“How long has it been? It’s already alive?”
“As expected of the reincarnated Flower Deity, how impressive. Is there any heavenly treasure she can’t nurture?”
The Nine-Colored Lotus Root was a supreme treasure of the Earth Sect, perhaps the only one in the world. It matured once every sixty years, and its lotus seeds could transform all things. The Taiping Saber had thus ascended to the ranks of peerless divine weapons.
Now, there were two Nine-Colored Lotus Roots – one with the Tian Di Hui, and one in his hands.
“In terms of preciousness, among my treasures and trump cards, the Nine-Colored Lotus Root ranks in the top three. Even the Taiping Saber can’t compare. The Earth Book fragment is just that – a fragment. Currently, aside from transmitting messages and storage, it has no other effects… Only the Destiny and Divine Weapon outrank the lotus root.
“Oh, wait, I should ask if it can continue to grow and produce lotus seeds…”
Quietly swallowing his saliva, Xu Qi An suppressed his wild joy and leaned over the water vat, smiling as he said:
“Princess Consort, I didn’t expect your flower-growing skills to be so remarkable that you could even nurture this treasure. Um, can it grow? Can it produce lotus seeds?”
The Princess Consort replied calmly, “Plants taking root, sprouting, flowering, and bearing fruit is the natural law.”
Her words implied that the lotus root could produce seeds and grow from a small section into a large root. Xu Qi An’s heart leaped with joy.
Can you accelerate its growth… He didn’t ask this aloud, holding back because it would be too blatant, essentially revealing the Princess Consort’s identity as the reincarnated Flower Deity.
This would cause panic in the widow.
“I wonder how long it will take to grow. I’ll need to use it soon…”
Xu Qi An feigned a sigh.
From the corner of his eye, he saw the Princess Consort purse her red lips, seeming hesitant, then as if making up her mind, she said, “Its growth is good. It won’t take too long.”
My widow indeed has a way of accelerating the lotus root’s growth. The Princess Consort suddenly became the queen of the fish in my pond… Xu Qi An rejoiced while jokingly teasing himself.
The Nine-Colored Lotus Root’s spiritual energy is weak now, but as it grows, the energy will become stronger. I should ask Yang Qianhuan for help to set up a spirit-concealing array. This way, even if powerful cultivators pass by, they won’t sense the spiritual energy… Xu Qi An thought.
He walked around the courtyard and house, finding everything in order, nothing missing or damaged.
Entering the Princess Consort’s main bedroom, he originally intended to check for termites in the furniture and beams. Recently, his aunt had directed the servants to apply termite-repelling powder to the wooden items.
These things women couldn’t do, so Xu Qi An had to do it himself.
As soon as he entered the room, the Princess Consort hurried in after him, hastily gathering a few pieces of undergarments and camisoles hanging on the screen, and stuffing them into the bedding.
The young widow’s cheeks were slightly flushed as she pretended nothing had happened.
I’ve seen your undergarments before… Xu Qi An thought, then asked, “By the way, why don’t I see you hanging clothes to dry?”
There wasn’t a single piece of clothing in the courtyard. Logically, in the scorching summer, one should bathe and change clothes frequently, so why were there no clothes hanging in the courtyard?
“I asked Mrs. Zhang to wash them for me,” Mu Nanchi exhaled, sitting on the edge of the bed, her shapely bottom pressing on the undergarments hidden beneath the bedding. While pretending to arrange her skirt, she said, “Her son hasn’t given her any money for two months now, not even a single coin.
“Seeing her in such dire straits, I let her help me wash and starch my clothes, paying her an extra twenty percent in copper coins.”
“Do you remember the principle of not flaunting wealth?” Xu Qi An reminded her.
“Of course I remember, you taught me that.” The Princess Consort hummed twice, her smile revealing a hint of cunning. “I deliberately let her see the money box I keep in the wardrobe, which only has one tael of silver, and it’s all in small pieces and copper coins.”
You’ve made great progress, much smarter than before… Xu Qi An nodded in satisfaction.
For a woman living alone in the inner city to have savings of one tael of silver was neither too much nor too little, falling into the lower-middle category.
In the morning, Xu Qi An had taken her out for a stroll, visiting the bustling market, jewelry shops, and silk stores. During their outing, she had taken a liking to a silver hairpin priced at five taels of silver.
The ornament in her hair was an inferior product worth only 0.1 taels of silver.
When leaving the jewelry shop, she followed closely behind Xu Qi An, looking back three times with each step, but never asking for it.
After having lunch at a restaurant, they returned home. Xu Qi An brought out small stools and a small round table from the house to play Five-in-a-Row with her.
“You made a wrong move there. You shouldn’t have played that spot,” the Princess Consort said loudly.
“It’s not wrong. If I play here, my next move will connect five stones, and I’ll win,” Xu Qi An replied.
“That’s why you made a wrong move. If you win, how can we continue playing?”
“…”
…
“Can I make two moves for every one of yours?”
“What do you think?”
…
“You’re just bullying a weak woman. What kind of skill is that?”
“If I can’t even bully a weak woman, how can I bully others?”
“I’m not playing anymore!”
She threw down the chess pieces in a huff and turned away.
Viewed from the side, peaks align differently; far and near, high and low, each unlike the other… This poem suddenly floated into Xu Qi An’s mind. He took out the silver hairpin and placed it on the chessboard:
“This is for you.”
Her eyes darted, casting a tentative glance, and then her face quickly lit up with a smile as she happily grasped the silver hairpin.
