Xiao Rong thought Yao Ranran was praising him. He puffed up with pride and hurried to say, "Boss, Xiao Jiang is already so old, yet he's not as smart as me. Of course he wouldn't know these things!"
Yao Ranran replied coolly, "Xiao Jiang's skin may be wrinkled and his flesh a little loose, but his actual age doesn't even come to a hundredth of yours."
Xiao Rong: "..."
Couldn't Boss leave him a shred of dignity?! And there was even a phoenix watching from the side!
"And you," Yao Ranran turned her eyes, "why did you follow him to do something like this?"
After scolding Xiao Rong, she didn't spare the phoenix who had been spectating. If her hearing was right, the transmission voice earlier had clearly belonged to a female phoenix. By nature, it should prefer males.
The phoenix, following her orders, had already taken the form of a domestic chicken. It widened its eyes, flapped its wings, and let out a series of frantic, high-pitched cries.
The sharp voice made Yao Ranran's head buzz.
She raised a hand to cover her ear. "Wait. Did I ever teach you to call like that?"
"No! Boss, you didn't teach it like that last time!" Xiao Rong slapped the phoenix's head excitedly. "It should sound like this."
"Cluck, cluck, cluck—cluck, cluck, cluck—cluck, cluck, cluck—"
Xiao Rong stretched his neck and crowed toward the eastern sky.
Yao Ranran's words instantly stuck in her throat, swallowed back down before they could leave her lips.
The phoenix's round eyes blinked rapidly, unable to form words. If it could speak to Xiao Rong right now, it would definitely say…
"You're the real wild chicken here, aren't you?!"
"Ahem. Not bad, Xiao Rong. Big Phoenix, you heard him, right? From now on, you should call like that."
Yao Ranran cut in at the right moment, afraid that if Xiao Rong kept going, every wild chicken within ten li would come running to join him in chorus.
Xiao Rong smoothed his throat, lifted his chin proudly toward the phoenix, and said, "See, Big Phoenix? If you still can't get it, just come find me!"
The phoenix silently lowered its head. It couldn't bear to look.
A tree, imitating the call of a barnyard chicken… what exactly was he so proud of?
"Xiao Rong did well this time," Yao Ranran said flatly. "If you don't understand, Big Phoenix, you can ask him for guidance. Useless ones have no place on Gu Ling Mountain."
Her gaze swept lightly over the phoenix, but that single glance sent a shiver through its body.
What was this feeling?
It was a divine beast, a phoenix!
Why should it fear a mere lower-realm cultivator?
The phoenix's thoughts churned. With a flare of anger, it spread its wings wide. Brilliant tail feathers fanned out in the wind, gleaming with fiery splendor. It opened its sharp, elegant beak, ready to let loose a proud, sky-piercing cry.
But Yao Ranran only stood there. Her brow was calm and refined, her eyes pure as a snow lotus blooming high on a cliff. She watched it lightly, as if warning: "the moment you dare to utter a sound other than what I permit, I will tear you apart without hesitation."
Her expression was gentle, her beauty otherworldly. Yet from her, the phoenix felt terror like flames from hell, freezing its very feathers until even sensation deserted them.
"Grrk—"
What came out instead sounded more like a hiccup.
Both Yao Ranran and Xiao Rong stared at it in surprise.
The phoenix spread its wings hastily, flapping warm wind toward the two in an almost fawning gesture.
"Yes, that's it!" Xiao Rong encouraged. "Exactly like that. Do it again, a few times in a row!"
The phoenix: "..." It absolutely did not want to!
But Yao Ranran nodded. "Xiao Rong is right."
"Cluck—cluck cluck cluck—"
The phoenix cried out in humiliation, then quickly folded its wings back and covered its bright red head with them.
Not that it needed covering. Its head was already red.
Yao Ranran's eyes softened. "Xiao Rong has grown. He can already teach his companions."
Xiao Rong's eyes lit up with excitement at the praise. "Boss, didn't you notice my cultivation has improved too?"
He spun proudly in place, practically glowing with joy.
Of course Yao Ranran had already noticed his advancement.
But it puzzled her. Xiao Rong's aptitude was poor enough as it was. He wasn't even a tree who liked cultivation. How could he have reached Foundation Establishment in such a short span?
Could it be that he secretly consumed some rare treasure?
She probed carefully, "Xiao Rong, while I was away, did you eat something special?"
Xiao Rong froze, pupils widening. "Boss, you saw through that too?"
So the tree really had some strange encounter!
Yao Ranran silently praised her own sharp insight. She was indeed brilliant and farsighted!
"The days Boss was gone, I was sad every day. Grandma Zhang saw me gloomy all the time, so she cooked different things for me every day to cheer me up. Grandma Zhang is the best!"
At the mention of Grandma Zhang, Xiao Rong couldn't stop singing her praises.
Yao Ranran blinked. "Grandma Zhang only made you ordinary food, didn't she?"
Xiao Rong shook his head. "The spiritual plants from Biliu Sect are all given to Grandma Zhang. She cooks with them too. Now, under Xiao Jiang's lead, everyone's planting spirit herbs. Every household has spirit food to eat!"
Yao Ranran froze.
Life in the village had improved that much?
No wonder so many high-level cultivators fleeing from outside wanted to move into Longyin Village. She had thought they were only seeking safety…
The phoenix, hearing this for the first time, was also stunned.
Since when could mortals live such lives?
But Yao Ranran suddenly remembered why she had come here. "No, wait, we're straying too far. What I wanted to ask was: why were you two peeking at Xiang Yin bathing?"
She put on a stern face again. If Xiao Rong was grown enough to admire girls, that was one thing. But spying like this was absolutely unacceptable.
Xiao Rong and the phoenix looked at each other blankly. "Boss, we weren't peeking at Tang Xiangyin bathing."
"Oh? Then what were you spying on?" Yao Ranran's eyes flickered with confusion.
Creak.
At that moment, Tang Xiangyin opened the wooden door. Holding a basin of water in her hands, she looked at Yao Ranran in surprise.
"Fairy Ranran, why are you here too?"
Yao Ranran tilted her head. "My room is right next to yours. Is it strange that I'm here?"
Tang Xiangyin shook her head quickly. "Not strange, not strange. I was only curious, why is Fairy not cultivating at this time?"
Yao Ranran's eyes narrowed at the sight of Tang Xiangyin trying to hide the water basin behind her. "Were you bathing just now?"
Tang Xiangyin blushed and nodded. "Fairy, I just wanted to earn some spirit stones…"
Earn spirit stones? Bathing? Peeking?
Yao Ranran's heart lurched. "You mean… to earn spirit stones, you're selling yourself?"
And Xiao Rong and the phoenix… they were her customers!
This explosive thought filled her entire mind at once.
Guilt surged in her chest like a flood.
She shouldn't have pressured Xiang Yin so much. She shouldn't have pushed her so hard. If only she had spoken one less harsh word, maybe Xiang Yin wouldn't have strayed down this path!
But then again, hadn't Xiang Yin taken on these debts willingly?