Chapter 225: Preparing for the New Year

Lian Li: “…You shouldn’t be in any hurry, right?”

Yun Huizhou: “Actually, I wasn’t particularly hurried or unhurried before. But after this experience, I feel there really is no rush to take on disciples. The later, the better. If it really comes down to it, I’ll just urge my Martial Uncles and the others to take some in.”

Lian Li: “…”

Somehow, hearing him “urge” them to take disciples sounded a bit strange, almost like urging someone to have children.

Besides, what kind of martial nephew urges his uncles to take disciples just because he doesn’t want to do it himself?

Most importantly, if those three big shots wanted to take disciples, they probably would have done so long ago.

Hadn’t he seen that since the South Island Lord took in Yun Huizhou, he hadn’t taken a second disciple for over a decade? The second disciple was even taken in by Yun Huizhou on his behalf.

As Lian Li thought about this, he lay down. He was exhausted now; if Yun Huizhou hadn’t suddenly brought up the topic of disciples, he would have been asleep already.

Seeing that he wasn’t speaking, Yun Huizhou propped himself up to look at him.

Sensing Yun Huizhou approaching from above, Lian Li opened his eyes again and looked at him. “What are you doing?”

Hearing him ask this, Yun Huizhou suddenly remembered a time back on Drunken Dream Island when he had asked Lian Li what he was doing, and Lian Li had replied with a single word: “Doing.”

It had rendered him speechless at the time.

So, after a moment of thought, he gave Lian Li the same reply this time: “Doing.”

Lian Li: “…”

Lian Li rolled his eyes and said, “Not doing. I’m dying of exhaustion and I want to sleep. Another day.”

Yun Huizhou had only been teasing him anyway. Seeing that Lian Li was indeed so tired his eyes were fluttering, he didn’t continue to harass him.

After lying back down, Yun Huizhou pulled Lian Li into his arms from behind like a body pillow, nuzzled him, and closed his eyes.

Lian Li, being used as a body pillow: “…”

Whatever. As long as he could sleep, it didn’t matter.

***

After resting for a night, they went to the nearest branch of the Martial Arts Alliance.

When they learned that Lian Li had killed the Scorpion Woman less than ten days ago and had already captured the three Child-Eating Demons, the people at the branch were quite shocked.

After all, the Scorpion Woman occasionally targeted martial artists. Since martial artists had some ability to resist, there were quite a few escapees who could provide information.

But the three Child-Eating Demons were different; they only targeted young children who had no martial arts skills at all.

This resulted in a grim reality: once a child went missing, they never came back alive.

The only reason people knew these three ate children was because a female warrior, while resting in a thatched hut in the wilderness, had seen children’s bones—bones that had clearly been cooked.

Horrified, she investigated further and eventually brought the matter to light.

Unfortunately, in this world, missing children were not a rare occurrence.

Kidnappers would abduct them, or families who were too poor would sell their children but use the excuse of “kidnapping” to avoid being judged by others.

Of course, there were also those who sold their children openly, unafraid of what others might say.

Therefore, the movements of the three Child-Eating Demons were actually much harder to track than those of the Scorpion Woman.

After all, there were many reasons why a child might go missing.

Compared to the Scorpion Woman, the three Child-Eating Demon brothers were villains who had been notorious for a long time. Lian Li killing all three of them this time truly shocked many people in the Jianghu.

Anyone with a slight understanding of him knew that he had only been practicing martial arts for a little over a year.

However, this was only the beginning.

Over the next six months or so, news of heinous villains being killed by him surfaced almost every twenty days.

This reminded many people of how Yun Huizhou had been a few years ago. During that period, the villains he hunted were so terrified they didn’t dare show their faces.

It was a pity that Yun Huizhou’s pursuit of these villains had only lasted two years before he vanished for another two. If he had continued his hunt until now, he would likely be world-famous, with no one among the younger generation able to match him.

Yun Huizhou didn’t know what these people were thinking, and even if he did, he would only give a cold “oh” and continue as he was.

If he were someone who cared deeply about fame, he wouldn’t have disappeared into the grasslands for nearly two years just as his reputation was skyrocketing.

And now Lian Li was much the same. By the time they approached the border, it was already nearing the end of the year.

Yun Huizhou had stayed there for two years, so he knew that while the New Year was lively there, resources were indeed somewhat scarce. Moreover, once winter arrived, the grassland tribes would raid the border.

During his two years in the border city, he had also been on the battlefield and killed enemies.

Compared to the Central Plains, the government officials at the border were much more effective.

It seemed that this place was no longer under the strict control of the capital.

Although the South Island Lord was strict, he wasn’t a monster; he didn’t intend to deny Lian Li any rest during the New Year.

“Let’s go to the nearest city. We’ll head to the border city after the New Year. By then, it should be around March or April, and the foals will be born. Scouting for news of the herds and searching for them will take a few months, and by then, the foals will be nearly weaned,” Yun Huizhou said.

The South Island Lord almost never offered suggestions for their journey, and Lian Li felt that Yun Huizhou’s arrangements were excellent.

Thus, it was a unanimous vote to go to the nearest city to celebrate the New Year first.

Since they would be staying for a while, the three of them didn’t plan to stay at an inn. Instead, they went to a brokerage and rented a single-entry courtyard house.

Everything inside was fully equipped; they could just move in with their bags.

Last year’s New Year was spent on Drunken Dream Island, where the West Island Lord had arranged everything. Lian Li hadn’t had to worry about a thing; he and Yun Huizhou had received many gifts from their elders and were only responsible for eating.

They didn’t even have to go out to give New Year greetings.

But this year, with him, Yun Huizhou, and the South Island Lord out on their own, they had to handle the New Year preparations themselves.

After resting for two days, Lian Li felt he couldn’t slack off anymore, or else in a few more days, they wouldn’t be able to buy any New Year goods.

After deciding to wake up early the next day to go to the market, Lian Li went back to his own room to sleep that night; otherwise, he definitely wouldn’t be able to get up.

The morning market was extremely lively. Because it was close to the end of the year, there were many people buying and selling.

Since they knew no one else would be visiting them here, the things they bought were relatively casual; they only considered whether the three of them liked to eat it.

After wandering for the whole morning, the two of them didn’t buy much else, focusing entirely on food and ingredients for the upcoming New Year.

Lian Li even bought flour, planning to knead the dough and roll out dumpling skins himself.

Because they were near the border, mutton was more plentiful than in the Central Plains. Lian Li picked out several good cuts of mutton and bought plenty of spices and seasonings, planning to serve hotpot, skewers, and dumplings all at once.

Seeing how well Lian Li shopped, Yun Huizhou had assumed he would be quite good at cooking as well. He didn’t expect that on the day they started, Lian Li would deliver a total disaster.

When kneading the dough, he first added too little water, making the dough too dry.

After adding more water, he found he had added too much, and it became too thin.