Surely There Are Dishes, So How Could There Be No Wine

All the bamboo Zhang Xiaofan had cut for his lessons these past few months had been ordered by Luo Yunji to be dragged here. On the largest stone platform on the cliff face, they built a bamboo hut.

Designed and directed by the little fatty Luo Yunji, the entire thing was constructed single-handedly by Zhang Xiaofan, this good senior brother who answered every request.

Because his skills were not strong, and because the person giving directions had no experience whatsoever, after the bamboo hut was finished, the little fatty happily rushed inside and bounced around twice in the hut. Then, tragedy happened!

The whole house... collapsed!

Fortunately, the little fatty's cultivation in the "Taiji Mystic Purity Dao" was not low. So when Zhang Xiaofan, who had nearly been scared to death, dug him out from the messy pile of bamboo, Luo Yunji only bared his teeth and grimaced in pain a few times before he began directing Zhang Xiaofan to rebuild it.

Finally, on the foundation of repeated failures, they successfully built the bamboo hut that stood there now!

One bedroom, one kitchen, one training room. Speaking of which! The kitchen was actually larger than the bedroom and the training room put together.

After setting the jar in his hands in the kitchen, Zhang Xiaofan saw that his precious little junior brother had taken out a huge gourd from who knew where.

"What is this?" Zhang Xiaofan asked curiously.

"This is the real fruit brew. The one we made only makes the wine in this gourd even more delicious!" The smile on Luo Yunji's face was a little hard for Zhang Xiaofan to understand.

"From the smell, the fruit brew we made really does have a wine scent!" Zhang Xiaofan said, puzzled.

"This is monkey wine! Have you heard of monkey wine?" Luo Yunji hugged the gourd, which was even bigger than his head, and cried out smugly.

"I heard a hunter uncle in the village talk about it before. Monkey wine is wine monkeys brew with fruit. He said its taste is the most delicious wine under heaven!" Zhang Xiaofan stared at the gourd in Luo Yunji's hands, his eyes shining, his face full of delight.

"Now you know how amazing it is, right!" The little fatty lifted his chin at him smugly.

"Little junior brother, where did you find it?" Zhang Xiaofan remembered that the hunter uncle had said that "monkey wine" was extremely hard to come by.

First, it was simply very hard to discover the place where a troop of monkeys brewed wine; second, even if one found the place, since any troop of monkeys capable of brewing monkey wine would certainly have a monkey king whose intelligence was comparable to a human's, the troop under its command would make it impossible for anyone to get near the brewing site. If the monkey king saw that it could not protect the wine, it would personally destroy the wine nest.

Now, seeing this great gourd in Luo Yunji's arms made him feel that it was truly inconceivable.

"I have my ways!" Looking at Luo Yunji's expression right now, it seemed the origins of this gourd of wine were not exactly proper.

"What do we do now?" Zhang Xiaofan did not continue pressing about the wine's origins.

"When we built the house, didn't I have you specially set aside some bamboo segments? Take them all out."

"Didn't you have me soak them in that big pool down below? I'll go get them now." As Zhang Xiaofan spoke, he ran down along the stone steps. Before long, he could be seen trotting back with some in his hands, some tucked under his arms, and several hanging from his neck, clinking and clattering all the way, his clothes dampened by the water dripping from the bamboo segments.

"Use fire to steam the water marks on them dry."

"I... might need a long time!" Zhang Xiaofan placed the bamboo segments one by one, setting them on the table.

"It's fine! This fruit brew still has one more process. I'll handle it. The timing may be just right!" Luo Yunji set the gourd beside the jar.

"Oh!" Zhang Xiaofan nodded.

"Use spiritual fire!" Luo Yunji emphasized.

"I know!" Zhang Xiaofan replied with a smile.

Then he circulated the modified "Taiji Mystic Purity Dao" and summoned a ball of bright yellow flame in his palm, slowly bringing it close to the bamboo tubes that were still dripping water, evaporating the moisture on them. The bamboo tubes had not been pierced through; every tube they had selected and kept retained two "bamboo joints," so they were sealed.

But judging from the color of the bamboo, they should have been treated in advance. Presumably, they could be used as vessels for holding water.

At this moment, Luo Yunji also summoned a ball of fire in his palm. Compared with the flame Zhang Xiaofan had summoned, its color was purple tinged with green, and he was trying his best to use the green flame to heat the jar and the gourd.

Just like this, the two of them busied themselves for a long time. During that time, because Zhang Xiaofan's cultivation was not high, he stopped several times. Each time, after meditating to recover his spiritual power, he summoned the flame again and continued roasting the bamboo tubes.

Luo Yunji never stopped at all, yet his face was full of ease.

Luo Yunji was very lazy. Zhang Xiaofan knew that!

Unless it was necessary, even when it came to food, Luo Yunji tried as much as possible to have him do it. Most of the time, when they went to the back mountain, if there was no one around, Zhang Xiaofan had to carry him on his back. Speaking of which, little junior brother was already nine years old this year, and Zhang Xiaofan was almost twelve, yet he was a head taller than Luo Yunji! Presumably, this was the result of Luo Yunji being lazy, acting shameless, and not wanting to exercise. Zhang Xiaofan was not resentful about this; instead, he treated it as a form of cultivation. At the very least, his body had become much sturdier.

Eldest senior brother and the others, including Master, Mistress, and senior sister, always said that little junior brother bullied him. But Zhang Xiaofan did not dislike getting along with little junior brother like this. Although sometimes it was very tiring, under some of little junior brother's strange demands, his cultivation had risen extremely fast. In just these few months, he had already cultivated the first level of the "Taiji Mystic Purity Dao" to completion.

Thinking back, what had eldest senior brother said at the time? That it would take a year to cultivate the first level of the technique. He had also learned from his senior brother that his own aptitude could not be considered good, so his current cultivation achievements were all because of little junior brother. And little junior brother was now the closest person to him. His closest people were Master, Mistress, senior sister, his senior brothers, and Jingyu too. He wondered whether Jingyu was doing well now.

"Little junior brother! I'm done!" Zhang Xiaofan rubbed his aching arms, walked to Luo Yunji's side, and said softly.

After Luo Yunji heard him, he withdrew the flame in his palm. "Mine is done too!"

"Why roast these two fruit brews?" Zhang Xiaofan could not understand. "Won't this make all the wine dissipate?" Zhang Xiaofan sniffed; the air was filled entirely with the fragrance of wine.

"Do you smell the wine scent? What I'm doing is steaming the moisture out of the fruit brew, making them purer and keeping only the most essential part! When we blend them later, we'll use spiritual water to blend them! That way, the fruit brew's flavor will be even better!" Luo Yunji spoke in a way that sounded perfectly reasonable. "Senior brother, make a small hole in each of these bamboo tubes. I'm going to put the blended fruit brew inside them and store it. Monkey wine has to be held in natural wooden vessels; other things like stone or jade will affect its taste."

If Tian Buyi knew his precious disciple was once again recklessly using spiritual power to satisfy his appetite, his skull would definitely ache from anger.

"Ah! All right!" He answered on this side, and had already started working on that side. Where else could one find such an obedient and useful senior brother?

Luo Yunji looked at Zhang Xiaofan very happily, smiling with great satisfaction.