Chapter 1765 — To the Cave Again, Part One: "Sister Yunyun and Sister Yaoyao are first wives side by side; I'm the little wife — no second wife, no third wife!" said Shen Yushu.

"Cough, cough..." Lin Dongfang had only been joking, but he hadn't expected to find someone here even more outrageous than himself; he was so startled that he broke into coughing.

"Old man, Xiaoshu's always like this — she loves to joke around. Don't listen to her nonsense. Let me introduce you." Wei Zhao said with a smile: "This is Tang Yun — I've told you about her. These two are Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu; they're good friends of Yunyun's, and they're also the employers for that job you found me."

Still, Wei Zhao had to admit that Shen Yushu's one remark had melted away everyone's awkwardness and drawn them a good deal closer.

"Haha, I was only trying to make a joke, and I never thought you'd outdo me!" Lin Dongfang looked at Shen Yushu and laughed: "Welcome, all of you, to my home!"

"Haha, it's fine!" Shen Yushu said. "Brother Arrow really does have a little wife, but she didn't come — she's cultivating in the Ice Palace."

Lin Dongfang knew she meant Feng Xiaoxiao, and wasn't surprised. He nodded and said: "Xiaoyi, why didn't you say you were coming back? I could have prepared some food. You turn up out of nowhere — I've made no preparations at all."

"Heh, it's fine. Send Ergoudan up the mountain to hunt some game, and tonight we'll eat game!" Wei Zhao said. "Right — I'll go call Ergoudan. Yunyun, Yaoyao, Xiaoshu, settle yourselves in here for now."

"Mm, all right, go on." Tang Yun and the others naturally had luggage to unpack, so she nodded.

Wei Zhao had said long ago that he would bring Tang Yun and the others home, so Lin Dongfang had already prepared a new room for the three of them. Now that Wei Zhao had gone, he said to the three: "Let me show you the room. If there's anything you need, just tell me — make yourselves at home, no need to stand on ceremony!"

"All right, Grandpa Lin. We've bought most of what we need — there's nothing more we want," Tang Yun said quickly.

"That's fine too. Get yourselves settled first; I'll tidy up the stove, and tonight we eat game!" Lin Dongfang led the three into the house beside them, then went off on his own to see to the stove. With Wei Zhao away from home, Old Man Wei mostly just made do when he ate, so the stove had grown filthy, and he had to clean it up.

Wei Zhao made his way to Ergoudan's house as if he had done it a thousand times. Yu Yuanyuan was busy drying crops — dried chilies and corn and the like — and started in surprise when she saw him: "Wei Zhao?"

"Where's Ergoudan? I'm back — came to see him," Wei Zhao said with a smile.

"When did you get back? Why didn't you say you were coming? Zhou Jiaming keeps saying how much he misses you and wants to go visit, but there's so much farm work lately that neither of us has had the time." Yu Yuanyuan spoke with delighted surprise: "Zhou Jiaming's gone up the mountain to hunt; he won't be back till evening."

"Then I'll go find him." Wei Zhao had often gone up the mountain with Ergoudan in the past and knew where the man tended to roam, so Yu Yuanyuan needed to say no more.

"That works. Go find him, then. Oh — have dinner at our place tonight? We could have some game?" Yu Yuanyuan invited.

"Tang Yun, Yaoyao, and Xiaoshu are all back — they're over at my place. Why don't the two of you come over tonight instead?" Wei Zhao said.

"That works too," Yu Yuanyuan said with a nod.

Wei Zhao left Ergoudan's house and headed toward West Star Mountain. The mountain's terrain was treacherous and crawling with wild beasts; ordinary hunters dared not push deep into it, hunting only along the outer fringes at its foot. Ergoudan, however, cared for none of that — he walked straight into the mountain's belly to hunt.

For to this day no beast had ever escaped from beneath one of Ergoudan's fists; he truly killed with a single blow, never giving the animal a chance to strike back.

"Grandpa Wang, out hunting?" At the foot of West Star Mountain, Wei Zhao spotted the hunter Grandpa Wang and greeted him.

"Little Yi's back?" Grandpa Wang turned around, a pheasant clutched in his hand, and grinned: "When did you get back?"

"Just today. I'm looking for Ergoudan — have you seen him, Grandpa Wang?" Wei Zhao asked.

"Saw him — went up the mountain. He's up there!" Grandpa Wang said. "Only that boy, with his heaven-sent strength, dares go up there to hunt. An ordinary man goes up and never comes back down! And you — you two really are something..."

"Haha, I've been training with the old man since I was a boy," Wei Zhao laughed. "I'll head up, then."

"Go on. Come by when you've got the time!" Grandpa Wang said.

Everyone in the village knew Wei Zhao had some skill, but no one knew just how formidable it was. Most people assumed he merely kept himself fit and was a little stronger than an ordinary man.

"Who's there?" Ergoudan's instincts were sharp too — otherwise a beast could have ambushed him from behind and that would have been the end of him! Though immensely strong, his defense was no different from anyone else's, so he had to stay intensely alert, reacting the instant a beast drew near.

But what he heard was the sound of footsteps — not a beast's, but a person's — which puzzled Ergoudan, for in West Star Mountain Village no one but him dared enter the mountain.

"It's me." Wei Zhao was rather pleased with Ergoudan's keen instincts; he had deliberately kept his footsteps audible in order to test him. No cultivator would come into this jungle to attack Ergoudan — only beasts would — and beasts cannot muffle their footsteps.

"Boss?" Ergoudan started, then whirled around in shock and delight, staring at Wei Zhao as though he could not believe his eyes: "Boss, you're back?"

"Didn't I say so? I'd definitely be back in August." Wei Zhao nodded. "I got in just today. Tang Yun and the others came too. Come over to my place tonight?"

"Sure, I'll bring Yuanyuan." Ergoudan nodded, then remembered that when Wei Zhao had first left, he had said he would be back in August for certain. He hadn't thought much of it at the time, and only now did it come back to him.

Wei Zhao was to enter the cave behind the mountain on the night of the full moon this August. He did not know who had set this agreement of five years and then another five, but it was true that for now the cave could only be entered once every five years, so this time Wei Zhao absolutely could not miss it.

There were still a few days until the full moon, and Wei Zhao was in no hurry.

"How's the hunt today?" Wei Zhao glanced behind Ergoudan and saw that there was nothing there yet, which struck him as odd.