Chapter Sixty-Three: Less About the Formalities, More About the Sincerity
Lately, why is my left armpit itching so much?
While refining pills, Li Changshou moved his left arm and frowned slightly.
Now that he had an immortal body, inside and out, pure as jade;
As pure as he was, how could he suddenly...
Have an itchy armpit?
This wasn't a trivial matter, but Li Changshou had checked himself repeatedly for half a month and found no issues.
Aftereffects of heavenly punishment? It shouldn't be.
After much thought, he could only categorize it as his immortal body not being perfect enough yet, and he would have to slowly consolidate his realm later.
After ascending, Li Changshou also felt a slight change in his mentality, although not very obvious, but he indeed felt a bit more confident, enough to...
Start contemplating the Dao directly in the alchemy room!
Well, still need to be cautious.
Let's stick to the old rules, solidify one small realm first, then move on to the next one.
Now he still had plenty of life span left, and the tribulation of becoming a god was far off, so there was no need to hurry;
Only by steadily consolidating and building a solid foundation could he pursue the path to longevity and have more strength to preserve his life in future tribulations.
Sensing Ling'e flying over from the grass hut, Li Changshou deactivated some formations, allowing her to arrive at the alchemy room smoothly.
Soon, Ling'e jumped from the cloud onto the alchemy room.
"Elder brother! Are you... warming your hands?"
"Warming what hands? I'm refining pills."
In the alchemy room, Li Changshou moved aside, revealing the three-foot-tall miniature pill furnace.
Ling'e blinked, looking at the spacious alchemy room and the three-foot-tall small pill furnace on the ground, gesturing the outline of a large pill furnace in the air...
"Where's the big one?"
"It exploded half a month ago," Li Changshou sighed, carefully controlling the flame in the small pill furnace.
Without the restrictions and formations of the pill furnace itself, nor the means to stabilize the flame of the pill furnace, alchemy had returned to its troublesome early days, requiring constant control of the fire, and some immortal pills couldn't be refined either.
"Elder brother, you should also pay attention to protection while refining pills. Isn't this dangerous?" Ling'e expressed her concern, placing the deeply purple hollow-carved phoenix food box on a nearby low table.
Looking up, it seemed that even the roof had been replaced.
She busied herself, piecing together two tables, activating the simple formations carved on the table, and then placing the freshly prepared dishes carefully.
When elder brother was not in the mountains, Ling'e wore those loose practice clothes most of the time.
When elder brother was in the mountains, even if they didn't see each other for a few days, she would change into beautiful fairy dresses occasionally, and sometimes even put on some makeup...
"Elder brother, are we still inviting Senior Brother Jiuwu for dinner this time?"
"Yes, Senior Brother Jiuwu sent a paper crane yesterday, saying he would come to talk to me today."
Li Changshou sighed lightly as the flame in the pill furnace gradually subsided, and the scent of the pills began to waft...
Thinking back to the time a few years ago when he played a prank on Senior Brother Jiuwu, making him swear those oaths, Li Changshou couldn't help but smile slightly.
This banquet would be considered an apology to Senior Brother Jiuwu.
After tidying up the food and warming up the wine, Ling'e glanced at the purse hanging from her waist, smiling happily...
"What's wrong?" Li Changshou waited for the pills to be ready, casually asking, "You're in a good mood so quickly? It seems like you forgot the lesson from last time."
"I haven't forgotten! Absolutely not!" Ling'e quickly frowned, looking distressed, and lamented, "Elder brother, I was wrong to make you angry as a junior sister..."
"Alright," Li Changshou laughed, "What did you do, show it."
Ling'e's eyes lit up, gleefully saying, "Hehe, elder brother, you did peek at me!"
"Where's the need to peek? I can know what you're thinking in your heart just by seeing which strand of hair floats up."
"Oh, come on," Ling'e suddenly felt a little disappointed, tossing the purse over with a pout and leaving the room.
"Stinky elder brother, here's the robe I made for you!
I'll go back to practice, I'll come back later to clean up the dishes!"
