Chapter 118: Strange

Yonglu Mountain was far too famous in Langyuan City. To avoid unnecessary trouble, Bian Chunzhou always changed into ordinary robes whenever he went down the mountain to shop, and this time was no exception. The shop assistants at Handan Pavilion were all in the Qi Refining Stage, so they could easily tell that the two of them were cultivators, but the old woman before them clearly had not realized it.

Yet it was very strange. Although this old woman was an ordinary mortal, she was enveloped in a faint, pure spiritual aura.

Bian Chunzhou couldn’t help but steal another glance at the two dresses Chen Zuizui was holding. They were neither quite yellow nor quite green, and they even cast a strange, eerie fluorescent glow. Were they really good-looking?

But since the dresses were for Chen Zuizui’s mother, the final decision naturally lay in Chen Zuizui’s hands.

As for Chen Zui, he didn’t really care. Besides, as a native of the cultivation world, he wasn’t surprised at all by customs like Marrying the Divine Tree. “Which one do you want? Choose for yourself.”

The old woman chose the wide-sleeved robe with a cloud collar. “Thank you, young masters. This one is more solemn. I will take this one.”

Bian Chunzhou looked at it. Well, if he had to choose between the two, he would have chosen this one as well. But this set of clothing was not cheap for a mortal. Even though Handan Pavilion allowed returns and exchanges, marrying the Divine Tree was tonight. If she bought the wrong thing, it would be bad.

“Old grandmother, are you absolutely sure you want this one?”

“There’s no mistake, this color looks best in the dark of night.” The old woman stroked the dress in her hands as if it were a precious treasure. “There’s no mistake, indeed. Young master, are you curious why an old woman like me chose this green outfit?”

So she wasn’t red-green colorblind after all, Bian Chunzhou thought. She had targeted this color on purpose. In that case, there was no issue.

“My apologies. I was being presumptuous.”

The old woman waved her hand. “No, not at all. Marrying the Divine Tree is a unique custom of our Xiaoshu Village. It is only natural that you two young masters do not know of it.”

Xiaoshu Village? What a simple and straightforward name.

The old woman paid and quickly left Handan Pavilion. Chen Zui went back and picked… well, a dark purple wide-sleeved robe. How should one put it? “Can’t you pick a more normal color?” Bian Chunzhou asked.

“You don’t understand. My mother absolutely hates wearing the same thing as others.”

Fine, but this color was simply too old-fashioned. Chen Zuizui’s mother was a cultivator, so she must have retained her youthful looks. Any cultivator wearing this color would have to be at least a Tribulation Stage ancestor, wouldn’t they? “Why don’t you think it over again?”

“No need. Just these two. Wrap them up.”

Seeing that he couldn’t persuade him, Bian Chunzhou let it drop. After all, compared to that dung-green sash dress, this dark purple one was still much better.

The two dresses and a chest of spiritual wine were packed away using a disposable storage talisman. Chen Zui racked his brains to write a letter to go with them, and then sent it home via one of the city’s spirit pigeons.

Bian Chunzhou thought to himself that express delivery in the cultivation world was incredibly convenient. If a family had enough resources, they could even use a two-way teleportation array to send things instantly. It was truly fast and convenient.

“Let’s go, let’s go. I almost forgot our main task. I need to check the accounts at the shop.”

The reputation of Gongshang Bistro had already spread. After three years of development, it had become a famous restaurant in the city. The small building they had rented back then had been rebuilt, and now it was the most eye-catching spot on the entire street. Anyone coming for its reputation could not possibly mistake it.

Boss Bian’s favorite part of the business was collecting the revenue. After all, who wouldn’t love the feeling of money lining their pockets?

“Since we’re already here, let’s eat before we head back.”

Chen Zui: …I knew it.

The two sat down, and the shopkeeper brought the dishes over himself. “Boss, the new dishes we introduced recently have been selling incredibly well. Do you think we should stock up on more ingredients?”

Chen Zui buried his head in his food, too lazy to listen to his friend’s business talk. But by the time he finished eating and looked up, the talk of business had already shifted to gossip about Xiaoshu Village.

It couldn’t be helped; Boss Bian was a massive gossip. While it wouldn’t have been polite to ask about Marrying the Divine Tree right to the old woman’s face, there was no harm in asking someone else to satisfy his curiosity.

“Xiaoshu Village? Boss, do you mean the Xiaoshu Village in the deepest part of Fangjia’ao?”

Bian Chunzhou instantly perked up. “What? You know of it, Shopkeeper?”

“I know of it, but that village is rather strange. Ordinary folks wouldn’t go there.” Speaking of Xiaoshu Village, the shopkeeper’s face grew secretive. But then he remembered his boss was a cultivator, so what was there to fear? He continued, “According to my wife, Xiaoshu Village has always followed an ancient wedding custom. Every year on the twenty-sixth day of the eleventh month, which is tonight, past midnight, the girls of marriageable age in Xiaoshu Village marry the Companion Trees they have grown since childhood. Only then can they enjoy lifelong happiness, prosperity, and longevity.”

“Huh? How could a human have a Companion Tree?” Bian Chunzhou thought to himself. Being born with jade in one’s mouth was ridiculous enough, but how could someone be born alongside a tree?

“That’s what they say, but in truth, Xiaoshu Village was built around a Divine Tree. As for how it was built, I don’t know. I only know that this tree protects the entire village. Many, many years ago, there was a terrible rainstorm in that mountain valley. Mud and rocks poured down the mountainside, causing countless casualties in the surrounding villages, yet only Xiaoshu Village remained completely unscathed. People said it was the protection of the Divine Tree.”

