudden, the winds grew turbulent, and the clouds in the sky seemed to turn into an immense vortex. There was a sense of terror that the sky was on the brink of collapsing.

“S-Suanyu…”

“Call me Song ge.”

“Song ge,” Zhang Ke tugged on Song Yu’s sleeve and watched Fu Li, who was flying in the sky. His voice shook. “What does Fu ge want to do?”

“I think he wants to gather the mountain’s spiritual essence. What does he want with something meant for amusing children?” Song Yu was confused. To yao cultivators, this sort of spiritual essence was akin to the milk favored by little children. Fu Li was nearly four thousand years old, had he still not been weaned off it?

“What is s-spiritual essence?” Zhang Ke’s teeth chattered nonstop. Only after sticking multiple talismans on his body did the shivers ease.

“It’s a spiritual liquid produced only after a mountain with spiritual qi undergoes a thousand years of change. It congeals after a thousand years and then becomes a stalactite if its not taken by anyone within a hundred years,” Song Yu observed that Fu Li’s movements weren’t practiced despite the fact that he had sufficient cultivation and was using the right method. From this, he could tell that Fu Li had never done such a thing in the past.

“Will it still have any use if it becomes a stalactite?” Zhang Ke felt that something that only formed after a thousand years had to be very impressive. It would be quite a pity if no one took it.

“The fruit produced by a tree becomes dry and bitter if they aren’t plucked. Do you think those have any use?” Song Yu clicked his tongue. “Things past their expiration date are completely useless.”

Zhang Ke continued watching Fu Li gather spiritual essence in silence. Traveling with these two great yao had truly broadened his horizons.

Sichuan had many mountainous areas, though it was a pity that there were virtually no yao cultivators in this age who knew how to gather spiritual essence. After so many years of change, it was unknown how much spiritual essence had gone to waste during the passage of time.

To Fu Li, spiritual essence was something that he frequently drank when he was young. When he finished drinking it, the yao cultivators on the mountain would casually give him a few bottles. Nobody treated it as a rarity. Two thousand years was not considered very long to yao cultivators, but Fu Li realized that the things he was accustomed to were no longer passed on in the present era.

“Rise!” He cried out suddenly. Bluish-green drops of dew surged from all directions. It was possible for spiritual essence to turn into stalactites in the blink of an eye after leaving the mountain. Thus, Fu Li swiftly used his cultivation to suck all the spiritual essence into the jade bottle in his hand.

He shook the bottle with some disappointment. The spiritual essence was no longer as pure as it was in the past. The amount harvested was also poor. The current age really couldn’t be compared to the past.

Fu Li looked up at the sky covered with dense black clouds and bowed deeply towards the mountain. After thanking them for the gift, he flew back to Song Yu and Zhang Ke.

“F-Fu ge,” Zhang Ke looked at the jade bottle in Fu Li’s hands. There wasn’t even a hundred millimeters of it, yet he’d had to go through such lengths to obtain it.

“Don’t worry, I set up a barrier and didn’t deal any damage to nature. There aren’t any humans here either, so I can’t be considered to have violated the law,” Fu Li placed the jade bottle containing the spiritual essence into his Qiankun Pouch. “I won’t knowingly break the law.”

“That’s not what I meant. I’m just a bit curious,” Zhang Ke’s face was filled with a yearning for knowledge. “So even large mountains can bear fruit.”

“Human cultivators can’t eat this, though this is suitable for you,” Fu Li spread out his left hand, revealing a jade bowl in his palm. Zhang Ke watched as countless green dots seeped out of the plants and converged in the bowl.

“What is this?” As Zhang Ke stared at the bowl, he felt an indescribable thirst coursing through his entire body. The green juice in the jade bowl seemed to be beckoning to him to drink it.

“There is spirit in all living things; this is their gift,” Fu Li handed the bowl to Zhang Ke. Unable to control his body’s instinctual craving for it, Zhang Ke held up the bowl and drained the liquid in one gulp.

After the liquid entered his mouth, Zhang Ke felt as if his arteries and veins were being thoroughly cleansed. Every pore was imbued with the spiritual qi of Heaven and Earth. By the time he came to his senses, he could feel that his state of mind and cultivation base had undergone major growth.

