With the first look into this courtyard, Mo Xi understood why Murong Chuyi banned open flame. Although Murong Chuyi was immaculately dressed, the floor of this courtyard was seriously messy, to the point of making one's hair stand on end. It was covered in wooden fragments, sulfur, and coal. Large-scale half finished suits of armour were strewn about, with at least ten bamboo warriors slumped under the colonnade.
The incomparably elegant Ignorant Immortal was unconcerned with this mess, leading everyone to a little pond in the depths of the courtyard. The pool was clear enough to see the bottom, filled with rings, white jade hairpins, and a smattering of little items.
"What's this?” Yue Chenqing asked. “Pool of Virtue?"
Murong Lian's eyes crinkled. "Does your Fourth Uncle seem like the type to accumulate virtues?"
Yue Chenqing was indignant, putting his hands on his hips angrily. "And why can't my Fourth Uncle accumulate virtue?"
"You're seriously too funny—don’t you know what kind of reputation he has?"
"My Fourth Uncle is really fierce!" Yue Chenqing responded furiously.
Murong Lian just loved to step on people's tails. If Yue Chenqing hadn't responded, it would have been alright, but as soon as he responded, Murong Lian grew even more invigorated. Even his urge to smoke had faded a bit. "Ferociousness and reputation are two different things," he teased. As he spoke, he pointed to Gu Mang, still tied to the bamboo warrior—"Is this person not ferocious? That didn't keep him from stinking all the way home."
"You— You—!" Yue Chenqing's cheeks had puffed out from anger. Although he was the best-tempered young master in Chonghua, the one point no one should touch was his Fourth Uncle.
From a very young age, Yue Chenqing had blindly adored his youngest uncle, and so after choking on it for a long while, he shouted at Murong Lian, "You dare call other people stinky! Murong-dage, you're the stinky one!"
Murong Lian: ".........."
So strange. The sun had risen from the west; Young Master Yue had not only learned how to curse, but the one he cursed out was him???
Likely due to the shock outweighing everything else, Murong Lian couldn't respond for a long time.
And at this point, Murong Chuyi turned his face to them. "This is the Dream Transfiguring Pool. Throw a spiritual weapon in, and the water will turn gold."
"And then?" Mo Xi asked.
"We each take a jade cup and drink a cupful. After drinking, we'll fall asleep and dream of past events connected to this blade."
As Murong Chuyi finished, he grasped Hong Shao's hilt with his middle and index fingers.
Likely because he was sick of Wangshu-jun and Yue Chenqing's noise, he didn't even ask and merely looked at Mo Xi. "I'll toss it now."
The Ignorant Immortal, like Mo Xi, disliked wasting words the most, and this was merely a courtesy—he hadn't even waited for Mo Xi's nod before he moved to toss the hilt in.
Only for Mo Xi to unexpectedly stop him.
Mo Xi nodded towards Gu Mang. "If we sleep, what happens to him?"
"Simple." Murong Chuyi, with a brush of his sleeves, lightly said, "Xuanwu Formation, rise."
As the sound of his voice rang out, the grasses and plants in the courtyard started rustling. Every bamboo warrior climbed up from the plants, even those that were slumped on the ground, all of them creakingly moving their joints. With a leap, they had surrounded Gu Mang—fifty-odd warriors, with the number still growing.
"Even an immortal absolutely wouldn’t be able to take him away within an incense time,” Murong Chuyi said.
Murong Chuyi and Mo Xi both liked using words such as "absolutely", "certainly", “definitely” to speak with others. Since he said absolutely nothing could take him away, then he must have complete certainty.
Mo Xi glanced at those bamboo warriors. “Let us begin,” he said, turning to face the Dream Transfiguring Pool.
Hong Shao entered the water, causing the pool to quickly blink gold.
Murong Chuyi retrieved three lotus-petal shaped jade cups, for himself, Murong Lian, and Mo Xi.
Yue Chenqing was blank. "...What about me? I don't get any?"
Murong Lian laughed unkindly. "Heh heh, your Fourth Uncle looks down on you, doesn't want to let you play."
Like a dazed dog, Yue Chenqing turned his head, blinked a couple times, and peeked at his uncle.
