After dealing with Wine Fox Immortal and driving Ning Zhongzi away, Lu Ya sighed inwardly. The life of a Salted Fish was hard-won.
He rested his head on his spirit sword, bathed in the sunlight filtering through the window, and slept with carefree abandon.
Ten days slipped by in a flash.
During those ten days,
Lu Ya hadn't once left the mountain. He'd spent most of his time eating, drinking, sleeping, fishing, soaking in hot springs, and daydreaming...
He ate Roasted Immortal Fish.
He drank Immortal Rice Brew.
He slept in a woman's bed.
He soaked in a woman's hot spring.
He fished with a straight hook.
Bamboo Spring Sect was rich in spiritual energy and blessed with gorgeous scenery. There were babbling streams, beautiful women for company, and Bone-Eroding Hot Springs. Life moved at a leisurely pace, and his days couldn't have been more comfortable.
During those ten days,
Lu Ya wrote Ning Zhongzi a max-level Immortal Fertilizer recipe. He tried to use the cheapest possible medicinal ingredients to make the best possible fertilizer, so it could nourish Immortal Spirits.
He also brought out several max-level seasoning recipes. With Ning Zhongzi's meticulous preparation and the chef's superb skills, they could probably bring out eighty percent of his own cooking prowess.
During those ten days,
Wine Fox Immortal made several trips into Beast Nest Forest, bringing back quite a few rogue immortals to join the City Guard. She treated this as a great achievement and came to Lu Ya again and again, asking him for high-grade bamboo slips and, while she was at it, for help healing her injuries.
Help you heal?
You shameless fox wanted to cuckold me, and I was supposed to heal you?
Not a chance.
"Go find some stronger rogue immortals and bring them back."
"..."
During those ten days,
Lu Ya often ran into Liu Xuanye cultivating in the pool next door while he soaked in the hot springs. The two of them would chat halfheartedly about life and ideals, and every so often he'd receive an invitation from Liu Xuanye to cultivate together.
Cultivate together?
She still dared to bring that up?
"City affairs have been keeping me busy lately, and I'm feeling a little weak. Could you let me rest for a few years first?"
"..."
During those ten days,
Ning Zhongzi followed Lu Ya's plans, working tirelessly and methodically to push forward the grand project of building the city. She achieved impressive results, and several times she wanted to ask Lu Ya for more details.
But Lu Ya brushed her off with a single sentence.
"Sister, you're a grown woman now. It's time you learned to think and act for yourself."
"..."
During those ten days,
Whenever Lu Ya fished by the lake, Muyu Feifei would cling to him, begging him to roast fish for her.
Lu Ya thought, If this keeps up, won't I end up as the nanny for two little brats?
So he said:
"You two have no skills and spend all day doing nothing but eating. Go learn a few moves from Wine Fox. If you ever manage to beat even one of my hairs, I'll make you anything you want to eat."
Beat one of your hairs?
That was a freebie!
The two girls were overjoyed, nearly moved to tears.
"Really?"
"Really."
"We want to eat that huge fish that's said to fly through the skies over Beast Nest Forest. Will you cook that for us, too?"
"I will."
"Junior Uncle, you're the best!"
"We're challenging your hair right now!"
By the bamboo grove lake, the two girls rubbed their fists together. With a roar, wind and rain howled around them as they transformed into enormous tigers and pounced on Lu Ya in unison.
But they were thrashed until they saw stars by one of Lu Ya's Hair Clones—a five-year-old mini Lu Ya, still wet behind the ears and wearing a cold expression.
The two girls lay on a boulder by the lake, their faces full of grievance. Watching Lu Ya fish leisurely, they burst into tears.
"Damn it, why is even one of his hairs so strong?"
"Is the mighty Tiger Immortal really not even as good as one hair?"
"I'm going to get stronger!"
"I want to eat that big fish!"
Ten days later,
on a bright, clear morning with a crisp autumn breeze,
Lu Ya stepped out of the Bamboo Cottage and stretched at length.
He'd been a Salted Fish for so long that he was actually getting tired!
The experiment proved it: even a Salted Fish got tired after doing it for too long.
Monotonous, repetitive, muscles going slack...
Looks like he'd better get Azure Phoenix City up and running soon.
A life with a little novelty was what made people happy.
A happy Salted Fish was a true Salted Fish.
He didn't want to go adventuring like a hero in a game, seeking happiness. Ideally, interesting things would come knocking on their own and give him a good time.
Then he could use that momentum to develop all kinds of fresh industries—food, entertainment, sports, games, and more—so he could enjoy life without ever leaving home.
With that in mind, Lu Ya headed down the mountain, intending to offer some guidance and keep an eye on Azure Phoenix City's development.
