Sea, Land, and Sky: Three Clans Stand in Balance

The boisterous wind swept over mountains and rivers, skimmed across the calm lake, and ruffled the spring water. As it passed through the flower fields, it carried waves of fragrance with it, while petals danced in the breeze.

The scenery was beautiful!

In the flower field, wild chickens clucked away. Little Moon Spirit, with several chicken feathers stuck on her head, dug two eggs out of a nest. She held them high in excitement, baring her little silver teeth as she claimed credit from Wu Chu. There was not the slightest trace of an otherworldly fairy about her—she was plain and down-to-earth.

Scrambled eggs with scallions was a new dish Wu Chu had taught Little Moon Spirit. It was simple and affordable, but to Little Moon Spirit, who ate Dragon Meat every day, it tasted merely average.

The Little Wolf Cub wagged its tail nearby, just like the Big Red Fish in the lake. Whenever it had nothing to do, it liked wagging its tail at Wu Chu in hopes of getting something tasty.

More than half a month had passed since he had first proposed building a house.

Half a month in this world was more than ten years on Earth.

Over those ten-odd years, Wu Chu's life had remained monotonous, but it had also become fulfilling.

Every morning, he fed Dragon Meat to the fish. After a Dragon Meat breakfast, he would head to where the dragon corpse lay and carry back more meat, either for himself to eat or to use as fertilizer for the Sacred Tree.

This Sacred Tree was probably the most pampered Sacred Tree in existence! Someone was actually using Dragon Meat as fertilizer for it. Of course, he mostly used the internal organs, such as the spleen, lungs, and intestines.

Every so often, he weeded the vegetable patch or checked the chicken coop for eggs.

Of course, most of his time was spent building the house.

Whenever it rained, he would play chess with Little Moon Spirit in the newly built palace. Sometimes, they would sit beneath the Sacred Tree together, listen to music, admire the misty rain, and marvel at the wonders of life.

Or he would trade barbs with Yibao, though he lost far more often than he won. Whenever Yibao decided to be shameless, Wu Chu could never outtalk her. She even knew how to cheat. Instead of learning the good, she learned the bad—she had mastered every trick used by certain women in modern society.

He watched the Red Giant Fish's head gradually turn into a dragon's head, though it had yet to grow dragon horns. He watched the new house slowly rise from the ground. He watched his strength grow day by day... Though life was somewhat too monotonous, it was not dull. It left him feeling incredibly fulfilled.

This quiet, ordinary life also calmed much of Wu Chu's restlessness. He seemed to have become more carefree, no longer filled with the urgency and unease he had once felt.

Yet amid those peaceful, tranquil days, everything had quietly begun to change.

After Little Moon Spirit flattened the top of the Sacred Tree, Wu Chu had her dig more than a meter downward. The wood she dug out was used to build the palace. A ring roughly two meters thick was left around the edge as a fence, and with the bark included, it was four or five meters thick.

Wu Chu planned to build four pavilions atop this fence, one in each of the east, south, west, and north directions, where they could enjoy the view. Beneath the sides of these four pavilions, tender green shoots were growing. In the future, the newly formed canopies would surely cover the pavilions.

For now, however, all of that existed only on the design blueprints Yibao had given Wu Chu.

But at the center of the tree's core, a magnificent Main Hall had already risen from the ground. It had carved beams and painted rafters, sharply upturned eaves, and even its roof tiles had been carved from the Sacred Tree.

The purple Sacred Tree wood had the smooth, lustrous texture of jade and strange natural patterns, lending the entire Main Hall an unusual beauty.

The Main Hall had three floors, each three zhang high. Its base measured nine zhang in both length and width, narrowing in tiers as it rose. The second and third floors each had a ring of railings outside, where one could stand and take in the scenery.

The first floor was for receiving guests, with a reception hall and resting rooms. The second floor held Wu Chu and Little Moon Spirit's bedrooms. The third floor was their study and training room. The study also displayed the mid-grade Merit Spiritual Treasure Wolf-Hair Brush, which served to guard the house.

When the Main Hall was completed, a beam of Merit Golden Light descended from the sky. Golden Merit Divine Patterns coiled around the inside and outside of the hall like carved decorations, making the already magnificent structure even more resplendent. In an instant, the Main Hall became a mid-grade Merit Spiritual Treasure.

This left Wu Chu somewhat puzzled. As far as he knew, building a house should not earn Merit. If it did, then wouldn't his wooden hut and latrine have gained it long ago?

He had originally thought that the future Dao Ancestor had already built the buildings of White Jade Capital, so it was only natural that house-building earned no Merit. But now, it seemed that perhaps the future Dao Ancestor had not built them yet?

Or perhaps the invention of mortise-and-tenon craftsmanship was a great Merit?

Wu Chu could not be sure.

