Chapter Forty-Nine: Collecting the Wine Beetle and Gaining Another Demon

"Book Sale Gathering?"

When Xu Wen-shan saw Xu Jing looking puzzled, he thought perhaps Xu Jing didn’t know what a book sale gathering was, so he explained, “When a new poetry collection is released at the bookshop, it’s customary to invite some renowned scholars to give lectures. Youngsters like us are also expected to present poems. Whoever wins first place is awarded a set of books. That’s what’s meant by a book sale gathering. Maybe you haven’t heard of it since you’ve lived out in the countryside. Would you like to come and see the excitement?”

Xu Wen-shan was quite amazed; he hadn’t expected such marketing tactics to exist in this era.

Xu Jing gave a wry smile and continued, “This time, the new book’s author is a fellow native of our Sha County. He’s gone to the capital to host the event, so the task of presiding here has fallen to me. I’m supposed to offer the first poem, but I haven’t thought of what to write yet.”

Xu Wen-shan patted his chest and replied, “Well then, since it’s your invitation, I must come to witness the occasion.”

Xu Jing added, “We seem to get along well today. If you ever find yourself in trouble, you can come to the County Constable’s office and say you’re a friend of Xu Jing. If it’s within my power, I’ll do what I can to help.”

In the state of Chen, the County Constable was in charge of an entire county’s security, much like the modern-day chief of police. For the chief’s family member to openly say, “If you need anything, come to the County Constable’s office,” was a weighty promise indeed. Xu Wen-shan’s impression of Xu Jing improved greatly, and he thanked him repeatedly.

As they parted, Xu Wen-shan said, “By the way, I have a question, though I’m not sure if I should ask.”

Xu Jing replied politely, “Please ask.”

A sly smile flickered across Xu Wen-shan’s face. “Should I address you as Young Master Xu, or as Miss Xu?”

Xu Jing’s face instantly turned crimson. Eyes wide, she was at a loss for words. At last, biting her lip, she flicked her riding whip and galloped away, but from horseback, she cast one more glance back at Xu Wen-shan.

Xu Wen-shan felt a pang of regret. Though these young nobles were sheltered and naive, with certain habits he found disagreeable, their hearts were good, and he shouldn’t have teased her so.

Night fell, and Xu Wen-shan checked into an inn within the city.

The inns here were nothing like those depicted in martial arts dramas; there wasn’t a single luxurious bed draped in brocade and gauze per room, but rather a shared, wide sleeping platform in each room—some could accommodate three or four people, some up to seven or eight. Most guests were traveling merchants, who journeyed in groups and, to save costs, crammed together in one room.

This arrangement suited Xu Wen-shan perfectly; he didn’t dare let Lu Ze and Spider Girl stay alone in a room.

After triple-checking the doors and windows, Xu Wen-shan sat on the bed and said to Lu Ze, “We made a promise to the Wine Bug last time: if it could drink wine within a month, it would agree to become my retainer. Why don’t you ask what it says now?”

Lu Ze nodded, pressed her ear to Xu Wen-shan’s stomach, listened, and then looked up. “It says the wine was quite good this time. Although it was a little late, it's satisfied and wants to drink more of this quality in the future.”

Xu Wen-shan scoffed, “You call that good wine? It was just fermented wine, lacking the true essence. I’ll get you some distilled liquor to try next time.”

Fermented wine didn’t count as real wine? Well, who knows where such ideas came from.

The Wine Bug agreed to become Xu Wen-shan’s retainer. With Lu Ze and Spider Girl standing guard, Xu Wen-shan employed the “Retainer Binding Technique” on the Wine Bug.

With the Wine Bug now officially under his command, Xu Wen-shan’s monster retinue had three generals: Mud Doll, Doggy, and Little Bug.

Mud Doll was not large—in fact, she had the petite figure of a young girl but the mind of a mature woman. Upper Xuan Rank, Ailwei Two.

