A Mortal’s Immortal Gourd
Chapter 71: Feather Mountain

Since Ergouzi was captured, the county government sent Constable Wang, accompanied by several officers, straight to Shekou Mountain to raid Ergouzi’s home.  

Constable Wang rushed there at full speed.  

Raiding the home of a Qi cultivation practitioner—just imagine the huge potential gains inside.  

Especially since last time, when he drank the jujube tea at Ergouzi’s place, the spiritual energy was so strong; he wondered if there was still some left.  

Taking advantage of the raid, he planned to search thoroughly, even if it meant digging three feet underground.  

When these government agents, as fierce as wolves, arrived at the foot of Shekou Mountain, they were stopped by a group of ragged villagers.  

“You stubborn rabble, get out of the way!”  

Constable Wang shouted loudly at the crowd.  

In the past, just their appearance was enough to quiet crying children and make everyone tremble and step back.  

“The master ordered that no one is allowed to go up the mountain.”  

Qiuyue, appointed by Ergouzi as the leader, had no choice but to step forward and speak bravely.  

However, the trembling at her pant legs revealed her inner fear and anxiety, trembling uncontrollably.  

“Get out of my way!”  

Constable Wang drew his waist knife and was about to force his way forward.  

“Do you people have no respect for the law?”  

But Qiuyue and her people still stood firm, not retreating an inch.  

“We were all bought by the master. As women, we don’t understand the law—we only know the master.”  

Qiuyue’s words quickly gained cheers from the crowd.  

“Yes, we belong to the master, only listen to the master.”  

“What law? When we were starving to death, where was the law then?”  

“It’s the master who gave us a meal and a chance to live.”  

“My life was given by the master…”  

The moment these people were forced into selling themselves at the market, they had already accepted death or a life worse than death.  

Unexpectedly, after being bought by the master, they didn’t become human meat, weren’t sold into brothels, and were even better off than servants in wealthy households.  

To them, Ergouzi was the sky above their heads.  

Facing a crowd of over a thousand enraged people, Constable Wang and his officers truly felt a chill on their scalps.  

But these usually domineering officers would never give in to rabble.  

Constable Wang raised his waist knife and slashed at Qiuyue, cutting her down to the ground.  

Ergouzi’s followers were already in a frenzy; seeing blood was like pouring gasoline on fire.  

“Kill them!”  

Someone shouted, and the crowd wildly swung sticks at the officers.  

There were too many people; those far away threw stones inside.  

Huang Fugui also grabbed a firewood stick and tried to squeeze in to fight the officers.  

Huang Laocai behind him tried to hold him back but failed.  

“Son, you’re different from them. Killing officers is like rebellion—it’s punishable by extermination of your entire family.”  

But Huang Fugui had suffered enough at the hands of officers in prison; his legs were crippled, and his heart was full of hatred.  

In his fury, he wasn’t listening.  

Although Constable Wang had some cultivation, it was not high—only slightly stronger than ordinary people. Two fists couldn’t withstand four hands, let alone thousands of people.  

He swung his waist knife and took down several villagers, but unexpectedly, a firewood stick suddenly smashed into him from behind.  

Huang Fugui had listened to his father somewhat; if the government investigated, the whole family would be doomed.  

So he sneaked quietly in the crowd, not standing out, hitting with a hidden strike from behind.  

He was strong from years of blacksmithing and had taken several bottles of Peiyuan Gutben Pills, giving him brute strength.  

With this sudden strike, Constable Wang immediately fainted.  

……  

Ergouzi had been locked in the dungeon for three days.  

The place was dark and damp, permeated with a foul stench.  

The worst part was that his cell was only four feet high; he could never stand upright, only squat or lie down.  

The walls were slanted so he couldn’t even lean against them.  

During these three days, the jailers gave him neither food nor water.  

Fortunately, Ergouzi had a hidden gourd on him and secretly took some Strength Pills when no one was watching.  

“Bang…”  

The door opened. Ergouzi squatted inside and saw two pairs of feet enter.  

One pair obviously belonged to the jailers.  

The other wore soft-soled boots. Ergouzi looked up along the legs and saw a head of graying long hair.  

“Sima Yi!”  

It was Sima Yi. Upon seeing the low dungeon, he turned and glared angrily at the jailers.  

“Hurry and open the door. Do I have to invite you?”  

“Young Master Sima, please calm down. We’re opening the door now.”  

The jailer trembled slightly at Sima Yi’s glare while fumbling with the keys.  

The dungeon door opened, and Ergouzi crouched out, stretching his limbs.  

He had never imagined standing upright would feel so comfortable.  

“Let’s go, this place stinks too much.”  

They walked out of the dungeon in a line. The sunlight outside was blinding; Ergouzi covered his eyes for a while before adjusting.  

“I almost died this time. Thank you!”  

“No problem, just a small favor.”  

