Chapter 28 Night Meeting with 'Old Father'
"Sigh, my old back..."
Indeed, without the support of immortal power, even a true immortal's body couldn't hold up. I'm not following the path of cultivating the physical body... But using immortal power takes away much of the fun. It's truly a dilemma.
Jiu Wu rubbed his waist, gently swaying his five-foot-tall Dao body in front of his residence. With a slight activation of his immortal power, the fatigue dissipated.
It had been three days since he and Jiu Shi returned from Qiong Peak. Having just escorted their fellow Dao companions to their secluded cultivation places, although this short Daoist felt exhausted, he also felt refreshed, with a hint of satisfaction on his face.
Just then, a large gourd descended from the sky.
Jiu Wu's spirit immediately lifted. He straightened up, folded his hands behind his back, and resumed his usual serious demeanor, clearing his throat and speaking loudly:
"Xiao Jiu, come to your senior brother."
"Senior brother? We were just looking for you, and we've brought back what you wanted... Ha..."
Jiu Jiu peeked out from the gourd, unable to resist yawning, looking dispirited. The gourd turned and landed directly in front of Jiu Wu's attic.
Among the nine senior siblings, except for outstanding aptitude, they were all among the top cultivators of their generation. Besides Jiu Jiu, each had their own "side profession."
Jiu Shi excelled in refining treasures, while Jiu Wu excelled in brewing wine and refining pills. So, in the lower level of Jiu Wu's small building, there were wine jars, treasures, and pill furnaces piled up everywhere, filling every corner.
Apparently, Jiu Jiu didn't like the habit of tidying up, which she must have learned from here but exaggerated it even more.
Jiu Jiu yawned and acted as if she had arrived at her own place. She sat down at a round table, tossed a small cage she was holding to Jiu Wu, and said:
"Senior brother, here are the spiders you wanted. Don't let them die this time... Making me ask a junior for things all the time, aren't you ashamed?"
"Rarely do you still remember this," Jiu Wu opened the black cloth covering the wooden cage and smiled.
Inside were a pair of separated spiders, each the size of a steamed bun, with three heads and multiple compound eyes.
Jiu Jiu yawned tiredly. "Senior brother, if you don't need anything else, I'll go back."
"Wait a moment, I need to find a few things," Jiu Wu ran to a shelf, hung the spiders in a cool place, then turned and ran to another bookshelf.
Jiu Jiu, with a weary face, lay on the table, "Senior brother, what are you doing? I'm really tired, I want to go back and drink and sleep for a few days."
"Tired?" Jiu Wu turned his head from a shelf, carefully looked at Jiu Jiu, remembering that he couldn't directly see through his junior sister's cultivation level now, let alone her physical condition.
But thinking of the situation in the small alchemy room he saw earlier, Jiu Wu couldn't help but sigh with a touch of paternal sadness.
Well, children grow up.
As a semi-elderly fifth senior brother, he finally had to let her go and enjoy the wonderful life of cultivation.
Taking back the jade plaque in his hand, Jiu Wu looked at the big characters written on it: "Array General Principles - Forgetful Wanderer."
Then he casually took out two jade plaques from the corner of the bookshelf and walked towards Jiu Jiu.
"Xiao Jiu, take these things to our senior nephew. These are the array principles written by our master and some insights into the array that your third senior brother and I have studied over the years."
"Hmm?" Jiu Jiu took the jade plaques and threw them into her storage magic treasure, wondering, "Senior brother, why are you suddenly so concerned about little Shou Shou?"
"Wait, I'll take those three jade plaques back," Jiu Wu said quickly. "These are also treasures of our lineage and cannot be passed on casually."
"Just for a few insights, you're so stingy," Jiu Jiu rolled her eyes and threw back two porcelain bottles, "consider this as me making the decision. Exchange some insights into cultivation with some poison pills refined by Shou Shou for you. That's okay, right? These are poison pills that can knock down true immortals! It's also our joint effort."
"Those aren't ordinary insights... Poison pills?" Jiu Wu caught the porcelain bottles, frowning.
Jiu Jiu had already taken advantage of this gap to float out of Jiu Wu's attic and returned to her own attic, where she opened the outer array...
Jiu Wu chuckled dumbfoundedly, allowing the ninth junior sister to give it to him was fine, after all, Li Changshou was also a disciple of the sect.
