Xue Huai squeezed out time in the midst of cultivation to make a jar of pickled mythical beast meat for Yun Cuo and actually stayed up for two days and nights. It was the longest he could spare.
He guessed that Yun Cuo might react—happy? Helpless? Excited?
Or is it like a few days ago, taking every inch forward?
Anyway, he felt that Yun Cuo should come looking for him as soon as he left the seclusion.
When he came over later, Xue Huai had one more thing to tell him: his Wood Spiritual Root was about to reach the Qi stage, he would go into the Immortal Barrier to cross the calamity tomorrow.
He has already inquired about the news in advance. Next door to the Hall of Illusion, there is a senior brother who will ascend from the Mahayana to the Yuandan stage. In addition to this, there are about seven or eight other people who will have to go through the Thunder Calamity, and he can just blend in. There is no way to do so even if they want to check them one by one.
It will be a few more days before they can meet.
He was lying on the bed, stroking the gluttonous ghost’s head, and giving it a pre-school education. He attempted to teach the first step of making mythical beast meat to the gluttonous—letting it go out alone to fight a mythical beast, but was strongly resisted by the gluttonous ghost. Xue Huai’s negotiations with it were unsuccessful, and the gluttonous ghost began to cry again. Xue Huai could only hold it to comfort it for a while.
This comfort unconsciously made him feel drowsy, and he fell asleep.
He thought to himself, Yun Cuo has not yet arrived. He has this matter in his mind, so he sleeps restlessly and wakes up intermittently many times. When the sunset sank and the dim yellow light shone in, he faintly realized that Yun Cuo would not come to find him today.
Xue Huai was extremely tired, so he casually grabbed the blanket, ignored it, buried his head and continued to sleep. The gluttonous ghost crawled back and forth on the bed, holding the corner of the quilt that could barely cover it—excluding that he ate the four corners of the quilt; Then it followed into Xue Huai’s arms and fell asleep together.
Although he knew that there was not much hope, Xue Huai still couldn’t sleep soundly after falling asleep at night. His drowsiness weighed him down and he struggled vaguely. He also learned that the outside sky had changed from dim yellow to deep blue, then to complete darkness.
He muttered, “I misread you, Surname Yun. You are a scammer ba.”
He didn’t tell him before he went in and also didn’t tell him when he would come out, where’s the self-consciousness about chasing after someone?
Xue Huai didn’t care about anything now, even though he didn’t realize what it was. He forgot that they had never made any agreements about when to meet or eat together.
He himself didn’t realize whether it was anger or something else. In short, he grabbed the gluttonous ghost aside, turned his back to the door, huddled tightly in the corner, and slept like this all night.
The next day.
Xue Huai woke up and found that his room seemed to have been visited by someone.
The shoes he casually kicked off were neatly arranged. In the past few days, he has been learning how to make pickled mystical beast meat and he has made a mess. The room that he didn’t have time to tidy up has also been cleaned up completely.
He also smelled the aroma of the food.
The gluttonous ghost woke up earlier than him, first he flopped on the bed for a moment, then scampered around the room and articulated a note to him.
It’s Yun Cuo’s handwriting: The meal is on the table, I’ll wash the dishes.
Xue Huai got out of bed, wore his robe and went to wash up, then he did indeed find a sealed meal on the table, which was obviously cooked by someone who came in last night.
Xue Huai was almost furious to death; he waited for Yun Cuo all night and afternoon. This person knew how to cook for him, how to tidy up his room, and had time to leave him a note—but didn’t know how to wake him up, and even silently left on his own?
When did Yun Cuo become so conscious?
Xue Huai sat down, feeling a bit depressed, and silently picked up his chopsticks to eat.
He noticed that today Yun Cuo had brought him two jars of pickled fairy grass pellets from last time. Judging by its color, it seemed to be non spicy, so he also dug a few spoonfuls into his own rice.
Not even halfway through the meal, someone knocked on the door from the outside. It was one of his cultivator mentors. “Xue Huai? Xue Huai? Are you up yet? Once you’re up, hurry over to the immortal barrier. Heavenly Calamity can’t be delayed.”
Xue Huai responded, “You can take the other senior brothers first. I’ll come after breakfast.”
