The Fox Immortal Who Made Loofah Soup - Chapter 7

We arrived at Hundred Medicines Valley.

Before we left, I noticed that the Tianji Sect had introduced some new menu items.

Loofah soup, for instance. And roast crane.

None of that had anything to do with us, of course.

I had already brewed a pot of hundred-herb decoction. All that remained was for Yungui to get in.

You know, it really did look rather like stewing a chicken.

The thick decoction boiled and boiled. Yungui prepared to leap in.

“Yungui, before you get into the pot, I have to tell you something.”

“A good deal of your poison has already been used up. With the medicinal power surging through you, there may be lasting aftereffects.”

“Every medicine is part poison. What we’re doing now is really the same thing that poison cultivator did to you back then. And you’ll be conscious for it.”

“It will hurt terribly.”

“If you can’t bear it, tell me. I can pull you out at any time.”

Yungui answered without hesitation. “There’s no need.”

“Master, we’ve traveled around treating people and saved so many lives.” He gave the faintest smile. “I love that feeling.”

“The villagers love us. The people of the island were kind to us. I never felt anything like that in Miaojiang.”

“Now all I have to do is go through that pain once more, and I can gain the power to save the world.”

“I feel very fortunate.”

Yungui solemnly put on his gloves. “Master, the Tianji Sect’s divinations are rarely wrong. We have no other choice.”

“No matter how much it hurts, please don’t pull me out.”

I blinked and blinked. My eyes felt a little wet.

“Look at this little brat, pretending he’s a grown-up.”

Then I kicked him in.

Too much chatter. He’d talked until my eyes stung.

I think it must have hurt him terribly.

I watched his flesh rot away in the pot, then finally grow back over his bones.

I watched his organs grow thin, then become thick and strong again.

But he never once cried out in pain.

Whenever I thought he couldn’t last, he always found the will to keep going.

A little longer, then a little longer. He made it seem as though nothing could defeat him.

Several times, I wanted to pull him out and tell him to forget it. I would go and cultivate merit. One day, I’d have enough to dispel the poison.

But whenever he saw me approach, Yungui smiled at me.

“Master, it doesn’t hurt.”

Ah.

We both knew, really.

If he failed, there was only one outcome for him.

Death.

He succeeded.

When he came out of the pot, I was roasting a chicken.

I must say, the chickens in Medicine King Valley had a flavor all their own. They even carried the fragrance of growing plants.

Under the roasting flames, the chicken shone with a golden, oily gleam.

The taste…

I’m getting sidetracked.

Yungui could now be called immune to every poison.

I tested it with a venomous insect. The instant it touched his skin, it gave a shriek and died.

Even the corpse glowed with holy light.

Back at the Tianji Sect, the leader brought out a sword.

“This weapon was formed from the entire sect’s power of merit. It is made specifically to slay the most wicked of people.”

Then he led out a giant crane.

“This is the fastest crane in the sect. It can get you there within three days.”

After a pause, he added,

“If you get hungry on the way, it can serve as rations too.”

The crane looked horrified.

“Finally, we would like to invite you to join the Tianji Sect.”

Huh?

I ventured cautiously, “Are you inviting us to become disciples of the legendary Tianji Sect, the sect most beloved by the Heavenly Dao?”

“The Tianji Sect where you gain merit just by drinking water, eating meals, and having a little chat every day?”

“The one where every disciple has several life tablets and can be reborn as long as their soul survives? The Tianji Sect whose members are as impossible to kill as cockroaches?”

“The Tianji Sect where you can eat roast crane every day and don’t have fixed sect duties?”

“I think you may have misunderstood a few things about our sect.”

“But as sect leader, I now formally invite you, Hu Qingjiu, to become an elder of the Tianji Sect.”

“Master, aren’t we the Celestial Fox Sect—”

I pinched Yungui’s mouth shut.

“That little mouth.”

Keep it closed.

I turned to our sect leader.

“Sect Leader, this elder will be heading down the mountain, then.”