When Ning Zhongzi saw Lu Ya, delight surged in her heart, but her pretty face tightened slightly. She asked nonchalantly, "Have you rested enough, Senior Brother?"
Lu Ya yawned. "Mm. I'm tired of resting."
Ning Zhongzi's lovely face froze. For a moment, she didn't know how to respond.
What was interesting was that after resting for ten days, Lu Ya's legs seemed weak and his complexion looked listless.
Ning Zhongzi, on the other hand, had rushed around pushing the city-building project forward, working herself ragged for ten days straight, yet her complexion looked wonderful.
Even her expression wasn't as stern as before. In her flowing blue robe, she looked like an immortal drifting above the world. Her full, upright bearing carried a rhythm that was hard to put into words.
Following behind Ning Zhongzi, Lu Ya toured the eight new thoroughfares on Floating Mountain.
Eight long canals had been dug from the foot of the mountain to its edge, then down to the mountain's base, where they soaked into the earth and joined the water cycle.
On both sides of the canals stretched neat fields of grain and wheat, along with vegetable plots planted with melons, fruits, and greens.
Most were precious varieties of Immortal Spirits, currently no more than young green shoots.
Behind the fields, fences enclosed several pastures, where they mainly raised wild chickens, wild boars, and black sheep.
Young Immortal livestock were extremely expensive, so the initial pastures were small, with only a few hundred spirit beasts.
These fields and pastures all belonged to Bamboo Spring Sect.
About a thousand people worked in the fields and pastures.
The several villages that had originally stood at the foot of the mountain had all been demolished and rebuilt by Bamboo Spring Sect as rows of Bamboo Cottages along the canals.
The cottages were as beautiful as villas. Peach trees and willows lined the banks, and Immortal Commoners had been given private vegetable plots where they could raise ordinary poultry and livestock.
The Immortal Commoners lived and worked in peace, with private fields and beautiful homes as well as jobs provided by the sect.
Whether locals or migrants from elsewhere, their faces all shone with happy smiles.
When they saw Lu Ya, men and women, young and old alike, stopped their farmwork.
"Greetings, Elder Lu."
"Elder Lu, you've finally come down the mountain."
"Elder Lu, try one of the melons I grew."
Lu Ya nodded and didn't stand on ceremony. He casually picked two long, crisp, tender cucumbers.
They were pure Immortal-grown produce and didn't need washing. He took a bite, and their sweetness and crispness were beyond description.
"What a crisp cucumber. Want one, Sister?"
"..."
After they'd made a round of the area, Ning Zhongzi gave Lu Ya a general report on the progress of the past ten days.
"At present, more than two thousand Immortal Commoners have registered and settled in Azure Phoenix City, and their numbers are still growing. We expect to attract ten thousand migrants within two months and complete the task ahead of schedule."
"Not bad."
"Thanks to your plan and Immortal Fertilizer recipe, Senior Brother, the total area of farmland and pasture we've reclaimed is about one-tenth of Floating Mountain. We're mainly growing first-rank Immortal Wheat and Immortal Grain, and raising first-rank Immortal livestock."
"Very good."
"But with Bamboo Spring Sect's current reserves, we can only keep this up for a month."
Ning Zhongzi calmly laid out the facts, without a hint of worry in her eyes.
Lu Ya was a little dumbfounded.
"It'll take two months to get ten thousand people, but we can only last one month... Isn't that a huge problem? Why aren't you worried at all?"
Ning Zhongzi stood with her hands behind her back, serene and composed.
"Senior Brother came up with the plan, so I assume you've already thought of a backup."
Lu Ya was briefly at a loss for words.
He didn't have a damn backup. He'd come up with the whole plan on a whim ten days ago, just to get some rest and fob Ning Zhongzi off.
But now that things had come to this, he couldn't wash his hands of it. He could only smile faintly.
"I have my own way."
Next,
the two of them went to the newly built main district of Azure Phoenix City.
It stood at the site where the wedding ceremony had been held ten days earlier.
Ten zhang from the edge of Floating Mountain's cliff, a grand row of bamboo shop-houses had been built. There were thirty in all at this early stage.
Each shop-house had three floors and entrances at both the front and back. Each floor was two or three zhang high, making the whole building ten zhang tall—much higher than the residences.
Decorated in bamboo green and vermilion, the buildings bathed in the warm glow of the morning sun. They were quaint and imposing.
The shop-house in the very center was especially wide and tall.
It covered several dozen mu. The third floor had more than a hundred private rooms, and the second floor had dozens of private dining rooms of various sizes. The first floor was a hall. In summer, it would specialize in Immortal Beer and barbecue; in winter, hot pot and rice brew. There was also a huge bonfire plaza in front.
According to Ning Zhongzi, this was Bamboo Spring Sect's own food-and-dining complex, named—
Yuelai Inn!