His Fourth Uncle didn't pay him any attention and had already taken care of his own matters, drinking the cup's contents in one go. The Dream Transfiguring Pool's power was very strong, and so almost immediately after he swallowed, he fell asleep, drooping over the side of the pool with his forearm as a pillow.
"Fourth Uncle??"
Mo Xi, seeing his dejected appearance, reached for Murong Chuyi's used cup, filled it, and passed it to Yue Chenqing. Yue Chenqing was finally allowed to play and hastily took it. With a quick "thankyouxihejun", he glugged it and fell down, limbs sprawling in every direction, quietly snoring.
Mo Xi and Murong Lian didn't wait any further, swallowing their Dream Transfiguration water, and instantly sank under—
At first, everything was dark, as if stuck in a field of deepest night. Suddenly, they could faintly hear the bright sounds of a sword, a sword holding the might of wind and thunder. It could shake the earth, could change the hues of the sky.
Mo Xi could probably identify this kind of bright clang even with his eyes closed. It was precisely the sound that rang out when Li Qingqian stood and singlehandedly fought thousands of demon wolves.
At this time, the Water Parting Sword was not fully complete, but each strike and each blow was filled with clear and pure spiritual energy.
With the sounds of this sword, their surroundings gradually became clear.
It was a little village dwelling, near the end of spring. Almond flowers had floated in to fill the yard.
This Li Qingqian was maybe in his early twenties, practicing with his sword and making his patched clothes fly along with every movement.
But he wasn't alone—he was exchanging blows with a dainty little maiden wearing coarse purple clothes. Her movements were clever and swift, spinning and ducking so quickly her features were unclear. It was not until Li Qingqian gestured with his sword did she laughingly come to a stop. Faking anger, she complained. "Dage, today I could hold out for another twelve strikes. Why haven't you praised me yet?"
Li Qingqian smiled. "Hong Shao is truly accomplished."
—As it turns out, Hong Shao was a maiden's name.
Hong Shao didn't accept that so easily. "You used this line last time, try a different one?"
Li Qingqian laughed helplessly. "Then....you're the most intelligent?"
"You said this last-last time, you need to think harder!"
Huffily, she tilted her face forward.
Only now could Mo Xi take a clear look at her features—a maiden of maybe seventeen or eighteen, skin like lotus petals, slender willow brows, with a beauty mark at the outer corner of her eye. Mo Xi didn't have a lot of skill differentiating women's appearances; he simply thought she looked quite familiar. After a while, he realized this girl looked similar to those missing maidens.
Or rather, he should say those missing girls looked like scraps of her, some with similar noses, some with similar lips, some with that mole at their eye.
Li Qingqian sheathed his sword and lifted his hand to flick her forehead. "Can't think of anything, not gonna." As he finished he turned around to enter the house.
"You— you— you! You just didn't try hard enough!!" Hong Shao chased after him, skipping and yelling. "Aah!!” she shouted noisily. “Li-dage goes back on his word! More and more uncaring to me!!"
Chickens were running around, and the little dog in the courtyard began a chorus of barks, either to cheer her on or to compare the loudness of their voices.
"...."
Mo Xi had never really been able to bear women. Mengze's steady type was alright, but maidens like Hong Shao could count as one of his ten great nightmares in life.
But, looking at them, Li Qingqian could accept her just fine, without any impatience present in his speech.
Thinking further, Mo Xi understood the relationship between them.
As it turned out, this Hong Shao was a little girl escaping from famine, who Li Qingqian picked up in his travels. When they met, he was eighteen and she was fifteen. Having traveled extensively over three and a half years, they were now so close as to be inseparable.
But neither Li Qingqian nor Hong Shao had any romantic experience. Li Qingqian didn’t even merit mention, and although Hong Shao looked rambunctious and noisy, she was an infinitely pure girl, too afraid to speak the confession hidden deep in her heart. So although the feelings between them were so clear that strangers could see it, these two were dumb, never knowing how to tell the other.
Most unbelievably, Hong Shao was drunk once and leaned forwards on the table, staring blankly at Li Qingqian, lit by candlelight. Seeing his hand resting by the scroll as he read, she suddenly couldn't bear it and quietly inched closer, just a little bit closer. With a pounding heart and all of her courage, she took hold of it.
