Chapter 17 – Pig Tonic
A man holding a water bucket rushed past them, then stopped to shout at Wen Zhu, “Your old house is on fire! Hurry and put it out!” Without waiting for a response, he took off running again.
“Oh no, I have to go!” Wen Zhu said urgently to the stunned Xia Yi. He tucked his shirt into his belt, grabbed two buckets from the house, and ran toward the old house. “You stay home and don’t run around!”
“179, was it my heart-shaped candles that started the fire?” Xia Yi asked, panic-stricken.
“Host, it seems like that’s the case.”
By the time Xia Yi rushed to the old house with his own water bucket, the flames had been extinguished. Only the roof and windows were still emitting wisps of black smoke.
Once the smoke cleared, people entered the house to survey the damage.
The walls were blackened, and the floor was soaked. The crowd gathered inside, puzzled and murmuring among themselves.
“How did this old house catch fire? No one lives here, and there’s no furniture to burn,” Li Zhu fanned the smoke away from his face, looking confused.
“Yeah, it makes no sense. There wasn’t any lightning or anything, it just caught fire on its own.”
“Maybe some mountain spirit is living in the house?” someone shouted in alarm.
“Don’t talk nonsense! Mountain spirits, really? No one’s ever actually seen one. Those stories are all made up,” someone else quickly dismissed the idea. “Although I did hear about a fox spirit showing up in the next village…”
“I was heading out when I saw the house burning, the windows were glowing with flames, so I ran straight to Uncle Wang’s house, and he grabbed the gong right away…” Li Zhu proudly recounted to the others.
Wen Zhu, after setting down his buckets and wiping the sweat from his face with his sleeve, noticed Xia Yi standing there in a daze. He softly reassured him, “Don’t worry, it’s all fine now, the fire’s out.”
“Is there a lot of damage? What got burned?” Xia Yi asked, his voice trembling.
“There wasn’t much in the old house to begin with, just some broken furniture in the corner, nothing valuable. It’s not a big deal if it’s gone,” Wen Zhu quickly comforted him.
“Do you know how the fire started?” Xia Yi asked nervously, his heart racing.
“How else could it have started? You think you can fool everyone, but not me? You really think I can’t figure it out?” Uncle Wang said, his sharp eyes gleaming as he clutched a wooden basin in one hand and his copper pot in the other, looking formidable.
Xia Yi’s legs went weak, and his mouth opened, ready to spill everything like beans out of a bamboo tube. “Uncle Wang, I…”
Uncle Wang raised his hand to stop Xia Yi from speaking, his face dark and stern as he said harshly, “Those three rascals just won’t give up! After suffering a huge loss in your place, they’ve been holding a grudge, waiting for the right moment to get revenge. First, they tried to steal from your yard. When that failed, they ruined the new clothes drying in the yard. But that wasn’t enough. Now they’ve gone as far as sneaking into your old house and setting it on fire!”
“And they’ve targeted the whole village now. The day before yesterday, Eggy’s mother boiled him an egg, put it in a bowl, and then stepped into the house for just a moment. Guess what? In that short time, the egg was gone.” Uncle Wang let out a cold chuckle before gazing off into the distance with a sigh. “From now on, the village will know no peace—there’s a storm coming…”
“If I catch that arsonist, I’ll make him pay dearly!” Uncle Wang slammed his copper urinal onto the ground, gritting his teeth.
“179, I’m scared,” Xia Yi whispered to the system, trembling as he huddled closer to Gu Wenzhu.
“What’s wrong?” Gu Wenzhu noticed Xia Yi’s unease. Seeing no one was paying attention, he gently patted Xia Yi’s shoulder.
“Brother Zhu, it might be me who started the fire,” Xia Yi confessed, his voice low and filled with guilt. “I was just trying to—”
“Xia Yi, don’t cover for those scoundrels. They don’t deserve it,” Uncle Wang, with surprisingly sharp hearing, interrupted loudly. Seeing Xia Yi about to speak again, he made a silencing gesture. “You don’t need to say anything. Uncle Wang already knows what’s going on.”
Xia Yi and 179: …
Back home, Gu Wenzhu remembered Xia Yi had initially wanted to show him a surprise. Apologetically, he said, “You were going to show me something special before the fire. Can we go see that surprise now?”
