Xue Huai has been staying at the Immortal Mountain for half a month and is kind of used to it.
He is someone who has endured hardships. He started cultivating at the foundation stage of the Wood Spiritual Root, and the progress is also far better than that of the other people of the same age. Among the medicinal disciples under Cai Yi, he was always the fastest and the best. Not only that, he maintained the same intermittent rest schedule that he had in the military. When others went to sleep, he practiced in the medication hall, and when others woke up, he was still practicing.
At one point, his classmates in the school were eager to compete with him, and the Caomu Hall was brightly lit, intending to compete with him. Finally, these people collapsed and said, “Xue Huai, this person, does he not sleep? Why is he studying all night ah?”
A group of people endured in daze, while Xue Huai was full of energy and didn’t even notice the little thoughts of his classmates—he just found it a little strange as to why there were so many people coming to Medication Hall to sleep instead of sleeping in the nice and warm room and insisting on dozing off on the table here.
But he’s never been one to meddle, and he has not asked much.
After more than ten days like this, before everyone, there’s a little girl who couldn’t hold back anymore and came over cautiously to ask him, “Xue… classmate, when exactly are you going to take a break?”
At that time, Xue Huai was meditating, practicing Qi, and transforming his mind. Upon hearing the sound, he opened his eyes.
Xue Huai exclaimed in surprise, “Me? I had already slept.”
The little girl: “???”
Cai Yi was also startled by these little guys in the middle of the night. She put on a piece of clothing and came over to look. When she lifted the door curtain, she saw a large group of people sleeping in a corner, and the remaining few were also drowsy. Only Xue Huai’s eyes were bright.
She had always trusted Xue Huai’s steadiness and asked him, “What’s going on?”
Xue Huai said, “I’m not sure either.”
Cai Yi’s heart was as clear as a mirror, waving her hand and taking out the authority of a strict master to drive them to sleep: “It’s good to study hard, but homework is not for others to see. How’s that going to work when you have to doze off in the middle of the day tomorrow? Even if it can be dissolved with a refreshing spell, the so-called nourishing qi and replenishing the energy can’t be replenished with a healing spell, all of you go back to sleep.”
As Xue Huai was about to speak, he heard her say, “So is Xue Huai, but you stay for a while. Shizun has something to say to you.”
Everyone has left.
Xue Huai stood up and looked at her seriously. “Shizun?”
Cai Yi asked, “Are you meditating for two hours and practicing for four hours?”
Xue Huai nodded: “That’s right.”
This is his pattern of working and sleeping that has never changed. He has to be on duty and patrol in the military all year round. Even if he has reached the high position of left protector, he still has to do some things himself. In that crisis-ridden environment, he often has to work continuously, day and night. Although he no longer needs to be so nervous in this life, the further back he went, the more variables there were, and he had to seize all the time he could to enter the Jindan stage as early as possible.
Cai Yi asked again, “Who taught you such a cultivation method?”
Xue Huai said, “Shizun, I grasped it out myself. Our family is engaged in the arms business in the Immortal Realm, and my father has also raised soldiers. That’s what those soldiers did, and I thought that I might inherit the family business in the future, so I wanted to get used to that kind of environment early.”
Cai Yi chuckled and said, “It’s good that you have ambition, but you shouldn’t act too hastily. Xiao Huai, you have so much time, so there’s no need to push yourself like this.”
Xue Huai said, “Shizun, I have a sense of propriety. Don’t worry.”
Cai Yi had been in contact with him for more than ten days and had long seen Xue Huai’s youthful maturity. She was surprised by this student’s talent and intelligence, as well as his adult-like calmness and indifference.
Talent and insight may be attributed to his unusual background and spiritual roots, but that kind of demeanor was something Cai Yi had never seen before at his age. Murong Jinchuan treasured this grandson to the core, and she had also learned some of Xue Huai’s past from this senior. In the end, it can only be attributed to the fact that Xue Huai lost his mother at an early age, and his father was busy all the time, so he had experienced the world early.