Opening his eyes, he learnt from Fu Li and respectfully bowed deeply towards the vegetation around them. Only then did he bow to Fu Li as thanks. “Many thanks Fu ge.” Improvements in one’s state of mind and cultivation base was akin to the entire person having risen to another level. The world they saw was also different.

Fu Li smiled. “Since you know to thank them, these things haven’t gone to waste.”

The mountain breeze swept past and the trees on the mountain swayed. Their endurance was a silent one – no matter whether it was summer or winter, the soil beneath them was their home.

Song Yu glanced at Zhang Ke and then gazed up at the sky. The roiling black clouds had already dispersed, leaving a boundless blue. There was something he hadn’t told Zhang Ke – this sort of mountainous spiritual essence could only be obtained by auspicious creatures. Great yao like him who were born fiends would definitely be met with the whistling of gale, heavy rain, and even lightning bolts if they were to attempt to obtain it.

The moment Fu Li took the spiritual essence, the wind and clouds in the sky had undergone a sudden change. At that time, he had thought it strange. A rabbit who took form after receiving a chance from heavenly law and had four thousand years’ worth of cultivation should not be a fiend no matter how one looked at it. As expected, everything went peacefully from start to end. It seemed that the natural rapid changes in Sichuan’s weather had caused him to misunderstand.

“What are you looking at?” Fu Li also took a few glances at the sky. “It’s not like you’re the Golden Crow, do you think you can fly around the world and stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the sun?”

“That wouldn’t be possible even if I were the Golden Crow. Those were all fabricated by humans,” Song Yu had been asked many odd questions by his colleagues while he was staying at the management bureau, and only then did he realize that there were many bizarre stories surrounding yao cultivators in the human world. “Boss, you’re still young, don’t be cheated by the stories the humans came up with.”

Zhang Ke, “…”

If a four-thousand-year-old person could be called young, then what was he? A preschooler?

When they returned to the hotel at night, Zhang Ke had just sat down on the bed when three paper people flew through the window. Upon landing on the ground, they turned into the three of them. Zhang Ke hadn’t reacted when his own doppelganger directly approached him. His forehead chilled and extra memories appeared in his mind. The memories were very real, as if he had personally experienced them.

“How do you feel?” Fu Li asked with concern.

“I’m all right, just feeling a little dizzy,” Zhang Ke kneaded his temples.

“You aren’t used to it since it’s your first time, so it’s normal to feel a bit dizzy,” Fu Li looked Zhang Ke up and down. “When you’ve forged the body of an immortal, using such techniques will become easier.”

As the Qingxiao Sect’s most outstanding human cultivator disciple in a hundred years, Zhang Ke had built up his foundation at the age of eighteen and formed his core at thirty years old. The rate at which he progressed could already be considered amazingly rapid. Now that he heard Fu Li talk about ‘forging the body of an immortal’ as if it was as simple as going to the toilet, Zhang Ke felt that all the talk about him being a cultivation genius was merely a lie. He was clearly just someone who stood out amongst everyone else, there was no link between him and the word ‘genius’.

With the use of the doppelganger technique, Fu Li’s group of three very quickly completed the census registration in Sichuan and Qian An. When they arrived at Nanzhao province, the climate was pleasant, and the scenery was not bad. Coupled with the fact that Fu Li and Song Yu had both not seen much of the world, they insisted on taking a look around the area. Thus, Zhang Ke could only admit defeat and follow after the two of them, buying tickets and forking out money.

Yao cultivators had endless physical strength. Zhang Ke looked at Fu Li and Song Yu ahead of him, dressed in the attire of the local ethnic group. Panting, he said, “Fu ge, Suan-Song Yu, let’s eat first before walking around.”

These two great lords had walked for an entire day without even stopping once.

“You’re tired?” Song Yu looked back at Zhang Ke, his face filled with regret. “You’re a man, yet your physical strength is so poor, tsk tsk tsk.”

Zhang Ke chuckled sarcastically.

I can’t beat you, so I won’t lower myself to your level.

