After Yun Niang put down the items and left, Su Zhuyi changed her clothes.
Putting on the upper garments was simple; the pants were slightly more troublesome, but she had only broken one leg, and with it properly splinted, it didn’t hurt much, so she didn’t struggle too much. Back when she first entered the Xueluo Sect, severe beatings and injuries were commonplace – this little wound was nothing.
She limped to the dressing table by the bed and looked at herself in the bronze mirror, finding her complexion was still decent. After being unconscious for several days, she had even gotten a bit paler, though there were several azure blood vessels visible under her eyes, showing she was still physically weak.
Her hair had grown a little longer and had a faint azure tint, looking rather fluffy.
Su Zhuyi grinned, then her smile immediately froze.
Her upper row of teeth had two black holes – her front teeth were gone? Remembering how she had bitten the spirit stone and broken her front teeth, Su Zhuyi felt speechless. She pressed her lips tightly together, determined to speak as little as possible in the future. After looking in the mirror, Su Zhuyi put away the spirit stone properly, collected the other small odds and ends from her pocket, and then sat down to wait for food. Soon Yun Niang and Su Qingxun brought over the meal. She drank three bowls of porridge and ate two plates of vegetables, stuffing her belly round before finally feeling comfortable.
Too bad there was no meat – how stingy.
Then, remembering her current identity as a young monk, Su Zhuyi sighed and got up, planning to return to her nest.
“Where is little master going?”
Su Zhuyi: “Tree!”
Oh, Su Qingxun understood. “Little master, are you going back to live under the sacred tree? Why don’t you stay at our house? Your leg isn’t healed yet.” She blinked her watery, big eyes with an innocent expression.
“Salvation.” Su Zhuyi said again, barely moving her lips when speaking, making her voice sound somewhat unclear.
Before Su Qingxun could speak, Yun Niang’s face changed. “That’s proper, that’s proper. This cannot be delayed.” Although Old Lady Lu had been burned, several people in the village had died. Fearing more corpse transformations, all the bodies had been directly burned without any funeral rites. Now that the little master said he would perform salvation rites, Yun Niang naturally wouldn’t object.
“Little master, you’re so kind,” Su Qingxun said sweetly.
Su Zhuyi didn’t respond, maintaining an air of profound mystery as she limped out the door. When she reached the old tree, she discovered a wooden house had been built beneath it. The style was like the village’s earth god temple, only larger than those small temples, able to shelter from wind and rain and house people.
She had been unconscious for four days. In those four days, the villagers had already built a small temple under the old tree. The incense and candles originally stuck at the base of the tree were now all lit in front of the small temple. What were these people planning?
Su Zhuyi slowly walked over. The busy villagers immediately stopped their work when they saw her, bowing and paying respects. After the village chief, Su Xiang, performed his salute, he said: “Little master, Changning Village will forever remember your great kindness and virtue. Everyone wants to build you a longevity temple, praying you achieve the great dao of immortality.” As he spoke, the other villagers nodded repeatedly, though some lowered their heads, looking somewhat uncomfortable.
That day, facing the zombie Old Lady Lu, a group of adults had all fled, while it was the young monk, who had only been in the village a few days, who fought desperately to protect the village. If the little monk had easily subdued Old Lady Lu with magic weapons, that would be one thing, but he was so severely injured, covered in blood, yet still wielded a hoe taller than himself to battle the zombie – such heroic spirit was beyond what a group of adults could match.
They heard the little master had only just begun cultivation, having learned merely the basics from his old master. Proposing to build this temple, everyone first wanted peace of mind, but second, they hoped the little master’s future cultivation would go more smoothly, so that he could achieve immortality and have the power to protect the region.
These people planned to build her a temple? Su Zhuyi was somewhat stunned when she first heard this news.
Ordinary mortals held cultivators in great reverence.
Many of them thought cultivators were immortals, though they were nowhere close – just skilled individuals who had absorbed some spiritual energy from heaven and earth and learned some magic arts. They weren’t gods at all, but mortals didn’t think this way. They placed their hopes for things they couldn’t do themselves on so-called immortals, wanting to change their fate without effort, expecting these supposed immortals to show great mercy. In reality, the cultivation path was difficult, everyone could barely take care of themselves, let alone manage others.
However, there were indeed two people quite famous among ordinary mortals in those days. Almost every household enshrined their longevity tablets, hoping for their protection and praying for their blessings.
One was Qin Jianglan. In his youth, he traveled the four directions, subduing demons and monsters. He had great prestige among mortals, who revered him as the Linjiang Immortal. Some women remained unmarried for life, burning incense and praying for him.
