Don't farm, cultivate immortality!

He took a deep breath, straightened his clothes again, thought for a moment, and then pulled the amulet that Miss Huai'an had given him up to his collar, displaying it on his chest.

Then, he patted his cheeks and walked into the courtyard.

The fence around the courtyard was open. Zhuang Xing stood in front of the gate, clenched his right fist, placed it on the wooden door, hesitated for a moment, and finally put it down.

Why knock on the door when you're going home?

He shook his head, smiled, strode over the threshold, and shouted, "Father, Mother, I'm back!"

Upon entering, you'll find their kitchen.

The fire in the earthen stove was still burning, with wisps of smoke rising from it.

Next to the stove was a wooden table, where my parents sat to eat.

Father was still holding a bowl in his hand, a few grains of rice stuck to the corner of his mouth, and he had only eaten half of the rice in the bowl.

The mother was holding a baby in her arms. The baby had been crying, but Zhuang Xing's voice must have frightened it, because the crying stopped abruptly.

Father and Mother both turned to look at him. After a moment of surprise, they put down their chopsticks, stood up, and came to his side.

When did you get back?

His father helped him take the box off his back and put it on the ground.

"As soon as I arrived in the village, I greeted my senior brother and rushed home," Zhuang Xing said.

The mother soothed the baby, asking softly, "Have you eaten?"

"I haven't eaten yet," Zhuang Xing said.

"Come to the table quickly, Mom will get you another piece of tofu."

"Mm." Zhuang Xing nodded and sat down.

As she spoke, the mother handed the baby in her arms to the father, picked up the earthenware bowl, opened the lid of the large wood-fired pot, and scooped out a piece of steaming hot, tender tofu.

She took a small dish, mixed some salt and soy sauce to make a new dipping sauce, scooped out a bowl of millet rice, and placed it in front of Zhuang Xing.

Zhuang Xing couldn't help but pick up the bowl of rice, use his chopsticks to pick up a bite of tofu, and eat it with the dipping sauce.

Compared to the food at Xuanqing Temple, this meal was very bland, without even a piece of meat. However, Zhuang Xing had been longing for this bowl of rice; it was the taste he remembered.

He felt as if it were just an ordinary afternoon. He had come back from running wild outside, strode into the house, and shouted, "I'm home!" His parents came up to him and invited him to eat.

Before he went home, he had a lot to say to his parents, about his demon-slaying adventures down the mountain and his experiences on the mountain. He thought he had endless things to say, but when he actually got home, he couldn't say anything and just ate his rice in large gulps.

"Eat slowly." His mother patted his back. "If you're not full, I'll cook you more."

"Hmm," Zhuang Xing said.

"Why did you come back so soon?" Father asked.

"I went down the mountain with my senior brother to take the village children home." Zhuang Xing stopped eating and glanced at the baby in his father's arms. "Is this my younger brother or sister?"

"It's your little sister." His mother sat down next to Zhuang Xing and patted his head. "She just turned one year old last December."

His one-year-old sister was staring at him with wide, round eyes, full of curiosity.

Zhuang Xing put down his bowl and chopsticks and pointed his index finger at his younger sister.

He poked his little sister's cheek. When babies don't cry, they are still very lovable. She was raised by her parents to be fair and chubby, and her cheeks felt very soft to pinch. Her dark eyes were like two gems.

Although her hair is still a bit thin, she still looks very cute.

"What's your sister's name?" Zhuang Xing asked.

"Your name is Zhuang Ming, and your nickname is Mingming." Her mother held up her finger, teasing her. "Right, Mingming?"

"Woo-wah~ woo-wah~"

The younger sister responded to her name, mumbled a few words to her mother, and then, as if remembering her unfinished crying, suddenly burst into tears again.

The mother rubbed her forehead with some difficulty, then hugged her younger sister and rocked her gently.

"My dear child, don't cry, don't cry, Mommy's here."

It seems that raising Zhuang Xing went too smoothly, and she didn't accumulate much experience. Zhuang Xing found that when his mother wrapped him in swaddling clothes, it was still the same as before, making it very suffocating.

He understood the feeling of being tightly bound and unable to move, so he went over and loosened his sister's swaddling clothes a little.

Sure enough, my sister suddenly stopped crying. She felt comfortable, so she naturally stopped crying.

"Waaah~"

She looked at Zhuang Xing, her brother whom she was meeting for the first time, and called out to him in a slurred voice.

Zhuang Xing looked into his sister's eyes and had a very peculiar feeling.

He has gained another family member.

Chapter 112 A letter from home is worth a fortune

My little sister is just over a year old. After crying for a while, she runs out of energy and soon falls asleep in her mother's arms.

Her mother carried her to the crib, where she slept in the same little crib that Zhuang Xing used to have. The crib railings had been put back on, and her little sister lay in that tiny crib, just like Zhuang Xing used to lie in it.

Looking at his younger sister's peaceful sleeping face, Zhuang Xing thought to himself, no wonder she was so lovable when she was little. Sleeping babies are indeed the cutest creatures in the world.

"Husband, go to the village chief and buy an old hen later. We'll stew it for dinner tonight," Mother called out to Father, who was washing dishes in the kitchen.

