Chapter Thirty-Three: Roasted Fish on Mountain Waist

  The top of the mountain is shrouded in mist, and occasionally a mountain breeze blows by, revealing one corner of the grand hall at the summit. It requires extremely good eyesight and a bit of luck to see it clearly.

  Shen Hao let out a sigh and used his last bit of strength to throw himself onto the stone steps, wiping away the sweat on his face. "How many more levels did we climb today?"

  "51st level." Xia Qiu was also drenched in sweat, with one foot on the step above and one foot on the step below, her hands pressing against the ground, using all her strength to finally climb up another stone step. After that, she sat down, panting heavily, "It's too hard, the resistance gets greater as we go higher."

  It's almost a month now, and there are fewer and fewer kids who want to climb mountains. It's also getting harder and harder to make progress.

  "Is Mengdu Jiao kidding us? I heard that a Taoist without an internal elixir will never be able to climb Laozu Peak."

  "I think Mengdu won't joke around." Xia Qiu gazed at the peak in the distance, recalling what she had seen and heard up there.

  Shen Hao stood up and made one last attempt, but he couldn't take another step. "Little Autumn, let's head down the mountain. If we don't hurry, we won't even make it in time for dinner."

  Below the thirty-odd stone steps, they met Fangfang and Meng Zimuofei Huang. The latter was exhausted and collapsed on the ground. Fangfang leaned against the mountain cliff, panting heavily, her cheeks flushed red, and smiled when she saw Xia Qiu coming down.

  "What about Erlang?" Xia Qiu still privately called Shen Xiuyi by his nickname, usually Erlang would be with Fangfang and Mufei Huang together, and would always insist on climbing one step higher than Fangfang, but today he was nowhere to be seen.

  Fang Fang was speechless for a moment, and Mu Fei Huang replied: "He was called away by his brother halfway, don't know what's going on."

  The four of them went down the mountain, their waists aching and legs sore, not one bit easier than going up. As a result, hardly anyone spoke again. Along the way, they ran into other young people from Yelin Town, but as soon as they saw Xia Qiu and Shen Huan, they immediately stopped climbing and turned around to go down the mountain together.

  After hundreds of stone steps, the young men returned to a mountain platform where they usually rested, and unexpectedly heard the cheers of Erliang Shen Youwei.

  The platform is seven or eight steps wide and over twenty steps long, recessed several feet into the mountain cliff, barely enough to shelter from wind and rain. Several young men are gathered around a bonfire, laughing and shouting happily.

  "Roasted fish!" Xia Qiu suddenly smelled it, which was the familiar scent of cooking food with his companions when they were herding in the wild forest town before.

  As expected, Er Lang Shen Hui turned his head and beckoned, "Come quickly, today there's a big meal. Eating vegetarian food every day is starving me to death."

  "Isn't there meat in the dish?" Da Liang Shen Xiu Ming corrected his brother's words, but the expression on his face was also drooling. The flavor of the dishes in Jinghu Village is light, and a big bowl of vegetables only has three or four pieces of meat. Although the two brothers are children from a poor family, Yelin Town is by the river, and they have eaten a lot of fish and clams. They are not used to the rare greasy food here.

  The fish had been roasted for over a dozen, Erliang Shen Youwei was already impatient from waiting, immediately grabbed one and tore off a big piece with his mouth, chewing while saying: "Everyone is here, can I eat now? Luckily, I didn't lose the salt bag or anything."

  The boys rushed up, and those who were quick grabbed one, while those who were slow could only wait anxiously for the next batch.

  It wasn't until Xia Qiu had eaten half of the roasted fish that she noticed three young men sitting across from her, whose faces were familiar but whose names she didn't know, and who seemed to have just arrived at the lodge.

  "How did you catch so many fish?" Shen Hao asked while eating.

