Chapter 0003: Searching for Father in the Mine (Part 1)

  Li Ran slowly spat out a mouthful of turbid air from his throat, waking up from his meditation. He occasionally turned his head and suddenly saw that his younger brother had already sat up at some point, weakly leaning against the wall looking at him, with mud stains all over his small face.

  "Brother, I'm hungry!"

  His younger brother spoke timidly, although he was only six years old, but he already knew the difficulties of survival and also knew that wanting to eat something was a luxury for the two brothers.

  "Xiao Xu..."

  Li Ran's eyes almost welled up with tears.

  In his past life, he failed to fulfill his responsibility as an older brother, and the death of his younger brother had always been a deep pain in his heart. Seeing his younger brother alive again, Li Ruo's heart trembled, and he quickly got up and walked to his brother's side, embracing him tightly, with the clear touch in his hands making Li Ruo extremely excited.

  Two lifetimes as a human being, his younger brother was reborn by his side, and that feeling made Li Ran's heart full of gratitude towards the will of heaven.

  My little brother's tummy growled a few times, and his eyes were filled with pitiful expressions.

  Li Ranno took a deep breath and smiled, patted his brother's forehead, quickly stood up, walked to the corner of the shrine, fumbled for half a day, pulled out three copper coins, held them in his hand with a bitter smile, put them in his pocket, and then picked up two cold rice balls from the shrine that he had not dared to eat. This was Li Ranno's entire family property now.

  Put the steamed buns in a broken pot and heat them up, then feed them to your younger brother.

  His younger brother ate big mouthfuls, extremely fragrant and sweet, and ate one and a half, leaving the remaining half of the steamed bun. Li Ran stuffed it into his stomach with a knife, then picked up the broken pot again, spread all the remaining herbs in front of him, carefully selected those thirteen medicines and poured them into the pot, added water, lit a fire, and carefully simmered again.

  Other medicines are just a coincidence for Li Ruo Dao, and these thirteen herbs, after simmering in these two pots, have been basically consumed. Whether or not to break through the third layer of Jing Yuan Qi depends on this move.

  The fragrance of medicine grew stronger, and his younger brother leaned against Li Rou's side, watching the firelight, looking at his older brother's busy appearance, with a curious expression on his small face.

  The medicine has been cooked, Li Ran knife removed the pot from the fire and placed it aside to cool down. After a while, he used a ceramic jar to scoop some of it and brought it in front of his younger brother.

  "Xiao Xue, drink it?"

  "Brother's eyes suddenly widened: 'Give me a drink?'"

  Li Ran Dao smiled and nodded, looking at his brother's unwilling expression, forcing him to drink it down.

  "Gulp" two big mouthfuls, his younger brother exerted himself to drink the medicine into his belly, and his face changed in an instant: "Brother, it's so hot, my stomach is on fire..."

  Li Ran Dao smiled and helped his younger brother lie down, transferring the vital energy from his dantian to his palm, and gently pushed and grasped along his brother's abdomen, helping him dissolve the medicinal energy into his entire body's meridians.

  Before long, his younger brother was sweating all over, but his face was full of comfortable expressions, and he muttered in his mouth: "Brother, why can't I stand still? I want to float up."

  After a while of massage, the heat on his brother's body slowly dissipated, and he got up from the ground with a radiant look that made Li Ruo Dao extremely delighted.

  His younger brother suddenly walked quickly to the door, Li Ran was stunned, and saw his younger brother grab the bluestone that topped the door with both hands, exerted himself, and actually lifted up this heavy bluestone steadily. He took two steps forward, shaking and swaying, then went back, and with a loud crash, he threw the bluestone to the ground, excitedly jumping up and down.

  "Brother, I feel like I've become Hercules, I feel like my body is full of energy..."

  Li Ruo's knife smiled, and he was overjoyed in his heart. His younger brother is still a bit early to cultivate the Heart Method now, but these medicinal powers can lay a good foundation for his future cultivation, and also make his body stronger and less prone to illness.