The cultivator continued to knock on the door with a stern tone. “That won’t work, they’ve all passed, and you’re the only one left! Do you understand what Heavenly Calamity is? You haven’t experienced it before, and you don’t know the power of the Thunder Calamity. The Heavenly Calamity used to be deadly! If it weren’t for the recent development of the powerful immortal barrier by the Jianyuan Department Store Center and the Supreme Old Lord, integrating the ingredients of Phoenix Eggshell into the Immortal Barrier, you would have truly experienced the pain of the primordial god being shattered!”
Of course, Xue Huai knows how powerful the Thunder Calamity is. In his past life, he experienced a total of twelve small thunders and three big thunders. Small thunder is fine, he just has to take a few days off. Those three great thunders of Yuandan’s soaring Yindan, however, almost killed him.
The cultivator was still urging, “The will of heaven is unpredictable. You are already very late. You can enter as early as you can! Come with me, let’s go to the immortal barrier for breakfast. Let’s go quickly.”
Xue Huai didn’t want to delay others’ time, so he had to take a few bites and get up to find a brush and paper to leave a message for Yun Cuo, telling him that he was going into the Heavenly Calamity. But after searching for a long time, he couldn’t find it, and the person outside was in a hurry. So he only carried the gluttonous ghost and warned it, “When I’m not at home, you can eat whatever you want, but don’t move the food on the table. I still have something to eat when I come back. Also, go to Yun Cuo’s place and tell him that I’m inside the immortal barrier.”
The gluttonous ghost let out a whimper and looked at him humbly, his big eyes filled with ignorance and confusion.
Xue Huai gave it a sideways glance and said, “I know you can’t speak. I don’t care what you do, you have to inform him that I’m inside the immortal barrier. That’s it, be good.”
He pushed open the door and followed the person, leaving the gluttonous ghost rolling on the ground alone in sorrow.
Yun Cuo’s sleeve was bitten by the gluttonous ghost and was dragged outside to the immortal barrier.
He was originally studying calligraphy at Murong Jinchuan’s place, practicing the most complex and difficult-to-distinguish ancient divine words. On the snowy top of the Immortal Mountain, where the wind was calm and the sky was clear, suddenly a black and ugly gluttonous rushed up. Everywhere it went, there were screams in shock everywhere: “Ah! Here comes a gluttonous! Someone come and kill it! Ah! Help ah!”
The gluttonous ghost skillfully withstood the attacks of countless brooms and magical weapons, accurately jumping to the top and tearfully holding onto Yun Cuo without letting go.
He threw himself into Yun Cuo like this, so the brush in his hand fell off. He was a bit surprised but didn’t say anything. He first protected it in his arms and then whispered to the imposing people rushing down the mountain, “It’s okay, it is the gluttonous that I… Xue Huai and I are raising, it won’t hurt people.”
The gluttonous ghost carefully poked its head out and saw that no one was going to hit it again. So it climbed down Yun Cuo’s arm and pulled out the corner of his clothes.
The gluttonous’s teeth were sharp, and Yun Cuo’s clothes were almost torn. It saw Yun Cuo not moving, so it anxiously pulled again—if it couldn’t bring the person over, Xue Huai beat it again when he came out!
It is a dignified gluttonous, it can’t be beaten by Xue Huai every day, at least it should be beaten every other day only!
Yun Cuo watched it tug for a moment, trying to hold back its saliva from eating his outer robes, and then understood. “Where do you want to take me to?”
The gluttonous ghost cannot speak, so it naturally ignores him and only bites down the corner of his clothes on its own. Yun Cuo had to follow it down the mountain.
Outside the immortal barrier, clouds and mist shrouded, and it was surrounded by patrolling guards, making it impossible for anyone to escape. Yun Cuo was stopped outside.
The immortal recognized him, it was the immortal who was on duty in front of the Ice Cave a few days ago: “Hey, Young Immortal Lord, please go back. According to the rules, only those who are about to cross the Heavenly Calamity can go inside the immortal barrier. Don’t worry about Xue Shixiong. Not to mention that he himself is a medicine cultivator, he can create another barrier for himself. There are seven or eight medicine cultivators above the Jindan inside. With them there, there won’t be any problems.”
Yun Cuo was stunned for a moment and said, “What did you say? Xue Huai is inside?”
