Dao Of The Salted Fish (Salted Fish Cultivator)

The two of them helped out and had breakfast as usual. Aunty Liu Jing generously gave them more food to stock up for their trip. Wen Zhihao teased the demonic beasts/kittens with some new toys he made for them and bribed gave some of the talismans to Cultivator Huang Jialing, who accepted the messily drawn talismans with a complicated face.

Well, they were technically cats now but Wen Zhihao was too used to thinking of them as kittens, and demonic kittens aged a little slower anyway.

(Later, Huang Jialing would show her girlfriend, Qian Jiarui, the talismans. Qian Jiarui admitted that the talismans worked, but she couldn’t help but grimace.)

Morning ‘routine’ done, Wen Zhihao and Sun Fuyu finally set off from the sect for Sun Fuyu’s mission. They flew southwards.

Wen Zhihao found himself wide-eyed as they crossed over the land. His eyesight had definitely somehow gotten better overnight. It was amazing how far he could see—all the better to enjoy the scenery!

They flew almost the entire day, with a brief rest at noon. Below them, the landscape changed multiple times, and by the time they reached their destination, even the weather had changed from the brisk spring of the north to the warm spring down south.

Either they flew faster than Wen Zhihao expected, or this Earth was smaller than the Earth he knew. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Their destination was a town with a large river crossing through it. The river-side docks were bustling and Wen Zhihao could see multiple markets near the docks, and smell the slight fragrance of food carried by the wind.

Sun Fuyu’s mission was simple: someone had reported a Level 2 demonic disturbance, and he had to deal with it. There was in fact another cultivation sect closer by, but it was a small sect and not so well versed in the northern demon that was currently plaguing the town.

Wen Zhihao had amassed a good amount of mortal money by this point, and so he booked a good inn room with two beds for the two of them.

They shared a small meal in their inn room, which also gave Sun Fuyu a chance to rest. Wen Zhihao even forced him to take a nap! Even though Wen Zhihao himself was working! 

(Actually, Wen Zhihao was doodling out his idea for the self-inking brush. The flight was a long one, so his mind wandered a lot.)

Once night fell, though, Sun Fuyu had to get up. Nighttime was the best time for dealing with most demonic disturbances. Regretfully, he said, “Wen-ge, I’ll go complete the mission by myself. I’ll be quick, and we’ll meet again here tomorrow morning.”

“Go safely,” Wen Zhihao told him. “Do you have that communication talisman on you?”

“Yes, Wen-ge.”

“I’ll be here waiting for you.”

Sun Fuyu straightened, more determined and stern.

Wen Zhihao watched as Sun Fuyu headed off. Sun Fuyu stood out among the mortals. He walked straight-backed, his aura serious and handsome. Some of the normal people were even afraid of him. Wen Zhihao, in contrast, found it very cute since he knew just how soft Sun Fuyu was. Sun Fuyu was a very good young man, and a very hardworking one too. After all, Sun Fuyu even worked overtime.

Wen Zhihao poked a little more at his new projects and then went to sleep.

That night, everyone in the inn had a particularly refreshing sleep, and in a 100-meter radius, the neighbourhood was calm. In contrast, the outer disciples back in the Golden Sun Sect dormitories felt like they couldn’t sleep well at all...

The next morning, Wen Zhihao awoke to find Sun Fuyu sitting on the other bed, meditating. His robes and face were clean. The sun shone from above the horizon, and many delicious scents of breakfast hawkers entwined in the air.

Wen Zhihao yawned and stretched, sitting upright in bed. “All done?”

Sun Fuyu nodded. “Yes, there were no complications.”

Wen Zhihao’s lips quirked up. As expected of such an outstanding young cultivator. He took down his noise-quieting talisman and the bustling morning sounds from outside finally leaked in.

“Would you like to rest more?”

Sun Fuyu shook his head and leapt out of bed. “I’ll go wherever you want to go!”

Wen Zhihao inwardly thought, Aiya, so energetic. He yawned again and forced himself to get out of bed. Anyway, he was feeling a bit hungry with all the food scents.

“In that case, we will head to the markets.”

They checked out of the inn, and like two mortals, strolled down the street. The actual non-cultivators conveniently walked around them—no one wanted to provoke them.

When they reached the markets, Wen Zhihao kept one eye on the items around them and one eye on Sun Fuyu, in case Sun Fuyu saw something he liked but wouldn’t admit.

As expected of a river-port town, there was a lot of freshwater fish, both alive, and cooked. As a trading town, there was also a wider selection of foods and ingredients than usual—

Wen Zhihao smelt a lovely fragrant, tropic scent...it can only be mangos! Proper tropical sweet mangos! Proper mangos from the south!

Wen Zhihao tugged Sun Fuyu and accurately navigated through the market to the fruit sellers with fresh mangos. Not only were there mangos, but also other fruits like bananas and coconut and durian and jackfruit and rambutan! Maybe this particular xianxia world did have other countries!

Wen Zhihao immediately took out his money. With his sharp sense of smell, Wen Zhihao was able to pick out the best smelling fruit, ripe but not overripe. He happily paid the bewildered fruit sellers (cultivators....eat these kinds of mortal fruit??) and placed all the fruit into his spatial storage ring.

Sun Fuyu had never seen these strange fruits. One of them [the spiky durian] smelt particularly weird...but he wasn’t one to question Wen-ge.

“Is there anything else you want?” Wen Zhihao asked Sun Fuyu.

Sun Fuyu shook his head. He felt as bewildered as the fruit sellers.

Wen Zhihao ended up buying them some grilled fish on a stick to have for their breakfast. There was no need to stay in the noisy town to eat, so the two of them drew their swords (to the alarm of others) and flew away.

Wen Zhihao found a suitable grassy hilltop to sit and eat the grilled fish. Then, he took out one of the many mangoes.

“This is a mango,” he told Sun Fuyu. “It’s very, very good.”

Wen Zhihao looked for a knife—only to realise that he didn’t have a knife. But he had no intention of using the sword he stood on daily to cut the mango.

“Xiao Yu, do you happen to have a knife?”

Sun Fuyu shook his head. “I can use qi to cut if Wen-ge needs me to.”

“Very smart, Xiao Yu! Come here, cut the mango across like this…”

Sun Fuyu listened very carefully and did exactly as Wen Zhihao directed him. Once cut, the sweet scent of mango became even more intense.

Wen Zhihao took a bite. The mango was perfectly ripe, a little soft, and extremely sweet. “Fruits from the hotter regions are much sweeter,” he said contentedly. “Have a try, Xiao Yu.”

Sun Fuyu copied Wen Zhihao’s actions. The mango fruit juices burst into his mouth as he bit down. Sweetness and a slight stickiness spread across his tongue. It was as sweet as sugar! Sun Fuyu chewed and swallowed and quickly took another bite. His eyes curved in enjoyment.

Wen Zhihao smiled fondly. Recalling how Sun Fuyu had used his qi, Wen Zhihao copied and sliced up the rest of the mango. The two of them finished it off, leaving behind only the giant seed inside and very sticky hands.

Giant seed.

Wen Zhihao had a second enlightenment.

This author has something to wonder about: seriously though, xianxia worlds, do they ever include other countries??? Or are these realms small and flat???

Also. Durian \(≧∀≦)/   I have a story that involves desserts made from fruit including durian….