Chapter 12 Xuanbao's First Mundane Skill
Majestic mountain ranges stretched on endlessly, the depths of the clouds unknown.
Ruo Shui walked steadily on the path into the mountains, holding Ruo Xuan securely in his arms.
The mountain near the village was vast, with rolling hills that villagers often visited to pick wild vegetables, mushrooms, chop wood, or hunt wild pheasants and rabbits.
Since there were frequent human activities, animals rarely ventured near, making it relatively safe with no large predators around.
Ruo Shui dared only to take his daughter around the outskirts, he thought that if they encountered any prey they would catch it, but if not, so be it.
As soon as Ruo Xuan entered the mountains, she sniffed the air and pointed in a certain direction, "Daddy, let's go that way, there's a Tuckahoe over there."
Ruo Shui knew of Tuckahoe and could recognize it, as Ruo Shan had taken him to dig for it in the mountains before, so he carried Xuanbao over there.
Tuckahoe, being a medicinal tuber, was known for its heat-clearing, detoxifying, and dampness-removing effects.
The villagers loved to make soup with Tuckahoe, hairy fig root, red beans, and coix seed.
"It's right there!" Ruo Xuan pointed to a place not far away after a while.
They were in a more secluded area now, but Ruo Shui was a man who had once killed a tiger with his bare fists, so he wasn't afraid.
The couple looked, and indeed, it was Tuckahoe!
Madam Liu asked in surprise, "Xuanbao, how did you know this was Tuckahoe?"
Even if the family had previously dug it up and brought it home, what they brought back were the tubers, without any leaves.
Ruo Xuan, with her big round eyes, recalled what Granny Lei said that morning, "Last night I had a dream where a white-bearded old grandpa taught me many herbs, and I just knew!"
Thus, the Little Fairy Grass came to the human world for an internship and learned her first skill—blatant lying!
Madam Liu: "..."
Granny had a dream and learned how to ripen fruit, causing the family's persimmons to ripen overnight, and now her daughter also dreamed, seeing someone teach her about herbs?
How could it all be so mystical?
Ruo Shui felt it wasn't that simple, but since she was his daughter, he believed whatever she said. He handed his daughter over to Madam Liu, "I'll do the digging, we need to hurry, or it'll be dark soon!"
Madam Liu quickly took over her daughter, deciding not to dwell on it.
Ruo Shui then picked up a hoe and started to dig.
Ruo Xuan sniffed the air again and pointed in another direction, "Mom, over there there's Morinda Officinalis, over there an Ingot Plant, and there a Night-scented Cow..."
Madam Liu: "..."
She had heard of Morinda Officinalis, but Night-scented Cow? What was that? The scent of a cow at night?
"Mom, let's go pull up the Ingot Plant and Night-scented Cow first, and leave the Morinda Officinalis for dad to dig, because its roots are used for medicine."
Ruo Shui glanced around, seeing no trace of large animals having been there, and the places his daughter pointed to were within his line of sight and range.
He nodded at Madam Liu, "Go ahead! But don't go too far."
Madam Liu then walked over there, holding Ruo Xuan.
The Ingot Plant and Night-scented Cow were both herbs that use the entire plant for medicine. After Madam Liu made sure of how to gather them from Ruo Xuan, she spread out a sack for Ruo Xuan to sit on while she pulled out the plants.
As to whether they were medicinal plants, just grass, or the scent of a cow at night, Madam Liu did not know.
What did it matter! First, pull them out—even if they were useless, they could always be dried and used as firewood.
Ruo Xuan didn't help; she was aiming to catch a wild rabbit.
As she sat there and watched her parents busy digging for herbs, she quietly released a bit of Spiritual Power.
All things have a spirit, and all things need spiritual energy.
The Spiritual Power she released, after her cultivation and purification, was very pure and could attract some small animals.
