Jiahao had been pushing his new master for 4 days now, and had entered a rhythm. They had stopped seeing foragers and the rare hunter awhile ago. Every day, he would eat breakfast, push the scholar for hours, foraging food, eat dinner, and fall asleep. While it was a rather dull affair, he had farmed for decades, so this was nothing new. Neither was foraging, almost everyone in Verdant Fields had foraged at on point or another, there is plenty of wild herbs and vegetables around, and with nary a predator in the fields, the only beings that could hurt humans were other humans. So you had to watch out for the occasional bandit, but Jiahao was an old hand at this point, so he knew how to telltale signs of bandits in the area.

Pushing a cart was a dull job, but Jiahao had done it for years. At least watching his new 'master' cultivate was interesting, with every breath the scholar released Jiahao felt like he had inhaled aerial coffee. Of course, Jiahao had no fucking clue what 'coffee' was, he just knew that he felt better than he had in years. Even if being near the cultivator reminded him of a sleeping snake, Jiahao would have traded his entire farm for this experience. Which is quite good, as he did trade his farm for this experience. That didn't matter to old man Jiahao in the slightest, as two gold coins could buy his farm back and still have a nice sum of silvers left over, and the scholar had promised another coin upon arrival.

Now, I know what you want to say, "DiDn't yOu JUst saY tHAt thEre WeRe No PredAtOrs in ThE FiEldS?! How WouLd JiAHao KnoW ThE FuCk AbOUt SNakeS?"

I want to reply with, "Woah, don't blow a gasket there Einstein. There are predators in Wonton Fields, just only in the auspicious event areas. Since entire empires can be in auspicious areas, knowledge of predators is pretty common."

Though Jiahao did know of snakes, he didn't know what was actually happening. What was actually happening was Jiahao's first experience cultivating! Well, second hand cultivation, the natural kind that happens all the time in qi-rich areas. Fang Hu would be pressed to answer if someone were to ask if he would want to have been 'born' in one of those areas. It was a classic rich-in-poor area vs. poor-in-rich area quandary. In most qi-rich areas, people wouldn't be considered to be cultivators until they've broken through their first bottleneck, and even then they'd still be piss-poor cultivators.

Uh~~~ where was I, I went on a bit of a tangent. Oh yeah! If Jiahao pushed Fang Hu around for the entire two months, then he'd most likely break through to the first level of Qi Gathering. It would have been an incredibly rewarding experience for Jiahao. 2 gold coins, a level in qi gathering, and a forgiven life debt, Jiahao's luck would have been golden. Alas, fate has a way of twisting paths, for the better or worse.

It was the afternoon of the 4th day since Jiahao had started his new job. He had watched Fang Hu for days on end, and he had noticed something. Fang Hu's 'presence in the world' really was lessened. Meaning, Fang Hu had no fuckin' clue what was happening around him. Even if that was so, he noticed that the cultivator still reacted whenever he cursed his new employer, as employees generally do. A slight frown here or a twitch here, but he never actually got as mad as one would expect one would when mentally called a cocksucker. It was more like he was annoyed that he was interrupted during his cultivation, so Jiahao did some experimenting. Eventually, Jiahao figured out that it was not what or how something was thought that Fang Hu reacted to, but why it was said.

'Ha! Silver Tongues don't work on scholars my ass! He just has the ability to sense intent!'

Twitch

Instantly, Jiahao calmed himself down, he wouldn't try anything if his 'master' was fully aware of his surroundings. The intensity of when he released his aura yesterday was enough to stop him from trying. But his 'master' wasn't fully aware right now, was he? Taking the time to mentally trick himself, he took his water jug and took a sip-

Fang Hu caught the spiritual water before it could fall to the ground. The old man was starting to seize up, he would say he was having a seizure, but he didn't know enough about medicine to confirm that.

*I see you decided to steal from me, not the best decision if I must say.*

"You must learn that stealing from me is akin to courting death."

Even as he was telling off Jiahao, Fang Hu was moving to save the old man's life. Fang Hu hadn't sworn to never kill or anything, but he will always try to act according to the ideals he grew up with. Jiahao stealing from him had pissed him off, but in his world, petty theft wasn't something to kill for. Sure some countries might do that, but that wasn't 'his world' per se.

*Do you realize just how many people would kill you for doing that in this world?! I wouldn't put it past a little girl to kill you for trying that shit!*

"Your ancestors are smiling down upon you, for if you had tried to steal from anyone less magnanimous than me, then you would die."

Fang Hu had a plan to save Jiahao's life. He dipped his qi into Jiahao's dantians, focusing, he could tell the qi that had entered through the spiritual water was beginning to rampage about. By his estimation, Jiahao would die in minutes without intervention. Fang Hu sent his qi into Jiahao's body and drew it out again. By repeating this process many times over, Fang Hu conditioned Jiahao's dantians until they could handle the increased spiritual load. Satisfied by the progress, Fang Hu quickly guided Jiahao's breathing, showing how to use his breath to circulate his qi through his lower dantian. That was a vital part of the 'Basic Snake Breath' cultivation technique, but was nowhere near all of it.

After Jiahao's heart had settled, Fang Hu made him fear for his life again. Fang Hu didn't *try* to let out any killing intent, but that was the problem with cultivating the dao of snakes, one of the most aggressive of the lesser beast daos, a snake's reaction to almost any problem was to try to kill. Meaning most snake daoists regularly release killing intent, even if they don't *intend* to kill, if that makes any sense. As it was, Fang Hu's killing intent was enough to make Jiahao kneel till his forehead scraped the ground.

Seeing the old man like that was enough to alleviate some of Fang Hu's anger.

*Sigh, do you remember what I said as you were spazzing out on the ground?*

"...Jiahao, do you know what was said as you were incapacitated?"

"...yes, master."

*So, you know you won't be killed?*

"You realize I have no intent to kill you, correct?"

"...yes, master."

*You won't get off so easy next time.*

"I still won't kill you if you betray me again, but I'll warn you, I can be very creative with my punishments."

Fang Hu had mixed feelings as he felt Jiahao become both relieved and more scared. He had apparently released more killing intent when he threatened him. It was only a small relief that Jiahao apparently no longer considered the now two life debts a trifling matter. He wished he could just trust Jiahao, but the man had already proven most untrustworthy. He had already applied the stick, so he would have to think of a carrot to reward him if he does something good.

Jiahao was silent as he pushed his master towards their destination, his heart was a mix of emotions. Not even his best friend had helped him as much as this cultivator, but he'd never seen so much killing intent before. He'd have to think hard on his future, luckily for him, he has plenty of time to think.