Chapter 12: Adoptive Grandmother and Adoptive Grandmother No. 2...
Translator: Subudai11 Editor: Chrissy
Bringing Wen Bao back to the Village Head's guest house didn't take much effort for Wang Lu.
After his near death experience by the river, Wen Bao didn't have much hope for this Immortal Path anymore. As long as he could keep his life, he would thank the heaven and earth.
So when Wang Lu smiled at him and asked him, "Do you have any interest in joining me to complete the quest in this Peach Blossom Village?" Wang Zhong immediately agreed without the slightest hesitation.
He really had no other choice; there was simply no way for him to survive by himself in this Immortal Path. The large wet patch on the front of his pants was sufficient enough to prove it. Secondly... he thought, "What if there's really an opportunity to pass this trial?" Deep down in his heart, Wen Bao's desire for immortality has yet to be extinguished.
However, the only thing that puzzled him was why the heaven-blessed Wang Lu would be willing to cooperate with him. Apart from the fat on his body, what else did he have more than anyone else?
"Oh, having more fat is a big advantage in itself. A fat person won't be easily broken."
"Huh!?" Wen Bao let out a panic-stricken cry.
"Don't be afraid, at least in this mountain pass, the designer of this trial did not design it for us to compete using brute force. The Spirit Sword Sect is testing a much more important quality."
Wen Bao was a bit confused. "A more important quality?"
Hai Yunfan had also been considering this for a long time. Whenever the famous sects took in disciples, they would always test one's aptitude, character, temperament, perception, affinity... But in addition to those, what else could they test?
At this point, Wang Lu had already started arranging tasks for Wen Bao. "Alright Fatty, there's something I need you to do."
"What!?" Wen Bao exclaimed in surprise. "What do you want me to do?"
"Go and chat with everyone in the village; try to get close to them. As for how to do it, you can ask them if they need help with anything, but remember to be very friendly and sincere... Finally, you need to report everything to me. Simple, right?"
---
After sending Wen Bao away, Wang Lu invited Hai Yunfan to have a lunch with him, and they relaxed as they ate.
While eating, Hai Yunfan suddenly had a realization, "The key here is the people. Among the things that are important in cultivation, interpersonal relationship skill has never been counted as important. No sect has ever set this kind of test before."
Wang Lu was somewhat surprised. "Never tested before?"
"At least as far as I know, no other sect has ever paid attention to this interpersonal relationship skill. The road to immortality is, in the end, a lonely one. Too many interpersonal relationships will only be a burden to their cultivation... At least, most sects have this kind of view."
Wang Lu scoffed, "What a load of crap. The Immortal Cultivation World isn't a place for people with mental disorders. Even if individual strength decides everything, before you can achieve true immortality, interpersonal skills are still important. Unless you're an immortal from heaven who has descended to Earth, there is no one who is truly unequal in this world. By the way, Little Hai, don't you want to go out with Wen Bao and try your luck? Maybe you'll find an A Level Quest."
"Hehe, forget it, I think brother Wang already knows what's going to happen... There must be a reason for you to ask me to go out, right?"
Wang Lu said, "Of course, without enough experimental data, I won't be able to find a perfect strategy to complete this trial. Therefore, I advise you to go out and tread the ground for me. When I get the perfect strategy, I will definitely remember to express my gratitude to you."
Hai Yunfan was deeply impressed by Wang Lu's loyalty. However, what was more important to him was Wang Lu's so-called perfect strategy... If there was a perfect strategy, then it meant there was an imperfect strategy.
"In other words, we need to be careful with our every action and speech in this Peach Blossom Village, otherwise, we will probably commit mistakes?"
Wang Lu replied with a smile, "Correct. This is also consistent with the characteristic of the Immortal Cultivation World. On the path of cultivation, once you take a wrong step, it is impossible for you to reverse it, so you have to be very careful!"
While the two people were talking, Wen Bao came back.
"Huh, so fast?" Hai Yunfan was a bit stunned. From the time Wang Lu had kicked Wen Bao out of the house to go on his mission, only an hour had passed. Could it be that an accident has occurred?
It was actually a big accident.