Li Qingqian was dumbfounded, suddenly struck mute, gazing wide-eyed at her. He took in her cheeks, ruddy from wine. She was mischievously giggling, and her eyes stared at him, filled with a starry light.
"Dage......"
According to reason, when two people are both pining, as long as someone musters up their courage and pokes through that paper window, then they ought to be able to express their feelings.
But as Hong Shao gazed at Li Qingqian's refreshingly handsome face, she suddenly felt timid.
She thought, Was I even fit to be with him?
Three years ago, when he reached out a hand to the frozen, starving, filthy little girl covered in scabies, he had already become her gege, her deity, her prince in shining armour.
In her eyes, Li-dage's everything was great—his looks, his heart, his cultivation, his voice.
Other than being poor, his everything was the best in the world.
Then she lowered her head to look at herself. Although her looks were acceptable, in the end, she was just an illiterate girl, both clumsy and stupid. She even ate a lot, double her Li-dage's amount in one meal, and her voice was too loud, like someone clanging randomly on drums.
This little drum felt more sorrowful the more it thought. The courage she so painstakingly gathered deflated at this critical moment.
Her courage was gone, but their hands were still linked.
She had to find a suitable excuse, didn’t she? She couldn't possibly say, “Sorry dage, I thought your hand was a tea cup and grabbed the wrong thing.”
Therefore, Hong Shao grabbed for the most terrible excuse, not even convincing Mo Xi—she laughed and said, "Let's arm wrestle!"
Li Qingqian: "........."
"Let's play, let's play! Let's see who's stronger!"
Li Qingqian thought he had likely misunderstood, the tips of his ears slightly red. He withdrew his hand from her palm, lowering his lashes. "Didn't we just compare wits yesterday?" he said helplessly.
"Exactly, so today we'll compare strength."
Li Qingqian reluctantly chuckled. "What strange new idea of yours is this? Competitions every day? Then what are you planning on comparing tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow we'll compare handsomeness!" Hong Shao said, quickly grabbing the brush Li Qingqian had left beside the book and drawing two strokes of a mustache on her face. "Dage look, just like this!"
Li Qingqian watched her look from side to side, stroking her imaginary beard cleverly. He couldn't help but feel amused and tender.
He liked her back, but just as she saw herself as too stupid, too clumsy, too gluttonous, Li Qingqian thought of himself as too stuffy and too poor, so he always thought a girl as nimble and pretty as Hong Shao shouldn't have to suffer alongside him.
Actually, in the beginning when Hong Shao insisted on sticking to him, he had rather helplessly told her, "Miss, I only saved you because I noticed you collapsed on the side of the road, severely sick. Not for you to repay me in any way...."
Hong Shao's voice was loud as drums, but her figure was slight. If Li Qingqian had sped up even slightly, her footsteps would patter as she chased after him, hurriedly explaining as she ran. "Da-gege, da-gege, I know, I know! You don't need me to repay you, but I myself want to—"
"Stay at the healer's hall then, didn't I already speak with the doctor? She's willing to take you on as a disciple, so if you really want to repay me, follow her and learn diligently, learn to cure illnesses and save people in the future. Doesn't that sound good?"
"No, it doesn't!” Hong Shao was so anxious she had begun hopping. "I was ready to sell myself to bury my father! You buried my yifu, saved me, and took me to the doctor! I— I don't care! I will stay with you, stay with you, stay with you, aaaah aah aaaah! !" By the end, she had looked like a little madman, yelling and shouting.
Having seen that this sick kitten was so troublesome once healed up, Li Qingqian involuntarily had a slight headache, and so he’d walked faster.
Hong Shao had noticed and grew more distressed, her shoddy grass sandals pitter-pattering. They were constantly tripping her up and hindering her chase, so she’d taken them off, throwing them towards Li Qingqian one after another. Running barefoot, she had sobbed out, "You— you— don't leave! How about I don't repay you, won't that work?"
Li Qingqian: "......."
Tears had streamed down that dirty face, rolling further down. "I won't repay you! I'll freeload off of you, I'll live off of you, is that good enough? Da-gege, don't leave me alone." As she spoke, tears fell straight from her eyes, she was choking on sobs. "If you leave me alone at the healer's hall, I’m so clumsy, not knowing anything.....What if the doctor sells me after a few days? I've already been passed through three different households, I’ve been someone's future daughter-in-law, a servant girl, an adopted daughter. I don't even know what I am anymore....."