She smiled and said, “Shizun knows that you have a sense of propriety, but it just can’t go on like this. Your fellow disciples will always follow you, and things might go wrong. I’ll show you a place, and you can quietly go there. At the same time, you should also pay attention to rest, do you understand?”
She gave him the key to a spiritual cave that only a Sect Master was qualified to enter and cultivate.
In fact, in this place, Xue Huai can break the boundary with a snap of his fingers. But the reason he didn’t come and didn’t ask for it before was because Murong Jinchuan was trying to get him to stop being arrogant. He strictly prohibited all the masters within the Murong Mountain Manor from giving Xue Huai a free ride through the back door and also prohibited him from taking shortcuts and using high-level spiritual caves for cultivation.
This severity, even to the point of harshness. Common fellow disciplines can pass through the assessment as long as they make no mistake, but he has to be perfect when going through the assessment. When meditating in an extremely cold place, others can come out after five hours, while he must stay for three whole days.
In the eyes of others, Xue Huai was initially good-looking but later became only one word ‘miserable’.
He is clearly the biological grandson of Lord Murong, but he was targeted everywhere. How could he be so miserable?
Even for Xue Huai himself, these things are not easy. He is not from a systematic cultivation background. Previously, he was known for his wild paths. Once he was required to utilize his cultivation and spells to the fullest extent without any discrepancy, it was a long and trivial process. It can sharpen one’s patience and willpower.
But no matter how hard it is, it can’t be harder than that year when he ran away from home.
From this day onwards, Xue Huai knew that he had to keep a low profile to learn—specifically, he had to learn secretly behind people’s backs. During the day, he attended the class to learn healing techniques. After class, he went to the spiritual cave alone to meditate and practice, benefiting his Water Spiritual Roots. He often stayed all night and half an evening there.
Under these circumstances, the aftermath of rebirth recurred without warning.
The last time he took the medicine to calm his soul, he was much better, and there were no more spirits around him. That’s why he didn’t bring any soul-calming medicine with him this time when he came to Xianzhou. As a result, the deeper he cultivated his water spiritual root, the heavier the yin aura of his roots became, and the evil spirits and ghosts gradually swarmed back, watching him closely.
Xue Huai was originally not aware of it.
By the time he finished his practice that day, it was already late at night. As soon as he opened his eyes and exhaled a mouthful of air, he realized that his whole body was freezing cold. Murong Immortal Manor is spring all year round, but he seems to have returned home with heavy snow in the winter.
This feeling is very creepy and familiar—on that day when he went to the Demon Realm to find Yun Cuo, his body temperature slowly cooled down like this, and he eventually fell into a coma.
Xue Huai immediately realized what was going on. He mustered up his energy and turned around to go to the pharmacy, hoping to get some soul-calming medicine.
This prescription was given to him by Yun Cuo. He said, “Xue Huai, remember the prescription.” As he whispered to him, it carried the faint aroma of snow bamboo.
Xue Huai rubbed his cold hands and whispered, “Five pieces of Qilin Armor… Ruyi Grass… two coins, two coins of Kong Qing, one coin of Di Hun Hua, one coin of Bian An Hua, one piece of Bai Lian Guo, and… Zhen Hun Teng… Where is Zhen Hun Teng?”
Zhen Hun Teng is a very precious medicinal herb with a wide range of uses. It is said to be able to treat various diseases when used as medicine. Cai Yi used it a few days ago to have his disciples practice dispensing medicine and control the time and dosage of decoction according to the prescription, but now there are not even any leftover ingredients left for that medicine.
Xue Huai: “?”
He quickly thought of a question: even if he found all the medicine, it would take him two hours to boil it—by then he probably would have cooled down completely already.
In this case, he’s a little hesitant—to go to Cai Yi and ask her to heal him with the most complicated soul-returning technique?
But how should he explain it? Said he secretly cultivates his Water Spiritual Root, or was he actually accidentally reborn and his soul returned?
Before he could make a decision, there was a sudden “bang” sound from the corner of the room, causing him to stop and look over there.
He only held a lantern in his hand at this moment. The light illuminated the area, but he did not see anyone, he only saw an open window and the rising fire of the medicine stove under the bed.
