Chapter 171

Behind the chilly forest, towering snow-capped mountains peek out from behind their peaks, gleaming in the sunlight.

Higher up, the azure sky was as blue as hard glass, with a slight sheen.

Xie Juanhan and Telingewei lay side by side, their hands idly stroking the furry creature beside them.

The most well-behaved Hadi glanced at her other companions with her big eyes, then suddenly wriggled and snuggled into Xie Juanhan's arms.

This creature was all soft flesh, with long, smooth Changmao that smelled of hay.

Xie Juanhan didn't mind it squeezing in at all. He picked it up, hugged it with both arms, placed it on his chest and abdomen, and stroked it intermittently.

It squinted its eyes contentedly, making a gurgling sound in its throat.

Hadi's behavior seems to have inspired the other Companion Beast.

The Companion Beast excitedly crowded around, jostling each other, trying to squeeze into Xie Juanhan's arms.

Their soft paw pads pressed against Xie Juanhan's thin muscles, like a massage.

Xie Juanhan smiled and let them crowd around him.

Just as the Companion Beast were fighting over it, Nibote stood up, shoved its big head into Xie Juanhan's arms, and pushed all the Companion Beast aside.

It rested its head on Xie Juanhan's chest and abdomen, its round eyes looking up at Xie Juanhan, revealing a little bit of the whites of its eyes.

They look incredibly well-behaved.

Xie Juanhan couldn't resist grabbing Nibote's cheeks with both hands and gently pulling on its muzzle to play with it.

The Companion Beast roared and united against Nibote, engaging him in a fierce battle.

"Chirp!"

"Meow!"

Xie Juanhan's arms suddenly felt empty, and several paws stomped on him several times.

He looked down, picked up the large Demon Wolf beside him, and without caring about the heat, hugged it to his side like a big Demon Wolf.

Xie Juanhan also pulled Telingewei's hand and placed it on Moli, so that Telingewei could hug the giant Demon Wolf together.

Moli, a little embarrassed, tucked her ears back to her scalp and whimpered, "Awooo."

Nevertheless, it did not flinch, and its eyes were filled with joy and excitement.

Xie Juanhan gently patted it, rubbed it several times, and snapped his fingers.

The clouds gathered above their rooftops.

The cold rain began to fall, forming a curtain of water.

The air cooled down immediately.

The fluffy creatures, who had been huddled together, squeezed over and obediently fell asleep beside them.

==========Author's Note:=========

See you tonight!

Thanks to Fatty for the grenade; thanks to the Ancient Spirit little girl (*2), Chasing Shadow, Rycle, and the slide for the landmine!

Chapter 171 [VIP]

Xie Juanhan and Telingewei sat on cushions in the study, unpacking packages from their friends.

After the Star Berry ripened, Xie Juanhan sent this year's Star Berry gummies and cookies to the friends who had helped them in the past.

Friends from all over the world sent them replies, along with various gifts.

These past few days, Xie Juanhan and his group have enjoyed sitting in the study unpacking all sorts of packages after returning from planting, hunting, or gathering.

The furry creatures also squatted to the side, watching the various novel gifts unpacked from the package.

As they unwrapped their gifts, the chirping of little messenger birds could be heard outside.

The little messenger birds fly to the sky above their little house following the Magic Power patterns, and then land after identifying it.

Normally, if Xie Juanhan knew that a little messenger bird was coming to deliver a message, they would wait in the corridor.

Since the Magic Wand Tree learned to receive mail, they entrusted the task of sending and receiving mail to Magic Wand Tree, and no longer had to go outside to retrieve mail repeatedly.

Xie Juanhan turned his head to look out the window at the Magic Wand Tree in the yard.

The little Magic Wand Tree has grown into a big Magic Wand Tree, and its personality has become much more grounded.

At this moment, the Magic Wand Tree calmly waved its branches, directing the messenger birds to circle and land on its branches.

Most of the little messenger birds weren't dealing with his home for the first time, and naturally accepted the Magic Wand Tree's commands.

Some little messenger birds from out of town were not used to the way the Magic Wand Tree sent and received letters, and they hovered in mid-air with their heads tilted for a long time without landing.

At this time, enthusiastic little carrier birds will often chirp and shout to their "colleagues" in other places to explain the situation.

The Magic Wand Tree loves taking care of the little messenger birds, and it does so very well.

The Magic Wand Tree has always stood in the yard, providing branches and shade for the little messenger birds.

When it encounters a weary little messenger bird, it will ask the bird to take a bath in the stream that Xie Juanhan specially brought over, and then rest.

Meanwhile, the Magic Wand Tree will direct the little messenger birds to peck at birdseed and to go to designated places to relieve themselves.

The Magic Wand Tree even directs the little messenger birds to carry their feathers to the trash can.