Lu Ya felt like he'd heard the name somewhere before.
"Yuelai Inn... Who came up with that name?"
"Wasn't it you, Senior Brother?"
"Did I come up with it?"
"You mumbled it while you were resting."
"And you just went with it?"
"I figured whatever you said couldn't be wrong."
"..."
Lu Ya was at a loss for words.
This woman had a bright future.
Then Ning Zhongzi led Lu Ya into Yuelai Inn to meet its three managers.
One was a middle-aged woman dressed flamboyantly, with a gaze that seemed to eat through bone.
One was a slightly plump young man with an unyielding look in his eyes.
The last was a local woman.
Ning Zhongzi introduced them in turn.
"This is our sect's Sword-Wielding Elder, Lu Ya. This is the inn's manager, Yun Xiangyu; the head chef, Yuan Zhou; and the head of logistics, Aunt Xinghua."
Lu Ya munched on his crisp cucumber.
He glanced over. The flamboyant woman was a one-star Immortal Master, the slightly plump man was a Seven Star Immortal Monarch, and Aunt Xinghua was the notorious shrew of Clear Spring Village.
Looks like Ning Zhongzi had spent quite a bit of money to hire them.
"Thanks for your hard work, everyone."
The three had already heard plenty about Lu Ya. They'd also tried his Protective Bamboo Slips and seasonings. Their expressions respectful, they gave him an immortal greeting in unison.
"Greetings, Elder Lu."
On the elegant table beside them sat a large platter of fried rice, glowing faintly.
Yun Xiangyu glanced at Lu Ya. Seeing that he was a handsome young man, a charming smile flickered across her face.
"Please, Elder Lu, give it a taste."
The piping-hot Golden Egg Fried Rice was served on a white porcelain platter, spread out in a golden expanse.
The aroma of eggs mingled with the even more fragrant smell of rice as it warmed. The egg coated every grain, and each grain of rice was separate, golden, and loosely piled together, like a golden rice field ready for harvest in autumn.
This was a recipe Lu Ya had jotted down on a whim.
The inspiration had come from some book, movie, or anime from his previous life. The seasoning had been carefully prepared by Ning Zhongzi according to his max-level recipe.
Lu Ya's appetite surged. He acted casual, but in truth he devoured every last bite, unable to resist.
The three of them watched him nervously.
"Mm, not bad, young man. You've got some good ideas. Why don't you learn to cook from me... Ahem. Never mind, you can teach yourself too. I have faith in you."
Since Lu Ya had taken their money and eaten their food, he heaped praise on the young man named Yuan Zhou.
Though he was called a young man, Yuan Zhou was already over a thousand years old. He was a Seven Star Immortal Monarch.
They said he was a discarded disciple of some sect, cast aside for his lack of talent in alchemy. But his heart was never in alchemy; it was in cooking.
Yuan Zhou showed no delight at Lu Ya's praise. He cupped his hands and bowed again.
"Thanks to Elder Lu's seasonings, but I still feel like something is missing. I'd be grateful if you could give me some pointers."
Lu Ya nodded.
This young man was humble, and he had a good deal of insight.
"Technically speaking, your cooking is already flawless. But it has no soul. You need to pour more feeling into your food, so that when people eat it, they feel utterly heartbroken. Do you understand?"
"This junior is ignorant and unlearned. I can't understand just yet."
"Take your time."
"Yes."
Heartbroken?
Gazing at Lu Ya's tall, straight back, Yuan Zhou thought of his identity as the sect master's cultivation partner and sank into thought.
They left Yuelai Inn.
The two headed north toward the Martial Arts Arena built by Wine Fox Immortal.
Along the way, Ning Zhongzi continued her report.
"At present, all the food served at the inn is offered free to the Immortal Commoners. We haven't served any immortals yet."
Lu Ya furrowed his brow.
"Did you go to East Floating City to advertise?"
"We did, but it didn't make much difference."
"Our current city-building plan is very attractive to refugees, but our spirit livestock need half a year before they can be slaughtered, and the Immortal Wheat and Immortal Grain will take at least two months to ripen. For rogue immortals, there's not much appeal yet."
Lu Ya understood the problem.
"In other words, the inn can't make a profit, and our resources won't last two more months. If we don't come up with another plan, Azure Phoenix City will go under a month early."
Ning Zhongzi nodded.
"Exactly."
Only then did Lu Ya realize that the plan he'd tossed out on a whim had been far too ambitious. Charging full steam ahead and promising the moon was completely impractical.
But the plan was already underway. There was no turning back.
Lu Ya wasn't one to back down, either.
"In any case, we need to get the business from immortals up and running as soon as possible. We can only grow if we make a profit."
"I'd be grateful for your guidance, Senior Brother."
"Let's go take a look up ahead."
Before you continue