Li Changshou caught the purse, looked inside, and saw a dark blue ordinary long robe, revealing a somewhat satisfied smile.
Sure enough, it wasn't in vain to cultivate a little junior sister...
This robe was exactly to his liking.
Sitting on a rocking chair outside the alchemy room, Li Changshou waited quietly for Jiuwu to arrive, contemplating various supernatural powers and techniques.
Before long, the figure of the short Taoist appeared outside Little Qiong Peak;
Li Changshou stood up to greet him, deactivating the surrounding formations, and made a respectful bow to this senior brother, showing no difference from before.
But this time, the short Taoist circled a few times, finally stopping a hundred feet away, hands behind his back, surveying the surroundings...
His gaze was full of vigilance.
Li Changshou smiled but said nothing, quietly standing by the door, waiting for this senior brother to approach, without any extra expression.
Three zhang away, the two exchanged smiles.
"Ahem!"
Jiuwu cleared his throat lightly and said casually, "So, this time... don't you need this senior brother to instruct you on formations?"
Li Changshou smiled, "The disciple didn't prepare in advance, and when senior brother said he was coming, the disciple asked junior sister to prepare some food. If senior brother wishes to instruct the disciple on formation practice, the disciple does have some doubts."
"No, no," Jiuwu shook his head, "This senior brother is old, can't instruct anymore, can't instruct anymore."
"Senior brother's attainments in formations are far beyond what the disciple can reach."
Li Changshou said seriously, "The disciple has only made some innovations in some insignificant areas; For really powerful formations, one still needs an immortal like senior brother who excels in formations, has high cultivation, and sufficient materials."
Jiuwu raised his short thick eyebrows, smiling broadly.
"This time, no souvenir from your old junior brother?"
"I didn't prepare in advance," Li Changshou smiled and shook his head, about to invite senior brother inside, but Jiuwu, with a proud smile, took out...
Two fist-sized glass balls from his robe.
"Humph, I brought them!"
Li Changshou: ...
"As long as senior brother is happy," Li Changshou made a inviting gesture, "This disciple has no other requests this time, just wants to hear senior brother's teachings. Please, senior brother."
So, after dragging their feet, step by step, three inspections.
Jiuwu noticed the anomaly of the pill furnace and couldn't help but analyze what kind of arrangement would occur if a pill furnace turned into a small pill furnace.
After some effort, Jiuwu and Li Changshou finally sat down together.
Looking at the meal in front of him...
Jiuwu narrowed his eyes, took out a spiritual beast rabbit from his sleeve, and started feeding the rabbit to try the dishes.
Li Changshou also enjoyed watching Jiuwu's antics, quietly waiting for Jiuwu to finish.
Finally, when Jiuwu confirmed that Li Changshou had not tampered with anything today, he took out a pair of jade chopsticks and cleared his throat, with a difficult expression on his face, saying in a deep voice:
"Your Senior Brother Jiuwu is currently in seclusion seeking a breakthrough, nephew... You must, by all means, not repeat the same mistakes as last time."
Li Changshou said, "Disciple swears, at this moment, in this place, sincerely invites Senior Brother to drink and chat!"
"Then you swear," Jiuwu immediately nodded, "Come on, swear quickly."
"I just said it casually, if I really swear, wouldn't it imply that I have ulterior motives in my heart?"
Li Changshou smiled, "Senior brother, here's to you."
With a scoff, Jiuwu raised his cup and gestured to Li Changshou from afar, but only took a small sip.
"Let's talk business before we drink," said Jiu Wu. "This time, according to the oath I made last time, I've come to discuss things with you in advance. If you agree to this matter, the sect will definitely reward you handsomely. If you don't agree, then consider it as if I never brought it up."
"Oh?" Li Changshou pondered for a moment, then understood what it was about. "If you want to promote the serial formation within the sect, you don't need to ask me."
Jiu Wu frowned, "How did you know? I haven't mentioned it to anyone!"
