Misty Rain of the Old Times

Achoo~!

Chen Xuan, who was hurrying south to return home, sneezed and rubbed his nose. He naturally didn't think he had caught a cold; he was sure a beautiful woman was thinking of him.

That's what happens when you're too outstanding; people always have their eyes on you.

As the last rays of sunlight faded and night fell, he had already crossed thousands of mountains and rivers to return to Yang County.

The trip to Yuhua Kingdom was more successful than expected. I obtained the White Cloud Wood and met a few people. I didn't encounter the Grandmaster-level experts from Yuhua Kingdom, but the trip was still worthwhile.

After putting the things he brought back into a secret room deep underground, Chen Xuan thought for a moment, then took a few small twigs from the white cloud tree before returning to the surface and going home.

Candlelight had been lit inside the house, but the little girl was not there. Chen Xuan heard the sound of chopping wood coming from behind the house.

'Su Roujia used to have a really tough winter, but now that conditions are better, she prepares firewood whenever she has time. The woodshed is almost overflowing, but she's reluctant to spend money on buying more, so she goes to the countryside and mountains to get it herself.'

Chen Xuan neither supported nor opposed this, letting her do as she pleased. He figured that keeping her idle would probably make her sick.

"Roujia, get me a bowl of noodles with minced meat sauce, extra chili, and a few pieces of greens. By the way, do we have any greens at home this season?" Chen Xuan started calling out while still in the yard.

While he was speaking, he didn't go into the house immediately, but instead went to the grass next to the house, where the little girl always wanted to dig it up and plant crops.

Upon arriving here, Chen Xuan planted five small branches of the white cloud tree in the ground, spaced apart.

He wanted to see if he could make the tree branches grow; if so, there would be beautiful white cloud trees around the house in the future.

In fact, Chen Xuan knew in his heart that the season was not right, and the white cloud tree was rare and had harsh growing conditions. The chances of it surviving if he just stuck it in the ground like this were slim. But he decided to try it as a last resort. What if it succeeded? It didn't cost any money to try.

"Master is back! He was chopping wood and feeding the horses. I feel like the horses have gotten fatter these past few days. I often ride them to the countryside... Oh? Did Master pluck a little cloud from the sky?" Su Roujia asked in surprise as she rushed over upon hearing the commotion.

Chen Xuan walked towards the house and said, "Those aren't clouds, they're branches of a white cloud tree. Aren't they beautiful? I'll try to see if I can grow them."

"Are there still trees like this? Master will surely be able to grow them," she said, peering closely at the small branches and even touching them. Satisfied with her curiosity, she quickly headed to the kitchen, saying, "Master, are you hungry? Wait a moment, I'll cook you some noodles. We're out of fresh vegetables, but would you like some tender wild greens? I dug them up when I went to the countryside to gather firewood at noon. I'm quite strong now from practicing martial arts; with the horse, I can carry two or three hundred pounds of firewood back at once."

I myself am not confident that we can grow them successfully. That BMW is being mistreated in our house, being used only for hauling firewood. Chen Xuan casually said, "Wild vegetables will do too. We can turn over a plot of land in the back and build a shed to grow vegetables, so we'll have vegetables to eat in the winter."

This wasn't a spur-of-the-moment idea; he'd wanted to do it for a long time, but he lacked the necessary conditions in the past. Besides, he was quite confident. It was just a greenhouse; he could just bury some copper underground, and there were plenty of those things available now.

Su Roujia, who was busy in the kitchen, said happily, "Master has finally decided to dig up the lawn and plant vegetables, but it probably won't work in winter, it will have to be next year."

"Just a small space will do, don't dig it all up. I'll figure out if we can grow vegetables, let's give it a try," Chen Xuan said, slumping into a recliner as if his whole body was falling apart. It was so comfortable at home.

After chatting for a while, the little girl first made him a cup of tea, and then went to the kitchen to knead dough.

After taking a sip of tea, Chen Xuan felt that his own tea was not very good. He thought he should go to Lao Deng's place and get some better tea when he had time. It had been a while since he had seen him, and he even missed the way Lao Deng used to blow his beard and glare.

He swayed slightly as he looked towards the kitchen and said, "By the way, Roujia, if feeding the horse is too much trouble, we should send it back to the Gao family. We can just get it when we need it. I don't ride it often, and if it stays at home too long, it'll probably get as fat as a pig."

"It's no trouble at all, sir. Could you please not send it back? The horse is very well-behaved, and it'll be convenient for me to ride it to the countryside. I can just take it for a stroll," she said with some reluctance. Livestock is a big deal, and she never dared to dream of owning a horse before.

Chen Xuan said nonchalantly, "Fine, whatever you want. If you don't find it troublesome, then keep it."

Before long, she brought Chen Xuan a large bowl of noodles, glistening with oil, with tender green wild vegetables and chili peppers, which looked very appetizing.

After stirring it a couple of times, Chen Xuan took a big bite and said with satisfaction, "Roujia, your cooking skills have improved again. Did you go to the Gao family for further training?"

"No, it's always like this," she said, pleased to see Chen Xuan eating so comfortably.

Since leaving the Gao family and coming here, she hasn't gone there on her own initiative. She knows where her home is, and it's not good to go to the Gao family for no reason. Even though the master treats the Gao family like his own home, she can still distinguish between what's important and what's not.

Nodding, Chen Xuan said while eating, "Then Roujia should go to the Gao family tomorrow and borrow Liang Mumu."

"Who is Liang Mumu? What do we need him for?" the little girl asked, puzzled.

