Chapter 33: Longevity Mountain Barbecue

Riding his bronze warhorse out of the woods, Wang Liang finally had a moment to stop and deal with the rabbit he was carrying.

The rabbit was about the size of a small pony. Aside from its internal organs, all of its meat was entirely edible.

After a brief thought, Wang Liang skinned the rabbit and applied spices all over its body.

He used a secret blend of thirteen spices, which required a full day of marination for the flavors to penetrate. After rubbing the seasoning onto the rabbit meat, Wang Liang made a few cross-shaped incisions to help the spices soak in deeper.

With all of this done, Wang Liang remounted his horse and headed west.

He did not know where he was going, but he had a hunch that he was almost there.

Traveling westward this time, Wang Liang did not push forward continuously as he had before. Instead, he walked and stopped intermittently, resting whenever he grew tired, and gathering nearby food or spices along the way.

After three days of travel, Wang Liang finally halted in front of a massive mountain.

The mountain did not look particularly tall, but it was lush, verdant, and imbued with an immortal aura. Wild deer and cranes roamed freely through the forests, making it look like a sacred haven for immortals, completely different from the scenery along the rest of the road.

A wide path led straight to the summit, and amidst the tree shadows, a Taoist temple could faintly be seen.

Throughout his journey, Wang Liang had deliberately avoided crowds and cities. For instance, before reaching the River of Flowing Sands, Wang Liang had spotted a gigantic temple, but he had simply bypassed it without any intention of visiting.

He did the same this time. Dismounting from the bronze warhorse, Wang Liang glanced around, searching for a detour.

Before long, he noticed wisps of Yin energy appearing intermittently not far away.

Tracing this Yin energy, Wang Liang discovered that it had successfully bypassed the massive mountain, carving out a bizarre little trail.

Although this path had not been walked by anyone for many years, it still retained traces of the past. Looking at the trail before him, Wang Liang for some reason conjured an image in his mind.

A certain Yin ghost or similar entity, too terrified to approach the immortal mountain before it, had been forced to detour around the area, stubbornly paving such a path for itself using Yin energy and moonlight.

At most, fifty or sixty meters of such a road could be paved each day, and after three days, the path would dissipate. Since Wang Liang was a cultivator and did not rely on Yin energy to survive, he felt nothing special about it. But for that Yin ghost, if it remained in the same spot after three days, all its efforts over the past few days would be wasted.

This forced the Yin ghost to keep moving forward every single day.

Just thinking about the pressure involved made it feel overwhelming.

Wang Liang doubted he could ever achieve such a feat himself.

Shaking his head, Wang Liang sighed, "I wonder how far that predecessor has traveled. Someone like that, even if dead, could accomplish great things."

Afterward, Wang Liang continued along the path, having completely abandoned any thought of visiting the mountain temple ahead.

After all, he was here to find something, not to stir up trouble.

Having walked for half a day, Wang Liang felt somewhat tired. He mused that the immortal deer and cranes on this sacred mountain must surely possess spiritual intelligence.

They were probably on the same level as the wild beasts near Shaolin Temple. Back then, he had managed to fleece the spiritually gifted beasts near Shaolin Temple until the area was practically emptied, but he lacked the courage to mess around casually in this game.

After all, the oppressive feeling of being watched by that supreme powerhouse last time was something he could still vividly recall.

If he accidentally roasted an immortal crane here, it might well turn out to be someone's gate-guarding boy.

Therefore, Wang Liang simply took out the rabbit given to him by that person.

Coincidentally, the rabbit had been marinated for several days and the flavors had fully penetrated. It was the perfect time for Wang Liang to roast all the meat, keeping whatever he couldn't finish for the road ahead.

Lighting a fire, Wang Liang tidied up the surrounding area and set up the rabbit for roasting.

Because the rabbit was quite large, Wang Liang chose to roast it using the whole-lamb roasting method.

He had to turn it constantly while roasting and keep sprinkling it with the spices he had gathered along the journey.

Before long, the savory aroma of the roasted rabbit drifted far and wide. Although Wang Liang's culinary skills were merely at a beginner's level, his ingredients were top-notch. The smell alone was almost too much for him to bear, making him desperately want to pull out a knife and slice off a piece to eat.

Right at that moment, rustling noises came from behind him.

"Qingfeng, hurry up, the smell is coming from over here."

"Wait for me."

Wang Liang turned his head and saw two Taoist children emerging from the nearby brush. Neither of them was very old, standing only about four feet three or four inches tall. One was dressed in purple and the other in cyan, both with faint smiles on their faces.

Walking up to Wang Liang, the two Taoist children immediately spotted the rabbit meat roasting over the fire.

The boy in purple rolled his eyes and said, "My little white, I only fed you this morning, how did you end up being roasted?"

The boy in cyan stared coldly at Wang Liang and said, "You must pay for this."

Wang Liang had long anticipated such a scenario, which was why he hadn't dared to touch the animals on the immortal mountain.

Facing the two of them, Wang Liang merely shrugged. "This rabbit requires seasoning and needs to be marinated for three to five days before the flavors set in."

Hearing Wang Liang's words, the two Taoist children looked somewhat awkward.

Fortunately, the boy in purple had a rather thick skin. He smiled awkwardly and said, "Well, fellow cultivator, we..."

"Meeting is by fate; sit down and eat together."

Wang Liang pointed at a nearby rock. "However, it's not fully cooked yet, only a portion of the meat is ready to eat."

As he spoke, Wang Liang sliced off a portion of the rabbit meat, placed it on large tree leaves, and set it on the rock.

The two Taoist children could no longer care about anything else and immediately scrambled for the rabbit meat.

Seeing them eating with such relish, Wang Liang smiled as well.

At that moment, the boy in purple asked, "Fellow cultivator, where did you come from, and where are you heading?"

"Me? I come from the New Dynasty of the Eastern Land. I was told to keep heading west to find a place called Wanshou Mountain and Wuzhuang Temple."

Wang Liang recalled his quest.

The moment he spoke those words, the two Taoist children exchanged glances, and the boy in purple asked again, "What are you going to Wanshou Mountain and Wuzhuang Temple for?"

"To beg for a Ginseng Fruit to eat."

Upon hearing this, the two Taoist children were utterly shocked. The boy in purple said solemnly, "This Ginseng Fruit is not so easily..."

Before he could finish his sentence, he was pulled back by the boy in cyan. The cyan-clad boy flicked his eyes toward the top of Wang Liang's head. When the purple-clad boy looked up, good heavens—the purple Qi above Wang Liang's head was dense to the extreme, almost forming a canopy.

Why hadn't they seen it earlier?

At this moment, the purple-clad boy's gaze shifted behind Wang Liang, noticing the umbrella strapped to his back.

"Could this be... the Nine-Turn Golden Pill?"

A thought stirred in the purple-clad boy's heart, and he quickly asked, "May I ask your honored name, fellow cultivator? I am Mingyue, and this is Qingfeng. This right here is Wanshou Mountain, and the temple up the mountain is Wuzhuang Temple. I wonder if you have any old acquaintance with our master? Please state your name."