Fire Worker Daoist

Lin Xiao and Yao'er shared a secret, and the two of them grew ever closer.

After Yao'er had saved him that day, Lin Xiao had once asked, "Since this is Senior Sister Yao'er's secret, why did you bring me here?"

Yao'er's answer was thoroughly in keeping with her character. "Well, the lotus produces Lotus Seeds once every forty-nine days, and I couldn't bear to miss that day's Lotus Seeds. But Master said I had to stick close to you, so I had no choice but to bring you along. Mm, mm, anyway, you didn't tell anyone else about that place, did you? Isn't that good? It also saves me from wasting half the Lotus Seeds every time."

Lin Xiao could not figure out what that lotus plant, that pool, and that cave truly were. But he could clearly feel the benefits brought by the Lotus Seeds he took each time. Every dose increased his cultivation by a negligible amount, perhaps equivalent to the true qi Lin Xiao would gain through half a month of bitter cultivation. Yet Lin Xiao could distinctly sense the changes in his body. His vigor had grown fuller, and his reactions sharper. It seemed these Lotus Seeds could fundamentally improve a person's innate talent.

Of course, these were merely the changes Lin Xiao had sensed. Whether the Lotus Seeds possessed any other wondrous effects was beyond his ability to determine.

Still, after spending several months with Yao'er, Lin Xiao had gradually been influenced by her. Anything he could not understand, he would leave for later. Thus, Lin Xiao tossed all his questions to the back of his mind.

Half a year had passed since Lin Xiao joined the Great Luo Pill Dao. On this day, Yao'er lazily swung an iron axe through the Golden Birch Forest, chopping Golden Birch wood, while Lin Xiao crouched beside a bonfire, carefully tending three wild chickens roasting over the flames. This had been their division of labor for the past half-year—Yao'er's cultivation was higher than Lin Xiao's, so she handled the Golden Birch wood, several times harder than refined iron, for him; Lin Xiao's cooking was better than Yao'er's, so he caught small game and prepared it for the two of them to share.

Over the past half-year, the two had grown accustomed to this arrangement. Neither felt that Yao'er helping Lin Xiao chop firewood was cheating, nor did they think secretly hunting and roasting game violated the precepts of cultivation.

After wildly hacking about with her iron axe, Yao'er carelessly stuffed the iron basket full, then impatiently ran to the bonfire and squatted beside Lin Xiao. Drooling, she stared eagerly at the wild chickens on the wooden rack and desperately twisted the flesh on Lin Xiao's arm with her fingers. "Is it done? Is it done? I'm starving, I'm craving it, hurry up! Sect Master Uncle is awful—he's making all the valley disciples fast and cultivate again. I'm dying of cravings!" Yao'er kept licking her lips, just like a greedy little puppy.

"It is, it is, almost done!" Lin Xiao crushed a wild fruit and smeared its juice over the three chickens. After roasting them a little longer with care, he swiftly removed one wild chicken, golden all over and dripping with oil, from the rack and handed it to Yao'er.

"Good, good!" Yao'er's eyes shone. She quickly switched the roast chicken from her left hand to her right, then tossed it from her right hand back into her left. "So hot, so hot! Help, it's burning me to death!" Too impatient to wait, Yao'er viciously bit into a drumstick and tore off a huge mouthful of meat. The scalding grease made her let out a shrill scream, yet she screamed as she devoured the roast chicken cleanly like a whirlwind sweeping away the clouds.

Lin Xiao rolled his eyes and handed Yao'er another roast chicken.

"Mm, mm, Junior Brother, you're a good person. Mm, you should eat too. Don't always give everything to me!" Yao'er snatched the roast chicken from Lin Xiao's hand while still conscientiously urging him to start eating. Yet the way she gazed at the last roast chicken on the rack made her look exactly like a starving little wolf.

"Uh, yes." Lin Xiao's table manners were far more refined than Yao'er's. He took down the roast chicken, slowly tore strips of meat off with his fingers, and elegantly placed them in his mouth to chew at leisure.

"Huff, huff!" Yao'er had already stuffed the second roast chicken into her stomach. She carefully licked every trace of grease from her fingers before patting her belly in satisfaction and smiling at Lin Xiao. "Junior Brother, Sect Master Uncle should send you to the kitchen. Mm, would you be willing to become the kitchen's supervising disciple?"

Lin Xiao fell silent. A mouthful of chicken meat lodged in his throat, and he could not swallow it for a long while.

Yao'er sprawled on her back beside Lin Xiao and hummed contentedly. "The current kitchen supervisor, that fellow, hmph, who knows where Martial Uncle Danyu brought him back from? Sigh, his food tastes awful. Sigh, it's ruined my appetite so badly. Mm, mm, luckily I have you now, Junior Brother. Only then has Senior Sister's appetite recovered by a little more than half!"

