Chapter 19: The Legend of the Weasel
The comfortable life of an Outer Sect disciple on Fragrant Cloud Peak was great for Bai Xiaochun. Although he missed the delicious food he had access to back in the Ovens, everything else was quite satisfactory.
In terms of his progress in cultivation, and his research into plants and vegetation, he truly felt as if he was living life to the fullest. The only downside was that his courtyard residence was relatively remote, and there was no one around to chat with, so he got bored sometimes.
"Could it be that all cultivators are so lonely?" he thought, sighing as he stood there in the courtyard looking up into the sky. Somehow, he felt much older and more grown up.
The winds of autumn had passed, and snow had begun to fall occasionally, causing the temperature to drop significantly. Snowflakes drifted about in the air, and the spiritwinter bamboo in Bai Xiaochun's courtyard was growing strong and healthy. They were now taller than Bai Xiaochun himself, and emerald green in color. They were like a splash of spring in the middle of the winter cold.
A month had passed since he had taken first place on the first stone stele of plants and vegetation. However, the second volume of plants and vegetation was much more difficult than he'd anticipated, causing his research to slow. But that didn't change the most important thing to him, which was that Zhou Xinqi never took back the first place spot on the first stone stele. Unfortunately, Bai Xiaochun still felt a lot of pressure to be able to piece together all of the incomplete medicinal plants that he hadn't been able to before.
"I have an amazing reputation now. I can't let that wench Zhou Xinqi surpass me." From that moment, Bai Xiaochun decided that he would continue to work harder and harder until he reached his secret goal of being able to proudly announce in front of everyone that he was Apothecary Turtle.
Although his progress with the second volume of plants and vegetation was slow, his cultivation of the Undying Live Forever Technique was rapidly nearing the point where he would be able to achieve a full minor circulation.
Although the pain only continued to get worse, Bai Xiaochun remained completely focused on the terms 'undying' and 'live forever'.
"Three more days. According to the description of the Undying Live Forever Technique, in three days I'll be able to complete a minor circulation." Bai Xiaochun took a deep breath, gritted his teeth, and continued to speed around his courtyard, simultaneously studying the second volume of plants and vegetation.
The three days passed by quickly. On the evening of the third day, it began to snow, covering the Spirit Stream Sect in a blanket of shimmering silver.
Bai Xiaochun was in the middle of running when a tremor ran through him, and he suddenly stopped in place. The pain that he had been enduring for the past eighty-one days suddenly vanished.
A flow of heat exploded through him, converging on his skin, which felt as if it were broiling in an oven.
The snowflakes melted before they could even get near him, instantly transforming into a white mist.
"It worked!" he exclaimed ecstatically, despite his dry throat. Although he felt like he was on fire, when he looked down, he saw a black light flowing over his skin, which circulated around him and then vanished.
He then poked his arm with his right hand, and could tell how incredibly tough it was. His eyes shone, and shook his arms and legs a bit. Instantly, he could tell that he was much faster than before. He started to run forward, then let out a cry of shock as he appeared several meters away in the blink of an eye.
He could now move twice as fast as he could before. Completely delighted, Bai Xiaochun ran around a bit to test out his new speed, and was very satisfied.
Without any further hesitation, he used the Undying Live Forever Technique mnemonic to continue practicing cultivation. This new method involved closing his mouth and nose and then attempting to breathe through his skin. An inhalation and exhalation counted as a minor cycle. He needed to practice eighty-one minor cycles per day for eighty-one days to complete a minor circulation.
If he could accomplish that, then, combined with the painful minor circulation he had already completed, he would have made his initial success in acquiring the Undying Skin.
After practicing a few times, Bai Xiaochun got the knack of it and struggled to get through one minor cycle. Afterward, his body seemed much more gaunt.
He also felt incredibly hungry, and gurgling sounds could be heard coming from his stomach. He ignored that, and continued breathing, causing his body to get even skinnier. After breathing in and out fifteen times, his body looked like nothing more than a bag of bones.
It was as if all the nutrients that existed inside of him had been sucked out of him. However, his skin looked even more resilient than before.
Bai Xiaochun couldn't hold on any longer. His vision was fading, and his eyes had turned green from the indescribable hunger which filled him. He was so hungry that he could eat an elephant in a single bite.
"This isn't working, I'm starving to death!!" He looked around, salivating, only to realize that there was nothing in the area to eat except for the verdant bamboo he was growing, which at the moment looked quite attractive.
Unable to hold back because of the incredible hunger, he sped over to the spiritwinter bamboo and took a big bite out of one of them.
Crunching sounds could be heard as he ripped out a huge chunk and began to chomp it down. After swallowing, his face twisted, and he shivered from the bitter flavor.
