Chapter Eleven: The Five Chivalrous Youths and the Robbers' Disciples Divide the Ginseng Fruits

  Zhou Cheng left the Zi Xuan Palace, originally planning to return to Qing Qiu Mountain, but suddenly remembered that he still needed to bring some delicious food and fun things for his two senior apprentices. This worried him to death - if the things were too good, it would be a waste to give them now; if they were too bad, it wouldn't live up to the eager expectations of his two apprentices when they parted ways.

  Zhou Cheng was lost in thought, feeling melancholy, when a voice suddenly came from behind him.

  "Where are you going, fellow Taoist?" It turned out to be Hongyun and Zhenyuanzi.

  "This isn't about considering where to go first, huh? Where are you guys going?" Zhou Chengying said.

  "If you're free, why not come with me to bother that old man Zhenyuanzi? He has a ginseng fruit tree, a truly precious treasure. This fruit tree blooms once every 3,000 years, bears fruit once every 3,000 years, and ripens once every 3,000 years, taking 9,000 years in total to mature. I haven't tasted it for 9,000 years either! Why not come with me this time? The ginseng fruit is just ripe now." Hongyun said with a wide smile.

  "Heh heh, nothing much to be surprised about. Those thirty fruits are indeed worthy of being served as a guest gift. Fellow Taoist, let's go together." Zhenyuanzi also sincerely invited Zhou Cheng to join him, after all, compared to others, they felt that the person in front of them, Zhou Cheng, was more to their taste among the people who came to listen to the Tao at Ziying Palace.

  "This isn't good, but since fellow daoist has sincerely invited me, if I say more, it would be dragging on. Let's go together, let's go together, this time I want to see your heavenly first spiritual root." Zhou Cheng's heart was delighted, really, whatever he worried about would appear, whatever he lacked would be delivered, what a good person!

  Three people set out on the road together, chatting enthusiastically with each other, either talking about the great Tao they heard at Zixu Palace or telling rare stories from the vast wilderness. At this moment, Zhou Cheng carefully observed Zhenyuanzi and saw that he had three beautiful whiskers, a youthful face, no weapons in his hand, but held an ancient book with two large seal characters: "Dishu". What a perfect Taoist immortal!

  Looking at the red cloud again, he saw that he was wearing a red robe, with his hair tied up high and two long strands of hair fluttering in the wind by his ears. His face was round and ruddy, with a hint of great kindness between his eyebrows. He wasn't holding any weapons, but instead was hugging a dry yellow gourd, which was the Nine-Nine Red Cloud Dispersing Gourd. Zhou Cheng saw that everyone else had something in their hands, while he himself didn't have anything convenient to use. He didn't want to show off, and it seemed that he wasn't willing to be like Hong Yun Zhen Yuan Zi, who carried all his treasures with him, making others jealous. He rummaged through his own treasure collection and finally pulled out a walking stick, which was actually a curved branch from the Chaotic Spirit Fruit Tree that he had casually broken off, using it as a handy object.

  The two men saw Zhou Cheng's crutch and couldn't help but burst out laughing, exclaiming: "This time, fellow Taoist, you're really interesting."

  Three people came to Wuzhuang Temple, only to see the mountains and green smoke swirling around, a Taoist temple suddenly appeared and disappeared. When they arrived at the door, they saw a majestic Taoist temple standing on the half mountain, with green pines lying in front of the mountain gate, spiritual things coming and going, a good day. On the top of the main gate of the Taoist temple, three gold-plated big characters "Wuzhuang Temple"

  Three people had just entered the hall when two young children quickly came forward, bowing to the ground and shouting: "Welcome back, Old Ancestor!" This scene was not grand, but it made Zhou Cheng feel awkward. Even someone like Zhenyuanzi was so particular about this sort of thing, it seemed that these people from the Primordial Chaos were quite concerned with appearances. No wonder that in the future, saints would make a big fuss over minor matters and engage in disputes over face.

  "Clear wind, bright moon, come and pay respects to the two grandfathers. I want to share those ginseng fruits with the two Taoist priests. You take that golden hammer and go to the backyard to pick twelve fruits, prepare them for the banquet." Zhenyuanzi said with a smile, immediately taking out twelve, also, he himself must have eaten his fill, not like later on, every time the ginseng fruit ripened, the heavenly gods and goddesses would swarm in like cats smelling fish, causing him such disturbance.

  Zhou Cheng and the three people entered, only to see that on each person's jade stone table in front of them was a small plate with some rare spiritual fruits and heavenly spiritual spring water. The small plate was covered with a brocade mountain and river handkerchief, inside which were exactly four ginseng fruits.

