Anyway, he more or less understood. Nan Zhu reluctantly picked up a grid frame that resembled a steamer basket, turned it over to examine it, and asked, “Is this the only type?”
Yu Qing said, “Take two of them. Just compare them and copy what needs to be done.”
Nan Zhu sighed heavily. “Ah, Old Fifteen, what can we even say to you? Honestly, with one dramatic situation after another, do you have any idea how many times we have been on edge with you? This constant cycle of near death and recovery, we are genuinely getting a bit scared.”
Yu Qing reassured him, “Do not worry, there is no real danger here. At worst, they will not give it to us, and at worst, we will not get it. Alright, hurry up, stop dawdling. We only have ten days, and there is still a lot to do.”
So Old Seven and Old Nine jumped onto the cave entrance, went inside, and then both drew their swords.
Nan Zhu stood at the entrance, drew his sword halfway out to look at it, shook his head and sighed, seemingly thinking about how his sword was about to become a carpenter tool.
The two came down, each carrying a grid frame, then scaled the cliffs and flew straight to the mountain top to start doing carpentry.
Yu Qing looked around, then directly carried his grid frame and flew up into a peach tree. He began picking peaches, placing each one he picked into the frame.
Less than an hour later, Xu Juening and Tang Bulan hurried over. They found Yu Qing darting up and down the peach tree. Looking at the stacked trays of immortal peaches under the tree, the two were somewhat speechless.
Tang Bulan looked up and shouted to the tree, “Ah Shiheng, what are you doing?”
Yu Qing glanced down at the tree. Their arrival was exactly what he expected. “I have told you my name is Yu Qing. I no longer go by that Ah Shiheng nonsense. How many times do I have to repeat it before you change it?”
Tang Bulan asked, “What on earth are you doing?”
Yu Qing replied, “Is it not obvious? I am picking immortal peaches.”
Xu Juening kicked the grid frame with his foot. “Why pick immortal peaches?”
Yu Qing said, “I am sorry, your clearance level is too low, so I cannot tell you for now. When Mr. Qiansi returns, you will naturally find out.”
“…” Xu and Tang had no idea what he was talking about.
However, since he had mentioned Meng Po, and they did not know what Meng Po would think, they indeed found it hard to say anything at the moment.
They would certainly have to report this matter, so they did not linger long and left.
Afterwards, two more groups arrived one after another. They asked the same questions as Xu and Tang, wanting to know what was going on, and naturally received roughly the same answers.
After watching them leave, Yu Qing, sitting in the tree, instead fell into deep thought.
At the same time, Mu Aotie arrived, carrying a large stack of finished grid frames. He placed them under the tree and was about to leave.
Yu Qing, still in the tree, called out, “Old Nine, tell Old Seven to stop making them for now. Both of you come back first.”
Mu Aotie was puzzled, but he did not talk much. He simply replied with an acknowledgement and left.
Not long after, he returned together with Nan Zhu.
As soon as Nan Zhu returned, he immediately started talking loudly. “Old Fifteen, what is going on now? What happened?”
Yu Qing flipped down from the tree and pondered aloud, “Representatives from all three factions just came to ask what was happening, and I sent them away. I have been thinking, and our current pace is still too slow. Let us put the carpentry on hold for now and pick the peaches as quickly as possible. The picked peaches will not spoil for a while, so we can just leave them under the tree. Let us finish picking the peaches quickly first, and then we can slowly return to the carpentry work later.”
Nan Zhu thought about it and agreed. He had no objections, so the three of them started working this way.
Yu Qing and Mu Aotie both climbed the trees. They jumped around quickly to pick the fruit, throwing the picked peaches straight down. Nan Zhu caught them below and piled everything under the tree.
“Over there, over there, there is another one, and another one over there.”
Nan Zhu occasionally directed the two jumping around in the canopy from below.
Working together like this, their picking speed became incredibly fast. Once they gained experience and became proficient, they could easily strip a single tree in about twenty seconds. The three of them treated it like martial arts practice, with Nan Zhu constantly twisting and dodging his stout waist.
They moved relentlessly from tree to tree. Every time they finished one, a pile of peaches inevitably accumulated beneath it.
By late afternoon, the immortal peaches from over a thousand peach trees had been completely stripped by the three of them. Peaches that had hung on the branches for who knows how many years suddenly vanished.
Under the evening glow, Nan Zhu wiped the sweat from his forehead and sighed, “Finally finished picking them.”
They had been working non-stop for nearly a whole day. No matter how high their cultivation was, their mortal bodies still felt tired.
Yu Qing, however, said, “Do not rush to rest yet. We must also hurry up and dig up the peach trees.”
“Dig up peach trees?”
Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie exclaimed in unison, clearly somewhat shocked by the idea.
Yu Qing said, “If we are taking the immortal peaches out anyway, what is wrong with taking some peach trees along with them?”
Nan Zhu replied, “No, do you even realise how many peaches we have picked? I did a rough estimate, and it is far more than we originally thought. I reckon there are at least a hundred thousand. Do you know how much space a hundred thousand peaches of that size will take up when packed? The Little Cloud Realm will only remain open for a limited time. It is already troublesome enough to move them out of the realm, let alone transport them away. Now you also want to take a whole pile of peach trees out? Even if we manage to get them out, figuring out how to transport them will be a massive headache.”
Mu Aotie also said, “Old Fifteen, do not be too greedy.”
