"Dear guest, was the food to your liking?" Mo Caihuan asked politely.
"Are you married, little sister?" Chu Fangfang asked in return.
Mo Caihuan studied the beautiful diner, unsure what she meant. Surely it was inappropriate to ask such a question at their very first meeting?
"I'm an immortal cultivator," Chu Fangfang said.
"What does your being an immortal cultivator have to do with whether I'm married?" Her face was full of bewilderment.
Chu Fangfang explained, "Sit down first, little sister, and let me explain. The method I cultivate is rather unusual. It's called the Aroma Cherishing Heart Method. An expert adapted it from an ancient dual cultivation method called the Bliss Zen Method. It retains some features of dual cultivation while changing others. For instance, it no longer restricts the sexes of the partners. The ancient method required a man and a woman to cultivate together, but the Aroma Cherishing Heart Method has no such restriction. That's why I want to dual cultivate with you."
"Why?" Mo Caihuan was not particularly astonished by what she heard. Cultivation methods came in all manner of strange forms, after all. But she was only a mortal, so she said, "I'm merely a mortal. What virtue or ability do I possess that could help you dual cultivate?"
Chu Fangfang said, "The Aroma Cherishing Heart Method cultivates misty fragrance, which needs a peerless beauty of extraordinary bearing like you to nourish it. Though you have no spiritual root, you surpass countless powdered mediocrities and wine-soaked rice sacks. You're an ideal candidate for nourishing misty fragrance. Rest assured, little sister, dual cultivation is absolutely safe. It offers a hundred benefits and not a single harm."
"Misty fragrance?" Mo Caihuan was puzzled. What is that? She secretly asked Food Immortal.
Food Immortal did not know either. The cultivation world was unimaginably vast and contained many kinds of qi, each of which might correspond to an upper realm. Even a Nascent Soul expert could not possibly understand every kind of qi.
Spiritual qi, baleful qi, demonic qi, yin qi, righteous qi, corpse qi... the varieties of qi were too numerous to list.
Spiritual qi corresponded to the Spirit Realm, demonic qi to the Demon Realm, yin qi to the Netherworld... there were many upper realms as well.
Misty fragrance might be one of those many kinds of qi, an obscure variety.
Since Food Immortal did not know, she could only ask the person herself, "What is misty fragrance?"
"Misty fragrance is misty fragrance," Chu Fangfang said. "This fragrance has many benefits. It can preserve your youthful looks forever and make your body produce a subtle scent. Just breathing it in can prolong life and keep a hundred illnesses at bay. As long as you're willing to cultivate, I can help you spread Mohism, just as Brother Chen does."
"Who is Brother Chen?" Mo Caihuan thought that this woman was beautiful, but she leaped at every whim that came into her head.
"Chen Bufei. Don't you have a secret romance with him? I'm his fiancée, Chu Fangfang. As long as you cultivate with me, I won't mind you and him being in love. You just have to love me too."
"There's no secret relationship between Academician Chen and me. We simply exchange scholarly ideas," Mo Caihuan explained earnestly. "You've misunderstood, Fairy. Please don't believe idle gossip and wrongly accuse an innocent person."
"Wonderful. Then you'll dual cultivate with me." Chu Fangfang cheerfully made the decision for Mo Caihuan.
"Agree to it," Food Immortal said in secret.
"Senior, didn't you say you knew nothing about misty fragrance? Have you remembered something?"
Food Immortal said, "I still don't know. But any qi a mortal can produce is likely related to bloodline secret arts. When hunting demon beasts, I encountered some that naturally carried a fragrance. For instance, the gallbladders of certain flood dragons can turn into fragrant substances. Perhaps misty fragrance is also a form of Body Tempering power."
That did make sense. Who knew what year of the monkey or month of the horse would arrive before Mo Caihuan found the Star Tear Cultivation Method? Better to seize the opportunity before her. She said, "Then let's dual cultivate. But I'm a complete novice."
"That's all right. I'll teach you. Dual cultivation is actually very simple. Just cooperate with me and let me take the lead," Chu Fangfang said. "The Aroma Cherishing Heart Method will surely yield twice the results for half the effort."
Mo Caihuan nodded in agreement.
With the decision made, Chu Fangfang said briskly, "I'll stay at the Fortune Inn next door tonight. Come find me this evening." With that, she departed in a waft of fragrance.
Mo Caihuan thought that if she could command abundant spiritual qi, she would not have to seek bloodline secret arts or cultivation methods involving stellar power.
After work, she went to find Chu Fangfang.
Chu Fangfang opened the door, took Mo Caihuan's hand, and led her inside.
The room was already prepared, with two red meditation cushions set in the middle.
This was proper dual cultivation.
Dual cultivation with the Aroma Cherishing Heart Method was very simple. They sat cross-legged facing each other, with their palms pressed together. Fully dressed and composed, the two cultivated with meticulous care.
