Chapter 48: Nurturing Spirit Peak

  The month is finally coming to an end.

  Dah Lieh Shen Hsiu Ming opened his eyes, took a deep breath of the warm air, and finished the first segment of his daily morning meditation. He walked to the window and looked at the completely different winter scenery on the distant mountain peaks, once again marveling at the wonders of magic. To take care of his new disciple, the Spirit Nourishing Peak was always spring-like all year round.

  The room is about seven or eight feet wide, five or six feet high, and over ten feet deep. It's not a big room. The door and window are on the same wall. Under the window, there is a desk with chairs, and on the desk, there are pens, ink, paper, an inkstone, and a small incense burner. The wooden floor has some damage but is spotless, without even a speck of dust. A simple wooden frame stands against the wall to hold a washbasin and towels. In the corner, there is a low, small bed with a wicker trunk under it.

  This is the standard residence of new disciples. Except for Shen Hao, all the other children from Ye Lin Town are very satisfied, but Da Liang has not been able to get out of his sorrow, if it were before, living in such a house he would be the happiest one.

  "A cultivator also has joy, anger, sorrow and pleasure, but the heart of a Taoist is like the calm surface of a lake." Due to Er Lang's death, Da Lang Shen Hui Ming received special attention from all the sects. Lin Sect Master once privately consoled him, "The lake surface can reflect the clouds in the sky and the trees on the shore without being disturbed. You don't need to deliberately forget anything, but also don't let it control you."

  "Sad but not hurt", Da Liang Shen Xiu can't do it yet, he picked up the two copper coins beside him, and the inner peace gained from his thoughts was instantly stirred into sorrow and anger.

  "Great." A familiar voice came from the doorway.

  "Little..." He suddenly lifted his head, saw the familiar figure, and rubbed his eyes in disbelief. "Xiao Qiuge! I thought you wouldn't be back until tomorrow..."

  Xiao Qiu smiled with a pout, raised her hand to touch the high bun and long hairpin on her head, looked down at the blue Taoist robe she was wearing, "They counted the day they took me into the cave too, one of them brought me back, gave me this set of clothes, and even combed my hair, it's really not what I'm used to."

  "It's okay, for the first two days I always felt a bit uncomfortable on top of my head, now it's a bit better, if it were Erlang..."

  Xiao Qiu put away her smile. The copper coins in Da Liang's hand were left by the Five Elements Master, Li Yuechi. There were ten of them in total. Each young man from Ye Lin Town got one coin.

  Dah Ryong pulled out a wooden box from under the bed, took out a few things and put them on the table. "They sent over Dah Liang's belongings, unfortunately I didn't get to see him one last time."

  A small box containing a Bai Rundan, one gold charm, ten silver charms, a small leather pouch and half of a copper ring. The last two items were also left behind by Li Yuanchi. The young men had wanted to return them to Master Pongshan, but Ning Qiwei allowed them to keep them.

  "They told me Erlang's last words." Dalang's voice choked, his fists clenched tightly on the table, and it took a while to calm down. "Erlang left Jinxian and Yinxian to me, Bailiandan and Tonghuan to you, Pidai and Tongqian to... Xiaocitao."

  Xiao Qiu looked at the objects on the table, saying nothing, her eyes reflecting those objects, looking extremely calm.

  Dah Ryong was taken aback, this wasn't the passionate Xiao Qiuge he had imagined. Could it be that a month of contemplation had such an obvious effect? He pushed Jin Bo and Yin Bo towards Xiao Qiuge -

  "I want to give all these things... to you, because... because..."

  "Because I will avenge him." Xia Qiu's gaze turned to Da Liang, "We'll take revenge for Er Liang together, and let Shen Geng think it over for five years. We'll wait for him for five years."

  "Hmm." Dalang replied heavily, finding that this was still his old good friend. "But mainly it's still up to you, at least your ears are open, I haven't even opened a single hole yet."

