"Lie down and sleep. You're not allowed off the bed."
Ye Fei returned home, put the two little ones on the bed, and wrapped them in the rough quilt, sternly telling them not to run around.
"Ying..."
Little Fox didn't dare move. Curled obediently inside the quilt, the little fox blinked round eyes and stared pitifully at Ye Fei.
"Ao... woo..."
Little White Tiger wanted to get out, but at the first movement, Little Fox pressed a paw onto the little tiger's head, leaving no choice but to shrink back inside.
"Neither of you is allowed off the bed. Stay put and recover. No going outside until your injuries heal!"
Ye Fei felt frustrated. Unable to communicate with them, he could only put on an angry expression to make Little Fox think he was upset.
He tucked the quilt around them again, making sure the two little ones understood what he meant, before returning to the yard to deal with the white crane.
After he went outside, Little Fox stroked Little White Tiger's head with a paw, made two sounds as quietly as possible, then obediently curled up inside the quilt and closed those eyes to sleep.
Only Little White Tiger remained awake, tilting that little head curiously, looking at Little Fox asleep close by and then at the open door. Why did they have to sleep here? Wouldn't it be better to go to their human and sleep against his soft fur?
Unable to understand or ask, Little White Tiger shook that round head and lay down beside Little Fox. Everything else could wait until after a nap.
Out in the yard, Ye Fei knew nothing about the exchange between the two Little Dumplings. He was using the Prey Disassembly Knife to process the white crane.
[Crane feathers (green) +18]
The feathers were green quality, and even had the species name attached. Ye Fei checked the trading interface. They actually cost 10 points apiece. The crane must have had fearsome combat power when it was alive.
Judging by the points he'd received for previous kills, this white crane's combat power had to have been at least fifty-something.
Besides, it could fly. The two tiny creatures on the ground had actually attacked something that could fly. What on earth had they been thinking...?
[Sharp bird claws (green) +2]
The white crane's two claws remained incredibly sharp after disassembly.
The lowest current listing price for these was 45 points.
[Crane meat (green) +16]
The crane meat was green quality too, and there were no white-quality drops.
Crane meat currently cost 5 points per portion.
Probably because the carcass was incomplete, those were the only three kinds of drops this time.
Ye Fei watched the disassembled white crane's carcass disappear. He kept two portions of crane meat to stew for dinner and listed everything else for sale.
He listed 10 crane feathers for 180 points, 2 sharp bird claws for 90 points, and 14 portions of crane meat for 70 points.
After listing them, he returned indoors and put the crane meat in the pot to stew.
Back in the yard, he dug another hole and planted the cypress sapling he'd found that afternoon.
[Cypress sapling planted. Greening points +10]
"Come on, give me an Inventory Expansion Ticket."
Ye Fei held a Supply Crate and opened it. The white Supply Crate contained bread, water, and a few pieces of basic timber.
When he got to the green Supply Crate, Ye Fei nervously rubbed his hands together and murmured his wish before opening it.
It didn't give him what he'd wanted, but it did give him an unexpected surprise.
[Bread +6, water +4, basic fabric +10, edible salt (green) +1, axe +1]
The edible salt was a green-quality item. Ye Fei held it up to examine it. The bag contained one jin of salt.
Still, that was enough to make him happy.
Although he'd been stewing meat all this time and found it fragrant, going so long without any salt had left everything tasting rather bland.
There was actually salt among the items for trade.
But one jin of salt cost over thirty points. Ye Fei had no problem using salt he'd found in a crate himself, but he was reluctant to spend that much buying it.
It was just like Beast Essence Stones. He'd dug up quite a few and fed them all to his Little Dumplings without feeling the slightest pang.
But if he had to spend 200 points buying one, he really couldn't bring himself to do it. At least for now, he wasn't that free with his money.
[Grassland/0090-1144-3656: Senior, I successfully broke through! I'm at qi refinement first tier now!]
That evening, while Ye Fei was sweeping snow again, Junior Schoolmate sent him another message.
From the sound of it, he'd probably just finished his breakthrough.
[Me: Congratulations! Body tempering comes next. I think you should be fine.]
Ye Fei sent a reply and mentioned the next step.
[Grassland/0090-1144-3656: What's body tempering? Don't tell me I have to train my body?]
The other young man didn't know what body tempering meant yet. That notification wouldn't appear until he reached 100 spiritual energy.
[Me: After qi refinement first tier, you need to undergo body tempering 12 times before you can enter the next tier. Successful body tempering adds attribute points. It costs 100 spiritual energy. When the time comes, just hold on until the tempering ends.]
After replying, Ye Fei continued sweeping snow.
He'd noticed that Junior Schoolmate always messaged him either while he was sweeping snow or eating in the morning, or during those same activities in the evening.
[Grassland/0090-1144-3656: ...I thought training hard for a month or two would let me get through the qi refining stage and move on to the next one (ó﹏ò｡)]
His expectations shattered, the young man even sent a forlorn emoticon.
Each breakthrough took a hundred points. Allowing for failures, and with thirty or forty points gained from a night's cultivation, two months would be about enough to advance a dozen or so times.
But he hadn't expected body tempering to be waiting for him as well.
One hundred points for a single round of body tempering, with an unknown success rate...
He felt that even reaching qi refining second tier within his expected timeframe might be difficult.
[Me: Cultivation takes patience. You're still young. Don't rush.]
Ye Fei's words offered no comfort whatsoever. Even he couldn't help wanting to laugh after sending them.
It didn't seem strange that being young meant having little patience.
But I wasn't old either, was I?
At twenty-five, I definitely still counted as young!
It was just that his outlook seemed to have grown a little old.
At least he didn't have that mentality of charging boldly ahead, nor did he see anything wrong with his pets providing for him now.
The two Little Dumplings had truly taken too great a risk this time, but he only wanted his pets to be more careful in the future. He had no intention of competing for a damage-dealing role with his paltry combat power.
Staying safely in the rear wasn't just comfortable. More importantly, it kept him from becoming a burden...
So, looking at it that way, I really had grown old, hadn't I?
Before you continue