Sima Yi said casually.  

“Your two giant geese—one died. The other is temporarily kept in the backyard of Huichun Hall.”  

Ergouzi felt some pain over the death of one goose, but he had nearly died himself.  

It seemed that in the eyes of the county magistrate and the clerk, the two geese were worth more than Ergouzi. From start to finish, he was merely incidental.  

In the backyard of Huichun Hall, after enduring humiliation, the giant goose saw its master again and rubbed against Ergouzi.  

Then it raised its head proudly, as if to tell its master how brave and unyielding it was.  

“I have asked my uncle to transfer you under his command. You are now a squad leader in the county army, but currently without troops—just an empty position.”  

“If you want to join the army, you can go with my uncle to suppress bandits and earn merit. If not, going home is fine too.”  

Sima Yi had arranged Ergouzi’s future when pulling him out of the dungeon.  

“As long as my uncle remains the county sheriff of Anchan County, no one else can order you around.”  

“Thanks a lot!”  

Ergouzi didn’t know how to repay Sima Yi’s lifesaving kindness.  

“I plan to go home and take a look first.”  

After bidding farewell to Sima Yi, he took the remaining giant goose and returned to Shekou Mountain.  

Ergouzi was now disheartened. He would avoid the government as far as possible.  

He didn’t have Sima Yi’s goodwill. His personal strength was insufficient to protect himself, let alone save the disaster victims.  

He would just go back quietly to farm and cultivate.  

No matter how discouraged, cultivation was necessary.  

If he could reach the late Qi cultivation stage, maybe he could escape from the county magistrate and clerk.  

After the locusts and bandits’ havoc, almost no normal villages remained on the way back.  

Perhaps only Ding Family Village in the whole Anchan County could still maintain peace.  

No wonder the tenants in Ding Family Village didn’t want to be landlords but preferred to be tenants for generations.  

Shexi Village had very few people left; many reportedly became mountain bandits.  

When Ergouzi reached the foot of Shekou Mountain, he learned that his subordinates had been bold enough to beat up the officers and were all imprisoned.  

More than twenty of his men were injured, and two had died.  

Qiuyue had a long gash from her face to her chest but had miraculously survived.  

He also checked on the five officers; they were alive but battered and bruised, looking miserable.  

Ergouzi was a little worried—government officials were hard to deal with.  

“Master Zhang, let me speak some good words and get them released.”  

Huang Laocai, seeing Ergouzi return, feared he might act rashly and hurriedly came to persuade him.  

“You can’t kill government people. If they accuse you of rebellion, your whole family will be exterminated.”  

Ergouzi pondered for a long time and could only handle it this way.  

If the county government kept investigating and branded him a rebel, he would have no choice but to lead his men as bandits.  

He released Constable Wang. When he rode his goose to the mountain peak, he found the goose flock surrounding something and fighting.  

He walked over and was frightened several steps back at once.  

How did this monster get here?  

Surrounded and beaten by the giant geese was the birdman who had been injured and fled that day.  

Back then, the county magistrate and clerk had used Ergouzi’s failure to chase the birdman as an excuse to imprison him.  

Fate was cruel—this enemy hadn’t left anywhere and had even come to Shekou Mountain.  

Judging by his state, he was seriously injured, unable to even beat Ergouzi’s geese.  

This guy could fly and escape from other cultivators, but not from a flock of flying geese.  

“Everyone, get out of the way, let me handle this!”  

Ergouzi, full of pent-up anger, shouted and pushed into the goose flock, kicking and stomping at the birdman.  

“Heh heh! Even tigers have their off days.”  

He realized his wording was a bit off, then thought, “I’m Ergouzi; it doesn’t matter.”  

He kicked the birdman wildly. His men had all died, and he had suffered so much, much of it caused by this birdman.  

The emotions bottled up for days poured out onto the birdman.  

“Stop hitting me…”  

“I surrender…”  

“I confess…”  

“I’ll confess everything…”  

Intermittently, the birdman’s pleas for mercy could be heard.  

But the geese were too noisy, and Ergouzi, enraged, didn’t hear them.  

After a brutal beating, both of the birdman’s wings were broken; feathers were scattered everywhere.  

The birdman’s originally skinny body was beaten to look somewhat swollen.  

He had multiple fractures and lay on the ground, unable to stand.  

“Stop… stop hitting me…”  

“I’ll tell everything…”  

Ergouzi didn’t ask anything but listened to the birdman muttering to himself.  

It seemed the birdman’s will was very weak.  

“What’s your name? Where are you from?”  

“My name is Yushan, male, from the Myriad Demon Kingdom, Flying Feather Tribe, 45 years old…”  

This birdman named Yushan was clearly scared.  

Once Ergouzi asked, he poured out everything he could recall like beans from a bamboo tube.  

