In the flourishing capital of a kingdom in Long-Hua Continent, there lived a famous martial practitioner by the name of Yun Cha. Yun Cha was only two hundred or so years old, but he was already crowned as top practitioner in many parts of the land.

Yun Cha wasn’t just known for his martial prowess and fighting abilities, or even his godly good looks. The other thing he was known for was his love of tea.

Yun Cha loved to drink tea. Even though he was quite young, he liked to hang out with uncles who were over ten thousand years old. This was because they liked to drink tea and eat peanuts together.

It got bad to the extent that Yun Cha would forsake private time with beauties to hang out with these old uncles. In their free time they would sit around and talk about nothing in particular, shelling melon seeds and nuts while drinking good tea that they’ve collected to show off to each other.

Since he was from a much younger generation, the old men all called him Cha-Er. Before long, everyone also addressed Yun Cha as Cha-Er, even though he was almost two metres tall.

Now, Cha-Er was a favourite guest of Cao Pei, a general from a grand line of martial practitioners. This old man collected a lot of interesting types of tea, and he was very impressed that someone as young and brilliant as Cha-Er could appreciate it. Sometimes his own friends, being very traditional people, couldn’t appreciate it, so he liked to call Cha-Er over to enjoy these blends with him.

One day, Cao Pei called him over to enjoy a very special blend. Even though he was over ten thousand years old, Cao Pei still looked like he was in his early thirties. Together at a table, they looked like father and son.

Steeping the tea leaves in hot water, it brought forth a soft, fragrant scent. Cao Pei passed Cha-Er a cup.

“How does it taste?” asked the general, eagerly. “What do you imagine when you’re drinking it?”

“I can smell mysterious mountain flowers,” replied Cha-Er, very satisfied. “Thinking about it, one can almost hear birdsong.”

Cao Pei smiled. Just as Cha-Er finished speaking, small plants began to sprout around. They blossomed into strange and fragrant mountain flowers, and some spiritual energy flew forth from the leaves to take shape of singing birds.

Then, just as the faint spiritual energy from the steeped tea leaves passed away, the flowers and birds disappeared.

It really was like magic. Even in two hundred years of his life, Cha-Er had never seen anything like it. People often didn’t use spiritual energy like that, even when producing medicinal pills.

The scene that happened only happened once, but the taste of the tea was still good. The two men kept brewing more, and soon they found themselves having to go to the toilet. Laughing, the two parted ways.

When Cha-Er returned, he still couldn’t take his mind away from those magical tea leaves. After a week of longing, he paid Cao Pei a visit.

He cupped the venerable general a bow and said, “General Cao, would it be possible for you to share with me the origins of the tea? I’d like it for private consumption. I promise that I will not vie with you.”

At this request, Cao Pei was troubled. It wasn’t that he was worried about competition either. After all, tea-drinking was just a hobby among his friends, and he loved Cha-Er like a grandson.

You see, Cao Pei was from a good line of martial practitioners and generals. Unfortunately for him, he also had a grandson who wasn’t one. This grandson of his was called Cao Jing, and even though he was already over four hundred and fifty years old, all he did with his cultivation and spiritual energy was grow and harvest tea leaves.

It wouldn’t matter too much if Cao Jing had also spent his energy being a herbal spiritualist, but he only invested himself with tea leaves, rather like a shut-in, a tea-leaf otaku. Therefore, most of his family members considered him useless.

If Cao Pei told Cha-Er about it, he would lose a considerable amount of face.

There was no avoiding the matter though, because, enamoured by those tea leaves, Cha-Er continuously pestered the general about it. Eventually, Cao Pei relented and brought Cha-Er to the farm, which was located in the outskirts, far away from the capital.

Struck by the pretty farm and acres of different tea leaves, Cha-Er couldn’t help but let his gaze wander around. Cao Pei, on the other hand, was busy trying to locate his tea-leaf maniac of a grandson. He grew embarrassed, and shook his head at Cha-Er.

“I’m sorry about this,” he apologized sheepishly. “Actually, I did tell him I would come today, but Jing-Er, he… he’s a bit of a scatterbrain…”

This was precisely why he didn’t want to bring Cha-Er to meet his grandson. It wasn’t that Cao Jing wasn’t very social, but he was quite embarrassing. If Cao Pei hadn’t been the loving type to dote on all his sons and daughters, nieces, nephews and grandchildren, Cao Pei would have completely severed ties with him.

