Urban Most Awesome Dad

“But there the young man was, hanging from the tree, unable to move his limbs, unable to find food or water, and with multiple injuries on his body. If he continued without food or drink, he would not last three days without starving to death in that deep forest,” Xu Fan’s words carried a wave of melancholy, which touched Tongtong deeply, causing her eyes to widen, and her little heart was fiercely gripped by the fate of the young man in Xu Fan’s story.

“The young man hung on the tree for three days, and during those days, he thought of many things. What he thought about the most was getting revenge, but now, having hung on the tree for three full days, his body’s energy was entirely drained, and he was on the brink of death. However, at that moment, the young man saw a little squirrel approaching him on the tree.”

“A little squirrel? Was it a cute one with a big bushy tail?” Tongtong asked curiously.

“Yes, exactly that kind of squirrel with a big bushy tail. It seemed as if the squirrel had a sense of spirit, for when it saw the young man who was extremely thirsty and close to death, it hopped and skipped into a tree hollow. After a short while, it brought out a pine nut from the hole and gently threw it into the young man’s mouth,” Xu Fan said calmly as he narrated his past experiences.

Had it not been for that spirit-possessed squirrel, Xu Fan might have perished in the woods, and there would be no story of the Five Directions Great Emperor who later shook Wanfang Tianyu.

“Squirrels are so nice. Tongtong wants to keep a squirrel as a little friend too,” Tongtong said, her small hands cupping her chubby cheeks, speaking with a hint of yearning.

“Thanks to the pine nuts brought by the squirrel and a heavy rain, the young man miraculously solved his problem of food and water and managed to survive on the tree with great fortitude for another seven days.”

“Oh? So the pine nuts from the little squirrel were all eaten up?” Tongtong asked curiously.

“Right, Tongtong is so clever. After all, a squirrel is just a small animal, and those pine nuts were merely its winter storage. For an adult, it was hardly enough food. After only seven days, the pine nuts the squirrel had saved were all gone, and the young man finally lost hope, thinking he was certainly going to die in that forest.”

“Wuwu… I don’t want him to die; Tongtong wants to go save him with pine nuts,” Tongtong, her small eyes brimming with tears, pitifully said to Xu Fan.

“Don’t worry, Tongtong; the story isn’t over yet,” Xu Fan said, patting Tongtong’s little head, thinking to himself that she truly was his beloved daughter, feeling sorry for her old dad.

“So what happened next?” Tongtong asked with wide eyes, brimming with curiosity.

“That squirrel, incredibly intuitive, seemed to have become friends with the young man. Seeing that the food had run out and unable to think of a solution, it scurried all over the mountains in search of food. However, during that season, all the pine nuts in the mountains had been picked, and despite searching everywhere, the squirrel couldn’t find any. But, while passing by a cave, it discovered a big bronze furnace, and next to it, there was an old Daoist who was dozing off.”

“Old Daoist? What’s an old Daoist?” Tongtong asked, somewhat puzzled.

“A Daoist is someone who wears a Daoist robe and who knows how to chant scriptures and perform rituals,” Xu Fan patiently explained.

“Oh? Will the old Daoist save him?” Tongtong asked again.

“Haha, Tongtong is really smart. Under the bronze Alchemy Furnace, the little squirrel found a small jar filled with round and smooth elixirs. Thinking those round objects looked edible, the squirrel stealthily took one from the jar, scampered back up the tree, and fed the elixir to the young man hanging there,” Xu Fan said, his eyes twinkling with a smile as he slowly continued.

The elixir that the little squirrel had stolen was none other than a Fasting Pill concocted by Xu Fan’s master on Earth Star. Consuming just one Fasting Pill would allow one not to eat for five days and five nights, without feeling any hunger at all.

Unexpectedly, the elixir that the little squirrel had accidentally stolen turned out to be more effective than any other food. After Xu Fan had taken the elixir, not only did he withstand the hunger, but also the wounds on his body slowly began to heal, pulling him completely back from the brink of death.

The Fasting Pills that Xu Fan’s Earth-based master had concocted, all six of them, had been stolen by the little squirrel, which supported Xu Fan for another month up in the big tree.

The little squirrel became increasingly skilled at stealing the elixir, quietly entering the cave with the Pill Furnace every five days, and sneakily taking a pill from the jar to feed Xu Fan.

However, too much thievery will eventually lead to discovery.

On the squirrel’s seventh theft, the old Daoist who had become suspicious, caught him red-handed.

He thought the squirrel had mistaken his elixirs for pine nuts, hiding them in its own tree hole, so he quietly followed the little creature and came upon the tree where Xu Fan was hanging.

It was only then that the old Daoist realized that the squirrel had been stealing the elixir to save an injured person in the tree.

Later on, Xu Fan was rescued by this old Daoist, who then used his miraculous elixirs to cure Xu Fan’s wounds. Noticing that Xu Fan had an Immortal Root, the old Daoist took him under his wing and together they embarked on the path of cultivation.

As he spoke, Xu Fan realized that Tongtong had fallen asleep at some unknown point, with only Xu Yixue leaning against the door frame, listening to Xu Fan’s story.

“Where did you read this story?” Xu Yixue asked Xu Fan somewhat skeptically.

Xu Fan seemed to possess a miraculously skilled Alchemy art, and the young man in the story sounded a bit like Xu Fan. However, after careful thought, Xu Yixue dismissed her own idea.

Xu Fan had once been the young master of the Xu Family and had always lived in Dragon City without ever leaving. After his family underwent a misfortune, he had been living a dissolute life in Zhonghai City. Xu Yixue had even seen the decadent Xu Fan when she returned from America, which chronologically did not match up.

It was impossible for Xu Fan to be the young man saved by the squirrel in the story.

“This story, of course, I read it from an online novel,” Xu Fan said with a casual smile, speaking lightly.

“Don’t tell Tongtong these bizarre and strange stories in the future, you should tell more classic fairy tales,” Xu Yixue said with a frown to Xu Fan.

“Aren’t fairy tales also strange and bizarre? They’re just simpler, that’s all,” Xu Fan replied, curling his lip.

“Hmph! Anyway, you’re not allowed to tell those!” Xu Yixue insisted with a stern face to Xu Fan.