Flying all the way, the three soon arrived at Dingfeng Mountain.
“Master! Both Mistresses!”
Hu Zhou and Gao Junyu were practising martial arts on the square halfway up Dingfeng Mountain. Hearing Lu Zheng’s voice greeting the mountain from afar, they hurriedly activated their Wind-Control Banners, rose into the air, and came to welcome them.
“Xiao Zhou!”
Seeing Hu Zhou, smiles appeared on all three faces.
The Wind-Control Banners wrapped gentle breezes around them, carrying Hu Zhou and Gao Junyu to the centre as they approached the trio.
“Master, have you come to see me?” Hu Zhou said with a cheeky grin, then suddenly paused in surprise and asked, “Why are you coming from the south?”
“We first visited an elder,” Lu Zheng replied with a smile. Then he saw two figures flying from the mountaintop of Dingfeng Mountain and cupped his hands in greeting. “Brother Hu! Madam Hu!”
The newcomers were none other than Hu Yijun and Hu Zhou’s mother, Wang Yuzhi.
Hu Yijun’s tiger eyes gleamed with faint golden light. With one glance, he discerned the cultivation levels of the three and burst into hearty laughter. “Congratulations, congratulations!”
Lu Zheng cupped his hands in return. Shen Ying and Liu Qingyan both curtsied slightly. “Greetings, Big Brother Hu!”
“Good, good, good! Come in, please!”
Hu Yijun personally stepped forward to welcome them. Below, several more figures rose into the sky, all great demons under Dingfeng Mountain’s command.
They had met Lu Zheng before and had seen Liu Qingyan at Hu Zhou’s wedding. Less than two years had passed, yet these two had advanced so remarkably.
The Central Plains truly was a land of outstanding talents.
“Brother Dalu!” Lu Zheng waved to another tiger demon, the very Hu Dalu who had helped him deal with Saintess Xue Yi years ago.
Hu Dalu felt honoured and hurriedly returned the greeting.
Hu Yijun soon led the three into the great hall at the mountaintop, then waved for attendants to prepare a banquet for the evening.
“Little brother, is there important business bringing you to the Southern Border?” Hu Yijun asked.
“No particular business,” Lu Zheng said with a smile. “It has been a long time since we last came. With some free time after the new year, we first paid respects to an elder, then stopped by Dingfeng Mountain to scrounge a few meals.”
Hu Yijun laughed heartily. “Scrounge meals? I’m afraid you won’t have time to eat. Those fellows have been longing for your personally grilled meat for ages!”
Lu Zheng laughed too upon hearing this. “Then you’d better prepare the meat for me in advance.”
“Young Master Lu, we just dealt with a berserk ox demon yesterday. It was three zhang long, more than enough to eat,” Hu Dalu chimed in cheerfully.
Lu Zheng was speechless. “A three-zhang ox demon? Are you planning to keep me in the kitchen?”
Everyone burst into laughter.
Lu Zheng patted his gourd and took out a large jar of barbecue marinade. “Cut the beef and marinate it first. I’ll grill it tonight.”
“Got it!”
Then came twenty jars of Wuliangye liquor and twenty jars of Huadiao wine.
“Tonight we drink until we’re drunk!”
“Roar!”
“Chirp!”
“Howl!”
“Whine!”
The great hall echoed with ghostly cries and wolfish howls, filled with inhuman excitement. If an ordinary person were here, the sounds alone might frighten them into fainting.
Hu Yijun waved the demons away, then asked with some curiosity and a smile, “Little Brother Lu, which great demon in the Southern Border have you befriended, and one even further south than Dingfeng Mountain?”
The Southern Border’s hundred thousand great mountains were full of perilous peaks and foul waters, teeming with experts. Although Lu Zheng had arrived safely at Dingfeng Mountain, Hu Yijun still intended to inquire and probe a little.
Lu Zheng did not conceal it and nodded. “Wansong Mountain. Daoist Wansong.”