  "Xiao Xue, you play by yourself in the house, don't go out. Brother will practice for a while longer."

  Little brother nodded obediently.

  Li Ran's sword once again drank in half a pot of medicinal broth, his mind and spirit sinking deeply into the dan Tian, circulating the essence of his energy, repeatedly refining the medicinal power.

  The medicinal power transformed into countless silk threads pouring into the dantian, while Li Ran's knife was fiercely thrusting towards the third layer of Jingyuan Qi.

  In his chest, there was a hard stone wall that stood horizontally, no matter how hard the surging tide tried to break it, but still seemed to be unable to shatter it.

  More of the medicinal power transformed into essence, pouring into the surging tide at Chongguan, wave after wave crashing against the rocks, gradually wearing them thinner. After a long while, Li Ran's eyes slowly opened, filled with helplessness.

  The third layer of Jingyuan is a major bottleneck for all cultivators. Ordinary herbs contain very little spiritual energy, and Li Ruo's extraordinary methods forcibly extract spiritual energy from ordinary medicine to supply his cultivation. However, ordinary medicine is just that - ordinary. While it has obvious effects when one's power is low, trying to break through the third layer of Jingyuan with it seems inadequate.

  Those truly potent elixirs, however, are exorbitantly priced and only affordable to the large clans. Cultivating immortality is difficult without the backing of a major power; how can a lone wandering cultivator possibly manage?

  There was still half a pot of medicinal soup left, Li Ruo knew that even if he drank it himself, it would not be enough to break through, so it was better to leave it for his younger brother to adjust his body. As for breaking through, he could think of another way later.

  Li Rengdao reached into his pocket and touched the three copper coins, which were enough to buy three steamed buns. But what about afterwards? Looking at his younger brother's tattered clothes and emaciated appearance, much thinner than a normal child, Li Rengdao felt a pang in his heart. How could he let his brother suffer like this again?

  Jian Li Nuo woke up with a start, his younger brother walked over and sat down beside him, blinking his eyes repeatedly, saying in a timid tone:

  "Brother, I miss Dad."

  This sentence was like a sharp needle piercing into Li Ruo's heart, causing his heart to ache violently.

  Li Ruo Dao thought of this, it had only been half a year since his father was taken away by the Gong Sun family, and his younger brother was only six years old. How could he bear that kind of longing? In his previous life, after his father was taken away, Li Ruo Dao never saw his father again until one day he heard the news of his father's death. Li Ruo Dao cried alone for a whole day and night, and finally left to wander the world.

  During the time his father was a mining slave in Xuan Shi Valley, Li Ruo Dao missed him so much that he had thought of sneaking into the mine to take a look at his father. However, the elite guard team of the Gong Sun family guarded the mine like an iron barrel. Once, Li Ruo Dao snuck into the mine and was caught by a small team leader, who beat him brutally and threw him out like a dog. It took Li Ruo Dao a month to recover from his injuries before he could walk again.

  Thinking of this, Li Ruo's heart could no longer be suppressed.

  Decades of longing had been etched into his bones, and now that heaven had given him another chance, Li Ran couldn't wait to see his father with his own eyes. As long as he could see that his father was still alive, then he would have the opportunity to rescue him in the future.

  "Xiao Xue, brother is going out, you stay at home and play by yourself, don't go out under any circumstances. Brother will come back tonight to feed you medicine and give you a massage."

  His younger brother thought of that comfortable feeling and nodded vigorously. Li Ran took his own outer jacket and put it on, opened the door of the broken temple and walked out, then inserted a iron stick into the door from the outside to lock it up again.

  Li Ruo was extremely worried about leaving his younger brother alone, but when he went out to do odd jobs for money, he couldn't bring his brother along. Fortunately, his brother was very well-behaved and would quietly play by himself in the house without crying or making a fuss.

  Li Ran's heart felt a slight pang of sadness as he gazed up at the sky. He gritted his teeth and quickly ran towards the distant mountains.