Chapter 134 - A dessert quest is no snackrifice????“Oh, my little Cutie is so clever!” I cooed at her.

  A rge umbrel-like slime appendage had sprouted on top of her head beside her slime strand. “Chu!”

  We walked back to the house in companionable silence, with my two apprentices trailing behind me and my pet. When we got there, I pced as many [Nirvana Lotus Ponds] around the perimeter of the walls as I could in hopes that the water from the ponds would seep down to replenish the groundwater. Evaporation from the ponds also cooled the air around the house by a few degrees. A few picturesque crescent-shaped bridges and stepping stones pced strategically among the ponds made them look more charming and romantic.

  I kinda wished I had a camera and could post a picture of me on Instagram. If my mother and father were still alive, we would make a pretty picture posing on a bridge over a lotus pond.

  Sighing at the thought, I led everyone to Skyfang Hill to check on the trees.

  "The grass here is so green. Teacher, I think this might be a tree seedling that we didn’t pnt." Lari pointed at a delicate, slender shoot emerging from the soil at his feet.

  “Whoa! I think you’re right. It’s a good sign that the native pnt life is taking root here.” Looking around, I saw plenty of new growth such as native prairie grasses, bushes, and wildflowers. “The contour swales have done their work!”

  “Who knew that digging trenches would work this well?” Kharli bent down to pluck a white flower and twirled it around her fingers.

  The System was the one who suggested using contour swales, strategically designed earth channels that follow the natural contours of the ndscape, for the hill. The shallow trenches captured and directed rainwater, which greatly helped with absorbing and retaining precious water in the soil. The same principle of slowing water runoff and reducing soil erosion, as I understood it, was used for terraced crops like rice, tea, grapes, etc. in hilly areas around the world.

  “I bet we won’t need to add water to the [Dendrological Cultivation Chambers]. The cn members told me that rainfall this year has been double st year’s,” said Lari.

  “Yes, but double a tiny amount is still a tiny amount,” I said.

  The hill was low but wide. It only took an hour to walk to the top, but we had to go around it, checking every tree to see if they were alright. We were currently working on number ten of the epic quest [Greening the Desert].

  [Epic Quest: Greening the Desert

  Turn the cursed desert into fertile nd.

  Improve watershed by using water harvesting methods by digging contour swales. - doneImprove watershed by using water harvesting methods by digging a ke reservoir.Pnt the berms with one hundred fruit trees and one hundred berry bushes.When the ke is full, pnt a riparian buffer of one hundred trees.Pnt one hundred fertilizer trees. Use a cultivation box. - doneGraze spirit animals. Sow wild grass and flowers on the grazed nd.Pnt one hundred fruit trees. Use a cultivation box.Pnt one hundred nut trees. Use a cultivation box.Pnt one hundred trees. Use a cultivation box.Create windbreaks to protect the crops.Pnt one hundred perennial crops.Create a food forest made of a diverse array of one hundred fruit trees, one hundred shrubs, one hundred vines, one hundred grasses or herbs, and one hundred root crops.Progress: 2/12]

  Just a few months ago, I used the [Empyrean Earth Transformer] to dig the swales and we pnted fertilizer trees. I’m not sure how or when the “curse” on the nd was lifted. It seemed to have happened automatically. Perhaps it was silently triggered when the one-hundredth tree was pnted? I was in the demon nds at the time due to a teleportation accident, so I wasn’t there when it happened.

  “The trees look great, and Lari’s right. The water boxes are all full,” I said.

  “It must have rained recently. The soil is still a little damp,” said Kharli.

  “Teacher, this tree looks amazing!” Kharli was standing in front of a sapling that was higher than her waist. Its heart-shaped leaves were an iridescent green.

  [Elderwood Tree:

  An enigmatic tree with roots entwined in arcane mysteries whose leaves whisper wisdom to the wise.]

  “I prefer the [Dragon's Eye Tree],” said Lari. He walked a bit higher and pointed at a tiny sapling that was only knee height with fire-red leaves and bck and red branches like molten va.

  [Dragon’s Eye Tree:

  A tree named after the eye-like burls that sometimes form on the trunk or branches. Though ominous in appearance, with red and bck leaves, trunk, and branches, the Dragon’s Eye Tree is said to bring good luck to the area it is growing in by absorbing and purifying harmful energy.]

  “They’re all like that. I think when the trees are grown this will be a very magical pce,” said Kharli.

  “Yes…. imagine walking under the shade of these trees in two years…” I looked up dreamily at the top of the hill, thinking of the paradisiacal forest farm I used to have in Adventure Incarnate. “It’ll be great!”

  We continued inspecting all the trees until I was satisfied that there were no sickly ones.

  “I think one hundred of these aren’t enough. Let’s pnt more after we finish pnting one hundred fast-growing desert trees.” I got ahold of Cutie and put her in a bucket of water. She was looking smaller again. “The lower slopes will be pnted with fruit trees in the future, but I think the upper part of the hill needs more trees to make it more stable.”

  “We should pnt a peach forest! There are so many legendary tales set in peach forests.” Kharli was so excited that she moved closer to me without considering that Cutie was right beside me. She jumped a foot in the air and screamed when my pet bounced near her, almost touching her side.

