Don't farm, cultivate immortality!

After a while, she finally picked out the eggplants and radishes, but left the cabbage untouched.

Seeing that she had made her choice, Zhuang Xing breathed a sigh of relief. He had felt a strange pressure just now.

Zhuang Xing asked her to wash the eggplant, as he planned to stir-fry it with eggs. He also asked her to peel and slice the radish and boil it in water, as tender radishes taste very good when boiled. In addition, he had a fish he caught yesterday in his bundle. After removing the scales and innards, he rubbed it with some salt and placed it by the fire to do some minor processing. Although it was no longer fresh, it could be considered a kind of pickled fish.

When the female knight was in Yidu, the stove in that little house was covered with a layer of dust, and she never seemed to use it.

She rarely cooks, so she put in a lot of effort today.

Chapter 244, stay behind.

Zhuang Xing brought the hot dishes to the table and ladled out hot rice and rice soup.

After a lot of fuss, I finally got the food ready.

After walking all day, he was starving. People need food to survive; if you miss a meal, you'll feel hungry. Eating and sleeping are the most important things. Eating the same dried meat and picking wild sour fruits every day in the mountains was really boring.

He couldn't wait to pick up his chopsticks and eat. Although the room was dimly lit, with only an oil lamp illuminating the small eight-immortal table, sitting opposite the female knight-errant created a warm feeling.

There were three dishes on the table: eggplant and scrambled eggs, boiled radish, and steamed salted fish, along with milky white rice soup. For modern people, this might be considered an ordinary meal, but for people of this era, having eggs and meat is a standard reserved for holidays and festivals. This level of meal is something that people eat a handful of times a year.

However, Zhuang Xing's favorite food on the table was still white rice. He hadn't eaten rice or noodles for a long time. After finishing the dry food he brought from the temple, he ate all the food he picked in the mountains.

Wild rice cannot be found in the mountains. Even if it is found, there are only one or two solitary plants. In some places, this kind of rice found in the mountains is called wild rice and is used to entertain guests. However, it is rare to find a bowl of wild rice.

With such a full bowl of rice, he was completely content today.

However, after Yan Huai'an left that place, she was always somewhat absent-minded. At night, Zhuang Xing often saw her staring blankly at the moon, looking as if she still had something on her mind.

It wasn't that she became like this after leaving that place; she was the same way on the way there.

She probably thinks about what to do every day. She's been thinking about it for years, and it's not something she can figure out in a short time.

Zhuang Xing felt that instead of just imagining it, it would be better to let her experience it firsthand. Only by trying it herself would she know what she liked and disliked.

"Does your sister like to cook?" Zhuang Xing asked while eating.

"Yes," Yan Huai'an nodded.

“If you haven’t decided where to go, why don’t you come stay with me for a while?” Zhuang Xing said. “You won’t need to keep traveling around anymore. You can find a stable place, think things through, and find something you like.”

Zhuang Xing took advantage of the mealtime to try and persuade them at the table.

Yan Huai'an was still walking with him at this moment to take him back to the Taoist temple. If he hadn't asked to stay, Yan Huai'an certainly wouldn't have said he wanted to stay.

Zhuang Xing felt that if Yan Huai'an went elsewhere in this state of mind, he didn't know what kind of people or things he would encounter.

In the past, she traveled around trying to cure her chronic illness. She carried a sword, wore a straw raincoat and a bamboo hat, and often went out to kill monsters and walk on desolate roads. Inevitably, she would have a bloody smell on her body.

But from now on, she has no destination. Zhuang Xing knows that she doesn't like the lonely countryside. If she leaves like this, she will probably go to some villages or towns to stay for a while.

She might even experience things she'd never tried before. The chill had dissipated from her body, and looking at her face, she was no different from a young woman.

The oppressive chill had dissipated, and at a glance, she no longer exuded an invisible pressure. If Yan Huai'an were to dress herself up like an ordinary woman, buying a few floral dresses and some jewelry and hairpins, she would definitely look beautiful and attract countless men's attention on the street.

