Chapter 18 : Struggle Beneath the Ancestral Roof, Met with a Smile

Chapter 18: Struggle Beneath the Ancestral Roof, Met with a Smile

“Fellow cultivators, that concludes tonight’s livestream. See you next time.”

The moment Chen Beiwu finished speaking, the phone screen instantly went black.

A string of question marks immediately popped up in the black-screen livestream chat.

“That guy is so stingy. He only streams for an hour each time. No professionalism at all,” Xu Ziqing complained.

Xu Lingling looked relieved and said, “Fishing is so boring, it’s good that it ended quickly.”

Upon hearing that, Xu Ziqing gave her friend a strange look.

“What’s wrong, did my makeup smudge?” Xu Lingling touched her face.

“You don’t usually like Chen Beiwu, right?” Xu Ziqing suddenly asked.

Xu Lingling instantly blushed, “Nonsense, who would like that stinky guy!”

“So you don’t like him,” Xu Ziqing smiled and teased, “Then I’ll go after him.”

Xu Lingling’s eyes widened, her mouth agape in bewilderment.

Immediately she stammered, “Didn’t you say when you were little that you’d cultivate into a Golden Core before getting married?”

“That was when I was childish,” Xu Ziqing propped her chin with her right hand and laughed softly. “My mom said good men are in high demand these days—when you feel your heart flutter, you have to take action, or you’ll regret it later.”

At that she looked seriously at her friend, curling her fair left hand into a fist. “I’m not afraid of missing a good fate, I’m just afraid of leaving knots in my heart. If cultivation can’t let you act freely at will, then how can you achieve immortality?”

Xu Lingling pressed her lips together, a tinge of reluctance and regret rising in her heart.

If only she had Xu Ziqing’s resolve, she wouldn’t have been stuck at Sixth-Level Qi Refining for a whole year, nor would she have missed Chen…

On the other side, Chen Beiwu arrived home just as Chen Dong was heading out for work.

“How did your catch go today?” Chen Dong glanced at the fishing box.

He knew his son’s luck was strange—he could never catch fish, but often pulled up weird things instead.

“Hehe, luck was good today—I caught a wild Forty-Kilogram Blue Fish. We can steam it or braise it,” Chen Beiwu opened the box and triumphantly pulled out a huge wriggling creature from inside.

Chen Dong looked at the fish’s head and suddenly asked, “How much is this fish per pound?”

“Not expensive—one cent per jin.” (filipino cent per Chinese pound)

The moment Chen Beiwu spoke, he realized he had blurted out the truth.

Chen Dong suppressed a laugh, then spoke earnestly, “Not bad. Fish from the market are indeed tasty.”

Seeing his father’s long-lost smile, Chen Beiwu smiled too.

Not bad, not bad. Anciently Zhou Youwang lit beacons to trick his concubine Bao Si into smiling; today, Chen Beiwu caught a fish to win a smile from Chūn Tíng.

“This fishing trip, the blue fish is just a small catch.” He deliberately looked around, then pulled Chen Dong inside, “As for the big catch, you’ll see inside.”

“Stop kidding, I still need to go to work,” Chen Dong waved dismissively.

It’s not like he hadn’t fished at Pearl River before—one can’t expect good things to be caught there.

“Dēng dēng dēng dēng!” (dramatic footsteps)

Under Chen Dong’s curious gaze, Chen Beiwu solemnly took out a metal box that looked quite old.

‘Sure enough, it’s another pile of junk copper and iron,’ Chen Dong thought.

Chen Beiwu handed the iron box over, “Dad, open it and take a look.”

Chen Dong casually opened the metal box, and the serrated leaf blade revealed inside made him freeze slightly—his arm even trembled a little.

“Where did this come from?” he asked in disbelief.

“Where else? I just caught it from the Pearl River. It hadn’t been out of the water long—see, it’s still wet inside,” Chen Beiwu tapped the Bloodface Vine.

