Chapter 44 Mid-Autumn Festival

After telling the tea spirits and fungus spirits a story, Tianxuan went back inside to drink water and saw Li Chang'an standing in front of a pile of mooncakes, lost in thought.

He walked over with a water glass, looking at me with a puzzled expression: "What are you thinking about?"

Li Chang'an turned his head: "...Are you going back to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival?"

Tianxuan countered, "Go back where? To the Cultivation Alliance? Or home, to reunite with your family?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Li Chang'an nodded with a serious expression.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is a time to go home and reunite with family.

Tianxuan smiled suddenly: "I am now forty-eight years old at most, and my parents have passed away."

!

Li Chang'an was startled: "...I'm sorry."

Tianxuan looked to be only in his early twenties, which made him momentarily forget that this person was a cultivator, and a Golden Core cultivator at that. You can't judge a person's age by their appearance alone.

Once you reach the Golden Core stage, you can maintain your youthful appearance forever. Tianxuan Xingjun broke through to the Golden Core stage when he was in his twenties.

As expected of Tianxuan Star Lord, he is a genius among geniuses in the current Cangxuan Realm.

Li Chang'an's expression was so obvious that you could guess what he was thinking at a glance.

Tianxuan smiled and shook her head, "Actually, I still have some relatives at home, but I don't have much contact with them."

He was chosen by the stars at birth. Unlike other cultivators, who were supposed to sever ties with mortals the moment they were chosen, he was chosen by the stars.

He was sent to the Cultivation Alliance. Knowing that they might never have the chance to see each other again, his parents had another son and a daughter, and pretended that he had never been a child.

Tianxuan had never spent time with her family and had no feelings for them.

He only happened to recall that he had once consulted a fortune teller and learned that his parents had passed away and that his younger siblings had started their own families.

Speaking of which, his younger brother and sister's children are all about the same age as Li Chang'an.

Tianxuan was unusually lost in thought.

Li Chang'an turned to look at him for a while, then lowered his eyes.

He thought for a moment, then touched his temple sheepishly and said, "Then why don't you stay in the immortal mountain and celebrate the festival with us?"

Tianxuan came to her senses, smiled, and said, "That would be perfect."

Having decided to celebrate this festival, Li Chang'an began preparing the things needed for the celebration.

More than twenty days later, he posted another message on Weibo.

This is a giveaway announcement. We'll be drawing ten lucky fans to receive Mid-Autumn Festival gifts: a large cabbage, a head of cabbage, and five kilograms of Ling rice each.

These cabbages, bok choy, and fifty catties of spirit rice were taken from his own warehouse. He and the mushroom spirits have now planted dozens of acres of spirit rice, and there will be even more to eat after the harvest in a month and a half, so he is very generous.

[You stingy bastard! Look at your current follower count, only giving away ten prizes, are you trying to make us fight?!]

[My God, with over three million followers, they're only giving away ten prizes—a one in three hundred thousand chance of winning! Li Chang'an, you…]

[The number of followers is still increasing, making the competition even fiercer. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say the winner is the chosen one, would it?]

[@Li Chang'an, a ten-year long-time fan, thank you for rigging this.]

[@Li Chang'an, you've smeared me, but I will remain your fan until I'm buried. Thank you.]

The number of followers on Weige cannot be inflated; Li Chang'an's current three million followers are all genuine.

Fans wailed and begged Li Chang'an to draw a few more spots.

Li Chang'an has been relatively free these past few days, so he took a look at everyone's comments.

He finally replied to a comment asking for more slots: "The quantity is really limited right now, let's wait until later."

When the planting scale is larger and more vegetables are produced, we will draw more people.

Upon seeing Li Chang'an's reply, the fans were overjoyed once again.

...

The day before the Mid-Autumn Festival, Li Chang'an gave the mushroom spirits a day off. The next day, they crowded into the yard early in the morning and made "cooing" noises when they saw Li Chang'an.

They're here to celebrate the holiday together, not to "go to work."