Yu Qing looked genuinely confused. “You could not be driven away, and you insisted on coming along. If you were not greedy, why would you come here in the first place? We cannot get the other treasures in the Little Cloud Realm, so what is wrong with taking some things they do not need? Besides, what trouble could there possibly be? As long as we can get the things out of the Little Cloud Realm, I can even pass through the realm itself. I refuse to believe I cannot figure out a way to transport them.”
Nan Zhu spoke earnestly, “My dear ancestor, we are not afraid of a little hard work. The problem is that taking these peach trees out is incredibly difficult. For starters, we cannot grow them. Do you really think you can just plant them anywhere and they will produce immortal peaches this large? Even growing spiritual rice requires setting up a spirit gathering formation, let alone planting immortal peaches that are so rich in spiritual energy.”
Yu Qing said, “Do not worry, I already have the right person in mind to help us grow them. Alright, stop talking nonsense. I have my own plans. I cannot explain it clearly to you right now. Let us just focus on getting the things out first. If we cannot get them out, all this talk is pointless.”
Mu Aotie sighed. “Old Fifteen, if you take these things out, what will the three factions think of us? They consider these items useless, yet we insist on taking them. It will be hard for them not to suspect us.”
Yu Qing replied, “I told you, I have my own methods. Stop talking nonsense and just help me dig up the peach trees. You do not need to worry about the transportation or anything else. I will figure out the rest on my own. Can you just let me handle it without troubling yourselves?”
Nan Zhu said, “It is not that we do not want to help. Look at how huge these peach trees are. It is not as easy as you think to move them. It is simply impossible to transport them. If they are left dug up for too long without proper handling, they will definitely die.”
Yu Qing countered, “What about that crooked neck peach tree at the cave entrance? I dug it up ages ago, and has it died?”
Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie were both left speechless. They remembered how, half a year ago, this fellow had nothing better to do and stubbornly uprooted that deformed peach tree at the cave entrance, laying it flat. That fallen tree was still half alive to this day.
Only then did they realise that Old Fifteen had most likely been plotting to take peach trees out half a year ago. Otherwise, why would he water that uprooted crooked tree every day? He must have been running experiments all along.
Yu Qing spoke calmly again, “I am not that greedy. It is impossible to take all the peach trees here, and I cannot do it anyway. Picking peaches is one thing, but if we dug up every tree, they would never agree to it. They would stop us long before we finished.
We must hurry. Let us just focus on the small peach trees on the edges, the ones that are not too tall or large. Any small tree that has already started bearing fruit, we will dig up as many as we can. Those are easier to move. Do not bother with the tiny ones. No one knows how many years it takes for them to blossom and bear fruit. Given our current abilities and energy, it is safer to just take what is already ready. Alright, just help me with the work. I will handle the rest, so do not worry about it. If all else fails, I will pay you wages later, one hundred thousand taels each. Does that work? But let me make one thing clear upfront, all the items belong to me!”
“Where would you get one hundred thousand taels? Can you even find half a tael of silver on you right now?”
“What if I mortgage my main share to you instead?”
“…”
Soon, the three of them ran to the edge of the basin and started digging up the small peach trees. They uprooted them one by one, soil and roots intact, and worked enthusiastically.
They worked through the night without stopping. When it became too dark, they simply planted torches in the ground and kept going…
The stars and moon reflected on the lake. By the shore, flames roared, with numerous bonfires burning brightly.
Some rested and chatted around the bonfires, while those on shift continued working busily in the deep pits dug underground.
Three figures flew over together from a distance. Upon arriving, they hurriedly rushed to their respective camps.
After receiving the new report, Meng Po, Xiang Lanxuan, and Tian Yu all rushed to the iron house at the first opportunity.
The three met at the door. Xiang Lanxuan, who arrived last, asked as soon as she saw the other two, “You both know, right? That fellow has stripped all the immortal peaches.”
Tian Yu nodded. “We know. Now he has started digging up the peach trees as well.”
All three wore doubtful expressions.
When they first learned about the peach picking, none of the three factions had intervened. They thought those three fellows were finally showing abnormal activity. They all shared the same unspoken agreement to let their subordinates ignore it for now, and only increase surveillance.
But the report that just arrived told them that all the immortal peaches had been completely picked!
The three were somewhat stunned. Judging by the time it took for the messages to travel back and forth, even if they had ordered a stop earlier, it would probably be too late by the time the message got through. Those three fellows would likely have picked most of the peaches anyway.
The problem now was that those three had started digging up the peach trees again.
Xiang Lanxuan said, “From the way that fellow is acting, it feels like he is packing things up. Could they possibly be trying to pack both the immortal peaches and the peach trees to take them out of the Little Cloud Realm together?”
Meng Po replied, “It seems to be exactly that. Did he not even make boxes to pack them in? The question is, what does he want to do with them once they are out? They are all tainted by evil energy and cannot be eaten or used. Do they have a way to neutralise the evil energy within them?”
Tian Yu fell silent for a moment before saying, “Then let us wait and see. Let us see what they actually intend to do. Was that not the very reason you were holding back before?”
Xiang Lanxuan retorted, “Have you gone mad? If the peaches are picked, they can still grow back. But if the trees are uprooted completely, how do we fix that? Regardless of whether they are tainted by evil energy or not, we must at least have the physical objects left there. What if the higher authorities have a way to resolve it? If we wipe them out completely from the start, it will be indefensible no matter how you look at it. Wait and see? What are you still waiting for? Later, will you be able to explain this to your Great Sage, or will the two of us be able to answer to our superiors?”
Meng Po said gravely, “Order them to stop immediately!”