  I shook my head at her and said, “Rex, she’s very tame. A peach forest sounds nice. We can pnt a cluster of peach trees on the side of the hill facing the house.”

  A sound came from the north and we all turned to see that the ox carts were finally in sight.

  “I hope lunch will be served soon. I’m hungry,” said Lari.

  We made our way back down the house. Since I was getting tired of walking, I made Mr. Bear grow to human height and leaned on him for support. The staff were inside the outer courtyard house getting settled in by the time we got there. I let them be and told my apprentices to come with me to the northwest corner of the garden where my house was located. I made Mr. Bear shrink down to palm size and attached him to my belt.

  We exited the outer courtyard and into the [Elegant Chinese Garden] which was like something straight out of a fairytale, with lush, meticulously ndscaped greenery, meandering pathways, intricately designed moon doors, and a small ke spanned by a zig-zag bridge. We didn’t stop to admire the view, however, until we reached the spot I wanted to show them.

  “Behold! I call it the Walkway of One Hundred Fountains.” I gestured at the walkway that was shaded by mature acacia trees from the Cash Shop. “Isn’t it magnificent!”

  The three-tiered north wall featured more than one hundred spouts that were fed by three canals. The topmost canal had fountains that sprayed water in a fan shape while the lower ones were simple spouts or waterfall curtain fountains. The water from the fountains of the first canal spilled down into the second and then the third. Colorful bougainvillea and jasmine vines cascaded down the terraces. The whole thing was inspired by the fountains of Vil d'Este back on Earth.

  “Wow, the water is cooling the air here a lot, isn’t it?” Kharli dipped her hand on the lowest water trough. “The water is so clear and clean, too.”

  “Chu.” Cutie bounced up and banced herself precariously on the rim of the trough. She cautiously dipped her slime strand in the water to test it first before jumping into it and bouncing around, spshing water everywhere.

  “Teacher, may I climb up there?” Lari was peering up at the fountains at the top.

  “Why? There’s nothing up there but water.” I shrugged. “But, okay, go ahead.”

  He and Kharli climbed up and stood at the top of the wall, waving down at me. I waved back and they descended.

  “I just wanted to see the view from up there. Everything looks amazing when you’re looking at it from a high pce,” said Lari.

  “I bet it's nice! I’m too tired to climb it though. Come, I’ll show you one st thing.” I led them to the end of the walkway where there was a long, seemingly unbroken, expanse of shoulder-high hedges.

  Lari and Kharli cpped in admiration when I pressed on a certain spot in the wall and part of the hedge fell to the ground, revealing that it was only a very realistic painting.

  I went inside and waved them in. The painting automatically sprang back into pce a few seconds ter. “Our secret spot!”

  It was a small, cozy space meant for picnicking or meditating, with a soft carpet of grass underfoot, and a canopy of acacia trees overhead. It was empty except for the [Dragon Pearl Spring], a small fountain with a marble statue of a dragon with a fming pearl in its cws.

  “This is for…?” Kharli spun around, looking for something to do.

  “A quiet spot where we can rex,” I said.

  “Thank you for showing us this pce, Teacher,” said Lari.

  Cutie bounced around, poking her slime strand at everything. Lari and Kharli circled the pce.

  “Well, we can rex here ter. Let’s get settled into our rooms for now,” I said.

  They nodded.

  I went to the third courtyard house while they went to the middle one. Equipping Mr. Bear with a cute pink paper parasol, I set him in [Guard Mode] at the gate of my house. Then I took a nap in my bedroom until Mr. Bear alerted me via a System notification that Yinuo, my maid, was knocking at the gate.

  “It’s duck for lunch, right?” I was so hungry that I was tempted to run to the outer courtyard.

  Yinuo nodded, and I tried to hurry her along by walking as fast as I could. When I arrived at the courtyard, I found that I was the st one there, and lunch was served immediately after I sat down.

  Deming had outdone himself with a duck-themed meal. The whole roast duck was served in eight different ways. The sliced crispy skin was paired with thin wheat pancakes, a sweet, tangy sauce, and finely sliced green onions. Lari loved the duck meat that was gzed with plum sauce and served in warm, pillowy steamed buns. There was also duck soup, duck bone broth, and duck fried rice. The dish I liked the best was duck meat shredded and stir-fried with mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and water chestnuts. It was absolutely mouth-watering! I couldn’t get enough of the duck spring rolls, too.

  “I don’t mind working hard all day if this is my reward,” said Lari.

  Kharli and I murmured our agreement. We were too busy stuffing our faces to talk much.

  Afterward, I think I fell into a food coma because I didn’t remember what happened the rest of the day. The next thing I knew, it was dinner time.

  I thought that lunch was something special, but dinner showed me that there was an even higher level of gastronomic delight that I had yet to experience. The Demon Chef really pulled out all the stops. There were heavenly braised meats, exquisite soups made with rare herbs and bird’s nest, delicate dumplings filled with a medley of meat and vegetables, crispy fried fish, sea cucumber with shrimp roe, abalone with lettuce, and rge ptters of exquisitely crafted pastries and fresh fruit slices.

  The high I got from eating such great food came crashing down with shocking abruptness by a horrifying announcement the next day when Fengying told me that Deming was leaving.

  LinMeili