31 Trouble (1/2)
It was dawn.
There was fog surrounding the Green Peak and the spiritual land. Fang Yuan looked at the cliff with anticipation.
A white figure approached the beach, stretched out its claws and seemed as though it was rummaging through something.
”Squawk!”
Above the cliff, numerous Red-eyed White Birds were flapping their wings and pecking around, not aware of the situation on the beach.
In a short while, the white figure retreated and returned to the fog.
”Haha... Flower Fox Ferret, good job!”
The white figure was indeed the Flower Fox Ferret.
Fang Yuan was unwilling to return empty-handed, and so instructed the Flower Fox Ferret to steal some spiritual fertilizer, as what it did previously.
After all, the size, colour, and speed of the Flower Fox Ferret allowed it to escape even if it was spotted, and was the perfect candidate for the job.
And after having Fang Yuan as a buddy, it became much more efficient.
Fang Yuan retrieved the fully-filled cloth bag from the Flower Fox Ferret's neck and smiled, ”Good, one more time, and we can settle the entire season's supply of Vermillion Jade Rice and spiritual tea!”
”Keke!”
The Flower Fox Ferret raised its paws, as though it was bargaining.
”All right, I'll keep your portion of the spiritual tea!”
Fang Yuan could not help but feel embarrassed, as he felt that the Flower Fox Ferret had become much wiser and knew how to bargain! It needs to be controlled!
”Go!”
With a flick of its tail, the Flower Fox Ferret went on its way to steal more spiritual fertilizer.
As long as Fang Yuan acceded to his request, nothing else matters.
”This spiritual land... What a pity I cannot own it yet, what a pity...”
Fang Yuan gazed at the Green Peak, in his eyes a tinge of regret.
He knew that although there might be treasures within this spiritual land, the Red-eye White Birds were the owners of this spiritual land and with their existence, he could never develop in the spiritual land.
Therefore, his short-term goal could only be to enter the mountains and to retrieve the spiritual fertilizer.
”The only issue with this spiritual fertilizer is...”
Fang Yuan looked up to the cliff and saw white spots falling down. His expression changed, ”Oh sh*t…...The Flower Fox Ferret and I are actually collecting faeces!”
That's right!
The white beach beneath the cliff was the place where the flock of Red-eyed White Birds went to defecate.
Those incredible, effective spiritual plant fertilizers, were, in fact, bird's droppings!
It was a speechless discovery for Fang Yuan.
Regardless, such a job with so much potential had to go on.
”Anyway, bird's droppings are a natural fertilizer, and since these are the droppings of the half-spiritual, or maybe even spiritual birds, then it is only natural that their droppings have such wonderful effects...”
Fang Yuan was used to manual labour since young and therefore didn't mind. After clearing his thoughts, he started to account for his loot.
From the Flower Fox Ferret's many trips to and fro, and thanks to the distracted Red-eyed White Birds, Fang Yuan obtained a huge amount of 'spiritual fertilizer', enough for him to harvest and sow another batch of Vermillion Jade Rice, and pluck another batch of spiritual tea.
He also took the opportunity and captured a few lone Red-eyed White Birds and ate them for a few meals, as a form of revenge for previously making a fool out of them.
The truth was that Fang Yuan wanted to take advantage of the spiritual effect of the bird meat, and together with the Flower Fox Ferret, they hunted a few Red-eyed White Birds.
Slowly, the birds learnt their lesson and rarely loitered outside the cliff. If they did, they would do it in packs, and the king bird would patrol around the area, which forced Fang Yuan to stop hunting.
In fact, when Fang Yuan first saw the king bird, who was gigantic and had a wingspan over a few meters, he was shocked.
It was definitely a spiritual bird!
Even a few of the bird leaders had the spiritual level of the king bird!
After this observation, Fang Yuan gave up hope on trying to claim the Green Peak for his own.
”Keke!”
The Flower Fox Ferret rushed back with another cloth bag full of spiritual fertilizer, and their mission was a success.
This was normal, as the swarm of Red-eyed White Birds had the intellect of an average human and therefore would not pay too much attention to their own faeces.
”It's time to leave!”
Carrying a full basket of spiritual fertilizer, Fang Yuan walked out of the fog, looked back at it, and recalled a sentence from his dream world, ”I will be back!”
At this moment, Fang Yuan was not alone.
...
”Red-eyed White Birds, wait and see. One day, I will transform this whole spiritual land into my spiritual farm...”
To a person who loved farming, seeing such a good piece of land go to waste was an unforgivable mistake.
Even though he went back with their baskets full, his grudge against the birds remained.
Fang Yuan brought home a grudge and even more harvest.
The journey back was much smoother than the journey to the spiritual land. When he could finally see the secluded valley, Fang Yuan had already imagined how it would be like to have a bountiful harvest of spiritual rice and tea.
But as he approached the entrance of the valley, his expression changed, ”Someone's here!”
Around the valley was a mess, with blood stains everywhere. It was evident that someone came by.
”From the marks, the person did not stay for long!”
Fang Yuan felt the blood on the leaves, looked into the valley, placed his basket down and walked into the secluded valley.
”Come out!”