Water-Curtain Cave

Fu Shaoping had used two Stone Origin Pills to break through to the fifth level of the Body Tempering Realm. Zhou Pan'er had done the same, but faster, taking less than two days.

Two Stone Origin Pills remained.

Zhou Pan'er refused to take any more, no matter what he said.

Fu Shaoping spent another two days refining them.

The Treasure Mirror in his sea of consciousness flickered faintly.

A line of text appeared:

"Body Tempering Realm: fifth level (7/100)"

After refining the Stone Origin Pills,

Fu Shaoping stared at the value displayed above, momentarily stunned.

Now that he had reached the fifth level of the Body Tempering Realm,

the Stone Origin Pills were clearly less than half as effective as before. It seemed that the higher his realm, the more energy he needed.

He had intended to head home, but if he wanted to reach the sixth level of the Body Tempering Realm before the Spring Hunt, he would need pills, demonic beast blood essence, and the Treasure Mirror's fate effects working together.

The two of them came downstairs from their room.

The attendant in the hall spotted them and immediately hurried over:

"Sir, a guest in Room A has been waiting for you. The two of them just happened to step out. That gentleman asked me to tell you to wait for him a moment if you finished your secluded cultivation. He has something important to discuss with you."

"Who is he?"

"That gentleman is a colleague of yours from the Green Ox Town Hundred Households Office."

"All right. Go notify him now."

Fu Shaoping found a private booth and sat down.

His mind raced.

At the Hundred Households Office, aside from Old Zhan, the only people he had dealt with were Junior Banner Liu, Junior Banner Zhuo, and Nie Xiaoqi from the Hunting Team. Could one of those three have come to the Clear Warehouse Inn too?

When Zhou Pan'er heard that they were from the Hundred Households Office,

she immediately returned to their room alone to practice.

Fu Shaoping waited in the booth for a while. Soon, hurried footsteps sounded outside, and a handsome man lifted the curtain. He nodded slightly to Fu Shaoping, then stepped aside and bowed:

"My dear, please come in."

A woman in a long purple dress entered.

Her features looked somewhat familiar.

Fu Shaoping frowned slightly. He had never met either of them.

The man hurried forward and pulled out a chair for the purple-clad woman. Once she was seated, he stood behind her, took out his Town Martial Token, and introduced himself to Fu Shaoping with a smile:

"Fellow Daoist Fu, my name is Chen Shichao. I belong to the Hall of Myriad Treasures, though I usually just organize things in the warehouse. This is my wife, the daughter of Lord Zhuo, who oversees the Hall of Myriad Treasures."

No wonder she looked familiar.

So she was Junior Banner Zhuo's daughter.

Fu Shaoping nodded slightly in greeting:

"The attendant said you had something to discuss with me?"

"Yes, yes. My wife will explain."

Having said that,

Chen Shichao stepped forward with practiced ease to pour Lady Zhuo some tea.

Lady Zhuo was clearly accustomed to his attentions. After sipping her tea, she cast Chen Shichao a cool glance. He immediately nodded and went outside to keep watch.

Only then did Lady Zhuo begin speaking unhurriedly:

"Fellow Daoist Fu, I found a Hawthorn Fruit Tree on Qiu Li Mountain. Its fruits are ripe, and there are four in total. I'd like to invite you and the person staying in your room to come with us. As for the Hawthorn Fruits, our two groups can split them evenly."

Fu Shaoping's eyes narrowed dangerously.

How did she know about Sister Pan'er?

Seeing his reaction, Lady Zhuo hurried to explain:

"Fellow Daoist Fu, when you were hunting the fox demon on Pale Ridge Mountain, my husband and I happened to pass by and witnessed it. Please don't misunderstand."

No wall in the world could keep out every whisper of wind.

Sure enough, he could not conceal the fact that Sister Pan'er was a martial artist.

Still,

he was an Alchemist himself.

