Chapter 116: Fried Bugs

Shortly after Li Yinsheng’s departure from the meeting hall on Bamboo Forest Peak.

“The younger generation is truly formidable,” Daoist Lang Gan sighed, holding a cup of bamboo-green clear wine. “How is it that our Huang Bamboo Temple never encounters such a peerless genius?”

“Patriarch,” Liang Qiwu said, standing respectfully to the side, though his expression couldn’t hide his confusion. “Why did you give the Celestial Cyan Bamboo to… Elder Li?”

“What? Do I need you to teach me how to do things?” Daoist Lang Gan shot Liang Qiwu a glance.

“This disciple wouldn’t dare!” Liang Qiwu hurriedly bowed.

“Enough, stand up,” Daoist Lang Gan said, shaking his head. “Do you think the gift of gratitude I gave was too heavy?”

“Elder Li has indeed shown great kindness to the Huang Bamboo Temple, but… that’s the Celestial Cyan Bamboo.” Liang Qiwu’s eyes were full of heartache. “The preciousness of that item is no less than the eight-hundred-year-old ancestral bamboo in our temple.

“Years ago, when a Grand Daoist of the Wood Element Dao Lineage within our Dharma Vein came to exchange for it, you withstood the pressure and politely declined.

“Even if we want to befriend Elder Li, we could have asked the Zulu Temple to forge a Magical Treasure using other treasures from our collection to give him. Why did we have to use the Celestial Cyan Bamboo?”

“Ah, Little Liang, your Cultivation is lacking, so I don’t blame you.” Daoist Lang Gan shook his head. “Do you think I’m relying on a Magical Treasure to befriend Li?”

“Not relying on a Magical Treasure? But you didn’t give him anything else,” Liang Qiwu said, his face full of doubt.

“The Celestial Cyan Bamboo is merely bait,” Daoist Lang Gan chuckled.

Liang Qiwu’s eyes widened.

The Celestial Cyan Bamboo was bait? Did the temple have anything more precious than that? There were barely any items of equal value!

“Befriending someone with wealth and investing in them early is certainly one method, but without true sentiment, it won’t last long,” Daoist Lang Gan said, shaking his head. “If we want Li to truly form a deep bond with the Huang Bamboo Temple, just giving gifts isn’t enough. There must be interaction, mutual favors, and ongoing exchanges.”

Liang Qiwu grew more bewildered the more he listened.

“The Celestial Cyan Bamboo is excellent, but generating wind from wood and thunder from wood isn’t something one can easily grasp. If it were that simple, there would be no Wood Element Cultivators in the world—they would all be Wind Cultivators and Thunder Cultivators!”

Daoist Lang Gan explained, “No matter how overflowing with talent Li is, when he attempts to generate wind from wood, he will inevitably encounter bottlenecks.

“When that time comes, do you think he will just sit and ponder in isolation, or will he seek out a Fellow Daoist who is proficient in this path to discuss the Dao and clear his doubts?”

Liang Qiwu suddenly understood. “So he will want to seek your guidance, Patriarch.”

“Exactly. To seek guidance, he will naturally have to come to our Huang Bamboo Temple. How could such a difficult Magic Technique be explained clearly in just two or three days?” Daoist Lang Gan smiled. “Won’t he have to stay for a while?

“Since he’ll be staying for a while, he can’t just stay locked indoors, right? He’ll inevitably meet some of our Huang Bamboo Temple disciples.

“Having received my guidance, if any of our disciples go to ask him for advice, how could he refuse to offer a pointer or two?

“Back and forth like this, won’t a bond of mutual affection be formed?”

“That makes sense, absolute sense!” Liang Qiwu nodded repeatedly.

“Moreover, he won’t encounter such a bottleneck just once. Every time he comes, he’ll stay for a while, providing opportunities to interact with our disciples.”

Daoist Lang Gan took out a folded fan and snapped it open, smiling smugly. “Even if he transitions from wind to thunder in the future, he will still have to come to our Huang Bamboo Temple.

“After all, in this entire Dharma Vein, which Daoist Temple is more adept in the Path of Wood than the Huang Bamboo Temple? Although I do not practice Wood Thunder, there are many manuscripts and ancient texts left in the Scripture Pavilion by seniors who did.

“If he borrows the texts of our Huang Bamboo Temple’s predecessors, it can be considered a bond of half-master and half-disciple with them.

“I can tell that Li is a principled person in both speech and action. With all these factors combined, let alone befriending him, it’s not impossible for him to view himself deep down as half a member of the Huang Bamboo Temple.

“After all, at the end of the day, Li is only in his twenties.

“Over the next seventy or eighty years, if he comes to stay at the Huang Bamboo Temple for a few months every two or three years, over a long period of time… heh heh…”

“You are wise, Patriarch!” Liang Qiwu thoroughly understood.

Daoist Lang Gan waved his hand, signaling that no more words were needed.

In truth, he had another layer to his plan. With Li Yinsheng’s talent, it was only a matter of time before he surpassed him. Regardless of what path of Major Cultivation Li Yinsheng practiced before, once he chose his Lifebound Treasure, he would inevitably have to invest a significant portion of his energy into it.

