Chapter 181
Chapter 181
I patted my chest and said with a smile,
“Thank goodness… So in places with too much earth-vein qi, I simply shouldn’t use turbid qi too recklessly when casting magical arts.”
To me, that practically meant there was no drawback at all!
After all, this wasn’t limited to my use of turbid qi. I still couldn’t use either of the ritual implements Master gave me–the ritual blade and golden compass–normally.
Using either one for even a short while basically exhausted all my qi.
That was why I reserved them as ultimate trump cards for desperate situations!
The extremely thin, faint wisp of turbid qi I had absorbed into the Jiangyuan Palace worked by the same principle. It was simply another powerful trump card with restrictions on its use.
Once I understood that, I regained my composure and said with a shameless grin,
“Master, from what you’ve said, how can you call this a case where the benefits outweigh the drawbacks? There are no drawbacks! It’s all benefits. As expected, a great master produces an outstanding disciple. With you as the great master, naturally I’m an outstanding disci–ow! You hit my head again.”
I clutched my head and stared speechlessly at Master’s disgusted expression.
After our New Year’s Eve cultivation ended, I returned to the house with her.
The Spring Festival Gala was still playing.
“Big Brother, what did you and the pretty big sister secretly go outside to do?”
My younger cousin Wu Xiaoxin clapped her chubby little hands and asked in her childish voice.
In rural areas back then, most people didn’t care much for daughters.
But our Wu family seemed different.
As the eldest son of the eldest branch, I faced extremely strict expectations, while Second Uncle’s daughter was the entire family’s precious darling. Everyone had spoiled her from childhood.
That was why I matured rather early, while my younger cousin Wu Xiaoxin remained overly innocent and adorably naive.
I had no idea how to explain her guileless question, but Master walked over first and smilingly rubbed her head.
“Xiaoxin, didn’t I tell you earlier? I’m your brother’s master, which is the same as being his teacher. I took him outside to teach him something important.”
“Oh, okay.”
Xiaoxin nodded without fully understanding. Confusion remained on her round, chubby face.
Everyone burst out laughing.
“Then can I learn from you too, Pretty Sister?”
Xiaoxin suddenly asked.
The entire room fell silent.
The adults looked at a loss.
Master continued smiling. She pinched Xiaoxin’s round cheek and said,
“You’re still too young, Xiaoxin.”
“But I’ll grow up!”
Xiaoxin planted both hands on her hips, looking like a tiny adult.
“Then we’ll see when you’re older.”
Master gently tapped the tip of her nose, brushing the matter aside.
When the adults saw that Immortal Lady Qin wasn’t upset by Xiaoxin’s words, they relaxed and began laughing again.
But I was utterly astonished!
When I wasn’t home, my parents almost never interacted with Master and weren’t actually close to her. They didn’t understand her personality.
If she truly disapproved completely, she would have refused immediately. Even the other person being a child wouldn’t make her tactful or gentle.
There was only one possibility: she truly believed Xiaoxin had potential!
The idea astonished me.
Magical arts were not easy to cultivate.
They depended entirely on talent!
Without talent, no amount of acquired effort would help in the slightest.
Put simply, whether a person could develop a sense of qi had already been determined at birth!
Later effort only determined how far they could cultivate.
Master said that, on average, only one person in tens of thousands could develop a sense of qi!
And those were merely people who possessed the opportunity.
Master’s lineage accepted only geniuses, making the odds even lower!
Our Wu family had actually produced two at the same time?
The probability was many times lower than winning a five-million-yuan lottery jackpot!
Could members of the Wu family be naturally suited for cultivation?
“It seems I need to find time to ask Master privately what’s really going on. Is Xiaoxin’s talent for cultivation truly that high? Master actually acknowledged her!”
I muttered silently to myself.
After we finished watching the live broadcast of the Spring Festival Gala that New Year’s Eve, Master finally agreed to stay at our home after my repeated pleas and slept in my room.
Mom, Second Aunt, and Xiaoxin shared another room.
Dad, Second Uncle, and I spread bedding on the floor of the main room.
Although it was winter, we laid dry straw from the storeroom across the floor and placed quilts on top. It was quite comfortable–even softer than a mattress in the city!
I lay on the straw bedding with both hands behind my head, stared at the ceiling, and thought,
“I wonder how Old Cao’s New Year’s Eve is going. Did Miss Bai and Huihui visit the coffin shop to celebrate with him and Uncle Hu? I hope everything goes smoothly in the new year and that everyone I love, and everyone who loves me, will live well.”
With those beautiful hopes in my heart, I gradually drifted to sleep.
…
Overall, I had an extremely happy Spring Festival.
Master specifically told me to rest for three days, from the first through the third days of the lunar year, and spend time with my family. I didn’t need to visit her for cultivation.
Time flew.
By the time the Lantern Festival ended on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, school was about to begin again.
Unexpectedly, just as my peaceful winter vacation approached its end, I received an opportunity to test the progress of my recent cultivation…
Three days remained before school began.
The old village chief came to Master’s courtyard once again.
At the time, I was practicing empty-hand combat in the courtyard. Master called it Xingyi Boxing, an extremely formidable style of traditional Chinese martial arts.
It had developed from the techniques cavalry used to fight and kill on ancient battlefields.
Combined with movements imitating the hunting attacks of various ferocious animals, it was extremely fierce.
Every punch and kick I threw radiated a powerful killing aura.
“Zhong, my boy, is the Immortal Lady home?”
The old village chief called from outside the courtyard.
Aside from me, no one could or dared enter Master’s courtyard casually!
When someone needed to ask her for help, they always stood outside and called first.
I immediately withdrew my fists, walked over, opened the wooden gate in the fence, and said with a smile,
“Grandpa Village Chief, Master is resting inside. What happened? You can tell me too.”
The old village chief looked me over and even raised a hand to measure my height, sighing with emotion.
“Zhong, my boy, you’ve grown fast. You’re already half a head taller than me! I remember when you weren’t even as tall as my leg and ran naked around the village. It all passed in the blink of an eye.”
Uh…
I felt a little embarrassed.
Why bring up me running around naked?
The old village chief laughed and slapped my shoulder.
“What? You’re embarrassed? You’re not a young girl. Anyway, Zhong, my boy, something strange has happened recently in Mafang Village, more than ten li west of here. The villagers are terrified and deeply unsettled.”
“At a meeting at the township commune yesterday, their village chief and Party secretary asked me to invite the Immortal Lady to take a look.”
Another strange incident? Were evil entities causing trouble?
I frowned slightly.
But it wasn’t particularly surprising.
Rural areas were sparsely populated.
Villages stood far apart from one another, surrounded by wilderness, fields, and forests.
Their “human presence” was far weaker than in cities.
The chance of strange supernatural incidents was consequently much higher than in urban areas.
Then again, Lianghe Town seemed to suffer plenty of trouble too.
In any case, after examining the feng shui at Xiao Family Bend, catching the ghost at Xia Family Hamlet, and handling several smaller incidents, Master’s reputation had spread through several nearby townships.
Of course, I was the one who actually handled nearly all the work!
So I told the old village chief he could speak directly to me about such matters. Master would only send me to deal with them in the end anyway.
After thinking about it, he realized I was right!
He sat on the small bamboo stool I had just brought over and explained the situation in Mafang Village from outside the courtyard gate…