Chapter 732: A Few Screws Loose
“Please, have some mercy, my lords!”
“We’re only here to make up the numbers. We have no intention to fight with you at all.”
“We admit we’re in the wrong. We shouldn’t have listened to those b*stards from the fourth dimension. I promise there won’t be next time.”
Seeing the Eldritchs and the other high-combat-power fighters dead, the survivors knelt and begged for mercy. They were quivering and did not even entertain the thought of resisting.
“What should we do with them?” asked Cultivator Junjun.
“Where are you all from?” asked Blackie as his gaze swept across them all.
“We’re from the sixth dimension and went to the third dimension in pursuit of power.”
“We’re locals from the third dimension and only came after the Eldritchs had bewitched us!”
“I’m from the fifth dimension and only just got out of the third dimension. I hate myself for not being able to resist the Eldritch’s temptation!”
“Damn those b*stards for deceiving us into eating poop and putting our lives at risk!”
They all regretted listening to the Eldritchs and were punching the ground vehemently.
“It’d be a waste to kill them all. Choose the higher-quality one and bring them back to the expert as game animals. Kill the rest.”
“You heard him! Charge!” Yang Jing and the others boiled with murderous aura and they did as Blackie ordered.
After a while, they all dispersed. Nanan, Blackie, and the others returned to the four-part architecture with the game animals and corpses in their hands.
The next day. Li Nianfan pushed open the door and walked out. He was stunned to see three donkeys lying in the middle of the yard.
“Where did these three donkeys come from? Did you all go on a hunting trip early in the morning?” he asked with a smile.
Nanan nodded and said, “Brother Li, there’s more where that came from.”
Dragin, too, nodded and said, “We brought back many game animals for the zoo, too!”
“Brother Li, I want to eat grilled donkey meat!” said Little Fox greedily.
Li Nianfan shook his head and said with a smile, “Naughty, naughty. I bet you guys were out all night.”
He envied them for being immortals. They did not need much sleep and could stay out all day and all night.
After breakfast, he followed Nanan and Dragin to see the results of their labor last night. He was shocked to see more than 30 animal corpses, each rarer and better than the next. Then, there were also the live animals, each of them lean and healthy. Their combined number was greater than that of the dead animals, and thus, the zoo returned to its former glory.
“It’ll take us a long while to finish all this food.” Li Nianfan asked Daji to freeze the dead animals to keep them for when he wanted to eat them. Then, he turned to look at the game animals who were pressing themselves as close to the ground as possible in fright.
“What’s the matter, Master?” asked Daji.
“There are too many game animals. It won’t look good if we keep them outside of the four-part architecture. Not to mention the cesspit is too close to it,” replied Li Nianfan.
Too many game animals would cause chaos around the four-part architecture, and if the cesspit was too close, the smell would definitely affect the area in the future.
“Brother Li, why don’t we move all the game animals and the cesspit to the foot of the mountain,” suggested Dragin.
“What a good idea. It’s just that it’ll take longer for us to get the manure for the plants in the future,” said Li Nianfan.
“That’s nothing to us!” said Dragin and Nanan breezily.
Immediately, everyone worked together to fill the original cesspit with dirt. Then, they herded the game animals to the foot of the mountain. Li Nianfan wondered in his heart whether he should hire someone to help him.
He felt that it was a little inappropriate to ask Nanan and Dragin to do this kind of work. After all, this job was really indecent. Nanan and Dragin were two little girls, after all, so they were not suitable for this job.
Now, the distance to the cesspit was farther, and in addition to picking manure, someone had to look after the game animals, but who would be willing to do this kind of work? The game animals were so fierce and wicked, they were definitely not something mortals could control. As for the immortals who were capable, they were definitely not willing to do it.
Li Nianfan was thrown into a dilemma.
They began to dig through the ground once the official site of the cesspit was finalized. They went back to the four-part architecture once their task was completed.
On the way back, Li Nianfan suddenly said, “By the way, what happened to the dung-stealing bugs you mentioned last time?”
Dragin smiled and said, “Hehe, don’t worry, Brother Li. The situation has been resolved. Those bugs won’t be coming back anymore. ”
“That’s good.” Li Nianfan nodded. It seemed that although the insecticide delivered by the system was not in good condition, it was still very effective. After a pause, he said, “Nonetheless, we should remain on high alert because these kinds of bugs are known to come back even fiercer.”
