Chapter 35: An Ordinary Day for Them
Meixiang landed beside Jingfei and Lan'er. Their hunt was successful after confirming that the thirty meter bear beast was dead.
They did not idle around as the three of them wordlessly began cutting through its belly. Like well-coordinated factory workers, their work was done cleanly and efficiently.
Soon, they harvested an orb with a deep bluish hue. It had a frosty feeling and had the size of a balled fist, but it was lighter than it seemed.
The three girls looked at each other before proceeding to disappear on the spot.
Among the tall trees, they reappeared as they leapt from one tree to another.
Jumping through the air, Lan'er spoke. "Master says she congratulates us for hunting a Rank 3 beast as well as getting a Rank 3 beast core."
"As per usual, the one with the largest contribution will end up with the core."
The three girls looked at each other for a moment before confirming the person with the largest contribution.
Meixiang and Lan'er looked at Jingfei's direction and the latter acknowledged it.
Today's greatest contributor was Jingfei. She lessened the casualties by dealing several wounds to the beast as well as delivering the final blow.
Lan'er genuinely thought that she would be able to kill it, but her strength was not enough.
Jingfei on the other hand, showed remarkable, if not cheat-like improvement after switching out her weapon.
They all had the same level of weapon, but the only one that could deal considerable damage was Jingfei.
And Jingfei smiled while acknowledging that fact.
Lan'er passed over the Rank 3 beast core to Jingfei and the latter graciously accepted it.
Just like cultivators, Beasts could also be influenced by Qi, making them grow stronger than normal beasts.
While common beasts who were harmless remain unranked, there were beasts who were ranked based on the amount of destruction they were capable of.
Rank 1 beasts were capable of massacring a small village and they were as strong as peak body tempering cultivators.
Rank 2 beasts were capable of contending against several peak qi foundation cultivators and could deal considerable damage to human cities.
They were known for their terrifying might and the Xia Kingdom usually sent a subjugation force in hunting these beasts.
Rank 3 beasts were disastrous monsters capable of wiping out an entire human city. Countless kingdoms fell to these horrifying beasts since they were capable of fighting against peak-stage core formation experts!
Rank 4 beasts were known for being as strong as a nascent soul realm expert and shows intelligence rivalling a human's.
As for beast cores, they were a rare solidification of Qi that accumulated inside the ranked beast. Beast cores have a very low chance of appearing, but this was not the reason for their precious value.
Instead, the reason they were highly sought out was because a cultivator could refine the beast core and use it to boost his or her cultivation.
Oftentimes, beast cores were used to breakthrough a bottleneck and enter the next stage, which is the main reason why countless cultivators were willing to trade their souls for these items.
And now that they had harvested a Rank 3 beast core, which had the same value as a peak-stage core formation cultivator.
It was a priceless item but to Jingfei, she would simply store it within her chest where she kept the other beast cores that they harvested within the past year.
(E/N: Read that sentence multiple times thinking something weird was going on, sigh…)
Naturally, Meixiang and Lan'er had their own chests containing their own share of beast cores.
This was another unique feature of the island, most beasts would possess a beast core.
It was a surprise indeed, but for cultivators like Jingfei, Meixiang, and Lan'er? It was a welcomed one.
Though Lan'er and Jingfei's share of beast cores continued to accumulate, since they had yet to start cultivating, at least their cultivation resources were set.
Meixiang didn't doubt for a second that once her two junior sisters started cultivating, they would immediately catch up to her.
Of course, as someone who was already at the peak of the Qi foundation stage, she was limiting herself by only using ranged qi techniques.
This was an arduous hard path to pursue, but she had a great teacher, so she was already capable of releasing such attacks.
Tang Xiurong had to admit that Meixiang was truly a genius since she was already capable of techniques that were exclusive to core formation experts.
Meixiang's comprehension and ingenuity was one of her greatest talents and Tang Xiurong was making them blossom to their fullest potential.
Eventually, the three girls reached the top of the lone mountain where they saw a cottage coated in snow.
Light could be seen from the windows while smoke was rising from the chimney.
Beside the cottage was a small garden field with small root crops that had white leaves.
They entered the house and were greeted by a warm and homely atmosphere. To the right, Zed was wearing an apron while serving dishes on the dinner table.
(E/N: He already becoming a house-husband, man, he's one hardcore simp.)
"Oh!" He turned to them while wiping his hand on the table cloth.
A familiar and yet healing smile appeared on his face as he greeted the three girls wrapped in thick robes.
"Welcome home! I'm glad your hunt went off without a hitch."
He walked up to them and checked them one by one. They all had a slightly hastened breath, indicating that they did their best to go back home as soon as possible.
"Are you guys alright? No one with injuries? If anyone is feeling too cold, I already heated up the bath."
The three beamed up with a smile, as they never got tired of Zed's affectionate care for them. They appreciated his concern and thoughtful actions.
"We are fine mom~" Meixiang teasingly responded while Zed was inspecting her for any injuries.
"Well I'm glad you guys are fine." Zed let out a soft sigh of relief before inviting them to dinner.
