Chapter 191

Chapter 191

Laughing loudly, I hurried over and grabbed both of Roundy’s feet.

Then, like pulling a radish from the ground, I yanked upward with all my strength!

Only then did I drag the enormous round bird out of the soil.

It seemed rather angry. It kicked the broken branch hard with its short, thick talons and chirped furiously.

I had good reason to suspect the creature was swearing!

The next morning,

when I woke, I discovered that the toad monster’s demon core, which I had placed beside my pillow the night before, was gone.

Only a soft white feather remained.

Clearly, that enormous fat bird Roundy had visited during the night and taken the demon core.

“Fat bird, we both need to cultivate hard. I hope we can meet in the real world soon.”

I spoke silently in my heart.

…

The final days of winter vacation passed peacefully.

I packed my bags and said goodbye to my parents and Master with excitement in my heart, then returned to Lianghe Town.

The moment I stepped into the coffin shop,

I saw Old Cao’s familiar smiling face. He greeted me warmly.

“Xiao Wu, you’re back? Did you have a good winter vacation? Are Immortal Lady Qin and your parents doing well?”

“Ha! Everything’s fine, and they’re all doing well. It’s just been so long since I saw you and Uncle Hu that I wasn’t used to it.”

The gray, translucent Wang Hu stuck his head out from the kitchen behind us and called happily,

“Young Mr. Wu is back? I’m making dinner right now. Perfect! I’ll cook a couple more dishes.”

“Sorry to give you extra work, Uncle Hu. I can already smell how delicious it is. I’ll eat three huge bowls of rice tonight!”

Laughing and chatting with the two men, I thundered up the stairs and placed my luggage and backpack in my room.

Naturally, I did not forget to greet the paper figures and paper horses.

Whew!

I flopped onto the wooden bed and lay on my back.

“After living here so long, this place feels like a second home.”

When I passed the high school entrance exam in a little over two years, how badly would I miss it here?

Before long, Wang Hu brought dinner out.

To my surprise, he could now control seven pieces of tableware simultaneously–two meat dishes, one vegetable dish, a soup, and three enormous bowls of rice!

Plates and a soup bowl floated from the kitchen on faint clouds of smoke, then settled steadily on the dining table in the center of the room alongside three pairs of chopsticks.

Twice-cooked pork.

Sichuan boiled pork slices.

Stir-fried luffa.

Tomato-and-egg soup.

Every dish looked and smelled wonderful, instantly whetting my appetite!

“Uncle Hu, you’ve gotten stronger again in the month or so since I last saw you. Your spirit body looks more solid too. Even your cooking has improved.”

I praised him with a smile.

He hurriedly waved his hands, then looked at Old Cao with deep gratitude.

“It’s all thanks to Boss Cao! Not only did he teach me new methods for condensing my soul and solidifying my form, he also burned soul-fortifying incense and specially made spirit money for me to absorb.”

Old Cao smiled and lifted his bowl.

“Eat, eat!”

After dinner, it was sometime past eleven.

The night had grown deep and quiet.

Bai Su and Huihui descended from their cave on Fallen Flood Dragon Slope and came to the coffin shop.

“Brother Wu! It’s been so long. I missed you to death!”

Squeaking excitedly, Huihui leaped straight into my arms.

Then, like a pet dog, he wriggled constantly and rubbed himself against me.

He covered me in fur.

I affectionately rubbed his little head and belly, then exchanged a smile with Bai Su and greeted her.

…

Vacation ended, and school days returned.

The next morning, I bought some steamed buns and ate them as I walked toward school.

At the three-way intersection before Lianghe Bridge, I spotted Wang Dachun approaching from a distance with Zeng Jin and several of his lackeys.

“Wow! Boss, I missed you so much!”

The fellow yelled dramatically and charged straight at me.

“Stop, stop!”

I thrust out a hand in alarm, preventing him from doing something insane like leaping up to hug me in the middle of the street, in full view of everyone.

Two guys being that intimate? I couldn’t take it!

At the bridgehead, we ran into Yao Nan and several of her girlfriends.

She greeted me with a smile while the other girls waggled their eyebrows and grinned strangely.

I could not be bothered with them!

After more than a month apart, Yao Nan really did seem to have grown prettier again.

Her eyes were bright, her teeth white, and her smile lovely.

Several younger boys passing nearby kept sneaking glances at her.

