Chapter 291

Chapter 292: Came Bearing Gifts

Yu Sheng also felt lucky. He figured he might avoid any bloodshed today, since the little doll’s divination was clearly off.

The eldest senior brother from Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain stood there with a friendly look. Maybe it was out of respect for Yu Sheng’s master, or maybe the shock of the Anka Aila incident still carried weight. Either way, he didn’t seem ready to settle the score about being hung from a beam and whipped with the Copper Headed Belt. That truly let Yu Sheng breathe easier.

[Best not to ask about the “misunderstanding” back then.]

After some polite small talk, Xuan Che finally got used to the slightly eerie vibe inside 66 Wutong Road. He patted around on himself from who knows where and took out an exquisite wooden box, then handed it to Yu Sheng: “This is a small gift from my master,” he said with good manners, “please don’t refuse. Just some ordinary local specialties from Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain.”

The moment Yu Sheng saw the box, his heart stirred and he got excited. [This is the kind of plot I only ever write in novels, and now it’s happening for real.] This was a real gift from a cultivation person. Even if the cultivation folks in this world were a little odd, the box looked so fine that what lay inside couldn’t be bad.

He thanked him and took the wooden box, opening it carefully while imagining all kinds of heavenly treasures. Inside lay a full box of beautiful pale purple pills.

Each pill had faint flowing light on its surface, with subtle patterns that brightened and dimmed.

Yu Sheng’s eyes lit up at once. Two hundred thousand words of worldbuilding flashed through his mind. He looked up at Xuan Che: “Are these ‘immortal pills’ made by your mountain?”

“My master made them by hand,” said Xuan Che with a smile. “Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain has three main peaks: Spirit Infusion, Divine Arms, and Beast Taming. Spirit Infusion is first, specializing in pill refining and talisman arts. My master is the grandmaster of that school, and the elixirs he crafts are famous across the stars.”

Yu Sheng was delighted halfway through the intro. Foxy’s stews often had strange “divine powers,” but they looked a bit too bizarre. These, at least, matched his picture of immortal pills. He didn’t know the effects yet, but they looked collectible even just as they were. As soon as Xuan Che finished, he couldn’t help asking: “So what do they do? Foundation Establishment? Body tempering? Boosting one’s cultivation?”

“Uh…” Xuan Che opened his mouth, then hesitated for a couple seconds before going on: “Mainly, they taste good. This box is grape flavored. It’s my master’s proud creation.”

Yu Sheng’s face froze: “…?”

After two more seconds, he heard Xuan Che add: “They’re the export model. Of course they also do a bit more, like balancing hormones, calming the mind, and aiding digestion. Works for most carbon-based species. Not recommended for Forest Folk though. They tend to get kidney stones.”

Yu Sheng’s face stayed stiff: “…”

[That sounds both reasonable and ridiculous. Better make sure.]

“I have a question,” Yu Sheng said at last. “I don’t travel much, so I don’t know the outside world well and I’ve never been to your Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain. But based on what I understand and what I looked up on Border communications, your side seeks the Dao through cultivation. The role of elixirs…”

He pointed at the box of grape flavored immortal pills, eyes full of doubt: “Shouldn’t they at least boost cultivation, focus the mind, and remake the bones?”

“The type you mean exists, but we can’t give those to outsiders. We can’t get the proper permits,” said Xuan Che, spreading his hands. “Mainly the ‘Foreign Food Safety Permit’ and the ‘General Biological Ingestion Circulation Permit.’ The second is the hardest. You have to submit a pile of cross species toxicology and hazard assessment reports. Our normal immortal pills can’t pass.”

He paused, took a moment to organize his words, then explained: “Put simply, if you aren’t one of the common native species on our side and you haven’t had special training, you’ll die if you eat them.”

“…” said Yu Sheng.

He suddenly remembered the alien canned food on the Stellar Express app’s home page.

[Right. That’s how this world works. Makes perfect sense.]

