Chapter 557: Fireflies in the Night (part 2)

Chapter 557: Fireflies in the Night (part 2)

Xu Qing looked at the sky and saw that it was roughly noon. He nodded. Together with Ling’er, he left the house and started strolling through the city. Ling’er was in very high spirits, and couldn’t hold back from hopping and skipping almost like a child. She was so cute that many city residents noticed her and smiled. Some families brought out food as gifts. Ling’er would offer spirited greetings and scarf the food down happily. Ling’er’s child-like innocence made Xu Qing smile.

They walked around corners and down streets until eventually they passed a school. The class topic was plants and vegetation, which caused Xu Qing to stop and look over.

It was an open-air classroom that all children in the city could attend. The lecturer was a middle-aged woman. She had no legs, and sat in a wheelchair as she gave a very serious lecture about plants and vegetation. She was surrounded by children between the ages of about seven and thirteen, and all of them were paying very close attention.

There was one young girl who seemed completely absorbed in the information as she listened and took notes. That young girl was none other than Shi Pangui’s sister. Seeing her reminded Xu Qing of his days back in the scavenger basecamp. After Grandmaster Bai had invited him in to attend lectures, he had paid attention as raptly as this young girl was paying attention.

After watching for a short time, he turned and left.

Another half a month passed.

Heavenfire Skycrossing was to last for three months. Xu Qing had spent the first month in the cave temple above. He had spent the second month in the city. He was not the type of person who liked a lot of hustle and bustle, so he spent most of his time in his room meditating.

Ling’er, in contrast, got bored easily. At first, she kept asking Xu Qing to go out with her, but eventually, when she got familiar with the city, she didn’t hesitate to go out on her own. Although Xu Qing doubted she would run into any trouble, he arranged for Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior to go along with her and keep her safe.

It didn’t take long for Ling’er to become a lot more popular than Xu Qing in the city. And thanks to Shi Pangui’s wife, she got to know a lot of the other women in the city, both those her age, and also the older ones. All of them seemed to really like her, and of course, everyone was curious about her relationship with Xu Qing.

Whenever that got brought up, Ling’er would blush shyly. Before long, the women of the city had taken it upon themselves to teach her how to cook. As they said, the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.

Ling’er excitedly devoted herself fully to mastering cooking. There were other women who emphasized how important it was for her to learn how to sew. After all, a woman couldn’t let her man go around in clothes some other woman had fixed. After that, Ling’er was even more excited to learn sewing. She was determined that, going forward, she would be the one to mend all of her Big Bro Xu Qing’s clothing.

Five days after Ling’er had started to learn how to cook, Xu Qing ate one of her meals for the first time. She bustled around the kitchen for two hours before presenting him with several dishes.

Xu Qing looked down at the blackened vegetables, then up at Ling’er’s expectant, and also slightly nervous, expression. He took a bite. It took him a while to chew it up and swallow it down.

“What’s wrong, Big Bro Xu Qing?” she asked nervously. “Is it good?”

A long moment passed, and then Xu Qing smiled. “It’s delicious.”

Ling’er burst with joy. “Then eat some more, Big Bro Xu Qing!” New novel chapters are published on

Xu Qing hesitated, then went ahead and finished all the food. After, he prepared to go back to meditation.

“Don’t worry, Big Bro Xu Qing,” Ling’er said exuberantly, “I’ll cook again tomorrow!”

Xu Qing was quiet for several breaths of time, then he nodded.

Ling’er wasn’t the only one getting popular in the city. Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior also took human form, and quickly started becoming very well-known. In fact, he soon became more popular than Ling’er, despite getting a later start than her. The reason was that, while accompanying Ling’er around the city, he’d found a place where storytellers would ply their trade. After listening to one of the storytellers, and being far from impressed, he’d taken the stage and told the story of one of the books he’d read.

He gently explained, “Seven-leaf clover, also known as mutagen-expelling grass, is a spirit plant with a single long blade similar to wood rices. It’s a perennial grass that grows in the shade in humid, wide-open areas. It will not grow in areas that the broken face of the god has looked at directly.”

The girl wrote down everything that Xu Qing said. Then she quickly asked a second question about something she’d learned previously. Both of these questions were things her teacher hadn’t been able to explain.

Xu Qing patiently offered a detailed explanation. The girl kept asking questions, one after another. As he provided the answers, he could see how determined this girl was to learn about plants and vegetation, also how outstanding her memory was. The latter was one of the foundational elements in learning about plants and vegetation. The question-and-answer session lasted for about four hours. After that, the girl came over every few days. On one particular day, she came with even more sweet potatoes than before, which she carefully placed off to the side before starting up with more questions.

Xu Qing eyed the sweet potatoes, smiled, and then launched into his explanations.

When evening came, the girl sighed contentedly and left with a smile on her face. However, later that night, her brother Shi Pangui brought her back to apologize and promise she wouldn’t bother him again.

Xu Qing looked at how nervous both of them looked, and was about to speak when he noticed the obstinate look in the girl’s eyes. After some thought, he just nodded. He was curious to see if the girl would come back to ask more questions.

A few days later, she came back.

This time, she changed tactics. She timidly took some medicinal plants out and asked, “Teacher, is this the golden twistgrass you mentioned?” [1]

Xu Qing looked at the little plant with an odd expression on his face. Then he looked back at the girl. Eyes shining with a profound look, he went on to explain how to tell golden twistgrass apart from plants that looked somewhat like it.

The girl apparently believed her tactic to be very effective, because in the following days, she kept bringing random plants to ask similar questions. Xu Qing always went into a very detailed explanation.

Time passed. Before long, the Heavenfire Skycrossing was coming to an end. Calculations indicated that there were only ten more days. At that point, the sea of flames would retreat, and the Heavenfire Skycrossing wouldn’t come again for a few more decades.

It’s almost time to leave, Xu Qing thought. With that, he cast his senses out until he located Ling’er, who was practicing sewing with some of the older women in the city. And then he found Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior, who was prattling on to a large crowd. Xu Qing looked out at all the people in the city, and in the end, all he could do was sigh.

“You’re leaving?” Duanmu Zang asked. He had just appeared out of nowhere in the room.

Xu Qing nodded.

Duanmu Zang sat down. “You have nice alcohol.”

Xu Qing grinned. He transferred about half of the alcohol he’d brought along into a separate bag of holding and handed it to Duanmu Zang.

Duanmu Zang accepted it, looked inside, and then broke out into a smile. He looked up at Xu Qing.

“I’m not just going to take your alcohol without compensation. I noticed how you were zipping around up at the Heavenfire Sea. My guess is that you need the heavenfire from there to cultivate some sort of magical technique. I can lend you a secret treasure that will give you extra protection against the fire. It’ll allow you to sink much deeper into the lava. That way, you won’t attract attention as easily, and you should be much safer.”

As the words left his mouth, he reached out his hand and opened his palm. Resting there was a gruish brown eyeball covered with blood-red veins, looking right at Xu Qing.

1. Golden twistgrass was previously mentioned in chapters 21, 207, and 351. ?