Chapter 25: Martial Uncle Zookeeper

This small building is ten zhang high, with upper and lower floors. From a distance, it looks like a large gourd, and the chief designer, Li Changshou, likely drew inspiration from Jiu Jiu’s accompanying treasure, the Zhuxie Ruyi Sword.

That is, the large gourd that can expand or shrink and carry people through the air.

The building is situated in the middle of a pond, with a well located eighty zhang away directly in front. The pond and the well are connected by waterways.

If viewed from above, a taijitu with a diameter of a hundred zhang is embedded in the forest, shaped like a yin-yang fish, with the small building and the well serving as the two yin-yang eyes.

This is a feng shui array that provides effects for stabilizing fortune and warding off evil spirits. Moreover, as the Duxian Sect belongs to the Renjiao lineage, the yin-yang taijitu carries significant meaning.

Upon arriving at the front of the small building and looking up, one can see a wooden sign inscribed with the five large characters: Xiaoqiong Peak Dan Room.

Looking closely, below the sign are two lines of smaller text: Approved by the Bai Fan Hall for the construction of a dan refining small building.

In simple terms, this is a properly certified and regulated structure!

Entering through the main door, one is greeted by a wooden screen, and behind it stands the six-zhang-tall large dan furnace.

This dan furnace occupies a vast area, wider at the base and narrower at the top, forged from massive blocks of purple gold and engraved with auspicious clouds and a hundred medicinal herbs. It also features numerous prohibitions.

However, the upper half of the dan furnace is covered in a lot of “patches,” giving it a somewhat shabby appearance.

Originally, this was an abandoned dan furnace, but only its upper half had exploded. Li Changshou used his connections through Ling Yu to acquire it from the Bai Fan Hall and spent half a year meticulously repairing it, finally making it operational again.

The dan furnace has three legs, two ears, a round and bulging body, and four windows shaped like yin-yang fish. The main prohibitions below, such as the Condensing Fire Array and the Even Spirit Array, are still intact.

After Li Changshou's repairs, the furnace's power is now only about thirty percent less than when it was undamaged.

What’s even more remarkable is that acquiring this furnace barely cost anything.

The large blocks of purple gold can suppress the properties of most spiritual herbs, making this dan furnace the most valuable treasure on Xiaoqiong Peak at present.

The entire small building is essentially built around the dan furnace.

Surrounding the dan furnace are several rows of shelves filled with various jade bottles, gourds, and jade boxes, containing many spiritual dans and wondrous medicines refined in this furnace—though they are all standard varieties.

Lan Ling'e keeps the place meticulously organized, and at the moment, this junior sister is in closed-door cultivation, striving to improve her cultivation realm.

When Jiu Jiu jumped in from outside, Li Changshou, dressed in a light blue long robe, was standing beside the dan furnace. In his palm floated more than ten pale golden dans, as he contemplated the insights from his recent refining.

“Xiao Changshou, what new dans have you refined this time?”

Jiu Jiu approached with curiosity.

“Shishu, would you like to try some? It’s the freshly refined Qingxin Ningxin Dan. I’ve made some improvements to the flavor, and the effects should be quite good.”

Li Changshou replied casually, as two spiritual dans slowly floated toward Jiu Jiu. She swallowed them directly, crunching them with a few chews before letting out a satisfied burp and exhaling a fresh, fragrant breath.

“So sweet,” Jiu Jiu extended her right hand. “Give me a few more!”

Li Changshou summoned a white jade porcelain bottle with a wave, filled it with the dans, and handed it to Jiu Jiu.

Jiu Jiu’s small hand didn’t retract. “And this month’s Shenxian Zui and Jiaren Mei!”

“Don’t worry, Shishu, I haven’t forgotten about you.”

Li Changshou chuckled lightly and honestly handed over two palm-sized jade pots.

Jiu Jiu eagerly opened one and took a sniff, letting out a contented sigh.

“Not bad, Changshou. Your dan refining skills have now matched your brewing abilities perfectly.

Is there anything you need me to help with today?

You haven't set up any arrays in the past two months, so I can’t keep coming here just to take without giving.”

