Chapter 42: Curiosity

But once Xia Ying’s head cooled down, she realized something was off.

As the eldest young lady of Tinghe Villa, if A’qing had really given birth to a child, it would have been impossible to keep it completely quiet. It was far more believable to say this was He Gan’s daughter instead.

Besides, A’qing was only four years older than her, barely twenty-four years old by nominal age this year. There was absolutely no way she could have given birth to a daughter this big.

Thank goodness, it wasn’t some random man.

But that still didn’t make sense. A’qing’s mother had passed away long ago. Even if Villa Master He had a second daughter, she shouldn’t look so remarkably similar to A’qing. Come to think of it, it was also strange. They said daughters took after their fathers, yet A’qing looked at most twenty percent like He Gan.

Could it be that A’qing’s mother hadn’t actually passed away?

Xia Ying tried hard to recall, but she wasn’t very familiar with Tinghe Villa, having only interacted with A’qing in the past. In fact, she had no good feelings toward Villa Master He Gan, finding him far too shrewd and mercenary, with eyes that often hid calculations she couldn’t decipher.

Rumor had it that he was a very devoted husband who never remarried after his first wife passed away, focusing solely on raising his daughter. But after spending enough time with A’qing, Xia Ying knew He Gan didn’t actually care much for his daughter. His care couldn’t even compare to how her own cousin-uncle raised her.

He Gan showed no intention of passing Tinghe Villa’s massive estate to his daughter, nor did he have any plans to take in a son-in-law. For cultivators in the cultivation world, twenty-four was just the beginning of their journey. But for ordinary people, most would have already married and established a career by twenty-four. Wealthy families, in particular, would start looking for matches when their children were in their teens.

Xia Ying naturally didn’t want her friend to marry just anyone, but He Gan’s attitude was very subtle. It really didn’t seem like the behavior of a biological father who doted on his daughter.

However, A’qing had told her not to meddle in Tinghe Villa’s affairs. Fearing she might cause harm despite her good intentions, Xia Ying hadn’t taken any rash action.

Who could have known that right after she joined Yonglu Mountain, A’qing would suddenly vanish? She couldn’t be found anywhere, even after searching all of Langyuan City. Yet that old geezer He Gan wasn’t worried at all, and he hadn’t even released a whisper of news about searching for her.

Now, look at this. Instead of finding A’qing, they had found a child who looked remarkably like her.

“Junior Brother, where did you find this little girl?”

“To tell you the truth, Senior Sister, you were actually there at the time.”

Xia Ying was slightly taken aback. “Could it be…”

“Exactly. Don’t let her tiny size fool you, she has a massive appetite. Every time she comes to my restaurant, she eats three whole tubs of fish, the kind where she doesn’t even spit out the bones.”

Xia Ying was even more stunned. “How big are the tubs?”

“I have a Shadow Retention Stone as proof. If you don’t believe me, Senior Sister, you’ll understand once you see it.”

Xia Ying naturally didn’t believe it, but facts spoke louder than words. A Shadow Retention Stone could never be faked. Still, how could an ordinary human eat so much fish?

It was simply mind-boggling. Xia Ying couldn’t help but step forward and use her spiritual energy to examine the girl, but there wasn’t a trace of demonic Qi on her.

With her current cultivation at the peak of the eighth level of Qi Refining, she couldn’t tell at all whether the little girl before her was human or demon.

She looked just like a very ordinary little girl.

“What’s your name? Can you tell big sister?”

The little girl had been extremely guarded when looking at Bian Chunzhou, so one would expect her to be the same with Xia Ying. Surprisingly, although her expression was timid, she was very warm toward Xia Ying. However, she opened her mouth but couldn’t make a single sound.

“She can’t speak. Don’t make things difficult for her, Senior Sister.”

She couldn’t speak? Looking at the little girl’s eyes, which were as clear and bright as an infant’s, Xia Ying suddenly felt a sense of familiarity. She felt certain she had seen these eyes before.

She couldn’t help but reach out and pull the little girl into her arms. “Don’t be afraid. Sister won’t hurt you.”

The little girl actually let her hold her with great trust and affection. Her attitude had done a complete hundred and eighty degree turn.

Bian Chunzhou: …Fine, I guess smelly men just aren’t popular with kids.

After Xia Ying coaxed the little girl to sleep, she originally planned to take her back to the City Lord’s Mansion to settle her in. But on second thought, remembering the three tubs of fish that had been devoured as if they were noodles, she felt a bit worried.

Cultivators always harbored some wariness toward non-human entities. The City Lord’s Mansion was full of prying eyes, her cousin-uncle was still in secluded cultivation, and she herself wasn’t always in the mansion. There was no guarantee that some malicious person wouldn’t harbor ill intent.

No demonic Qi, yet unlike a mortal. In Xia Ying’s knowledge, there was only one such existence.

A half-demon.

Back then, Yonglu Mountain’s Martial Grand-uncle, Venerable Chengwei, was a half-demon.

*

Wen Xu’s Wind-stacking Fan was already showing initial results. From the initial single arrangement where everything activated at once, to the current orderly arrangement where they stacked and took effect one by one. In Chunzhou’s words, each small array was like a domino, neatly arranged so that when his spiritual energy struck the first array, the remaining small arrays would be triggered one after another by the spiritual energy.

The power of hundreds of stacked arrays far exceeded the strength of a single large array, yet it no longer required so much time to set up.