Because her Spiritual Power was of grass and trees, it particularly attracted herbivorous creatures, and since this place was quite far from the deep mountains, and she released only a small amount, she didn't have to worry about attracting tigers or the like.
Ruo Xuan sat there waiting, turning her little head this way and that, looking around, until finally, there was a sign of movement!
A wild pheasant flapped its wings, flying straight towards Ruo Xuan!
Ruo Shui heard the noise, startled, and grabbed a tuber of Tuckahoe, ready to throw it.
Madam Liu was so frightened that she quickly swooped in to protect the child, in case the pheasant pecked at Xuanbao's eyes!
Then, both her and her husband saw their daughter clap her small hand, instantly knocking the pheasant that was swooping toward her face to the ground unconscious, including that chunk of fuling.
Ruo Shui: "..."
Madam Liu: "..."
Ruo Xuan picked up the pheasant from the ground and said cheerfully, "Dad, Mom, pheasant! We'll have chicken stew with mushrooms tonight!"
This dish was mentioned by Madam Liu on the way up the mountain, saying if they caught a pheasant and found mushrooms, they would make chicken stew with mushrooms.
Madam Liu looked at her husband with sparkling eyes, "Husband, Xuanbao must be like you, so amazing!"
Her husband was incredibly strong!
Ruo Shui: "..."
When he was three years old, he didn't remember being that impressive!
Slap a pheasant with one palm?
Indeed, a tiger father does not have a dog daughter!
Just as he was about to run over and kiss his daughter, Ruo Shui heard the rustling of leaves and spotted a goat!
The goat was running quickly, but upon seeing someone, it turned and fled.
Ruo Shui immediately picked up his bow and arrow, drew the bow, and shot.
He hit it with a single arrow!
The goat fell to the ground.
The hares and pheasants that were hastily jumping out were so frightened they ran and flew in every direction.
In an instant, there was a flurry of chickens flying and hares hopping!
In their panic, a hare even ran straight into a tree trunk and knocked itself unconscious!
Ruo Shui shot several more arrows in quick succession.
Ruo Xuan also picked up some stones to throw and actually hit two?
Ruo Xuan ran over excitedly to pick them up: "Caught the hares!"
Madam Liu was dumbfounded for a moment but quickly came to her senses and hurried to pick up the game.
"One pheasant, two pheasants, three pheasants... one hare, two hares... one goat!" Ruo Xuan counted, this time they had caught a total of one goat, four pheasants, and three hares.
That was not bad at all!
Madam Liu: "The hares and pheasants in this forest must have gone mad!"
Ruo Shui was also astonished, this was too easy! His first hunting experience hadn't been this easy.
Usually, without going deeper into the woods, it was pretty hard to catch any game at all.
Ruo Shui looked at his little girl, Xuanbao was truly a treasure of fortune!
"Dad, start digging, let's go home and eat after we finish!"
The couple snapped back to reality and immediately continued digging for herbs.
Ruo Xuan sat there and continued to cultivate, she had only released a little bit of Spiritual Energy. With the sun out all day, she had accumulated a slightly greater amount of Spiritual Energy in her Dantian than last night, just enough to ripen a fruit tree.
Ruo Xuan sensed her surroundings and discovered a wild chestnut tree nearby, a patch of wild grapes, and a wild kiwi tree.
The chestnuts were almost ripe, requiring less Spiritual Energy to ripen, the patch of wild grapes was too big, and the fruit was too sour. To make it tasty, it would consume too much Spiritual Energy, so Ruo Xuan decisively gave up on the wild grapes and chose to ripen the chestnuts and the kiwi first.
So when Ruo Shui and Madam Liu had finished gathering all the herbs and were ready to descend the mountain, Ruo Xuan said, "Dad, let's go down this way, the chestnuts on that tree over there are ripe."
With that, Ruo Xuan ran ahead first.
Madam Liu quickly followed, "Xuanbao, don't run, wait for Mom! Running too fast might make you fall!"
Ruo Shui also quickly shouldered his load and followed.