She might be deceived by the sweet talk of some lecherous men. She was used to living by listening to others. In the past, Yinglong planned for her, sending her out to find things and teaching her to go to a certain prefecture or a certain high mountain.

In the future, if one does not meet a good person and feels lost and unable to find one's true self, one may easily go astray.

Zhuang Xing knew that the female knight was very easy to deceive. When people are confused, they are the easiest to deceive and the most likely to rely on others.

Zhuang Xing absolutely did not want Yan Huai'an to be deceived by others. She had traveled such a long road, endured so many lonely nights, and vanquished countless demons and evil spirits, and done so many good deeds. She deserved her happiness.

Zhuang Xing felt he should shoulder this responsibility. Over the years, apart from making some pastries for the female knight-errant, he had not been able to do anything else to repay her for saving his life back then.

It wasn't just a matter of saving his life. If the heroine hadn't given him that "talisman," he wouldn't have been able to find the jade slip, and he wouldn't have even been able to get to know Yunling. The white rat that guarded his house would probably have been trapped and died at the bottom of that river.

In addition, the female knight taught him swordsmanship and gifted him a demon core...

He has received many acts of kindness, but he has not repaid them.

He couldn't just stand by and watch Yan Huai'an leave alone; he had to at least help her find her direction and strengthen her resolve.

Yan Huai'an paused for a moment after hearing his words.

Find something you enjoy...

What does she like?

She has never experienced many things that a normal person should experience.

She was raised by a green snake that had transformed into a demon. Green snakes don't raise children like humans do. On that mountain, people are rarely seen. It's cold on that mountain, and snakes love to sleep on snowy days. After she got a little older, she was basically the only one awake every day. She could only see the other two children and one little one once a month.

They didn't talk to her much when they met, and she thought that was how the world was. But later, when she was invited outside, she realized that the world was completely different from what she had imagined.

Indeed, as Zhuang Xing said, she also wanted to find something she liked.

For example, she had cooked before, but before today, she didn't think cooking was a happy thing. Only today did she realize the joy of it.

The meal was delicious. Although she didn't help much—just washing the eggplant, chopping the radish, and burning firewood under the stove for a while—she experienced an indescribable joy.

She wanted to do the same thing tomorrow, cooking in the kitchen.

She thought it might be because the food she cooked was too bad.

She learns everything else very slowly, except for swordsmanship.

Zhuang Xing's cooking is much better than hers.

Staying in that Taoist temple for a while seems like a good idea.

She raised her eyebrows and looked at Zhuang Xing's face.

"Okay," she replied softly.

Zhuang Xing thought to himself that the female knight-errant was indeed easy to fool. He admitted that his martial arts skills were far inferior to hers, but in other aspects, she couldn't even compare to some children. Zhuang Xing was even more worried about letting her run off somewhere else at this moment. He felt that if someone with ill intentions became familiar with her and claimed to have a disease that would kill them if they didn't undress and lie in bed with her, she would believe it.

However, upon hearing Yan Huai'an's agreement, a surge of joy welled up within him.

He always felt at ease when he was with the female knight-errant, a feeling he had had since childhood.

While speaking, Zhuang Xing took a sip of rice porridge.

The rice water that comes out after draining the rice has a slightly sweet taste and is quite refreshing.

Chapter 245 More Incense Offerings

A ray of morning light shone down from the white clouds, making the dewdrop on the mulberry leaf sparkle.

Zhuang Xing, having packed his bags, handed a stack of drawn talismans to the man in front of him.

"Thank you for your hospitality today. The New Year's paintings of amulets should have lost their effectiveness by now. Since we are destined to meet again, I will give some more to the villagers. Please let me know so that I can deliver them to the villagers."

"No trouble at all, no trouble at all."

The man carefully took the talisman. He had seen its effects and felt it was a priceless talisman from the immortals. He dared not neglect the immortals' instructions.

"Then I will return to the temple now," Zhuang Xing said.

"I'll see the Taoist priest off," the man said.

