Chapter 85
Chapter 85
My name is Yun Lie. I am five years old.
I live in the city of Nandu with my master and my junior sister, Yun Xi.
My junior sister is an idiot. When she was little, she always thought she was a cat. She walked on her hands and feet and chased Barbara around.
Barbara is Master’s spirit pet, a very unusual and beautiful pink kitten.
As for Master, she is the strongest, prettiest, and most capable person in the entire world.
Though I do not really understand why Master always says she is merely an ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator.
“Yun Lie, you climbed so high again!” A clear voice came from below.
The little boy in blue looked down from the tree. On the ground, a bright-eyed little girl in matching blue clothes stood with her hands on her hips and glared up at him. “You will get stuck again and end up clinging to a branch all by yourself, crying!”
Yun Lie ignored her and craned his neck to look into the distance.
Master had gone out on business the day before yesterday. Uncle Heipao said she would return today.
It was nearly dark. Master was sure to return soon. He wanted to stand as high as possible so he could be the first to see her.
Yun Xi tilted her head and studied him for a while. They had grown up together, so she soon understood what Yun Lie was thinking.
She could not allow that!
The little girl immediately dusted off her hands and began clambering up the tree with great effort.
In a corner of the courtyard, Heipao shifted faintly within the shadows. After confirming that the two young masters were in no danger, he lowered his head again.
Yun Xi climbed with remarkable agility. Clearly, for all her mockery of Yun Lie, she had done this sort of thing plenty of times herself.
Zhu Yin had not yet taught them to cultivate. But they had drunk Immortal Spirit Spring Water since infancy, and whenever Zhu Yin refined something new, she would casually feed them a little of it too.
After several years, although they had yet to embark upon cultivation, the two children’s bodies were already no weaker than those of ordinary innate martial artists.
Yun Lie looked disdainfully at the girl who sat down beside him. “Why did you come up here?”
Yun Xi grinned smugly. “I know what you are planning. You want to be the first to see Master, right? Hmph! I will not let you. Master likes me best, so I will be the first one she sees.”
Yun Lie curled his lip. “Master likes me best! Last time, she took me to Youwu Mountain, and she only took me!”
“That was because you secretly drank Master’s medicine, and she had to take you to Youwu Mountain to find an antidote!”
“I do not care. Master took me and left you behind, so she likes me best.”
Yun Xi’s eyes reddened with anger. She was about to argue when a familiar figure entered the edge of her vision.
Dusk had fallen. The cold orange light on the horizon stained the earth and drew the slender figure into a very long shadow.
They could not see her face, but the two children had watched that figure since infancy. They could never mistake her.
Little Yun Xi put her hands around her mouth like a trumpet. “Master–”
“Master–Xixi missed you so much–”
Zhu Yin stopped walking.
She was still some distance from the residence, but that distance meant nothing to her. She could clearly see two soft little faces hidden among the thick branches above her courtyard wall.
Both pairs of round black eyes glittered with expectation and delight at the sight of her.
A smile spread across Zhu Yin’s face in answer.
Unlike the disciple she had inherited midway through her previous life, these two human youngsters had passed through her own hands. She had raised them from tiny infants who could neither speak nor recognize anyone into the children they were now.
Youngsters were always sweet. They pressed close to her, soft and cuddly, and called her Master. For once, Zhu Yin sometimes found herself thinking, Ah, although this is troublesome, raising them actually feels rather nice.
Some families lived along the road. When they heard the children’s cries, they laughed inside their homes.
“Those children at the mouth of the alley are calling for their master again.”
“The two little ones in that family are so pretty! And strong as calves too!”
“The adult in their family seems to leave home often. How can she feel safe leaving two such pretty children behind? Is she not afraid a kidnapper will carry them off?”
“A kidnapper? That is no ordinary household. They are immortals! Other immortals guard the house. What kidnapper would be so eager to die?”
Barbara fretted beside Zhu Yin’s ear. “Heavens, that is far too dangerous! What if they fall from such a tall tree?”
Having also watched the two children grow, Barbara seemed to have awakened the instincts of a nursemaid without any instruction. It looked far more reliable than Zhu Yin.
In the blink of an eye, Zhu Yin crossed into the residence and appeared beneath the tree.
Amid Barbara’s shocked meowing, the two children spread their arms and jumped down like two little glutinous rice balls.
They landed in Zhu Yin’s arms.
Yun Xi gained a slight advantage. She wrapped both fair little arms around Zhu Yin, puckered her lips, and planted a loud kiss on Zhu Yin’s cheek.
Yun Lie was a little slower. With a disgruntled hum, he kissed her other cheek.
Five-year-old children were not light, especially when both were so solidly built.
But Zhu Yin did not mind the weight. She carried them to the pavilion in the courtyard and sat down before saying cheerfully, “Master brought you presents.”
This was one of her hobbies. Every time she went out, she bought heaps of anything fun or interesting she saw. Whether anyone could use the things was a question for later; buying them made her happy.
Usually, her gifts came from the market. This time was different.
Zhu Yin waved a hand, and something the size of a small hill appeared on the ground.
It was a magnificent bird shimmering with radiant colors. It was already dead, and blood began spreading across the ground only moments after Zhu Yin set its body down.
Zhu Yin saw nothing wrong with placing such a thing before two small children. She enthusiastically began planning. “Its feathers are beautiful! We can pluck them and have someone make clothes. One outfit for each of the three of us!”
Barbara reminded her weakly, “Host…”
“I will not forget you. Barbara gets one too!” Zhu Yin reassured it, stroking the cat’s head. “Do not worry. I am not the sort of heartless Host who forgets Barbara after raising a pair of children.”
Barbara: “…”
No! It did not want clothes!
Were new clothes really the point?
The point was that two five-year-old human children were standing in front of her!
Was there truly no problem with showing them the bloody corpse of a demon beast like this?
The two children Zhu Yin had raised genuinely saw no problem at all!
Yun Xi even walked around the demon bird, studied its multicolored feathers, and declared that she wanted red ones. “I do not like green.”
Yun Lie took a liking to the beast’s brilliantly glowing tail feathers. He wanted to make the sort of phoenix-winged golden crown worn in the operas. It would look so imposing!
Zhu Yin saw no problem with that. She beckoned Heiwu over and instructed him, “Deal with this. I heard its meat is exceptionally delicious, so stew it into soup.”
At the word delicious, both children swallowed in unison.
Heiwu was silent for a moment, then quietly dragged away the demon beast’s enormous body.
Zhu Yin snapped her fingers. Dark flames emerged from beneath the earth and burned away the blood left on the ground, leaving it spotless in an instant.
Then Zhu Yin pulled something else out of her pocket.
This time, it was a cluster of brilliant red fruit, each one the size of a thumb and crystal clear.
At that moment, the moon had just risen. Silver moonlight fell across the fruit, and the entire cluster glowed softly.
Zhu Yin had gone out this time specifically for these.
Ninth-grade cinnabar fruit was said to taste exceptional. After receiving news of its appearance, she had deliberately gone early to wait for it.
While waiting, she encountered the great demon bird.
It was clearly after the same thing.
But there was only one cinnabar-fruit plant.
They could only fight for it.
Zhu Yin won, picked the cinnabar fruit, and brought home a feast while she was at it.
She casually set the fruit on the table. “I bought these at the market. Master already tasted them for you, and they are quite good. These are yours. Eat ten each, and save the rest for tomorrow.”