“Not today,” Li Changshou said with a smile. “In twenty days, I plan to start refining a particularly difficult immortal dan and would like to ask for your assistance then.”

Jiu Jiu patted her chest enthusiastically, causing her linen short jacket to sway lightly.

“No problem! Leave it to me!

In twenty days, right?”

“That’s right, in twenty days,” Li Changshou said seriously. “This dan is very important to me, and once I begin the preparations, I won’t be able to stop.

If you’re not available then, please let me know in advance.

Also, could you keep this matter confidential for me?”

“What kind of dan is it that’s so secretive?”

“A type of poisonous dan called Rongxian Dan.”

Jiu Jiu was startled. “Rongxian Dan? Isn’t that the one said to be able to poison even a Zhenxian?

I think I heard our fifth shixiong mention it a long time ago. Why are you refining something like that?”

Li Changshou laughed. “Poison is just another form of medicinal property, like how dishes have sour, sweet, or spicy flavors.

Poisonous dans can be used to kill, but they can also save lives.

Don’t worry, Shishu—I have no enemies, and I love my cultivation life. I won’t do anything harmful or against the heavens.

If the Rongxian Dan is successfully refined, I’ll offer you an extra year’s worth of Jiaren Mei as thanks, beyond our usual agreement.”

“Deal!”

Jiu Jiu clenched her right fist and extended it toward Li Changshou. He raised his hand and gently bumped his fist against hers, making her beam with joy.

“I’ll come back in twenty days, okay?”

“Take care, Shishu.”

Amid laughter, Jiu Jiu sat on her large gourd and soared into the sky, flying above Xiaoqiong Peak.

She glanced back and saw mist rising in patches from the forest she had just left. In an instant, the mist enveloped the entire forest, but a gentle breeze soon dispersed it completely.

The dense woods within a thirty-li radius seemed unchanged from before, but Jiu Jiu knew that the layers of great arrays had already activated.

“Next time I want to prank those seventh or eighth shidi, I could trick them into coming here.”

Jiu Jiu murmured softly to herself, but then she thought of Li Changshou’s always serious face. “I should check with him first, or he’ll launch into one of his impassioned lectures about principles again.”

Shaking her head, Jiu Jiu rode her large gourd and sped away, soon returning to the back mountain of Potian Peak. She flew into the overlapping great arrays and disappeared from sight.

That place is where the nine disciples of Wangqing Shangren cultivate and go into seclusion, with a series of pavilions built along the mountain slopes.

Although the “Jiu Zi Xianren of the Wine Character” is just a branch of the Potian Peak lineage, even their lowest-cultivation and most recently initiated member, Jiu Jiu, has reached the Zhenxian realm, so their treatment is naturally far superior to that of Qiyuan and his three disciples.

Not only do they have excellent spirit-gathering arrays, but they also have many attendant disciples. Protective arrays, which are prohibited by the sect rules, have been set up around several pavilions, making it an ideal place for cultivation.

As the youngest, Jiu Jiu is quite favored by her shixiong and shijie, so her residence is near Jiu Wu’s, subtly positioned under the protection of the others’ dwellings.

If Jiu Jiu enters seclusion, the others naturally form a guarding formation.

With the sneaky gazes of several attendant disciples upon her, Jiu Jiu flew back to her pavilion, kicked off her cloth shoes, and jumped barefoot onto the bed made of carved biyu, hugging the two jade pots she had just acquired. She let out a series of giggles…

“Which one should I drink first? Or which one?

Xiao Shoushou is really something, making such great stuff.

Three years are almost up, and the ‘Henghe Shui Laobaigan’ he buried should be ready to dig up. I have to drink my fill then!

Slurp—today, I’ll favor the Jiaren Mei first.”

“Cough! Cough cough!”

Outside the pavilion, the five-chi-tall dwarf Daoist coughed a few times. Jiu Jiu, who was sprawled on the bed, quickly covered the two jade pots and alertly glared toward the outside. Seeing who it was, she relaxed slightly.

“Fifth Shixiong, you could just come in. I didn’t even activate the array.”

“I was just scolded by Eldest Shijie earlier, so even though we’re close, we should still observe proper etiquette,” Jiu Wu said with a smile, taking a couple of steps forward before stopping abruptly.