“If that’s the case, why do you say it’s strange?”

“The so-called Companion Trees are said to grow from seeds dropped by the Divine Tree. Whenever a baby girl is born in the village, the Divine Tree drops a seed. The family takes the seed back and plants it around the village. If the seed survives, the girl must marry the Divine Tree when she turns fourteen. Only two years after the ceremony is completed can she marry freely.”

So that was how it was. No wonder the old woman had looked so delighted.

“And what if the seed doesn’t survive?”

“Then… the girl will die young. She simply won’t survive.”

Huh? Was it really that eerie?

Goosebumps broke out on the backs of Bian Chunzhou’s hands. “Has there never been an exception?”

The shopkeeper smiled. “Boss, you’ve stumped me with that question. How would I know? My wife just loves to gossip about domestic matters, and these rumors are just passed around blindly. Although Xiaoshu Village sounds strange, it’s very remote and rarely intermarries with the outside world. No one really knows what it’s actually like inside.”

The reason the rumor spread was simply because people found the idea of marrying a tree bizarre. They had heard of the saying “marry a chicken, follow a chicken; marry a dog, follow a dog^[1],” but they had never heard of marrying a tree and following a tree. “Men from the outside don’t dare to marry girls from Xiaoshu Village. I heard that a daughter’s dowry from Xiaoshu Village is always a tree. They say that as long as the tree is transplanted and planted behind the house, the Divine Tree will bless the girl to have a smooth life in her husband’s home.”

“…And how do you know that?”

“I don’t know for sure. I only heard that someone did marry one. Later, that man made a fortune and told everyone the Divine Tree brought him luck. But he was murdered soon after, and all his wealth went to his wife.”

Bian Chunzhou: …Fine, rumors really can’t be trusted.

“Is Xiaoshu Village very remote? How remote?”

The shopkeeper knew this well. “Extremely remote. It’s almost out of our Langyuan City’s borders. They say if you walk just a few more steps, you’ll cross into the neighboring Xishan City.”

So remote? “Isn’t there the Tenfold Mountains between Langyuan City and Xishan City?”

“Exactly. Xiaoshu Village is right inside the Tenfold Mountains. The climate in those mountains is damp, and the soil is loose. Eventually, all the other residents moved out, leaving only Xiaoshu Village still living inside.”

Bian Chunzhou’s heart suddenly skipped a beat. “How long would it take for a regular person to get from the city to Xiaoshu Village?”

“If they’re fast on their feet, it would probably take about three days and nights. After all, it’s deep in the mountains, and you can’t take a carriage…” The shopkeeper rambled on, completely missing the look of shock on his boss’s face.

“Chen Zui-zui, do you remember? The old woman we just met who asked you for the clothes. She was completely clean, without a single trace of damp mountain mud on her. And she… said it was tonight, didn’t she?”

Chen Zui hadn’t actually paid close attention, but cultivators had excellent memories, so he still remembered what the old woman had said. “It’s tonight. You didn’t misremember.”

This… Well, this was bad. Listening to gossip had actually turned up trouble.

Bian Chunzhou scratched his head. “Do you think she might be bluffing us? Could she be a cultivator?” If she were a cultivator, then there would be no problem.

“It’s possible.”

Bian Chunzhou reluctantly found a reason to convince himself. But if she were a cultivator, even one living in seclusion, she was within the territory protected by Yonglu Mountain. How could Yonglu Mountain have absolutely no record of her?

After returning to the mountain, the more he thought about it, the stranger it felt. In the end, he simply ran off to Kaiyuan Peak to ask around.

Unfortunately, he asked several familiar senior brothers and sisters, but none of them knew anything about Xiaoshu Village or the custom of Marrying the Divine Tree. However, the cultivation world was vast, and all kinds of bizarre customs existed. The senior disciples all said that some small villages had very eccentric customs. For instance, one senior brother had once wandered into a village while out on an experiential journey. The people there were required to wear masks in their daily lives. If a man in the village was skilled at making masks, he would be highly sought after by every family. Not knowing this at the time, that senior brother had made quite a few beautiful masks and given them away as gifts, and he had barely managed to make it back.

“Can we move past this? It’s ancient history. Why are you bringing it up again?”

“Well, Junior Brother Xiaozhou didn’t know about it. Besides, aren’t I praising your craftsmanship? Right?”

Bian Chunzhou: …Keep it coming, keep it coming.

“Alright, alright, I’ll stop talking about it,” the senior sister begged for mercy. “Junior Brother Xiaozhou, if you’re really curious, why not just go to Xiaoshu Village and take a look? You’re a cultivator, after all. It shouldn’t take you much time to get there. Going to take a look to put your mind at ease shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Is that okay? It’s almost all the way to Xishan City.”

“That far? Could this village be inside the Tenfold Mountains?” the senior sister asked in astonishment. “There’s actually a village in that place? I’ve never heard of it. Tell you what, how about I take you there for a trip?”

This senior sister was named Xiang He, and she possessed a late Foundation Establishment cultivation. Her job was to manage the records and censuses of the various cultivator sects and clans, big and small, around Yonglu Mountain. Hearing that there might be a cultivator in this village, she figured there was no harm in making a trip.

“Is that okay?”

“Of course. Just wait a moment. We can head out as soon as I finish processing this batch of jade slips.”

Senior Sister Xiang He was truly a woman of action. Thus, just as the sun was setting, the two of them departed from Yonglu Mountain and headed toward the Tenfold Mountains. Of course, before leaving, he didn’t forget to notify Chen Zui-zui.

Upon receiving the Transmission Talisman, Chen Zui thought: …As expected of you, Junior Brother Bian.