CHAPTER 576: CHAPTER 293: THE LIVING SUTRA AND THE LITTLE MONK

After tossing the two hundred thousand incense offerings from the Cat Immortal Hall to Tao Sanmei as an advance salary, Xu Qing stood under the peach tree with his hands behind his back, lost in thought.

Liu Su’e had once had a connection with the willow tree by the Tanggu River. She still carried a willow horse whip left by the tree as a protective treasure.

The horse whip was fashioned from the essence of a demon with five hundred years of cultivation, willingly offered to Liu Su’e as a dharma artifact.

The same experience happened to Tao Sanmei’s elder sister.

Xu Qing recalled the Temple Master Ge Hongwen of Songyun Temple on Henglu Mountain. Although they never met, they had many connections in several matters.

Li Si, the broker, had an adoptive ’godfather,’ the old doctor Yang Chun, whom Xu Qing had once helped transcend. Yang Chun was a lay disciple of Ge Hongwen.

Tao Sanmei’s sister, who died from a celestial thunder strike, voluntarily gathered her magical power and cultivation, transforming into a peach wood magic sword to accompany Ge Hongwen.

Standing in the backyard of the coffin shop, Xu Qing looked at the large peach tree before him.

At the same location but different time dimensions, young Daoist Ge Hongwen had stayed here...

Xu Qing suddenly remembered that two hundred years ago, Hu Baosong, who drank excessively every day, dreamt of a woman in pink who guided his dreams, leading him to enlightenment, swear off drinking, and bury his personal wine gourd under the peach tree...

Although the old fox now rests in Huyang Tomb, that wine gourd might still be under the peach tree.

Xu Qing hadn’t unlocked his five-flavor recognition earlier, so he couldn’t discern the taste of five-grain liquor, and thus put the matter of the gourd aside.

Now that his five-flavor recognition was awakened, it was the perfect time for descendants to enjoy the century-old brew!

Thinking of this, Xu Qing immediately took out a shovel and began estimating the location around the peach tree.

Under Tao Sanmei’s body were buried more than just a wine gourd.

Back then, Yizhen Daoist’s mother, Zichen, had buried a jar of liquor at Five Elders Temple, thinking it was for Hu Baosong.

Only after reading Hu Baosong’s will did she fully understand.

It turned out Yizhen Daoist’s mother was from Shao’s Mansion, and over there, whenever a daughter was born in a family, the parents would bury a jar of daughter wine as a necessary gift for their daughter’s marriage.

Yizhen hadn’t realized and took that jar to the coffin shop intending to offer it to Hu Baosong. After reading Hu Baosong’s letter, she realized the wine was left for her by her mother.

Back then, Xu Qing helped Yizhen Daoist dig a pit under the peach tree to bury that jar of wine with special significance, saying that when the peach blossoms bloomed in the future, Yizhen Daoist could come and reclaim it.

Xu Qing was tempted but wouldn’t touch Yizhen Daoist’s ’dowry.’ However, Hu Baosong’s wine gourd was another matter!

Here, Xu Qing, with his back to Tao Sanmei, began digging a pit in front of the peach tree. Behind him, Tao Sanmei remained dazed, lying on the stone table, giggling like she was drunk.

Even as a tree demon nearing a thousand years old, she’d never seen so many incense offerings, and from what Sect Leader Xu said, these two hundred thousand were just the salary fort of a Branch Hall Master for four to five years.

She dared not imagine how much incense she’d accumulate after working under Xu Qing for a few hundred years?

With these offerings, not to mention thunder disasters, even the more severe fire and wind disasters might be possible to overcome!

While Tao Sanmei was daydreaming of a bright future, she suddenly felt a strange sensation from her body.

Startled, she turned her head and when she saw Xu Qing’s shovel stuck in the pit, she screamed in horror, "What are you doing?"

Xu Qing silently pulled out the shovel with an expressionless face, saying, "Be careful next time putting down roots, don’t go around freely! Look, a casual dig hits the tree root, luckily my shovel’s quality is good, didn’t break it, or you’d have to pay for it!"

Tao Sanmei looked at Xu Qing in disbelief. You dig my roots and demand compensation?

At this moment, the joy brought by the two hundred thousand incense offerings in Tao Sanmei’s heart suddenly dissipated.

Thinking about the decades ahead that she’d be driven by this shameless human, Tao Sanmei felt the future seemed bleak.

But when she recalled the longevity of tree demons compared to the short human lifespan, her heart calmed.

As a peach tree demon, she could gain at least a few thousand years if she survived the thunder disaster, while humans only gained three hundred years even if they survived.

Thinking of this, Tao Sanmei looked at Xu Qing with more gentle eyes.

The Sect Leader had indeed provided her with great help, and even if he was slightly unreasonable, she could tolerate it.

Seeing Tao Sanmei’s gaze filled with love and acceptance, Xu Qing felt dubious.

Could this peach tree demon have some peculiar preference?

To verify his thoughts, he subconsciously poked the tree root in the soil pit again with the shovel.

"..."

Tao Sanmei, with her hands behind her back, came to the pit side, still without any anger.

She stretched her neck to look into the pit and asked, "What are you looking for?"

"A wine gourd."

Tao Sanmei suddenly understood, "So it’s this, but I have quite a few wines here, which one are you looking for?"

"Quite a few wines?" Xu Qing asked in confusion, "Apart from the wine jars buried by me and Yizhen Daoist, isn’t there only Hu Baosong’s wine gourd left..."

Tao Sanmei blinked and said, "Five hundred years ago, a poet fond of drinking and writing buried two jars of fine wine here, saying he’d take them again when retiring and returning home to drink."

"Unfortunately, later on, the country was in chaos and war everywhere, and his news was lost forever."

Tao Sanmei extended her white and rosy hand, raised her finger towards the ground, and two jars of five-hundred-year-old wine emerged from the soil.