  Er Liang Shenxiu was only concerned with eating fish, holding the second one in his hand and staring at the third one being roasted on the fire. Da Liang Shenxiu said, "At the foot of the mountain, there is a pond with many fish inside. It was they who told me, I asked Er Liang to go catch some together, it's very easy."

  The young men of Yelan Town nodded in gratitude to the three newcomers and continued their big feast, now their demand for meat far exceeded friendship.

  Fang Fang held in her hand a roasted fish that Erxiao Shen Huiwei had given her, and after eating half of it, said: "You guys arrived at the lodge five days ago, right? It seems like you came together."

  Three children looked quite young, one girl and two boys, all with round faces, big round eyes shining with cleverness and cunning, but their posture was extremely proper, as if they were sitting in front of their elders.

  "I've heard of you." Xia Qiu looked at a boy in his early teens opposite her, "Your staff skills are great, Meng Du praised you yesterday morning and said you have good style."

  The boy's eyes immediately curved into two crescent moons as he smiled, "I'm no match for you and Shen Hua, everyone says that the two of you are the strongest."

  It's always a pleasant thing to be praised by others. Xia Qiu smiled and Shen Hao accepted it calmly, asking "What's your name?"

  "My name is Pei Zihan, this is my younger brother Pei Ziqi, and this is my older sister Pei Shurong. We all come from the country of Xijigu, Mount Furong. Oh, you can call my older sister Xiao Qingtao, that's her nickname."

  The girl called Little Green Peach looked younger than the two boys, but she was the older sister, smiling and nodding with her two cousins.

  The three young men were so gentle and lovely, and they were willing to share the delicious fresh fish. The young men of Yelin Town immediately had a great impression of them, and they also reported their own names respectively.

  Xiao Qingtao Pei Shuyong finished eating her own small fish, clapped her hands and opened her mouth to speak, startling the new companions.

  "Little Autumn Brother, everyone calls you this, right?"

  An extremely ordinary question, when spoken by this little girl, seemed to contain a large piece of sugar, sweet to the point of being cloying. After she finished speaking, she didn't immediately rush into Xia Qiu's arms to act coquettishly, but instead left the young men feeling surprised.

  Xiao Qiu's hair stood on end, a mouthful of fish meat stuck in his throat, and he coughed several times before swallowing it down. He had grown up so big, but had never heard such a soft and gentle voice. The mother in his memory did not have such a voice, Fang Fang didn't, and the entire Wild Forest Town didn't either.

  "It's only... they who call it that way." Xia Qiu pointed at the surrounding Wild Woods Town youths.

  Xiao Qingtao dragged out her voice, as if reciting a poem with ups and downs, "Little... Autumn... Brother." When she said the last word, she suddenly stopped, "From now on, I'll call you that too."

  Xiao Qiu felt a chill run down his spine as he heard Xiao Qing Tuo call out to him in that voice, "Uh..." He really wished she wouldn't call him "Brother Xiao Qiu", at least not in that tone.

  He was about to refuse on some pretext when Xiaocui asked curiously: "Xiao Qiuge, have you really been to Laozufengtaiyuan twice?"

  "It was me who got into trouble and was taken away by others."

  In the following time, Xia Qingtao kept asking Xiao Qiu in detail about every detail of Laozu Peak, and other young people ate and laughed. Xiao Qiu had to perfunctorily answer one sentence at a time, and his mood for eating roasted fish was all gone. When Shen Hao suggested going down the mountain to return to the lodge, he really let out a sigh of relief.

  Xiao Qingtong was still not satisfied, and followed Xiao Qiu to ask tirelessly. Xiao Qiu had no choice but to make eye contact with his companions for help, but no one was willing to assist. They all thought the little girl's voice was laughable, and Xiao Qiu's embarrassment was also quite amusing.

  Xiao Qiu had no other choice, so she cast a pleading glance at Fang Fang. Fang Fang covered her mouth and chuckled before approaching Xiao Qing Tao, asking about the situation on Furong Mountain, successfully drawing her attention away.