"Br-Brother Wang!"
Wen Bao paused at the door when he realized that he had referred Wang Lu as "Brother Wang".
"What's wrong? Did you come across something interesting?"
"Shortly after I got out, I was stopped by an old auntie who said that I looked very much like her late grandson. She nagged me for a long time, then she gave me a bunch of desserts, and she even invited me to her house to eat tonight... I couldn't finish all the desserts, so I came back."
As he talked, he took out a large box.
When he opened the box, a small mountain of desserts spilled out, releasing a burst of aroma that greeted their nostrils.
The little errand boy who was tidying up the dinner table suddenly turned around and saw that the desserts all looked very familiar. "Ah, these are all the specialty desserts from Auntie Liu's dessert shop. Because they're quite troublesome to make, she only makes one or two of them for those who are pretty close to her. But this..."
Wang Lu sighed, "Looks like she really considers Wen Bao as her own grandson. This Fatty is really lucky, without much effort, he has already triggered such a high level quest. If I am not mistaken, that Auntie Liu and the Village Head had an affair back when they were young."
The little errand boy suddenly jumped up in shock. "Young Master, don't say such things! Auntie Liu is a very decent person!"
"Can't decent people have affairs? Where's this logic coming from? What you say is a violation of human rights!"
"What!?"
"Didn't you notice it at the banquet last night? The Village Head and Aunty Liu were flirting with each other with their eyes, but they were caught by the Village Head's wife... These are very important details."
The errand boy's jaw dropped. At the banquet, all he had focused on was staying awake from the wine. The Village Rice Wine had already blurred his vision, so how could he have the strength to observe an old man and an old lady secretly flirt with each other?
Wang Lu smiled at Wen Bao, "Congratulations to you, this is probably an A Level Quest; enough to affect the entire Peach Blossom Village's storyline. If you can complete it..."
Although he didn't know what an A Level Quest was, hearing Wang Lu speak in such a solemn tone, Wen Bao's eyes shone with hope. "If I can complete it...?"
"You'll have an adoptive grandmother who's very good at making desserts."
"..."
"So, please strive hard for your adoptive grandmother!"
And with that, Wang Lu kicked him out.
---
That same evening, more and more people came out of the Cloud Wave Map. Of course, after a day of walking, most of them were completely exhausted. However, unlike Wang Lu, they did not get a warm welcome. The villagers of the Peach Blossom Village were all indifferent towards these latecomers.
"Do you have any food?" "Yes."
"Do you have anywhere for us to stay?" "Yes."
But nothing was free. To make matters worse, their outside currency simply did not work here.
"What's this?"
"This is a gold ingot."
"Gold ingot? Can you eat it?"
"Well, it would be the same as committing suicide."
"You want to buy my family's steamed buns with this poison? In your dreams!"
"Hey, there's something wrong with your way of thinking..."
This sort of conversation was common all across the village. The villagers were not interested with gold or silver in the slightest, causing many arrogant and wealthy young masters to fall into a hopeless state. However, some people quickly discovered the "common currency" of this village.
And that was labor.
"You want to eat? Simple. Help me clear out the weeds in my backyard, then fill up the water tank by the door."
As long as sufficient labor was done, they would be able to receive rewards from the villagers. Whether if it was a delicious peasant family meal or a shabby but warm bedroom, they could only get it through labor.
Actually, this rule didn't just apply to the young masters who were participating in the Immortal Gathering; the villagers also practiced this rule. In addition to bartering goods, the only other way to obtain the thing that you need was to exchange it with labor.
Regarding this primitive type of trading, the young masters could only helplessly accept this reality. For Wang Lu, it made him really happy to see these princes and sons of officials to experience the hardships of living in a countryside.
In this situation, the treatment of Wang Lu and company became such an eyesore for the rest of the young masters; because while most people were struggling just to survive, Wang Lu was doing nothing but instructing Wen Bao on his quest.
On the morning of the third day, Wen Bao had officially become Auntie Liu's adoptive grandson.
"Hah, the progression of Fatty's quest has been quite smooth so far. However, other people have noticed his movement, and they may start to imitate him soon."