  Xiao Qiu smiled and didn't mention her experience at Si Gu Ya, she just picked up the Bai Rundan and that mysterious copper ring. "Whatever Er Liang says goes, this is his last wish, we shouldn't go against it."

  Dah Ryong hesitated for a moment, nodded, put away the golden and silver tokens, and finally pushed the pouch and copper coins to Xiao Qiu, "You give them to Xiao Qingtao."

  "What's wrong?"

  "I hate the people of the Pei family."

  At first, it was because Pei Zihao was afraid of Shen Ji and wanted to confront Xiao Qiu that the two Liangs ended up facing off against Shen Gang. In Xiao Qiu's view, the responsibility of the Pei siblings in this matter was no greater than his and Fangfang's. However, the non-you (Pei Zihao) is always more likely to provoke hatred. Xiao Qiu did not persuade Da Liang, and took the leather pouch and copper coins into his hands.

  "How was your trip?"

  Dah Lie's expression changed slightly, "He has made rapid progress, in just one month, it is said that all seven apertures have opened. You've come back at the right time, today is the last day of the month, Thought Ancestor Day, when we inspect the results of our disciples' cultivation. Everyone says that Shen Yi will be the first to obtain the Full Dao Fruit Pin."

  The Tao fruit is another name for the realm of cultivation, and opening the seven orifices is the lowest level. As long as one orifice is opened, a special hairpin can be obtained. The seven orifices are fully open, which belongs to the full Tao fruit, and the corresponding hairpin is called the full Tao fruit hairpin. Xia Qiu remembers these things, Fang Fang has introduced them in detail before.

  "That's good." Xia Qiu was still as calm as ever.

  Yangshen Peak is hidden among the mountains, and from a distance it appears as a huge cone-shaped mountain. Although not as tall as Laozu Peak, it covers a much larger area. The surrounding areas are densely forested, with new disciples' houses built along the mountain. In front of and behind each house are tall trees of varying heights, with thirty or fifty houses forming a continuous cluster. There are no walls separating the different clusters of houses, only winding paths through the forest connecting them.

  Xiao Qiu's room was just next to Da Liang's, and as soon as the two of them walked out, they received a lot of attention. Many people nodded at Xiao Qiu, and some even pointed at him and whispered behind his back.

  "Why are there strangers?" This house has a total of thirty or so disciples, at least fourteen or fifteen of whom Xia Qiu had not seen in the Mirror Lake Village residence.

  "These are all the disciples who were left behind from previous years." Dalang explained in a low voice, "They have not been able to make progress and can only stay here with us to cultivate. I heard that disciples who perform even worse will be sent to the Zhiyong Temple, where they can only learn secular skills and basically lose their chance to cultivate Taoism. I'm really afraid that one day I'll also be sent there."

  "Don't worry, don't think too much, you'll have a breakthrough soon. People from our Wild Lin Town won't go to any vocational school." Xia Qiu said firmly.

  Two rooms shared a dining room, with three long tables inside. There, Xia Qiu saw more companions from the Wild Forest Town. They were overjoyed and ran over to him as soon as they saw him. However, Fang Fang was nowhere to be seen. In fact, there wasn't a single female disciple in the entire dining hall.

  "The female disciple lives on the other side." Shen Hao sat down opposite Xiao Qiu, disapproving of Pang Shan's arrangement, "It's not easy to see Fang Fang now."

  "When I was concentrating on my cultivation, I could see her every day. What's difficult about that?" retorted Meng Zi Mu Fei Huang.

  "That's different, when cultivating one's mind, one must be undistracted, not even speaking, how long has it been since we last spoke with Fangfang?"

  "Da Liang was still talking to Fangfang yesterday." Dengzi turned to Xiaoqiu again: "Do you know, Shen Hua has opened his ears and nose, and safely passed the thunderbolt trial. He is one of the top among all new disciples."

