Chapter 178: Huli Guarding Her Food

After sending Hu Li out of the boundary, Feng Ke'er decided to pay courtesy visits to the various peaks.

Her first stop, of course, was Tianyuan Peak, where Lord Zhang resided.

However, after wandering around the summit of Qingqiu Peak three times, Feng Ke'er could not find the method to reach Tianyuan Peak.

With no other choice, she grasped her identity jade token and summoned, "Manager Yi, come out!"

In the next second, Manager Yi materialized while spinning in circles. It was evident he had been traveling in a hurry, as his forehead was covered in beads of sweat.

Upon seeing that he was standing directly before Immortal Feng, he immediately clanked to his knees, prostrating himself fully on the ground: "Y-Your humble servant..."

Hearing this, Feng Ke'er felt a twinge of pain in his knees on his behalf. She waved a hand to cut him off and asked, "This seat wants to pay a visit to Lord Zhang. How does one get to Tianyuan Peak?" *(To blend in with local customs—previously, Feng Ke'er did not know that regardless of who she was addressing, she should use modest pronouns like "this humble person" or simply refer to herself as "I." After reading those gossip documents, she learned that given her current status and position in the spiritual realm, very few people could bear the weight of such humility from her. In front of others, she needed to refer to herself as "this seat" more often.)*

Manager Yi replied cautiously, "This... this humble servant is of lowly status and truly does not know. However, according to custom, one month after you move into Baoshan, Lord Zhang will summon the masters of all the peaks for a small gathering in the alliance branch's council hall."

That sounded rather like a welcome party. Feng Ke'er thought for a moment and asked again, "How long have you served in the alliance branch?"

Manager Yi answered truthfully, "This humble servant's family has served in the Central Ling Continent Alliance branch for generations. This duty has been passed down to my generation as the fifth. Since my Foundation Establishment days, I have served as a messenger in the alliance, rising step by step. I have held this post for just over two hundred years."

No wonder he was so slick in handling matters. Feng Ke'er nodded slightly and smiled with a chuckle, "So you are also a scion of a noble family."—Do not assume that all scions of noble families are like those of the Hu and Shi clans, surrounded by stars wherever they go with an overwhelming momentum. In this spiritual realm, noble scions who had to tuck their tails between their legs and act humble were as numerous as the sea.

The venerables of the spiritual realm had notoriously fiery tempers and were famously fickle. They did not even need a reason to crush the likes of him to death. Therefore, to Manager Yi, these words sounded neither fish nor fowl, brimming with all sorts of weirdness. He was immediately so frightened that his three souls and seven mortal spirits scattered, his hands and feet going numb as he prostrated himself on the ground and trembled, "Y-Your humble servant wouldn't dare, wouldn't dare."

Feng Ke'er was wronged to the extreme—she actually just wanted to say something nice to close the distance between them a little bit!

Ugh, having been accustomed to being a nobody, suddenly becoming a superior being with the power of life and death, she was finding all sorts of things difficult to adapt to.

Giving a light cough, Feng Ke'er abandoned the approach of being close to the people, straightened her back, and asked directly and succinctly, "I ask you, has anyone ever visited Lord Zhang and the peak masters right after moving into Baoshan?"

Manager Yi truly lived up to his veteran status. As soon as he heard these words, he instantly penetrated her intention and let out a long, inwardly pent-up breath of tainted air: "Reporting to the Venerable, this humble servant has never heard of such a thing."

Feng Ke'er looked straight into his sea of consciousness with suspicion: How could that be? In ancient times, whenever people moved into a new home, they would bring some small snacks to visit their immediate neighbors. Did such a custom not exist here yet? Nor was there a need to pay respects to one's superiors at the earliest opportunity?

She had merely taken a casual glance like that. But Manager Yi suffered immensely on his end—turns out that this glance laced with divine intent was no different from oppressive coercion to the latter. Given Manager Yi's meager level of cultivation, bathing in such a gaze made him feel immense pressure bearing down upon him.

"This humble servant, this humble servant truly wouldn't dare to conceal anything from the Venerable." A fishy, sweet taste rose in his throat, and Manager Yi wailed bitterly in his heart: Great God Pangu, where did this fierce deity spring from?—In the spiritual realm, True Immortality is a watershed. The alliance not only lacks any personal records of True Immortals, but all kinds of records prior to the True Immortals' ascension are also automatically cleared. Therefore, as the chief manager of the identity jade token administration office, even he was unable to check Feng Ke'er's background.