Behind the Main Hall, Wu Chu planned to build a rear garden filled with ornamental flowers and plants. It only needed to be beautiful. The garden would follow the style of ancient Chinese gardens, with artificial hills, ponds, winding streams, pavilions, terraces, and towers...

There were side rooms on either side before the Main Hall. One was used to store miscellaneous items, while the other served as the kitchen. More buildings would certainly be added in the future, such as an alchemy room, an artifact-refining room, and a beast-taming room... For now, he could plant some fruit trees, flowers, and other plants there.

In front of the side rooms stood a gatehouse, which was currently the Little Wolf Cub's den.

The drainage system across the entire treetop connected to the garden pond. As for a structure as scenery-ruining as a latrine, it naturally could not be built up there.

In fact, none of the immortal dwellings had such things. Only ordinary people like Wu Chu, who needed food to improve their strength, required latrines.

Even though Little Moon Spirit ate every day, Wu Chu had almost never seen her use the latrine. He did not know whether she only went while he was asleep, or whether fairies truly had no need for such things, with food perhaps already broken down into energy within their bodies.

It was a mystery. Wu Chu had asked her before, but she only blushed and refused to say.

One morning, a phoenix cry suddenly rang out across heaven and earth. Its voice rolled through the world like thunder:

"Heavenly Dao above, I, Yuanfeng, together with my Dao companion Primordial Phoenix and the entire Phoenix Clan, hereby offer this proclamation to heaven and earth... All feathered creatures of the avian kind may join beneath the Phoenix Clan..."

Wu Chu had not understood the previous dragon roar, but now he could understand the general meaning contained in this phoenix cry.

The Phoenix Clan had finally been established. From now on, the skies belonged to them.

Before Wu Chu had waited long, a beastly roar also spread through heaven and earth.

The Qilin Clan was unwilling to fall behind. It followed suit by establishing the Beast Clan, governing all beasts that walked the earth and becoming the absolute overlord of this land.

From then on, the three clans of sea, land, and sky finally stood in balance.

Little Moon Spirit listened silently. When it ended, she looked at Wu Chu and blinked her big eyes, her expression somewhat grave as though she were deep in thought.

Wu Chu smiled and rubbed her little head. "Don't think too much about it. What does this have to do with us? Those Three Clans may indeed be powerful, but on this vast, savage land, are there really only those three clans?"

Little Moon Spirit nodded slightly and quietly breathed a sigh of relief. In her eyes, even if the sky fell, there was still Brother A Chu, who was taller than her, to hold it up!

Another day passed, and Wu Chu finally finished building the Little Wolf Cub's doghouse. To celebrate completing yet another building with his own hands, Wu Chu wanted to dig out that dragon heart.

But the dragon heart was too large, so Wu Chu wanted to see whether Little Moon Spirit could do it.

Over the past few days, Little Moon Spirit had also been constantly trying to approach the dragon corpse. With Wu Chu encouraging her, she was close to succeeding.

With a nervous heart, Little Moon Spirit rode the clouds and mist, carrying Wu Chu toward the mountain where the Azure Dragon hung. Her little face was taut, her lips pressed together, and she looked as though she were facing a great enemy.

Wu Chu reached out and rubbed her little head with a smile. "Don't be nervous. It has been dead for ages. We've eaten its meat several times already, so just think of it as premium ingredients and consider how we should cook it. Ah! Too bad there's no Goji Berry right now. Otherwise, stewed dragon heart with some Goji Berry would be perfect. As for dragon stomach, we could add some lotus seeds..."

Sure enough, as soon as Wu Chu started talking about food, Little Moon Spirit's attention shifted. She even unconsciously licked her lips. "There aren't any lotus seeds this season! If it were autumn, there would be some across the lake."

Wu Chu's eyes lit up. "There are Lotus Blossoms across the lake?"

"Yes! During summer, their fragrance can drift all the way here on the wind!"

"That's because your nose is sensitive!" Wu Chu could not help laughing. Fragrance drifting ten li was already somewhat exaggerated rhetoric, let alone drifting dozens or even hundreds of li. "Ah! Then we won't eat dragon heart this time. We'll eat dragon liver first, and save the dragon heart for autumn. We can also dig up some lotus roots and bring them back to plant by the lake here, or even atop the tree! While we're at it, we can raise some small fish and shrimp in the pond. Once they grow up, we'll release them into the lake."

Little Moon Spirit covered her mouth and giggled. "Actually, we could ask Yibao to make the pond in our backyard larger. Even that Big Red Fish could be raised in it."

Wu Chu's eyes lit up. "Exactly, exactly!"

Yibao, who was lying on Wu Chu's shoulder, snapped angrily, "Exactly my ass! Little Moon Spirit, I never thought that beneath that pretty face, you could harbor such wicked thoughts. Please, try acting like a decent person!"

"B-But I'm not human!"