He enveloped several strands of immortal power around him, placed the porcelain bottles a few yards away, opened them from a distance, and glanced inside. There were three scarlet pills in each bottle, emitting a faint fragrance.
"It's actually the Bone Corroding Heart Erosion Pill and the Soul Capturing Life Snatching Pill? The quality is not bad. Although they are poison pills, they are also true immortal-grade elixirs... And they were refined by Xiao Jiu's hands? This Li Changshou has some potential."
Jiu Wu couldn't help but smile and saw something on the bottle, which he brought closer to read. On it were two lines of small characters. When the two bottles were put together, it formed two sentences:
[The path of immortality is rarely peaceful, a true gentleman does not pursue ostentation]
The short Daoist pondered for a moment, then smiled lightly.
"This little guy must have discovered something between me and Shi Shi before, so he deliberately unlocked the big array. The meaning of these two sentences is to explain that he and Xiao Jiu are friends, and there's no need for me to worry. However, he was able to calculate that these two bottles would eventually fall into either my or Shi Shi's hands? Xiao Jiu definitely wouldn't notice this type of handwriting, and even if she noticed, she wouldn't care. Obviously, it's meant for us to see, and it should have been formed just recently with a trace of traces left. The implied meaning is to let me act as if I hadn't noticed anything unusual about him?"
The short Daoist put away the bottles, walked to the round table with his hands behind his back, and pondered with his chin in his hand.
Jiu Wu remembered the many formations he had accidentally discovered within a hundred miles when he found Li Changshou and Qin Xuanya's traces in Beizhou... He looked up at the wooden cage hanging in the cool place nearby;
These magic spiders were difficult to raise, but they could continuously breed over there...
Coupled with the serial formations and poison pills that had appeared in recent days...
Jiu Wu sighed lightly, "Such a talented junior. He doesn't reveal himself, doesn't leak any information, and even before going to Beizhou, few people in the sect had heard of his Dao name. There were no traces of him among the rankings of the younger generation. He doesn't want to attract attention and wishes to cultivate quietly. Even though I, as a responsible disciple of the sect, don't want to disturb him, being a steward of the Immortal Dao Sect, I still can't help but worry about him a little. Hmm, rarely peaceful, a true gentleman... When the time is right, shall we meet at three in the morning?"
Lost in thought for a moment, Jiu Wu suddenly smiled.
...
At the third quarter of the night, Jiu Wu rode a white cloud and floated up to Xiao Qiong Peak.
At this time, the formations around the alchemy room were closed, and a slender figure stood in front of the door, bowing to Jiu Wu from afar.
Jiu Wu smiled as he landed, and even before entering the alchemy room, he could smell the rich aroma of wine.
Li Changshou bowed respectfully, "Disciple pays respects to Senior Uncle."
"Such a true gentleman and rarely peaceful," Jiu Wu shook his head with a smile, sighed lightly, and said, "Aren't you afraid I won't come? Directly send you to the hall of rewards and punishment for questioning?"
"Well," Li Changshou maintained his bowing posture and said slowly, "in fact, disciple also has no assurance in his heart. Since encountering Senior Uncle in Beizhou, disciple has been worried about this matter, but also knows that Senior Uncle is highly respected and would never deliberately make things difficult for juniors in the sect. Moreover, disciple just doesn't want to attract attention, has no other intentions towards the Immortal Dao Sect, and knows the responsibility of being a disciple of the Immortal Dao Sect. Disciple will behave uprightly and isn't afraid of being questioned. Senior Uncle, please come inside and rest. Disciple knows that Senior Uncle is a master of brewing, so I've asked Junior Sister to prepare some accompanying dishes. I dared to invite Senior Uncle to taste the wine brewed by disciple. If Senior Uncle has any doubts tonight, please feel free to ask, and disciple will considerately and truthfully answer. I only hope to dispel Senior Uncle's doubts and allow disciple to cultivate peacefully as before."
Jiu Wu nodded with a smile, entered the alchemy room with his hands behind his back.
Underneath a window sill, in the moonlight, a low table was filled with delicacies, and a night-glowing cup was already filled with fine wine.
That was actually the 'Yangtze River Water Old Baijiu' brewed for Jiu Jiu, but it was opened in advance by Li Changshou.