  When they returned to the dormitory, it was already dark. Everyone missed dinner time. After eating their fill of roasted fish, no one would envy the plain food in Jinghu Village anymore. Only Erlang Shen Hui ran into the dining hall and confirmed that there was no food left before he disappointedly returned to his room.

  It was a very pleasant day, although the fatigue of climbing mountains had not been completely eliminated, Xiao Qiu still insisted on practicing iron bone fist in the courtyard for a while. Er Liang Shen Xiuyi had already quit for several days, and Shen Hao was no longer as enthusiastic as before, so only Xiao Qiu was left to practice boxing diligently.

  He returned home in exhaustion and was surprised to find that the other three had not slept either.

  Shen Hao and Da Liang Shen Xiuming moved back again. At this time, Er Liang Shen Xiuyi was sitting on the kang with him, silent.

  Xiao Qiu was taken aback, thinking they were quarreling again, "Haven't slept yet?"

  Shen Hao said with an overly serious tone: "Little Autumn, there's something you need to know."

  "Uh-huh."

  "The siblings from Mount Furu are no ordinary people, we shouldn't be friends with them."

  Shen Hao paused for a moment, wanting to emphasize his tone, but was interrupted by Er Liang Shen Xiuyi, "The Pei siblings are not demons."

  "Fly Fiend? A flying monster?"

  "It's not that it's not." Shen Hao took back the right to speak, "It is said that the demons in the world are divided into three kinds: The first kind is beast demon, just like the snake demon we saw before, only a little bigger and more unique than ordinary wild beasts; The second kind is half-demon, which is half-human and half-beast, only found in the northernmost land of demons; And the third kind is non-demon, not demonic demons, they have demonic bloodlines, but are born human-shaped from birth, almost indistinguishable from us. The Pei family of Furong Mountain is a very famous non-demonic family, so everyone keeps their distance from them. I also heard it from Xin Youtao when I passed by the study earlier, this kid may be timid, but he knows a lot."

  "Does anyone still remember what Meng said? 'There are some demons hiding extremely deep, no different from you and me.' Isn't he talking about non-demons?"

  Ye Lin Town was a quiet border town, Xiao Qiu had heard rumors of demons and monsters, but knew nothing about classification, the books in the pavilion also rarely mentioned these things. "Not a demon's demon." He repeated, "What kind of words are these? Is or isn't, it is or it isn't."

  "It can't be." Da Liang Shen Xiu Ming said indignantly, "No matter what kind of demon it is, no matter how human-like it looks, Pang Shan shouldn't have taken it in."

  "But they look......" Xia Qiu still found it hard to believe that the Pei siblings had a demonic bloodline. They looked timid and enthusiastic, like three rich kids who were spoiled since childhood, where was even half of their demonic aura?

  "Xiao Qiuge, don't be foolish just because someone calls you sweetly. Her voice makes my skin crawl, it's clearly a sign of evil." Er Liang Shen Youwei advised.

  "I'm not stupid." Ye Lin Town disappeared due to the demon seed, Tu Zi died in the mouth of the snake demon, Xiao Qiu had no good feelings towards demons and monsters, "Let's have less contact from now on."

  Just thinking about Xiao Qingtong's drawling "Little Autumn Brother", Xiao Qiu felt even more fortunate that he didn't have to interact with the Pei siblings.

  Dah Ryong Shen Xiū Míng was already regretting following the three non-you with a pale face, and Xiao Qiú comforted him: "There's no need to be afraid, since Pang Shan has taken them as apprentices, there's no danger."

  "Don't forget to tell Fangfang," Shen Hao reminded, "she's having a great time chatting with the little demon girl, don't get cheated."

  But Fangfang had other ideas.

  When Xia Qiu found the opportunity to tell Fang Fang about the non-supernatural things the next day, Fang Fang was not surprised at all. "I already knew that they are good people. Xiao Qingtao moved into my room last night and we became friends."

  (Collection needed, recommendation needed)