Li Chang'an fetched water for them, then went to the West Floating Island and collected a basket of Brightwing Bird eggs, and also caught a few fish in the Ningjing River.

Back home, I had just strung the fish together with a rope when I heard the sound of tea essence coming from the yard.

He went outside and saw that Cha Jing was holding a jar filled with exceptionally fragrant tea leaves.

You can smell the aroma of tea from a distance.

The tea spirit said, "This is a Mid-Autumn Festival gift for you."

After listening to Tianxuan's words that day, he asked Li Chang'an for a jar and began making these teas upon returning to Dongfu Sky Island.

He also wanted to learn from humans and exchange gifts during festivals.

The tea leaves are all picked from his own tea tree. He is a tea master, and his tea-making skills are unparalleled. The quality of the tea in that jar is top-notch.

"Thank you." Li Chang'an accepted it. "Then I'll use these tea leaves to make you something delicious tonight."

All he knows for now is that the tea spirits and mushroom spirits love the water from the Ningjing River the most, and he doesn't have a better idea for returning the favor.

Let's just use the Ningjing River water to make something delicious.

"It tastes good?" the tea essence asked in confusion.

Li Chang'an nodded.

At this moment, all he could think of that could be made from the Ningjing River was milk tea, fruit tea, and various sweet soups.

Just three days ago, Yang Hao and his team delivered several boxes of milk.

However, it's unclear whether they would like tea essence or mushroom essence.

Li Chang'an pondered for a moment, then put away the tea leaves, gave a few instructions to the mushroom essence and tea essence, and left Xuanling Immortal Mountain to buy dozens of kilograms of fruit in Ling'an City.

As soon as they returned to Xuanling Immortal Mountain, they saw Xie Kuling and Xie Xuan carrying gifts.

"Thank you, Elder Xie Kuling." Li Chang'an ran forward and called out to the two of them.

"Li Chang'an." Xie Kuling and Xie Xuan stopped and greeted him with smiles.

Li Chang'an stared at Xie Kuling for a moment, stunned.

He noticed the changes in Xie Kuling and said with some surprise, "You... Xie Kuling, you've awakened your spiritual root!"

Ever since Xie Kuling asked him what it felt like to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage, he guessed that Xie Kuling actually really wanted to cultivate.

Now that he has discovered that Xie Kuling has awakened his spiritual root, he is truly happy for him.

"Yes," Xie Kuling said with a smile.

He looked deeply at Li Chang'an, put down the gifts in his hands, and solemnly bowed with his fists clasped: "Thanks to the spirit rice you planted, I was able to awaken my spiritual root. I will never forget such a great kindness."

Li Chang'an was taken aback.

Is Xie Kuling's awakening of his spiritual root related to the spiritual rice he planted?

Li Chang'an was somewhat at a loss and quickly stepped forward to help Xie Kuling up. "...It may not necessarily be related to the spirit rice. When it comes to awakening a spiritual root, there are many possible reasons."

Xie Kuling smiled, knowing that Li Chang'an certainly wouldn't believe him if he was the only example, so he said:

"In any case, after eating spirit rice for a period of time, my health improved a lot, and I awakened my spiritual root because I had just eaten spirit rice."

It must be said that Li Chang'an is often too modest.

Xie Kuling added, "Today is the Mid-Autumn Festival. My uncle and I have prepared some small gifts. We hope you won't find them offensive."

"No problem, no problem at all. I also prepared some gifts for you."

After Li Chang'an finished speaking, he led the Xie family uncle and nephew back to his new house and took out a basket of bird eggs and fish that he had collected that morning.

"How about we celebrate the holiday together at my place tonight?"

Xie Kuling took the basket and shook his head: "Today is the Mid-Autumn Festival. We should celebrate the festival and admire the moon with the disciples of our sect."

Li Chang'an laughed and said, "Then I'll call my disciples to come along. They've been helping me carry the packages for so long, and I haven't thanked them yet."

"This..." Xie Kuling and Xie Xuan exchanged a glance, then clasped their hands in a salute, "Then we will trouble you."

