After Zhi Meng and Chi Zhu transformed, they strongly demanded to move into the purple bamboo house. However, there were no spare rooms. So, Xiao Wang You and Xiao Bai were arranged to live together. The two little girls were inseparable and had a great time playing.
Ye Ju felt it was good, not waking up every day with fur all over her. Do divine beasts shed? It seemed that furry spirits had this disadvantage!
Once, Ye Ju complained about Xiao Bai shedding, and Xiao Bai felt extremely wronged: "Sister, I'm growing up. My fur will get better as I shed. I won't shed when I grow up."
But how long does it take for a nine-tailed fox to grow up?
Now it was good! Xiao Bai was willing to stay in her own room.
Ye Ju thought the water spider probably didn't need a room, just a corner. But Chi Zhu and Zhi Meng protested: "We have transformed into humans now, we don't want to become small again." But once, when A You mistakenly entered their room, no trace of them could be found in the entire room, only in the spiderwebs in a corner of the ceiling! After becoming small on the boat, Chi Zhu was happy to become small. Such Zhi Meng was the most adorable…
Occasionally, they couldn't be found because they would also go to the sea and stay there for a day or two. The habits of spirits were truly hard to change.
Ye Ju couldn't change her catchphrase. In Tian Chen Continent, were there differences between demon beasts and spirits?
Chao Yang Zi insisted on giving Ye Ju a lesson.
In Tian Chen Continent, most demon beasts were animals that cultivated after gaining sentience. For example, after eating rare treasures, spiritual fruits, and herbs, they gained spiritual power, then comprehended the creation of heaven and earth and embarked on the path of cultivation.
Spiritual beasts had legacies, and even clans. Their cubs were born inheriting part of their parents' cultivation and abilities. They had inherited memories or inherited cultivation techniques. Divine beasts were born from the essence of heaven and earth when chaos first began, possessing innate skills… They were mysterious and powerful. Their descendants' inherited memories could even inherit all their magic power. Their innate talent was extremely strong!
Spirits mostly referred to plants that became spirits. Once these spirits attained the Dao, their magic power would be boundless. Because cultivation sought a state of self-forgetfulness, the less one had distracting thoughts, the easier it was for their cultivation to advance. Plants had no heart to begin with, so how could there be disturbances? The aspiration for the Dao was as devout as a divine decree! And becoming a spirit was a matter of encountering special opportunities and favorable circumstances.
There were also some spirits formed by念力 (nian li - mental power), like the guardians of mountains in certain places, mountain gods. The clay bodhisattvas in a temple, formed from the念力 and wish power of ordinary people, became spirits by protecting a region and accumulating merit, thus becoming gods!
For example, the offspring of the water spider couple were born with a certain cultivation and inherited memories. This was called a spiritual beast. Of course, the cultivation environment for these demon beasts and spirits depended on the terrain. Places with spiritual energy could produce spirits and monsters.
Take Earth as an example. It was a place with depleted spiritual energy, making cultivation impossible. Even the demon beasts with legacies would gradually become indistinguishable in the world, and ordinary wild beasts wouldn't even have the chance to gain sentience…
Ye Ju thought of Xiao Bai. If Xiao Bai hadn't gained sentience, would she also have become indistinguishable in the world?
Ye Ju thought this and voiced it. Chao Yang Zi pondered for a moment and said:
"Divine beasts are born with auspiciousness and destined good fortune. The nine-tailed fox, as a divine beast, if it didn't have the opportunity to encounter you at that time, it would have encountered you at another time…"
People say that heaven and earth are indifferent, treating all things as straw dogs. But after Ye Ju heard Chao Yang Zi's explanation, she felt that the Heavenly Dao loved all beings. The path of human cultivation was the shortest. But it was also fair. There were no shortcuts in cultivation. Defying fate meant annihilation if you lost! You would not enter the cycle of reincarnation! Of course, if your soul was not destroyed, you would have the chance to possess and be reborn. At a more powerful level, one could even reshape their physical body…
In the end, Ye Ju still preferred to call them "spirits"…
What was it like to live with a den of spirits? Ye Ju really wanted to ask others for advice.
As Ye Ju's Huaxia cuisine became increasingly popular, the portions grew larger. The spirits were no longer satisfied with just a taste; they demanded to be fed. However, making larger portions was too tiring, even with A You and Xiao Wang You helping.
So, the portions were fixed, and there was no more once they were finished. Consequently, they became more excited about eating… because if they were slow, it would be gone. Therefore…
Unintentionally, while eating, they would get too excited and crush the bowls, breaking most of the porcelain bowls bought from Pearl City.
In the end, all the bowls were replaced with purple bamboo bowls. Ye Ju prepared extra-large bowls for them to choose from. Except for Huo Qilin and Chi Zhu, who chose large ones, the other "spirits" all called themselves cultured people and refused to take the large bowls, finding them vulgar! This was something that came from Chao Yang Zi's mouth.
So, Xiao Bai, Xiao Mo, and Zhi Meng all refused to take basins. Ye Ju and Chao Yang Zi naturally didn't take them either. The appetites of the two were normal.
The table had long been replaced with a large round table with a diameter of 1.5 meters, which was A You's craftsmanship. It couldn't be helped, as the portions of dishes were all served in basins. Seven or eight dishes could fill the table. And the bowls for spiritual rice were even larger, directly using vats. The speed at which those who refused to take large bowls refilled their dishes could be described as afterimages… Can you imagine your hairstyle changing while sitting next to someone during a meal?
Then came the time to collect spiritual fruits. The spirits helped to pick them. At first, Ye Ju didn't notice. By the end, every spirit was stuffed, and the bamboo baskets were empty…
Once, after Huo Qilin ate an entire tree of ice spiritual fruits, it was frozen into an ice ball by the ice spiritual energy in the fruits, and when it tried to breathe fire, not even smoke came out…
Chi Zhu, on the other hand, ate the flaming fruits with fire spiritual energy, which made him turn into his original form. The entire spider turned red, and even its legs were not spared!
Could this be called the stupidity of these two idiots? The reason was that these two idiots were fiercely competing in their eating. Unconvinced, they bet on who could eat their respective elemental spiritual fruits for longer, with no one allowed to snatch. So, the scene Ye Ju and Chao Yang Zi saw at the end was the two beasts still eating while on the verge of death… their eyes red from eating…
Ye Ju was angry and knocked them unconscious with a stick, then forced two jugs of spiritual spring water into them to help them detoxify. She also used her healing technique to treat their internal injuries.
Chao Yang Zi also took out a cultivation-enhancing pill and fed it to them. In the end, Zhi Meng also became worried. He woke up Chi Zhu to become small and threw him into the bathtub to soak in spiritual spring water. Huo Qilin, as the owner's master, was also made small by Chao Yang Zi and thrown into a stone vat to be boiled with fire…
Xiao Bai and Xiao Wang You flew back from outside. They had gone to catch fish. Seeing Huo Qilin and Chi Zhu being boiled separately in the courtyard, they were greatly surprised and looked a little uneasy. They ran to Ye Ju and said:
"Sister, are you going to cook them? Their meat is too tough. I caught a lot of fish, shrimp, and the octopus legs we ate last time…"
Ye Ju was exasperated and quickly explained. Xiao Bai was relieved and proudly showed Ye Ju her large bamboo bucket. Besides fish and shrimp, she indeed saw a bucket of still trembling octopus legs, each as thick as an arm.
Ye Ju…
"Xiao Bai, you only cut off the octopus tentacles. What about the head?"
"I let it go. After a while, when its legs grow back, I'll catch it again…" Xiao Bai said with a matter-of-fact expression!