Chapter Fourteen
Part 1
As dawn broke, Ah Heng walked in to find Old Wen and Er Gouzi with bloodshot eyes. Old Wen was practically fuming. “Where the hell were you out all night? It’s raining out there!”
Ah Heng quickly handed the pheasant he was holding to Old Wen and the others. “A silly bird flew into a tree. I saw it and brought it back!”
He nervously wiped his brow. He dared not tell the truth. If he confessed to sneaking out at midnight to try recruiting a demon beast as a disciple, Old Wen and the others would probably give him an earful all day long.
“Wow, a real dumb chicken! Look how plump!” Er Gouzi weighed the bird excitedly. “We can sell this in town—at least twenty coins! Enough for a whole stack of steamed buns!”
Old Wen agreed: “Good idea, good idea. Let’s sell it. The kitchen at Apricot Blossom Pavilion buys these. We’ll take it over and see.”
The two beggars had been busy rebuilding their thatched hut these past days and hadn’t been to town, so they didn’t know Xinghua Tower had been destroyed. Hearing their conversation, Ah Heng merely smiled faintly. “We won’t sell this chicken. We’ll stew it for dinner.”
Old Wen groaned in dismay. “Ah Heng, you really are a beggar who can’t save food for tomorrow. Once we finish this chicken soup, it’ll be gone. If we traded it for ingredients, we might just make it through the winter! You really don’t know how to manage things.”
Ah Heng reached out and snapped the chicken’s neck. The poor bird fluttered its wings once before dying completely. “You and Gouzi were injured before; you need to nourish yourselves properly. This chicken isn’t for sale. You two cook it up. I’ll go search the woods again—maybe I’ll find other game.”
Old Wen’s face darkened further. Gouzi looked gaunt and emaciated. Now that Ah Heng had joined their little begging crew, he wanted to treat these two companions well.
Old Wen and Gouzi boiled water to remove the feathers, their expressions complex. The only broken pot at home had been smashed by Doggie, making chicken soup impossible. But could this stop Old Wen and his crew? They piled charcoal on the ground, roughly coated the chicken in wet mud, then buried the mud-covered bird beneath the embers.
Doggie exclaimed excitedly, “I’ll tell you, this is called Beggar’s Chicken. It’s incredibly fragrant. I last had it when I was a kid. My late grandpa used to make the best beggar’s chicken, but I haven’t had it since he passed.”
Old Wen carefully raked the coals over the buried chicken. “Yeah, Old Li’s beggar’s chicken… heh…” He gave a thumbs-up. “That was something else. Guaranteed you’d keep asking for more after just one bite. I’ll let you try a drumstick later.”
“Mortals of Xiaoyan Town, heed this command! Immediately exit your homes and kneel before your doorsteps!” A thunderous roar suddenly split the sky. The sheer force of the voice sent Er Gouzi and the others scrambling to the ground, clutching their heads. This was the spiritual pressure only a cultivator could wield—ordinary mortals stood no chance against such force.
Old Wen and Er Gouzi stumbled out of the dilapidated temple, clutching their heads. They crawled to their knees on the muddy path before the temple, their clothes and faces smeared with grime. Ah Heng narrowed his eyes and stepped outside too, though he didn’t kneel. The cultivator’s spiritual pressure had no effect on him.
Er Gouzi’s neck was flushed crimson, veins bulging on his forehead as he lay sprawled. “Ah Heng… I can’t control my body… Hurry and move the charcoal into place, or the chicken won’t taste good.”
Right. At this moment, Er Gouzi’s mind was consumed with thoughts of roast chicken. He couldn’t care less about his current appearance.
Ah Heng could only turn and arrange the charcoal as Doggie instructed. Old Wen, still standing nearby, offered guidance: “Throw some wood on top to stoke the flames. Ah, yes! That’s how you make the chicken taste good!”
So, can the two of you just kneel quietly already?
After preparing the chicken, Ah Heng sat at the temple’s entrance. He asked Old Wen and Doggie with concern, “You really can’t move?”
Doggie’s face was practically pressed into the mud. “Not even sleep paralysis is this bad!”
Old Wen added, “Ouch, my old back! What on earth is crushing me like this?”
A second thunderous shout echoed from the sky: “I am Tian Gui Zhenren, Patriarch of the Extreme Bliss Immortal Sect! My disciples Tian Huan and Tian Ji perished in Xiaoyan Town! Hand over the murderer who killed my disciples, and I’ll spare your lives!” The voice boomed like a great bell, shaking the surrounding mountains and rivers.
Ah Heng was utterly perplexed. “Weren’t Tianhuan and Tianji killed by a demon beast? What nonsense is the Patriarch of the Extreme Bliss Immortal Sect spouting? Didn’t he have two great-disciples who escaped back?” Such a massive demon beast—they’d have to be blind not to have seen it.
Ah Heng scanned the area for a long time but couldn’t spot the so-called Tian Gui Zhenren anywhere. Last time Tian Huan and the others appeared, at least they revealed their true forms above the Apricot Blossom Pavilion in Xiaoyan Town, right? This time, he could only hear the voice but not see the person.
![Flying Dust [Fei Chen]](https://www.freenovels.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/9k.png "Flying Dust [Fei Chen]")