The immortal observed his expression and was also quite surprised: “What? Xue Shixiong didn’t tell you? He—as I recall, it takes three small thunders for a wood spiritual root to ascend to Qi cultivation. He needs to pass three small thunder tests. I notified him a few days ago, how come you don’t know?”
Seeing that Yun Cuo had not spoken, the immortal boy guessed that he had probably stepped on the mold—Yun Cuo seemed to have never heard of this.
How dare these two have a strained relationship but didn’t even tell each other about major events like going through Heavenly Calamity?
He quickly changed the topic and said, “Are you here to wait for him to come out? There’s no place here. There’s a tea pavilion three or five steps inside. If you want to wait, go there ba.”
After he sat down, the gluttonous ghost finally breathed a sigh of relief and began to let itself go—It quickly began to eat Yun Cuo’s outer robe. Yun Cuo let it be. He only wore a white practice silk clothes and waited outside the Immortal Barrier.
He couldn’t see what was inside, nor did he know where Xue Huai was. Thunder began to faint in the sky, and the sound of the wind gradually rose. Sands and rocks flew away, and the muffled thunder shook the cups, causing them to move accordingly.
Yun Cuo frowned deeply.
The gluttonous was stunned when he saw that he was unhappy and cautiously tried to spit out his outer robe, but was discovered by Yun Cuo.
Yun Cuo touched its head and said, “It’s okay, eat ba. Has Xue Huai’s clothes been fed to you multiple times also?”
The gluttonous ghost nodded. It still remembers the first big meal it had after being carried home by Xue Huai—when Xue Huai was still young, he fed him all the new clothes his father had made for him outside, as a way to express his anger at his father for breaking his promise and immediately remarrying.
Yun Cuo smiled, but there was no smile in his eyes. Instead, there was a hint of unnoticed desolation.
He stayed in the Ice Cave for three days, but Xue Huai didn’t wait for him to come out. It’s him who’s being too greedy for wanting him to wait after he gets the jar from him.
He used to just want to occupy a place by his side, but now that he can get close to him, he hopes that he can tell him everything about his life and share his joys and sorrows with him.
He didn’t tell him about such a big matter as going through Heavenly Calamity. The words “Yun Cuo” are probably still insignificant in Xue Huai’s world.
The Thunder Calamity of Xue Huai’s Wood Spiritual Root arrived particularly quickly, he stayed inside for less than half a day before coming out.
However, what he was most worried about also happened—his Water Spiritual Root’s three big thunders did not come along with his Wood Spiritual Root’s three small thunders.
This means that in order to avoid suspicion, he must take a leave of absence to return home in the near future, and wait until he ascends the Jindan before returning to the Murong Mountain Sect. His mind-viewing technique will have to be delayed again.
Right now, the Water Spiritual Root can’t gain any benefits anymore. Xue Huai used his half-hearted prediction skills to calculate, and since it did not come this time, it is highly likely to be tomorrow, the next moment or at any moment.
The two cultivations of mind-viewing and cultivating are not connected, and it is likely that he will also face the situation where his leave request is not approved—in another month, followed by the spring vacation of all students, Murong Jinchuan cannot casually allow his long vacation.
There is no road that he can walk out on his own.
The three small thunders were weakened by the immortal barrier, piercing deep into his flesh and bones, but he was still able to withstand it. The Immortal Masters came over to assist him in resting, but he also waved his hand and refused, saying that he just wanted to rest alone.
He lay on a simple bed, closing his eyes and thinking about it carefully.
He doesn’t know what to do now. Xue Zong couldn’t understand and insisted that Mrs. Liu’s actions were just the jealousy of an ordinary woman. If he boldly admitted that he was a reborn, no one would believe him anyway.
The most reliable person he can think of right now is his grandfather, Murong Jinchuan.
Can he persuade him?
Should he reveal his Yindan cultivation stage directly? This alone may seem unconvincing, but if he risks everything and honestly tells his grandfather something that is impossible for him to know at his current level—such as the Immortal Lord’s unique transmission secret gate, this is also not a bad idea to do so.
The only concern is that he doesn’t want to involve the Murong family again in this lifetime.
His grandfather and grandmother used to travel far and wide with swords when they were young. Later, feeling the constant disputes in the Immortal Realm, he retired, taught swordsmanship, and built a mountain manor. Later, when Murong Mi passed away, the two elders became even more reclusive and suppressed the pain of losing their beloved daughter in their hearts.