"Too bitter.... I need to eat some real food...." He suddenly missed the Ovens more than ever. Never before in his life had he ever been this hungry, so hungry that he felt like he was going to faint. His eyes were turning even more green, and he was panting. Finally, he bolted out of the courtyard.
Racing down the mountain path at top speed, he would occasionally encounter other Outer Sect disciples. To them, it felt like a wind was blowing past their bodies, and they turned in shock to stare at Bai Xiaochun running off into the distance.
He raced down the mountain, into the servants' district and straight toward the Ovens. Not wanting to waste time opening the door, he flew over the main gate.
The Ovens crew was in the middle of cooking. Now that Big Fatty Zhang and Third Fatty Hei were gone, Second Fatty Huang had become the leader. He was currently ladling out some rice gruel into a bowl, when suddenly a wind blasted in his face, and the bowl was gone, to be replaced by Bai Xiaochun's gaping mouth.
"Huh?" Second Fatty Huang was startled, and stood there gaping for a moment. Before anybody could say anything, Bai Xiaochun grabbed one of the nearby woks and began to guzzle it down. Apparently that wasn't enough, because he then simply dunked his head into the wok, draining the rice gruel....
One wok, two woks, three woks.... Bai Xiaochun rapidly drank down a hundred woks of gruel. He was like a bottomless pit, and still didn't feel close to being full.
"Still hungry! This isn't working! I'm so hungry... I need meat!" He looked around frantically and quickly caught sight of the mountains of meat that were his Elder Brothers.
The fatties of the Ovens stared at Bai Xiaochun in shock. They had seen hungry people before, but had never seen someone this hungry. It was like the ghost of a person who had died from starvation.
Then they realized that he was staring at them and salivating. Second Fatty Huang suddenly backed up rapidly, simultaneously shouting, "Ninth Fatty, quickly, there's some spirit food in the kitchen that we prepared for Elder Zhou!"
Bai Xiaochun's eyes gleamed, and he immediately charged toward the kitchen.
Outside, Second Fatty Huang and the others exchanged dismayed glances.
"Did you see that? That's the fate in store for people who become Outer Sect disciples. Look at how hungry little Junior Brother is...."
"You could beat me to death before I agree to become an Outer Sect disciple!" The other fatties were all completely determined to hold fast to their decision, although they felt bad for Bai Xiaochun.
At the moment, Bai Xiaochun was doing his best to control himself and abide by the six lines of truth from the Ovens. He would only nibble the edges, and not eat the entire item. After all, if he broke the rules, that could implicate his Elder Brothers, which was something he would never do.
After drinking the gruel and nibbling the edges of the spirit food, Bai Xiaochun's hunger had been reduced a bit. He could deal with it now, so he walked out of the kitchen, wanting to cry but not able to find any tears. This Undying Live Forever Technique was far too terrifying. Although he didn't have to deal with any pain now, the hunger was enough to drive a person mad.
"Second Elder Brother...." he said, looking nervously at Second Fatty Huang.
Seeing that Bai Xiaochun looked normal again, Second Fatty Huang finally felt relieved. He walked up and patted him on the shoulder in sympathy.
"Little Junior Brother, don't worry. Thankfully, we were already preparing some food for Elder Zhou. Look at how hungry you are! Ai. From now, you come back more often to fill up, alright?"
Bai Xiaochun was very moved. However, he gritted his teeth and decided that he would do the opposite. After all, one day if he ever reached the point where he lost control, he might end up clearing out the entire Ovens....
Second Fatty Huang and the others escorted him out, and Bai Xiaochun sighed continuously as he trekked back up Fragrant Cloud Peak. All of a sudden, the wonderful, carefree feeling from before was gone, replaced by despair. He really was scared of starving himself to death now.
"I wonder if there really were some Spirit Stream Sect disciples who died from starvation in the past. I definitely don't want to be the first." Scowling miserably, he was in the middle of trying to figure out how to resolve the food and hunger issue when suddenly he heard a rooster crowing off in the distance.
The sound caused him to pause in place and slowly turn his head to stare in the direction of the crowing.
"Chickens...." Looking around to ensure that nobody was watching him, he ducked into a nearby thicket, vanishing with a whoosh. Then he began to slink along like a weasel.
Moments later, he appeared outside the fence that surrounded Fragrant Cloud Peak's spirit fowl farm. Inside were a group of chickens strutting around arrogantly, as large as calves, with three-colored tails. Bai Xiaochun eyed them with glistening eyes, and began to salivate.
"Meat...." he murmured, then began to chuckle, a strange sound that, when coupled with his wide smile, was completely terrifying.
Chapter 20: Feathers Scattered About
Spirit tail chickens were far larger than ordinary chickens. They had very resilient feathers and extremely ferocious temperaments. After reaching full maturity, they were comparable to the second level of Qi Condensation.