Seeing this clearly, all of Feng Ke'er's doubts instantly vanished like clouds parting. With another wave of her hand, she said, "Very well, you may withdraw."

The manager kowtowed, zipped away leaving a trail of afterimages, and darted out of the boundary like a flying beast.

Feng Ke'er smiled dismissively and returned to the mountain peak to continue tinkering with the conveyor belt project.

As dusk approached outside, Hu Li returned fully loaded: nearly a third of the thirty thousand crystal stones had been spent. He had purchased several packets of spirit grass and spirit herb seeds; various kinds of spirit herbs and spirit herbs; several farming tools such as stone hoes and stone axes; a quantity of refined iron; and over a hundred red-haired long-tailed monkeys that were as docile as animal specimens.

Goodness, was Qingqiu Peak about to develop in the direction of the Water Curtain Cave? Feng Ke'er pointed at that pile of monkeys that were taller than she was, her eyelids twitching wildly: "These are all fourth-tier cultivation level demonic beasts!" Damn it all, monkeys this huge were more chimpanzee than chimpanzee... She could already picture them spreading out across the mountains in a wild, joyful, and flashy spectacle.

Hu Li nodded with a completely serious expression: "That's right, they're just some fourth-tier cultivation level demonic beasts. According to the parlance of the spiritual realm, those that cannot take human form are considered juveniles and are very cheap. I picked them up on the black market, which is even cheaper: one thousand spiritual stones for a hundred of them, with the modification of the beast tokens included. The extra eight were freebies given by the shopkeeper." Don't bring up that fellow surnamed Zeng to this lord anymore! The moment that guy is mentioned, this lord gets furious! Bah, what kind of trash is he, taking advantage of this lord being a newcomer who doesn't understand the market rates, not a single true word came out of his mouth from start to finish.

"You want to herd monkeys?" Feng Ke'er was so angered her scalp tingled. "What we need are beast slaves who know how to cultivate spirit herbs and spirit herbs, not traveling performers who put on monkey shows in the pugilist world!"

"Traveling performers and monkey shows? What are those?" Hu Li scratched his head with an adorable and naive look—he didn't understand at all.

Tsk, after doing something wrong, he wouldn't admit it and even vainly attempted to change the subject to shirk responsibility! Feng Ke'er grew angry: "Tell me, what use could these things possibly have? Is there anyone else like you who chases after cheap deals so blindly?"

So she was angry about this. Hu Li pointed at his flock of monkeys and smiled: "Master, red-haired long-tailed monkeys are naturally gifted planting experts. Don't look at how fourth-tier red-haired long-tailed monkeys cannot take human form yet; every single one of them is an experienced hand. Moreover, they are extremely well-behaved; they don't need to be tamed and can be put to work immediately. Once they take human form, their selling price can multiply by around twentyfold. By then, we can resell them, and all our expenses, principal and profit combined, will be fully recovered, plus we'll make a huge profit."

I服了You!*(I yield to you!)* Feng Ke'er stroked her forehead.

"Also, Master, we're running low on Blood-Crimson Pills and Inedia Pills. I bought some more raw materials back. You can refine a few batches when you have time. Sigh, the spirit fields haven't been cleared yet, and seeds and tools are none of them cheap. Thirty thousand spiritual stones really don't last long." Hu Li shoved a storage pouch into her hand. First mimicking her gesture, he raised his fist and made an encouraging motion, then offered a warm reminder: "However, Master, don't be too anxious either. Work and rest should be balanced; combine exertion with relaxation."

A flock of crows seemed to fly overhead going "quack quack," leaving someone standing dumbfounded, clutching that oversized storage pouch and fluttering in the wind.

"Off I go!" That fox gave her a triumphant glance, turned around with a whistle, and led that long string of red-haired long-tailed monkeys in a grand and swaggering departure.

Once that fellow was completely out of sight, Feng Ke'er finally snapped back to her senses: My goodness. That dead fox is as cunning as they come!

However, she liked a steward who was so astute and capable. As a reward, she decided to refine a few batches of Inedia Pills and Blood-Crimson Pills for him within the next two days. Anyway, the welcome party was a month away; by then, she would definitely have finished the conveyor belt long ago and would never make a fool of herself at the gathering.

As for Hu Li, he drove the troop of red monkeys to the foot of the mountain. After distributing the farming tools, he temporarily settled down at the foot of the mountain himself—well, he said these fellows were "experienced hands," but that was strictly limited to planting. Clearing raw spirit fields was undoubtedly an impossible task for fourth-tier red-haired long-tailed monkeys.

