Chapter 344: Fighting for Affection 2

Mo Ran silently slid out of bed and creaked open the door, just in time to catch sight of the courtyard's wooden gate slightly ajar, with a plump, white tail, soft as cotton, flickering past with a faint blue light.

For a moment, he thought he must have been mistaken, for after spending so long on South Screen Mountain, he had never seen anything like it.

What sort of monster was that?

He wanted to pursue it but stopped short when he noticed a tender green lotus leaf placed outside his bedroom threshold. In the center of the leaf rested a small wooden box, no bigger than a palm.

"This is..."

Stunned, he picked up the lotus leaf. Strangely, it emitted a delicate osmanthus fragrance, and on its surface were a few clumsily written characters in chubby, childish calligraphy:

A birthday gift for Divine Wood Immortal Lord.

Good luck, big shot; I can only help you this far.

A glutinous rice cake spirit bearing the hopes of the entire village.

Mo Ran's eyes widened in disbelief, nearly toppling over. "What? There really is such a monster called a glutinous rice cake spirit?!"

Wasn't that the fictional invention he had spun years ago to deceive Xue Meng? It actually existed? !

He couldn't help but touch his lips—had the Demon Venerated forgotten to mention that their Special Beauty Seat had some hidden talent, like a blessed mouth or something? Otherwise, how could there be such a plump, white creature with a tail, its end glowing with a tiny blue lamp?

Mo Ran stood there in a daze. Although the rice cake spirit had run too quickly for him to see its full form, he had a hunch that it was just as he had described it years ago: round and cuddly, with a large lotus leaf on top of its soft head...

After a moment's respite, he carried the box back into the house.

The room was quiet; Chu Wanning and Dog Head were still asleep, undisturbed by the unexpected nocturnal visitor. Mo Ran walked over to where Chu Wanning lay curled up, gently covering him with the blanket. He then approached Dog Head's doghouse, soothingly patting the dog twice, before sitting down at the table to examine the small wooden box more closely.

There was no trace of murderous intent or malevolence.

The aura of the supernatural was strong, but it felt friendly.

He tried to open the box, but found no keyholes or clues left by the rice cake spirit on how to do so.

Mo Ran frowned in thought. What was this box for? Was it just an ornament?

The problem was, it was worn and tattered—it wouldn't look good on display.

As if answering his unspoken question, two lines of shimmering golden seal script appeared on the lid of the small wooden box, glowing softly:

"Greetings, Master. I am a magical artifact from the Realm of Demons. They call me the Wish-Fulfilling Box."

Mo Ran was startled, nearly tumbling off his chair.

What the heck was this thing? How could it read his mind? !

"I'm not a spooky thing, I'm a beneficial one," the box continued to display new characters, slowly covering up the old ones with its gleaming golden letters. "Also, I can only perceive the thoughts of my owner – I can't see into others' minds."

It was all too surreal.

Mo Ran puffed out his cheeks and blew a few breaths, managing to compose himself. He glanced back at Chu Wanning, whose face was buried in the blankets, and at the dog-headed creature sleeping with its head under its paws. After some deliberation, he lowered his voice and asked cautiously, "So… I'm your master?"

"Yes, Master. You have been gifted with me."

Mo Ran took a moment to process this, still somewhat disoriented. "Aren't you a gift from a little demon to my Shifu?"

"That depends on your transformation of me," the wooden box erased the old text and wrote anew. "We sensed your strong desire to give Immortal Lord Divine Wood a birthday surprise, but also saw how many limitations hindered you from doing so. But now, don't worry – with me by your side, I promise to make your dreams come true."

Mo Ran pondered the hidden meaning behind its words and gradually grasped the idea—

Was it… because his sincerity had moved the spirits in the mountains? They were coming to help him fulfill his wish?

"Yes, that's right." The small wooden box seized the moment to display two more gleaming lines of text. "Don't worry, Master, with me, your birthday celebration this year will be even better than last year. Go for it!"

Mo Ran recalled the nine baskets of gold from last year and couldn't help but laugh through his tears.

"…You should aim higher, don't compare yourself to last year."

