Chapter 57#

Pei Huang was completely taken aback, silent for a long time.

Only when Xue Jingci asked again did he urgently say: “Wait, when did I agree to be your disciple?”

Xue Jingci paused, then said seriously: “Didn’t I give you time to think? It’s been so long now, and you haven’t refused. Isn’t that agreement?”

Pei Huang’s eyes widened.

He thought to himself—he’d been unconscious the whole way, only just waking up. How could he have had time to think?

But before he could argue, a group suddenly rushed over, shouting about catching thieves, completely surrounding the two.

Those people held lanterns, casting weak halos of light. Finally, the two could see the surrounding landscape clearly.

This passage through worlds had again swept them downstream, depositing them in a forested mountain region.

But it didn’t look like an uninhabited wilderness. Fruit trees were planted all around—clearly someone’s private estate backyard.

Before they could figure it out, the people had rushed to them.

The leader was a plump man in fine clothes, pointing and shouting: “You, you, you! You wretched little thieves!”

“I’ve been saying it—where did the plums I carefully grew for my wife go? You stole them!”

Pei Huang knew this was impossible to explain. Seeing these people meant trouble, he immediately cast an illusion spell, grabbed Xue Jingci, and hoisted him over his shoulder.

“Let’s get out of here.”

The merchant’s vision blurred as fallen leaves seemed to drift past. The next second, the two fruit thieves vanished into the forest.

The jade pendant around the merchant’s neck grew warm. He forcefully closed his eyes, shook his head, finally regaining some clarity.

Just as he opened his eyes, a punch wind rushed at his face.

The merchant was beaten senseless, clutching his head and wailing: “You idiots stop! Look carefully, it’s me! It’s me!”

Hearing this, the servants finally paused, staring at their master’s bruised face and black eye, shocked: “Master, is that you?”

“Master, forgive us!”

The merchant waved his hand: “Never mind. You were just under the illusion spell.”

He looked around but no longer saw those two people.

Pei Huang, carrying Xue Jingci, sped away in a few bounds. Wind whistled past their ears, countless fallen leaves sweeping past their sides.

Xue Jingci lay on Pei Huang’s shoulder, unperturbed. He reached out and caught a leaf that drifted before his eyes, appreciation flashing in his gaze: “One leaf obscures the view, not seeing Taishan. Interesting.”

“This illusion spell is simple, yet adaptable. Did you create it yourself?”

Pei Huang hadn’t expected such a trivial spell to be praised so seriously by Xue Jingci. He was about to respond when he felt a light pat on his back.

Xue Jingci’s muffled voice: “Why don’t you put me down first?”

Pei Huang had done countless immoral things since childhood. Hearing someone shout “catch thieves,” he’d instinctively grabbed the person nearby and run. Ears burning with embarrassment, he explained: “Habit.”

He set the person down. Seeing Xue Jingci turning back toward the fruit forest, he followed.

Xue Jingci rubbed his stomach, his face flushing with blood. After a long while, his complexion improved, looking more alive.

He simply examined a few fruit trees, and his expression suddenly turned grave.

Pei Huang asked: “What’s wrong?”

Xue Jingci said: “The fruit thief isn’t a thief—it’s a mountain spirit.”

Spirits differ from demons. Demons mostly have physical forms, while spirits are just energy, formless and intangible, hard for people to detect.

But Xue Jingci, unlike ordinary people, was very sensitive to auras. One sniff, and he detected traces of a mountain spirit.

Pei Huang frowned: “I’ve heard of that before. Where yin energy is extremely abundant, spirit essence can form. But how does it appear even at common mortal estates? At least it only stole some fruit and didn’t harm anyone.”

Xue Jingci nodded.

The lower realm had changed greatly since they left.

The sun’s light was fading, yin energy growing powerful, spawning increasingly strange and sinister things.

During their conversation, a plump man suddenly ran from the forest—the merchant from before.

Seeing the two, he instantly broke into cold sweat, urgently calling: “Immortal sages, please wait!”

Though rotund, his movements were surprisingly agile. He quickly reached them, repeatedly apologizing: “Earlier, my eyes were blind. I offended you immortal sages. I’m truly sorry!”

Xue Jingci said it was fine, simply explaining about the mountain spirit before asking the merchant to stand aside. He raised his hand and laid down a formation.

With several formation flags falling, sharp shrieks soon echoed through the fruit grove.

