Don't farm, cultivate immortality!

“I see…” Zhuang Xing said, untying the bundle and taking out the two remaining flatbreads. “Then you eat these first, and I’ll continue asking questions.”

The red panda stared wide-eyed at the pancake in his hand, as if it were unbelievable how easily it could be obtained.

Chapter 149 Your Majesty, Ask Aloud

"Why are you giving us bread, man?"

"Didn't you want cakes?"

"But these cakes are yours."

"It's my own cake, isn't it something I can give to whomever I want?"

"You didn't poison it, did you? Are you trying to kill us?"

The red panda's tiny, bean-like eyes revealed a wary expression.

“If I wanted to kill you, wouldn’t using a sword be faster than poisoning you? Why waste two more cakes?” Zhuang Xing said.

Red Panda paused for a moment, then suddenly realized.

"That's right, you're so smart!"

"Eat this pancake, and then we can talk."

Are you really going to give us the bread?

The red bear stared longingly at the pancake in Zhuang Xing's hand, swallowing hard.

"Here, have some." Zhuang Xing tore the pancake open and stuffed it into the red panda's mouth.

Although this red panda has gained intelligence, it is still a bit clumsy.

Instead of asking it questions, just stuff the biscuit into its mouth.

"Ugh... Ugh..." The red panda made an unintelligible sound.

Seeing that it was having difficulty swallowing, Zhuang Xing turned to look at Yunling.

"Yunling, loosen their grip a little."

"Mm." Yunling nodded, controlling the Heart-Protecting Vine so that the little red pandas could extend their claws.

Zhuang Xing casually stuffed the guokui (a type of flatbread) into the mouths of the red pandas one by one.

He brought four guokui (a type of flatbread) up the mountain. Two of them fell to the ground. He broke the remaining two guokui into four pieces and gave them to the four red pandas.

The last red panda was fed with steamed cakes that Yunling brought.

These few pieces of bread were like a miracle cure; the five little red pandas stopped crying as soon as they bit into them.

The world fell silent instantly.

To be honest, the way these five little guys quietly eat is actually quite adorable.

Soon, they devoured the flatbread that Zhuang Xing had brought, licking their little paws with lingering satisfaction, and even licking the crumbs from their fur into their mouths.

After eating the pancakes, the chaotic and noisy scene from before did not reappear.

The five red pandas no longer seemed afraid; their clear eyes shone with curiosity.

"Now you believe I won't turn you into jerky, right?" Zhuang Xing said.

"Uh-huh."

The five red pandas nodded in unison.

Zhuang Xing thought to himself that they were indeed a family, as they nodded at the exact same frequency.

"Then I'll continue with my questions."

“Your Majesty, please ask, and we will answer you properly,” said the one-eyed red bear.

"Who are you calling 'King'?" Zhuang Xing asked, looking at it.

"I'm calling you King."

"I am not the king."

"But you gave us food."

"Just because I gave you food, does that mean you have to call me king? Who said that?"

"That's what Mom said," the five red pandas answered in unison.

"My mother said that if you are chosen by a king, he will reward you with food and allow you to live in a very, very big cave."

The blind red panda looked at Zhuang Xing with hopeful eyes.

"..."

Zhuang Xing originally thought there was a demon king in the nearby mountains, but it turned out that the red bear had just heard about it from others.

“That might be a custom in your mountains; we humans don’t have such customs,” Zhuang Xing said.

“But that’s what Mom said,” Red Panda insisted.

"Your mother is wrong."

"impossible!"

"What's impossible?"

“Mom is never wrong. If Mom says there is food, there will be food. If Mom says there is water, there will be water.”

"Didn't your mother ever make a mistake?"

"there has never been."

"Then why doesn't it tell you where to find food?"

“My mother was killed by a leopard, so she can’t tell us where to find food,” the red panda said.

Zhuang Xing felt guilty, as if he had touched a sore spot on Red Panda.

"Alright, let's talk about something else." He changed the subject and asked, "How long have you been sentient?"

"It's been a long time."

"How many years has it been?"

"It seems like it's been more than four years, one, two, three, four...!" The red panda counted on its paws.

How old are you?

"Six years old?"

"Big brother, you're mistaken. It's seven years old, isn't it?"

So you're all only seven years old?

“Maybe,” said Red Panda.

Seven years old is not young for a red panda. Wild red pandas generally only live for about fifteen years, so a seven-year-old red panda is already middle-aged.

But... he's only seven years old?

They are actually younger than Zhuang Xing.

If they developed intelligence four years ago, wouldn't that mean they became spirits when they were two or three years old?

This doesn't seem like something he cultivated himself; it must have been achieved through some extraordinary encounter.

"Do you know how you became a demon?" Zhuang Xing asked.

"I don't know," Red Panda shook his head.

Have you ever eaten anything so delicious that it made your whole body feel comfortable?

"The pancake from earlier."

Have you ever encountered any spirit beasts that looked very unusual?

"No."

Have you ever felt particularly comfortable in any place?

"The cave we used to live in was very comfortable, and it wasn't cold at all when it snowed. But last year the snow was so heavy that it collapsed the mountain and buried the cave, so we can't go in anymore."

"A hole..." Zhuang Xing thought it was very likely, that it was because of that hole.

If there are any powerful spiritual herbs growing in that cave, or if it is located in a place where spiritual energy gathers, then such little demons are likely to be born nearby.

"Then how did you learn to speak?"

“Some people go to the mountains to chop firewood, and they learn it by listening to others do it.”

"And what about magic? Where did you learn it?"

"I don't know magic," said the blind red panda. "The second, third, fourth, and fifth brothers know magic."

"How did you learn that?" Zhuang Xing asked, looking over.

"You'll learn it if you watch it a lot," the red pandas said in unison.

Zhuang Xing asked each of the red pandas in detail, and it turned out that their methods of creating mist, transformations, and onomatopoeia were all things they had figured out on their own.

But if you ask them how they learned or how they cast spells, they can't explain it. It's like asking a bird how it learns to fly or a spider how it learns to weave a web—you can't find the answer.

Zhuang Xing then asked them if they had done anything bad before. After asking them carefully, he learned that they had also stolen food from the woodcutter, but they had never killed anyone. They had just transformed into tigers to scare the woodcutter away when he put down his food, and then took all of his dry rations.

This tactic is sometimes used to scare away their natural enemies.

Leopards, jackals, and minks are all their natural enemies. By transforming into the appearance of a tiger, they can scare away their natural enemies.

Before the weather turned cold, they lived comfortably in the mountains, never worrying about food.

But things have been tough since last year.

This year is even worse; the cave we used to live in collapsed under the weight of the heavy snow.

As they escaped from the cave, they managed to salvage some fruit, but all the food they had stored up in the autumn was gone.

They later found a tree hole to stay in, but they ran out of ammunition and food. They had no choice but to run out of the mountains to find a place with more people and food.

Because they had scared several woodcutters before, they assumed that there must be food where people lived.