Chapter Thirty-One: Don't Bully the Children

The morning on Mistbrow Mountain was exceptionally quiet, perfect for finding a place to sit and meditate. With this thought in mind, Gu Zhiheng took action. He picked two fruits that Mo Han had gathered, gave one to Jinghua, and then set out with him.

Mistbrow Mountain was vast, but relatively safe during the day. Gu Zhiheng led Jinghua for a while before settling in a spot he found satisfactory, beginning his daily moment of meditation.

In his memory, his cultivation method differed from others. Drawing talismans and forming seals were hardly challenging for him—once he had seen something, he could remember it. He had read all manner of Daoist texts, and could recall them with ease. The true difficulty lay in applying everything he had learned in practice. Back at the ancestral shrine, there had been no demons or spirits besides his own kin, so he had scarcely put his skills to the test. As for meditation, he usually just closed his eyes to rest, or simply fell asleep. He saw no need for those rituals; even without following the prescribed routines, he could still grow stronger.

“Master, are we starting our cultivation now?” Jinghua wondered why there wasn’t any spiritual energy swirling around Gu Zhiheng—the scene looked utterly ordinary.

“No, not ‘we.’ Just you!” Gu Zhiheng had no need for such cultivation; an ordeal at night would suffice.

“That won’t do. You don’t have any spiritual energy around you. You really should cultivate properly,” Jinghua insisted. No matter one’s level, one should always be diligent in cultivation. As long as cultivation was possible, there could be no slackening.

“Oh? Is that what you believe?” Fearing Jinghua would keep pestering him, Gu Zhiheng reluctantly stirred his own spiritual energy, tentatively drawing the spiritual power from the air into his body.

The moment he began, the surrounding spiritual energy rushed madly into him, his entire form bathed in a black-golden light, leaving Jinghua utterly dumbfounded.

No wonder—if Master cultivated together with him, there would be no spiritual energy left at his side. He had thought Gu Zhiheng was just being lazy, but it turned out that a single session of cultivation from him was worth several years for others. With that kind of disparity, even if he only absorbed spiritual energy while sleeping, his progress would be unmatched.

But if Master could cultivate so swiftly, why did he still rely on other methods? Surely this was the fastest way!

“Go on now. I’ll watch you from here.” Gu Zhiheng still preferred to take things step by step.

There had been a time when he tried to cultivate in this way, but his body could not withstand it. After absorbing spiritual energy once, he would need a month of rest. The progress was great, but the time wasted recovering was far too much—better to proceed gradually, using the most basic method. Aside from himself, Jinghua seemed to be the only one who knew he could absorb spiritual energy. Before, he had only experimented with stirring spiritual power, never drawing it into his body. In the mundane world, if it were known that someone could cultivate and absorb spiritual energy, chaos would surely ensue.

“Focus a little more—do you really think I’ll take you as my disciple with that attitude?” The little sprout was just not taking cultivation seriously enough. Gu Zhiheng reached out and pinched Jinghua’s cheek, then rose to look around. He couldn’t stand not having eaten—his body didn’t need dieting at all. Perhaps it was time to find some wild game to roast.

But what should he hunt?

Ordinary wild game was only found at the base of Mistbrow Mountain. Did he really want to walk all the way down? Was it safe to leave Jinghua alone here, or should he wait until Jinghua finished cultivating to go together?

“Master, what are you doing here?” Bai Tangxi had gone looking for Gu Zhiheng early in the morning and, after asking Chen Yuan, learned he had come out this way.

“I brought the child out for some fresh air. Did you need me for something?” Was this white-furred ape not angry after the lesson he received yesterday? Why was he still being so polite? Was there something he didn’t know about?

“Bai Tangxi, let me ask you—what is Bai Kun to you?” Why did that old scoundrel look exactly like Bai Tangxi?

“He’s… he’s my father, Master. You know my dad?” Oh no, how could Master know about the people up in the mountain’s forbidden zone?

“You two look exactly alike, that’s all. That old fox has no shame whatsoever. Cunning as a demon, sly as a snake!”

Uh…

Bai Tangxi was instantly speechless. Was it really appropriate for Master to insult his father to his face? Was he not afraid of making enemies?

“Don’t speak in dialect—I’m not fluent in it.” Even though he’d been to the Northwest, it was a vast region with many dialects.

If everyone spoke their own dialect, he’d never get anything done, just trying to learn them all. Gu Zhiheng rolled his eyes at Bai Tangxi, then sat heavily on the ground, plucking at the green grass. So early in the morning, and already peace was a rare commodity—every spirit on Mistbrow Mountain was a chatterbox. Jinghua was, Bai Tangxi was, and so were all those old monsters atop the mountain.

“Shorty, why aren’t you with your grandfather? What are you doing down here?” Since Gu Zhiheng was ignoring him, Bai Tangxi turned to Jinghua instead. This little orchid was only four years old this year—naïve and easy to bully. If not for his powerful grandfather, he’d already have been gobbled up by other spirits.

“Don’t call me shorty! I have a name, it’s Jinghua!” The whole white-furred ape family was detestable—loudmouths who couldn’t hold their tongues.

Old man Kun was foul-mouthed, and his son Bai Tangxi was just as bad—both were insufferable. One day, Jinghua swore, he’d break Bai Tangxi’s mouth for calling him shorty. For now, though, he had Master’s protection. In time, Master would become his teacher, and then they would have to watch themselves.

“Jinghua? Who gave you that name? It sounds nice, but it’s wasted on you.” What did a little orchid need a name for, anyway?

“Bai Tangxi, stop picking on the child!” Jinghua yelled furiously at Bai Tangxi, then ran to hide behind Gu Zhiheng, eyeing Bai Tangxi warily.

Gu Zhiheng was helpless. Bai Tangxi hadn’t even said what he wanted yet and was already bullying the child. For a spirit his age, he acted no better than a child, and was truly not even as mature as four-year-old Jinghua.

“I gave him the name. Now, what do you want? Say your piece and be gone!” What a bunch of idiots—the spirits of Mistbrow Mountain were truly unreliable.

He snapped at Bai Tangxi, then pulled Jinghua from behind him, holding him close while picking dried grass from the boy’s hair—courtesy of Bai Tangxi’s earlier mischief. His little sprout had been clean just this morning, and now he was a mess again.

“Mo Han and the other two have gone down the mountain. They asked me to let you know—they’ll come fetch you when they leave.” Only now did Bai Tangxi remember why he’d come.

However, the sudden departure of Mo Han and the others left Gu Zhiheng uneasy. He sensed that something must have happened last night—something he did not yet know. And whatever it was, it surely explained why they had gone down the mountain.