The other was a female cultivator named Luo Ying. She became famous even earlier than Qin Jianglan, and died quite early, too.
The righteous cultivation world was led by the Yunxiao Sect, under which were four major cultivation sects: Dong Fushang Sect in the east, Gujian Sect in the west, Xundao Sect in the south, and Danhe Sect in the north. Luo Ying was a sword cultivator from the Gujian Sect. In her youth, she was physically weak and followed a reclusive elder of the Gujian Sect in bitter cultivation in the mountains. After five hundred years, when the elder passed away, she finally emerged from seclusion. In those five hundred years, she had comprehended most of the Gujian Sect’s cultivation manuals and had mastered the eighth level of the Gujian Sect’s Tianxuan Nine Swords technique. Her cultivation was unfathomably deep.
At the sect competitions, Luo Ying dominated all opponents. The sect master thought that since she was so capable, understood all the cultivation texts, and had such high cultivation, and the sect had just taken in a group of new disciples, he had her select a few to teach carefully.
She only chose one youth named Qinghe, teaching him with care and protection. Three hundred years later, she had trained a person of stunning talent, who became as famous as Qin Jianglan of the same era – they were called the River and Dragon Wanderers, their swords like startled swans. But one day, that fellow suddenly stole Gujian Sect’s sect-protecting treasure, the Sword Heart Stone, and fled, betraying his sect to join the demonic path. He killed, burned, raped and pillaged without limit, his evil reputation spreading far. If he were still alive, even Su Zhuyi, the later Heart-Eating Demoness, would still rank below him.
Because she had trained such an evil demon, Luo Ying descended the mountain to cultivate in the world. She acted as a righteous hero, subduing demons and monsters, saving countless cultivators and mortals. Many people enshrined her portrait, establishing longevity tablets and golden statues for her, hoping Luo Ying would keep them safe.
Su Zhuyi had once destroyed a small sect that liked making contracts with spirit dogs. That sect had only about a hundred people total, built on a mountain peak, occupying a spiritual spring on the mountain, and raising over a hundred dogs. At the foot of the mountain was a small village with dozens of households. Fearing she’d leave traces, she slaughtered them all as well. While killing, she saw a portrait in the main room of one household, with incense still burning before it…
They were worshipping Luo Ying.
White robes like snow, temperament cold and pure like a lonely moon in mountain ravines.
But at that time, Luo Ying had already been dead for nearly a hundred years.
So what use was worshipping them? They couldn’t even save their own lives, let alone strangers.
Su Zhuyi looked at Su Xiang and shook her head. She wanted to say something profound to decline, but just as she opened her mouth, she remembered her gap-toothed situation. She closed her mouth again, only humming: “No need.”
“This is a small token of our entire village’s sentiment. Little master absolutely cannot refuse,” Su Xiang said again.
Seeing their insistence, Su Zhuyi was too lazy to say more. She planned to go back and sit under the big tree, but when she approached, she saw her original stool was gone. A villager nearby quickly explained: “We moved everything into the house. Though it’s a bit small, it’s been cleaned very neatly inside, and can shelter from wind and rain. Little master, since you want to perform salvation rites here, we really couldn’t bear to see you sleeping rough outdoors.”
Su Zhuyi glanced at the small temple, thought about it, and slowly entered the house. It was quite small inside – after placing a bed and chair, there wasn’t much space left, but it was certainly more comfortable than sleeping on straw mats. She lowered the curtain at the door, sat directly on the bed, then took out materials for making the spirit-seeking plate and arranged them on the table, beginning to draw talismans with cinnabar.
Even with the noise outside, she could instantly calm her mind and focus single-mindedly.
This skill was trained originally. In her youth when her power was weak, the Xueluo Sect’s training was particularly harsh. When learning things, all disciples studied together with fierce beasts eyeing them menacingly nearby, occasionally roaring. Those who learned first got rewards, those who couldn’t learn within the time limit were fed directly to the beasts. After such a period, no matter how noisy the surroundings, she could quickly enter a selfless state, focusing only on the task at hand and ignoring everything else.
Just as she finished the second talisman, Su Zhuyi’s spirit relaxed slightly. As she was about to take out the third one, she heard a voice nearby: “What’s wrong with little master? We’ve been calling for ages with no response!”
A hand carefully reached over, chubby fingers approaching her forehead. Just then, Su Zhuyi suddenly turned her head, asking with a face full of killing intent: “What are you doing?”
