What Is a Little Wife?

The long night continued. In this vast Primordial World, if one looked down from the night sky, there was scarcely any sign of human habitation. Across millions upon millions of miles of mountains and land, only this valley carried a trace of life. But that did not mean the world was shrouded in complete darkness.

Where no dark clouds obscured the sky, countless mountains beneath the stars were dotted with funnel-shaped masses of moonlight and starlight, swaying in the wind.

Those were spirits and monsters devouring the radiance of the moon and stars.

By the great lake of Purple Jade Mountain, the chill in the night wind grew stronger and stronger. An occasional cluck came from the chicken coop beside the flower field, while the insects in the field seemed to echo them, injecting a little vitality into the gradually quieting night.

Though the bloody scent of the giant bear drifted through the night breeze, it seemed not to have attracted the prying eyes or covetousness of any predators. Perhaps they had been frightened off by the bloodiness. In the darkness, Little Moon Spirit's small white figure skimmed across the lake, yet the various demons in the water made no move.

Wu Chu scooped up cold water, pressed it to his face, and rubbed hard, trying to warm himself up. After washing his face and cleaning his mouth, he carried the bamboo basin and hopped onto a tree root beside the house. Sitting there in the night breeze, he enjoyed the food sponsorship provided by that fine bear. Considerately, Yibao quietly played some soothing music to enhance the dining atmosphere.

Below the tree root, the full and satisfied Little Wolf Cub raised its head to glance at Wu Chu above, then silently lay down beneath the root, resting its head on its little paws and narrowing its eyes.

After finishing a plate of roasted meat, Wu Chu set down the bamboo basin and lay back with his hands behind his head. A toothpick dangled from his mouth as he crossed one leg over the other, staring blankly at the dark night sky. One moment, he wondered when this endless night would finally end; the next, he pondered how he could cultivate.

The little games on his phone were undoubtedly far less appealing than cultivation. After all, once he could cultivate, he would never lack time to play those little games.

After some unknown amount of time, Wu Chu rolled over and sat up, took out his phone, turned on its flashlight, and, under Yibao's protection, made a trip to the latrine.

Before he even came out, Little Moon Spirit had already returned. Holding up two bunches of scallions and garlic chives in her little hands, she called toward the latrine from afar, "Brother A Chu, is this it?"

After finishing his business, Wu Chu came out of the latrine holding up his waistband. Looking at the several green plants in Little Moon Spirit's hands, each over a meter long, he casually picked one up and sniffed it. He nodded. "That's it. Come on, let's steam some bear paws."

"Brother A Chu, I still haven't brought back that Evodia!"

"No rush! It's only spring now, and the Evodia hasn't grown seeds yet. Bringing it back now would be useless. Once autumn comes, we can slowly gather it."

Thus, beneath the light of the torches and to the sound of soothing music, the two began preparing the bear paws. The paws were simply too huge, thicker than Wu Chu himself, and the clay basin clearly could not hold them. They could only cut them into chunks and work bit by bit.

At that moment, Yibao said to Wu Chu, "Master, I have a way to make the clay basin bigger."

Wu Chu shot her a sidelong glance. "Don't give me any ridiculous ideas. Don't tell me you've learned artifact refinement already? How could that be possible?" Wu Chu laughed.

Yibao did not take offense at his disdain. She knew Wu Chu's temperament all too well, and such mockery naturally carried no malice. Around people he knew well, Wu Chu had always been unable to keep his mouth in check. Taking a jab at his close friends whenever he could was one of his hobbies, and most of those friends he got along well with had much the same temperament.

Yibao raised her index finger, and a golden chain of runes appeared in her hand. Like a magical vine, it rapidly stretched and spread through the air, dazzling and fantastical. "During this time, I analyzed the runes on the phone. This rune chain contains the power of the law of size alteration. As long as we can make use of that law's power, we can enlarge the clay basin."

Little Moon Spirit's eyes widened, her small mouth slightly agape, looking impressed despite not understanding a thing. Wu Chu, meanwhile, frowned. "Then do you know how to use this law's power?"

"I do! I can make the phone bigger and smaller right now!" Yibao lifted her slender brows at Wu Chu with a smug little expression, as if saying, Bet you didn't expect that. "This is power bestowed upon me by Heaven. I was born knowing how to use it. I simply hadn't studied it before."

"Being able to use that power doesn't mean you understand how to bestow it upon other things, does it?" Wu Chu still did not quite believe her.

Yibao smiled confidently. "Then does Master want to try?"

Seeing how confident she was, Wu Chu stroked his chin and looked at the phone in his hand. He felt that his phone, which had gained sentience, might truly be the golden finger Heaven had bestowed upon him.

So he said, "Then hurry up and give this clay basin the ability to grow larger!"

Yibao blinked her big eyes at Wu Chu, looking incredulous. "Master, you aren't thinking of making me use my own merit to help you, are you? I'm not doing that..."

Wu Chu looked at her helplessly and spread his hands. "But I don't know how to mobilize the merit inside my body! I can't even sense that it exists. Would you believe that?"

"..."

Like hell I believe you!

Yibao was left speechless and angrily prepared to go on strike.

"I'll count it as a loan for now. Once I learn how to use merit someday, I'll pay you back. You're my Merit Spiritual Treasure. If I don't give my merit power to you, who else could I give it to?"

Though Yibao was clearly quite happy to hear that, she put on an arrogant little act. "And who knows about that? Hmph! Even brothers keep clear accounts. You have to pay me interest!"

Wu Chu rolled his eyes in utter speechlessness. "What kind of relationship do we have? Isn't what's mine yours too? Why are you being so formal with me? You even said you were my little wife!"

"Brother A Chu, what is a little wife?" Little Moon Spirit asked curiously from the side.

"Cultivation partner, understand? A cultivation partner!" Yibao planted her hands on her hips, leaned forward, and declared her claim over Wu Chu to Little Moon Spirit with an imposing air, leaving Wu Chu at a loss for words.

Little Moon Spirit scratched her little head. "Then why is a cultivation partner called a little wife?"

Yibao said unhappily, "Why do you have so many questions? You just need to know that it is."

Little Moon Spirit remained puzzled. "But little Yibao, you're only the true spirit of a spiritual treasure!"

"..."

Seeing Yibao looking ready to explode, Wu Chu gave a light cough. "Aren't you two focusing on the wrong thing? We're discussing how to make this clay pot bigger, aren't we?"

"She started it!" Yibao huffed and floated above the clay pot. A divine rune chain extended from her bare little foot and sank into the pot. Golden merit power flowed along the rune chain like water, rippling through the clay pot before seeping into it.

The entire reddish-gold clay pot was immediately suffused with golden light. That divine rune chain intertwined with the original few rune chains. Only after a long while did the golden light finally fade.