novelraw Chapter 22: Might As Well Go Down the Mountain to Steal Corn
Chapter 22: Might As Well Go Down the Mountain to Steal Corn
The smoked meat he'd tricked out of them had long been eaten. Later, he set up traps and caught some wild rabbits and squirrels. Once, he even caught a wild boar, which he'd killed with great difficulty.
Now all of that was gone too.
He'd eaten fish from the river for three months. Now he wanted to vomit at the sight of fish.
The wilderness survival lifestyle wasn't pleasant at all.
A melodious crane cry rang out from the sky. Gaga Pig flapped its wings and landed gracefully.
The white crane's beak had healed.
According to common sense, a bird's beak was a non-renewable part. Once damaged, it couldn't be repaired but this world didn't really follow common sense.
Of course, its ability to recover so quickly was entirely thanks to the delicious medicinal soups Li Qiuchen brewed every day.
Li Qiuchen hadn't originally expected that the body-strengthening medicinal soups he brewed according to the book's recipes would also work on birds.
At the time, he'd simply thought that he shouldn't be the only one suffering, so he'd coaxed Gaga Pig into drinking the medicine with him.The stupid bird had also been tortured to the point of losing all will to live, and even lost quite a few feathers but unexpectedly, its beak actually grew back little by little.
With its beak healed, it regained the ability to feed itself, and that ridiculous gaga laughter could no longer be heard.
Li Qiuchen had thought it would fly away, but in the end, it stayed.
Just because its beak had healed didn't mean its brain had too.
Given this stupid bird's intelligence, Li Qiuchen couldn't help but ask one day, "You haven't forgotten where your home is, have you?"
That one sentence instantly broke through the proud white crane's defenses, and it rewarded Li Qiuchen with a crazy barrage of shadowless kicks in rapid succession.
Actually, Li Qiuchen had an even bigger question. He really wanted the stupid bird to demonstrate again just how it had gotten stuck in the cliff wall that day.
Logically speaking, even if the stone clam could turn into stone, that would only be in the water. Why would you get stuck on a wall?
Incomprehensible.
But he also knew this was the most taboo topic and dark history for the white crane.
Whoever asked would die.
"Tomorrow let's go catch another wild boar," Li Qiuchen suggested.
Actually, he didn't want to catch a wild boar. He just wanted to give himself a reason to continue staying in the mountains to cultivate.
If you don't push yourself, you'll never know where your potential lies.
Although compared to himself from two and a half months ago, he'd already improved significantly but Li Qiuchen didn't have a status screen in his mind. He wasn't clear on exactly what level he'd reached.
What if he was still a weakling who would encounter evil cultivators or arrogant second-generation young masters from immortal sects the moment he went out, and get casually crushed to death?
The white crane shook its head vigorously.
Not going.
"Then what do you want to eat?"
The white crane gestured toward the sack nearby with its beak.
It wanted to eat human food.
You're a bird! Have some self-awareness as a bird!
Li Qiuchen was heartbroken. This bird is corrupting my Dao heart.
"Go down the mountain to get some cornmeal?"
"Gaga!"
It nodded vigorously and even shamelessly let out a gaga.
"Can't you have a little ambition!"
The white crane spread its wings and gestured. If Li Qiuchen hadn't spent so long with it, he really might not have understood what it meant.
Get some fresh cornmeal, no, fresh corn.
It wanted to gnaw on corn cobs.
That's all you'll ever amount to in this life.
Li Qiuchen decided to give it an even more unpleasant nickname in his heart. He'd call it Gaga Stick Pig.
...
Immortal cultivators must learn to balance work and rest.
Going down the mountain to steal corn cobs was something very beneficial to physical and mental health.
Gaga Stick Pig seemed to have an inexplicable obsession with cornmeal.
Seeing it so excited, Li Qiuchen really didn't have the heart to tell it that at this time of year, the corn in the fields probably hadn't even grown two feet tall yet.
Spring came late in the northern frontier, and planting came late too.
The farmland in Songlin Village at least had the Medicine Master's blessing enhancement to guarantee yields.
As for the purely natural, farm-fertilized crops in the villages down the mountain, that was hard to say.
All along the river downstream, they came to the lake.
Li Qiuchen had been wondering if he might see the Song father and son here.
Harvesting stone clams really depended on individual ability. If you didn't have the skill, you simply couldn't deal with those things.
They were all naturally occurring things, and Li Qiuchen had no intention of hoarding them all for himself.
If they really had the ability to extract the pearls, this fortune would rightfully be theirs.
As a result, he didn't see the Song father and son by the lake. He only saw a solitary large tree.
Li Qiuchen immediately felt an ominous premonition.
He had a good memory. In his recollection, two months ago, there had been no such tree by the lake.
Even if it was newly grown, could it grow this big in two and a half months?
This made him think of some not very pleasant things.
"Gaga, what do you think?"
A shadowless kick flew at him.
Gaga your sister's gaga!
The white crane glared at him viciously, then without another word, spread its wings and took flight.
What do I think? Fly over and look!
This stupid bird's thinking had always been this simple. Li Qiuchen sincerely felt that it was really not easy for it to have survived until now.
"Gaga gaga gaga!"
See, something did happen.
The white crane had just landed and taken one look when it was so frightened that it cried out in alarm, frantically beating its wings and nearly falling butt-first into the lake.
Li Qiuchen stood on the mountain and waited for two minutes. After confirming that the stupid bird had only been startled and had no other problems, he carefully approached.
Then he understood why the stupid bird had been so scared.
From far away, it looked like a tree. Up close, it was a person and it was an acquaintance he'd met once before.
It was that mountain guest Song Laosan who had been invited by Xiao Tian.
His entire body had grown into a tree, or rather, a tree had grown out of his body.
His body was completely fused with the tree. If you didn't look carefully, you couldn't make out the human head on the trunk at all. You'd just think it was a strange wooden knot.
Hiss...
Li Qiuchen sucked in a breath of cold air and turned to the white crane, saying, "This has nothing to do with me! I've been hiding in the mountains cultivating for over two months. You know that."
The white crane looked completely baffled.
Of course it has nothing to do with you. What nonsense are you talking about?
I'm afraid mud will fall in my pants and I won't be able to clear myself of suspicion.
Li Qiuchen was all too familiar with this thing.
It's a spiritual root, isn't it?
Right now there's no one else here. Don't I look like a suspect?
No way, before anyone else discovers this, let's get out of here quickly.
Li Qiuchen turned to flee, but the white crane bit his hair and frantically shook its head, signaling him to go check out the village.
I'm not going! What if we see an extra old peach tree at the village entrance? Neither of us will be able to escape!
Li Qiuchen was filled with fear, but helplessly, the stupid bird also had a stubborn temperament and refused to let go. In the end, he could only compromise.
Lying prone on the hilltop and looking from afar, the village didn't seem to have any abnormalities.
He didn't see any strange peach trees.
Li Qiuchen breathed a sigh of relief. He had the stupid bird fly into the air to scout the situation while he himself took advantage of the dim light to tiptoe into the village.