ALL NOVEL 38. The Golden Sun Sect sure is a small place….
Even though Wen Zhihao was not one of her direct disciples, Elder Liu Ru couldn’t help but be mildly concerned. His high cultivation given his age showed that he had diligence, and as an Elder, Liu Ru should be guiding such promising individuals.
The peculiar point was that despite Wen Zhihao’s Golden Core cultivation, his talismans did not reflect those of other Golden Core talisman cultivators. If so, how exactly was Wen Zhihao cultivating?
A few days later, Elder Liu Ru was at the Talisman Hall when Disciple Wen Zhihao came by to drop off his monthly quota of talismans and pick up his allowance.
“This disciple greets Elder Liu Ru,” Wen Zhihao said politely when he saw her. There was a golden robed inner sect disciple with him. That disciple also bowed.
“This disciple greets Elder Liu Ru.”
Elder Liu Ru nodded to both of them. “Disciple Wen, I have heard that you are now interested in growing magical herbs. Did you wish to transfer again?”
Wen Zhihao gave her respectful smile without any errors. “Elder Liu Ru, please rest assured that I have no intention of changing my cultivation pathway. Elder, the truth is that I have spent some time cultivating tropical fruit plants with some of the staff of the Golden Sun Sect.”
Elder Liu Ru: …
Did she hear that right? Fruit? It was true that there were some highly sought out fruit from the southern regions.
“What kind of fruits?” she asked.
“Oh, mangos and bananas and durian.”
Elder Liu Ru: …
Was he a cultivator or a mortal?!
Wen Zhihao smiled flatteringly. “I will give Elder Liu some when they are ripe. Rest assured that I have fulfilled my monthly quota. I have also developed this.”
He took out a small potted flower from his spatial storage. With a touch, it started to glow. With both hands and a lowered head, he held it out to her.
“This disciple gifts this to Elder Liu Ru. Watering two or three times a week will keep its vitality. The light from this plant is very good for your eyes and is especially suited to use when writing talismans at night or indoors.”
Elder Liu Ru: …
This looked very similar to some of the new light-emitting items that some of the crafting cultivators had been making recently. Did he want to become a crafting cultivator instead?
….Forget it ba, at least Wen Zhihao is fulfilling his monthly quota. And his cultivation was actually quite good. And the most important point for someone like Elder Liu Ru who had to deal with many administrative issues in the Sect: he didn’t make trouble.
“Elder Liu Ru, this disciple is very appreciative of your guidance in my talisman cultivation,” Wen Zhihao added.
The disciple next to him nodded. “Forgive this disciple for being impolite, Elder Liu Ru, but Wen-ge is very good at writing talismans.”
Elder Liu Ru accepted the potted flower with a strained smile. “Very well. Continue to work hard.”
Wen Zhihao nodded. He and his friend farewelled Elder Liu Ru and left.
Elder Liu Ru placed the potted flower into her spatial storage and continued on her various administrative tasks.
Once she was done for the day, Elder Liu Ru floated back towards her mountain. As a talisman cultivator above Nascent Soul, Elder Liu Ru did not need a sword to fly.
Upon reaching the base of her mountain, she saw Liu Zhongmin perched on top of the roof of one of the buildings. Elder Liu Ru floated up to her, landing gently down beside her wife.
Liu Zhongmin turned to her with an aggrieved face. “My lovely disciple Sun Fuyu is currently inside the demonic beasts’ enclosure!”
Elder Liu Ru looked in the same direction. With her sharp eyesight, she could see two familiar disciples in the enclosure. The demonic beasts were still in-between infant and adult stage, now reaching up to their hips. Her brows crinkled. “That outer sect disciple is Wen Zhihao.”
Then the other must be Sun Fuyu.
“Really?” Liu Zhongmin’s expression became complicated. “The Sect sure is a small place.”
“At least Sun Fuyu is progressing well,” Liu Ru comforted Liu Zhongmin.
“At least Wen Zhihao fulfills his monthly quota,” Liu Zhongmin returned.
They both fell silent, looking over the demonic beast enclosure again, where the beasts were playfully/murderously jumping at conjured images of butterflies.
“They look like they’re having fun…” Liu Zhongmin said reluctantly.
Elder Liu Ru looked at her younger wife. She could see Liu Zhongmin’s hands twitching slightly as she tried to suppress her urge to pet things.
Liu Zhongmin squirmed under the gaze. “I won’t join them, jiejie1older sister!”
Liu Ru tilted her chin up. “What jiejie? I’m going into temporary secluded cultivation.” With a light tap of her foot, Liu Ru flew into the air.
“Ah!” Liu Zhongmin jumped to her feet. “I’ll seclude with you!” She quickly drew her sword and flew after Liu Ru. “You don't need to fly! I can carry you too!”
Elder Liu’s face was filled with black lines. She hoped no one had heard her wife’s reputation-destroying lines...
Meanwhile, down at the demonic beasts enclosure, Wen Zhihao ignored the sounds of senior cultivators talking in favour of petting the cats. He knew they were getting a little big—it seemed to happen quite suddenly when spring came. But that meant that their fur was even fluffier. It was all the better to bury his face in and hug.
“The mango plants are growing well,” Sun Fuyu said happily. He was a little sad that they wouldn’t be grown in time for Wen-ge’s birthday...but that was fine, Sun Fuyu had collected a lot of spiritual stones lately, and he had missions lined up to collect more.
Wen Zhihao smiled and hugged a particularly fluffy cat who was too lazy to jump around like his compatriots. Sun Fuyu was very studious even here: he diligently activated various talismans that Wen Zhihao had made and petted multiple cats.
Wen Zhihao hoped that this would help Sun Fuyu rest before his next missions.
“Disciples Wen and Sun,” Cultivator Huang Jialing called out, entering the enclosure. “It’s time for their training, please leave.”
It was only constant familiarity that Huang Jialing’s face did not change seeing dangerous beasts acting like sweet kittens under Wen Zhihao’s hand. Wen Zhihao’s qi aura was too good at making them all calm and happy. This year, no beast had gone mad.
Wen Zhihao stood up and petted the large cats. “En, work hard to grow up big and strong.”
“Grrrr,” the cats said.
Huang Jialing’s face changed slightly. She could understand what they were saying:
- That’s right, we’ll become stronger than you and then we’ll see who pets who!
- Ra ra ra, all talk, no action.
- I saw you chasing butterflies just like the rest of us. Pei!
But Wen Zhihao was oblivious. He simply gave Huang Jialing another stack of talismans. At this point, he felt like he was bribing her...well, she hadn’t stopped him from returning again and again, had she?
“Xiao Yu, let’s go have a good rest before you have to leave again tomorrow,” Wen Zhihao said.
Sun Fuyu bowed to Huang Jialing and then eagerly followed Wen-ge out to their place in the forest. Sun Fuyu felt that he liked Wen-ge so much that he even slept better in Wen-ge’s presence...and after Sun Fuyu gives some gifts in return to show his sincerity, maybe they could sleep even closer together!