Chapter 39: A Patch of Green Moss (Part 1)
Three complete characters were carved together on the middle of a mountain rock, and a warm spring about one zhang in diameter was bubbling with air bubbles. There was a faint smell of sulfur in the air. The green shirt was neatly folded and placed on the rock, and she, with her hair scattered, was squatting in the pool, gently rubbing a head of black long hair with soap. The delicate white foam slowly flowed down from the hair tip, slid into the pool, was dispersed and pushed open by the bubbles rising from the bottom of the pool, and flowed out slowly through a hole about the size of a bowl at the bottom of a rock.
After washing her hair, Qing Er carefully tied up her bun with two wooden pins and fixed it firmly in place. She looked around cautiously before slowly getting out of the water, humming a tune as she went. She then used soap to clean her entire body thoroughly. Sitting naked on a black rock at the edge of the pool, she tilted her head back and gazed up at the sky, waiting quietly for the sun and mountain breeze to dry off the moisture from her skin. The green birthmark on her face had already faded significantly.
"Lin, big brother..." The green lotus, who was sitting on a rock in a daze, suddenly called out softly. Her small face quickly turned bright red, like a startled kitten, and she quickly jumped back into the pond, letting the scalding water soak her entire body, with only her small head exposed above the surface. She looked around shyly and timidly for a while, listening carefully to see if there were any movements nearby. Only then did the green lotus gently pat her chest and let out a soft sigh.
He stood there in a daze for a while, before Qingchu finally moved back to the edge of the pool, reached into his own pocket and pulled out a small box about the size of his palm. The box was made of black sandalwood, with a simple yet elegant carving of a small flower on its surface. Qingchu hummed a tune as he opened the box, revealing half a box of fine powder that shone with a clean red light. A warm air wafted out of the box, mixed with a pungent medicinal smell that made Qingchu sneeze repeatedly.
Pouting her small mouth, Qing Chu shook her head and muttered to herself in a low voice: "Brother Lin's medicine for others is always so fragrant, why does the medicine powder he made for me smell so bad? But it's Brother Lin who personally made this medicine powder, not those senior brothers." She blinked her eyes, and carefully picked up a pinch of the medicine powder with her fingers, gently applying it to the half of her face with the green birthmark, then carefully rubbed it in with force.
The powder of refined gold and beautiful jade is the most effective in removing scars. Moreover, this refined gold and beautiful jade were all obtained by Lin Xiao from Li Le's old man, which was born with fire spirit stone veins, stained with a thread of fire spirit energy, and is a high-quality product. Using such fire-refined gold and jade to grind into extremely fine powder that can be absorbed into the skin, every time it is rubbed, there will be a little bit of fine fire spirit energy penetrating into Qingchu's skin, slowly grinding away the cold poison in the blue birthmark on her face. The powder also contains Lin Xiao's carefully prepared spiritual medicine, which is most nourishing to the skin, and after the birthmark is slowly ground away by the fire spirit energy, there will not be a single scar left.
The huge green birthmark on Qing Yun's body contained a natural, innate chill toxin that was extremely troublesome and difficult to cure. Even the great Dan Tang of the Yuan Sect couldn't concoct a medicine that could counteract it, and no one would be willing to specially refine a medicine for a mere miscellaneous disciple like Qing Yun. Only a cultivator with extremely high attainments could forcibly erase the birthmark using their true yuan. But as mentioned earlier, who would expend such great effort for a lowly miscellaneous disciple like her?
With the green birthmark on her face, Qingchu had been ridiculed by some of her fellow disciples for so many years. She was self-abased but didn't dare to hurt herself, and she had long gotten used to that kind of lonely solitude. Besides Li Le, who else would take a second glance at Qingchu? Only Lin Xiao, cold as ice, with a voice as rare as his strange behavior, would instinctively show concern for Qingchu, specially preparing a dose of spiritual medicine to eliminate the birthmark on her face. As her fingers lightly slid across her cheek, Qingchu felt a thread of extremely fine heat flowing into her face, a strange and wonderful sensation, as if that heat had also seeped into her heart, warming it up, just like a winter insect suddenly feeling the warmth of long-lost sunlight, its whole body warming up.
Humming a happy tune, Qing Shu carefully applied the medicinal powder to her cheeks, then followed Lin Xiao's guidance and activated her meager true energy to drive the medicine deep into her skin. She had been using the medicine for a month now, but today she felt an unusual sensation as the medicine penetrated her face. It was as if a flame was burning within her cheeks, and Qing Shu clearly sensed that the numb, icy spot on her cheek was slowly dissolving, slowly, slowly, until half of her face had warmed up.
Looking down at the pool water, the clear pool water reflected her bright and beautiful face. A thread of thick green liquid was slowly seeping out from the pores on her cheeks, dripping into the pool water. The green birthmark on Qinglian's face had only left a tiny, insignificant trace, and even that last bit of residue was rapidly disappearing.