With his doubts dispelled, Mo Ran began to use the Wishing Box. As per the box's instructions, to prevent it from being accidentally activated by Chu Wanning or anyone else before his birthday, he needed to set a password. It would only respond when the correct passphrase was spoken; otherwise, it would behave like an ordinary box and not attract any attention.

"I'll set it to 'Shifu'."

"That won't do. It's too simple; it might be triggered by mistake."

The wooden box paused. "We recommend a passphrase between five and ten characters."

"Like this…" Mo Ran thought for a moment before suggesting, "How about 'Sending gold is truly foolish'?"

"Very well," the tiny wooden box responded. "I've recorded 'Sending gold is too foolish' as the passphrase to activate the Wish-Granting Box. Would Grandmaster Mo like to try it out now?"

Mo Ran eagerly nodded his consent.

In that very instant, a blinding flash of white light streaked across his vision, forcing him to shut his eyes. When he opened them again, he found himself in an entirely new and vast realm.

It was a place akin to an otherworldly utopia.

In the midst of the mountains, there were tranquil springs. He stood in a spacious clearing piled with logs. Surrounding him were ethereal clouds, rosy mist, and lush peonies floating in the air. Petals danced in the water, following the stream's current, while the landscape was dotted with peculiar, enchanting beauty.

Perched on a log sat a round, pudgy dumpling spirit, wagging its blue-flamed tail. It was amusing itself by sticking its soft, sticky left paw to its right paw. However, in its excitement, it accidentally glued its paws together and became terrified. It tugged desperately in opposite directions, but all it managed was a stretch of glutinous rice dough, unable to separate them.

Mo Ran approached and cast a separation spell. With a "pop," the dumpling spirit's paws were freed.

Relieved, it bounced on its plump, tender belly and lifted its pair of tiny green-bean eyes from beneath a lotus leaf. "Phew... I'm saved! Th-thanks so much!"

"No need to thank me. Is this the interior of the Wish-Granting Box? Are you the one who... umm..." He had intended to say "monster," but decided against it, opting for a more polite term. "The caretaker?"

"I ain't no caretaker," the dumpling spirit replied in a soft, gooey voice, yet with an unexpectedly assertive tone. "I'm the landlord, and you, you... s-silly melon!"

"?" Mo Ran was taken aback. "How can you swear like that?"

"I, I'm the most awesome, coolest, and... coolest rice cake in our village! If I want to swear, I'll swear, so what do you care!"

"..."

What an arrogant rice cake, not only did it curse, but its speech was also slurred, with no distinction between flat and sharp tones.

This creature was completely different from the shy and adorable rice cake spirit that had secretly delivered the box earlier. It seemed this one truly was the village's Rice Cake Tyrant; no wonder it had been sealed in a box by its fellow rice cakes, and none of them wanted to play with it.

The lone Gao Batian, with his head held high and hands on his hips, stared resolutely at Mo Ran, ready to counterattack at any moment.

It was an intimidating posture, but upon seeing its tiny arms and legs, and its soft, fluffy appearance, Mo Ran paused for a moment before bursting into laughter.

"Ha ha ha ha ha!" Mo Ran reached out to stroke its small head. "You're too adorable, ha ha ha ha!"

Gao Batian corrected the lotus leaf on its head that had been displaced by Mo Ran's touch, becoming even more enraged. "Don't laugh! Be serious! You insufferable creature!"

"What did you say? Sorry, ha ha ha—"

"No... Don't laugh anymore, do you hear me? I'm warning you! Your fate is now in the palm of my hand!"

Mo Ran: "..."

He really had no idea that his fate was in the hands of a dumpling. He had to use all his self-control not to burst out laughing again.

"O-okay... Cough... Huh."

"No laughing!"

After a challenging negotiation, Gao Batian and Mo Ran finally reached an agreement.

Mo Ran would no longer mock it, and in return, it had to explain the situation properly.

Gao Batian emphasized during their conversation that there were many dumpling spirits in their village, each with distinct personalities, but it was not confined in the box due to arrogance. Instead, it was because...

"I, among our village, am the best at speaking Human language, enunciating clearly, with perfect p-ronunciation! So, I was chosen by everyone to be the c-o-m-municator with the human race!"

