Chapter 17

The Upper Qing Hall was in an uproar, but Xuan Kong couldn't be bothered to deal with the people's arguments.

Returning to the Yewei Cottage, although he had spent a night outside the mountain to subdue a demon, the wooden table in the thatched hut was still set with fragrant rice. Xuan Kong's lips curled up as he walked to the cupboard and opened it, only to find delicious fish and vegetables inside.

Even the teapot, which had been emptied before he left, was now filled with steaming hot water.

However, Xuan Kong was not surprised. He took out a wine flask from his robe and placed it on the table, knowing that by tomorrow, it would naturally be filled with cool water that could be transformed into fine wine.

For the past dozen years, it had always been like this. Without having to lift a finger, it was as if there was an invisible nanny taking care of him. Since the person didn't want to reveal themselves, Xuan Kong didn't want to force them with magic.

Xuan Kong's bed was placed in a corner of the wooden house, with a window next to it that allowed him to see the sunlight on the horizon.

After a night of battle, Xuan Kong had expended a lot of energy. Upon returning to his territory, he didn't even want to eat, but instead sat cross-legged on the bed, closed his eyes, and entered a meditative state.

When Xuan Kong calmed down, he exuded a different charm. Compared to his usual optimistic and cheerful demeanor, he now appeared more composed and steady. This was a personality trait he had brought from his previous life. Those who only made a fuss on the streets were just low-level hooligans.

To progress and become a leader, one had to think and reflect more.

No leader was simple; otherwise, they wouldn't be able to last long in the underworld.

A habit brought from his previous life, Xuan Kong always spent time after a battle, replaying it in his mind, and summarizing the gains and losses. Before long, he had entered a meditative state.

A coquettish voice sounded in the darkness: "Where were you last night? You weren't in the thatched hut."

"You're here?" Xuan Kong's body remained still with his eyes closed, speaking in his deep consciousness.

In the darkness, another silvery female voice added: "Yes, we come to the thatched hut every day to serve you, Master Wukong!" She hadn't noticed that the old Taoist had demoted Xuan Kong and changed his Taoist name.

Xuan Kong, feeling smug, said in his consciousness: "I'm no longer called Wukong."

The coquettish voice sighed, familiar with Xuan Kong's bad temper. On Xuan Kong's face, it was written that he always liked to leave things unsaid, as if saying, "Come and ask me, and I'll tell you my new Taoist name."

The silvery voice couldn't help but laugh: "If you're not called Wukong, what should we call you?"

Sure enough, Xuan Kong seized the opportunity to ask: "Since the two of you sneak into my consciousness every day, what are your names?"

The silvery voice laughed: "Don't you call me Xiao Bai and my sister Xiao Hua?"

Xuan Kong stammered, explaining: "Back then, you always appeared when I was meditating, and I thought you were the two mountain cats I kept outside the house." When he was young, Xuan Kong insisted on living alone in the back mountain.

The old Taoist, worried about him, had released two mountain cat spirits with a hundred years of cultivation outside the Yewei Cottage.

One was to protect Xuan Kong's safety, and the other was to take care of his daily life.

So, at first, when Xuan Kong saw that his room was always tidied up, he naturally assumed it was the two mountain cat spirits. Later, as Xuan Kong's Taoist arts improved, the mountain cat spirits also left the mountain, and Xuan Kong realized his mistake.

By then, he had already gotten used to calling the two girls who sneaked into his consciousness Xiao Bai and Xiao Hua.

Because of this, he had been laughed at countless times.

Xuan Kong confessed: "My new Taoist name is Xuan Kong. Don't call me wrong in the future."

The coquettish voice asked curiously: "Is it because your name was the same as Sun Wukong, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, that you had to change it?" When he had nothing to do, Xuan Kong would tell the two girls some stories from his previous life.

"Journey to the West" was one of them.

Xiao Bai also sighed with admiration: "Yes, Sun Wukong is so powerful, a great hero of the demon race!"

Xuan Kong chuckled: "Aren't you part of the demon race?"

The two voices fell silent, and Xuan Kong raised an eyebrow: "Are you immortals?"

"Or demons?" The voice didn't give Xuan Kong an answer, letting him guess on his own. He scratched his head: "You're not trying to become the Supreme Treasure, are you?"

Xiao Hua asked curiously: "What is the Supreme Treasure?"

Xuan Kong couldn't explain that it was a movie the people in his previous life watched when they were bored, so he casually said: "It's a combination in gambling, meaning the most powerful and formidable."

Xiao Bai knew that Xuan Kong's Supreme Treasure meant more than that, so she teased: "Is that so? Then you are the Supreme Treasure too!"

"Thank you, thank you for the compliment." Xuan Kong laughed helplessly. He couldn't be angry with the two voices that had always been with him. Humans are not plants; who can be without feelings? Even plants have their own emotions, and he naturally had some feelings for those who had been with him for a long time.

"What are you thinking about?" Xiao Bai looked at Xuan Kong sitting cross-legged in the darkness, not as lively as usual.

Xuan Kong inadvertently curled his lips. How could he say that after meeting Deng Lizi, he felt his cultivation was still insufficient? He had thought that after cultivating for over a decade, he would be able to handle the human world, but he never expected that a random encounter with a Taoist would almost be beyond his resistance.

He didn't know the status of the elders of the Kongtong Sect in the human cultivation world.

They were like terrestrial immortals, ready to ascend to the heavens at any moment to receive the heavenly court's appointment.

But to think, even in the human world, were there not many powerful beings with the cultivation of immortals? In his previous life, Xuan Kong thought that cultivators on earth had to reach a certain level before they could ascend to become immortals. Therefore, the immortals in heaven must be more powerful than the cultivators on earth.

But after crossing over to this world, Xuan Kong realized that so-called Celestial Immortals, Earthly Immortals, and Wandering Immortals were not fundamentally different.

They were all titles for people with great power and abilities. On earth, they were called Human Immortals; in heaven, they were called Celestial Immortals; in the mountains, they were called Earthly Immortals; and in the oceans, they were called Water Immortals. All of them were formidable beings capable of great transformations.

Even in the human world, apart from the Ancestor of Earthly Immortals, Zhenyuanzi, who was said to be on par with the sages, there were countless Earthly Immortals and Wandering Immortals in the Three Islands and Ten Continents, the Thirty-Six Cavern-Heavens, and the Seventy-Two Blessed Lands. They were not necessarily weaker than the celestial officials.

And the countless demons and monsters on the Journey to the West, even the celestial soldiers and generals of the heavenly court often found them difficult to handle.

"But, we might not see each other again in the future." Xiao Hua suddenly said with a sad tone, startling Xuan Kong.

Xuan Kong was worried about them, even though he had never met them. He quickly asked: "Why? Have you encountered some trouble?" Xiao Bai scolded: "We haven't encountered any trouble, it's you who has, and it's a big one!"