Chen Dong paused, then queried in astonishment, “This… you can still fish a second‑tier spirit herb from the Pearl River?”

“What second‑tier spirit herb? Are you dreaming in broad daylight? Why aren’t you going to work yet?” Hearing noise from the living room, Huang Xiaoling came out.

“Wife, you have a better eye—help check if this is real,” Chen Dong said solemnly.

Huang Xiaoling stepped forward and looked; astonishment appeared on her face. “Second‑tier spirit herb Bloodface Vine, aged over a hundred years!”

“That’s impressive—I caught it!” Chen Beiwu pretended to be proud.

“Bloodface Vine is a second‑tier upper-grade water‑attribute spirit herb. It only appears in habitats of third‑tier treasure beasts, and very rarely in places where second‑tier spirit beasts fall. It’s one of the high-value second‑tier spirit herbs.

Such a special herb cannot be refined into a pill nor used by cultivators to refine and increase their cultivation level, but it can purify the bloodline and Dao‑years of water‑attribute same‑element companions. In the market, it usually sells for five hundred spirit stones.

And vines aged over a hundred years have potent medicinal power—equivalent to a second‑tier upper-grade pill—so they can fetch a high price of nine hundred spirit stones.” Huang Xiaoling recited the details, then furrowed her brows and looked Chen Dong over.

“What’s wrong—is the grade of the herb off?” Chen Beiwu feigned curiosity.

He originally intended to keep the Bloodface Vine for his yet-unmet same-element companion beast.

Unfortunately, the atmosphere at home had been strange lately—even his father had taken on brick-burning labor to exchange labor for money. It was clear they were short on spirit stones.

The Bloodface Vine liked water, liked blood, liked rust—it could remain uncorrupted underwater without losing its potency. He had thought to use this slightly risky fishing method to cleanly launder it.

“The grade is exactly right.” Huang Xiaoling spoke seriously.

At that, Chen Dong looked at his wife with hopeful eyes.

There’s salvation!

Even if the herb-store buy price was lower than market price by ten to twenty percent, it’d still be worth at least seven hundred lower-grade spirit stones—more than enough to cover surgical fees.

“This Bloodface Vine also matches your root attribute, perfect for use on your future companion beast,” Huang Xiaoling smiled.

Hearing that, Chen Dong hesitated—several times he wanted to speak, but each time was stopped by his wife’s gaze.

Chen Beiwu said plainly, “The family needs money. Let’s sell it for spirit stones first. I’ll surely fish a better spirit herb next time.”

After saying this, he turned and walked away, giving his parents no chance to refuse.

Watching their son’s disappearing figure, Huang Xiaoling and Chen Dong looked at each other.

Such good luck—if Beiwu encounters it once, it counts as fate’s favor; it’s unlikely to happen again.

“Let’s sell the Bloodface Vine.”

“Let him quit the brick‑burning job.”

Huang Xiaoling and Chen Dong spoke simultaneously.

Then they smiled at each other, all accumulated fatigue evaporated.

…

On the second floor, Chen Beiwu solemnly gazed at Iron Egg.

“Want to follow me in cultivation?”

“Woof.”

“Very good. Then do you know what’s most important when following me in cultivation?”

“Woof woof!”

“Well answered—loyalty is most important.” Chen Beiwu nodded slightly and reminded, “As they say, loyalty that’s not absolute is absolute disloyalty!”

Hearing that, Iron Egg’s ears flattened back, its tail wagging to and fro, thudding against Chen Beiwu’s calf and leaving red marks.

“Cut that out.” Chen Beiwu grabbed Iron Egg’s tail.

Besides the talent to command flame, Iron Egg also had terrifying physical strength.

At times when it acts coquettish, it’s alright, but if Iron Egg turns vicious, its tail can instantly crush stubborn rock—its destructive force comparable to the first‑tier mid-grade exotic spell “Sharp Gold Technique.”