Not even a day passed before Alfonso and his companions had traveled to the crossroads to the west of Anhao Luzhou and then begun their trek south. In time, Alfie allowed Hou Gen, and Chasun, to each take a turn in the trailer or on the celestial chili cloud, and in between that they walked.

In no time at all they were encamped near a river bank on the southern road and enjoying a meal of rice, pickled radish, and roasted venison that they had been gifted from the villages of Anhao Luzhou.

That night, while they sat around the campfire and ate, Alfonso gave a nod to Xiang Hou Gen. “You seemed distracted as we walked.”

To that, Hou Gen gave a nod, “I guess you noticed that. Did you?"

“I did. What is distracting you?"

To that, Hou Gen just looked away. “Just thinking to myself how nice it was in Anhao Luzhou, and how nice it was to be around Luzhou Rin after we got to know one another.”

Chasun slapped her knees at that and let out a very undignified chortle at that, shaking her head. "Leave it to a cultivator to get distracted by a beauty. I knew my uncle was right to tell me to act like a boy."

Alfonso simply blinked at Xu Chasun with that and shook his head. “So that is why?"

"Why what, outlander?” Xu Chasun practically stabbed him with her glare.

"Why you were going with the whole Mulan thing?"

Indeed, Chasun kept her hair cut short, dressed and acted like a man. So much so that most mistook her for one and her cousins even treated her like one.

“Maybe. Maybe some other reason. Either way, Hou Gen! Be better. You don't want to be unworthy and lose your position as the outlander’s bodyguard."

Alfie let out a sigh, better outlander than wizard and she and her cousins had been calling him at first. Or alchemist as they tried afterwards until his simple recipes and the food began to make even bad cooks produce some chi infused foods. After taking a moment to put a clump of venison wrapped rice into his mouth, he chewed. As he did Hou Gen breathed to steady himself and glowered at Chasun in equal measure.

Diwu and Tienye stayed out of it, stealing more food from the pot.

"Being distracted by regret could hurt his cultivation even more.”

Diwu and Tienye mumbled "truly a wizard and a sage” at that, causing the young man Texas to shake his head.

“Not a wizard, just a cook." He took another bite of food, pickled radish this time. “So if he thinks he needs to see her and resolve any feelings, he should. If you have anything to resolve with your uncle or the like you should, too. In fact, I insist. I can defend myself."

Rather than listen to his guidance Hou Gen and Chasun looked to each other in conspiracy.

“Leaving him to defend himself would make him focus more on martial pursuits and less on the gourmand, this is true." Hou Gen threw the first verbal jab.

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“If he doesn't chicken out and hide behind the dog." Diwu piped up.

“The dog is the only reason I am considering doing it.” Chasun added.

"You know what? Now it's an order. If y'all wanna act like that, Diwu, Tienye, Chasun. Go visit your family. Search the Luzhou region of Juren Wuting for ingredients. Hou Gen, get over your love sickness one way or another. Meet me in the town old man Gou said is called Tuying Dieshui. Hopefully you can find something good.”

The young man gave a nod, and just gave a glare at the others if they tried to protest. “A cook, like a cultivator, sometimes has to take a path by themselves at times.”

So it was that when the morning came, our hero and his companions split up for a time. Hou Gen to head back to Anhao Luzhou and seek some greater finality with the issue of Rin and his tangled affection for her.

For Diwu, Tienye, and Chasun, to head towards their home village to visit Diwu’s father and to see about searching for ingredients for food which had potential.

Alfonso, his dog Odiseo, and the dirt bike and trailer continued down the road towards the ‘largest town in all of southern Juren Wuting’.

***

Alfonso’s travel to the south began on the celestial chili cloud, and with his mighty dirt bike steed and its trailer, the young man and his dog Odiseo made quite the time. When they stopped, it was not with hunger or exhaustion, but to attend to other needs.

As Alfonso walked his chihuahua so that Odiseo could do its business, the young man was not focused on his surroundings.

Which was why the pair were soon rushed by a tornado of claws, fangs, and fluffy tail. Back towards the road they went and as they did Alfonso was overwhelmed by the sense of energy from the creature.

Its mere presence almost gave him a migraine and he was doing everything he could to use his arms to protect his face and torso. It was only an instinctive swipe of his elbow that stopped the assault, ricocheting the bundle of fury against a nearby tree.

“Is that a spirit raccoon…” he uttered astonishedly, only to find his chihuahua entering a fighting pose on its hind legs.

As the raccoon clawed itself up from the ground, the young man reacted in instinct and used among the greatest techniques of his people.

“Pocket sand!" He shouted the attack’s name and hurled a clump of sand and dirt at the sacred beast racoon’s bandit masked face before grabbing Odiseo by the scruff of his neck and rushing to the waiting dirt bike.

"Odie, no kung fu panda-ing!”

Then, with great haste, they took off, the young man watching the direction they had faced off against the spirit racoon and the Chihuahua shaking with anger and adrenaline against his master’s chest.

It was like this that the duo sped down the wasteland dirt road.

***

Over the next few days as they traveled south it was much of the same. They would make camp for the night and have no issues, but when they attempted to take a break to eat lunch and Alfonso attempted to walk his dog, they would find themselves ambushed and in an impromptu battle with a seemingly random collection of sacred breasts. A squirrel, a red panda, a coyote, a hyena, and finally a tiger. Each time, it occurred much the same but as they sped away from the tiger Alfonso was increasingly worried. He really didn’t want to bring his great-grandma back her dog only to have it to be the most powerful being in the suburb, but he also worried that if he did not let it grow - and grow himself in cultivation, they would continue to be in danger.

As they finally began to enter the roadside village which led to one of the many river approaches of the town of Tuying Dieshui, Alfonso finally let himself rest. With the village in sight they took their midday break and did their midday absolutions. As they did, it was then that Alfonso realized the ‘town built on a pyramid’ was a lot bigger than a town, and that mountain he had seen on their approach was in fact the steppe pyramid that Elder Gou had spoken of. It was still far away, but not so far for Alfonso to marvel.

“Wow… I didn’t expect to see that in Juren Wuting, or anywhere else in this cultivation filled world.” The excitement built with his every word. In his mind’s eye,images of new and interesting foods he had never had, never made, or only ever heard of fluttered past.

He hopped off of his dirt bike and began to push it into this village, which as he looked through seemed more like a collection of ferries which brought people to the pyramid city.