Chapter Ninety-Three: The Little Wolf Demon (Fifth update; please bookmark and cast your recommendation votes.)

"We two brothers stayed because our old mother has no one to support her, so... we did not want to leave," Hu Xiangchen said hurriedly.

"A dutiful son, indeed." Xu Cheng offered a brief appraisal. In truth, he could send the three of them straight to the Yellow Springs, but if he first fulfilled their wishes, he would gain a little more merit-light. After a moment’s thought, he said, "I will see to Cui Decai’s wish first. As for the wishes of the two of you, they are not so easy to fulfill."

Hearing this, Cui Decai was delighted at once. "Many thanks, my lord! Many thanks!"

"What is your grandson called?" Xu Cheng asked next.

"My grandson is the owner of this house. Most people call him Cui Lao'er!" Cui Decai said quickly.

Xu Cheng immediately felt a headache coming on. So it was that Cui Lao'er, the one who was "busy."

He signaled Yan Mengdie to remove the barrier formed by her life mark. He wanted to hear whether Cui Lao'er was still at his "business."

Yan Mengdie understood at once. No sooner had she withdrawn the barrier than they heard, "Wife, listen to that pillow. Why is it rustling?"

"What could there possibly be in a pillow?" Cui Lao'er's wife replied languidly. It seemed she had been worn out by their exertions.

"True enough."

The moment the thought of sleep rose in Cui Lao'er's mind, Xu Cheng sent his soul power into the depths of his consciousness, erased that drowsy notion, and guided him to turn over the pillow and look inside.

Everything unfolded naturally. Sure enough, a cry of alarm rang out as Cui Lao'er discovered the banknotes hidden within the pillow. There was a flurry of movement in the room; once the doors and windows were tightly shut and everything secured, Cui Lao'er and his wife sat there counting the notes, now and then letting out silly, delighted laughs.

Cui Decai's wish had been fulfilled, and his figure began to blur, summoned by the Yellow Springs as he was about to enter the netherworld.

Xu Cheng reacted swiftly, yanking him in at once with the chain of Nether Flame and counting the merit as his own.

He had not expected that fulfilling a single ghost’s wish would earn him three strands of merit. It was not a great amount, but compared with simply seizing the soul outright, it was quite a gain.

"The wishes of the two of you are somewhat troublesome. Let me look again tomorrow before I say more."

After dealing with Cui Decai’s matter, Xu Cheng turned to Hu Xiangchen and Hu Yangbo.

"We trouble the ghost constable, sir!" the two said in unison.

"All right. Go back for now." Xu Cheng waved a hand.

The two fellows shot off like arrows, as though unwilling to linger here another moment.

"Right Envoy, why don’t you just take them in? Do you mean to support the old mother of those two fellows here as well?" Chrysanthemum could not help speaking up.

"Why rush? When the cart reaches the mountain, there will be a road. Maybe by then we’ll think of a way," Xu Cheng said. Truthfully, he had no confidence either. He sounded as though he were comforting Chrysanthemum, but in fact he was comforting himself.

"Very well, Very well, Right Envoy, it’s all up to you."

With that, Chrysanthemum closed his eyes and sat down to meditate.

At dawn, Xu Cheng stood at the doorway, observing the village. A single snowflake drifted onto his head; by the look of the weather, winter seemed to be arriving again.

The bleakness around him brought back memories of every winter in the past, when he had survived only by desperate struggle: snatching food from feral dogs, or resorting to all manner of tricks and deceptions. It was only after he began cultivating that he no longer feared cold or heat and no longer needed the smoke and fire of mortal food. Perhaps that was the very reason the immortal path existed.

While he was still lost in thought, Cui Lao'er’s door opened. The gaunt man had wrapped himself in several layers of clothing, yet he was still trembling. Xu Cheng, wearing only a thin long robe, heard the curious Cui Lao'er ask first, "Aren’t you cold dressed in so little?"

"I have my own skills, so of course I’m not cold," Xu Cheng said lightly. "Do you want to learn?"

"No, no, no. I’m not learning any kind of frostproof skill!" As he spoke, Cui Lao'er rubbed his hands hard and kept breathing into his palms. After a moment, he added, "Oh right, did you hear anything strange last night?"

Xu Cheng was first taken aback, thinking some uncanny thing had been at work. He probed everywhere and found nothing, only then realizing that Cui Lao'er had likely discovered the banknotes left by his grandfather the night before and, after shutting the doors and windows, had searched about for a place to hide them, not wanting word of the money to get out. So he replied, "No. I didn’t hear a thing."

"Good. Good!" Cui Lao'er patted his chest and said in a low voice.

"What?" Xu Cheng had not quite caught what Cui Lao'er was saying.

"Nothing, nothing! Are you all having breakfast?"

The fellow hurriedly shook his head and changed the subject.

"We brought dry rations with us. No need."

To Xu Cheng, mortal food had no flavor. It was better not to eat it at all.

"In this bitter cold, those dry rations will be frozen stiff. Better come inside and have something hot!" Cui Lao'er invited them warmly, leaving Xu Cheng at a loss for how to refuse.

As the saying goes, if one is going to die, then let it be together. Xu Cheng brought Yan Mengdie and Chrysanthemum along.

Chrysanthemum’s face twisted into the shape of a daisy. He wanted to complain about Xu Cheng, but could not think of what to say.

"Wife, is the food ready?" Cui Lao'er called loudly the moment they entered the house.

A woman came out from the back kitchen. She was plainly dressed, though not dirty, and unlike an ordinary farm woman, she was not sun-darkened at all; in fact, her complexion was rather fair, enough to show that Cui Lao'er was a man who cherished his wife.

"Calling, calling, calling—huh? You lot!" Cui Lao'er's wife stared blankly at Xu Cheng and the enormously plump Yan Mengdie behind him.

"There were three guests here last night. Hurry and make two more bowls of porridge, and bring some steamed buns!" Cui Lao'er said.

His wife shot Xu Cheng an apologetic glance, then dragged Cui Lao'er into the back kitchen and muttered to him under her breath.

Given Xu Cheng’s abilities, overhearing them would have been no difficulty. Still, he could guess what she was saying: that after unexpectedly coming into money the night before, he was now bringing others into the house to eat, as if he were scattering away his fortune.

Cui Lao'er felt that since he had already promised them, and because he was a man who cared about appearances, he argued his case stubbornly. In the end, he only brought out three bowls of millet porridge.

With a faint grin, Xu Cheng drank the scalding porridge in a single breath. Yan Mengdie and Chrysanthemum did the same, leaving Cui Lao'er and his wife staring so hard that their eyes nearly popped out.

"Many thanks for your hospitality," Xu Cheng said.

Then he called Yan Mengdie and Chrysanthemum to follow him out.

He wanted to see what condition the old mother of Hu Xiangchen and Hu Yangbo was in now.

He had the two fellows lead the way. From a distance, Xu Cheng could see that their old mother was still in fairly good health and able to work the fields.

But everyone grows old one day. Could she still work the fields at ninety? That, naturally, was what the two fellows were worried about.

Sitting on the edge of the field path, Xu Cheng said in some irritation, "Did neither of you leave behind a son or daughter?"

The two of them looked extremely embarrassed. "We only thought of going out to accomplish something great. We never imagined it would end up like this!"

As they spoke, a figure like a bolt of white lightning appeared in the distance and came rushing closer.