The Smiling, Proud Wanderer: From the Moment He Picked Up Qu Feiyan

Chapter 15: The Legend of the Condor Heroes, but I am Huang Rong

After about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, Shen An's strength gradually gave out. He jumped out from under the waterfall, feeling as if all the muscles and bones in his body were about to fall apart.

As soon as he got ashore, he sat cross-legged on a flat rock by the pool, closed his eyes, and began to practice the Songshan Heart Sutra to recover his strength.

Qu Feiyan then came to her senses and looked at his wet black hair sticking to his handsome cheeks. She didn't dare to disturb him, but just rested her chin on her hand and stared at him quietly, as if she wanted to engrave his image into her heart.

Before practicing the Songshan Heart Sutra, Shen An, as usual, silently recited the Ice Heart Mantra once. This Ice Heart Mantra was used by Nie Feng to suppress the Qilin's Frenzied Blood, but for him it was equivalent to a cultivation aid. After entering that absolutely calm and clear state, his cultivation speed and comprehension could be significantly improved.

After the incantation was recited, in an instant, all the sounds of the outside world—the gurgling of water, the chirping of birds in the forest, and even the soft breathing of Qu Feiyan beside him—seemed to be isolated in another world. They were still clear, but no longer affected Shen An.

Shen An's consciousness seemed to flow through his meridians along with the internal energy in his dantian. He guided it to travel along the path in the mental cultivation method. Wherever the breath flowed, there was a faint feeling of warmth or coolness or stagnation. When the mental cultivation method reached a certain acupoint, the obstacles in that acupoint were bypassed or pushed away as if they were right in front of him.

After several cycles of cultivation, this hour or so of arduous practice was probably equivalent to half a month for an ordinary person. But precisely because of this, Shen An also knew that his meridians had almost reached their limit, and continuing to cultivate would only be counterproductive. He slowly withdrew from that deep meditative state.

If this continues, in another month or so, when my internal energy accumulates to the point where I can clear the blockages in my meridians without needing to focus my attention, I will have reached the minor success stage.

He gently exhaled a breath of stale air, only then realizing that the water droplets on his body had been dried by his own body temperature and internal energy.

Strangely enough, I don't feel cold at all during this autumn and winter month.

"Gurgle..." An untimely sound broke the silence.

Shen An opened his eyes and met Qu Feiyan's embarrassed gaze.

"It's almost noon, shouldn't Ruoyun go back to see Grandpa?"

"Uh, well..." Qu Feiyan blushed, her eyes darting around, and she quickly made up an excuse: "Brother An, while you were cultivating just now, I... I already went to see Grandpa! I told him it's okay to go back a little later today!"

lie.

Shen An chuckled inwardly. The little girl thought that after he entered meditation, he would no longer be aware of his surroundings. Little did she know that in the state of the Ice Heart Technique, his senses were actually more acute than usual. He was fully aware of her pacing around, quietly getting up and sitting down again.

"Really?" He feigned surprise, then smiled and said, "In that case, how about I take Ruoyun to Hengyang city for a bowl of noodles?"

Qu Feiyan lied because she was reluctant to leave and just wanted to stay with Shen An a little longer. She didn't care what they ate and naturally agreed.

As the two descended the mountain path, passing a farmhouse, Shen An suddenly stopped, pointed to a plump speckled chicken scrambling for food under the fence, and winked at Qu Feiyan: "Lunch is ready."

Just when Qu Feiyan thought he was going to go and get the chicken, she saw Shen An walk around to the front of the courtyard gate and knock on the door.

A moment later, a dark-skinned farmer with a somewhat timid expression came out. Shen An politely exchanged a few words with him, then took out a silver ingot weighing about an ounce from his pocket and handed it to him.

The farmer was initially taken aback, but then his face lit up with ecstatic joy. He waved his hands repeatedly, nodded repeatedly, and finally accepted the silver. He turned and went back into the house, where he not only caught the fat chicken but also carefully scooped out a small half-bowl of salt in a rough earthenware bowl.

"No, no!" Shen An looked at the considerable amount of salt in the bowl, knowing that this was probably a month's supply for an ordinary farmer, and hurriedly tried to refuse.

"Young master, it's alright, it's alright!" The farmer shoved the earthenware bowl into his hands without giving him a chance to refuse, gave him a grateful look, and whispered in his ear, "This is smuggled salt, much cheaper than official salt, otherwise I wouldn't be willing to give so much."

Smuggled salt? Shen An became somewhat interested, as he remembered that this was one of his businesses, so he pressed for details.

The farmer simply said that the salt smuggler was a kind-hearted man who was willing to send people to poor areas to sell his salt at a much lower price than the salt smuggled in the past, and then he refused to say anything more.

Seeing that he couldn't get any clues, Shen An picked up the chicken and salt, said goodbye to the farmer, and left with Qu Feiyan.

He was completely unaware of the profound impact his seemingly normal actions had had on the girl beside him.

Qu Feiyan followed behind him in a daze, her mind filled with countless thoughts.

Let alone the fact that she grew up in the Demonic Sect, even a righteous hero could probably take a chicken as easily as breathing.

Even if they didn't want to take things from people for no reason, and were willing to give money, they would probably just throw the money in the yard. Why would they be so polite as to come to the door and ask questions, and even chat with a farmer?

People from the martial arts world and ordinary people are essentially from two different classes and two different worlds.

Brother Ke'an seems different.

Shen An assumed that her silence meant she was hungry, so he hurriedly went back to the open space by the stream to find some dry firewood, used his sword to cut open the chicken, cleaned and gutted it, and then rubbed salt inside, but did not pluck the feathers.

"Brother An, how are we going to cook this without a pot? Do we need a grill rack?" Qu Feiyan asked, blinking her curious eyes.

Shen An simply smiled and directed her to go to the stream and bring over some damp yellow mud.

When Qu Feiyan brought over the yellow mud, Shen An evenly coated it onto the chicken until it formed a thick mud ball. Then, he dug a hole in the already lit fire and buried the mud ball under the scorching embers.

After doing all this, he patted the dirt off his hands and sat down next to Qu Feiyan.

This wait was long for Qu Feiyan's stomach, but short for her heart.

This is perhaps the theory of non-relativity.

After roasting for a while, the mud releases a sweet aroma. Once the wet mud has dried completely, peel off the dry mud, and the chicken feathers will fall off with the mud, revealing tender white chicken meat with a rich and fragrant smell.

Shen An tore off a plump chicken leg, blew on it to cool it down, dipped it in some salt from the ceramic bowl, and handed it to Qu Feiyan, who had been eagerly waiting for it.

"Try my cooking."

Qu Feiyan carefully took it, her hands thrashing from the heat. She took a small bite, and her eyes widened instantly! The chicken melted in her mouth, tender and juicy, the flavor exploding on her tongue.

To be honest, it wasn't that tasty, but she was really hungry.

She devoured the chicken leg in a few bites, licked her fingers with lingering satisfaction, and then looked at Shen An with wide eyes: "Brother An...you, you can actually cook?"

"Hehe, I learned it from a novel."

"A novel?" Qu Feiyan's interest was immediately piqued. She leaned closer, grabbing Shen An's collar and gently shaking him. "What kind of novel teaches people how to cook? I want to hear it, I want to hear it!"

"Oil! Oil!" Shen An hurriedly broke free from her little hand, but the marks were still left on her clothes.

Sigh, I'll have to trouble Little Grass to wash it.

"You..." Shen An sighed, tore off another chicken leg, and ate it while organizing his thoughts in his mind.

"It's a novel called 'The Legend of the Condor Heroes,' and the story is quite long, starting from a place called Niujia Village..."