Hu Yijun’s tiger eyes widened as he involuntarily sucked in a breath. “It’s him?”
Lu Zheng nodded. He could tell that Hu Yijun was inferior to Daoist Wansong, and clearly also inferior to Si Lingxi.
“Does Brother Hu know Senior Wansong?”
“Of course I know him. An ancient pine tree that has lived for who knows how many years, with profound cultivation and magical power that reaches the heavens and penetrates the earth,” Hu Yijun said.
Hearing it was Daoist Wansong, however, Hu Yijun relaxed. This great expert rarely left his home and had a peaceful disposition. He could hardly have any designs on Lu Zheng.
But…
Leaving aside older matters, in the last thousand years alone, Daoist Wansong had probably never even left Wansong Mountain, let alone visited the Central Plains.
Wansong Mountain lay deep in the Southern Border, surrounded by countless great demons. Lu Zheng could not possibly wander into the hundred thousand great mountains for no reason.
No matter how he thought about it, Hu Yijun could not fathom how Lu Zheng had come to know Daoist Wansong.
So the curious Hu Yijun asked directly, “How did you come to know him?”
“Because of Go,” Lu Zheng said. “Does Brother Hu know Senior Song Kaichuan?”
Hu Yijun shook his head. “I do not.”
“It’s like this…”
Lu Zheng then explained how he had come to know Song Kaichuan through stalactite essence, and how Song had brought him to meet Daoist Wansong.
“My Go skill is quite good. I helped Senior Wansong with a small favour and learned a technique from him, which I passed to Qingyan. This time we went to pay our respects and express thanks.”
Lu Zheng only gave the general outline, without mentioning the dream chess games or the inheritance of Master Chisong. It was not that he distrusted Hu Yijun, but the matter concerned Daoist Wansong and was not suitable to spread.
Hu Yijun understood. Though he knew nothing of the dream chess games, he was aware of just how high Daoist Wansong’s Go skill was.
His friend, Daoist Qingyang, was a Go expert who had once been invited to Wansong Mountain for a game with Daoist Wansong.
And then… there was no “and then”…
A small favour?
Hah! For a figure like Daoist Wansong, there were no small favours!
It must mean Lu Zheng possessed astonishing skill in Go and had done Daoist Wansong a great favour, causing the senior to owe him a huge debt. That explained the transmission of a technique and the ability to bring both wives for another visit.
Clearly, Lu Zheng had caught Daoist Wansong’s eye, and their relationship was far from ordinary.
“Excellent! Excellent!”
Hu Yijun grinned broadly, his short beard bristling with each root. “If your Go skill is profound, you should visit Wansong Mountain more often in future to play with him when you have time.
He is an ancient pine spirit with a long lifespan and boundless vitality. Wansong Mountain teems with dense spiritual energy and countless spiritual herbs and fruits.
Ordinary people have no means to gather them, but they are of little use to him. Even a little that slips through his fingers would be immortal pills and miraculous medicines for you.”
Everyone laughed at this.
Though it sounded somewhat mercenary, Hu Yijun truly meant it for Lu Zheng’s benefit.
So Lu Zheng smiled and said, “To be honest with Brother Hu, the technique I received from Senior Wansong is related to alchemy. Qingyan’s expertise in it surpasses mine. On this visit, Senior Wansong gave us another box of fine medicinal herbs.”
Liu Qingyan also smiled cheerfully as she took two bottles of pills from the pouch at her waist and handed them to Hu Zhou and Gao Junyu. “We had planned to give them to you before leaving, but since the topic came up, here they are now.”
“No, no, no!”
“No need, no need!”
Hu Zhou and Gao Junyu waved their hands repeatedly.
Liu Qingyan showed rare assertiveness. “I am your mistress. If I give them to you, take them!”
Hu Zhou and Gao Junyu exchanged a glance, then reached out to accept them and bowed in thanks.