A black mist struggled and rose, gradually coalescing into a vague red-faced, black-haired human figure.

Xue Jingci flicked his finger. The formation flags flew up and closed, shattering that black mist.

Several green plums rolled onto the ground. The merchant sat down hard, sweat drenching his clothes.

“Thank you, thank you, sage, for acting!”

The merchant was terrified, nearly kneeling to kowtow to Xue Jingci.

Pei Huang helped him up: “If you’re truly grateful, do us a favor.”

He took out a spirit stone from his pocket, offering it. Staring at the jade pendant on the merchant’s neck, he said: “You escaped the illusion spell so quickly. It must relate to this jade pendant magical tool. You’ve probably had dealings with cultivators before. I have this spirit stone and would like to exchange it for some silver pieces.”

Hearing this, the merchant immediately panicked, hurriedly wiping his dirty hands clean before carefully accepting the spirit stone.

“Immortal sage, you have excellent eyes! My youngest son also practices cultivation. This pendant was his request for me to wear. This stone is perfect for him. Please follow me—”

The merchant led the way. Xue Jingci and Pei Huang followed, soon arriving at an exquisite, beautiful courtyard.

Seeing the familiar horse-head walls and blue-stone paths, Xue Jingci finally realized they’d returned to Nanzhou’s territory.

The merchant had them sit in the main hall, ordered servants to prepare tea, then brought out a bundle. Inside were densely packed silver ingots and banknotes.

Pei Huang picked up a banknote, checking its number. His expression froze, and he said in a low voice: “The note numbers have changed…”

The merchant didn’t find this strange. Cultivators in closed cultivation for years wouldn’t naturally understand current affairs.

He explained: “In the twenty-eighth year of Lingfeng, the old emperor passed. The new emperor ascended. It’s now the seventh year of Qianyuan.”

Hearing this, both Pei Huang and Xue Jingci showed traces of emotion on their faces.

They’d only been gone three months, yet ten years had passed here!

While they talked, servants brought tea—fresh white tea picked after Qingming, clear as crystal, with a rich, sweet aroma.

Xue Jingci, after three months of greasy meat in the grasslands, was thoroughly tired of it. He drank several cups with pleasure.

Pei Huang, hearing the merchant mention the year, worried about the river spirit and Ashui. He wanted to leave immediately, but seeing Xue Jingci enjoyed the tea, he sat back down, patiently waiting for him to finish.

During this time, Pei Huang asked the merchant many questions, finally getting a clearer picture of the lower realm’s situation.

Once Xue Jingci had his fill of tea, Pei Huang stood to take leave.

The merchant glanced at the sky outside, advising: “It’s plum rain season now. The weather looks like it’ll rain soon. Why not stay a bit longer, sages? Wait until the rain passes before leaving.”

Pei Huang, eager to contact the river spirit and learn of recent demonic cultivator movements, shook his head: “No need. We should enter the city.”

Xue Jingci said nothing. Whether to leave or stay mattered little to him.

His only concern now was keeping a careful eye on this disciple he’d newly chosen.

Reaching the courtyard, they spotted a three-colored kitten lazily napping on a water barrel. Pei Huang suddenly remembered, asking Xue Jingci: “Where’s your cat?”

Xue Jingci pulled a dirty little cat doll from his robe, explaining: “It’s out of energy. It’ll take some time before it wakes.”

Pei Huang had long sensed Xue Jingci harbored enormous secrets. Since Xue Jingci didn’t speak, he wouldn’t ask more. But now, seeing Xue Jingci voluntarily reveal such intimate matters, his heart stirred slightly. He quickly grew worried—what had Xue Jingci done while he was unconscious?

He looked noticeably weaker than before.

After leaving the merchant’s estate, they headed toward the capital.

The merchant’s ability to read the weather proved accurate. Half-way there, the sky suddenly changed and rain began.

Seeing the rain intensify, Xue Jingci looked around and spotted a nearby Daoist temple, suggesting: “There’s a temple there. We could shelter from the rain.”

Pei Huang himself wasn’t afraid of wind and rain, but considering Xue Jingci’s health, he immediately agreed.

Upon entering the temple, Xue Jingci was surprised to find residual traces of his own aura here.

In his travels through the lower realm, he’d set transmission arrays in many temples.

This temple was one of them. But the array had been destroyed. Whether naturally degraded or deliberately sabotaged, he couldn’t tell.