  Shen Hao pushed away Mu Fei Huang, but a hint of pride appeared on his face. "Don't flatter me anymore, Shen Ji is the real number one or two. There are definitely many people who can surpass me, and it will be clear after today's test."

  "Congratulations, it seems I have to work twice as hard." Xia Qiu swallowed his saliva and looked around for food. For a month, he could only eat one meal a day, an experience he had never had before.

  "Xiao Qiuge actually was the earliest awakened disciple, earlier than Shen Yi by a month, but he delayed for a month and will soon catch up." Da Liang's words received unanimous agreement from the young people of Ye Lin Town. "But Fangfang surprised me, she said she hasn't opened her aperture yet, which shouldn't be the case."

  The meal arrived, and everyone sat up straight, the dining hall of sixty or seventy people was quiet, then bowl after bowl of breakfast descended automatically, accurately falling in front of each person.

  An ordinary ceramic bowl, filled with half a bowl of rice, on top of which lay a few pieces of vegetables, even more plain than those at Jinghu Village's restaurant, but similar to what Shen Geng and Shen Ji had eaten at the time.

  Everyone almost simultaneously picked up their bowls, silently savoring the food, and even Shen Hua, who was most particular about food, did not show any dissatisfaction. Xia Qiu knew that she had missed learning new rules in the past month, so she didn't say much, eating with big mouthfuls, and after finishing her meal, she asked: "There's lunch and dinner here, right?"

  "Of course." Shen Hao smiled and then let out a sigh, the food here was really hard for him to swallow. "Xiao Qiuge, you've suffered a lot in the past month, haven't you?"

  "I..." Xia Qiu furrowed her brow, "can't remember."

  What he said was true, life in the cave was like a long dream, crystal clear at the time, but after waking up it all disappeared, leaving only a few disjointed fragments.

  Shen Hao sympathetically patted Xiao Qiu's shoulder and didn't ask any further questions.

  The disciples walked out of the dining hall and headed to the Sizu Hall along the Yong Road. Today was a special day, they were going to receive their monthly cultivation results check, after which they would also pay homage to the ancestors. The new apprentices had already been reminded that this was an extremely important procedure and must be taken seriously.

  Si Zu Hall is a huge cave with two entrances, male and female disciples walk separately, the floor of the hall has neatly arranged meditation cushions, sit down according to the piece. Xiao Qiu didn't see Fang Fang, saw Xin Yu Tao, Wang Ziming expressionless, even if the people around him were pointing and pointing, still pretending not to see Xiao Qiu.

  The Pei brothers nodded at Xiao Qiu from a dozen steps away, not daring to get any closer. They were now keeping their distance from the young people of Ye Lin Town as much as possible.

  Xiao Qiu returned the courtesy, her eyes still searching among the crowd.

  "Fang Fang and the others are on the other side, they can't be seen from here." Shen Hao smiled.

  Xiao Qiu also smiled. He was not looking for Fang Fang, but another person - someone who could remind him of what he had experienced in the past month.

  The master has arrived.

  Almost everyone's eyes were fixed on him, while he was only staring at one person. "Welcome, Mu Xingqiu." He walked over, his expression exactly like his brother's, with a hint of melancholy on his emotionless face.

  "I remember!" Xia Qiu pointed at Shen Yi, the fog in her mind gradually clearing up, "You've been to my cave, and challenged me before."

  "How can this be said?" Sheng Ji slightly revealed his surprise, "Once entering Yangshen Peak, one cannot leave the valley for three years. This is the rule of the Pongshan Daoist sect since ancient times. How could I possibly go see you."

  Shen Hao and others all nodded slightly, indicating that Shen Yi's words were correct.

  Xiao Qiu stared intently at Shen Yi, the scene of their first meeting still vivid in his mind. He could almost recall every word they had exchanged, especially the emerald jade Ruyi that was still deeply etched in his memory. How could it be possible that it had never happened?

  (Collection needed, recommendation needed)