There was a flash of something in their expression.
“Yes, Brother Li. We’ll keep your words in mind,” said Nanan.
‘Here comes the instructions again! The expert’s asking us to completely eradicate the people behind the scenes, so they won’t make a comeback! Looks like we have to personally go to the fourth dimension now.’ Daji’s beautiful eyes flashed determinedly.
“Brother Li, grilled donkey meat, grilled donkey meat!” Little Fox chanted. She was filled with anticipation for the dish.
“You should ask your sister to make it for you. She’s really good at cooking, you know,” said Li Nianfan with a smile.
“No, she’ll just ignore me. Only you’ll dote on me,” said Little Fox coquettishly.
Daji’s eyes were immediately fixed on Little Fox who started to tremble. She was so frightened that she turned into her namesake on the spot and jumped into Li Nianfan’s arms, burrowing into his embrace desperately.
After a while, a curl of white smoke rose above the four-part architecture, accompanied by bursts of attractive aroma. After a delicious lunch, Li Nianfan carried a small bag and walked out of the building toward the foot of the mountain. Daji also left the building but her destination happened to be the fourth dimension.
At the foot of the mountain, as usual, Jiang Liu was still hard at work chopping wood. There were beads of sweat on his forehead. His face was full of seriousness as he raised his sword and brought it down against the tree in a uniform movement, again and again.
“Brother Jiang Liu, I see you’re still chopping trees.” Li Nianfan saw the familiar tree-chopping figure from a distance and walked over with a smile.
‘The expert’s here!’ Jiang Liu trembled with excitement. He quickly wiped the sweat off his face and turned to welcome Li Nianfan.
“Greetings, Lord Saint,” he said with a salute.
“Have you had lunch?” asked Li Nianfan.
“Not yet,” said Jiang Liu with a shake of his head.
“That’s great. I brought you some food. How about we go over to your place and have some drinks together?” asked Li Nianfan.
Jiang Liu was flattered. He felt the goosebumps all over my body and in a shaky voice, he answered, “I’d be more than happy to! My humble abode’s right over there.”
Jiang Liu took Li Nianfan to the wooden house he built. It was very simple, with a basic table and chairs set up next to it.
“It’s too simple. You should consider improving your living conditions,” said Li Nianfan. He then sat down and brought out the things he had with him—a plate of peanuts, a bottle of wine, and some grilled donkey meat. “I hope these are to your liking.”
“They are, they are. Thank you, Lord Saint!” said Jiang Liu sincerely.
As he looked at the food on the table, he gulped and he almost cried. ‘The expert’s really kind to me. He even prepared this specially for me. How can I be worthy of his care?’
He looked at the peanuts and could clearly see that the space around them was twisting with the laws of the universe, making each peanut comparable to the elixir used by the Wisdom Elites.
As for the grilled donkey meat, the smell of that meat was quite familiar to him. It smelled like the three Wisdom Elite donkeys from last night. Then, there was the wine, clear as water with a thick aroma of Wisdom aura.
“Cheers!” Li Nianfan raised his wine glass and then drank it.
“I raise a glass to you, Lord Saint!” Jiang Liu solemnly picked up the wine glass and then drank it all.
Suddenly, the rich aroma of wine filled his whole mouth and the spicy wine flowed down his throat. He was instantly a little tipsy. A strong Power of Wisdom exploded in his body, drastically increasing his mana. At the same time, there seemed to be Wisdom chanting in his mind, furthering his enlightenment of it.
“Thank you for bringing the woods up the mountain all this while,” said Li Nianfan.
“You’re welcome, Lord Saint. Chopping wood here is the essence of my life, and my life becomes meaningful because of it,” said Jiang Liu. His tone was unspeakably firm. He was speaking from the bottom of his heart.
Being able to chop wood for the expert made him an indirect disciple of his anyways. This was a beautiful dream not everyone could achieve. It was incomparable to anything in the world. If nothing else, this meal alone was enough to make all the people in the Heavenly Palace go mad with jealousy.
‘What does chopping wood have anything to do with the meaning of life? Has he gone mad with all that chopping?’ thought Li Nianfan.