And he was already engaged to Sister Pan'er. Teaching her martial arts and training her into a martial artist was easily explained:

"Lady Zhuo, your father, Lord Zhuo, and I are acquainted, so let me ask you directly. Hawthorn Fruits are first-tier superior-grade spirit fruits. Even for someone in the late stages of the Body Tempering Realm, they are a powerful tonic. Why would you and your husband give us half?"

They were all intelligent people.

There was no such thing as a free lunch.

Lady Zhuo sighed:

"To be frank, Fellow Daoist Fu, the reason we need both of you to help is that a late-first-tier demonic beast, a Stable-Horse Beast, guards the Hawthorn Fruit Tree. My husband and I are only at the fifth level of the Body Tempering Realm. With our strength alone, we have no hope of picking those fruits."

"Oh? Then you could simply return to Green Ox Town and ask your father to come himself, Lady Zhuo."

At the mention of this,

a trace of embarrassment appeared on Lady Zhuo's face.

Nevertheless, she spoke frankly:

"Fellow Daoist Fu, you saw for yourself just now that my husband isn't someone fit to grace the stage. That's exactly why my father dislikes him. If we hadn't cooked the raw rice into a finished meal and had a child first, my father would never have agreed to this marriage, not even if it killed him."

"My husband hasn't done much to prove himself, either."

"It's been several years since he joined the Hundred Households Office through my father's connections, yet he's still just an ordinary Martial Suppression Guard. My father can't even hold his head up in front of his colleagues at the office."

"This time,"

"he finally managed to discover the whereabouts of some Hawthorn Fruits. He wanted to seize this chance to break through to the sixth level of the Body Tempering Realm in one go, and then, during the Spring-"

Lady Zhuo stopped halfway through.

Realizing she had let something slip, she hastily covered her mouth.

Fu Shaoping found it amusing.

At first, he had thought Lady Zhuo was cold and aloof, but once she started talking, she seemed so innocent she was almost a little foolish.

If what she said was true,

Fu Shaoping was willing to work with them:

"Lady Zhuo, you just said your husband found them. Have you personally seen the Hawthorn Fruit Tree inside the Water-Curtain Cave?"

"Absolutely!"

Lady Zhuo and her husband had gone to take a look. Only after deciding they could not harvest the Hawthorn Fruits together had they returned to find partners. Fu Shaoping happened to be acquainted with her father and was also from Green Ox Town, which offered some added assurance:

"Once Hawthorn Fruits ripen, they must be picked within ten days, or their medicinal potency will drop sharply. Fellow Daoist Fu, we only have three days left!"

"Please wait a moment, Lady Zhuo. I'll go back and ask Sister Pan'er what she thinks."

Fu Shaoping wasted no time.

He immediately left the booth and headed straight for his room.

After Fu Shaoping explained the circumstances to Zhou Pan'er, she nodded:

"We can't let such a fine opportunity slip away. Shaoping, let's team up with them."

She had originally wanted to avoid appearing before Fu Shaoping's colleagues.

But,

when she thought about how they would be married after the New Year and would inevitably have to socialize, she realized there was little point in hiding any longer.

The four of them hit it off at once.

The two pairs immediately took a carriage each and drove toward Yuyang Gorge.

The two guards at Yuyang Gorge

could not help shaking their heads when they saw Fu Shaoping return.

Here,

they had seen plenty of proud, ambitious young people. Without an elder to protect them, eight or nine out of ten who entered the Million Mountains never came back. They had already offered their warnings and thus fulfilled their duty. After checking the hunting permits, they let the group through.

The four parked their carriages at the entrance to Yuyang Gorge.

From there, they continued on foot toward Qiu Li Mountain.

Qiu Li Mountain lay to the north.

It was several dozen li farther on than Pale Ridge Mountain.

When they heard the roar of a waterfall, Lady Zhuo immediately said:

"Beyond that hill ahead is the Stable-Horse Beast's Water-Curtain Cave."