Mu Li's home was located on two mountains, but these two mountains were by no means small in area. Coupled with the absence of residents nearby, basically all the visible land in this area belonged to Mu Li's family.
However, Mu Li's development of the mountain territory was limited; he only cleared the area around his residence to plant flowers, while the rest of the land remained as original forest, without excessive destruction.
From above, everyone could see a large flower field on the mountain.
"Wow, it's so beautiful!" As the only female trainer who came for this special training, Guan Tong still had a maiden's heart.
"The environment here is really great," Ling Fei couldn't help but exclaim.
"I always feel like you're here to retire," Zhu Yuping retorted, "It feels like you've already thought about where to retire even before us old-timers."
"Haha," Mu Li chuckled, "Don't mention it, I really did intend to retire here originally, but my parents didn't want to come, complaining that it was too far from the city."
"But where is your home?" Ling Fei and the others were a bit puzzled; they had looked around in the sky for a long time but still hadn't found any houses nearby.
"You'll know when you come down," Mu Li deliberately kept them in suspense, leading everyone to land at the end of the flower field.
What appeared before everyone was a forest. The trees in the forest were perfectly intact, there were no Pokémon around, nor any traces of Pokémon or human life, not even a path to walk on.
"What's going on?" Ling Fei couldn't help but ask. He vaguely felt that something was off around them, but he couldn't pinpoint it.
"Just a small illusion," Mu Li pointed to the dark woods, "This is a passage. The flower field outside is specifically for external business, with dedicated Pokémon in charge. To prevent the inside from being disturbed by outsiders, I've set up a small barrier here."
Mu Li summoned Gardevoir, who had just recovered yesterday. With a wave of Gardevoir's hand, a light blue glow flashed, and what was once a forest became a wide passage.
After everyone entered the passage with Mu Li, the barrier outside returned to its original state.
"Your home has such high-tech content," Ling Fei said with some envy, "The outside and inside are completely different worlds."
Mu Li nodded, "Actually, these two mountains are enveloped in a barrier. You can't see anything inside from the outside; it's even difficult to discover."
"How did you do that?" Zhang Yi asked curiously.
"To put it simply, it's a kind of illusion that I had Alakazam create," Mu Li explained, "Logically speaking, most Psychic Pokémon can create illusions."
Zhang Yi couldn't help but ask Metagross, "Can you do that?"
Metagross just gave Zhang Yi a direct eye-roll.
"Alright, you can't," Zhang Yi said helplessly.
Mu Li's mouth twitched, "Heh heh, you're quite a character. You should at least find a Pokémon that specializes in Psychic powers."
Ling Fei exposed him, "Don't listen to his nonsense. Without a Champion-level Pokémon specializing in Psychic, you can't even dream of it. Let alone such a large barrier. I suspect your Alakazam is almost a deity."
Mu Li shrugged, "Don't say I didn't warn you, that Alakazam is incredibly powerful now. If you talk about him here inside his barrier, he'll most likely hear you."
"What? That powerful?" Ling Fei exclaimed, "Where is he now?"
"Supporting the construction of the country's greening efforts," Mu Li sighed, "Ninetales burned down a mountain before, and Alakazam is planting trees there, with Venusaur also helping. Speaking of which, they should be back soon, right?"
No sooner had he spoken than your cute Ninetales suddenly appeared.
"You still say you don't miss that vixen??" Ninetales angrily demanded.
"What nonsense!" Mu Li retorted, annoyed, "I didn't even mention her, alright?"
"You still say you don't miss her? You didn't even mention her name and you already knew who I was talking about!" Ninetales's angry expression suddenly changed to a pitiful one, "Sure enough, new people replace old, and love is gone."
Mu Li sighed, "Why do you have to be like this? She'll come sooner or later! You two are fellow disciples, you can't just fight every time you meet, can you?"
"You still say you don't miss her! Scumbag!" Ninetales felt wronged, Ninetales cried, Ninetales ran away in tears.
Everyone looked at Mu Li with some exasperation, and Mu Li quickly explained, "What are you thinking?"
"Scumbag, what do you think we're thinking?" Guan Tong said, annoyed.
Mu Li helplessly explained, "Earlier, I met a Hatterene in the forest. Ninetales insisted she was some kind of vixen, then burned down her home, and a mountain along with it. Alakazam and Venusaur then went to plant trees for reforestation."
"Unexpectedly, Alakazam even took that Hatterene as his apprentice," Mu Li pointed at Ninetales, "And she is Alakazam's senior apprentice. Because of this, Alakazam's beard was almost burned off."
Guan Tong almost died laughing, "Alakazam really suffered for nothing."
"Who says he didn't?" Mu Li said helplessly, "I don't know why, but these two, all of them, are just jealous. It takes a lot of effort just to coax them every day."
No sooner had he spoken than Jigglypuff and Sylveon jumped out.
"Bori Bori!!!" Jigglypuff pointed at Mu Li and mumbled a string of words.
No one knew what Jigglypuff said, and while Mu Li didn't understand either, based on his understanding of Jigglypuff, her meaning was probably: "Don't speak ill of me, speak ill of Sylveon instead."
Mu Li couldn't help but roll his eyes and replied, "Alright, alright, I won't speak ill of you."
"Bui Bui!!!" Translated the same as Jigglypuff.
"Alright, alright, I won't speak ill of you either."
After hearing Mu Li's assurance, the two of them ran off, still somewhat skeptical.
