Nonsense! How could my adopted son be a villain?

Xu Lingguang mentally grumbled a lot, but he still had to get on with his work.

Who can blame them when they're surrounded by such a powerful woman? To hold onto her tighter, one naturally has to pay a higher price—whether it's labor, beauty, or even their life.

Having neither beauty nor the will to give up his life, he had no choice but to sell his labor.

With that in mind, Xu Lingguang carefully read through the instructions and precautions for all the tools and products, and then began the massive project of hair care for Chenghuang.

He first had to use a special jade comb to comb through all of Lan Jian's hair to ensure there were no knots before proceeding with the next steps.

At first, combing the fur on his back was fine. He was just marveling at how well Lan Jian's fur was well-maintained. The silvery-white fur flowed smoothly through his fingers like water, and every hair seemed to exude the scent of money.

Xu Lingguang, for the sake of self-comfort, secretly touched it a few more times.

When he goes out into the world and brags, he can say that he's someone who has touched the legendary imperial yellow horse.

Moreover, he recalled reading in the Classic of Mountains and Seas that riding on a yellow horse could grant one a lifespan of two thousand years, and he became somewhat eager to try it out. He wondered if riding on a yellow horse while it was grooming would count as riding, and if it would grant him two thousand years of life.

However, Xu Lingguang hesitated for a long time and still didn't dare to do such a big thing. He suppressed his damned curiosity and instead went to comb the fur on his limbs, head and tail.

Xu Lingguang was usually quite thick-skinned, but he still felt a little embarrassed when he was brushing the fur on Lan Jian's tail.

He used to help out at a friend's pet shop. If he were grooming a cat, he would brush it from head to tail, even turning it inside out to brush its belly. But this one in front of him was clearly not a cat, but an ancient beast named Chenghuang that could communicate normally with people.

If demons can transform into human form, then there's no reason why Cheng Huang can't.

Xu Lingguang carefully combed the fur on his tail, his movements becoming slower and slower as he began to consider whether he should lift the tail up and comb the fur underneath after he finished combing the fur on the top.

But this is so weird...

If you comb the fur under the tail, should you comb the fur on the belly?

If you comb the hair on the belly too, wouldn't you be able to see the yellow dog's... private parts?

Xu Lingguang: ...

I wonder if there's any difference between the charioteer and ordinary animals. It should be larger than ordinary animals, right? After all, the charioteer's size is what it is.

But Xu Lingguang then thought of the penises of felines. Many large felines, despite their large size, are small and quick in that area.

This doesn't seem to be directly proportional to body size.

That damned curiosity started acting up again. Just as Xu Lingguang was eager to lift his tail, he heard Lan Jian say, "It's okay."

His voice was still cold, like the texture of jade, but for some reason Xu Lingguang could hear a hint of tension and unnaturalness in it. But it was only a fleeting feeling. After that, Lan Jian didn't speak again, and he wasn't sure if he had misheard.

Lan Jian called a halt, so Xu Lingguang had to move on to groom the fur on Lan Jian's neck and front paws.

Lan Jian was so big that even lying down like this, his head reached Xu Lingguang's chest. Xu Lingguang had to half-kneel to groom the fur on his neck.

But this meant the two of them were very close together.

Lan Jian tilted his head slightly to make it easier for him to comb his hair. Xu Lingguang knelt down and leaned closer, almost able to smell the faint fragrance in his hair, a very light woody scent, somewhat like the feeling he got from the giant tree outside that was as tall as the clouds.

It is cool and distant, seemingly close yet elusive, like being in the clouds.

Xu Lingguang held his breath and carefully combed the hair on and below his neck.

After combing all of Lan Jian's fur, almost an hour had passed. Xu Lingguang rested for a while, drank some water, and then took out a file to sharpen Lan Jian's claws.

He sat on the jade bed with a soft cushion on his knees, and then Lan Jian placed his claws on them. Xu Lingguang used a special file to slowly smooth out the overly sharp claw tips.

The huge paws felt wonderful to the touch. The adult yellow chameleon's paw pads weren't as soft as those of the cubs, but they still felt warm and elastic. In particular, the fur on the paws was much shorter, making them smooth, soft, and very comfortable to the touch. Xu Lingguang even wanted to bury his face in them to try it out.

But he couldn't afford to offend the big shot in front of him, so he could only regretfully suppress this audacious idea.

He focused intently on sharpening the claw hook. The only sounds in the large room were the soft scraping of the file and his shallow breathing. Xu Lingguang was working, but his mind was wandering aimlessly. He asked, trying to make conversation, "Why don't you cut it off with scissors first before sharpening it?"

He trims the kitten's claws directly with scissors.

Lan Jian glanced down at him and said calmly, "It's easier to do a split with scissors."

"..."

Xu Lingguang paused for a moment. "You really are quite exquisite."

After sharpening the claws, the next step is to apply ointment, a very tedious and energy-consuming process that requires Xu Lingguang to concentrate. After that, he has almost no time to let his imagination run wild.