Li Nianfan cleared his throat and asked, “What do you feel when you’re chopping wood?”
Jiang Liu thought that Li Nianfan was testing him and he sat up a bit straighter as he said seriously, “I feel the rhythm of the Wisdom. Every time I chop it, I have a different perception of whether it’s catering to or slaying Wisdom. The angle, force, mood, even my mentality will have an impact on my sword. I feel that I’ve already stepped into the threshold of Dao of Wood Chopping. This is a kind of cultivation of the behavior as well as the heart.”
‘Wow!’ Li Nianfan was stunned. ‘He’s definitely gone mad and become a firewood fiend. He even came up with Dao of Wood Chopping. Maybe he should make a religion out of it.’
Li Nianfan’s eyes were complicated. Jiang Liu was talented, no doubt, and possessed a unique perspective. Maybe he was like one of those characters out of the novels he liked to read in his previous life, the ones who could come out with a weird but uniquely awesome power.
“What do you think of all that I had said, Lord Saint?” asked Jiang Liu.
Li Nianfan pursed his mouth and said dryly, “It’s a good mentality, but I don’t think you should be too addicted to chopping wood. It’s not good to think too much. Be a little less serious when you chop the wood.”
He hoped that by saying these he would be able to pull Jiang Liu back to the land of normal.
An odd expression flashed across Jiang Liu’s face. It was as if somebody had poured enlightenment into his brain as he made sense of one truth after another.
‘I’ve been blindly indulging in the way of chopping wood and have forgotten the most basic essence of it. It’s just chopping wood, why think so much about it?’
The aura on his body was surging while Wisdom surrounded him like the wind, making his clothes flap around gently. He went directly from the first-step Wisdom Elite to the peak of the first-step Wisdom Elite. Just a little bit more and he would have broken through to the second-step Wisdom Elite.
‘The expert didn’t come to just bring me lunch. He came because he knew I needed some guidance.’ Jiang Liu suddenly got up and bowed to Li Nianfan. “I understand it now! Thank you for your advice, Lord Saint. I almost went astray!”
‘Huh? What advice did I give? What’s he on about? There seems to be a few screws loose in all of the cultivators’ brains.’ Li Nianfan rolled his eyes and changed the subject. “Actually, I came here to ask you for some help.”
“How may I be of service to you, Lord Saint?” Jiang Liu said in a serious voice as if he was ready to die for Li Nianfan at any time.
“A group of game meat I’ve been raising was moved to the foot of the mountain, and I need your help to take care of them to prevent any accidents,” said Li Nianfan.
“No problem. I’ll watch over them with my life!” said Jiang Liu determinedly.
“Uhh, there’s no need to sacrifice your life for this.” Li Nianfan shook his head and then said, “I’m also looking for a gong farmer to deliver the animals’ manure from the foot of the mountain to the four-part architecture for fertilization. I’d like to ask you to keep an eye out for a suitable candidate.”
‘This is the job of the century!’ Jiang Liu’s heart lurched. He was sure that the entire seven dimensions would explode if he put word out for the recruitment.
“Don’t worry, Lord Saint, I’ll notify you as soon as I’ve found someone suitable,” promised Jiang Liu.
Meanwhile, in the fourth dimension, the originally lively Heaven Mystery Pavilion had become deathly silent. Only the old pavilion master sat alone in the deepest part of the pavilion, quietly waiting for everyone’s return.
In the room, there was still the smell of the Origins from the seventh dimension, which made the old pavilion master lick his lips from time to time. He frowned and muttered to himself. “What’s taking them so long? Even if Lord Angel didn’t want to come, it wouldn’t have taken them this long to annihilate the entire Angel Clan.”
The Eldritchs and the others were so strong that it would be impossible for them to have been delayed by such a trivial matter. The old pavilion master raised his hand and started to divine with his fingers. The fact that his body had merged with the fourth dimension’s Origins meant that he could divine most of the huge changes that occurred and would occur in the fourth dimension.
Suddenly, his fingers stopped moving and his expression changed drastically. Then, he re-divined, repeating this seven or eight times but the result was the same for each time.
“There’s poison in the poop?!” he exclaimed while trembling violently.