Chen Xuan explained, "The Gao family's gardener is skilled at tending to flowers and trees. I just planted some small branches of white sandalwood, so I asked him to see if they could grow. I guess he's never seen them before, so let him see if they'll work. I won't force him." Liang Mumu was the son of Liang Bo, the gardener from the Gao family back then. More than ten years have passed, and Liang Bo has passed away. It was Liang Bo who taught Chen Xuan how to plant peach pits, and the skill was passed down to Liang Mumu. As long as the Gao family doesn't fall and doesn't make any mistakes, they can probably make a living from the Gao family for generations.

"Okay, I'll go first thing tomorrow morning," the little girl said, taking the matter to heart.

After eating and drinking his fill, Chen Xuan thought for a moment and said, "By the way, Roujia, we won't need to prepare so much firewood anymore. I'll put some fire copper in the stove later, so we won't need firewood for cooking or boiling water, and there won't be any smoke. It'll be very convenient."

Of course, we should make use of this natural energy source. Anyway, we're not short of it now. We can put some in the room during the winter to keep it warm like spring.

"What is fire copper?" the little girl asked blankly, having never heard of such a thing before.

The little girl will be a great help in the future. Once her cultivation level is high enough, Chen Xuan can start to open up completely and let her get to know many things. So Chen Xuan explained the fire copper to her.

Upon hearing this, she was immediately surprised that such a wonderful thing existed, but after hesitating for a moment, she said, "Master, if we're using copper for boiling water and heating, that would be fine, but for cooking, let's use firewood."

"Is there any explanation?" It was still early, so Chen Xuan decided to skip sleeping and chat with her out of boredom.

She immediately replied, "There must be a reason. Food cooked over a wood fire tastes better. My cooking teacher said that's called the 'smoky aroma,' something that can't be replaced by other methods."

Nodding, Chen Xuan said, "Is that how it is? Whatever you say. As long as you don't mind the trouble, I'm really not good at cooking."

"Hehe, these little things in life don't need your concern, Master. You're a man of great things."

What great things can I do? I just mess around all day, doing this and that, without ever getting anything serious done.

When it came to getting things done, Chen Xuan realized and said, "Roujia, please fetch me a pen and ink."

It's so nice to have a little maid to serve me. I can get whatever I want just by talking. Is this what the master's daily life is like? I love it!

Soon the little girl brought the things over, and Chen Xuan picked up his pen to write and chatted, "How's your Soft Armor Martial Arts training going?"

"I practice every day, but my internal strength is improving so slowly, I can hardly feel any growth," she said somewhat nervously, not daring to lie, but also worried that Chen Xuan would be dissatisfied and sell her off later.

"You expect to feel a noticeable increase? Do you think I have that kind of talent?" Chen Xuan comforted him, "It's alright. Cultivation is a gradual process. It's normal not to feel your internal energy improving at first. It will improve over time. Let me think, I'll see if I can get you some spiritual medicine to improve your aptitude and enhance your skills later. The natural kind, without side effects. You'd better get stronger quickly, because I'm counting on you to do everything for me in the future."

The old crane said that it had something similar there. Chen Xuan himself didn't need it, but he could arrange it for the little girl. He wouldn't give her drugs, but that wouldn't stop him from speeding things up in other ways.

"Are there really such good things? If there's anything else, just tell me, Master," she nodded, her heart finally at ease. She wasn't worried about Chen Xuan being too much trouble; she was just afraid of being useless.

She didn't know anything about Chen Xuan's abilities, and knowing her limits, she didn't ask out of curiosity. But as she got to know him better, she felt that her master was unfathomable. He could talk about things she had never heard of before, and she didn't even dare to imagine that the Gao family probably couldn't produce such good things as fire copper and white cloud wood.

"Absolutely," Chen Xuan smiled and said, "There's nothing much to do for now. Starting tomorrow, I'll teach you a light-body skill. Master your escape techniques first, then learn others. I'll have the Gao family's guards serve as your sparring partners to gain combat experience. As for the soft armor, be prepared. Don't blame me for being ruthless; I'll be teaching you how to kill. After all, what kind of martial artist practices without shedding blood?"

Her heart skipped a beat, but she didn't run away. Instead, she hesitated for a moment and said, "Master, I can do it, but could you please not kill good people?"

"Haha, what are you thinking? Although I am a ruthless bandit, I am not a monster who kills innocent people indiscriminately. We should help good people. What kind of people are we to bully good people? If we are going to kill someone, we should kill the bad guys. If we encounter someone we don't like, we should just wipe them out. And those who provoke us." Chen Xuan laughed.

She breathed a slight sigh of relief, nodded earnestly, and said, "I'll do whatever you say, Master."

"Then you need to hone your skills first."

He paused his writing as he spoke, blew on the ink to dry it, and handed it to the little girl, saying, "Take this. When you go to borrow Liang Mumu tomorrow, take a look around town and buy these things for me. They'll be useful."

The list above includes more than a dozen common materials, such as copper, iron, jade, and soil, all of which are needed to refine array flags.

Now that the main materials were gathered, the next step was to start crafting the array flags. Chen Xuan had little experience with proper array formations, so trouble was inevitable, but he had plenty of time and could eventually figure it out through trial and error. Unfortunately, Old Liu wasn't very professional in array formations and hadn't left him with much knowledge about array formations, only a few 'simple' array formations at most.

She took it earnestly and said, "Yes, sir, I'll go first thing tomorrow morning."

"No rush. Tomorrow morning, learn lightness skills with me first. Try to learn them as soon as possible. If you don't understand something, don't keep it to yourself. I'm a professional in martial arts; a single sentence from me can save you countless hours of aimless thinking."

...(End of chapter)