Chapter 167
Chapter 167
While living with Centurion Lin’s men, Jiang Yunsui rarely dared cultivate fully. Grass and mushrooms sprouted around her, forcing the exhausted men to harvest and weed during their little rest. The sheep nearly fought over the grass.
To avoid trouble, she absorbed moonlight slowly and quietly.
Now Song Jin had brought her out, and Ji Si carried her beyond King Huxie’s camp with his superb lightness skill.
“Here will do. We’ll guard you.”
Song Jin folded his arms and tugged his fake beard. “With this much hair covering their faces, can Barbarians even tell each other apart?”
Jiang Yunsui sat on Ji Si’s cushion and arranged her short legs cross-legged.
“I’m ready!”
She now wore a pretty pale-yellow dress. Her clean, plump white face resembled a perfectly steamed little bun. Her hair was neat, with two braids. Compared with the scruffy Mushroom from before, she was a different fungus entirely – the difference between a stray kitten and a pampered family pet.
“Do you need to sleep?”
She shook her head energetically. “No.”
The tiny Mushroom was working hard to rebel against King Huxie and rescue the humans she supported. Song Jin said the chaos might let them free other slaves too, including the pitiful women and children kept as food.
She had secretly helped them but never appeared. She trusted Centurion Lin’s men because they belonged to the Ji Family Army and because of what she heard them say. In truth, she trusted Ji Yan’an.
With others, she remained timid and wary, afraid a traitor might report her.
Song Jin praised her caution. Little Mushroom preened.
With two guards, she freely absorbed starlight and Moonlight Essence.
As she sank into cultivation, green spread outward from her. It was early spring, and tender growth burst from the earth in a breathtaking carpet, dotted with mushrooms.
“It shocks me every time,” Song Jin said.
It also reminded him that she truly was not human. He wondered what her original form looked like. Ji Si did too. It had to be adorable.
She cultivated until dawn. Sunlight gilded her hair and illuminated the fine fuzz on her face. Long lashes curled above the beautiful, quiet child sitting amid grass and flowers.
She looked like a little immortal who had wandered into the mortal world.
At the first rooster’s crow, her lashes fluttered open.
She twisted her neck, shook her chubby legs, wiggled her bottom, and stretched. After that chaotic routine, she was a lively, pretty Little Mushroom again.
“Wow, this much grass?”
She had deliberately circulated her energy and released most of it. The result was excellent, though she had stored little Imperial Flowing Essence.
She put her hands behind her back, ready to inspect her domain.
Song Jin shoved a sickle into them. “Stop standing there. Cut grass.”
She tossed it away, folded her arms, and declared, “No!”
Then she crouched. “I’ll pick mushrooms. Hmph. I spent all that energy, and you still make me work. Shameless!”
She refused, but not entirely.
Song Jin and silent Ji Si cut madly. There was far too much. Two hours later they finished, only to face making portable grass cakes.
Song Jin brought Fat Chef and the others. In only days, he had befriended several minor leaders. Loose supervision, bribes, and a hunting excuse made leaving easy.
“Whoa, that’s a lot.”
“Stop gawking and work.”
Fat Chef rolled up his sleeves. “You work. I’ll cook.”
Excellent. Jiang Yunsui gave him her mushrooms, then accompanied Ji Si hunting. He hunted while she clapped enthusiastically.
They returned with two pheasants and three rabbits.
Fat Chef regretted the lack of lotus leaves for beggar’s chicken or rabbit. Little Mushroom nearly drooled.
Without cookware, he stuffed the animals with seasonings and sliced mushrooms, sewed them shut, and roasted them.
Soon fragrance filled the air. Jiang Yunsui circled the meat.
“Don’t steal any! It isn’t cooked.”
She answered without turning.
As Song Jin chopped grass, he complained, “I’m the strategist. Shouldn’t I sit in a grand chair with a feather fan, drinking tea and playing chess while giving orders? Why am I doing manual labor?”
His former master had been a brainless Barbarian brute. After switching sides, he finally served someone intelligent, yet somehow he was back in a Barbarian camp. Someone around him had to be jinxing him!
Fat Chef replied, “I’m a cook, and I’ve lost several pounds on this trip.”
Jiang Yunsui poked the sizzling meat. “Can we eat yet? It smells so good.”
Fat Chef’s cooking suited her best.