She had started crying even harder, hoarse throat wailing. Tears had dripped into the mud, and dirty feet rubbed the dirt.
"Don't leave me behind, I don't want to be passed through a fourth household, not anymore, wuuwuuwuu...."
Since she had cried like this, what else could Li Qingqian do?
He was born in Lichun Country, the weakest nation out of all Nine Provinces. His country was pinched between two overbearing countries, often caught in the crossfire. If there were any attacks from demons or evil, there wouldn't be any great cultivators coming to help them suppress it. Li Qingqian had watched with his own eyes as his mother was raped and murdered and his father stabbed.
At the time, he wasn’t even ten years old, alone inside their broken down shack, clutching his newly weaned brother, shivering inside a closet. His tears were flowing down uncontrollably, but he still tightly muffled his little brother's mouth, preventing him from crying out.
But those cultivators possessed strong spiritual energy. If there were two children in the house, how could they not have noticed?
The closet door was violently kicked open, him and his brother lifted out by two coarse hands amidst the flying wood shards. He clung tightly to his little brother, unwilling to let go, which earned a storm of nasty laughter, vicious beating and a flurry of curses.
"Could these two whelps be brought back and used to make medicine?"
"Doesn't look like they've inherited their old mother's Butterfly Bone Beauty Feast bloodline. Their tears aren't the right color...."
"Then just kill them! Cut the weeds and destroy the roots, don't leave behind future troubles.”
Li Qingqian hadn’t understood anything they said at the time. He didn’t know what a Butterfly Bone Beauty Feast was; he only watched as his mother's naked body was bound up with satin wrappings, to be taken who knows where.
Boiling gunsmoke, fishy smelling blood, and the fiendish laughter of the cultivators all became a mess in front of his eyes. Suddenly, he heard a great boom.
A beam of jade-colored sword glare decapitated those cultivators, making blood spurt meters away.
And then a green-clothed man wearing a golden mask appeared at the door. Following the light, he stepped over their corpses to enter the building.
With the first look into this courtyard, Mo Xi understood why Murong Chuyi banned open flame. Although Murong Chuyi was immaculately dressed, the floor of this courtyard was seriously messy, to the point of making one's hair stand on end. It was covered in wooden fragments, sulfur, and coal. Large-scale half finished suits of armour were strewn about, with at least ten bamboo warriors slumped under the colonnade.
The incomparably elegant Ignorant Immortal was unconcerned with this mess, leading everyone to a little pond in the depths of the courtyard. The pool was clear enough to see the bottom, filled with rings, white jade hairpins, and a smattering of little items.
"What's this?” Yue Chenqing asked. “Pool of Virtue?"
Murong Lian's eyes crinkled. "Does your Fourth Uncle seem like the type to accumulate virtues?"
Yue Chenqing was indignant, putting his hands on his hips angrily. "And why can't my Fourth Uncle accumulate virtue?"
"You're seriously too funny—don’t you know what kind of reputation he has?"
"My Fourth Uncle is really fierce!" Yue Chenqing responded furiously.
Murong Lian just loved to step on people's tails. If Yue Chenqing hadn't responded, it would have been alright, but as soon as he responded, Murong Lian grew even more invigorated. Even his urge to smoke had faded a bit. "Ferociousness and reputation are two different things," he teased. As he spoke, he pointed to Gu Mang, still tied to the bamboo warrior—"Is this person not ferocious? That didn't keep him from stinking all the way home."
"You— You—!" Yue Chenqing's cheeks had puffed out from anger. Although he was the best-tempered young master in Chonghua, the one point no one should touch was his Fourth Uncle.
From a very young age, Yue Chenqing had blindly adored his youngest uncle, and so after choking on it for a long while, he shouted at Murong Lian, "You dare call other people stinky! Murong-dage, you're the stinky one!"
Murong Lian: ".........."
So strange. The sun had risen from the west; Young Master Yue had not only learned how to curse, but the one he cursed out was him???
Likely due to the shock outweighing everything else, Murong Lian couldn't respond for a long time.
And at this point, Murong Chuyi turned his face to them. "This is the Dream Transfiguring Pool. Throw a spiritual weapon in, and the water will turn gold."