"Understood!" Father replied.

"Will you be sleeping at home tonight?" Mother turned to look at Zhuang Xing's face.

“I stayed at home before going back up the mountain,” Zhuang Xing said.

"That's good... I'll put your bed up in a bit. Luckily, I took your bedding out to air it a few days ago when the sun was out, so it shouldn't be damp while you sleep on it."

His mother pulled Zhuang Xing close, took out a comb, and began to comb his hair.

"But you've grown so tall now, I wonder if you're used to sleeping on that blanket, and you probably can't fit into your old clothes anymore, right?"

“I can’t wear them anymore.” Zhuang Xing stood obediently. “But the temple will give us Taoist robes, so we don’t need to buy our own clothes.”

"Are you used to living in the mountains? Have you been bullied?"

"The senior brothers and sisters in Xuanqing Temple are very friendly, and the teachers are also very kind to Yunling and me."

"Has Yunling returned?"

“She came back with me. She has already gone back to her second uncle’s house. She said she will come to our house tomorrow.”

"Oh, I see... Then have your father buy a fish tomorrow, and cook those two pieces of cured meat together too."

The mother carefully combed Zhuang Xing's hair, as if trying to confirm how much her son had changed in the past two years, staring intently at him.

Every now and then, she would ask Zhuang Xing how he was doing on the mountain, and Zhuang Xing would tell his mother everything that had happened there.

He said he had learned Taoist magic, was very skilled in swordsmanship, and had even exorcised several monsters with his senior brother at the foot of the mountain.

His mother didn't let him show off his skills, but held his hands and looked at them carefully. Those tender hands had now grown calluses from holding a sword.

The mother gently stroked Zhuang Xing's face, looked at him for a while, and only breathed a sigh of relief when she found no wounds on her son's body. She said, "Practicing swordsmanship on the mountain must be tiring. Now that we're home, you should rest well."

"Mmm," Zhuang Xing responded softly, finally completely relaxing.

Only after his mother finished combing his hair did he start talking about the wooden box.

Father has already gone out; he's excitedly preparing to buy an old hen.

Zhuang Xing went to fetch the wooden box and opened it. Besides the money, he also brought back many other things.

There was a wooden sword to ward off evil spirits, a stack of protective talismans, a jar of wild honey, and a nourishing meal prepared by the fat Taoist priest before leaving. It was a red bean paste cake made from flour, but with some nourishing herbs that ordinary people could eat, which could make people healthy, beautiful, and less prone to illness and disaster.

Many of the items in these boxes may not look impressive, but they are actually things that money can't buy. Even wealthy merchants can't enter the Xuanqing Temple's market to buy things. Only Xuanqing Temple disciples and a small number of authorized outsiders have access to the internal passage.

However, his mother didn't know much about these things. She didn't know how much the contents of the box were worth. Zhuang Xing didn't emphasize it too much. He just gave his mother a red bean paste cake to eat, and after calculating the location of the room, he put the wooden sword up for worship.

He pasted the protective charms in various corners of the house, including one drawn by Yunling. He told his mother that the vegetables grown where the charms were pasted would taste better.

He returned his mother's bracelet intact.

He wrote down the usage instructions for all those elixirs and dried medicinal herbs.

He talked a lot, but his mother's mind seemed to be elsewhere; she just watched him running around the house with a smile.

It seemed she didn't care how precious or good these things were; she was just happy to see Zhuang Xing in front of her.

"Son, come here for a second." She suddenly beckoned and called to Zhuang Xing.

Zhuang Xing came over, and his mother reached out and hugged him.

Zhuang Xing suddenly understood something. He realized that no matter where he went, how many landscapes he saw, or what level he reached in his cultivation, in his mother's eyes, he was still the little child who needed her to hold his hand so that he could walk the right path.

He also understood that his home would always be in this embrace.

...

When Father returned with the chicken, Zhuang Xing and Mother had already made the bed.

He put everything in that box at home.

Only Da Chun's letter remains undelivered.

His mother had to stay home to take care of his younger sister, so Zhuang Xing asked his father to lead the way, and they arrived at Da Chun's house.

As soon as Zhuang Xing arrived at the door, two people came out to greet him: a middle-aged man and an elderly man with white hair.

It was probably because of Zhuang Xing's Taoist robe that he had no suitable clothes at home, so he had to wear this Taoist robe, which naturally attracted attention.

"Who is the young Taoist priest looking for?" the middle-aged man asked, clearly not recognizing Zhuang Xing.

"Old Liu, you're confused. This is my son, Zhuang Xing," the father laughed from the side.

"Zhuang Xing?" The man paused for a moment, as if recalling something, then suddenly his face lit up with joy as he looked behind Zhuang Xing.

However, there was no one behind them.

"My two uncles, I'm here to deliver a message for Dachun."

Without any formalities, Zhuang Xing took out the pre-written family letter from his pocket.

“Da Chun is still practicing asceticism on the mountain and cannot come down. I was entrusted by Da Chun to bring the letter home for him.”

"Was it a letter from Da Chun that he asked you to write home?"