“I also know there is a spiritual spring at the foot of the northern mountain in the Myriad Demon Kingdom. Drinking it can result in quadruplets…”  

“Stop! That’s enough confession for today.”  

Ergouzi had listened all afternoon, even to secret gossip about men and women in the Myriad Demon Kingdom.  

He had a general understanding of Yushan’s mission.  

In summary, the Great Zhou Dynasty’s cult had sent envoys a thousand miles to the Myriad Demon Kingdom.  

They actively revealed that the Great Zhou Dynasty was currently internally weak, plagued by disasters for years, making it an ideal time to attack Qingzhou.  

To persuade the Myriad Demon Kingdom to send troops, the cult promised to create internal chaos and fully cooperate.  

Yushan was sent to steal spiritual herbs from Chengxi Town under the cult’s instigation.  

It was indeed hardest to guard against traitors within one’s own home.  

Ergouzi lifted the great door blade, scaring Yushan into curling up.  

“Don’t kill me! I have lots of intelligence!”  

“I still have a 200-year-old mother to care for, and I’m still a child.”  

“I can work—any kind of work.”  

Ergouzi brandished the heavy sword and gestured toward Yushan, then slashed down.  

“Pfft!”  

“Ah…”  

One of Yushan’s wings was severed at the root.  

Then another slash cut off the other wing as well.  

According to Yushan’s confession, their tribe’s abilities all resided in their wings.  

So Ergouzi temporarily trusted him and cut off both wings, leaving him on the mountain to work.  

Without wings, he couldn’t fly, and under the watch of the giant geese, he couldn’t escape Shekou Mountain.  

The mountain indeed needed someone to do chores—digging, loosening soil, weeding, watering, harvesting, feeding geese, turning the millstone, sweeping, making fire, washing clothes…  

Ergouzi looked at Yushan’s small three-foot frame and wondered if he could handle such heavy work.  

“Go push that millstone. If you can move it, you can stay.”  

Ignoring the bleeding wounds, Yushan struggled to stand and went to the millstone.  

He was shorter than the millstone and had to tiptoe desperately to barely reach the handle.  

Yushan knew this was a test of his fate. He gritted his teeth and pushed, finally making the millstone slowly turn.  

“Good, you’re spared for now.”  

“If you try to run away or slack off, you’ll be like this stone.”  

Ergouzi raised his sword and cleaved a hundred-pound rock in two.  

After threatening Yushan, he picked up the severed pair of wings.  

Among the feathers at the base of the wings, he found a bright red herb.  

It was the Fire Spirit Grass stolen from the county magistrate’s spiritual field.  

Besides the Fire Spirit Grass, Yushan also brought a chili pepper tree, a small white tree, and the corpse of the Insect King.  

Ergouzi planted the chili pepper tree in a corner and watered it; it should be fine.  

The white tree, Yushan said, was common in the Myriad Demon Realm. Its fruit was called Demon Transformation Fruit.  

It could help demons break through and was highly attractive to demons but seemed useless to humans.  

Ergouzi wanted to plant it but didn’t want to attract demons.  

Even without attracting demons, the constant influx of locusts was unbearable.  

After thinking, he found a large ceramic jar, filled it with soil, and planted the Demon Transformation Fruit tree inside.  

Then, with a thought, he stored it inside the gourd.  

If fish could grow inside the gourd, spiritual plants should be possible too.  

He’d try it first.  

Finally, the Fire Spirit Grass stolen by Yushan remained.  

According to Yushan, this herb was one of the five spiritual herbs of Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water.  

Collecting all five allowed the refinement of the Foundation Establishment Pill. Taking one pill increased the success rate of foundation establishment by twenty percent.  

Fire Spirit Grass had to be planted where fire spiritual energy was strong and consumed a huge amount of spiritual energy.  

Chengxi Town’s best acre of spiritual field could only plant two Fire Spirit Grass.  

These two herbs absorbed all spiritual energy and nutrients, killing all other plants nearby.  

It was said that no matter how fertile a spiritual field was, after planting a cycle of the five spiritual herbs, the spiritual energy would be exhausted.  

It would take a hundred years of abandonment before planting other spiritual creatures again.  

There were only two Fire Spirit Grass in all of Anchan County. The county magistrate hoped to use them to exchange for Foundation Establishment Pills in the prefectural city.  

But one was stolen by Yushan.  

To plant this Fire Spirit Grass, Ergouzi deliberately stayed away from the herb field, cultivated a small plot, planted the Fire Spirit Grass, and watered it.  

Originally, Fire Spirit Grass needed strong fire spiritual energy to grow. There was no spiritual energy on Shekou Mountain.  

Now, he could only hope the water inside the yellow gourd would work miracles.  

After another three days, the Fire Spirit Grass indeed survived.  

At the same time, weeds and trees around the Fire Spirit Grass started dying in large patches. Even watering with the gourd water couldn’t save them.