  Zhou Cheng and the two of them clinked cups and savored the flavor, feeling quite satisfied. He also ate two fruits, which were indeed delicious, worthy of being the first spiritual fruit since the creation of heaven and earth, estimated to be only inferior to his own Chaotic Spiritual Fruit. He didn't finish eating, after having two, he pretended to put the two fruits into his sleeve.

  Zhenyuanzi saw this and hastily said: "Fellow Daoist, don't be like that, enjoy the fruit properly, I'll pick some more for you to take away later."

  Zhou Cheng secretly smiled to himself, pretending to be embarrassed: "Ah, it's not like that. It's just that there are still two young disciples at home who have no one to take care of them. I was thinking about enjoying good food and drink here, but I completely forgot about them, so..."

  "Haha, Qinglian fellow is indeed a sentimental person, truly loving his disciples like sons. Later I'll give you some more." Zhou Cheng waited precisely for these words. Hearing such words, he half-heartedly agreed.

  Zhou Cheng came out of Wuzhuangguan, thinking about the 6 ginseng fruits in his pocket, and felt a great sense of relief. Seeing that Zhen Yuanzi was so understanding, it was worth getting along with him for a while.

  Now we have something delicious, but where can we find something fun?

  After thinking for half a day, Zhou Cheng remembered a famous allusion from later generations and immediately came up with a plan. He went straight to the East China Sea and then returned to Qingqiu Mountain.

  Back to Qingqiu Mountain, Zhou Cheng looked at the familiar scene in front of him and felt a sense of satisfaction. This Qingqiu Mountain was indeed his home. Zhou Cheng shook his body and instantly restored his usual appearance, then stepped up the stairs, enjoying the old scenery of Qingqiu Mountain that he had left for a thousand years. The ancient cypress trees on both sides of the stone steps were still simple and divine, and it seemed that if they continued like this, they would be able to attain enlightenment in tens of thousands of years. In the mountains and forests, there were many more living beings that had opened their spiritual awareness, and among them, the most numerous were foxes. All the living beings saw the Taoist priest in a white robe from afar, and Zhou Cheng felt like he was going to become a monkey being stared at by others. However, people on the mountain were indeed rare, and it was only himself and his two disciples that made humans seem like a rare commodity.

  Zhou Cheng walked to the top of the mountain, and suddenly felt a burst of noise coming from his two apprentices' house in front of the lake. The top of the mountain was very large, and the lake stretched for hundreds of miles.

  Zhou Cheng walked over and was suddenly stunned. He saw that the empty space in front of the door was surrounded by a circle of people, some of whom were not even human, but half-demons. Zhou Cheng quietly walked over to see what all the commotion was about.

  "Sister, you're too strong. Every time you can find such a powerful demon, it seems that my great ambition will lose again. It's still your rhinoceros head that is stronger." Zhou Chengyi heard and found out that it was Shi Zhong's voice.

  "Heh heh, sister has always been very formidable."

  Zhou Cheng took a closer look, feeling intrigued. It turned out that inside the circle surrounded by the crowd of demons, there was a large table with two demon kings sitting on either side, engaged in an arm-wrestling match. The rhinoceros demon was gradually gaining the upper hand, while the blue bull demon across from him looked like he was about to lose. It seemed that these two demons were indeed Niu Dazhi and Xi Datou.

  A burst of cheers erupted, and it turned out that Xi Dazhi had already defeated Niu Datou and was receiving praise from the crowd.

  "Watch closely, watch carefully, after this round is over, the next round will start betting, press down to leave." A white-bearded old man shouted while shaking a bell, who was actually a nine-tailed fox spirit that had attained enlightenment and transformed into human form.

  It turns out they were gambling.

  Zhou Cheng saw that it was almost done and said: "Zhu Yu, Shi Zhong, what are you doing? Didn't you see that Master is back?"

  Bamboo and Stone suddenly stopped, looked at the crowd, found that despicable master who had been away from the mountain for a thousand years, and rushed up. The surrounding demons saw that the owner of the thatched cottage was back, also bid farewell and left in unison.

  "Wooo, Master is finally back, Zhuyu misses you." Zhou Cheng can be said to be the closest person to them, although they haven't spent a lot of time together. However, for cultivators, the concept of time isn't that clear-cut. For example, in this thousand years, Zhuyu and Shizhong have spent most of their time comprehending the Chaotic Chapter, so it doesn't feel like too much time has passed.

