Immortal Cultivation and Life-Saving Guide

Chapter 17: Tit for Tat is No Joke
Wei Xi looked at Wei An suspiciously, and that look made Wei An's old face blush.

"I just need some herbs for emergency use. I'm a businessman and I value integrity!"

Wei Xi spread her hands and began to clean up the big hole that Wei An had stepped into, and continued to catch the thief who stole her medicinal herbs.

"Junior Sister!" Wei An shouted from behind her, while Wei Xi continued to perfect the trap while holding the pine branches.

"I think it might be a small animal from the mountains. Let's catch it tonight. Otherwise, every snow radish lost will delay my stock of hot-selling pills."

Wei Xi didn't care whether the laborer who came up was his senior brother or not, and nodded in agreement.

"According to the Hundred Plants Chronicles, the northern border bluebirds love to eat snow radish, but bluebirds are small and can't eat much."

Senior Brother Wei snapped his fingers to summon the sparks he carried with him, then bent down to examine the crime scene in the medicine field.

"How many days has the medicine been lost with this amount?"

Wei Xi thought about it and made the number five.

"Five days. Judging by the number of lost snow radishes, they must be a pair of bluebirds incubating their eggs. No wonder their appetite has increased so much."

Wei An squatted down and squinted his eyes to look at it, "Look! These are claw marks, let's follow them."

Wei Xi hurried to take a look, and sure enough, there was a row of paw prints in the brown soil, which were invisible unless you looked carefully.

The paw prints disappeared into the low bushes.

"According to the habits of bluebirds," Wei An instructed Wei Xi, "they should have made their nest in the bushes. Look carefully for them and send the young couple to the Bird Department."

Wei Xi would never send this pair of thieves to the Bird Bureau to enjoy the delicious food. She would only bring these two birds back to the dormitory as a midnight snack for herself and Qin Feng.

Wei Xi didn't even listen to Wei An's nagging about how the orchid finch was very aggressive when incubating its eggs, how this kind of bird would likely turn into snow water if caught during the day, and how to be careful. She was immersed in the fantasy of eating a thief, and a sinister smile appeared on her face.

The male bird was disturbed. Seeing its crest standing up, Wei Xi finally understood why Zhao Dazui looked so funny with bird feathers stuck in his hair.

The male orchid bird was full of fighting spirit and rushed towards Wei Xi's face like a blue meteor.

The enemy did not dodge, and Lanque made a mistake. It had never thought of this way of fighting, but it was too late to brake. Its claws scratched a wound in the middle of Wei Xi's nose, but it was also dizzy from the impact.

Wei Xi endured the pain and grabbed the thief, along with its accomplice who was squinting his eyes to incubate eggs. The couple screamed in fear in Wei Xi's left and right hands, and Wei Xi blamed the bleeding nose on the thieves.

Wei An took out a bird cage from his Qiankun bag, but Wei Xi did not put the bird in it.

Wei An could no longer pretend under Wei Xi's scrutinizing gaze and took out two top-grade spirit stones.

"One hand pays, the other hand delivers. Junior Sister, can you give me the Orchid Bird this time?"

Wei Xi still refused. She raised her chin towards the snow radish field. Wei An nodded resignedly, "I'll tell Master that I picked the snow radish and I won't pick any more in the future."

Wei Xi was satisfied. When she saw the two birds, she realized something was wrong. How could such small birds eat so much? With their bodies, it would be difficult for them to eat even one of them. In a flash, Wei Xi figured everything out.

First of all, this task is very strange. Why would Master Chu plant so many snow radishes, and plant them specifically in the pine forest? You know, there is no shortage of eligible open space in Yizhangyuan.

Secondly, Wei Xi had asked Qin Feng about the market price of snow radish. Qin Feng explained that she had seen it with her father in the army and that it was a common medicine, used by soldiers to treat frostbite. It was the cheapest among spiritual medicines. The spirit stones she'd earned from hiring Wei Xi to grow snow radish would have been enough for Immortal Master Chu to buy it.

Finally, Brother Wei, who loves money like his life, is here helping her catch the medicine-stealing bird in the middle of the night. Wouldn't it be better for him to go back and make pills during this time?
Unless, the purpose of planting this snow radish is not to make it.

Immortal Master Chu probably planted snow radishes to attract orchid birds, which were probably used in alchemy.

According to the information Wei Xi heard when he went to the cafeteria to pick up food, an elder of the Tiandi Gate had previously placed a large order with Master Chu, asking her to make a pill that could hide her body, called Lanxi Pill.

