My Dreams Connect to Ancient Times

Chapter 250: Chapter 73: I Am a Jade Void Disciple, the Supreme Is Also My Master

...

In East Sea City.

"These damn crooks, they get greedier by the day!" Butcher Zheng cursed. "Back when I was selling pork, it was eighteen a pound. I just went and bought two pounds, and they charged me fifty!" 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

He grumbled all the way home. Looking around, he asked:

"What are you doing?"

Sister Zheng was cracking sunflower seeds, her eyes glued to the TV as she clicked her tongue in amazement.

"Watching the news. The local station cut in with a special report. Said something about our Federation’s Grand Speaker visiting East Sea City... Old Zheng, what do you think these bigwigs are thinking? Why would they want to visit a small place like ours?"

"Who the hell knows!" Butcher Zheng rolled his eyes. "It’s got nothing to do with us, anyway. All I want to know is why the price of pork is shooting up so fast!"

He plopped down on the sofa, still fuming, and said sulkily:

"If I’d known, I would’ve just kept selling pork. Dammit..."

"Oh, stop it. Isn’t this life good enough?" Sister Zheng shot him a sidelong glance. "For someone like you to get a job at the Inspectorate, that’s the kind of luck you build up over eight lifetimes! Why don’t you just quit and go back to selling pork?"

"Never mind, never mind!" Butcher Zheng waved his hands dismissively, then said sheepishly, "The Inspectorate is better, it’s just... I can’t really get the hang of this desk job. It’s so complicated..."

He paused, then yawned.

"It was fine at first. Director Ji knows Xiaoxuan, so he hired me as a favor to him and treated me really well. But now, Director Ji’s been suspended..."

"Suspended?" Sister Zheng was a little surprised, but she didn’t dwell on it. Her thoughts drifted. "We haven’t seen Xiaoxuan in a while. I wonder how that kid is doing."

"I’m sure he’s doing great!" A smile appeared on Butcher Zheng’s face. "He went to study at the Provincial Capital, at Langya University... Tsk, I was thinking of taking a trip to the Provincial Capital on my next vacation to see Xiaoxuan."

He smacked his lips and added:

"Hmm, when the time comes, I’ll have Old Chen roast a batch of chestnuts and get Old Li to bake some of his best sweet potatoes..."

"Oh, give me a break!" Sister Zheng said with contempt. "You’d actually show up with just that?"

"What does an old broad like you know? Xiaoxuan’s studying in the big city; he definitely can’t get this kind of stuff there. He’s probably craving a taste of home!"

Butcher Zheng muttered defensively:

"I remember! Back then, Xiaoxuan’s favorite things to buy were sugar-roasted chestnuts, and then baked sweet potatoes... Old Chen told me once, Xiaoxuan bought a whole huge bag of chestnuts in one go!"

"Who are you calling an old broad?!" Sister Zheng’s eyes flew open. She grabbed a stool, looking as fierce as an evil god. Butcher Zheng shuddered, clutched his head, and dove under the bed.

...

"Old Zhu, have they arrived?"

Lu Xuan asked with a wide smile as he walked straight into the back room of the tavern.

Zhu Wuneng twitched his nose, and his pupils contracted slightly as he caught the scent of the Peach of Immortality on the young man.

’Good heavens,’ ’in this day and age, this person can still get his hands on a Peach of Immortality!’

He forced a smile onto his face and said cheerfully:

"We’ve been cooped up in Gouxian Town for tens of thousands of years, almost driven mad. Yang Erlang and the others are traveling the world now. I only just notified them, and without giving a reason, so they’re making their way over slowly... It’ll still be some time!"

"Alright." Lu Xuan gave a calm smile. "There’s no rush. But I need to make a trip to East Sea City... Uncle Zhu, will you come with me?"

He actually had many questions in his heart. For instance, why were both Supreme Profound Clarity and Supreme Emperor Profound Yellow said to be calamities? Why was there a fracture in the flow of Years, and why had the Immortal Gods vanished...

’These few must have personally experienced the great change that fractured the Years. Although I don’t know their status among the Immortal Gods, I imagine it must be quite high.’

Zhu Wuneng’s fat quivered. The smile on his face was uglier than a grimace, and he gave a very reluctant nod.

"Since Venerable Fusheng has invited me personally, how could this Old Zhu dare to refuse?"