Xia Yi opened and closed his mouth a few times before finally mumbling, “The surprise got burned up. I’ll show you something else next time.”
“Host, are you planning on starting another fire?” 179 exclaimed in disbelief.
“No, no! I don’t dare anymore,” Xia Yi quickly denied, adding, “I meant I’ll think of a different surprise.”
The next day, Xia Yi went to check on his row of radishes. The green leaves were lush and thriving, promising a bountiful harvest. He stood guard for half the day, daydreaming about the future, before heading home.
As he reached the east side of the village, he spotted a middle-aged man with long, disheveled hair standing leisurely next to Sister Li’s pigsty. Nearby, Uncle Wang was pretending to smoke under a willow tree, discreetly observing the man.
The man appeared to be in his fifties, with long hair draped over his shoulders, looking like a sage straight out of a period drama. He was wearing a loose, wide-sleeved, cyan robe made of fine material that fluttered slightly in the breeze. His belt was embroidered with subtle patterns, giving off an air of understated elegance. With one hand behind his back and the other stroking his long beard, he looked every bit like a mystical hermit.
Such a figure should have been playing the zither on a mountaintop or playing chess amidst the clouds, perhaps with two disciples serving tea. Yet, here he was, standing next to Sister Li’s pigsty, with two fat pigs snorting inside—a comically mismatched scene.
Seeing Xia Yi approach, Uncle Wang gestured for him to come over. Once Xia Yi was close, Uncle Wang covered his mouth with his hand and whispered mysteriously, “He’s been wandering around the village since early morning, selling some pig tonic. Look at him, dressed like that. He’s either a con artist or a pig breeder trying to sell boar semen.”
Pig tonic? Xia Yi stared at the man, repeating Uncle Wang’s words in his mind. Pig tonic… pig tonic… wait, ‘foundation-building elixir’?! Xia Yi’s heart skipped a beat.
Could this man be talking about ‘foundation-building elixir’?
Feeling conflicted, Xia Yi couldn’t resist and walked over to the man. The stranger, noticing his approach, thought Xia Yi was a potential customer. He gave a slight nod and asked before Xia Yi could get closer, “Young friend, are you here to buy some ‘foundation-building elixir’?”
Yes! Foundation-building elixir, not pig tonic!
Xia Yi reached his side, sizing him up, and in a low voice, as if using a secret code, he asked, “Are you a cultivator? Not from this world? System? Transmigration?”
The man was startled at first, but upon hearing this, his eyes widened in surprise, and he smiled. In a similarly low voice, he replied, “I don’t understand the last part, but I am indeed a cultivator.”
Seeing Xia Yi’s calm expression, the man continued, “Yesterday morning, after finishing a game of chess on the mountaintop, I was preparing to play the zither by the lake when, out of nowhere, the world spun, and the next thing I knew, I was here. I’ve been asking people all day, but no one’s ever heard of cultivation. Is this some sort of hidden paradise? But after wandering around, I couldn’t find any way out. When I asked how to leave, people just said to follow the road, and I’d reach the county town.”
This guy doesn’t seem like me. Either he’s a madman, or he really is a cultivator. But a madman wouldn’t know about foundation-building elixir, so maybe he really came from a cultivation world?
Seeing Xia Yi’s puzzled look, the man added, “It sounds unbelievable, but it’s the truth. I am Liu Siqian, the third elder of the Qishan Sect, and I have reached the Void Refining Stage. Anyone outside of this paradise would recognize my name.”
Holy cow!
Seeing Xia Yi still standing there in stunned silence, Liu Siqian assumed he still didn’t believe him. Sighing, he continued, “Normally, I would use a spell to prove my identity, but for some reason, none of my abilities are working here, and people are mistaking me for a swindler.”
Snapping out of his thoughts, Xia Yi waved a hand to cut him off. “No need to explain. I believe you.”
After all, the ‘Qishan Sect’ and ‘Foundation-Building Elixir’ were mentioned. How could this be a scam? He’s clearly from the cultivation world.
“System, your internal management is terrible! Not only are you messing up my situation, but now you’ve even let people from the cultivation world slip through!”
Xia Yi was genuinely worried for the entire system realm.