"These are the other two jealous ones," Mu Li complained helplessly, "They squabble among themselves every day, and they don't even allow me to hug other Pokémon."
Liu Junyi pointed to the three Rowlet behind Mu Li and said, "Aren't they?"
"Heh heh..." Mu Li's mouth twitched, "Do you think they aren't jealous? It's mainly because they can't win; otherwise, they would have jumped up and slapped them away already."
The Three Legendary Birds seemed to have completely adapted to their roles as Rowlet. Hearing Mu Li talk about them, they not only showed no resistance but squeezed their bodies into plump, cute shapes.
If anyone else saw this scene, they would surely want to pet them, but everyone here knew the true forms of these three, and besides Mu Li, no one else dared to reach out and court death.
Guan Tong showed a hint of envy and said, "It's not like you didn't spoil them."
Mu Li shrugged, "Anyway, I don't expect them to fight. If they can be happy, then let them be happy."
The three Rowlet also flew out and asked, "Can we also just eat and do nothing?"
Mu Li's mouth twitched, "Get lost! You guys hurry up and get stronger first!"
The three Rowlet immediately squeezed themselves into plump balls: "We can also act cute."
Mu Li sighed helplessly.
Liu Junyi, however, was filled with deep resentment. He smiled expressionlessly and said, "Heh heh, not expecting them to fight, can you explain to me why Jigglypuff has Champion-level strength?"
At the thought of this, a vein popped out on Mu Li's forehead: "You really can't blame me for this. That Jigglypuff came with Sylveon. As a result, Sylveon, to compete for affection—no, she trained hard to achieve her dream and reached Champion level after evolving."
"But Jigglypuff just wanted to compete for affection with Sylveon, but she couldn't beat Sylveon. You say she couldn't beat her, but she also didn't train and wasn't willing to evolve, saying that she'd be too ugly after evolving," Mu Li said helplessly, "With that attitude, she still pestered me every day to increase her strength. How do you expect me to increase it for her?"
"Then what happened? How did her strength increase?" Liu Junyi asked curiously.
Mu Li's mouth twitched, "Don't even mention it. To be lazy and avoid training, she later specialized in researching unorthodox methods, such as using potions to boost strength, or eating strange berry combinations to boost strength. Unexpectedly, she actually found an unorthodox way to increase her strength."
"Quick, tell me, what unorthodox way allows one to increase strength without training? I want to be an evil cultivator too!" Liu Junyi's eyes sparkled.
"Heh heh," Mu Li sneered, "One time, I happened to take her to see Suicune. Later, I helped Suicune with something, and that Suicune insisted on giving me a blessing, saying it would strengthen my body. As a result, she shamelessly asked Suicune if it could also bless her. And that Suicune actually agreed to her request."
"What was unexpected was that Suicune's blessing instantly boosted her strength significantly, and there was no stopping her after that. Whenever she had the chance, she would specifically go and freeload blessings from Legendary Pokémon. She'd freeload one today, one tomorrow, and believe it or not, she actually freeloaded her way to Champion level." Mu Li was also speechless about this.
Liu Junyi's face instantly fell, "How did she find so many Legendary Pokémon?"
Mu Li covered his face, "It's all my fault. Back then, I had nothing to do and went around looking for Legendary Pokémon to fight for fun. As you know, most Legendary Pokémon are rarely seen by humans. After meeting, fighting a couple of times, and chatting about gossip, it's easy to gain their favor. These Legendary Pokémon are also like that; they always like to give some random things as proof of friendship, and leave a blessing on you so they'll recognize you next time they meet."
"As a result, as soon as Jigglypuff saw me being blessed, she would shamelessly go and freeload. Those Legendary Pokémon also couldn't refuse, and they actually let her freeload. And so, little by little, it became what it is now."
Liu Junyi almost knelt down to Mu Li: "Brother, please be sure to take me with you when you go to see Legendary Pokémon in the future."
Mu Li rolled his eyes, annoyed, "What's so rare about it? Aren't there several here? Just ask them to give you a blessing."
Liu Junyi pointed to the three Rowlet in the sky who were currently studying how to act cute and said, "You mean them?"
"Otherwise?" Mu Li retorted, "They are genuine Legendary Pokémon. How can you look down on them? You should know, even though these three birds are a bit silly, they are three against one, capable of directly confronting Lugia, okay?"
Liu Junyi's face changed drastically: "No way, brother? They also have the ability to give blessings? Why are you only telling me this now?"
Mu Li's mouth twitched, "It's your fault for not knowing, not mine. Most of these god-level Pokémon can leave a bit of power on humans or Pokémon, which is what's called a blessing. Although these powers aren't much, they are still god-level powers. Once your Pokémon thoroughly researches them, they'll directly reach god-level. But with you, I guess they're too lazy to bother with you now."
"Can I still go and try to build good relations with them now?" Liu Junyi asked tentatively, while looking at the three Rowlet, blinking his eyes, looking incredibly greasy.
The three Rowlet suddenly shivered in the air. Without even a second glance at him, they flew straight back into the backpack and zipped it shut.
"Looks like it's a no-go," Mu Li shrugged.
Liu Junyi couldn't help but kneel on the ground, ORZ: "My cheat-enabled life ended before it even began!"
"So, there are no shortcuts in life, unless you're willing to go all out," Guan Tong said, patting Liu Junyi's shoulder with a feigned air of wisdom, and sighed.
Mu Li ignored him, led everyone through the passage, and arrived at the entrance of his farm: "This is my home."