"And then?" Mo Xi asked.
"We each take a jade cup and drink a cupful. After drinking, we'll fall asleep and dream of past events connected to this blade."
As Murong Chuyi finished, he grasped Hong Shao's hilt with his middle and index fingers.
Likely because he was sick of Wangshu-jun and Yue Chenqing's noise, he didn't even ask and merely looked at Mo Xi. "I'll toss it now."
The Ignorant Immortal, like Mo Xi, disliked wasting words the most, and this was merely a courtesy—he hadn't even waited for Mo Xi's nod before he moved to toss the hilt in.
Only for Mo Xi to unexpectedly stop him.
Mo Xi nodded towards Gu Mang. "If we sleep, what happens to him?"
"Simple." Murong Chuyi, with a brush of his sleeves, lightly said, "Xuanwu Formation, rise."
As the sound of his voice rang out, the grasses and plants in the courtyard started rustling. Every bamboo warrior climbed up from the plants, even those that were slumped on the ground, all of them creakingly moving their joints. With a leap, they had surrounded Gu Mang—fifty-odd warriors, with the number still growing.
"Even an immortal absolutely wouldn’t be able to take him away within an incense time,” Murong Chuyi said.
Murong Chuyi and Mo Xi both liked using words such as "absolutely", "certainly", “definitely” to speak with others. Since he said absolutely nothing could take him away, then he must have complete certainty.
Mo Xi glanced at those bamboo warriors. “Let us begin,” he said, turning to face the Dream Transfiguring Pool.
Hong Shao entered the water, causing the pool to quickly blink gold.
Murong Chuyi retrieved three lotus-petal shaped jade cups, for himself, Murong Lian, and Mo Xi.
Yue Chenqing was blank. "...What about me? I don't get any?"
Murong Lian laughed unkindly. "Heh heh, your Fourth Uncle looks down on you, doesn't want to let you play."
Like a dazed dog, Yue Chenqing turned his head, blinked a couple times, and peeked at his uncle.
His Fourth Uncle didn't pay him any attention and had already taken care of his own matters, drinking the cup's contents in one go. The Dream Transfiguring Pool's power was very strong, and so almost immediately after he swallowed, he fell asleep, drooping over the side of the pool with his forearm as a pillow.
"Fourth Uncle??"
Mo Xi, seeing his dejected appearance, reached for Murong Chuyi's used cup, filled it, and passed it to Yue Chenqing. Yue Chenqing was finally allowed to play and hastily took it. With a quick "thankyouxihejun", he glugged it and fell down, limbs sprawling in every direction, quietly snoring.
Mo Xi and Murong Lian didn't wait any further, swallowing their Dream Transfiguration water, and instantly sank under—
At first, everything was dark, as if stuck in a field of deepest night. Suddenly, they could faintly hear the bright sounds of a sword, a sword holding the might of wind and thunder. It could shake the earth, could change the hues of the sky.
Mo Xi could probably identify this kind of bright clang even with his eyes closed. It was precisely the sound that rang out when Li Qingqian stood and singlehandedly fought thousands of demon wolves.
At this time, the Water Parting Sword was not fully complete, but each strike and each blow was filled with clear and pure spiritual energy.
With the sounds of this sword, their surroundings gradually became clear.
It was a little village dwelling, near the end of spring. Almond flowers had floated in to fill the yard.
This Li Qingqian was maybe in his early twenties, practicing with his sword and making his patched clothes fly along with every movement.
But he wasn't alone—he was exchanging blows with a dainty little maiden wearing coarse purple clothes. Her movements were clever and swift, spinning and ducking so quickly her features were unclear. It was not until Li Qingqian gestured with his sword did she laughingly come to a stop. Faking anger, she complained. "Dage, today I could hold out for another twelve strikes. Why haven't you praised me yet?"
Li Qingqian smiled. "Hong Shao is truly accomplished."
—As it turns out, Hong Shao was a maiden's name.
Hong Shao didn't accept that so easily. "You used this line last time, try a different one?"
Li Qingqian laughed helplessly. "Then....you're the most intelligent?"
"You said this last-last time, you need to think harder!"
Huffily, she tilted her face forward.
