CHAPTER 45: CHAPTER 45 RETURN TO THE MOUNTAIN

Wen Yan hung up the phone, looked back, and saw the Sparrow Cat’s perked-up ears instantly flatten into airplane ears. It quietly turned its head, pretending to be totally absorbed by the empty fish tank.

"You heard it yourself, right? Don’t tell me I need to repeat it?"

"What? I wasn’t eavesdropping!"

"That’s the condition, take it or leave it. The door’s open—if you want to go, just go."

The Sparrow Cat couldn’t keep up the act anymore.

"I’ll help you catch Mo Zhicheng, but I want a full post, and fifty extra bucks a day for food."

Don’t even think about fooling me—look, I know the game, fifty is cost price for the ingredients, not what you’d get at the market!

That old dog used to say, he busted his ass at work, risking his life, and only then did they finally up his food allowance to fifty a day.

Later I found out that old dog was just trying to milk sympathy and acting all broke.

Wen Yan couldn’t help laughing and crying. He had no idea that’s how the food money was calculated.

"Alright, I can promise that for the Scorching Sun Department."

He agreed casually. With the way Mo Zhicheng’s danger level keeps going up, as long as they can bring him in, the Scorching Sun Department would definitely agree to those terms in a heartbeat.

The Sparrow Cat, happy as can be, hopped back to its mat to lick its wings—the ones that had just been broken yesterday, but now could already flap again. Its healing ability was honestly scary as hell.

And its hearing was ridiculous too—even a few meters away, it could overhear the phone as clear as day.

Plus with that cat head, you know its night vision’s gotta be maxed out too.

Only its actual body, kinda fragile ’cause of its size.

Wen Yan was just thinking about all this when his phone lit up—it was Pei Tugou calling. He couldn’t help but smile.

Really gotta stay tight with this old bro. For one, he’s honestly a decent guy; for another, if it hadn’t been for this dude and his powers, letting that blood-soaked "Pei Tugou" show up and take out the guy trying to kidnap him, Wen Yan probably would’ve been dead meat.

"Hey, old bro, you done with stuff over there? How’s the family?"

"All good, all good. The elders and the kids at home should be able to get discharged soon."

I just got paid, too—I figured I’d give you a call to let you know.

The folks over there said it doesn’t really count as us signing a contract or something—I didn’t totally get it.

But in the end, they paid up the back wages and even some compensation—it ended up being over eighteen grand. The other guys got paid, too.

Wen Yan, what’s your bank card number? I’ll go transfer it to you at the bank in a bit.

You gotta take it, man. If it hadn’t been for you this time, I wouldn’t have known what to do."

In the hospital ward, Pei Tugou was clutching his phone, blowing through the speech he’d rehearsed over and over, super scared that Wen Yan would refuse.

"Old bro, it’s really not urgent..."

Wen Yan hadn’t even finished speaking before Pei Tugou jumped in.

"Then I’ll head to Virtue City this afternoon. I’ll give it to you face to face."

"That’s really not necessary..." Wen Yan was helpless—he knew the old bro would actually do it: "I’ll text you my info in a sec."

"Alright, I’ll go wire it to you then—you better send me your number, for real."

"Deal, I’ll remember. If anything comes up on your end, call me. I’ll help find people if you need. And say hi to your family for me."

"Oh, okay, will do."

After just a couple lines of small talk, they hung up. Pei Tugou wasn’t exactly the type to sit and chat forever.

Wen Yan flipped through his wallet, sent over his card number and name to Pei Tugou. If he didn’t, the old bro would 100% show up with a stack of cash that very afternoon.

And sure enough, barely ten minutes later, an alert came in—he’d been wired fifty-five hundred.

He’d lent Pei Tugou five grand in cash, and now the guy had even sent an extra five hundred back. Wen Yan wanted to call and say he got it, and return the extra.

But thinking about it, this old bro doesn’t even do messaging apps; unless he handed it back in person, the guy would never take it, not in a million years.