Closing the door behind them, Lan'er stretched her arm out before putting down her sword near the living room.
After doing so, she walked next to Zed and tugged on his sleeve. "Lan'er is going to take a bath first... will brother wash me?"
Lan'er stared at Zed with pleading eyes while pouting and slightly puckering her tiny lips, making her look very adorable.
Zed simply smiled back, unaffected by her cute attempt. "Lan'er, you're old now. You know how to take a bath by yourself."
"But brother!!" Lan'er sulked. "I want to take a bath with brother!"
Again, Zed responded calmly. "Come on Lan'er. You're able to take baths yourself, you can continue to do so."
"You know how to apply the soap, shampoo, and conditioner, right? Just be careful not to put it in your eyes."
But Lan'er pleaded. "Please brother? I really want to take a bath with brother today! Plus, Lan'er did a very good job today, so... can brother reward Lan'er?"
"...Please?" Lan'er sticks her face closer to Zed.
The latter narrowed his eyes, as he tried to remain strong.
Meanwhile, Jingfei and Meixiang were watching this spectacle with a deadpan expression.
"They're at it again huh..." Meixiang muttered.
Jingfei nodded as she shared the same sentiment with her.
It had been a year since they started living together and Lan'er was still adamant about sleeping and taking a bath together with her brother.
Jingfei felt slightly jealous because... 'I want to have quality bonding time with brother too!'
Which is why she shyly moved to Zed's side as well.
Jingfei didn't say anything yet, but her appearance was enough for Zed to tell what she wanted.
But he couldn't bring himself to agree because even though he had accepted Jingfei as his little sister, that didn't mean that they would be casual enough to take a bath with each other.
Sleeping together from time to time was fine, but taking a bath? Zed knew he had to draw the line somewhere.
Similarly, he also knew he had to draw the line with Lan'er.
But...
"Please brother...?"
"Brother Xin..."
Looking at his two adorable little sisters... the old man inside of him couldn't help but give in to what they want. It was a similar sentiment with that of grandparents wanting to spoil their grandchildren.
He knew he couldn't say no, his little sisters also knew he couldn't say no, and so...
Zed turned to Meixiang asking for help, but the latter snorted at him before heading to the bathroom.
'Traitor!' Zed cursed inwardly while making a troubled expression.
"Brother...?"
"Big bro...?"
'These two...' Zed grumbled inwardly as once again, he lost to his sisters. "Fine... just for tonight."
"Yey!" Lan'er and Jingfei celebrated and gave each other high fives.
Looking at the two, Zed thought. 'Fei'er used to be more reserved, but... now she's acting just as spoiled as Lan'er.'
'Lan'er is definitely a bad influence on her.'
He became helpless as he had no idea about what he should do. For one, he never had any experiences with having a family much less raising one.
And two, He never spent enough time to emotionally connect with others, and so his friends were on the same level as acquaintances to him.
This was why Zed was very generous in spoiling Lan'er and Fei'er. He just didn't know any better.
Zed wanted to set things straight, but thinking about how the year went, he thought Lan'er was growing better than he expected.
With Jingfei and Meixiang teaching her, she learned how to take baths herself. Although she was still adamant about taking one with Zed, the two siblings settled with taking a bath together twice a week.
Zed and Lan'er had already taken two baths together this week which was why he rejected her request.
On the other hand, Fei'er seemed to be acting more and more spoiled with him, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing, as Zed took this as a sign that she finally let him inside her heart.
In the end, Zed relented and took a bath with Jingfei and Lan'er.
However, Zed made sure to cover his eyes with cloth so that he would not see Jingfei's naked body. He, himself knows that he was also a growing teen and that his hormones were also starting to act up.
Zed was alright with seeing Lan'er's body because he was used to it, but that wasn't the same case for Jingfei.
Which was why he prevented himself from having any indecent reaction by covering his eyes.
-
The bath ended after an hour since Meixiang unexpectedly joined them as well. She kept making indecent remarks about Zed while the latter ignored her while making sure his towel was properly covering his nether region.
He didn't react to Meixiang's teasing because he knew that Meixiang is plenty embarrassed while saying those provocative jokes.
The four of them were now sitting around the diner table, eating a well seasoned dish cooked by Zed.
After a satisfying dinner, they ended the night with the four of them sleeping together in Zed's room. Zed became considerate of them because he knew that they had just returned from a dangerous and exhausting hunt.
-
The next morning, they were woken up by an explosion followed by a fowl putrid scent.
"Uwee- What the-?!" Zed woke up first and found themselves covered in a black mucus-like substance.
He didn't know where it came from, but he immediately identified it as the source of the extremely fowl smell.
"Where the hell... How the heck.." He didn't know what to say in this situation.
Not a second later, the three girls woke up.
"Uwaa... brother what is this smell?"
"Uuuuo.... it smells so bad."
Lan'er and Jingfei spoke with crumpled faces. This was indeed an unpleasant wake up call.
Contrary to the three of them, Meixiang was the one who had a bright and excited expression.
She smiled as she cheerfully stated. "Everyone! I'm at core formation stage!"
Edited By: WorthyAdversary