Still, compared with Master’s otherworldly beauty, I thought she remained far behind…
Thus began the quiet, heartwarming life of the new semester.

Perhaps the previous term had simply been too exciting, with one infuriating supernatural incident after another. By contrast, the new term was exceptionally peaceful.

I attended class by day and cultivated at night.

When I went with Old Cao and the others to carry coffins, we occasionally still encountered a dead body undergoing corpse transformation. But every one was merely a walking corpse of the lowest level.

Old Cao and I did not even need to intervene. Big Bull, Ergou, and the others could resolve the matter with ease.

They bound the corpse with the phoenix rope and struck it several times with the dragon staff.

That generally made it behave immediately and stop causing trouble…

Then we asked whether the deceased had suffered some injustice.

If so, we resolved it. If not, we took the body straight to a burial site I had selected long ago and interred it.

Done!

Time flowed slowly onward, like the waters of the Chuan River beyond town.

In the blink of an eye,

early June of the year 2000 arrived.

Summer had long since settled over the Sichuan-Chongqing region.

The weather was scorching, and cicadas shrilled endlessly in the trees.

Back then, even middle-school classrooms in relatively wealthy towns were unlikely to have air conditioning. Having six ceiling fans overhead already showed that Lianghe Town Middle School was exceptionally well funded.

Pant, pant…

Wang Dachun stuck out his tongue and tugged at his collar while fanning himself nonstop with his math textbook.

It was only the break after our second morning class, yet the temperature was already approaching eighty-six degrees.

Yao Nan turned to look at him and said with disgust,

“Stop panting. I keep thinking there’s a big dog behind me.”

Zeng Jin and I could not hold back our laughter.

Wang Dachun looked aggrieved.

“It’s just too hot… And the school is ridiculously stingy. They won’t even install air conditioning in the classrooms. My house has had it for ages. It’s nice and cool every day when I get home.”

I stared at him speechlessly and said,

“Talk about ‘let them eat cake.’ All right, stop complaining. A calm mind makes a cool body. Old Quan teaches our next class. If you don’t pay attention and sit there fanning yourself, he’ll chew you out.”

Old Quan was our English teacher, and he was extremely strict.

Wang Dachun feared very few teachers, but Old Quan was one of them.

“Oh, right, Boss!”

As if he had suddenly discovered some secret, Wang Dachun leaned sharply toward me and stared.

“How come you aren’t sweating at all? You aren’t fanning yourself either, but there’s no sweat anywhere on your face or neck!”

Once Wang Dachun pointed it out, Zeng Jin and Yao Nan grew curious too.

They moved closer and stared at me.

“What are you doing? The way you’re looking at me is giving me the creeps.”

I leaned back against the wall and raised both hands.

Yao Nan whispered in surprise,

“Desk mate, you must be using some kind of magic, right? That’s incredible. There’s even magic that keeps you cool and prevents sweating?”

She looked deeply envious.

Hot summers were more troublesome for girls than boys. Their hair was longer, after all, and sweat gathered all over their necks.

“Boss! I want to learn magic too. Even if I can’t catch ghosts or subdue monsters, I could at least cool myself down in summer, right? That can’t be too difficult or violate some taboo.”

Wang Dachun looked envious as well.

I smiled and shook my head.

“There are indeed talisman arts that can cool people and keep them comfortable, but they aren’t very useful and are surprisingly advanced. So I haven’t learned them yet. Martial arts are the reason I can stay cool.”

“What?”

“Martial arts?”

Practicing martial arts could keep someone cool?

Wang Dachun, Yao Nan, and Zeng Jin all looked bewildered.

Seeing that we still had a few minutes before class, I decided to give them a rough explanation…

“Look at my arm.”

As I spoke, I rolled up my sleeve and held my right forearm before them.

Without the slightest hesitation, Yao Nan grabbed my wrist and brought it close to her eyes.

Before I could speak, she exclaimed,

“Oh my God, desk mate! How is your skin so smooth? It’s even better than a girl’s. Your pores are tiny, and you barely have any arm hair. I never noticed before.”

Wang Dachun cried out too.

“Holy shit, Boss! That’s kind of girly… Oh, sorry! I didn’t mean it that way. Don’t hit me.”

Before I could even move, the idiot sensibly covered his head and apologized.

“Now watch carefully.”

I spoke softly as I suddenly tensed my arm and exerted force.

In an instant, something even more astonishing happened before their eyes…