Fine, just accept it for now—maybe get something for his elders and kids later.

He sent a text to let Pei Tugou know he’d received the money.

Pei Tugou replied with a "Thanks!!", two exclamation marks and all.

Wen Yan grinned and put away his phone. Back then he’d just been freaked out by that creepy feeling, but after talking for a bit, he could tell this old bro was the real deal.

From what he’d seen so far, the guy probably didn’t even know he had a special ability. His professional ability seemed more like something that triggered on its own.

On his day off, bored out of his mind, Wen Yan ended up chilling with the cat, asking the Sparrow Cat about other details.

Lots of details you’d never find out without asking—the cat wouldn’t think of it otherwise. They chatted on and off until the Sparrow Cat’s nictitating membrane kept coming out again and again, and Wen Yan finally took pity on it and let it be.

In a blink, the Sparrow Cat was sprawled out on its mat, totally passed out.

Meanwhile, Old Xi was at his own home, rummaging for ages but just couldn’t find the right book. Finally, he gritted his teeth, passed all his ritual gigs for the next three days to some colleagues, and sent his apprentices out to run errands and learn a thing or two.

In this line of work, 90% of the job is the look. His apprentices were just too young—one look and you could tell they didn’t have the gravitas. Bosses always saw through it.

After all, real incidents are rare. Most days, a white-haired, full-bearded Taoist just comes off way more legit than some kid.

But these last few years, the once-in-a-blue-moon real problems started popping up two or three times a year. Old Xi didn’t dare put his apprentices in charge now.

Once everything was sorted, he hit the road straight away, bought the nearest plane ticket, and headed straight to Binhai County, where Fuyu Mountain was.

Ever since he’d seen Wen Yan use Scorching Sun to enlighten that Big Executor Hopping Corpse, he hadn’t had a moment’s peace—especially since his family’s old records were full of so much blowing hot air, he couldn’t even keep track of what was true or fake anymore. A ton of stuff he couldn’t even remember.

If he didn’t get to the bottom of this, he’d die of frustration.

Seriously, ever since he was a kid, he’d heard the elders brag about how, over a thousand years ago, some ancestor pulled off this insane feat—used godlike Scorching Sun skills to enlighten a Big Executor Zombie and wiped out a kingdom in the process.

As for why so much of it’s been lost... well, ask anyone, and it’s because we suck now. But it doesn’t change the fact our ancestor was a badass. And we totally didn’t make it up.

Old Xi didn’t stop all the way, finally making it to the foot of Fuyu Mountain and feeling maybe a bit calmer.

Around Fuyu Mountain, wisps of mist curled around, with hardly any people in sight. It wasn’t some famous scenic spot, and hardly anyone bothered to develop it as a tourist site. Only nearby locals would come hiking for fun now and then.

Old Xi looked at the winding blue stone steps, took a deep breath, and strode up.

Over an hour later, he arrived at a peaceful Taoist Temple in the hills.

The temple’s name: Fuyu Temple.

The temple gate stood open, several Taoist kids practicing horse stance in the yard, and in a shady corner under a tree, an old man with white hair and beard was sitting on a stone stool sipping tea.

Old Xi, carrying a bundle of fresh tea, hurried up, set the paper-wrapped tea on the stone table, stepped back a pace, and gave a formal bow.

"I greet you, Grand Uncle Master."

The old man lifted his eyelids, picked up the tea leaves to sniff, looking a little surprised.

"Huh? Ujeon tea from Little Tuo Mountain this year? I heard those damned priests on Little Tuo Mountain didn’t get much of a harvest this year."

"Well, it wasn’t easy to snag a bag—and I don’t know tea anyway. Be a real waste on me, so I brought it back to pay my respects." Old Xi grinned, thick-skinned as ever.

The old man chuckled, eyeing Old Xi up and down, then pushed the tea back toward him.

"I seem to remember you’re the least likely to get into trouble. So? If you’re in trouble, it must be big. Out with it, what sort of mess did you land in?"