By using a stalk of Celestial Cyan Bamboo to guide Li Yinsheng into focusing his energy on the Path of Wood, once Li Yinsheng’s Cultivation and mastery of the Path of Wood surpassed his own in the future, he could, in turn, seek guidance from Li Yinsheng.

Of course, there was no need for him to mention this part of the plan to his junior. It wasn’t exactly a glorious thing to admit.

Li Yinsheng naturally had no idea how many calculations were behind the Celestial Cyan Bamboo that Daoist Lang Gan had given him. After returning to his room, he began to nurture the Celestial Cyan Bamboo using his Divine Sense and Magical Power.

Although what he practiced wasn’t a Wood Element Technique, the Qingxuan Scripture was upright and peaceful, meaning there were no obstacles to nurturing the Celestial Cyan Bamboo.

The nurturing process didn’t need to last very long. It was primarily to elevate the Spirituality within the Spiritual Object to its peak before refinement began, ensuring it would transform into a Magical Treasure in its optimal state.

After nurturing it for nearly half a day, he calculated his progress and decided that two or three days of nurturing would be sufficient. Anyway, he just needed to refine the Celestial Cyan Bamboo into a Magical Treasure before claiming his ninety years of Magic practice time.

When the time came, he could take the Celestial Cyan Bamboo Magical Treasure into the Grotto Heaven and nurture it for ninety years in one go!

Speaking of those ninety years…

Li Yinsheng looked toward a large black ball in the corner of his supplies.

The surface of this large black ball was tightly bound with countless white silk threads, and inside it were numerous immobilized Exotic Insects. He had extracted all the Exotic Insects from beneath the Cloud Bamboo. Even though their cocoons were broken, bound by the net, not a single one could escape.

“Senior Brother, were you looking for me?” Mu Xiaoyu skipped into the room.

Not long after the massive, grotesque face in the sky had vanished, they received new orders to resume their normal patrols. However, before she had walked far, a female disciple of the Huang Bamboo Temple sought her out, respectfully stating that an Elder Li had requested her presence at the Bamboo Forest Peak.

Then she followed that older sister from the Huang Bamboo Temple up to the peak. That older sister was truly a kind person, directly using a leaf-like Flying Magical Artifact to fly her up.

“Yes.” Li Yinsheng put the Celestial Cyan Bamboo back into his Qiankun Bag and pointed at the black ball in the corner. “Junior Sister, what do you think that is?”

Mu Xiaoyu looked curious. “What is it? My Divine Sense actually can’t probe it clearly.”

“You’ll see clearly if you step closer.” Li Yinsheng handed a Thunder Talisman to Mu Xiaoyu. “Go on.”

“Why are you giving me this, Senior Brother?” Mu Xiaoyu asked in confusion.

“You’ll know when you go over.” Li Yinsheng suppressed the corner of his mouth that threatened to curve up.

“Oh.” Holding the Thunder Talisman, Mu Xiaoyu walked toward the shiny black ball in complete bewilderment.

This black ball was so strange. When she probed it with her Divine Sense, it was blurry, and she couldn’t sense a thing. It looked very smooth. Were those silk threads on its surface? Huh? It seemed like this black ball was made of many things tied together.

What were they? They were all tightly wrapped together, completely impossible to make out.

Mu Xiaoyu took a few more steps closer, stopping within three feet of it, only to realize that the things tied together seemed… to have legs?

Her entire body stiffened. She trembled as she turned her head to look at Li Yinsheng. “Senior Brother? These couldn’t be…”

“Mhm, they’re all bugs,” Li Yinsheng nodded.

“WAAAH—”

Mu Xiaoyu threw the Thunder Talisman, turned her head, and bolted.

After a dazzling flash of lightning, Li Yinsheng looked at the pale Golden Characters floating in front of him.

[Current Magic practice time: Eighty-three years, nine months, and twenty-one days.]

He nodded in satisfaction. The small bugs were all dealt with. Now, it was time to deal with the big bug.

Still somewhat traumatized after sprinting away, Mu Xiaoyu puffed out her cheeks and glared at Li Yinsheng. “Senior Brother, you did it again…”

Then she saw Li Yinsheng take out a massive, palm-sized, fleshy white grub from his Qiankun Bag and start walking toward her.

Mu Xiaoyu turned her head, ready to flee again.

Li Yinsheng’s voice drifted from behind her. “Junior Sister? What are you running for? Aren’t you going to eat some fried bug?”

Mu Xiaoyu was already sprinting out the door. “I’m not eating it! Fried bugs are terrifying!”

“It smells really good,” Li Yinsheng said.

“I won’t eat it even if it smells good!” Mu Xiaoyu stated resolutely.

But her fleeing legs noticeably slowed down a bit.

“You won’t eat it even if it smells better than the Crane Egg from before?” Li Yinsheng said leisurely.

Mu Xiaoyu’s legs came to an abrupt halt.

A few breaths later, she turned around, her face bearing an expression of looking death straight in the eye, and she walked back toward the Bamboo House step by step.

At the end of her line of sight, Li Yinsheng had already set up a wok of oil in the center of the Bamboo House, a flame kindling beneath it.