Wait a minute, where is my master?

Before the Taoist temple

On the empty ground, a neat formation of six rows and six columns

Three rows of wild wolves, three rows of wild dogs,

As orderly as college students during military training.

When they saw Jin Xu coming up from the mountain, they uniformly raised their necks.

"Awooo~~"

"Woof woof~~~"

"Woof, awoo~~~~"

"Ao-woof~~~~~"

Their voices were rhythmic yet revealed a chaotic intonation.

After the wolf-dog "symphony" ceased, Jin Xu shouted, "Little White!" There was no need to ask; surely, it was this girl's doing.

If it were Yu Yaoer, she would have turned them all into soup.

"Ah, temple master, how's this for a welcome ceremony? Little Yu said you went out to earn money for us, so your homecoming must be grand!" Little White hopped out from behind the temple gate.

Then she added, "I trained them all day."

Jin Xu carefully looked over the group of wolves and dogs, each pair of eyes revealing exhaustion from their 996 blessings.

"Very nice, but it's not necessary," Jin Xu encouraged.

Then he tried to change the subject, "These... um, where did you find this group of wolves and dogs?"

Little White's ears only picked up the part about it being very nice, automatically ignoring the rest.

Excitedly, she reported to Jin Xu, "They are all my new underlings. Temple master, these wolves are from Wild Wolf Ridge over there, and the fattest one used to be their leader; it was he who led the pack to join me. Those dogs are from Qian Deng Town, and that Big Black dog was their former leader. Now they are all my underlings, and of course, they're your underlings too."

"..."

Jin Xu walked through the ranks of wolves and dogs and entered Xuanxu Temple.

As he walked, he said, "You went to Qian Deng Town? Right, let them disperse. They're animals after all; don't make them work overtime."

"Right, Little Yu said she was short on some ingredients for cooking, so we made a trip to Qian Deng Town. I recruited Big Black during that time. After buying the ingredients and returning, I found Fat Wolf with a bunch of underlings at the temple gate. It said it had heard my roar a few days ago and came by itself, just after you used the 'Body Purification Skill' on me."

Little White excitedly continued, then turned back and shouted towards Big Black and Fat Wolf on the empty ground outside the temple. The wolf and dog harmoniously disappeared into the nearby forest.

Jin Xu watched as his eyebrows twitched in amazement; the creatures were organized and disciplined indeed.

Meanwhile, inside, he felt somewhat worried that the two of them had gone to Qian Deng Town together—surely they hadn't caused any trouble. On second thought, he reflected that combined, they were over four hundred years old.

Why should an eighteen-year-old boy worry?

All the way to the kitchen in the backyard, Little White chattered non-stop.

She seemed to be especially excited today.

Standing at the kitchen door, Jin Xu called out, "Little Yu?"

"Ah, young master, you're back! I have..."

"No drinking!"

Yu Yaoer appeared with a chopping knife in her left hand and a bowl of colorful soup in her right, creating a rather peculiar scene as she stepped out of the kitchen.

Jin Xu cut her off before she could ask, "What's with Little White today? She seems a bit too excited."

After saying that,

He turned his head to look at the Husky that had taken on its true form beside him and was playfully chasing its own tail.

"Young master, you don't know. Today, we went to Qian Deng Town for ingredients. Some were missing, so I took Little White up the mountain to gather them. She accidentally ate a Mandala flower. Mandala is a narcotic, but it tends to excite canines, and that's what happened to her."

"But don't worry, young master. The Snow Wolf Clan's physical talents are exceptional, and Little White is into body cultivation; she should be fine by morning," Yu Yaoer said with the tone of it being a minor issue.

"..."

Jin Xu felt that perhaps he should still be concerned about them; otherwise, he had a hunch something might go wrong.

"By the way, young master, did your trip go smoothly?"

Jin Xu had told Yu Yaoer and Little White about his trip to break formations to subsidize the temple's household expenses.

"Not bad, there was a small hiccup, but I resolved the problem at its root."

Jin Xu thought about how Zhao Dabao had originally hired him to protect his acquisition of the Enlightenment Pill from a formation, so he could obtain a Spirit Root for cultivation and thus secure a successor for his father, who was under attack. Now, he had straight up used the 'Hand Palm Thunder' to blast those who wanted to attack his father.

That ought to count as solving the problem at its root.

"That's good, Young Master, I have a piece of good news and a piece of bad news. Which would you like to hear first?"

This conversation seems awfully familiar.

"The good news."

"Little White has recruited a bunch of underlings; from now on, when you come home, you will be greeted with a lined-up welcome."

Jin Xu thought to himself how this could possibly count as good news.

"And the bad news?"

"The one hundred taels of gold you gave me this morning are all gone, and we still owe some."

!!

He had only been out for one day, and just like that, one hundred taels of gold, poof, gone.

Did you secretly buy a house for yourself?

Seeing that her young master's face was off, Yu Yaoer hurriedly explained, "Hear me out, Young Master. The condiments in Qian Deng Town are terribly expensive. Just buying those ginseng, ganoderma, and hundred-year-old polygonatum cost over seventy taels of gold."

"What about the remaining twenty-plus taels?"

"Eaten."

"Eaten?"

"Yes, Young Master. You see, strictly speaking, Little White and I are your demon servants, so the underlings Little White recruited are your underlings, too. Little White trained them all day today, so naturally we had to make sure they were well-fed. The remaining twenty-plus taels all went into buying meat, which we roasted for them to eat. We even borrowed some meat from Da An Village, belch~"

Yu Yaoer couldn't help but let out a burp after explaining.

To his surprise, Jin Xu actually felt that what Yu Yaoer said made sense. It would indeed be too heartless not to feed the wolves and dogs after making them practice all day long.

But wait

This was not something he had even asked for!

Jin Xu calmed his emotions. He felt that the small shocks he received today after returning to the temple were just a bit too much.

"Huff~~~"

He took a deep breath

Having calmed his mood, Jin Xu decided to educate Little White a bit. Wolves need to hunt for themselves and can't be fed, since it's important for them to maintain their wild nature in order to survive in the wild.

Turning his head, he looked at the Husky still chasing its own tail.

Well, never mind.

Jin Xu returned to his room and placed the bottle of Soul Nourishing Liquid that he had been holding onto the table.

He then started his own cultivation plan.

...

The night passed.

The young Taoist picked up the jade bottle on the table, pushed open the room door, and the early morning sunlight shone on his handsome face, creating a picture of breathtaking beauty.

He took a deep breath—the morning air in the woods seemed to carry a certain sweetness, making him feel refreshed.

Jin Xu walked out of his room.

Looking at every grass and tree, every brick and tile in the small backyard, he felt an increased sense of familiarity.

Unfortunately, the old Taoist who had that immortal aura and otherworldly temperament, who loved to sit under the Big Willow Tree drinking tea and reading, was still not there.

However, there was the Husky, still chasing its own tail in circles.

"..."

The medicine from that Mandrake Flower is quite potent.

The young Taoist walked to the Big Willow Tree, not minding Little White, who was circling around.

If Yu Yaoer said she's fine, then she must be fine.

Apart from cooking and strength, where the Little Fish Demon doesn't excel, she's pretty reliable in other areas.

Jin Xu looked at the Soul Nourishing Liquid in his hand.

He decided to give it a try.

He wondered if this stuff would work on the injuries of his family's Guardian Spirit.

ps: Since it's a new week and we need to reset the rankings, I'm releasing two chapters together.

I'm shamelessly asking for monthly votes, recommendations, and rewards. If we can get into the top ten of the newcomer category, the author will add more chapters!