Only now could Mo Xi take a clear look at her features—a maiden of maybe seventeen or eighteen, skin like lotus petals, slender willow brows, with a beauty mark at the outer corner of her eye. Mo Xi didn't have a lot of skill differentiating women's appearances; he simply thought she looked quite familiar. After a while, he realized this girl looked similar to those missing maidens.
Or rather, he should say those missing girls looked like scraps of her, some with similar noses, some with similar lips, some with that mole at their eye.
Li Qingqian sheathed his sword and lifted his hand to flick her forehead. "Can't think of anything, not gonna." As he finished he turned around to enter the house.
"You— you— you! You just didn't try hard enough!!" Hong Shao chased after him, skipping and yelling. "Aah!!” she shouted noisily. “Li-dage goes back on his word! More and more uncaring to me!!"
Chickens were running around, and the little dog in the courtyard began a chorus of barks, either to cheer her on or to compare the loudness of their voices.
"...."
Mo Xi had never really been able to bear women. Mengze's steady type was alright, but maidens like Hong Shao could count as one of his ten great nightmares in life.
But, looking at them, Li Qingqian could accept her just fine, without any impatience present in his speech.
Thinking further, Mo Xi understood the relationship between them.
As it turned out, this Hong Shao was a little girl escaping from famine, who Li Qingqian picked up in his travels. When they met, he was eighteen and she was fifteen. Having traveled extensively over three and a half years, they were now so close as to be inseparable.
But neither Li Qingqian nor Hong Shao had any romantic experience. Li Qingqian didn’t even merit mention, and although Hong Shao looked rambunctious and noisy, she was an infinitely pure girl, too afraid to speak the confession hidden deep in her heart. So although the feelings between them were so clear that strangers could see it, these two were dumb, never knowing how to tell the other.
Most unbelievably, Hong Shao was drunk once and leaned forwards on the table, staring blankly at Li Qingqian, lit by candlelight. Seeing his hand resting by the scroll as he read, she suddenly couldn't bear it and quietly inched closer, just a little bit closer. With a pounding heart and all of her courage, she took hold of it.
Li Qingqian was dumbfounded, suddenly struck mute, gazing wide-eyed at her. He took in her cheeks, ruddy from wine. She was mischievously giggling, and her eyes stared at him, filled with a starry light.
"Dage......"
According to reason, when two people are both pining, as long as someone musters up their courage and pokes through that paper window, then they ought to be able to express their feelings.
But as Hong Shao gazed at Li Qingqian's refreshingly handsome face, she suddenly felt timid.
She thought, Was I even fit to be with him?
Three years ago, when he reached out a hand to the frozen, starving, filthy little girl covered in scabies, he had already become her gege, her deity, her prince in shining armour.
In her eyes, Li-dage's everything was great—his looks, his heart, his cultivation, his voice.
Other than being poor, his everything was the best in the world.
Then she lowered her head to look at herself. Although her looks were acceptable, in the end, she was just an illiterate girl, both clumsy and stupid. She even ate a lot, double her Li-dage's amount in one meal, and her voice was too loud, like someone clanging randomly on drums.
This little drum felt more sorrowful the more it thought. The courage she so painstakingly gathered deflated at this critical moment.
Her courage was gone, but their hands were still linked.
She had to find a suitable excuse, didn’t she? She couldn't possibly say, “Sorry dage, I thought your hand was a tea cup and grabbed the wrong thing.”
Therefore, Hong Shao grabbed for the most terrible excuse, not even convincing Mo Xi—she laughed and said, "Let's arm wrestle!"
Li Qingqian: "........."
"Let's play, let's play! Let's see who's stronger!"
Li Qingqian thought he had likely misunderstood, the tips of his ears slightly red. He withdrew his hand from her palm, lowering his lashes. "Didn't we just compare wits yesterday?" he said helplessly.
"Exactly, so today we'll compare strength."
Li Qingqian reluctantly chuckled. "What strange new idea of yours is this? Competitions every day? Then what are you planning on comparing tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow we'll compare handsomeness!" Hong Shao said, quickly grabbing the brush Li Qingqian had left beside the book and drawing two strokes of a mustache on her face. "Dage look, just like this!"
Li Qingqian watched her look from side to side, stroking her imaginary beard cleverly. He couldn't help but feel amused and tender.