Doggy was indeed simple-minded—apart from eating and fighting, his intelligence was nearly zero. Lower Xuan Rank, Ailwei One.

Little Bug was practically invisible, only surfacing when craving wine; otherwise, it was as if he didn’t exist. Upper Huang Rank, Ailwei One.

Xu Wen-shan had once believed that if he could capture monsters without limit, his cultivation speed would increase infinitely. But now he realized that idea was too naïve. Not only did he himself need to cultivate, but his monsters needed to as well. After taking them as retainers, his cultivation speed actually dropped below what it had been with only Lu Ze, falling to the mid-Xuan Rank.

So, it was time to redistribute resources.

After becoming a demon cultivator, he became the “demonic energy transfer center” for his monsters. He could allocate energy as he wished: the more energy one received, the faster their physique would be tempered, their meridians expanded, and their advancement accelerated.

But Xu Wen-shan discovered something else: Mud Doll was an earth-element monster, Spider Girl a wood-element monster, and Wine Bug a water-element monster. The demonic energy each produced matched their element—Mud Doll’s was earth, Spider Girl’s was wood.

Among the five elements, there was generation and overcoming; the attributes of demonic energy could support or hinder one another. Earth overcomes water—if Mud Doll’s energy was given to the Wine Bug, the conflicting elements would greatly reduce the Wine Bug’s cultivation efficiency. Water supports wood—if Wine Bug’s energy was given to Spider Girl, her cultivation would speed up considerably.

As for Xu Wen-shan himself, his body was innately of the yin aspect, outside the five elements. No matter whose energy he used, his cultivation speed was average.

This had its pros and cons: he could accept any monster as a retainer without worrying about elemental conflict, but it was hard to find a monster with the same attribute, so his own cultivation efficiency could not be improved.

After some careful consideration, Xu Wen-shan was disheartened to realize that the best current solution was to leave only a trace of energy for the Wine Bug, allocate half of the remaining energy to Spider Girl, and have Spider Girl and Lu Ze each provide half their energy to him.

After all, the Wine Bug had little combat value and didn’t need much cultivation, while Lu Ze was the strongest fighter in the group, and Spider Girl’s potential was worth cultivating.

Water supports wood—so giving Wine Bug’s energy to Spider Girl yielded the highest return. Aside from himself, Spider Girl ended up receiving the most energy among the three.

When Xu Wen-shan announced the new energy distribution plan, Doggy giggled foolishly and received a knock on the head for his trouble.

After dividing the Wine Bug’s energy, Xu Wen-shan was delighted to find it was a considerable fortune. Because he’d drunk over fifty jars of wine today, the Wine Bug had happily converted all of it into pure demonic energy.

Lu Ze fed on incense, Wine Bug on wine, Spider Girl on meat. Incense had already been converted by Xu Wen-shan into a steady source of wealth: even when far from Deer Crane Ravine, he often received refined incense energy from Lu Ze, sent from home. Wine for the Wine Bug was a bit trickier—today’s drinking spree had already been quite conspicuous, and such opportunities were rare and shouldn’t be repeated elsewhere to avoid suspicion. It would be best to brew his own wine.

Thus, Xu Wen-shan realized he truly needed to launch his distilled liquor project.

The hardest to satisfy was Spider Girl’s appetite. She was a carnivore, and whether inside or outside Deer Crane Ravine, meat was always in short supply.

When he returned, he planned to announce a hunting ban to prevent the hunters of Deer Crane Ravine from exhausting their resources. Until agriculture in the ravine was modernized, large-scale livestock farming was also unfeasible, meaning the shortage of meat would be a long-term issue.

Glaring at this meat-eater who contributed nothing, Xu Wen-shan’s annoyance flared. The blissfully meditating Spider Girl, grinning to herself, was suddenly whacked on the head by Xu Wen-shan and collapsed onto the bed, bewildered as to what she’d done to warrant his ire.