There were two areas he currently needed to improve. First, the Wind-Folding Fan was a low-grade magic tool. Stacking arrays on a magic tool put his array-drawing skills to the test, and ordinary spiritual fans were simply not as handy as the Wind-Folding Fan. Second, if the Wind-stacking Array was interrupted midway, he would need to apply spiritual energy again. In a fight between cultivators, being even half a second too slow could decide the outcome. No matter how good the Wind-stacking Array was, it still required his physical strength to coordinate with it.

Otherwise, even the best offensive method wouldn’t be able to unleash half its power.

To this end, Wen Xu drew up a new cultivation plan. Last time the Sect Master came to Guochun Peak, he had gifted him a low-grade spiritual sword and a defensive magic tool capable of resisting a Golden Core cultivator’s attacks, calling them a belated greeting gift. There were also some apology gifts sent by Jinding Pavilion to Yonglu Mountain, mostly very practical items.

Wen Xu originally hadn’t wanted to accept them, but the Sect Master said that only a fool would pass up a freebie, telling him to just take Jinding Pavilion’s things without feeling guilty. Bian Chunzhou and Chen Zui had also received their shares, and none of them were allowed to return them.

Since the sect had accepted them, they kept them. However, Wen Xu was currently focusing on Body Tempering, so he was still using the practice sword gifted by Senior Brother Zheng Jin.

But recently, he had increased the weight of the sword. Wen Xu could clearly feel that his body had grown stronger, at least far better than back when he was in the Mortal Realm.

In the past, he had exercised regularly to prepare for the imperial examinations. However, his constitution had been weak since childhood, so he was usually carried out of the exam hall after every test and would fall ill for a couple of days. Looking back now, even though he hadn’t been in the cultivation world for very long, those days felt so distant, as if they had happened in a past life.

But revenge was different. He would never let his enemies live freely into their next life.

I still need to step up my cultivation, Wen Xu warned himself. He had to reach the Golden Core stage before he turned fifty. Otherwise, even if he managed to return, he would be consumed by resentment.

“What are you thinking about? You look so bitter and resentful, your frown could pinch a passing crane to death.”

Wen Xu sheathed his sword. “Master, you jest. I cannot defeat the senior spiritual cranes flying by.”

Venerable Chengwei squatted on a snow-covered boulder. “Oh, right. Ah Xu, you seem to have been stuck at the seventh level of Qi Refining for quite a while. When I was your age… well, I was not as good as you.”

Wen Xu was speechless. His master was saying strange things again.

“When I was your age, I hadn’t even joined Yonglu Mountain yet.” Venerable Chengwei thought about it. What was he doing when he was twenty? Oh, right, he was setting up a stall in the city, pretending to be a master, scamming people for free food and drinks.

But there was no need to tell his young disciple about such things. It would ruin his perfect image. 🙂

“When did you come to Yonglu Mountain, Master?” Wen Xu could not help but ask out of curiosity. According to sect rumors, his master had once been a half-demon, which hindered his cultivation. To ascend the immortal path, his master had abandoned his human bloodline and transformed completely into a divine dragon. Since then, his cultivation had progressed by leaps and bounds, and he was now a Body Integration Divine Venerable.

But that was hundreds of years ago. Even now, some people still criticized his master’s choice. In Wen Xu’s opinion, those people were just sour grapes. Besides, whether one was a human or a dragon was a matter of one’s own heart.

There were many people in this world who wore human skin but forgot they were not truly human. Yet, they remained arrogant, thinking they could dictate how the world should run, completely unaware that they were nothing but frogs at the bottom of a well.

“When did I come to Yonglu Mountain? I don’t remember. That was thousands of years ago. My master, that old geezer, has already ascended to immortality. I wonder if he still has spiritual wine to drink up there.”

His master’s master, wouldn’t that make him his grandmaster?

“Let’s not talk about him. If I talk about him too much, I’m afraid he’ll come down to join the fun.” Venerable Chengwei waved his hand dismissively. “My young disciple, on your body… where have you been lately?”

Wen Xu was taken aback. What was wrong with him?

“I have been staying at Yonglu Mountain recently, except for going down the mountain to attend the grand opening of a friend’s new shop.”

“A new shop? The delicious hot pot restaurant?”

“Yes,” Wen Xu replied.

“That’s strange. When did Langyuan City…” Venerable Chengwei propped up his head, then suddenly clapped his hands and cast a spell onto Wen Xu. “Disciple Ah Xu, you’re going down the mountain today, right?”

Wen Xu looked down, glancing at the extra jade pendant hanging from his waist. “Down the mountain to Gongshang Bistro?”

“Yes. I also want to go down the mountain to see the excitement. Ah Xu, you will fulfill this small wish of mine, won’t you?”

“Yes,” Wen Xu replied.

Although he did not know what his master had discovered on him, it was likely harmless. Since it was his master’s order, he naturally had to go down the mountain. Besides, he also wanted to know what was so special about Gongshang Bistro that even his master cared so much.

Could it be that little fish thief?

After finishing his daily practice, Wen Xu went to find Chen Zui first. Learning that Chen Zui was busy today, he headed down the mountain alone.

Speaking of which, because he was pretending to be blind, his friends rarely let him go out alone. Even the disciples guarding the mountain gate would specially remind him to be careful on the road when they learned he was going out by himself.

“Oh my, Ah Xu, you seem to be quite popular in the sect.”

Just as Wen Xu reached the foot of the mountain, his master’s voice suddenly rang in his mind. “Master?”

“Yes, yes, it is indeed me. Hurry up, hurry up. I haven’t been to Langyuan City in a long time. Ah Xu, can you buy some spiritual wine for me?”

So, the spiritual wine is your main purpose, isn’t it? Wen Xu thought.