Chapter 735: Go back 735 times
Zhan Yunzhao handed the mountain ginseng they had picked to Zeng Yixin.
"Take it back with you, when people get older, it’s best to keep good things for yourself."
The Zeng siblings didn’t hold back either. This thing cost a thousand, so Zeng Yixin handed a thousand to Su Yuanyuan.
"Hold onto this for now. These ginseng are partly yours too, we’ll settle it later."
"Yeah, let’s talk about it later. Also, bring these health preservation pills, and when you go to the Daoist temple, give some to my junior brother."
Zhan Yunzhao chatted a lot with Zeng Yixin. In truth, he wanted to go back, but he stayed to earn money.
Su Yuanyuan thought Zhan Yunzhao could really make a living by fortune-telling. Some masters are just doing feng shui for the wealthy, looking at fortune. Helping them solve issues, it’s really profitable.
After organizing their three pieces of luggage, the two girls lay directly on top to rest.
The Zeng siblings actually trusted Zhan Yunzhao. However, they also probably wanted to go back to take a look.
Upon hearing the announcement, Zeng Yixin sent Wei Guangxiang and the other on board. It was a direct route to the Capital, and with Wei Guangxiang there, there was nothing much to worry about.
They still had nearly five hours, so the two girls just lay directly on the luggage to sleep.
Zeng Yixin was very tired too, but being a man, he just endured it.
After the siblings fell asleep, Su Yuanyuan began to be alert to the surroundings.
The waiting hall in the second half of the night was quite quiet, and it wasn’t until close to boarding time that Su Yuanyuan woke them up.
"Yuanyuan, sorry for falling asleep." Zeng Hongling murmured.
Zeng Yixin also felt very embarrassed. What was he doing? He thought he’d be on duty and let two pretty women sleep, and now? He fell asleep.
The three of them took turns to wash, and it was still pitch black outside at that time.
Once they all finished washing, Zeng Yixin thought about buying food but was refused.
"Let’s wait. This is the first station; it shouldn’t be late. We’ll eat on the train."
Zeng Hongling’s mood wasn’t high. Although knowing grandpa was not in danger, she couldn’t lift her spirits.
Indeed, there was no delay. After the three of them boarded, they felt more at ease, though they hadn’t prepared sweet potato noodles or much else, just carrying the pine mushrooms given by Lin Gensheng’s family.
The two girls took advantage of the few people to start washing, and since there were few people in the sleeping car, Su Yuanyuan opened a compartment door and went inside to wash in the space.
It felt much more comfortable this way. Zeng Hongling, on the other hand, was responsible for fetching some water to wash briefly. Luckily, it was this weather, or they would really have smelled.
No matter how anxious they were, the train was still at its speed. They could only wait patiently.
Tan Shaoting and the three children, seeing no trace of their wife and mom in the mirror, were enveloped in sadness.
"Alright, three years more, no matter what, we will go back."
Though he himself wasn’t sure, he still gave the children hope.
"Dad, we will definitely behave."
"Good, you behave yourselves."
Tan Shaoting cuddled the three children to lay down, firm in the idea of returning in his heart.
The next morning he dismantled the array, and the four of them wandered around nearby.
They collected quite a bit of spirit plants, "Let’s leave this place. You’ve already seen it. There’s nothing special here. However, it’s certainly dangerous. I’ll take you to the outer area for some training. The demon beasts’ level here is very high."
The ones trailing them watched as the family just strolled around before leaving, feeling very puzzled.
"Senior brother, what’s going on?"
"Maybe the kids heard about the uniqueness here. Brought them for a look. The kids may not understand the danger, but Tan Shaoting does, which is why he took them away, right?"
That’s the only plausible explanation, otherwise it doesn’t make sense.
They continued following the family. Watching them indeed bring the kids to broaden their horizons.
"Senior brother, there’s nothing unusual happening."
The other three were helpless as well; following was too boring, and after leaving the depths, they never saw high-level demon beasts. Did the beasts here go vegetarian or were all absent? Or maybe they were all cultivating?
This was arguably the most abnormal thing they had encountered.
All the way to the outer area, Tan Shaoting was guiding the three kids in battling first and second-rank demon beasts.
They were five years old now, and all had reached the Qi Refining Second Level. It was normal for their father to bring them out for trials at this time.
"Senior brother, no wonder the Peak Master of Sword One Peak wants to accept disciples. I used to envy it. Now I really believe using swords requires talent."
The three kids finally got to use their swords in front of others, so they were a little excited, though not fully satisfied.
In the outer area, they stayed a full ten days. The few people following watched the kids make progress little by little, feeling envious.
"Honestly, Tan Shaoting does have some skill."
"Yes, quite impressive. None of us sect disciples can compare."
"Senior brother, should we keep following?"
"Yeah, let’s go back. This way, we can report back."
That night, the father and sons rested within an array, "Dad, when are we going back?"
"You all want to leave?"
"There’s only a month left until we have to submit our task. Then will you take us outside?"
Tan Shaoting pondered the descriptions of several secret realms he had read about before, nodding.
"Alright, then we’ll go home. First, head to the workshop to sell the spirit plants and demon beasts."
It was also to show the people following them.
The next day, the four left the back mountain, with Tan Shaoting taking the kids directly to the workshop.
At Duobao Pavilion, they took out all the harvest gained from the back mountain and what they collected from others’ Storage Bags along the way that they couldn’t use.
They frequented there so often that the shopkeeper and Tan Shaoting were quite familiar.
"Fellow Daoist, are you planning to exchange for mid-grade Spirit Stones?"
"Shopkeeper, do you have any high-grade Spirit Stone?"
Perhaps in the future, the kids could use Spirit Stones for cultivation.
"Yes, but the exchange rate requires a half percent service charge, so usually very few exchange for it."
"Shopkeeper, what attributes of Spirit Stones do you have?"
"All Five Elements are available."
"Trouble the shopkeeper to exchange high-grade Spirit Stones of the Five Elements for me."
"Fellow Daoist, do you also want Thunder Element?"
"Yes, why? What’s with Thunder Element?"
"Fellow Daoist, it’s been many years since there’s been a cultivator with a Thunder Spirit Root on our continent. The exchange rate for high-grade Thunder Spirit Stones is ten percent lower than any others."