After dinner, there was a light drizzle, so the stone pavement was wet. From time to time, couples would walk past with their hands linked as they chatted in low voices. Affection overflowed from them. While Song Yu and Zhang Ke bickered, Fu Li spoke to them, “You two can take your time to talk, I’ll go out for a walk.”

Under the gorgeous lights of the streetlamps, the simple, unadorned buildings took on a certain distinctive flavor. Fu Li hadn’t walked far when he was stopped by several girls asking for a photo together. At his agreement, the girls covered their mouths and laughed into their sleeves. After taking the photo, they ran off with red faces, resembling cheerful little birds.

There was a tiny sparrow on a willow tree at the side. The rain had wet its wings, its damp feathers drooping in a clump. It was a very pitiful sight.

Fu Li came to a halt and looked at it. Seemingly aware of his gaze, the tiny sparrow hopped a few times on the branch, yet didn’t fly off.

One human and one bird gazed at each other in this silly manner. Only when the sound of footsteps echoed from behind did the tiny sparrow flap its wings. It flew across a brook, past the green roof tiles of a house opposite, and vanished into the night.

Fu Li looked back and saw that it was a handsome man in a suit and bowtie.

“Hello, we meet again,” The man walked over and stood in front of Fu Li. His leather shoes were squeaky clean, which made the few drops of muddy water on them that much more conspicuous. Fu Li couldn’t stop himself from lowering his head and taking a few more looks at it.

Thinking that Fu Li didn’t remember who he was, the man revealed a gentle smile. “My name is Fu Si. I once saw you at Affinity Moon Hotel.”

Fu Li suddenly remembered that some rich second generation had organized a party for singles when he was close to resigning. At that time, trash littered the ground, and only one human with outstanding looks had picked up the rubbish beside his feet. This man seemed to be that person. “Hello.”

Seeing that Fu Li could recall him, the smile on Fu Si’s face brightened. “For some reason, you felt very familiar the first time I saw you. Only when I asked about your name the next time I went to the hotel did I find out that you had already resigned. I didn’t expect us to so coincidentally meet at a place more than two thousand kilometers away from the capital.”

The man was extremely graceful, as if he had received the best upbringing since young. Even in the busy streets of an old city, he stood out among the surrounding passersby. His smiling appearance was very good-looking. The girls that passed by the road even secretly took measure of him from the corner of their eyes.

“You might feel that certain words are ridiculous when spoken out loud. Even I feel that it’s a bit inconceivable,” Fu Si extended a hand to Fu Li. “Mr Fu, would you like to be friends?”

Fu Li didn’t take his hand. “It’s fine, I won’t laugh no matter what you say.”

Fu Si retracted his hand and turned, gazing at the running water in the brook. “I seem to have met you in my dreams. We were staying in a very large cave and had many conversations, did many things…”

He looked at Fu Li with some embarrassment. “Has Mr Fu experienced such a thing?” He looked at Fu Li with a burning gaze, as if seeking an answer.

Fu Li swiftly shook his head. “No.”

Silence settled between the two people once more. A hint of disappointment appeared on Fu Si’s face. Only after a long period of time had passed did he squeeze out a smile again. “Is that so? It seems I overthought. May I know if Mr Fu is willing to leave me a number? In the future…”

“Fu ge!” Zhang Ke rushed over. “We’ve booked a room, do we want to rest first?”

“Okay,” Fu Li nodded before nodding again at Fu Si. “Goodbye.”

Fu Si smiled gently, not a trace of fury from being rejected on his face. “Take care.”

Zhang Ke felt that this person was a bit familiar. After walking a distance, he suddenly said, “Fu ge, I remember now. That man is a famous youth entrepreneur in our country, how did you get to know him?”

“We didn’t know each other in the past,” Fu Li shook his head. “His aura was a bit strange, could he be a yao cultivator who took form after receiving a heavenly chance?”

“Impossible. Given his status in the human world, he would have long been registered in the book if he was a yao cultivator who received a heavenly chance. Moreover, even Chu Yu could tell in one glance that you weren’t human. There’s no reason why Chu Yu wouldn’t be able to see through him,” Zhang Ke replied. “He looked at you in a very strange way. Did he find out your real identity?”