If Murong Jinchuan learned about what Mrs. Liu and her son had done, there is no doubt that he would directly step down on the Shenhua Terrace and vent his anger on Xue Zong. Although the relationship between the Murong family and Xue Zong has eased this year, it is also for the sake of Xue Huai’s face. Once he does this, the Murong and the Xue families will surely become enemies from now on. When the war comes, not to mention joining forces, both sides will be defeated early on.
He would hate to see that.
But besides Murong Jinchuan, who else could it be?
Somehow, the word “Yun Cuo” came to his mind.
If he tells Yun Cuo everything, Yun Cuo would believe him. This half-demon young man is a childish person who can cover a fluffy pillow with a blanket. He firmly believes everything he says.
Tell him everything about his previous life, ask for his help, and at the same time explain to him his concerns about why he can’t simply be with him.
As soon as the idea popped up, it was as if he couldn’t suppress it, it constantly bouncing around in his head.
Xue Huai hesitated for a moment before dismissing the idea again.
Yun Cuo likes him because he’s good, but he has no right to ask him to do so much for him. He can’t owe him anymore.
Moreover, if Yun Cuo knew the truth, he would probably be even more extreme than anyone else—he won’t just stepping on the Shenhua Terrace, but whether or not there was evidence of wrongdoing in his lifetime, he could cut the mother and son alive, hang their bodies at the entrance of the Southern Heaven, slaughter them for public display, and then make their souls to be unable to transcend life forever, if there was persistent, he would scatter then into the animal realm, let them become fish and meat, and be slaughtered for generations.
If he hated them so much, Yun Cuo would only hate them more than him.
The Yun Cuo in this life was still calm and peaceful, he could not bring him hatred and pain.
Xue Huai thought of this and repeated in a low voice, “Evidence…”
—Evidence？
He couldn’t use the evidence from his previous life to harshly accuse others, so what about this life?
As the saying goes, rivers and mountains are easy to change, but nature can’t be changed. Before he came back into this life, Mrs. Liu and Xue He must have done something else.
They had done more things that would give him a reason to kill them.
If not, he can also lure them into doing it until the grass is eradicated.
Xue Huai thought of this and suddenly knocked on his own forehead, scolding himself in a low voice, “You idiot! Why didn’t you think of it earlier?”
Why must one persist in their past life? He has been reborn already.
The events of his previous life left a heavy imprint on him, and to this day, he realized that he was still bound by his previous life, it nailed him to death and he’s unable to break free.
There are already too many differences between this life and the previous one. Even if he uses the mind-viewing technique to see it, what can he do?
After the three small thunders, his whole body was sore, and it was difficult for him to walk down on the ground, but he jumped out of bed with great energy and rushed out.
When Xue Huai went out, he saw Yun Cuo outside at a glance.
He turned his back to him and fell asleep on the stone table in the pavilion. Xue Huai stayed inside the immortal barrier, unsure of how long it had been or since when Yun Cuo has been waiting here.
He just glanced over and suddenly realized something—
It was surprising that Yun Cuo had already been born this tall.
He and he spent day after day with each other and didn’t feel it. Looking over from Xue Huai’s place, one can see Yun Cuo’s thin but broad back and slender and powerful arms and legs, which have become more and more like his adult appearance.
Thinking of this, Xue Huai suddenly realized where this feeling came from–in his previous life, he had also seen Yun Cuo sleeping on his stomach like this. In the past, he would always ask someone to drape him with clothes and then leave him alone.
But he decided not to do so today.
Xue Huai approached him lightly, approached him, and patiently extended his hand.
Poked him.
He poked him, but he didn’t move, so he poked again.
Until the person who was asleep woke up and opened his eyes to look at him, his eyes slowly transitioned from a half-dreamy and half-awakened confusion to pure joy and excitement—then to suppressed grievances and loneliness.
Yun Cuo said, “You’re out…”
As soon as he finished speaking, he completely reacted and nervously looked at Xue Huai, “Are you okay? Since when did you pass the three big thunders? I didn’t hear it.”
According to his speculation, Xue Huai should be on the verge of reaching the Jindan stage. He counted and counted, but didn’t hear a loud thunder until he fell asleep while counting.