The elusive Tiandi Sect's invitation to the Northern Frontier sect likely reminded Master Chu of this deal; even the timing matched. Wei Xi boldly hypothesized that the thieves he had on his hands were the ingredients for the Lanxi Pill. Master Chu, who cultivated snow radish during the day and enjoyed his beauty sleep at night, had sent his apprentice to capture the orchid sparrow. Wei An, a man so greedy, wouldn't it be natural for him to take some snow radish to make the pill?

"Kids nowadays are getting smarter and smarter."

Wei An handed the spirit stone to Wei Xi, who was wiping her hands with snow. Just now, when Wei Xi stuffed the birds in, one of them had pooped on her hand. "I don't know how you guessed that."

Wei Xi put the spirit stones away, thinking that she had finally encountered something good. She didn't expect Wei An to give her the market price. After all, she was getting a good deal.

"Seriously, you're quite smart. Do you want to learn alchemy from us?"

Wei An covered the bird cage with a cage cloth and put the cage and the bird into the Qiankun bag.

Immortal Master Chu resisted Immortal Master Han. Previously, when new disciples went to observe the various departments, the Alchemy Department closed its doors to them. Therefore, Senior Brother Wei didn't know Wei Xi's background.

Wei Xi took out the cowhide scroll, and Wei An realized that her pedigree was not valued by any department or academy of the Qingcheng Sect.

The so-called talent in the world of immortal cultivation actually depends on two aspects: one is the Qi Palace, and the other is the root bone.

The Qi Palace is where the essence of heaven and earth is absorbed, and the roots and bones are the channels for transmitting Qi.

The Immortal Fate Stone measures the Qi Palace. People with Qi Palace are people with immortal fate. They can turn the essence of heaven and earth into their own use.

But the root bones need to be felt out. The cultivators at the foundation-building stage and above will input a gentle Dharma energy into the tested person, and feel the flow of this Dharma energy in his root bones, so that they will know what path the tested person is suitable for.

Wei Xi's innate aptitude for Qifu was extremely poor, but with it she could enter the immortal sect. However, Wei Xi's aptitude, as that annoying spirit from the Bird Department put it, was "obstructed by the path and sparse in nature, making it a false path to immortality."

After learning the whole story, Wei An sighed and patted Wei Xi's head. "Little Junior Sister, don't be discouraged. Since you have a destiny to become an immortal, don't be afraid of the difficulties. Sometimes a person's character and wisdom are more valuable than talent. If you only focus on talent when cultivating immortality, then you are not fighting against heaven."

"But you really should consider purchasing elixirs from me. After all, your journey to immortality is very long."

Wei An looked at Wei Xi's furious expression and left with a smile.

Wei Xi stood there angrily, squinting her eyes as she watched Wei An's figure disappear into the night.

Most of the Qingcheng Sect's cultivators were already asleep, but Wei Xi was wide awake. She still had a mess to clean up. She backfilled the traps she'd dug and cleared away flammable materials like pine branches. It would be dawn by the time she was done.

After packing up the tools, Wei Xi prepared to go back to the dormitory to sleep. Passing by the place where she caught the thieves, she heard a tiny sound - she was a mute, and as if to compensate, her hearing was more acute than that of ordinary people.

Wei Xi pulled aside the bushes and saw the noise maker in the grass.

Beneath the few pieces of blue fluff left by the thief was a bluefinch's nest. Inside were two pale blue eggs, covered with white snowflakes. The two eggs, nestled close together, lay safely in the little nest made of snow.

Wei Xi saw that one of the smaller shells had a small crack in the middle, and in one place the crack was gradually widening. Now Wei Xi thought that it was fortunate that she had caught the two thieves. When the two chicks hatched, she could make some money.

A lonely bird leg stretched out from the gap. A similar leg had just given Wei Xi a cut on his nose. Then the young bird crawled out.

The bird was very ugly when it was born, and its body was covered with egg liquid. Wei Xi was worried that the bird would freeze to death, but unexpectedly, the little bird struggled and pounced on another egg. Wei Xi was not familiar with the habits of blue finches. Just as she was wondering, the little bird began to peck at its brother's shell.

Wei Xi thought that this would be faster, so he let Lan Que save its brother.

But things did not turn out as Wei Xi expected. The bluebird bit its unborn brother on the thin neck. It was at this time that Wei Xi saw that the little beast's tongue was covered with barbs.

Wei Xi hurried to separate the two birds, but it was too late. Less than half a minute after hatching, the bird murdered its brother.

The little beast was still trying to nudge Wei Xi's hand. Wei Xi wanted to see what the little beast could do, so she moved her hand away. The little bird cried out and pounced on it to peck at its brother's body.

Wei Xi’s eyes went dark: Is this the price she paid for letting the bird from the Bird Bureau go?

(End of this chapter)