*

As the sun sets, the Xuanling Immortal Mountain becomes exceptionally lively.

The Xie family uncle and nephew, along with their disciples, arrived with a large quantity of dishes, cooking utensils, bowls, and chopsticks.

There are eight adult disciples of the Qingfeng Sect, five of whom have entered junior high or high school, and the remaining seven are still young children.

Among the adult disciples, the eldest disciple is already over twenty years old, even older than Xie Kuling.

His cooking skills were exceptional. He was usually the head chef of the Qingfeng Sect's dining hall, but after arriving at Xuanling Immortal Mountain, he silently helped Li Chang'an cook.

The other adult disciples were all helping out, while the underage disciples were chasing the mushroom spirits outside the courtyard.

The mushroom spirits are kind-hearted, but also somewhat socially awkward. They peek curiously at the new strangers from the corners, while also feeling a little scared.

Occasionally, a few mushrooms will be spotted by children, and then they will vanish in a puff of smoke, reappearing in the next corner.

The young disciples laughed heartily, their interest piqued, and began searching for the hidden mushroom spirits.

A group of little ones started playing "hide-and-seek" without saying a word to each other.

Tianxuan, Xie Kuling, Xie Xuan, and Cha Jing, who didn't participate in cooking, watched over the little ones in the courtyard. Occasionally, they would grab a little disciple by the back of his collar when he almost tripped to prevent him from falling and getting hurt.

The kitchen wasn't big enough for so many people to move around in, but luckily Li Chang'an also built two earthen stoves in the yard.

The iron pot on the earthen stove was very large, just enough to stir-fry a large batch of dishes.

The disciples were used to working in the dining hall, and gradually, Li Chang'an no longer needed to join in cooking; instead, he was relegated to the side.

He shook his head helplessly, fetched three buckets of water from the Ningjing River, took out dozens of kilograms of fruit he had bought from his storage bag, and began to make fruit tea.

Li Chang'an drew a fire talisman to boil water, then thought for a moment and restored the ancient method of drawing a heat-preserving talisman to freeze a bucket of ice.

The temperature dropped sharply around him, and a disciple passing by couldn't help but shiver.

The ice froze quickly. Li Chang'an cut a lot of fruit, brewed tea with tea essence, added syrup, ice, and tea, and made two buckets of fruit tea.

Next, he stir-fried the tea leaves, added milk and boiled them together, and finally took out the tea leaves and added syrup.

That's how you make a pot of milk tea.

After Li Chang'an finished making fruit tea and milk tea, the Qingfeng Sect disciples had almost finished cooking their dishes.

There wasn't a large table in the room, so Li Chang'an went to the bamboo forest and cut some bamboo to make a long bamboo table and some bamboo stools.

With the addition of spiritual power and the help of the black sword, making these things much faster became much easier.

Tianxuan stood to the side, carefully examining the bamboo table and stools, and smiled: "You're very good at making these."

During his time at Xuanling Immortal Mountain, he saw Li Chang'an weaving many bamboo baskets, backpacks, and even small coasters.

Li Chang'an polished the bamboo table and said, "When I was a child, I made these with the grandpas and grandmas next door. After we finished making them, we would take them to the market to sell on market days."

After school every day, and on weekends and holidays, he would help with his homework after he finished his own.

In addition to bamboo weaving, Grandpa Huang also knew woodworking and broom making, which he also learned.

"No wonder, these things are all made so well," Tianxuan remarked.

Li Chang'an smiled.

Soon, the bamboo tables and stools were all finished.

A bamboo table was set up in the courtyard, and the disciples brought out the stir-fried dishes.

The disciples prepared various dishes with Chinese cabbage and bok choy, stacked steamed hairy crabs on top of each other, and placed several fragrant grilled fish on a small barbecue grill with a small fire burning underneath.

In the courtyard, a rich aroma enveloped everyone.

"Dinner's ready! Dinner's ready!" Xie Xuan called out from outside the courtyard.

"They're here!" The junior disciples who were searching for the mushroom spirit hurriedly ran back and obediently sat on the bamboo stools as Xie Kuling instructed.