He let out a breath and nodded with a wry smile: “Okay, I get it. So you folks have an export line… no wonder you called it a local specialty.”

“It’s pretty famous. Featherwing-13b is a mystery to many outsiders, so people are very interested in our elixirs and talismanic runes,” said Xuan Che with pride. “My master is open minded. He’s been trying to take another step in outreach and has led a bunch of cultural projects.”

[So it’s a flagship cultural product from Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain, personally made and signed by the local leader.]

Yu Sheng kept a calm face now, heart as still as water.

But Irene suddenly got excited. The little doll scrambled onto the coffee table, pointed at Yu Sheng, and said to Xuan Che: “Hey, you can actually bring your real immortal pills next time. He can eat anything. If he dies, you won’t have to pay!”

Xuan Che blinked, and now his face froze.

Yu Sheng acted generous when he saw that. He leaned over and patted the handsome young man’s shoulder, speaking kindly: “First contact across worldviews goes like this. One sentence can stun both sides. Don’t mind her nonsense. I like the gift very much.” He picked up one “immortal pill” from the box and popped it into his mouth: “It really is grape flavor.”

Then he stuffed one into Foxy’s mouth too, who was staring at him with bright, hungry eyes, and put the rest away.

[Have to stash them. If I slip up, she’ll gobble the whole box.]

At last, the talk turned to business.

This was also the main reason his master, Wicked Disciple 4000, sent Xuan Che to “meet an online friend”: figure out the origin of the “foreign object” in the strange second-floor room of Yu Sheng’s home.

Xuan Che set another small wooden box on the coffee table: “This is the thing Elder Senior Uncle brought back while roaming. My master found it in Elder Senior Uncle’s Treasure Pavilion.”

Yu Sheng, Foxy, and Irene all crowded in. Inside lay a plain “scrap of cloth.”

“Right, the edge patterns match. The fabric’s material and color are a bit different, but they look like the same source,” said Yu Sheng after using his phone to compare every detail. “Also, the edge on this piece has a neat cut, like someone sliced it with a sharp tool. The one I found looks more like it was torn off.”

“May I look at the ‘room’ you mentioned?” asked Xuan Che. “I have some rough skills in mystical techniques and other realms. Maybe I can see something.”

“Of course,” Yu Sheng said at once as he stood up. “It’s upstairs. I’ll take you.”

He scooped up an Irene from the side and set her on his shoulder, then led Foxy and Xuan Che to the second floor.

They soon arrived at the eerie room at the end of the hallway.

“It’s this room,” said Yu Sheng, pointing at the door. “It’s always been odd. Sometimes you see scenes that don’t belong to this world. The door is weird too. The first time I opened it, it took a lot of effort.”

The corner of Xuan Che’s mouth twitched.

[This room is a bit odd? Most of this house is off.]

But since his master had sent him, he steadied himself, quietly layered a few charms on his body, then crushed an elixir in his palm and refined it. He followed Yu Sheng in, opening the door and stepping inside.

To the naked eye, the room looked normal, plain like the rest of 66 Wutong Road.

But as he crossed the threshold, he felt a very subtle wrongness.

Unlike other parts of the building, the wrongness wasn’t about distances or directions. The whole room was wrong.

The worst of it was the mirror on the opposite wall.

Yu Sheng noticed that his gaze went straight there and raised his brows slightly: “Looks like you sensed something?”

“This mirror is strange,” said Xuan Che, walking over to tap the glass with care, “but… I can’t say why.”

“It does have a problem, but right now it’s ‘closed,’” said Yu Sheng. “When it ‘opens,’ it reflects another place. Sometimes it’s ruins shrouded in black fog. Sometimes it’s a cave roaring with wind and snow. In the second case, wind and snow fill this whole room. Also, sometimes it feels like the room is torn into two halves. Not physically. More like…”

He paused, searching for words. After a while he found a way to say it: “It feels like the room is in two places at once, with an unseen other side stacked over the side you can see.”

Xuan Che thought for a moment: “Like it’s stuck between two worlds?”