“No, he thought that we met in our past lives.”

“I never expected such a famous entrepreneur to hit on someone in such an old-fashioned way.” Zhang Ke sneezed and joked, “Maybe he really isn’t joking and genuinely met you in a past life.”

“Not possible,” Fu Li shook his head firmly. “The death of a human is akin to a lamp that has been extinguished. Everything is ashes to ashes, dust to dust. The human that interacted with me has long since gone to be reincarnated. Who knows how many lifetimes they’ve led?”

“You’re that sure?” Zhang Ke unconsciously glanced back. Fu Si was still standing at his original spot. He seemed to have always been looking at them. In a flurry, he shifted his line of sight. “Are there any similarities in their appearance?”

Fu Li suddenly came to a stop. There was a complex expression on his face.

“W-What’s wrong?” Zhang Ke was a bit anxious. Did he say something wrong?

“Nothing,” Fu Li looked somewhat embarrassed. “I forgot what he looked like.”

For some inexplicable reason, Zhang Ke imagined a resentful, emotional grievance between a slag yao and a deeply emotional human.

“I can’t actually be faulted for this. Everyone on the mountain usually uses their original form. At that time, I had little contact with humans, so in my eyes, all of you have two eyes and one nose. Apart from some differences in height and size, there aren’t many other differences.”

Zhang Ke glanced at Fu Li’s good-looking human face and then touched his own face. How was this difference not big?

Fu Li tried very hard to justify himself. He had to let Zhang Ke believe that it wasn’t his memory that was poor, but the humans who lacked distinguishing characteristics. “Can you humans tell between cats of the same breed? After a few decades, will you still be able to remember what they look like?”

These words… seemed to make sense?

Fu Li thought about the hamster that he had raised in his childhood. After the hamster died, he cried and gave it a burial. After more than twenty years, all he remembered was that he had a pet hamster that year. As for whether or not he could distinguish it from other hamsters of the same breed, it might have been a bit fatter?

In the latter half of the night, Zhang Ke woke with a start and abruptly sat up on the bed.

“Fu ge actually raised a human as a pet?!”

This was the crux, how could he have forgotten to ask about it before going to bed?

With the help of the doppelganger technique, Zhang Ke’s waist no longer ached, nor did his legs hurt. While his other colleagues were still walking the streets and crossing alleys, the three of them had already finished buying their gifts, which they stuffed into Fu Li’s Qiankun pouch. Then, they effortlessly took the train back to the capital.

Song Yu, who disdained the taste of train food, didn’t forget to switch on his phone and livestream a performance of him eating a bento box. The netizens tipped him while praising him for being a nouveau riche.

If he wasn’t a nouveau riche, how could he bear to spend so much money on the train’s bento boxes and even use data to live stream?

After his livestream ended, Song Yu told Fu Li, “The humans nowadays are really boring, they can even get this excited from watching others eat.”

Zhang Ke chuckled sarcastically and covered his face. He was too ashamed to face the amazed gazes of the other passengers.

“Boss, Fu ge’s back!” Chu Yu raced into Zhuang Qing’s office in high spirits, sneakily took a bag of Da Hong Pao from Zhuang Qing’s tea box, and turned tail and ran.

Hearing the joyous cries outside as well as the never-ending wave of greetings, Zhuang Qing shook his head helplessly. Turning his head, he saw his tea box that had been secretly opened. The smile on his face immediately dimmed by half.

His Wuyi Da Hong Pao!

The moment everyone who had endured the torment of the Kunpeng’s energy saw Fu Li, their physical and mental states relaxed, as if they were faced with the sun in the middle of winter or ice popsicles during summer. Although the Kunpeng had never made trouble for them, they couldn’t help feeling scared just by thinking that he was living in the management bureau.

In the whole bureau, Fu Li was on the best terms with the Kunpeng. Thus, Fu Li’s return instantly gave them a sense of security.

Thinking that these colleagues liked the gifts he had brought back, Fu Li decided to buy more back the next time he went there. After bantering with his colleagues, he accepted the tea Chu Yu handed him and walked towards Zhuang Qing’s office while carrying the teacup.