Xue Huai was taken aback for a moment and instinctively evaded, “What are you talking about? What are the three big thunders? I’m at the foundation stage shoring up to the Qi refining stage, I only need to pass three small thunders ah.”
Yun Cuo also woke up as if from a dream, knowing that he had made a slip of his tongue, and without a trace, added this lie: “I fell asleep. I passed the Jindan stage a long time ago, and I don’t quite remember what the thunder calamity in the primary stage looked like anymore.”
Xue Huai pouted and said, “Alright, I know, Big Master Yun, you are a very powerful immortal.”
Yun Cuo made an “en” sound. After hearing that he was fine, his attitude suddenly changed 180 degrees: “Since you’re fine, I’ll leave first.”
As he spoke, he was about to get up and walk back.
Xue Huai noticed that his tone was not right, so he took a few steps forward and grabbed him, he frowned and asked, “What’s wrong?”
He caught a glimpse of Yun Cuo’s furrowed brows and slightly unhappy gaze—it was not the right time to laugh, but he couldn’t hold back. Every time he saw Yun Cuo’s pitiful appearance, he wanted to laugh.
Xue Huai raised his arm to rub Yun Cuo’s hair and said, “So what’s wrong with you? You’ve been bullied? If you’ve been bullied, tell Xue Shixiong, and Shixiong will fight for you.”
When Yun Cuo was angry, he couldn’t make a joke and pursed his lips tightly. He wanted to take his hand away. “Xue Huai, stop it.”
Xue Huai got it now, it turned out that this person was mad at him.
What’s there to be mad at him for?
He frowned and asked him, “Hey, what’s wrong with you?”
After asking three times in a row, Yun Cuo finally willing to turn back and look at him. After holding it back for a while, he said a few words. “You didn’t even tell me that you were going through Heavenly Calamity. Must you make me worry, Xue Huai?”
Xue Huai’s mind went blank for a moment before scolding him, “Are you stupid? If I didn’t tell you, why did I ask Xiao Tao to go and call you?”
He raised his foot to kick the gluttonous ghost sleeping on the side.
The gluttonous ghost let out a few growls of dissatisfaction, climbed up his legs, hugged his thighs, hung up like a sloth, and then fell asleep.
Then, Xue Huai lifted his eyes and looked at him: “At that time, Shizun urged me too urgently. I didn’t have time to leave a message for you. I thought you would understand when Xiao Tao came, but you… were so stupid!”
Yun Cuo stood there at a loss, but after a moment, he realized his words and the tip of his ears were flushing red.
Xue Huai approached him and asked, “You’re mad at me, and I haven’t gotten mad at you yet. You’re not even looking for me after you come out of seclusion? I gave you a jar of mystical beast meat. Even if it’s out of politeness, you should come and thank me, right?”
Yun Cuo stuttered, “I went to find-find you, but you were sleeping…”
Before he could finish speaking, Xue Huai interrupted him fiercely, “Okay, now we’re even on both sides. Don’t be mad anymore.”
Yun Cuo doesn’t know how to respond to him.
He looked into Xue Huai’s eyes, moist as water and deep as night, and the words were taken back.
He was shocked to find himself in the same predicament as in his previous life—restless, suspicious, insecure, fragile, and paranoid. As long as it is related to Xue Huai, he will always reveal all these ugly parts.
Just a day ago, he thought he still didn’t have the right to be seen by Xue Huai and didn’t have the right to be in his life. He never expected that Xue Huai would personally clear the fog for him.
His little immortal boy was so straightforward and candid in telling him that he cared about him and hoped that he would reciprocate with equal care.
Does he have a little bit of a liking for him?
Yun Cuo’s heart was pounding fiercely, almost exploding. He stared blankly at Xue Huai but didn’t expect him to press closer and reach out to him.
On tiptoe, he tapped his forehead with one finger.
Xue Huai stared at him closely and said solemnly, “I just experienced the thunder calamity and can’t walk anymore.”
He got too close again this time, Yun Cuo looked at him, not knowing what to say or do.
Snow Huai earnestly asked, “You carry me back.”
The author has something to say: three-year-old Yun: quq, wife, please flirt with me like this again! I will! Make you meow meow everyday!
Four-year-old Xue: you come ah →3→