  "What about Shi Zhong? Did you think of me?" Zhou Cheng looked at his two disciples, who had grown up a bit more. Zhu Yu was around 13 years old, and Shi Zhong seemed to be around 12 years old. Their cultivation had also reached the Tian Xian realm, which should have given them some understanding of the Hun Dun chapter.

  "Master, Shi Zhong also misses you, he secretly told me and asked me not to tell you." Zhu Yu stuck out his tongue on the side, taking over from his junior brother.

  "Haha, you're all Master's good apprentices, your cultivation has improved, and you didn't overindulge in play. What just happened to you?"

  "Master, isn't it too boring? We've already understood the nameless Taoist rhyme that we can understand, and there's nothing left that we don't get. Usually, when we're bored, we gather a group of monsters to compete with us. My junior brother and I use those dan medicines you gave us as betting chips, and the winner will get some rewards, while the bettors will also make a profit." Zhu Yu leaned his head tightly against his sly master.

  "You guys, Master left you some things before he went ahead, it's also for emergency use. You're so reckless and wasteful, but it doesn't matter much anyway, once they're gone, they're gone." Those elixirs were just casually made by Zhou Cheng, but although his elixirs weren't extraordinary, compared to those mountainful of monsters who didn't even know how to refine elixirs, they were still worlds apart.

  "Master, did you bring us some good stuff? Hmph, a bad master must have forgotten." Bamboo began to ask for rare things.

  "Haha, take it and use it well, this ginseng fruit was obtained by Master after searching all over the place." Zhou Cheng took out two ginseng fruits and handed them to his two apprentices.

  Zhu Yu and Shi Zhong looked at the ginseng fruit, and their eyes widened instantly. The heavenly aura emanating from it was incredibly strong, and there was a kind of primordial aura inside, which was actually a thread of pre-heavenly spiritual energy from the time when the heavens were opened.

  The two of them snatched the fruit and didn't even wipe it clean. After a few bites, the two fruits disappeared in the blink of an eye, and then they looked at Zhou Cheng with eager eyes again.

  "Master, just now, I ate too fast and didn't even taste it... others, others..." Zhu Yu blinked his eyes and said, shaking Zhou Cheng's arm with increased force.

  "Master, master, this fruit is so delicious, I really want to eat another one." Look, Shi Zhong's child is so honest, whatever he wants, he says it directly.

  "Hmph, Xiao Yu, look at you, how can you be so useless? If you want something, just say it directly. How am I supposed to know what you want if you don't say it? You want something but don't say it, how am I supposed to know how much you want? You don't say it, how am I supposed to know what you want to do with the fruit? Just say it directly, Master will give it to you if he has some. If not, even if you don't say it, Master won't give it to you anyway." Zhou Cheng deliberately teased Xia Yu. Shi Zhong chimed in from the side, "Yeah, yeah, Master is right, I'll say it directly, hurry up and give it to me..." With a "peng" sound, a finger flick landed on Shi Zhong's head, and he quickly shut his mouth.

  "Waaah, Master, you and Shi Zhong are bullying me, I won't eat anymore." Dizzy, Zhou Cheng saw Zhu Yu almost crying, immediately took out four fruits and said: "Go go go, don't come to bother me again, all given to you, just don't waste them, after eating find a place to cultivate and absorb the spiritual energy of the fruit." No choice, who made himself their precious one.

  "Oh, right, this is something fun for you guys." Zhou Cheng casually threw out dozens of goldfish, their golden scales shimmering.

  With a splash, it fell into the lake. The carp had already become spiritual and turned their heads in unison to look at Zhou Cheng in the water.

  "These East Sea brocade carps have the blood of dragons, but due to the limitations of their innate bodies, they cannot transform into dragons at will. As their master, I am now releasing them into this Clear Peace Lake and setting up a Dragon Gate in mid-air. From now on, you two will perform the Fish Leaping Over the Dragon Gate for them to see. Of course, whoever leaps over it successfully will be able to transform into a dragon and also obtain a precious elixir." Zhou Cheng waved his hand, and a circular-shaped magical artifact appeared in mid-air above Clear Peace Lake. He had obtained it knowing that one of its main functions was to transcend the mundane, but now he took it out for the sake of delighting his two disciples, treating those brocade carps to a bargain. The school of fish nodded in unison, slowly swimming around the Dragon Gate in mid-air, seemingly anticipating."

  "Wah wah, Master you're so awesome! We'll definitely train them well. Ah, Master I love you to death!" The two apprentices were extremely delighted.