He liked her back, but just as she saw herself as too stupid, too clumsy, too gluttonous, Li Qingqian thought of himself as too stuffy and too poor, so he always thought a girl as nimble and pretty as Hong Shao shouldn't have to suffer alongside him.
Actually, in the beginning when Hong Shao insisted on sticking to him, he had rather helplessly told her, "Miss, I only saved you because I noticed you collapsed on the side of the road, severely sick. Not for you to repay me in any way...."
Hong Shao's voice was loud as drums, but her figure was slight. If Li Qingqian had sped up even slightly, her footsteps would patter as she chased after him, hurriedly explaining as she ran. "Da-gege, da-gege, I know, I know! You don't need me to repay you, but I myself want to—"
"Stay at the healer's hall then, didn't I already speak with the doctor? She's willing to take you on as a disciple, so if you really want to repay me, follow her and learn diligently, learn to cure illnesses and save people in the future. Doesn't that sound good?"
"No, it doesn't!” Hong Shao was so anxious she had begun hopping. "I was ready to sell myself to bury my father! You buried my yifu, saved me, and took me to the doctor! I— I don't care! I will stay with you, stay with you, stay with you, aaaah aah aaaah! !" By the end, she had looked like a little madman, yelling and shouting.
Having seen that this sick kitten was so troublesome once healed up, Li Qingqian involuntarily had a slight headache, and so he’d walked faster.
Hong Shao had noticed and grew more distressed, her shoddy grass sandals pitter-pattering. They were constantly tripping her up and hindering her chase, so she’d taken them off, throwing them towards Li Qingqian one after another. Running barefoot, she had sobbed out, "You— you— don't leave! How about I don't repay you, won't that work?"
Li Qingqian: "......."
Tears had streamed down that dirty face, rolling further down. "I won't repay you! I'll freeload off of you, I'll live off of you, is that good enough? Da-gege, don't leave me alone." As she spoke, tears fell straight from her eyes, she was choking on sobs. "If you leave me alone at the healer's hall, I’m so clumsy, not knowing anything.....What if the doctor sells me after a few days? I've already been passed through three different households, I’ve been someone's future daughter-in-law, a servant girl, an adopted daughter. I don't even know what I am anymore....."
She had started crying even harder, hoarse throat wailing. Tears had dripped into the mud, and dirty feet rubbed the dirt.
"Don't leave me behind, I don't want to be passed through a fourth household, not anymore, wuuwuuwuu...."
Since she had cried like this, what else could Li Qingqian do?
He was born in Lichun Country, the weakest nation out of all Nine Provinces. His country was pinched between two overbearing countries, often caught in the crossfire. If there were any attacks from demons or evil, there wouldn't be any great cultivators coming to help them suppress it. Li Qingqian had watched with his own eyes as his mother was raped and murdered and his father stabbed.
At the time, he wasn’t even ten years old, alone inside their broken down shack, clutching his newly weaned brother, shivering inside a closet. His tears were flowing down uncontrollably, but he still tightly muffled his little brother's mouth, preventing him from crying out.
But those cultivators possessed strong spiritual energy. If there were two children in the house, how could they not have noticed?
The closet door was violently kicked open, him and his brother lifted out by two coarse hands amidst the flying wood shards. He clung tightly to his little brother, unwilling to let go, which earned a storm of nasty laughter, vicious beating and a flurry of curses.
"Could these two whelps be brought back and used to make medicine?"
"Doesn't look like they've inherited their old mother's Butterfly Bone Beauty Feast bloodline. Their tears aren't the right color...."
"Then just kill them! Cut the weeds and destroy the roots, don't leave behind future troubles.”
Li Qingqian hadn’t understood anything they said at the time. He didn’t know what a Butterfly Bone Beauty Feast was; he only watched as his mother's naked body was bound up with satin wrappings, to be taken who knows where.
Boiling gunsmoke, fishy smelling blood, and the fiendish laughter of the cultivators all became a mess in front of his eyes. Suddenly, he heard a great boom.
A beam of jade-colored sword glare decapitated those cultivators, making blood spurt meters away.
And then a green-clothed man wearing a golden mask appeared at the door. Following the light, he stepped over their corpses to enter the building.
