Chapter 14

Ling Wuji was extremely talented in both talisman-drawing and painting. Based solely on Chun Chou’s verbal description, he managed to draw the blue lotus on Liu Ting’er’s inner wrist with seven or eight parts resemblance out of ten.

Chun Chou stroked his chin and looked at the blue lotus thoughtfully.

“Blue lotus… green lotus,” he murmured. “Chaos Primordial Lotus.”

Ling Wuji looked at him in surprise.

But Chun Chou had already begun pacing back and forth in the room.

He suddenly thought of his four younger siblings.

When his eldest younger brother, Xie Fusheng, had just been born, there had been no birthmark at all on his body. Yet when Xie Fusheng was two or three years old, a palm-sized white tiger “birthmark” appeared on his back. Chun Chou had seen it while bathing him and had questioned his adoptive parents at the time. His adoptive mother had been extremely surprised and said with a smile that Chun Chou must have remembered wrong.

But Chun Chou had not remembered wrong.

Then came his second younger sister, Xie Yaoyao. Because she was a girl and Chun Chou had already been attending the cultivation school, it was not until she was three or four years old that she cried to him, saying she did not want a little turtle to appear on her body.

Chun Chou had been startled. Xie Yaoyao lifted her sleeve to show him—indeed, something had appeared on her right arm.

It was not a little turtle.

It was Black tortoise(Xuanwu), one of the Four Great Divine Beasts of ancient times.

Not wanting the little girl to be upset, Chun Chou told her the story of the Four Divine Beasts and explained that this was the mighty Xuanwu, not a little turtle. Only then did she break into a smile through her tears.

As for Xie Changnian and Xie Youyou, those two had been born with the “birthmarks”—or rather, imprints—of Azure Dragon and Vermilion Bird on their bodies from the very beginning.

At that time, Chun Chou had already formed some suspicions. His adoptive father likely noticed, yet in the end explained nothing.

Chun Chou thought that those four siblings were their biological children, while he was not. If his adoptive parents kept some treasures for their own children, that was only natural.

Then this year, when Guiyuan Sword Sect came to recruit disciples, the four were tested to have single metal, water, wood, and fire spiritual roots respectively.

The five elements corresponded perfectly with the five divine beasts. The “birthmarks” on his siblings matched their spiritual roots exactly.

And today, Liu Ting’er bore a blue lotus imprint.

If his guess was correct, then Liu Ting’er should possess Chaos Five Elemental Spiritual Roots.

Chun Chou shared this line of thought with Ling Wuji.

He had never mentioned these matters before. He brought them up today only because he realized that perhaps in this world, there existed treasures capable of altering or optimizing a person’s spiritual roots.

And once such treasures were discovered, those who possessed them would be in grave danger.

Ling Wuji was equally astonished after hearing this.

He had not expected the Xie family to possess such a thing. Still, aside from not giving such a treasure to Chun Chou, the Xie couple had treated him very well in every other regard.

After thinking for a moment, he frowned. “That’s not right. Before your adoptive parents died, the last thing they said to you was ‘we’re sorry.’”

Chun Chou froze.

Ling Wuji, who never hesitated to assume the worst of anyone except Chun Chou, said, “Logically speaking, your adoptive parents took in an orphaned child with no one to rely on, treated you like their own, and even spent a great sum to send you to cultivation school. In the end, because they wanted their children and their adopted son to attend cultivation school together, they ventured deep into the demon beast forest and were mortally wounded. They owed you nothing.

“If anything, you owed them for raising you. That’s why afterward you insisted on sending those children to cultivation school at all costs, while you yourself only attended as an auditing student because you had to earn spirit pearls.”

Chun Chou listened, brows knit in thought. He understood the implication behind Ling Wuji’s words, yet he did not agree.

Ling Wuji put away the drawing of the blue lotus, rolled his wheelchair to Chun Chou’s side, and tugged gently at his hand.

Only then did Chun Chou return to himself. He frowned at Ling Wuji. “That’s pure speculation. There’s no evidence. And since there’s no evidence, I’ll believe they loved me. Those treasures were originally theirs. If they wanted to give them to their biological children, that was only right.”

Ling Wuji said, “Mm. You’re right. Go bathe first. I put that insulation talisman you whimsically asked me to draw on the tub. The water should still be warm.”

Chun Chou lowered his head and looked at the youth gazing up at him. In those jade-warm eyes, there was only him.

He thought that even if Ling Wuji had concealed the matter of being a top-grade ice spiritual root, it certainly wasn’t to harm him.