The arrays he’d set elsewhere had likely all become inert.

Xue Jingci frowned: “No wonder I heard nothing since returning to the lower realm.”

Pei Huang looked surprised: “What sounds?”

Xue Jingci softly mentioned old matters: “Years ago, I set many arrays in the lower realm… That’s why I went to East Village.”

Outside, rain drummed loudly against leaves, slightly muffling Xue Jingci’s voice.

But with Pei Huang’s cultivation, he heard every word clearly. Standing beside Xue Jingci, the entire world suddenly contained only the sound of falling rain and Xue Jingci’s slow breathing.

His heart, suspended over worry for the river spirit and demonic cultivators, slowly settled.

Unknown time passed before hurried footsteps suddenly broke the quiet.

A village man in a straw raincoat rushed into the temple, kneeling before the central deity: “Please, Lady Tianlu, save my daughter. I’ll give anything…”

Xue Jingci followed the voice, noticing the temple had a different deity image than before.

Though just a country temple, the clay statue was exquisitely crafted, even hair and garment folds were clear.

The goddess-figure held a golden osmanthus branch in her right hand, her downturned eyes full of compassion for the world.

Yet Xue Jingci carefully searched his mind and couldn’t identify this deity.

He didn’t linger on it. The lower realm had many legends. It wasn’t strange to encounter deities he hadn’t heard of.

The two stood aside, not disturbing the man.

After bowing before incense, the man removed his raincoat. From the bamboo basket on his back, he pulled out a child.

The child’s eyes were open, cheeks flushed red with fever. Clearly gravely ill.

Yet strangely, despite such suffering, the child neither cried nor made noise, appearing spiritless.

The man lifted the child, dipping his finger in burnt incense ash, feeding it into the child’s mouth.

Pei Huang frowned. Unable to help himself, he stepped forward, checking the child’s pulse, advising: “Big brother, your child has high fever causing convulsions. You should take her to a physician immediately, not worship gods here.”

His sudden appearance startled the man.

But anger quickly flashed across his face. He loudly scolded: “What do you know? Lady Tianlu can heal all illnesses. She’s most effective! If you don’t believe, get out of here. Don’t disrespect the lady!”

Pei Huang was cursed at harshly, yet showed no anger. Instead, he carefully reasoned with the man.

“From your pulse reading, your child likely developed fever three days ago. Am I right?”

The man’s face changed slightly, his gaze toward Pei Huang becoming more serious.

Pei Huang, knowing he’d guessed correctly, softened his tone: “High fever that won’t break, while not serious, can permanently damage the child’s mind if left untreated. You should go to a physician now, get cooling herbs…”

When the man didn’t respond, Pei Huang repeatedly persuaded him to take the child to a physician immediately.

The man’s eyes showed signs of wavering.

At that moment, a sudden thunderbolt struck. Wild wind howled, driving rain inside, which hit the statue’s face as if it wept.

The man’s expression drastically changed. He shoved Pei Huang toward the door: “Get out! Get out! The lady shelters you from rain, yet you disrespect her. You don’t deserve to stay!”

Seeing Pei Huang pushed out of the temple, Xue Jingci followed, sighing: “He won’t believe you.”

Pei Huang shook his head, opening an umbrella to shield Xue Jingci from the rain: “Even if he doesn’t believe, I must speak clearly. Maybe some words will reach him.”

Xue Jingci studied him briefly, then said: “You’re soft-hearted.”

Pei Huang, being stared at like this, laughed: “Just a few words makes me soft-hearted?”

He was about to say more when Xue Jingci’s stomach rumbled. Xue Jingci turned: “You’re hungry? Come, I’ll take you somewhere delicious.”

Xue Jingci agreed, curious about what Pei Huang meant.

But they hadn’t walked far when Xue Jingci suddenly stopped, turning to look at Pei Huang.

The oil-paper umbrella firmly sheltered his head from wind and rain, but Pei Huang’s half shoulder was already drenched.

“Ah Pei, get closer.”

Xue Jingci pulled Pei Huang near, brushing rain from his shoulder, softly saying: “You’re soaked.”

Distance suddenly shortened. Pei Huang’s pupils trembled. He could even smell the cool fragrance on Xue Jingci’s body.

Though Xue Jingci’s fingertips were cold, his heart raced several beats faster, nearly burning him.