The steamed bun boy was so frightened he fell on his bottom, sitting dazed for a moment before standing up, clutching his chest: “You scared me to death.” Then he looked at the bag in his hand and said happily: “Good thing the steamed buns didn’t fall.”
He stood up and pulled out four steamed buns, arranging them one by one on the table. “Little master, these are the steamed buns from these past few days.” Then he reached back and took out two white eggs to place beside them. “Thank you for saving our entire village.”
“Mm.” Su Zhuyi was too lazy to speak. She glanced at the steamed buns on the table, then looked sideways at the door curtain, indicating they should leave and not disturb her talisman drawing.
Who knew the steamed bun boy would pull Zhang Enning beside him over: “Little master is looking at you, quickly give your thanks.”
Su Zhuyi: “…”
She was looking at the door curtain, not Zhang Enning. What kind of eyesight was this? What comprehension ability!
The youth Zhang Enning, who was pulled over, walked closer. He pressed his lips together and said: “Thank you, little master. But without our help, you alone couldn’t have dealt with Old Lady Lu either.”
That was true. At the time, Su Zhuyi had no time to think much, but now, seeing these two children, she asked: “You used glutinous rice and child’s urine – what else did you use, and where did you learn it?” She hadn’t paid attention to how these two children attracted Old Lady Lu’s attention. If there were a hidden expert in this village who understood such things, she’d be quite worried about being exposed. At least she couldn’t be exposed now.
“Hahahahaha…”
“Hahahaha…” The steamed bun boy burst into laughter. “Little master, no wonder you just hum and don’t talk – you’re missing your front teeth! Your speech whistles through the gaps, doesn’t it?”
Su Zhuyi: “…”
She didn’t like little brats.
But then Zhang Enning pushed the laughing steamed bun boy: “Used his blood.”
Hearing Zhang Enning’s words, Su Zhuyi finally turned slightly to examine the steamed bun boy carefully. She frowned and asked: “Born at noon on the summer solstice under a full moon?”
Zhang Enning nodded: “Six years ago, when he was born, it happened to be the summer solstice, with a full moon, at noon.”
The summer solstice had the strongest yang energy of the year, and noon had the strongest yang energy of the day. If that day also had a full moon, it was the legendary Triple Yang Convergence. Male children born at that time all had excellent cultivation aptitude, with pure righteous energy and solar essence concentrated in their bodies. Legend said even their blood had demon-repelling properties.
Qin Jianglan was a Greater Triple Yang.
Who would have thought that in this barren northwestern land of Changning Village, she could encounter a Lesser Triple Yang? If Steamed Bun went to cultivate, he’d be a great figure. But she had never heard of such a person originally. A genius youth with such aptitude – did he die by her hand?
“Hey, Steamed Bun, you’re so amazing.” Su Zhuyi beckoned: “Come here, let me take a look.”
“I’m not called Steamed Bun! I have a name!” he said huffily. “I’m called Qin Chuan.”
Qin Chuan? Still no impression…
But to share a surname with Qin Jianglan – what a wonderful coincidence.
After Steamed Bun came over, Su Zhuyi grasped his hand. Her own aptitude and bone structure were quite good, but still somewhat inferior to Qin Jianglan’s. Later, she had discovered a fragmentary technique called the Wedding Dress Divine Skill, which could steal others’ cultivation aptitude, but only usable on the young. She had never verified that technique and didn’t know if it was real.
Her eyes rolled as her mouth curved in a smile, intimately grasping Steamed Bun’s chubby little hand: “Steamed Bun…”
Who knew Steamed Bun would suddenly jerk his hand back: “I said I’m called Qin Chuan! Since I gave you night night grass back then, shouldn’t you be calling me grandpa?”
Qin Chuan no longer revered Su Zhuyi, speaking huffily.
“We’ve known each other so long, I’ve given little master so much food, and we even fought Old Lady Lu together, yet little master can’t even remember my name!” He glared at Su Zhuyi, becoming more aggrieved as he spoke.
“Then what am I called?” Su Zhuyi pointed at her nose and asked.
“You, you…” Everyone called her little monk, little master – who knew what she was called?
But being questioned like this, the anger in Qin Chuan’s heart also dissipated. He hemmed and hawed for a while, then turned his head away with a huff. After a moment, he turned back and asked: “What are you called?”
“This poor monk’s dharma name is Wuxin.” She accidentally borrowed the name of that demonic path predecessor, Ji Wuxin.
“You have no heart?”
Su Zhuyi chuckled, pressing her palms together: “No heart, no attachments – all four elements are empty.”