Everyone had secrets—his adoptive parents, Ling Wuji, and… himself.

As long as he worked hard in cultivation and did not fall too far behind Ling Wuji, that would be enough.

Thinking this, watching him, Chun Chou suddenly bent down and lightly pressed a kiss to Ling Wuji’s forehead. Then he hurried behind the screen to bathe.

Ling Wuji was startled, then let out a low laugh.

His Chun Chou made his heart stir again and again.

He pressed a hand to his chest. His heart pounded like a drum.

It was joy beyond restraint.

Qi Refinement cultivators, like mortals, still needed to eat, drink, and sleep. But there were differences. Qi Refinement cultivators only needed two meals a day; high-level ones, only one. As for sleep, meditation could replace it—though one could not go without sleep indefinitely.

That night, Chun Chou did not sleep. He opened the window, borrowed the essence of moonlight, placed several spirit stones around both the Marrow-Cleansing Grass and the Jade Beauty Flower, then sat cross-legged beside the table holding the two potted plants, intending to cultivate through the night.

Ling Wuji studied the spirit stones for a while. “Is this a simple Spirit-Gathering Array? Two of the stones don’t seem optimally placed.” He shifted their positions slightly.

Chun Chou looked, then moved them back. “This is better.”

Seeing Ling Wuji’s puzzled look, Chun Chou said innocently, “I actually don’t know how to set up a Spirit-Gathering Array. But I feel that placing them like this lets the two plants absorb more wood spiritual energy.”

Ling Wuji remembered Chun Chou’s sensitivity to spiritual energy and found it unsurprising. Knowing Chun Chou would not sleep tonight, he lay down alone to rest.

Near midnight, Chun Chou abruptly opened his eyes from meditation and examined the two plants.

The spirit stones around the Jade Beauty Flower were drained; the flower itself showed early signs of vitality, its stem beginning to straighten.

Half the spirit energy remained in the stones around the Marrow-Cleansing Grass. It still looked wilted.

Earlier that day, Chun Chou had deceived Xu Liang. He had already discovered that the Marrow-Cleansing Grass was far more severely damaged and had a very low chance of survival—unless he used special methods. The Jade Beauty Flower, however, he could save without such methods.He had deliberately feigned hesitation to avoid Xu Liang raising the price of jade beauty flower.

Setting that aside, Chun Chou used seven more low-grade spirit stones from Red Leaf Town to set up a simple Spirit-Gathering Array around the Jade Beauty Flower, then cast a Growth Stimulation Technique on it.

As the name suggested, the technique stimulated vitality or shortened growth time.

This time, Chun Chou continued casting until all the spiritual energy in his body was depleted and the Priceless Pearl at his ankle began supplying him with spiritual power. Only then did he stop.

He cultivated again, cast the technique once more, and by dawn the Jade Beauty Flower’s roots and stem had fully regenerated, brimming with vitality. It only needed some more spiritual energy before it could bloom.

Chun Chou let out a breath of relief. He could have made it bloom immediately, but that would have been too perfect and aroused suspicion.

It was a pity. Without blooming, the dried petals in the pot were useless; he would not obtain its seeds.

But the Marrow-Cleansing Grass—he should be able to get its seeds.

Thinking this, he quietly glanced toward the bed. Ling Wuji had not lowered the bed curtains and lay flat on his back in a very proper sleeping posture.

Mm. That was good.

His own sleeping posture was poor; Ling Wuji’s was good. A perfect complement to each other.

Chun Chou tilted his head and smiled, then rose and went behind the screen.

The tub and water had been cleaned by the waiter.

Chun Chou crouched behind it and quietly took out a palm-length jade bottle filled nearly to the brim with ordinary water.

He set it on the floor, took out a golden needle, and pricked the pad of his right index finger—

A drop of blood fell into the bottle.

Drip.

The water did not turn bright red; it only gained a faint tint.

He waited until the blood fully dissolved. By then, the wound on his fingertip had already healed.

He bared his teeth slightly. As expected—Qi Refinement sixth level recovered faster than fourth level.

Then, carrying the jade bottle carefully, he stepped outside the screen to the window and dripped a single drop beside the root of the Marrow-Cleansing Grass.

The Marrow-Cleansing Grass came back to life. And it sprouted the side branch Chun Chou had been hoping for.

Chun Chou nodded in satisfaction, then looked at the fingertip he had just pricked and silently grumbled to himself—

They all said that transmigrators were supposed to have a golden finger. Could it be that his golden finger was simply that his blood could revive spiritual herbs?

This golden finger was… somewhat ridiculous.

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