They ate very well, without wasting any food or causing any trouble.

Tea essence was also placed in a specific location.

He not only enjoyed the fruit tea and milk tea, but also ate some of the food.

Influenced by the atmosphere, Tianxuan stopped her fasting and started eating with everyone.

After swallowing a mouthful of spiritual rice, he paused for a moment, then burst into laughter.

I've been practicing fasting for decades, so it seems I won't need to anymore.

The dinner table was bustling with activity.

The mushroom spirits sat at the table that Li Chang'an had originally used. They sat on slightly higher bamboo stools, huddled together in small groups, making five stools in total.

Li Chang'an poured fruit tea and milk tea into several large plates and placed them in front of them.

These fruit teas and milk teas not only contain water from the Ningjing River, but also tea made with tea essence, making them richer in spiritual energy. Even with the addition of syrup, it has no effect and remains sweet.

The mushroom spirits loved it and quickly finished it all.

After they finished drinking, they lay sprawled on the table.

I drank a bit too much, I'm so full.

At the long bamboo table, Li Chang'an and the others ate, drank, and chatted.

The meal took more than an hour to eat, and all that was needed to clean up was to draw a dust-cleaning talisman.

The group sat in the courtyard admiring the moon. Li Chang'an cut up the remaining fruit and placed it on the table along with mooncakes and melon seeds.

After doing all that, he went to the kitchen, put a large hairy crab that had been separated and placed in a basket, a small plate of stir-fried Chinese cabbage and stir-fried bok choy, a bowl of rice, a mooncake, and finally a bucket of fruit tea in a bamboo kettle.

Li Chang'an glanced at the people chatting in the courtyard, then quietly walked with his basket to the bamboo grove behind the house.

"Senior Sword Spirit?" he called out, but there was no sound around him.

Li Chang'an paused for a moment, then called out again, "Senior Li'e?"

After a slight rustling of wind, someone stepped on the bamboo leaves and asked in a cold voice, "What do you want?"

Li Chang'an looked up at the sound and saw the black-clad sword spirit backlit by the moonlight.

He lightly touched the ground with his toes and flew to a bamboo branch next to the sword spirit. He raised the basket in his hand and said with a smile, "Today is the Mid-Autumn Festival, a day for family reunion. It wouldn't be right to leave you all alone."

"This food was specially reserved for you in advance."

The sword spirit glanced casually at the basket, then shifted its gaze: "Cultivators should abstain from grains."

She was giving him instructions again.

Li Chang'an said, "I haven't been fasting for a while, but my cultivation hasn't been affected, has it?"

The sword spirit remained silent.

Li Chang'an smiled again and said, "But I actually already guessed your answer. It's just that today is the Mid-Autumn Festival, and while we're having a lively time there, I always wanted to bring you along so you could experience the lives of us humans."

Experience human life.

This statement sounds familiar; it seems like someone said it to him often six thousand years ago.

No wonder he's a reincarnation.

The sword spirit remained silent, offering no response.

Li Chang'an, on the contrary, breathed a sigh of relief.

He was actually quite worried that Blade & Soul would say something like, "What's so great about human life?"

Since he didn't say that, it means the Blade Spirit wasn't offended by what he said.

"Try it." Li Chang'an simply put down the basket and bamboo tube gently, leaving his spiritual energy to support them.

"I'm going to enjoy the moon with them." He smiled, clasped his hands in a fist salute, turned around, flew down from the bamboo tip, and returned to the courtyard.

The sword spirit looked at the things at its feet.

When he gained sentience from the Sword of Calamity, he was indeed very curious about human life.

But whenever he descends to earth and approaches humankind, calamity follows.

Over time, human life seems to have become less interesting.

But now...

Laughter and cheerful voices came from the other side of the yard again. The children ran and jumped, and when they got tired, they snuggled into the adults' arms and fell asleep peacefully.

The sword spirit looked up and saw the gentle moonlight enveloping him.

After a long while, he bent down and gently picked up the basket.