Seeing Xu Qi An’s teasing expression, the Princess Consort immediately put on a straight face, straightened her back, and said with restraint, “I don’t like it that much…”
“Then give it back to me,” Xu Qi An reached out to take it.
The Princess Consort quickly hid the hairpin behind her back, glaring as she said, “Just consider it payment for helping you nurture the lotus root.”
“That makes sense.”
Xu Qi An nodded with a smile and said in a casual tone, “This place is quite far from the bustling areas, and the weather is hot. It’s best not to stock up on vegetables at home. I’ll help you arrange for a peddler to deliver fresh vegetables every morning.”
There were many peddlers in the city who would buy vegetables and fruits at low prices from farmers in the market early in the morning, then carry them into the inner city to supply wealthy families who didn’t like to go out early.
The Princess Consort nodded.
Xu Qi An paused briefly, then said, “I might have to leave the capital soon, and I won’t be gone for too long. You… will you come with me, or stay here?”
The Princess Consort snorted lightly and said, “I won’t go with you. The capital is so prosperous, why should I leave? When you’re about to leave, just notify the Imperial Preceptor. I have a deep friendship with her, and she’ll arrange things for me.”
Xu Qi An felt a bit disappointed. “I’ll leave you some silver when the time comes.”
The Princess Consort looked at him a few times without responding.
After a moment, she said in a low voice, “Is Emperor Yuan Jing going to deal with you?”
“Not yet, but I have a feeling it won’t be long.”
“This world belongs to his royal family. It’s good that you’re leaving.” The Princess Consort nodded and said softly, “But what about that cousin of yours? He’s now a Hanlin Academy Scholar. Is he willing to go with you? Hmm, let me think, are you planning to find him a patron?”
“You’re quite clever,” Xu Qi An smiled.
Emperor Yuan Jing hated him, not Xu Er Lang. As long as he left and Xu Er Lang had a solid patron, his future might be uncertain, but his life wouldn’t be in danger.
Moreover, with the Cloud Deer Academy backing Xu Er Lang, the most Emperor Yuan Jing could do was dismiss him from office and demote him to a commoner.
“Whether I’m clever or not depends on the matter at hand. These past few days, living alone, I often felt not smart enough. Cooking and tending the fire, I was all in a fluster, breaking several bowls, almost crying from frustration,” the Princess Consort sighed. “Emperor Yuan Jing is a clever man, but sometimes he seems incredibly foolish. For the sake of elusive immortality, he abandoned his harem beauties and his reputation, yet in twenty years of cultivation, he hasn’t achieved much. Even the most stupid person knows when to give up, right? The Imperial Preceptor says Yuan Jing has a strong obsession, but she doesn’t know where it stems from.”
“Are you close with the Imperial Preceptor?”
“In the capital, she’s the only woman I can speak freely with,” the Princess Consort sighed.
It doesn’t make sense. The Imperial Preceptor seems quite intelligent. How can she have common ground with such a foolish woman… Xu Qi An inwardly criticized.
“But she’s also a pitiful woman.”
The Princess Consort giggled, “I’ll tell you a secret. Do you want to hear it?”
You look like a female hooligan right now… Xu Qi An listened attentively: “What secret?”
“The Human Sect’s cultivation method has a terrifying side effect. It causes the practitioner to be engulfed by karmic fire, flaring up once a month. Those of lower ranks can resist it with their willpower.
“But the higher the rank, the more terrible the karmic fire becomes. If they can’t find a way to extinguish the karmic fire, they will perish,” the Princess Consort lowered her voice as if revealing a massive secret.
… Xu Qi An looked at her expressionlessly: “I’ve known that for a long time.”
Daoist Jin Lian had told him about the drawbacks of the Human Sect’s cultivation method.
The three sects of Daoism each had their problems. The Human Sect suffered from karmic fire, the Earth Sect easily fell into demonic ways, and the Heaven Sect extinguished human nature, leaving no emotions.
The Princess Consort giggled again, like a female hooligan about to reveal some mischief, and whispered, “Then do you know how to solve it?”
Xu Qi An glanced at her sideways: “You know?”
The Princess Consort nodded vigorously, like a little chick pecking rice, her face clearly saying “Hurry up and ask me.”
“What’s the secret?” Xu Qi An played along, showing the appropriate expression.
“I heard that they need to practice dual cultivation with a man to overcome the great calamity,” the Princess Consort said furtively.
“?”
Xu Qi An’s first reaction was that she was lying, his second was that she had heard some baseless gossip, and his third was… Holy crap, so that’s how it is?!
The Human Sect needed to cultivate using destiny to alleviate the karmic fire, which was why Luo Yuheng became the Imperial Preceptor, guiding Emperor Yuan Jing in cultivation.
From another perspective, if she could find someone with a great destiny to practice dual cultivation with, it could achieve the same effect, no, the effect would be ten or a hundred times stronger.
Xu Qi An wasn’t making baseless conjectures. He possessed the complete art of the bedchamber left by the ancient Daoists. Although he had never had a dual cultivation partner, through his long-term theoretical research, he knew that when the art of dual cultivation reached profound levels, and when a man and woman knew each other intimately, they would experience a brief “fusion.”
Their qi, primordial spirit, and other aspects would interact briefly.
A true state of “you in me, and I in you.”
“Luo Yuheng is in the second grade. If she can’t extinguish the karmic fire, she will perish. To survive, she had no choice but to become the Imperial Preceptor, because Emperor Yuan Jing is the emperor, imbued with great destiny.
“Luo Yuheng needs a man with great destiny, a man with great destiny…”
Xu Qi An’s expression suddenly froze.