The door to Zhuang Qing office wasn’t closed. Upon reaching the door, Fu Li saw Zhuang Qing holding a tea box in a daze, his expression brimming with deep resentment. He knocked on the door. “Zhuang Qing, can I come in?”

“En, come in,” Zhuang Qing placed the tea box down and sat upright. “How are you dealing with the new work?”

“Quite well, they’re all relatively simple,” Fu Li had prepared a portion of the gifts for Zhuang Qing. He placed down the teacup in his hand and reached into his Qiankun pouch to fish out the presents.

Zhuang Qing sniffed and then fixed his gaze on the teacup that emanated a fragrant scent. He took another look at Fu Li. His face… remained blank.

“These are the gifts I prepared for you,” Fu Li placed a large bag of items on the table. Zhuang Qing’s gaze drilled over. There were some flower cakes, nuts, tea leaves, and whatnot.

“You’re a rabbit, yet you’re still giving me rabbit meat?” Zhuang Qing pulled out a vacuum-sealed package of mala rabbit heads from the gifts.

“Don’t you guys like eating rabbit meat?” Confusion decorated Fu Li’s face. “Anyway, the rabbit meat is already there. Even if you guys don’t eat it, others will. I’m a very tolerant yao. As long as I’m not asked to eat it, you guys can eat rabbits however you like to eat them.”

“Thank you,” Zhuang Qing looked at the pile of items covering his entire desk. A very, very, very slight flush quietly crept up his face.

“You’re welcome,” Fu Li picked up the cup of tea given to him by Chu Yu and took a large gulp of it. “I’ll head out then.”

He walked to the door but turned back again.

“What’s wrong?” Zhuang Qing, who was about to tear the packaging of the mala rabbit heads, swiftly drew back his hands.

“This is for you,” Fu Li gave him a gourd-shaped jade bottle. “Give it a try first, see if it’s to your liking.”

Zhuang Qing took the jade bottle and opened the cover. After a moment of hesitation, he took a sip. He didn’t know how to describe the taste, but his soul seemed to rejoice as he consumed it.

He couldn’t stop himself from consuming the strange substance in the bottle in one mouth. The tip of his tongue licked the mouth of the bottle with some reluctance. Remembering that Fu Li was still present, he hurriedly placed the bottle down and asked nonchalantly, “What is this?”

It turned out Zhuang Qing really hadn’t seen or drank it before.

The traditions of the dragon race had not been lost, so there was no way they didn’t know of the existence of spiritual essence or the way to gather it. Yet, Zhuang Qing hadn’t drunk it. He hadn’t even seen it. What kind of bitter life had this dragon led when he was young?

“Spiritual essence. It’s suitable for underaged yao cultivators to drink,” Fu Li didn’t dare to go too in-depth for fear of saddening Zhuang Qing. “If you like it, I can help you collect it in the future?”

“Underaged?” Zhuang Qing’s expression turned heavy. “Fu Li, are you deliberately using this to make fun of me?”

“Everything was going fine, why did you get angry again?” Seeing that Zhuang Qing’s expression didn’t seem quite right, Fu Li scuttled out of the office and stuck his head through the doorway. “I already told you many times that you shouldn’t have such a bad temper at a young age. This was something I specially collected for you and it’s beneficial for your body. It’s very normal for underaged yao cultivators to drink this. In those years, I drank spiritual essence till I was more than two thousand years ago before weaning off it. It’s not like drinking this will make you lose face.”

“Get out!” With a wave of his hand, Zhuang Qing flung the door close, shutting Fu Li out.

Why did drinking spiritual essence become similar to drinking milk when he put it that way?

He stood in front of his office desk for a very long time. After setting up a barrier at the door and confirming that nobody outside would barge in, his hand inched forward and slowly grabbed hold of the gourd-shaped jade bottle.

And then, he placed the jade bottle into his own Qiankun pouch at a speed exceeding lightning.

He inhaled. The sweet scent of the spiritual essence still seemed to pervade the air.

Ilyz: Merry Christmas!????❄️⛄