To this end, Hu Li specially hunted down some jade slips regarding wasteland reclamation in the marketplace. Studying the jade slips, he taught himself and instructed them simultaneously, guiding their wasteland clearance, assigning work and duties to the red monkeys step by step... After some ten days, the very first spirit field of Qingqiu Peak was born.

Hu Li himself had seemingly turned into a mud monkey.

Yet, standing at the foot of the mountain and gazing into the distance toward the mountain summit, Hu Li's eyes flashed with a sharp glint: As long as Master is happy, what is this little bit of fatigue?! Hu Li, keep it up. Once the spirit fields over there are also cleared, you can go up the mountain to see Master.

Having lived for over thirty thousand years, he naturally knew very well what he was doing. But he knew even better what was in his heart.

He was fond of Master.

That night, after wandering around Qingqiu Peak for the entire evening, he finally sorted out his own inexplicable feelings.

He did not know when he had begun to harbor such sentiments toward Master. But he was extremely certain and affirmative—he had genuinely fallen for Master. This kind of affection was the kind a male fox felt for a female fox, rather than the adoration and loyalty of a natal guardian beast toward its master.

Precisely because he suddenly understood his own heart, he could not help but test his master's bottom line again and again—this was the very nature of their Silver Fox clan: letting their souls fly free and acting on impulse, without a single regret even through nine deaths.

Rules?

Pfft.

In the words of his master, such a word did not exist at all in the dictionary of the Silver Fox clan. Nor did it have any synonyms.

Would Master also be fond of him? This was not something he needed to consider. Male foxes never considered whether female foxes would like them. They only knew that once there was a female fox they liked in their hearts, they had to take action immediately.

First, one must be absolutely loyal to the female fox. Because only thus could one win the female fox's favor.

Second, absolutely never give other male foxes a chance to ingratiate themselves. When it came to choosing a partner, female foxes and male foxes were quite different. Female foxes were very greedy; before finally determining their partner, they loved to pick and choose—how annoying.

However, Master was not a female fox; she was a human.

To be honest, human thoughts were truly hard to guess. Having lived for over thirty thousand years, he still hadn't figured out human dispositions.

Therefore, he did not know how to express himself, so he could only guard her strictly and desperately, never giving anyone else a chance to get close to Master.

By "anyone else," he meant all species capable of taking human form.

This was what he thought: For over thirty thousand years, he had never imagined that one day he would deeply and inextricably fall in love with a human.

Since he could, presumably other species who had taken human form could do so as well.

Therefore, he would not recruit any creatures that had taken human form back here. Yes, he would rather take the trouble, suffer a bit, and spend more time and energy managing these red-haired monkeys. Moreover, once these red-haired monkeys took human form, he would resolutely sell every single one of them off without a single exception.

++++++++++ The Fiercely Desired Theater Segment Boundary Line +++++++

Hu Li (exclaiming in shock): Big Boss, do you want to take the romance genre route?

Some Peak (rolling her eyes): What are you yelling for! When one is full and warm, thoughts of lust arise; when survival pressure is temporarily eased, wanting to fall in love and hold little hands is the most normal thing in the world. You can't call that romance. Besides, your fox clan's reputation wasn't that great to begin with."

Hu Li lowered his head to twiddle his fingers: "Actually, actually, this person's heart is quite willing..."

"Chirp—"

A large red-haired bird flapped its wings and awkwardly flew past: "Big Boss, what about me? What about me?"

Some Peak scratched her head: "Who on earth are you?"

The large red-haired bird was moved to tears: "Big Boss, do you still remember Feng Jiu from Chicken Slope in the Qingyun Sect?"

Some Peak gave an awkward laugh: "Whether Some Peak remembers you or not is not the key. The key is whether the female protagonist still remembers you, and whether my dear readers still remember you..."

Hu Li nodded vigorously: "Exactly, exactly."

************

Pardon me, Some Peak actually saw a note like this on Qidian, saying that if one spends over one thousand Qidian coins on the same book, the system will reward them with a free evaluation ticket.

Some Peak is already deeply grateful to my dears for supporting authorized reading. If you don't have a free ticket, then please don't cast one.

Kisses to my wounded dears.

Everything past the boundary line is free. Some Peak wrote a little theater piece here and once again apologizes to my dears for any misleading impressions. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come and cast recommendation votes or monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)

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