Qi Ping and Sister Nan didn't hesitate to agree to Fatty Zhou's request. His valley was on the outskirts of the mountain and wasn't far away. There was no harm in looking, and it wasn't dangerous.
More importantly, as members of the Fusheng Society, they had all helped each other at some point. If they turned their backs on such a simple request today, who would help them when they faced trouble tomorrow? At the bottom of the cultivation world, true loners were rare. One either formed a group or joined an organization. Lone wolves were usually those with both immense courage and strength—and those who lacked both usually ended up dead.
Furthermore, though Fatty Zhou had been less active lately, he never said no when help was needed. When Qi Ping's bees had escaped, he had shown up without a second thought.
"Of course, Brother Fatty! Lead the way. We don't want to waste time," Qi Ping said. Sister Nan nodded in agreement.
"Thank you, thank you! Please, follow me. I'm truly afraid they'll starve to death if this continues. There are over sixty of them..."
"It started four days ago. They were fine before that, and nothing unusual happened that day..."
Fatty Zhou rambled on, venting his distress and detailing every symptom. He was a talkative, guileless man, and his portly appearance made him seem quite endearing.
Soon, they arrived at his valley. It was a beautiful spot by a stream, with neatly tended flowers and trees. In the middle of a vegetable patch sat a refined, pastoral courtyard. It was decorated with various pretty and cute ornaments, likely the work of his wives and children.
Two beautiful women in pale yellow silk were in the courtyard with four playing children. Qi Ping couldn't help but admire Fatty Zhou's luck; not only had he married beautiful twins, but they had both given birth to twins as well.
"Daddy! You're back!" The four children immediately rushed over to him.
"I am! Did you miss me?" Fatty Zhou hid his worry, greeting each child with a hug and a smile.
"We did! Daddy, play hide-and-seek with us!" they shouted in unison.
"Not right now. Daddy is busy. Go play amongst yourselves for a bit, okay? I'll play with you later."
"Okay!" The children ran off to play.
As Fatty Zhou greeted his children, his wives went inside to brew tea. In their eyes, the husband had brought back "immortal masters" who had to be treated with the utmost respect. Fatty Zhou had likely never told them how difficult life was for a loose cultivator at the bottom.
Qi Ping and Sister Nan declined the tea, saying the ducks were the priority. There was another reason: cultivators generally avoided contact with the mortal families of their peers. There was little to talk about, and more importantly, connecting a mortal to a cultivator's karma brought the mortal no benefits—only trouble.
Fatty Zhou led them to the duck pens. "Look at them. They just lie there, perfectly still. I can't even prod them into moving. They haven't eaten in four days. The only thing they do is let out an occasional quack. They're so weak now..."
Over sixty ducks lay motionless on the ground. Black Spirit Ducks were a Low-Grade spirit beast that had been raised in the Cloud-Mist Mountains for generations. Normally, their feathers were glossy and bright, and they radiated spiritual energy. These ducks, however, had dull, dry feathers and showed no sign of spiritual aura at all.
"If it's the entire flock and the symptoms are identical, it's usually a plague or a poison..."
Qi Ping and Sister Nan stepped forward to inspect them with their spiritual sense. Time passed, and their expressions shifted from calm to deep frowns. They found nothing.
There were no signs of plague or poison in the ducks' bodies. Their organs and systems were functioning perfectly; they were simply weak from lack of food.
Fatty Zhou's eyes filled with disappointment. Many friends had already checked them and, like these two, found nothing.
"Well? Can you find no cause either?" he asked, his voice tinged with desperation. If the ducks died, he couldn't even sell the meat. No one would buy ducks that died of an unknown cause to feed their own spirit beasts, and no cultivator would eat them either. The loss would be catastrophic for him.
Sister Nan nodded to Fatty Zhou. She truly couldn't find the cause. Her expertise was in plants, and she only knew a little about animal husbandry. If seasoned experts couldn't solve it, how could she?
Fatty Zhou sighed helplessly. Was it truly over? He was filled with despair.
But just as he thought Qi Ping would come up empty as well, Qi Ping made a "hushing" gesture. The gesture reignited a spark of hope in Fatty Zhou. Had he found something?
Sister Nan looked at Qi Ping with surprise. Today, he was providing one shock after another.
"Brother Fatty," Qi Ping said after a long silence. "Have you seen any Streaming Light Grass on this peak or the nearby ones?"
"Streaming Light Grass? I have! I know exactly where it is! Does it have something to do with the ducks?"
Fatty Zhou was shocked. He had never told anyone about the grass. If Qi Ping knew of it, he truly must have found the root of the problem!
Fatty Zhou was ecstatic. 'Reading truly does have its benefits!' he thought. All those experienced farmers couldn't find the cause, yet Qi Ping had found the key to the puzzle!