"...You mean an envoy, right?"

"Exactly! You nailed it! It's the deceased!"

Mo Ran stared at its proudly raised head and straightened chest, holding back for a moment before bursting into laughter once more.

"AH!!!" Gao Batian stomped its tiny feet in anger. "Why are you laughing again?! You're not allowed to laugh at me!!! I've been learning how humans speak for a hundred years! No laughing! If you laugh one more time, I'll scatter you!"

To prevent Gao Batian from killing him, Mo Ran summoned the same resilience he'd shown during his interrogation by Heavenly Inquiry and suppressed his laughter once more.

"Okay, okay, I won't laugh anymore. Then, could you please tell me, how do I use this Wishing Box?"

Gao Batian clicked its beak twice and crossed its arms, regarding Mo Ran with its small green eyes. Seeing that he truly wasn't laughing anymore, it spoke, "It's simple. The space inside this box is different from the outside. Didn't you want to build a larger house for Immortal Master Divine Wood and plant some beautiful flowers and plants?"

Mo Ran nodded. "Yes, but my master thinks it's too extravagant and noisy, so they aren't keen on the idea."

"No problem." Gao Batian waved its little white paw. "Inside this box, you won't occupy any space outside, nor will you bother—"

Mo Ran promptly interrupted, speaking sternly, "It doesn't matter if you mispronounce other words, but you must get 'bother' right."

Gao Batian's little eyes spun as it tried hard to enunciate, "Bother—" BiqugeTV updates fastest https://www.biqugetv.com/ https://m.biqugetv.com/

"Quiet."

"F*ck..."

"Roll your tongue and be quiet," came the response.

Gao Batian's face paled even more as he looked up and struggled to produce a melodramatic sound, "Crap—"

Mo Ran placed a hand on his forehead. "Forget it, carry on."

Gao Batian asked, "Where was I?"

"You mentioned that by being in this box, I wouldn't take up space or disturb my Master," Mo Ran replied. "But if I were to secretly prepare a birthday feast for him, renovate the house and garden, I would still need those rare seeds, flowers, ingredients, and tools."

He smiled bitterly. "If Master found out, he'd probably say I'm being wasteful again."

"Don't worry about it," Gao Batian assured. "The things here are different from the outside world. Whether you're building a house, digging a pond, cultivating plants, or preparing ingredients... none of these require money! They all, all have to be traded with me!"

Mo Ran's eyes widened in surprise. "Traded?"

"Indeed." Gao Batian pointed at his belly, and that was when Mo Ran noticed there was actually a natural pocket on the plump, white abdomen – it was just that the bag and the belly were both too white, so it went unnoticed.

"Our human dwellings and plants aren't good-looking at all! Immortal Lord Divine Wood exudes an ethereal charm, which is much more suitable for our demon artifacts! Bring in items from the outside world and give them to me – like cloth, little flowers, or small clay figurines – and I'll exchange them for something equivalent."

"But how will I know what I'll get in return?"

"Well, t-that depends on your luck," Gao Batian replied. "B-but I'm very g-generous, so I usually won't cheat you. Y-you can try it and see for yourself."

If he was going to try, he might as well give it a shot.

But Mo Ran hadn't prepared for entering this box and was only wearing an undershirt, with no other belongings. After some thought, he simply stripped off the garment and handed it over.

"This is all I have on me. What can you exchange for it?"

Gao Batian took Mo Ran's clothing and held it up by its edges with its tiny paws, examining it carefully. "This is a garment with a history; it has seen many things."

Then, it cast a mischievous glance at Mo Ran's bare upper body, eyeing him up and down several times. Needless to say, Mo Ran's physique was excellent – his spine was straight, his waist slender, and his muscular chest bore a permanent old scar. Yet, the lines of his muscles held a wild tension, flexing and relaxing with each breath, as if suppressing the lava ready to erupt within him.

Gao Batian said, "Your build is quite nice."

Finished speaking, it lifted the inner shirt again and examined it. "This nice fabric from Mo Zongsi, I think it could be exchanged…" It muttered on, its voice fading as it crumpled the garment into its white pocket, then rummaged inside. "Ah! Got it! Just four of them!"