As he spoke, he inwardly swallowed. ’This Venerable Fusheng is the most mysterious Thirteenth Immortal of Jade Void Palace. He has never once shown himself before others, and there was no trace of him even during that world-shattering calamity.’

’And now, he can walk the Human World freely...’

The smile on Zhu Wuneng’s face grew even uglier.

Lu Xuan, however, just smiled placidly.

"In that case, please accompany me, Uncle Zhu... Oh, right, I haven’t yet asked. What was your immortal name back in the Ancient Times, Uncle Zhu?"

Zhu Wuneng was taken aback for a moment, but then he understood. ’This person must have been hidden away in Jade Void Palace, uninvolved with worldly affairs for ten thousand upon ten thousand years. Even Yang Erlang has never met him. It’s only natural he wouldn’t know about things outside.’

He considered for a moment, then cupped his hands and said:

"Back in the Celestial Court, I commanded a division of the Navy and was honored with the title of Marshal Tianpeng... Not to be confused with the True Saint Tianpeng from the North Pole Palace, it’s just a coincidence. Later, I entered the Buddhist Sect at Spirit Mountain and served for a time as the Purification Envoy..."

Lu Xuan was slightly surprised. Marshal Tianpeng? Purification Envoy?

With a turn of his thoughts, he remembered where he had heard those names before. When he had just joined the Taishang Lineage, he had researched some information about ’Supreme Laojun’.

He had found very little, and for a time, he had assumed his master was an Alchemy Official in the Celestial Court...

If he recalled correctly, among the ancient texts he had browsed back then, a fragmented scripture called [Journey to the West] seemed to mention this name...

Thinking of that fragmented [Journey to the West] scripture, Lu Xuan recalled that the text mentioned a Great Saint of the Demon Race named ’Sun Wukong’ who had toppled his master’s Alchemy Furnace...

At this thought, Lu Xuan asked curiously:

"Hmm, then Uncle Zhu, have you ever heard the name ’Sun Wukong’?"

The broad smile on Zhu Wuneng’s face froze. He was clearly taken aback.

After a long moment, he spoke with a strange expression:

"Of course I know him. Couldn’t be more familiar... I thought the Supreme Venerable was a recluse who knew nothing of the outside world, but I didn’t expect you’d heard of Brother Monkey’s name."

Saying this, Zhu Wuneng gave a goofy grin, puffed out his chest, and with a look of ’shared glory’ on his face, declared proudly:

"I won’t hide it from you, Venerable Fusheng. Brother Monkey is my senior brother! He holds the title of Great Sage Equal to Heaven, as well as the honorific of Victorious Fighting Buddha..."

"Your senior brother?"

Lu Xuan’s expression turned dangerous.

"The monkey who toppled my master’s Alchemy Furnace is your senior brother?"

"...Huh??" Zhu Wuneng’s smile froze again. Three question marks popped up over his head, his small eyes wide with confusion.

"You..." After a long pause, the fat old man shrank his neck and said blankly, "Aren’t you a Jade Void Disciple? When did Brother Monkey ever topple Grandmaster Yuqing’s Pill Furnace? Grandmaster Yuqing doesn’t even do alchemy..."

After a moment’s thought, he managed to add:

"Supreme Venerable, you must have misunderstood something. Brother Monkey might be reckless, but he’s not so reckless that he’d run off to Jade Void Palace to cause trouble. Grandmaster Yuqing would never put up with his antics!"

Lu Xuan’s eyes narrowed even further, his expression growing more dangerous. He said lightly,

"I’m talking about the monkey who toppled the Supreme Pill Furnace... Did such a thing happen?"

Zhu Wuneng’s eyes went wide, completely bewildered.

"Oh, that. Yes, that did happen... But doesn’t the Supreme Pill Furnace belong to the Supreme? Venerable Fusheng, you..."

"I am a Jade Void Disciple, but the Supreme is also my master," Lu Xuan said coolly.

The moment he spoke, the flame on the Cyan Lamp floating in the sea of his consciousness flared violently, as if to conceal something, burning away several intermittent strands of escaping Cause and Effect.

And in the Current World, the dumbfounded fat old man nearly choked, his chubby face turning red as he gasped for breath, his fat trembling all over.

A favorite quote from Zhu Wuneng:

"Huh???"