"Recovered by a little more than half"—Lin Xiao's eyelids twitched violently. He stared in horror at Yao'er's flat belly, without the slightest bit of excess flesh. Where had all that food gone?

Shaking his head, Lin Xiao tossed aside the wild chicken in his hand, covered the bonfire with dirt, then lay down where he was, shoulder to shoulder with Yao'er.

It was already early autumn. The sky was a deep, tile-blue shade, without the slightest cloud. Warm sunlight shone over them, making one feel so lazy that sleepiness came in waves. Several lines of large birds crossed the sky, while swarms of wild bees busily buzzed in the nearby woods. The slope opposite them was a riot of mountain flowers, and at its summit stood a grove of wild fruit trees, pale red mountain fruits appearing and disappearing amid the branches. Wind blew in from beyond the mountains, bringing with it a rich fragrance of flowers and fruit.

"Ah~~~" Yao'er yawned toward the sky. Tilting her head, she naturally rested it on Lin Xiao's arm. Without saying another word, she sank deeply into sleep. Lin Xiao looked at Yao'er with a little envy, even a little jealousy. Perhaps living more simply was also a kind of happiness? Eat when hungry, sleep when tired—such carefree ease was rare indeed.

Yao'er's pretty face was right before him, and her gentle breaths lightly brushed Lin Xiao's face. A faint sweetness rose in his heart. Just as he wanted to secretly reach out and touch Yao'er's long hair, a vast surge of bloody light suddenly flooded his vision, jolting him awake.

"Father... Xiaobai..." Lin Xiao's expression darkened. He looked at Yao'er, but his eyes had become bright and clear, like snowlight reflected by sunlight.

Gently shifting his body, Lin Xiao moved farther away from Yao'er.

Because Lin Xiao's arm had moved, the sleeping Yao'er gave an unhappy hum. With practiced ease, she reached out in her sleep and viciously pinched Lin Xiao's soft ribs. Dreaming Yao'er put great force into it. Lin Xiao's cultivation was already far below hers, and that pinch made his vision go black as tears streamed down in great drops. Having learned his lesson, Lin Xiao no longer dared move recklessly. He could only look bitterly at Yao'er. In her sleep, Yao'er seemed to have thought of something amusing and suddenly began to giggle.

"Bad Junior Brother. Mm, tomorrow's roast chicken, four of them. Three for me, one for you. Smack, smack, delicious."

Lin Xiao rolled his eyes and let out a soft, helpless sigh.

A cool breeze suddenly blew over. Having stayed in Spring Return Valley for half a year, Lin Xiao had become familiar with the elusive methods of cultivators. The moment he felt that cool breeze, he knew an expert had arrived.

Lin Xiao swiftly turned his head and saw Hua Feng'er, another disciple of Dan Fusheng, standing prettily a little over ten feet away. Hua Feng'er smiled with narrowed eyes at Lin Xiao and Yao'er, then suddenly raised a finger and lightly traced it across her cheek several times. Lin Xiao immediately flushed scarlet. Instinctively withdrawing his arm, he sprang to his feet like a carp flipping over and gave Hua Feng'er a deep salute. "Senior Sister Hua!" He pulled his arm back too quickly, lifting Yao'er's head over a foot into the air before it slammed heavily into the ground.

The instant Lin Xiao finished greeting Hua Feng'er, he took a heavy kick to the backside and flew forward in a miserable tumble for more than ten feet, landing hard in a dog-eating-mud sprawl. Dazed, Lin Xiao opened his eyes and looked around, only to discover that he was lying right before Hua Feng'er. Had Hua Feng'er not reacted quickly and stepped two paces back, his face would have smashed directly into her shoes.

Yao'er, beside herself with rage, bared her fangs and brandished her claws as she roared at Lin Xiao, "Junior Brother! You dared deliberately drop my head! What if you shook me stupid? Uh~~~ Senior Sister? What are you doing here? I didn't secretly eat roast wild chicken." Upon suddenly seeing Hua Feng'er, Yao'er immediately became demure and ladylike, smiling sweetly. "Those three wild chickens were all secretly roasted and eaten by Junior Brother!"

"Uh, Senior Sister Yao'er!" Lin Xiao scrambled up miserably, filthy and disheveled, wanting to argue his case with Yao'er. But Yao'er raised her right palm, striking a pose as though she were ready to unleash Palm Lightning at any moment. Lin Xiao immediately lowered his head despondently and honestly "confessed" to Hua Feng'er, "Senior Sister Hua, those wild chickens... were indeed, without discount, unquestionably eaten by me."

Yao'er nodded in satisfaction and said with a cheerful grin, "Senior Sister, see? He admitted it himself! Hehehe, hehehe, hehehehe!" Yao'er was positively bursting with smug delight.