Not only was their meat edible, so were their eggs. Their blood and bones could be added to medicines, and when you burned their tails, they could create rare, three-colored flames. Because of all that, large amounts of spirit tail chickens were being raised in all of the three mountains on the south bank of the Spirit Stream Sect.
However, they did not actually belong to the sect itself. Instead, they were the personal property of Li Qinghou and the Peak Lords of the other two mountain peaks, who assigned certain disciples to raise them and take care of them. On Fragrant Cloud Peak, there were three areas specially set aside to breed them.
Bai Xiaochun crouched in the thicket looking at the spirit tail chickens. Back when he had worked in the Ovens, he had never seen the chickens alive, but had eaten their meat and knew it was delicious. Furthermore, Big Fatty Zhang had mentioned that they loved to eat spirit bugs.
After observing the chickens for a while, Bai Xiaochun flickered into motion. He did not do anything rash, but instead went back down the mountain, where he spent some spirit stones to buy some spirit bugs, after which he returned to his courtyard residence.
By the time he got back, he was so hungry that he had to fight not to faint, and immediately began to look around for something to eat.
It didn't take long for his gaze to fall upon the spiritwinter bamboo, whereupon his eyes began to shine. The bamboo stalks were already around three meters tall, and thick as a fist. From the spirit glow they emanated, they seemed far beyond ordinary.
Bai Xiaochun immediately hurried over and began to walk around the bamboo stalks, laughing heartily as he studied them closely. Based on what he had studied about plants and vegetation, he was quickly able to identify the toughest among the various stalks, which he cut off at the base and then sliced in half.
When it came to stealing chickens, Bai Xiaochun had a very special method. The key lay in the word 'steal' itself. Being able to get the chickens without anyone noticing was an art form.
He quickly used some of the bamboo to craft a device called a bamboo cicada.
He had learned how to make bamboo cicadas from his father when he was young. Supposedly, they were effective in catching all sorts of creatures from chickens to phoenixes. Once the bamboo cicada itself was finished, he used some strips of bamboo to weave a cord. After finishing that, he tested out the cord's strength, tied it to the bamboo cicada, then flew out into the darkness of night.
"I'm gonna eat chicken!!" His stomach grumbled, but his eyes were shining with a green light. Because of how starving he was, he moved even faster than normal, and soon arrived at the spirit tail chicken farm.
As he neared, he tiptoed up to the fence, placed a spirit insect onto the bamboo cicada, then threw the bamboo cicada over the fence. Next, he crouched hungrily off to the side, holding the cord, which was attached to the cicada.
Further inside the fence were some log cabins, where certain Outer Sect disciples resided and practiced cultivation. The chicken farm was quite large, with over a hundred spirit tail chickens, most of whom were laying on the ground. A few were walking about, occasionally sticking their heads up haughtily and looking around. After a bit of time passed, one of the spirit tail chickens seemed to have noticed something. It turned and looked at something a ways away, then walked over. It immediately saw the spirit insect sitting there, prompting it to peck its beak down to grab it.
However, as soon as the spirit tail chicken pecked at the spirit insect, right at the critical moment, the bent piece of bamboo snapped open, ingeniously forcing the chicken's beak open.
The spirit tail chicken wanted to cry out, but its beak was stuck open, and it couldn't emit any sounds. Then it tried to close its beak and crush the bamboo, but the bamboo was too resilient, and its efforts were in vain.
No matter how the spirit tail chicken struggled, it couldn't make a peep as it was quickly dragged toward the fence, then up and over, straight into Bai Xiaochun's hands. Bai Xiaochun quickly drew upon the power of the fourth level of Qi Condensation, sending massive amounts of force into his hands, which he used to snap the chicken's neck. Then he tossed it into his bag of holding. From the way he moved, it seemed he was quite a veteran when it came to this sort of thing.
The entire affair took only about thirty breaths of time, and most of that time had been spent lying in wait. Were it not for that, it would have been accomplished even faster.
Bai Xiaochun raced excitedly back to his courtyard residence, whereupon a fragrant aroma soon filled the air. By dawn, the entire chicken was now in Bai Xiaochun's belly.
The only thing left were the feathers and the bones scattered about....
After eating the entire spirit tail chicken, most of Bai Xiaochun's hunger was abated. Having replenished his body, he now felt quite warm and comfortable.
In fact, he even seemed to have a bit more spiritual energy inside. However, the most apparent change had to do with his Undying Live Forever Technique. Bai Xiaochun immediately began to breathe in and out, for roughly eight cycles.
With every inhalation and exhalation, pulsating warmth would spread through his body and then converge on his skin. That in turn caused his skin to become tougher and more resilient. It even flickered with a black light. However, if you looked closely, it was just as fair and clear as before.