By the time he had finally used all the ointments and started applying the ointment to the two horns on Lan Jian's back, the sunlight overhead had long since disappeared; in its place were countless unidentified gems that had come to life.

Xu Lingguang took a deep breath and looked at the giant Chenghuang, which he had made even shinier than before. Although he was tired, he also felt a sense of accomplishment.

This can be considered a skill. So many demons and people who raise spirit pets, if they really can't make a living in the future, they should be able to open a shop to support themselves. :)

Lan Jian was clearly very satisfied with Xu Lingguang's craftsmanship. He got off the huge white jade bed, took two very elegant steps, looked at the glossy fur, and said with satisfaction, "Thank you for your hard work."

Xu Lingguang quickly said it wasn't hard work at all.

That's what he said, but he was so tired that he didn't want to move. He was still sitting on the jade bed without moving when he spoke.

Lan Jian glanced at him, took a storage bag from a box next to him, and placed it beside him: "This is today's reward." She paused, then added: "Or if you don't want spirit stones, you can say what else you want."

Xu Lingguang opened the storage bag and glanced inside, immediately dazzled by the bag full of crystal-clear spirit stones.

Since he was in front of Lan Jian, he was too embarrassed to count them carefully, but after a quick glance, he could see that there were at least three high-grade spirit stones and more than a dozen mid-grade spirit stones. As for low-grade spirit stones, there were just too many to count.

We're rich! We're rich! We're rich!

Xu Lingguang's mind was filled with these three words. When he looked at Lan Jian again, he no longer felt that he was a wicked landlord. Instead, he felt that Lan Jian was radiating the light of spiritual stones, elegant, cute, and likable.

Xu Lingguang has been fully recovered.

What working people are never afraid of is working, but rather of working hard but not earning any money.

He'd be willing to do so much work at once, let alone once every seven days, he could do it even once every two days.

As for why it can't be once a day, it's because Xu Lingguang isn't in good health and needs to sleep.

996 is acceptable, but 007 is a bit too much. We should cherish life.

Fearing that Lan Jian might change her mind, Xu Lingguang put the storage bag into his Sumeru Ring.

Only after he finished did he realize what Lan Jian had said. He originally wanted to say that he only wanted spirit stones and didn't want anything else, but he quickly thought of the many medicinal herbs and spiritual plants growing in the forest of the Chenghuang clan. Those herbs that were expensive outside were growing freely in the forest without anyone caring.

Xu Lingguang's mind immediately started working: "Spirit stones will do, but..."

He glanced at Lan Jian and cautiously inquired, "I see many medicinal herbs and spiritual plants in the clan's land. May I pick some?"

Since it's just going to be a waste to leave it there anyway, I might as well give it to him and save him the money for materials to refine pills.

Lan Jian, however, heard this and looked at him with some suspicion: "Are you injured?"

Xu Lingguang quickly waved his hand: "No, I've been teaching myself alchemy recently, so I need some materials..." He looked a little embarrassed: "Some of the materials for alchemy are quite expensive."

"Alchemy?" Lan Jian's expression was somewhat strange.

Xu Lingguang didn't notice and nodded repeatedly, only thinking about how to persuade him to let him pick some medicinal herbs: "Yes, I have already learned how to make Spirit Nourishing Pills. Once I'm more proficient, I can try to refine other pills."

Lan Jian frowned: "As far as I know, there are many taboos in alchemy. Without the guidance of a master, it is easy to go astray."

Xu Lingguang exclaimed "Ah," scratched his face, and looked a little bewildered: "An elder left me a few books on medicine and alchemy manuals, and I taught myself alchemy manuals."

Lan Jian heard him say that it seemed he had been instructed by someone. However, he didn't know much about alchemy. There had been alchemists in his clan before, and he had only heard them mention it a few times. He thought for a moment and said, "Since it's for alchemy, you can pick it yourself if you want. There's no need to tell me."

As she spoke, she walked to a wall, raised her paw and slapped it, and a passage appeared in the wall. Lan Jian turned to Xu Lingguang and said, "I have a good friend who was once an alchemist. Before he passed away, his biggest regret was not finding a disciple to inherit his mantle. So he entrusted me to keep his collection of books. They contain his own alchemy insights. Go in and take a look, pick out a few books to learn from. If you can learn some of his true teachings, then I will have fulfilled his request."

Xu Lingguang hadn't expected such a good thing. Forgetting he was tired, he jumped up and was about to rush inside. But when he reached the door, he hesitated and stopped: "Isn't it too casual to just show me like this? Should we do a formal apprenticeship ceremony first?"

This era still places great importance on the master-apprentice system.

To everyone's surprise, Lan Jian listened without any expression and said, "It's alright. He has shown it to many people, but they all complained that those people did not understand his ideas and were not worthy of being his apprentices. This is precisely why he has not been able to find an apprentice."

Lan Jian tossed him a talisman: "This is the key to the storage room. You can go in and look at it anytime. If you have the ability to learn all his skills, he will be happy even if you don't become his apprentice. He is not a person who is bound by worldly rules."

Xu Lingguang held the talisman, thanked them solemnly, and entered the storage room with great reverence.