Curious, Mo Ran leaned over to see a cluster of shimmering pale golden grains in the little creature's soft paws.

"What's this?"

"This is the Birthday Flower of the demon race," Gao Batian said. "I think your clothes can be traded with that flirtatious flower demon for these seeds. Here, take them and try… dying with them."

"..."

Although Gao Batian was always telling him to try dying, Mo Ran didn't intend to mock it. He was very curious and, holding the seeds, went to the open space ahead. Gao Batian clattered along behind him.

"How do you plant them?"

"Just scatter them... randomly onto the ground!"

Following its instructions, Mo Ran did just that. The demon flowers were indeed extraordinary – as soon as he scattered the seeds, a vast sea of golden and silver flowers sprouted before his eyes. The golden ones resembled peonies, while the silver ones were like lilacs. Their luxurious splendor and delicate elegance intertwined like waves, sparkling in the night.

What was even more astonishing was that each peony had a female flower demon sitting in its center, holding a golden lute, and every lilac had a male flower fairy leaning against it, playing a silver flute. These tiny demons, no bigger than fingernails, had translucent wings that fluttered gently as they played, casting a dreamlike glow and iridescence upon the field of singing flowers.

"1. A single garment can get you all this?" Mo Ran was astonished.

"Gao Batian, oh my, I'm quite generous, isn't that so?" Gao Batian pushed his large lotus leaf hat proudly. "I am the most dazzling, dazzling, dazzling cub in our Steamed Rice Village!"

Mo Ran felt a ray of hope shine into his heart. He immediately exclaimed excitedly, "Then wait for me! I'll come here often these few days. I'll go out and think carefully about what else I can bring to trade with you."

With that, he couldn't wait to head back.

But then he realized he had no idea where the exit was.

Gao Batian rolled his eyes and pointed with his little paw at the path Mo Ran had come from. "Run down that way, keep running without stopping, and you'll—"

Mo Ran didn't hear the rest.

He was too overjoyed and eager to get out and find something else to bring back for Gao Batian. Gao Batian, on the other hand, tended to stutter more when he was flustered. After a long "but four," he found himself unable to utter another word. After struggling for a while, he finally managed to force out the remainder of his sentence with a burst of effort:

"But four! Not every exchange will be as profitable... Y-you should choose better items to bring in! Our Steamed Rice Village particularly adores artifacts used by Immortal Lord Divine Wood. Just now, I gave you a deal at a loss. Next time, there won't be s-such a bargain to be had, I won't—I won't do it again!"

After gasping for breath from speaking so much, he looked up.

Mo Ran was long gone.

"Gao Batian stood in the middle of the flower field, stunned for a moment. He scratched his head and muttered, "How could he run... so fast! I don't know what he'll bring... next time! What... nonsense!"

When Mo Ran opened his eyes, he found himself bounced back to the table.

But he lost his balance for a moment, and with his emotions stirred, he tumbled to the ground with a thud.

"Ahh—!"

This commotion immediately woke up the dog lying by the furnace. It abruptly stood up and started barking wildly without any consideration for the situation, "Woof, woof, woof!!"

"Shh! Dog Head, stop causing trouble!" Mo Ran hurriedly crawled over to press down on Dog Head, stroking its head. "Stop barking, or you'll wake Wanning up."

"Woo... woof, woof, woof!!"

"..."

Mo Ran was struggling to shut Dog Head's mouth when he heard rustling sounds behind him. Then, a slightly weary and impatient voice lazily echoed in the quiet, still night.

Chu Wanning lay sprawled upon his bedding, one eye half-lidded and brows knitted as he gazed at Mo Ran, his voice still rough with the remnants of sleep. "What on earth are you doing in the middle of the night, not sleeping?"

Mo Ran quickly turned back. "Wanning..."

Chu Wanning, drowsy, propped himself up, looking at him from beneath disheveled forehead hair without a word, as if he were still entirely asleep.

But as their eyes met, a sudden glint illuminated the foggy depths of Chu Wanning's gaze. Startled, Chu Wanning's eyes snapped wide open. "Why aren't you wearing any clothes?"