Chu Fangfang guided the fragrance through both their bodies. Whenever it passed through Mo Caihuan's meridians, some remained behind. This residual fragrance would grow naturally without any special attention, much like her former internal energy. Moreover, it could strengthen without being nourished by spiritual qi.
Chu Fangfang guided the entire process. Mo Caihuan only needed to sit cross-legged and raise her hands, with no further movements required.
"Just as I thought. This is much like the fragrance of demon beasts. They use fragrance to hunt prey, find mates, and even produce illusions. You can store misty fragrance in your body to strengthen your flesh and blood, allowing you to cultivate even without enough spiritual qi," Food Immortal said in secret.
A subtle fragrance lingered in the room. Chu Fangfang opened her eyes and gave a radiant smile. "I wasn't mistaken. Your constitution truly is ideal for nourishing misty fragrance, little sister. This one night was worth three nights of cultivating alone, and it will only grow faster from here."
Feeling the misty fragrance within her meridians, more substantial than internal energy, Mo Caihuan could not help saying, "The Aroma Cherishing Heart Method truly is miraculous."
"It certainly is. They say the expert who adapted it was a senior from the Myriad Demon Valley," Chu Fangfang said. "She spent a thousand years studying in the Myriad Demon Valley before finally creating this method."
The Myriad Demon Valley was a region in Great Jin filled entirely with demon beasts. They were so powerful that human cultivators gave them a wide berth.
Unlike the Heavenly South, where demon beasts were hard to find, Great Jin had powerful demon beasts. As a result, humans and demon beasts interacted frequently, and cultivation methods circulated between them as well.
"Miss Mo, what are your plans for the future?" Chu Fangfang asked. "Taichang City may not be small, but it's hardly renowned in Great Jin. Why not return to the Commandery Seat with me?"
"Taichang City may not be famous, but all three teachings—Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism—are present here. The atmosphere is harmonious and very suitable for spreading Mohism," Mo Caihuan said. "I'll stay."
Chu Fangfang said, "Now I understand why Brother Chen was drawn to you. You keep your feet firmly on the ground, work earnestly, and take no shortcuts. All right, I'll stay too."
"Won't that hold you up?"
"No. I'm cultivating in the mortal world now, so anywhere will do."
When Chen Bufei learned that his fiancée had arrived in Taichang, he was startled, expecting her to make a tremendous scene. Instead, to his surprise, she bought the Full Fragrance Restaurant outright and devoted herself to Mo Caihuan's interests. The two women got along wonderfully.
The Gan Family had not wanted to sell, but Chu Fangfang was not only an immortal cultivator; she also had official connections. They had no choice. Although the Gan Family had a Cultivation Family backing them, it was better to make a big matter small and a small matter disappear, lest a fire at the city gates bring disaster to the fish in the moat.
There was no need to offend an immortal cultivator over a restaurant.
Chu Fangfang bought the restaurant simply to free Mo Caihuan from the kitchen so she could teach more and cook less.
Food Immortal was deeply displeased. The kitchen had offered chances to sneak food, but now those were gone.
With both Chen Bufei and Chu Fangfang backing her, the spread of Mohism became unstoppable. Great Jin had thirty-six commanderies and a hundred and eight prefectures, with vast lands and a huge population. Through Confucian cultivators and mortal examination candidates, Mohism spread rapidly.
People seeking to ride the wave of popularity came too—those who criticized Mohism, those who picked fights with it to gain attention, those who claimed to expose it as fraudulent... the list went on.
Mo Caihuan did not mind. The more people who came to debate, the better.
Half a year passed in this fashion. Mo Caihuan gathered the medicinal ingredients needed to treat Yan Shuangshuang and prepared to make a trip back to save her.
She would not have to pay for the return trip herself. As long as she revealed the teleportation gate's location, either Chen Bufei or Chu Fangfang could provide enough spirit stones.
Moreover, control of the teleportation gate linking the Heavenly South and Great Jin would bring an endless supply of spirit stones. Of course, that depended on actually securing control. Once it became public knowledge, every faction would come swarming in.
After investigating, Mo Caihuan confirmed Chen Bufei's identity. He was a disciple of the White Dew Academy cultivating in the mortal world. His master was at the late Golden Core stage and was said to be certain to reach Nascent Soul within a hundred years.
Chu Fangfang's master was one of the Four Great Rogue Cultivators, Wine Butterfly Fairy Meng Hongyun, an immensely powerful expert who had reached Nascent Soul as a Rogue Cultivator.
If those two stepped forward, they should be able to secure control of the teleportation gate.
After half a year together, Mo Caihuan found that Chen Bufei and Chu Fangfang obeyed her every word, as though bewitched by her beauty.
To be honest, she did not understand it either. No one else was so sincere. Only those two acted as though they had swallowed a soul-bewitching potion.