Under the management of the Magic Wand Tree, although more and more little messenger birds flew to Xie Juanhan's courtyard, they were not disorderly, and the courtyard was always kept clean and tidy.

"Chirp chirp."

Seemingly sensing Xie Juanhan's gaze, the Magic Wand Tree called to him in a low voice.

This means we've received another letter and can go out to pick it up.

No need for Xie Juanhan to stand up, Harper and the others immediately got up and trotted outside to fetch letters and packages.

Nibote wiggled his hips and followed at the very back.

Soon, Harper and his friends returned carrying a strange letter and a small wine jug.

The small wine jug is a type of small jug made from a fruit similar to an orange, with the pulp removed and then dried.

The pot was very small, only slightly larger than Xie Juanhan's fist.

It doesn't look like it can hold much alcohol.

Xie Juanhan smelled the faint aroma of wine emanating from the crack in the small wine pot. Before he could examine it closely, a smile appeared on his face.

This little wine jug was clearly made by the Pixie of the mage tower.

He and Telingewei had seen similar plant fruits when they went to the mage tower before.

This fruit resembles an orange, but its peel is much harder and it doesn't have the strong smell of orange essential oil.

After removing the pulp, the fruit can indeed be used to make various small containers.

Xie Juanhan saw that the Pixie had used it.

Why did they send us alcohol?

Xie Juanhan turned the fruit around, bringing the stem to the top, and gently opened the cork made of the stem, wanting to see what kind of wine it was.

"Huh?"

Xie Juanhan noticed something was wrong at first glance.

He squinted with one eye and peered into the small wine jug with his other open eye.

The small wine jug didn't contain wine, but rather—wine lees?

It's that fermented berry puree, rich in yeast, locally known as wine lees.

The moment he pulled out the stopper, Xie Juanhan could already smell a faint Spiritual Qi.

These lees are imbued with the Spiritual Qi.

Xie Juanhan roughly knew what it was.

These are newly cultivated brewer's yeasts by the Pixie.

Harper, carrying the letter sent by the Pixie, placed it in Xie Juanhan's hand.

The Pixie couldn't spell words.

Their letters were written on a large, withered leaf.

While the leaves were still wet, the Pixie used sharp objects to draw all sorts of patterns.

Even though the leaves were dry, the patterns were still very clear.

Xie Juanhan unfolded the leaves and looked at them with Telingewei.

Harper and the others poked their furry heads out from above the dragons' shoulders, beside their arms, and at their sides, intently reading the letter.

This is one of the few letters that even the furry creatures can easily understand.

The Pixie indeed said that this was a brewer's yeast they had carefully cultivated, and they were giving it to the two dragons in the hope that they would like it.

"The Pixie are amazing." Xie Juanhan smelled the fine lees inside the fruit, then let Telingewei smell them, and then let each of the furry creatures smell them.

They selected the unique brewing yeast from all the Pixie they encountered.

These yeasts, imbued with the Spiritual Qi, were cultivated by the Pixie in a way that was quite peculiar; their scent was far more peculiar than any other yeast.

Using such fine lees to brew wine will surely produce a high-quality version of the Wraith Wine.

The Wraith Wine we brought last time sold for a good price. If we brew a new batch, it will definitely be very popular with drinkers.

Xie Juanhan looked up and asked Telingewei's opinion, "Shall we use this yeast to brew some Star Berry Bar? Just a little bit."

Telingewei nodded. "That's good for preserving these yeasts."

Xie Juanhan's family had a bumper harvest of Star Berry this year. New Star Berry ripened every day, and they would pick these delicate Star Berry before sunrise, while the temperature was still low.

After harvesting a new batch of Star Berry, Xie Juanhan and Telingewei specially obtained a new fermentation jar and put the Star Berry and the Pixie into the jar for fermentation.

The initial fermentation stage of Star Berry Wine is an aerobic fermentation process.

They open the wine jars almost every morning and evening to let in air and improve the fermentation of the berry wines.

That evening, Xie Juanhan and Telingewei poured the wine, which had already undergone preliminary fermentation, into fermentation barrels made of Goddess Wood and sent them to the dragon's cave for low-temperature storage.

They returned from the dragon's cave, went to the backyard, and opened the wine jars one by one, preparing to finish stirring for the day.

Recently, the temperature has been quite high, Xie Juanhan released some cold air into the wine jar to keep the berry wine fermenting at a low temperature.

A few days later, the berry wine began to smell of alcohol, indicating that the fermentation had been perfect.

Even in the early stages of fermentation, the same Star Berry juice inoculated with different yeasts will produce very different aromas.

The smell of gin, the smell of sweet sake, and the smell of the Wraith Wine—

Xie Juanhan a deep breath, letting the pleasant aromas fill his nostrils, while simultaneously judging the fermentation status of the wines by smell.

The two dragons have brewed wine many times and have a wealth of experience.