What broke was a medicine jar made of jade, which is very light, perhaps blown down by the wind.
Xue Huai was very familiar with this medicine’s fragrance. It was the soul-calming soup he had been drinking in his hometown of Xianzhou for over a month—his gaze followed the medicine stove, only to find a piece of paper next to the faint flames, with many scattered prescriptions written on it. The handwriting was small and blurry, and there were many omissions, which were non-standard notes.
He thought about it: tomorrow there was a group of fellow disciples who were going to be assessed on their medicinal prescriptions and boiling techniques.
Xue Huai was a bit stunned, holding this note at a loss—
Is his luck so good?
Coincidentally, when he needed this medicine, he accidentally broke through a scene where a fellow disciple came over late at night to hug the Buddha’s feet1抱佛脚 or Bào Fó Jiǎo is an idiom that means hug Buddha’s legs and beseech his help on in trouble—make a last-minute effort.. The soup they made happened to be this soul-calming soup. That person probably thought he was the teacher who came to patrol the night, so he hurriedly jumped out of the window and even broke a medicine jar.
Xue Huai leaned down to examine the jar of medicine and silently thanked his fellow disciple, who was not studying hard.
The dosage, temperature, and cooking time are all just right, with a portion of three to five days inside, which is just enough for Xue Huai to withstand in this period of time. The medicinal herbs available for free use in the disciple’s pharmacy are limited, so he still needs to go find the green and wait for the Heavenly Court Shennong Hall to ship them to him, so that it is safe and reliable.
That medicine is bitter and spicy, with a very strange taste. It feels like a ball of fire is rolling inside his stomach after drinking it. Xue Huai drank half a bowl, choking to the point where tears were about to come out, but he did feel the chill slowly dissipating all over his body.
He breathed a sigh of relief, feeling the emptiness and discomfort in his stomach. He looked around to see if there were any jujube, tangerine peels, or other things to cushion his stomach, only to find that the corner of the table happened to also have… a plate of pastries and dried fruits piled up, as well as fried little crabs—originally, crab roe was used as medicine to remove fishy smell, which was tasteless and had little meat, but this disciple, who had written a short note also… set up dipping plates and juice.
Xue Huai almost laughed out loud.
If it weren’t for this situation, he would have wanted to get to know this brother, who writes the short note. For tomorrow’s assessment, he stayed up late to write a cheat note to review his homework and still had leisure time to prepare snacks. He and Xue Huai are the same.
He now has severe pain in his stomach, so he pressed down on these things and drank the remaining half bowl of the medicine. After finishing this, he seriously left a note for the brother who was scared away by him at night: “Take it without asking, and I took your snacks and medicine to save the situation. I’m very sorry. My name is Xue Huai, and I live in the innermost part of the third floor of the Warm Pavilion. You come to me for a compensate ba. At least I’ll buy this meal back. Also, I wish you a successful pass tomorrow.”
Xue Huai packed up the entire pot of simmering soul-calming soup, and after some thought, in order to conceal it, he pressed the note under the plate that contained the little crab.
After finishing all of this, he closed the paper window and cleaned the remaining medicine jars, bowls, and plates before putting them back in their original places.
It was only when the clean-cut figure left through the door that the person by the window moved. After a small spell, the note had already arrived in his hand, remaining unchanged in its original spot.
Yun Cuo read the piece of paper over and over again.
The cat jumped onto his shoulder again and went to scratch his ear. Yun Cuo finally came back to his senses and turned his head to look at it. He reached out and stroked its round head. “You also think he slept too late too, don’t you?”
His brow was furrowed, and his tone was also serious, with a slight huskiness to his normally quiet and almost cold voice.
But the light that leapt in his eyes was like a blaze of fire, and it was fresh and vivid, like every young boy of that age, like every young boy who unexpectedly obtained the handwriting of his beloved. That letter was still written for him with kindness and clean courtesy.
He folded the slips of paper, one by one, according to the distance of each word, without any bending or indentation on any word, and then carefully tucked them into his sleeve.
The author has something to say: Three-years-old Yun: I’m happy to receive a handwritten note from my wife.