There was simply no place to step.

Looking at the wine jars, short jackets, and belly bands scattered around, Jiu Wu slapped his forehead and complained, “Xiao Jiu, you’re over a thousand years old now. Can’t you keep your room tidy?”

Jiu Jiu sniffed the air and waved her hand. “There’s no weird smell, so it’s fine.”

She casually stored the jade pots in her storage treasure and sat cross-legged on the bed.

Jiu Wu struggled to clear a path through the clutter on the floor and sat down by the low table, pondering for a moment.

“Lately, you’ve been visiting Xiaoqiong Peak quite often,” Jiu Wu said with a laugh. “What are you going there for?”

“Just to have fun—what else?” Jiu Jiu blinked. “Fifth Shixiong, why are you suddenly asking about this?”

“Oh, nothing, nothing,” Jiu Wu waved his hands repeatedly, then scratched his head. He thought about the task his shijie and shimei had given him but found it hard to say.

How could he bring this up?

He couldn’t just outright ask his little shimei if she’d developed feelings for someone on Xiaoqiong Peak, could he?

Jiu Wu rallied his courage. “Cough! I remember, in your first few decades after joining, you were pretty close to Qiyuan Shidi from Xiaoqiong Peak, right?”

“Yeah,” Jiu Jiu nodded. “Back then, Qiyuan Shixiong took good care of me.”

Jiu Wu hesitated. “So, you... um…”

Jiu Jiu frowned. “Fifth Shixiong, what’s wrong with you today? You’re being so hesitant.”

“I—I mean… sigh!”

Jiu Wu stamped his foot. “Fine, I’ll just ask straight out!

Lately, you’ve been running to Xiaoqiong Peak every day? Even during your punishment of no wine, you’re still so energetic!

Your shijie are wondering if… um, if…”

“If what?”

“You!”

“Me?” Jiu Jiu furrowed her brows, her eyes full of confusion.

Jiu Wu mustered his courage and blurted out:

“Are you!

About to break through or something…”

“As if breakthroughs are that easy,” Jiu Jiu rolled her eyes. “Tell those shijie not to worry. If I hit a bottleneck, I’ll ask you all for advice. I won’t charge ahead recklessly on my own.”

“That’s good, that’s good. I’ll head back then. You focus on your cultivation.”

Jiu Wu beat a hasty retreat, quickly standing and heading to the door, then turning back to ask, “Oh, right, Xiao Jiu—the two nests of spiders you brought back from Xiaoqiong Peak last time, I accidentally let them die. Ask that Changshou Shizhi if he has any more. I’ll trade treasures or dans with him for them.”

“Got it. I’ll ask next time I go.”

Jiu Wu smiled slightly.

Tsk, ever since Jiu Jiu brought back that nest of three-eyed heavy-pupil spiders two years ago, he’d gotten those remote-viewing spider silks, and his life had become so much more entertaining.

Especially when he set them up near the pool where his Dao companion often bathed… that scene…

“Tsk tsk,” Jiu Wu muttered as he hurried away, the wind rustling in his wake.

“Fifth Shixiong is acting so strange today. He must have argued with Fourth Shijie again.”

Jiu Jiu shook her head, then activated the array outside her pavilion. She lay on the bed, pulled out the two jade pots, and sank back into her happy dilemma.

…

Back at Xiaoqiong Peak, in the dan room.

Li Changshou stood in front of the dan furnace, having already prepared the herbs for the next batch. He turned and walked toward the mat on the left.

Holding a jade token in his left hand, he carefully sensed the changes in the great array and confirmed there were no dangers. He then casually activated the dan furnace’s prohibitions, causing several flames to appear inside.

As he sat down on the mat to the left of the dan furnace, a puff of green smoke suddenly burst around him, and his figure vanished in an instant, leaving only a paper figure behind.

The paper figure in the green smoke quickly transformed into Li Changshou’s appearance, while the smoke seeped into a small hole beneath the mat and disappeared.

This was the Illusion Technique, Qiyuan Laodao’s specialty, which his eldest disciple had long mastered.

In fact, he could now transform things even more extensively than his master… by several times.