Divine Tang Era

Chapter 110 Qilin

In one corner of the reception room, there was a recording stone, a sound gong, and a glowing mirror.

On the other side, a maid sat at a small table, writing furiously as she recorded the legends told by Xu Dan.

It seemed they were prepared; Xu Dan remembered that this hadn't happened the last time he came. He didn't care, since they would publish their legendary tales, and he would get a share of the proceeds.

Books published in Shentang are generally divided into three types.

One option is to buy out the business; another is to share profits; and a third is to be affiliated with a bookstore and earn a fixed salary plus hard-earned money.

Xu Dan isn't a professional writer, so he didn't know how to handle the distribution of the stories he told; everything was handled by Li Zhu and the others. But so far, she's offering far more than other publishers.

The story of Zhong Kui is very long; it cannot be finished in a day.

So Xu Dan stopped after talking about a third of the way, and planned to finish the rest in three days.

"Okay! That's all for today. Remember to come early tomorrow," Li Zhu said lazily.

"understood."

Li Zhu waved her hand, and a maidservant took out a basket of spiritual fruits. "These are all freshly picked and taste good. Take them back and try them. Things are chaotic outside lately, so don't wander around or you might get caught."

"Don't worry, I don't leave the city at all now, I stay at home the whole time."

"That would be best."

Xu Dan put away the fruit basket, waved sweetly to Li Zhu and Zhu Yuxian, and said, "Sisters, I'm leaving." Sigh, having lived two lives, sometimes I even have to rely on being cute to make a living. This really... really... um, it really feels pretty good.

Be careful.

After giving a word of advice, Zhu Yuxian disappeared from the reception room as if he had never been there.

In a corner of the room, the maid who had been writing furiously at the table finally stopped and began to organize her manuscript.

"Ling'er, after the legend is finished, have someone proofread it. Once the whole thing is told, bind it into volumes and distribute it. This time, remember not to take the whole book over, but one volume at a time, and then take it to them for distribution after some time."

"Understood, my wife."

Shopping and storytelling took up almost the entire morning, and it was time for Xiao Que'er to get out of school.

With nothing else to do, Xu Dan decided to take a look.

Yun Niang was in charge of picking up and dropping off Xiao Que'er; he only did so when he had free time. The disciples from the martial arts school helped take her back. When Xu Dan arrived, Yun Niang was already waiting outside the residence, along with several other women. They were talking, so he didn't go over and watched from behind.

It was just after school let out, and the little kids eagerly squeezed out of the door.

The little magpie went outside, looked around, spotted its mother, and flew over to her as fast as it could.

When Yunniang saw her coming, she bid farewell to the other women and took Xiao Que'er's hand as they walked home.

Xu Dan caught up from behind, and Xiao Que'er exclaimed in surprise, "Brother!"

"Little Magpie is out of school."

"Uh-huh"

Little Magpie nodded, then suddenly noticed the little eagle in his arms. Her eyes lit up. "Brother, is this the chick you caught?"

"This isn't a chicken, it's an eagle. You can play with it when we get back."

"Uh-huh"

Little Magpie nodded frantically, already impatient. Back home, Xu Dan tossed the little eagle to her. The little eagle wasn't shy at all, spreading its wings and hopping around the house.

The little magpie chased after it, giggling with delight, it couldn't be happier.

Xu Dan took out some of the crispy dried fish and pickled dried squid he had bought to nourish Xiao Que'er and Yun Niang, and also took some dried squid, dried cuttlefish and other seafood for Yun Niang to make soup. Then he went upstairs.

Back inside, sitting cross-legged on the bed, Xu Dan cut a large piece of dried squid and put it in his mouth, the unique aroma of seafood spreading out.

He chewed slowly, swallowing each bite with his saliva.

Each breath transformed into surging streams of qi and blood, pouring into the Hidden Mystery Cauldron in the nameless void behind the Tanzhong acupoint in the middle dantian.

The Hidden Mystery Cauldron is covered with mysterious, naturally shrouded patterns, densely packed like stars arrayed in the ancient starry sky. As blood and qi flowed into it, a faint light appeared next to a pattern on the belly of the cauldron that was even more distinct than the other patterns.

It seems my earlier suspicions were correct.

When he ate the nine-eyed python before, he suspected that the patterns on the cauldron represented blood and qi instead of the ancient cauldron, and now it seems that this is indeed the case.

The patterns on the cauldron are not continuous, but rather piece by piece. The brighter, more vivid patterns at the beginning likely represent the immense strength of 100,000 jin of qi and blood, while the darker patterns at the end represent the qi and blood that will emerge later. If there is enough qi and blood, they will be illuminated one by one.

Xu Dan looked at the Hidden Mystery Cauldron. Its patterns were dense and intricate. If they were all lit up, he didn't know how much power he would have.

That's terrifying. At that point, one punch might be enough to shatter mountains, split the earth, divide the sea, and even pulverize the void.

You're overthinking it. Just dream about it; don't take it seriously.

However, the blood and energy contained in dried giant squid is indeed quite good, no less than that of nine-eyed python meat, and even surpasses it in some aspects. But it's a bit hard to chew dry, so next time I'll have to cook it with the bones to make soup.

He stopped cultivating and took out the long arrow he had bought to clean it.

This arrow is the same as the previous ones, with an ebony shaft and a bronze arrowhead, except that the shaft is engraved with a qilin pattern, which is different from the others.

He had initially thought there were only four arrows, as the Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise, White Tiger, and Azure Dragon patterns on the other arrows represented the Four Symbols of Heaven, making it a complete set. Unexpectedly, another arrow with a Qilin pattern appeared. Would there be more to come?

Kuang Kui said he would dig it up again, and he did. Sometimes a man's sixth sense is just that accurate.

Not knowing how many there would be, Xu Dan felt a strange sense of anticipation.

The little magpie downstairs called me down for lunch. For lunch, she was making squid and pork tail bone soup. She added small pieces of dried squid and fresh pork tail bones, along with some ginger to remove any fishy smell, and some shiitake mushrooms to absorb any unpleasant odors and enhance the aroma. The soup had a layer of oil floating on top and a unique fragrance.

I picked up a spoon and took a small bite. The indescribable deliciousness of the dried squid and fresh pork tail bone blended together was so enticing that I couldn't help but want to taste it again and again.

The little magpie didn't bother using a spoon at all. Instead, it picked up the small bowl and poured the contents into its belly with a "glug glug" sound, causing its little belly to visibly bulge.

Yunniang's eyebrows furrowed. She'd already drunk the soup; how could she possibly eat? Despite her gentle demeanor and usual doting nature towards Xiao Que'er, she never spoiled her. If she made a mistake, she'd be forced to eat stir-fried shrimp with bamboo shoots.

Yunniang is holding a bamboo branch, while Xiaoque'er is the poor little shrimp that was beaten.

Seeing that she was angry, Xu Dan quickly said, "If you want to drink, then drink. If you can't eat, just take a nap and eat later. Tell her to bring something with her when she goes to the martial arts gym this afternoon, so she won't go hungry."

Given all this, what else could Yunniang say?

Little Magpie didn't pay attention to their conversation; she just picked up a pig's tail bone and ate it with relish. Her little head bobbed back and forth, and she was incredibly happy.

The little eagle smelled the aroma of squid and pig tail bone soup and paced back and forth around the table, stopping every now and then to turn its head and look at Xu Dan and Xiao Que'er. It looked silly and not smart at all.

Black bears are much smarter; they lie to the side, just waiting for someone to feed them.