The man escorted Zhuang Xing and Yan Huai'an to the village entrance. Along the way, he distributed the protective charms to the villagers he met. The villagers who saw Zhuang Xing also came to see him off. It was only a short walk, but a large number of people gathered.

Most of them were people Zhuang Xing had met before; he didn't know some of their names, but he still remembered their faces.

The people in front of me were all from the countryside, illiterate and unable to utter any eloquent words, but when it was time to leave, they still expressed their gratitude in their own simple way.

They would offer their own meat, eggs, vegetables, and rice. Farmers value grain the most, and inviting guests to a good meal is the greatest respect they can express.

Zhuang Xing was also a child raised by farmers, and he knew that not accepting the money at this time would only make him seem arrogant.

"Thank you so much, folks. I won't have to worry about not having enough to eat on this journey."

Zhuang Xing was stuffed with bags and carrying a large rooster, which was a gift from the village chief.

"Take care, Taoist priest!" many people said.

"We'll meet again someday," Zhuang Xing replied, and then walked out with Yan Huai'an.

Under the tree at the village entrance, the Taoist priest's figure could be seen disappearing into the distance. A child asked his parents who that was and why everyone had come to see him off.

The little boy, with his hair in pigtails, was only four or five years old. He had never seen the scene of the demon-slaying that year and did not know the Taoist priest.

My parents said that he was a Taoist priest who exorcised demons and monsters; he had come to the village before to get rid of man-eating monsters.

"Exorcising demons and monsters..."

Upon hearing this, the child's eyes lit up with longing, and he waved the twig he had picked up, as if he were the sword at the Taoist's waist.

...

This village is quite a distance from Xuanqing Temple. That year, Zhuang Xing came with his senior brother on horseback. The horses at Xuanqing Temple are very fast, and the round trip took less than half a month.

This time, there will be no horses to take us back up the mountain; we can only walk slowly, one step at a time, on solid ground.

Zhuang Xing estimated that it would take about ten days to get there. He remembered the villages and routes along the way. This area was no longer the wilderness; there were many villages clustered together along the river.

Although the journey is not short, the weather is pleasantly clear in autumn. In recent years, summers have been hot and winters have been cold. Spring should be the most pleasant season, but the weather is cold and the snow on the ground does not melt even in early spring. Autumn has become the most comfortable time of the year.

It's easier to walk where there are people. We returned to the foot of the mountain earlier than Zhuang Xing had expected, after exactly ten days.

Now that he's back, Zhuang Xing went to the stable to check on Wuzhui.

When Zhuang Xing arrived, his horse was affectionately interacting with a mare he didn't recognize.

Although Wuzhui was only five years old, in the world of horses, five years old is considered adulthood, the age when one can become a father.

Zhuang Xing knew he shouldn't disturb them, so he took a few glances from outside and left.

Then we walked up the stone steps. There were quite a few people traveling in autumn. Originally, we didn't see many people from outside the temple on this road, but today Zhuangxing saw quite a few people traveling together.

The entire mountain was dyed red by maple leaves. People coming up the mountain saw Zhuang Xing wearing Taoist robes and came up to talk to him. Some asked the young monk how far it was to Xuanqing Temple, while others wanted to have their fortunes told, praying for marriage, children, or wealth.

He answered all the questions from the villagers who asked for directions. When asked to tell fortunes, he said that his Taoist temple was a place that specialized in exorcising demons and did not know anything about divination. He told them that if they wanted to seek divine protection, they had come to the wrong place.

Xuanqing Temple has never relied on donations from worshippers as its main business. Apart from exorcising demons, it only performs funeral rites.

Fortune telling is a profession that only charlatans do. This profession does not require you to know how to tell fortunes, as long as you are eloquent and can say nice things.

If you lose money, it's because the feng shui is wrong; if everything goes wrong, it's because something in your house is harming you. They call it fortune telling, but it's more like just chatting with someone.

The key is not how to tell fortunes, but how to make the guests feel good.

If someone were to actually calculate that your life is destined for hardship and misery, the customers would say you're a fraud and smash up your stall.