"The Undying Live Forever Technique starts with pain, then moves to hunger. This type of cultivation is definitely quite difficult, however, the results are excellent." With that, he extended his right hand, within which appeared his wooden sword. Then, he carefully and softly tapped the blade onto the back of his hand.
The wooden sword had a twofold spirit enhancement, but when it touched his skin, Bai Xiaochun could sense a faint force of resistance. He ceased any testing, more convinced than ever that he needed to continue cultivating the Undying Live Forever Technique.
"According to the description, the Undying Skin has four stages: iron, bronze, silver, and gold. Right now I've just started. But if I can last for eighty-one days... I should be able to develop Undying Iron Skin." Bai Xiaochun looked around at the scattered chicken bones, and in his heart, he now realized what was the key to successfully cultivating the Undying Iron Skin.
"Thankfully, there are plenty of spirit tail chickens on the mountain," he thought, laughing heartily. He was now more interested in the spirit tail chickens than ever.
What he didn't know was that in the past 10,000 years in the Spirit Stream Sect, very few people had ever cultivated the Undying Live Forever Technique. Most who did ended up quitting during the terrifying torment that was the first eighty-one days. Although some managed to continue, the main problem after that was how much money it cost to keep going.
In order to cultivate the technique all the way to the stage of Undying Gold Skin, the expenditure involved was simply terrifying. Even an entire sect would have a hard time forking over so much. After all, those resources could be used on other, less wasteful techniques. Although those other techniques weren't as marvelous, a sect had to consider what was most cost-effective.
That was the main reason why the Undying Live Forever Technique had ended up gathering dust in the Scripture Pavilion.
After practicing cultivation for a bit, Bai Xiaochun gathered up the chicken bones and buried them in the nearby spirit soil, along with the feathers.
Then he left his courtyard residence and found a place where the Outer Sect disciples tended to congregate, where he eavesdropped a bit to see if anyone was talking about the chicken being stolen. Based on his experience stealing chickens back in his village, he knew that the most optimal method was to only strike once every few days.
After eavesdropping a bit, he didn't hear anyone mention anything about a missing chicken. However, during his eavesdropping, he also learned that the three-colored tail feathers of the spirit tail chickens could be used to kindle three-colored flames.
Having learned this, Bai Xiaochun immediately trotted back to his courtyard residence and dug up the three-colored tail feathers out of the spirit soil. Then he sat there, studying them thoughtfully.
"No wonder they raise so many spirit tail chickens here." He immediately stored the three-colored feathers in his bag of holding. To others, such feathers were nothing more than kindling for three-colored flames. To him, though, they were fuel to perform threefold spirit enhancements.
He didn't attempt to do so immediately, though. His plan was to get some spirit medicine first, then perform a spirit enhancement to make the medicine more powerful.
After resting for a few days, Bai Xiaochun started getting hungry again one night. He put down the second volume of plants and vegetation and headed out into the darkness of night. When he returned, he had two more spirit tail chickens in his bag of holding.
And that was how time passed by. Soon, a month had gone by, during which time, news about the missing spirit tail chickens began to spread on Fragrant Cloud Peak.
Even Li Qinghou heard about the matter. After all, in only a month of time, a few dozen chickens had gone missing from the three spirit tail chicken farms. However, Li Qinghou didn't pay much attention to the matter, as he had important affairs to handle which ended up taking him off of the mountain.
Most depressed of all were the seven or eight Outer Sect disciples in charge of raising the spirit tail chickens. It wasn't that they cared a lot for the chickens themselves, but rather, that the chickens weren't really theirs to begin with. Although the peak lord didn't say anything, they felt the matter to be a big loss of face. After all, whoever was stealing the chickens was doing it right under their noses.
However, there was nothing they could do about it. No matter what they did to try to protect the chickens, the chickens kept going missing. What was most puzzling of all was that the chickens went missing without a trace. Not even a sound could be heard, as if they had vanished into thin air.
By now, Bai Xiaochun's body was now completely back to normal, and in fact, he had even gained a bit of weight. However much the Undying Live Forever Technique sucked away from him, he would replenish it with chicken meat. His face had a healthy flush, and he was once again living a comfortable life.
He was in a wonderful mood, and his belly was full. As a result, his research into the second volume of plants and vegetation picked up speed. Eventually, the day arrived when he was finished studying. Based on what had happened last time, he had studied everything in even more minute detail, including the leaves, stems, roots, veins, and even the tiny hairs on the surface of the plants. He was now more confident than ever, and was sure that even if the plants were split into dozens of parts, he would still be able to identify them.
Chest puffed out proudly, he strode out of his courtyard residence.
"This time, I'm going to make sure everybody knows that I am the Lord Turtle who passed up Zhou Xinqi!" Filled with anticipation, he headed straight for the 10,000 Medicines Pavilion.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
18 Power
stone 
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