"I guessed," Li Changshou said, taking a bite of the fish cooked by his junior sister, Ling'e. The tender fish melted in his mouth, fragrant and sweet.
"Then have you agreed?" Jiu Wu asked eagerly, his eyes narrowed. "Come on, tell me, how do you plan to arrange the serial formation?"
It turned out he hadn't figured it out... Li Changshou said, "Actually, I came up with it based on bits and pieces I read in ancient texts."
At that moment, Li Changshou took out a parchment scroll. He naturally wouldn't easily reveal his trump card. What he presented was just a theoretical solution to the key difficulty of the serial formation—adaptability to different formations. It was still an early solution.
After reading it carefully for a while, Jiu Wu couldn't help but pat his thigh repeatedly, praising it. "I thought I'd have to spend some effort persuading you, but I didn't expect you to be so forthcoming! It's not in vain that I value you so much!"
Li Changshou smiled and nodded, saying, "Of course."
"Ah, I never expected it! I misjudged you, thinking you might be hiding something!" Jiu Wu sighed, raising his cup and drinking it in one gulp. "You deserve punishment!"
Li Changshou said seriously, "The sect is my family, and its prosperity depends on everyone. Senior, about the reward... what can the sect offer?"
Jiu Wu smiled, "Definitely something worthwhile for you! What do you want?"
"If possible," Li Changshou pointed to the nearby alchemy furnace.
Jiu Wu was momentarily stunned, then nodded in agreement, saying, "If you can't find an alchemy furnace you like within the sect, when I come out of seclusion, I'll have her make one for you! Although her skills in refining aren't as good as those of the elders proficient in refining within the sect, she's not bad either!"
Li Changshou smiled, toasting to Jiu Wu repeatedly.
They drank until they were slightly tipsy, and the rabbit used for tasting was suggested by Li Changshou to be roasted into 'Medicinal Fragrant Crispy Rabbit' in the small alchemy furnace. It tasted quite good.
After the meal, within three days, Jiu Wu came to find Li Changshou, taking him to the Pill Cauldron Peak to select a new alchemy furnace.
As they left the Little Qiong Peak together, a figure flew from the direction of the Broken Sky Peak. Li Changshou frowned slightly upon sensing this figure. Without needing to look closely at the face, he recognized the person by her graceful figure and almost perfect curves, along with her familiar fiery red dress. It was Qin Xuanya.
On the Little Qiong Peak, Ling'e was practicing under the tree...
Li Changshou thought for a moment and didn't intervene, chatting with Senior Jiu Wu instead. When these two senior and junior brothers didn't calculate against each other, they got along quite well.
Under the willow tree, Qin Xuanya stood quietly, speaking of her purpose for coming. Although she really wanted to see her senior brother on the Little Qiong Peak, she couldn't come without reason. After coming out of seclusion this time, she had thought for several days and nights before finally coming up with an excuse. She wanted to seek advice on her practice of earth-traveling technique.
After stating her purpose, Qin Xuanya lowered her head and waited quietly. In her heart, she felt that her excuse was a bit far-fetched, and she didn't know if it would be convincing enough...
She heard a rustling sound in her ears, but didn't hear Ling'e's response. Qin Xuanya looked up and saw a stone tablet with a few lines carved on it:
"Senior brother just left. I'm punished by senior brother and can't speak. Senior sister, please wait in the house for a while."
Ling'e chuckled inwardly. She had promised senior brother not to speak to strangers, and senior sister Qin was quite unfamiliar to her. Even though they had slept together, she still felt that senior sister Qin was quite unfamiliar. Although she said that, senior sister Qin would surely leave tactfully. The phrase 'gone out' was also a bit ambiguous and could easily be misunderstood as leaving the sect.
"All right."
"All right?"
"Sorry to disturb junior sister."
Qin Xuanya bowed to Ling'e and then walked towards the grass hut with the door open.
Ling'e tilted her head and was about to speak but couldn't help patting her forehead...
Was this senior sister... poisonous?
Didn't she understand a bit of human interaction and social graces?