Wang Lu, who was lying on the couch next to the table, casually said, "I never planned to hide it anyways. The more people participating in this Peach Blossom Village quest, the better it is for everyone. If we can trigger the quest for every villager, I might be able to obtain a perfect completion of the quest."
Hai Yunfan replied, "But by doing so, isn't that the same as handing over the advantage to other people? I don't have Brother Wang's insight, but according to the common sense, the quests that you said should have some sort of exclusivity. For example, Auntie Liu couldn't possibly accept another adoptive grandson- her resources have already been monopolized by Wen Bao. If Brother Wang's perfect completion needs the help of Auntie Liu, then what will you do?"
"Hey, that's my problem. By the way, don't you want a perfect completion too?"
Hai Yunfan shook his head. "I've never sought after perfection. As long as I can find the right place for me, that is enough."
"I like this sentence, I think I might use that quote in the future... In return, I might as well tell you a little secret; the climax of this Peach Blossom Village quest is yet to come. Do you think Wen Bao is making good progress right now? I bet he'll come back crying tonight."
---
"Whaaa!! Your honor, Wang Lu, please help me!"
That evening, Wen Bao's crying sound woke Wang Lu from his sleep.
"Damn, what are you crying about?"
Although Wang Lu had expected for this to happen, anyone being woken up in the middle of the night would be extremely annoyed.
Wen Bao suddenly sat on the ground and continued to cry.
"Your honor, Wang Lu, I've run into a trouble, Auntie Liu..."
Wang Lu interrupted him, "Shut up and don't talk for a moment. If you talk, I'll find a stick and give you a plastic surgery."
"Ah?" Wen Bao was shocked, but when he saw Wang Lu went behind the door to pick up the big stick that was used as the door latch and wave it around, he quickly wiped away his tears and snot. Then, he said, "Auntie Liu had a fight with the Village Head's wife! The Village Head's wife couldn't beat Auntie Liu, so she let out her anger on me. She said that she would make the Village Head throw me out of the village... Your honor, Wang Lu, please save me!!"
"Save your sister! Get out of here. If you can't even handle this problem, what's the point of keeping you here?"
"B-but, she's the Village Head's wife!"
Perhaps ever since Wen Bao was ruthlessly kicked by the Lady Boss of the Ru Family Inn, he had started to develop the seed of fear. Although Wen Bao's frown could eradicated any of the many small villages like this Peach Blossom Village in his homeland, the Azure Billow Country, but on this Immortal Path, the setbacks that Wen Bao had suffered reduced him to a creature equivalent to a maggot.
"You fail-to-live-up-to-expectation coward. So what if she's the Village Head's wife? If she can't even stop her husband from having an affair, she might as well be an inflatable doll. Are you afraid of inflatable dolls?"
"Well, you can't say it like that..."
"That's the only way to say it! Do you think the quests in the Peach Blossom Village are really that simple? Get an adoptive grandmother, eat desserts every day until you become a ball, and then you can pass the quest? You think too lowly of the designer of this quest. I tell you what, you're actually quite lucky to be able to get to this confrontational part of the quest; it means that you're getting somewhere. Two days ago, my useless errand boy started a battle of wits with the little brats around our age in the village!"
Hearing this, Wen Bao was a bit shocked.
"Huh?"
"What do you mean 'huh'? I've told you already that the Peach Blossom Village is testing our EQs, and the most effective way to test one's EQ is not to see how many people someone can please, but rather how well they can handle people who dislike them. Having said that, I want to add a personal guess, the designer of this Peach Blossom Village is probably not very popular in the Spirit Sword Sect."
Wang Lu paused for a moment and then raised his head to look at the sky.
He felt as if there were a lot of people cheering for him up in the clouds.
"Well said!"
"We have been waiting for her Divine Tribulation for a long time!"
He shook his head and refocused his thoughts. He then continued to speak, "Right now, you're in the Auntie Liu's storyline. The biggest obstacle is the Village Head's wife. If you can solve this problem, then the main task in this quest is basically complete, and you can smoothly continue the rest of the storyline. So wipe away those tears and snot, get up and get out!"
And with that, Wang Lu once again kicked him out.