Chapter Six: The Master's Gift of Treasure

Liu An sat gloomily on a rock, holding his chin in his hands as he gazed at the distant sky. Beside him, the hybrid beast lay lazily, basking in the warm sunlight.

“Darling, when do you think my unreliable master will come back? When can I finally descend the mountain?” Liu An sighed.

The hybrid beast lazily replied, “Why do you have to wait for your master to take you down? Why not just spend some time and walk down yourself?”

Liu An looked at the beast as if it were a fool. “You’re thinking too simply. Looking down from here, it’s an endless dense forest, and we don’t know where the city is. Who knows what monsters or demons might jump out to eat us on the way down?”

The hybrid beast quickly retorted, “If you want to go down, don’t drag me along. I’m not grown up yet and don’t want to meet an early demise.”

“That’s exactly why my master is so important. With his ability to walk on air and shrink distances, he can be thousands of miles away in an instant. Taking us along is no problem at all,” Liu An said, enviously admiring his master’s supernatural powers.

“Then why can’t we just ride on your master’s gourd?” the beast asked.

“That wouldn’t be cool or stylish enough, so it’s not even in my consideration. Are you hungry? Let’s go find something to eat.”

“Sounds good!”

Liu An quickly stood up, scooped up the hybrid beast, and ran into the forest.

“Today, we’ll have honey-glazed roasted rabbit. By the way, can you eat meat?” Liu An suddenly asked.

“Of course, I’m not picky,” the beast replied.

Satisfied, Liu An instructed, “Listen carefully to what I say later. Do whatever I ask.”

The hybrid beast obediently agreed.

Soon, Liu An crouched in a grass thicket, eyes fixed on a large sturdy tree with a beehive at its top. “Darling, wait for me under that big tree until I call you,” Liu An pointed out the tree to the beast.

Without suspicion, the hybrid beast reached the designated spot. Liu An swiftly threw a stone that hit the top of the beehive precisely.

The beehive quickly fell, and a swarm of bees, startled, flew out and immediately targeted the unsuspecting beast.

Hearing the buzzing, the beast looked around for the source until the hive landed on the ground and the bees stung it repeatedly.

In pain, the beast screamed and cursed at Liu An, “You heartless scoundrel! You tricked me again. I won’t let you off easily.”

Determined, the beast charged toward Liu An’s hiding spot, enduring the bee attacks with a desperate, do-or-die attitude. But Liu An had already anticipated this and had taken a detour to grab the fallen beehive.

Holding the hive and making a mocking face at the beast, Liu An calmly headed toward the marked rabbit den, leaving the bee-stung beast behind.

Though the bees couldn’t penetrate the beast’s defenses, their sheer numbers drove it nearly mad, forcing it to remain still, waiting for the swarm to disperse.

After an unknown amount of time, Liu An returned to the big rock, where he had already brushed honey over the skinned rabbits roasting on the fire.

The sizzling rabbit fat and the caramelized honey’s rich aroma made the previously resentful hybrid beast drool uncontrollably as it stared fixedly at the spinning meat.

The beast completely forgot about Liu An’s trickery, affectionately nuzzling his pants.

Seeing this, Liu An generously tore off a rabbit leg and held it out.

The beast bit into it eagerly. “It smells so good.”

Seeing the beast’s mouth dripping with oil, Liu An confirmed the rabbit was thoroughly cooked and began eating heartily himself.

“Delicious, truly delicious,” they both said, eyes locked on the roasting meat, each afraid the other would get more.

Suddenly, Liu Xiaosheng appeared, gradually materializing from a misty figure into solid form. He snatched the rabbit from his disciple’s hand and devoured it with a satisfied expression, tossing Liu An a token.

“Master, what is this token for?” Liu An asked curiously, stuffing meat into his mouth.

“Can’t you read? It says right here. It’s a token from your teacher. With this, you can walk freely across the Wei Kingdom,” Liu Xiaosheng said after swallowing.

Liu An’s eyes gleamed. Without thinking, he said, “I was planning to use my master’s name to roam the world, but now with this token, it should be barely enough.”

Liu Xiaosheng twitched his eyelid, thinking, “As expected, my disciple is surely plotting some mischief against me.”

He decided it was better to discipline his disciple early rather than stew in silence. Making the disciple happy was better.

“Hey, hey, Master, take it easy! Why are you hitting me all of a sudden?”

“Hitting you? I want to knock some sense into you for trying to cause trouble in my name. How could you do such a thing?”

Liu An, with a bruised face, rubbed his swollen cheek but wasn’t angry, smiling instead.

“Master, your disciple is about to journey far away. Don’t you fear your obedient student might be defenseless and never see you again?”

To stop the disciple from nagging, Liu Xiaosheng reluctantly pulled a black gourd from his sleeve and handed it over.

“Here, this is a postnatal-refined purple-gold gourd. Inside is a sword energy I left for you, and there’s also a flying sword being nurtured within.”

Liu An excitedly took the gourd, treasuring it dearly.

“Let me see! Let me see, big brother!” the hybrid beast circled around, begging.

“No means no,” Liu An said arrogantly, holding the gourd high above his head.

Seeing this, the beast pitifully approached Liu Xiaosheng, gazing at him with big eyes.

Liu Xiaosheng, embarrassed by the gaze, lightly kicked Liu An’s backside from afar. Liu An fell over, accidentally handing the gourd to the beast. The master-disciple-beast trio shared a harmonious, lighthearted moment.

Once the rabbit was fully roasted and the fire extinguished, Liu Xiaosheng contentedly sipped the wine from the sword-nurturing gourd.

Liu An eyed the wine enviously. “Master, just one sip, please, just one.”

This time, Liu Xiaosheng handed the gourd directly to Liu An, who gulped down a large mouthful.

“The burning, spicy heat seared through my lungs like knives,” Liu An exclaimed, covering his mouth but managing to swallow.

The beast wanted to imitate and try some wine but was refused.

“You little one, don’t be greedy. This wine isn’t something you can handle. Ha ha.”

“Master, why am I so sleepy all of a sudden?”