Hua Feng'er fought hard to hold back her laughter, to the point that the muscles in her face nearly cramped. She lightly shook her head, then nodded again and said slowly, "Forget it. Eating a few wild creatures is no great matter. Sect Master Uncle did say that the disciples were to fast and cultivate in peace, but in truth, hehe~~~"

Unable to suppress her laughter at last, Hua Feng'er chuckled softly. "You two aren't the only pair of disciples secretly snacking outside. Senior Sister won't go spreading it around."

"A pair"—Lin Xiao heard that and went pale, then red, his head almost dropping to the ground. Yao'er, however, clapped her hands boldly. "So we're not the only ones secretly snacking? Senior Sister, you were scaring me again! Mm, I, Yao'er, dare to act and dare to own it. Of the three wild chickens, I ate two!"

Lin Xiao stared speechlessly at Yao'er. Did this affected display count as daring to act and daring to own it? At the beginning, who had dumped the entire black pot onto Lin Xiao's head?

Hua Feng'er also watched the flower-bright smile on Yao'er's face with twitching lips. Only after a long while did she softly sigh and cast Lin Xiao an incomparably pitying glance. Shaking her head, Hua Feng'er smiled. "Junior Brother Lin, your Heart Tempering Period after entering the sect has ended. Master sent me to find you. He wants you to return to receive your assigned duty and choose the cultivation art you will practice."

"Eh? Junior Brother's Heart Tempering Period is already over?" Yao'er looked at Hua Feng'er in confusion. "Those other white-robed children have Heart Tempering Periods of at least three years and at most ten. It's only been half a year! I haven't had enough fun yet. Why does Junior Brother already have to be assigned a duty?"

"I haven't had enough fun yet!" Those words left Lin Xiao and Hua Feng'er silent once more.

After a long time, Hua Feng'er finally forced a smile. "Yao'er, Master said that this time, he intends to let you take sole charge of a pill furnace."

"Ah? Oh? Mm!" Yao'er froze for a moment, then suddenly began dancing with excitement. "Sole charge of a pill furnace? A whole pill furnace? Senior Sister, did I hear right? Master would be this generous?"

Hua Feng'er's eyes shifted as she lightly laughed. "Master also said that if you blow up the pill furnace under your charge this time, then you will never be allowed to enter the pill chamber again for all eternity!"

"Never enter the pill chamber again for all eternity?" Yao'er's smiling face instantly stiffened. She stared blankly at Hua Feng'er, then turned to look at Lin Xiao as tears rolled down her cheeks drop by drop. "Wuwu, bad Master~~~ When Yao'er refines pills, how could the pill furnace possibly not explode? Wuwu~~~"

Lin Xiao fell silent. Hua Feng'er fell silent. The two looked at each other and sighed at the same time.

A quarter of an hour later, Lin Xiao, Yao'er, and Hua Feng'er had returned to Spring Return Valley.

Inside Pill Qi Lingxiao Hall, Lin Xiao stood in a line with seven other young Daoists clad in white robes, respectfully looking toward Daoist Danling, who sat cross-legged at the far end of the hall.

Daoist Danling's gaze flashed like lightning as he swept his eyes over Lin Xiao and the others. He slowly said, "You have entered my Great Luo Pill Dao for several years. During your Heart Tempering Period, your conduct has been exceedingly cautious, and your backgrounds have been clean and beyond question. Thus, from this day forward, you formally become disciples of my Great Luo Pill Dao."

The other seven white-robed Daoists all looked at Lin Xiao in surprise. They clearly remembered that Lin Xiao had entered the sect only half a year ago. How had he become a formal disciple alongside them today? Naturally, Daoist Danling would not explain this matter to them. He assigned duties to the Daoists, gave them pill arts suited to their respective five-element attributes, and dismissed them from the hall.

Lin Xiao respectfully gave Daoist Danling a salute.

Daoist Danling looked at Lin Xiao, a faint smile appearing on his face.

"Spring Return Hall was originally a branch of my Great Luo Pill Dao, so half a year was enough for your Heart Tempering Period. Do not blame your Martial Uncle for deliberately using that heavy axe and basket to make things difficult for you. It was only meant to make you understand the hardships of the path of cultivation. Without perseverance and resolve, you would do better to return to Guihua City and rebuild Spring Return Hall."

"This disciple understands!" Lin Xiao saluted Daoist Danling. "This disciple has already decided to devote himself wholeheartedly to cultivation and no longer dwell on the mortal world."

"Very well!" Daoist Danling smiled faintly. "You differ from the other disciples. Your Spring Return Hall lineage... hm, if you regret this in the future, you may come see your Martial Uncle at any time. This True Fire Art happens to suit your attributes. Take it and study it carefully. As for your duty, for now, go to the pill chamber and become a Fire Worker Daoist!"

A Fire Worker Daoist? Lin Xiao blankly accepted the thin volume of True Fire Art and gave a bewildered response.