A delicate, elegant face with a breathtakingly ethereal aura appeared in the rippling water. Qingchu frantically patted her own face, staring at the reflection in the water in shock, repeatedly asking herself: "Is this me? Is this Qingchu? Is this me? Is this Qingchu? No, no, it can't be, how could I look like this?" Having grown accustomed to her own 'ugly' face, Qingchu simply didn't dare believe that the beautiful face in the water, lovely as a little fairy, belonged to her!
That delicate melon-shaped face, that straight and slender nose, those red and shiny diamond-shaped lips, paired with those two big sparkling eyes, on a fair and smooth face, hung a faintly discernible shy smile. Such a beautiful person, how could it be her, Qingchu? "It's not me, it's not me... this person, it's not me!" Qingchu muttered in a low voice, frantically twisting her own face, but the pain on her face told her that the beautiful face in the water was indeed hers! It was indeed Qingchu!
"Wooo, Brother Lin~~~~" Big teardrops rolled down Qingchu's face. Which girl doesn't care about her appearance? The vicious words from Qingchu's senior brothers and sisters had long left scars on her tender heart. Lin Xiao's magical medicine was just a simple task for him, but it made Qingchu's wounded little heart regain its vitality. Qingchu stared blankly at the reflection in the water, her face covered with sparkling tears. She suddenly tensed up her small face, and a determined and resolute spirit appeared in her eyes.
He carefully put the black sandalwood box back into his pocket, and Qing Chui took out a thumb-sized jade bottle from inside, pouring out a faintly fragrant pale red pill. This pill was one of the seventy-two beauty pills that Lin Xiao had ordered his subordinate, Dao Ren, to search for seven days ago, scouring the tens of thousands of mountain peaks within the Yuan Zong sect's gates, finding two Night Blooming Cereus plants that were bearing fruit, and then refining their fruits into a furnace. Lin Xiao had specifically instructed Qing Chui to take the beauty pill once the birthmark on his face disappeared.
Nourishing Beauty Pill, this is the elixir that Danxia and Huafeng spent a lot of effort trying to refine, but due to Lin Xiao's repeated mistakes, they were unable to succeed. Danxia and Huafeng are no longer around, Lin Xiao refined 72 Nourishing Beauty Pills, but didn't know how to deal with them, so he casually handed them over to Yī Sòng to sell at the pharmacy, leaving one pill for Qingchu. In Lin Xiao's opinion, since Danxia and Huafeng were so concerned about their appearance, it should be the same for Qingchu as well, being a woman.
Her fingers lightly grasped the Rejuvenating Pellet, and Qingchu's face expressed an indescribable emotion. When Lin Xiao gave her the Rejuvenating Pellet, he briefly explained its effects to her. Qingchu naturally knew what this pellet meant - eternal youth. This small pellet, if distributed among the lower-ranking disciples of the Yuan Sect, would cause some disciples to fight over it desperately.
Qing Yun had once accompanied several female cultivators of the Yuan Zong sect to Yao Mountain to gather herbs, and heard their mournful sighs - the golden elixir was not yet formed, but they had already grown old. For a woman, this was a cruel fate. Qing Yun remembered it clearly, a female cultivator who was close to forming the golden elixir once sighed to the sky: if there was an elixir of eternal youth, she would be willing to exchange all her cultivation and treasures for it. Cultivation could be redone, treasures could be regained, but youthful beauty was something that even these female cultivators valued more than their lives.
"Lin, big brother!" A soft and joyful cry, Qingchu swallowed the nourishing beauty pill into her mouth. A thick fragrance enveloped Qingchu's body, a wisp of white mist surrounded her entire body, Qingchu only felt a wave of numbness all over her body, just for a moment, she shed a layer of extremely thin dead skin. The fragrance and mist dissipated, Qingchu's skin turned as white as sheep fat, as smooth as beautiful jade, her whole body seemed to be shrouded in a layer of hazy light.
Unbelievably, she stared at her own hands which had become absolutely beautiful. Qing Le took a deep breath and two teardrops rolled out from the corners of her eyes again.
Standing dazedly in the pool, Qingchu suddenly exclaimed in a low voice: "Ah, Xiaoqing is going to steal medicine again today, can't let it get caught." Hurriedly grabbing his clothes, Qingchu quickly put them on and scrambled up the rocky mountain, carefully looking around for a while. Qingchu anxiously jumped up and down, saying: "It's over, it's over, here is still fifteen miles away from the nearest flying boat, woe, fifteen miles, how long will I have to run? At this time, Xiaoqing has already arrived at the pharmacy, probably already discovered by the patrolling Shixiong."
Another string of tears fell, and Qing Huo sobbed softly, complaining in a low voice: "It's all because I'm not good enough, being dazed for so long. Waaah, if Little Qing gets chopped off again, it'll be a long time before she can move again."
Hurriedly, she quickened her pace and rushed towards the nearest flying boat dock. However, after running less than a hundred yards along the small path in the mountain forest, Qing Le suddenly turned around like she had seen a ghost, panicked and fled into the woods by the side of the road, and dove headfirst into a thatched hut, curling up her body tightly into a ball, holding her breath and not daring to make any sound.