Since Cao Jing didn’t have much of a relationship with the rest of his family, he loved his grandpa best. Therefore, those tea leaves had been specially created for him.

Despite that, Cao Pei also believed that it would benefit his grandson to have a friend around the same age, even if it was one who was half his age.

Presently, after waiting for almost a quarter of an hour, a young man flew over to them, covered in leaves and bits of moss. He was also wearing a robe with a pattern of leaves all over. He called out with a smile, “Grandfather, who is this?”

Cha-Er was astonished. This young man didn’t look at all like a farmer. In fact, he looked like one of those graceful young masters from noble families. Even though he wasn’t very tall, he was very ruddy, and had an amiable personality. Cha-Er liked him at once.

“Jing-Er, this is Yun Cha, a friend of mine,” introduced Cao Pei.

Immediately Cha-Er said, “Everyone calls me Cha-Er. I don’t mind if you do.”

When he heard that, the amiable Cao Jing also liked Cha-Er at once. They became fast friends, and even when Cao Pei wasn’t there to accompany him, Cha-Er still paid Cao Jing a visit once in a while. He would bring him sweets from the capital.

One day, while Cha-Er was making a trip to the outskirts to visit his friend, he noticed some smoke coming from a distance away. When he realized that it was in the same direction as Cao Jing’s tea plantation, he instantaneously tensed. Alarmed, he flew quickly to the farm on his sword.

True to his fears, the small farmhouse was being burnt down. The tea trees were stripped bald, and the land was scorched everywhere. Cao Jing was nowhere to be found.

On the ground were many muddy tracks made by both horses and men. It had just rained, so the tracks were fairly visible. As there was nothing else he could do, Cha-Er followed them.

About thirty kilometres away, Cha-Er chanced upon a group of bandits pulling along a wagon. He recognized them at once – they were a team of rogue cultivators who went around bullying people in small villages near the capital. When he attacked their hideout a few years ago, they ran off. Cha-Er never expected to see them again.

He crept closer, hiding his spiritual energy to avoid being detected. Up in the trees, he listened to the men discuss among themselves.

“What do we do with the prisoner?” asked one bandit.

“Kill him!” said one.

“No,” said another. “Sell him as a slave!”

“That’s stupid,” argued another man. “Sell him to a brothel. Every month, you can get additional money.”

A few murmured in agreement. Some disagreed, saying their prisoner wouldn’t fetch much. At last, one of them, the one who looked like their leader, went to the wagon and pulled the hides aside to expose a large cage.

“Well, which one do you want to be?” he asked their prisoner. “A slave or a whore?”

Cao Jing shook his head violently. He didn’t want to be either!

When Cha-Er saw that the prisoner was indeed his friend, and that he was being threatened, he saw red. He jumped out from the trees and started beating up the bandits one by one. He had shown them mercy before, but this time he wasn’t going to let them off so easily. He cut them all down with his gleaming sword.

After he killed the last bandit, he went to the cage and sliced open the door. Cao Jing was dirty and bruised, but apart from that, he was unhurt. Cha-Er lifted him out of the wagon.

“Why didn’t you call for help?” asked Cha-Er.

Cao Jing stared at him and blurted, “Who would come?”

This was true. Although Cao Jing came from a military family, he didn’t have close ties with them. Moreover, his grandfather lived very far away, in the main capital. Even if he knew Cao Jing was in trouble, he wouldn’t have been able to come in time.

Since Cao Jing’s farm was burnt down, Cha-Er brought him back to the capital to live with him for a while. After half a month, when the small farmhouse was rebuilt, he left the capital himself to settle down in the outskirts with Cao Jing, as he felt he could not leave his friend, who could not fight, alone.

Many cultivators and generals were dismayed by this, but they couldn’t do anything. However, as Cha-Er was still very popular and famous in the martial world, some families also lifted their roots to move to the outskirts and live there, so that they could rub shoulders with him.

After many years, the area surrounding the tea plantation grew into a village, then a town, and finally a city. Unlike the other cities and main capital, it was renowned for its high-quality tea. Before too long, everyone living in the Long-Hua continent knew about it, and merchants would come to stock up on them, since even the simplest blends fetched a high price.

Cao Jing and Cha-Er lived happily together in the farmhouse forever, and the tale of the magic tea leaves that started it all and grew a city was passed down for many generations.