Dao Of The Salted Fish (Salted Fish Cultivator)

Liu Jing’s chest squeezed when she saw Sun Fuyu and Wen Zhihao return….with a large crowd of followers, human and non-human alike. She ran a critical eye over Sun Fuyu and Wen Zhihao. Aside from looking a little windswept, and aside from that tiredness in Wen Zhihao’s posture before he straightened, there were no signs of injuries.

They’re safe.

Once the heavy tension in Liu Jing’s heart dropped, a suspicious feeling replaced it.

“Uncle Wen, Uncle Sun, you’re back!” Ah-Yi shouted happily. “Just in time to eat!” He and the other children and teenagers were seated at the tables laden with food, filled rice bowls in front of them.

Xiao Bai raised his small face with puppy-dog eyes, looking so cute that Wen Zhihao wanted to reach over and pinch his cheeks.

Wen Zhihao felt injected with energy from all the meng. “En, I’m back. Aunty Liu, I hope you can make some more food for everyone.”

Liu Jing propped her hands on her hips. “So soon?”

Sun Fuyu smiled proudly. “En! Instead of...that, Wen-ge proposed to have a big tournament instead!”

The frown didn’t leave Liu Jing’s face though. “Surely it cannot be that easy…”

Wen Zhihao smiled sheepishly. “It would not have been possible without Senior Lin Yijun and Senior Zhou Sheng, and the cats, and Sun Fuyu. They all helped stop any attempted fighting.”

—And it helped that many of the cultivators were a bit tsundere, moderately narcissistic, and extremely hypercompetitive, Wen Zhihao thought secretly in his heart. Aiya, even though he no longer needed to fight, he might have to administer pet-therapy on some of them for the greater good.

—And it wouldn’t have been possible without Wen-ge’s super amazing relaxing aura! Sun Fuyu thought secretly in his own heart. Wen-ge was amazing, he was able to calm even senior cultivators down long enough to make them listen! The calming stones were also really effective in stopping ghosts and demons.

“So….” Wen Zhihao neatly sat down in-between Ah-Yi and Xiao Bai and looked up at Aunty Liu expectantly.

Liu Jing’s frown eased as her expression became exasperated. She raised her gaze to the familiar cultivators and large animals, and waved them over. “Help me take out some more tables, and have a seat.”

“Wen-ge, I’ll get you a bowl and chopsticks,” Sun Fuyu volunteered.

“Thank you, Xiao Yu. Don’t forget to fetch your own too.”

“We’re very grateful,” Hu Jingyan said apologetically to Liu Jing.

“It’s my job to feed the immortal cultivators,” Liu Jing said. “No need to be polite.” After showing the cultivators where the extra tables were stored, she rushed into the kitchen, ordering the staff to cook up some more quick dishes.

That lunch time, the back of the kitchens had a sight never seen before. Rows of tables had so many dishes that there was almost no gap. Seated at these tables were young children, teenagers, mortal staff, and young-adult-looking inner sect cultivators in their respondent golden robes. Large cats and one wolf stretched across any patch of land, some of them napping, and others gnawing on large chunks of meat.

As Old Tang and Liu Jing headed back into the kitchens to refill the jugs of spiritual spring water, Old Tang nudged Liu Jing with his elbow. “Liu Jing, when did you gain so many more little ancestors?”

Liu Jing’s gaze turned sharp. “Tch, what nonsense are you talking about? And if I’m their elder, then you count as an elder uncle.”

Old Tang patted his chest proudly. “I’ll be the fun elder Uncle, and you can be the strict and scary Grandmother!”

Liu Jing huffed. “After filling the jugs, go and pick some fruit for the nice young ones!”

Old Tang promptly saluted her. “Understood!”

After eating, Hu Jingyan and the other sword disciples went to find their master Liu Zhongmin to inform them of matters.

Meanwhile, Wen Zhihao took Sun Fuyu and his children charges back to their quarters for a well deserved nap.

To Wen Zhihao’s pleasant surprise, Sun Fuyu climbed into bed with him. Wen Zhihao laid down his back, while Sun Fuyu laid down his side and faced Wen Zhihao.

Belatedly, the earlier morning’s tension hit Wen Zhihao. With a breath of relief, he said, “We were lucky that sword came and interrupted Elder Wang. It looked familiar.”

“Wen-ge, of course Mao Lan Meng is familiar,” Sun Fuyu replied, confused.

“Mao Lan Meng¹Cat’s Lazy Dream?” Wen Zhihao repeated.

“Oh, Wen-ge’s sword changed its name recently.” Sun Fuyu pouted. “I wanted to call it Bao²protect Wen Ge, but Lan Meng had already chosen a new name.”

Wen Zhihao was startled. Eh? That was his sword giving Elder Wang a smacking? Wen Zhihao internally sweated. He could never draw his sword if Elder Wang was around again, unless he wanted to anger Elder Wang to death!

Wen Zhihao cleared his throat. “Hm, yes, then I will thank Lan Meng later. Also many thanks to Xiao Yu, ah. Your stone throwing was very accurate and powerful.”

“It was my responsibility,” Sun Fuyu said simply. Cloth rustled as he sidled up close to Wen-ge. “If Wen-ge got hurt, I could never forgive myself…”

Sun Fuyu had been prepared. Violence was no stranger to him. But that was different for Wen-ge. As a talisman cultivator, Wen-ge should have never been forced onto the battlefield. But that Elder Wang and Senior Cultivator Luo...grrr!! Sun Fuyu hoped that his shijies and shixiongs made them regret until they coughed up blood!!

Wen Zhihao reached over and pulled Sun Fuyu into his embrace. “Hm, we need to trust Senior Lin and Senior Zhou to handle the tournament—” A yawn forced its way out. The morning had been unusually exhausting.

“Go to sleep, Wen-ge,” Sun Fuyu patted him gently. After Wen-ge had calmed everyone down, he had massively overdrawn his previously unused qi reserves.

“Mm.”

Not sure why, but Wen Zhihao seemed to hear the sound of cats purring. Mentally shrugging, Wen Zhihao hugged Sun Fuyu and fell asleep to Sun Fuyu’s comforting patting.

As Wen-ge’s aura slowly rebuilt itself, Sun Fuyu also dozed off.

In fact, the cats had followed Wen Zhihao secretly instead of returning to their garden. After much arguing among each other about who would get to sleep in the bedrooms, they ended up all draping on the ground under the window outside instead. If one cat didn’t get to sleep with Sleepy Human, no cat got to sleep with Sleepy Human!

Thanks to val for helping with Wen Zhihao’s sword’s name!

Also, my prize for the CG 10k event has been won by the artist Emi! Thank you to everyone who made fanworks for Salted Fish 🥰