Chapter 583:
The Sky Mountain Order (1.6 for 1 Chapter)
Translator: Noodletown Translated Editor: Noodletown Translated
All the characters were of the standard size and were reasonably s.p.a.ced. What was more, every character was in great style. Even though Hao Ren had to stay up all night to write this, he did not make a single mistake!
Each of the strokes was perfect, and they were of top-tier. The rules and standards did not limit Hao Ren’s calligraphy. Instead, it felt free and were beautiful beyond words!
The ink on the rice paper had yet to dry up, indicating that Hao Ren had just written it. As Hao Ren continued to write, every word that he had written seemed to have come alive on the paper!
“This kid…” Hao Zhonghua was shocked.
Hao Ren’s level was completely qualified for competing in calligraphy contests, and his work could even be put on exhibitions!
“I am all done!” Raising the brush, Hao Ren placed it right next to the inkstone and said, “Dad, take your time checking. I have to go out now; I got something to take care of today!”
After a whole night of writing, Hao Ren did not feel tired at all. Instead, he combined the Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll and the Mystic Water Sword Techniques and felt completely relaxed and at ease!
Besides, Hao Ren also got quite some enlightenment from the words. He felt like he further understood the Yin and Yang, the five elements, and the Life-Death Reincarnation from the Thousand Character Cla.s.sic!
The Thousand Character Cla.s.sic couldn’t be a better choice!
“Son, have some breakfast before you go!” Looking at Hao Ren’s beautiful writing, Hao Zhonghua couldn’t help but hold Hao Ren in higher regards now. Not only did his anger from yesterday completely dissipate, he suddenly felt a little bad for punis.h.i.+ng Hao Ren.
“That’s okay!” Hao Ren put on his shoes and walked out of the house.
It was Sat.u.r.day.
He had found out Xu Ke’s home address from Huang Xujie and was ready to go check it out in person.
After seeing Hao Ren run out the door, Hao Zhonghua looked down at the calligraphy again. The more he looked at it, the fonder he became.
“This kid is really becoming something!” he thought.
He used to be forced to practice calligraphy by Hao Ren’s Grandma for a whole ten years. Therefore, he grew an appreciation for calligraphy. Now, seeing Hao Ren’s magnificent calligraphy which had way surpa.s.sed his own in terms of both vigor of strokes and artistic conception, he couldn’t help but think that his son had outdone him.
“Ren’s mom and I will be going to a provincial meeting and might not be home until tomorrow or Monday. Therefore, you guys are going to have to take care of food yourselves; maybe go to a restaurant.”
Hao Zhonghua turned to look at Xie Yujia as he took out 500-yuan from his wallet and said.
“Uncle! That’s okay!” Xie Yujia turned down the offer in a hurry
“Your dad had asked me to take good care of you. This is just a little allowance from me; take it.” After placing the money in Xie Yujia’s hand, Hao Zhonghua took out a few hundred yuan and continued, “Linlin, Lili, this is for you guys.”
“Thank you, Uncle!” Lu Linlin and Lu Lili did not object and accepted the money happily.
Lu Qing had often given them allowance in the past, but now that they had been spending a lot of time at Hao Ren’s home, their allowance was barely enough.
To them, Hao Zhonghua giving them allowance was an act of kindness from their Gongzi’s dad, and there was nothing for them to feel embarra.s.sed about.
In contrast, they felt happy about becoming more like a part of Hao Ren’s family.
Seeing that the Lu sisters had accepted the allowance, Xie Yujia had no reason to refuse the offer anymore. With her face bright red, she thanked Hao Zhonghua and carefully put away the money.
She had always been a thrifty person. The 500 yuan that Hao Zhonghua gave her would be enough to cover her expenses for a month if she were not going to treat her cla.s.smates to food.
“Uncle, I’ll go make breakfast now!” Realizing that breakfast had not been prepared yet, Xie Yujia immediately rushed into the kitchen.
Watching Xie Yujia’s lively movements and remembering how clever and deft she had always been, Hao Zhonghua thought it was a pity that Hao Ren lacked good taste and appreciation for such beauty.
“Big Zhumu, let us help you…” In their blue polka dot pajamas, Lu Linlin and Lu Lili ran over to join Xie Yujia cheerfully.
As they were both wearing slippers, their delicate ankles were revealed, and their steps were so light that it looked as if they were about to take off from the ground.
Hao Zhonghua did not understand why they addressed Xie Yujia as Big Zhumu. After recalling how often and tightly the Lu sisters circled Hao Ren, he could only shake his head helplessly.
“This kid’s luck with women has definitely surpa.s.sed his dad as well!” he thought.
After finis.h.i.+ng the sumptuous breakfast made by the three girls, Yue Yang and Hao Zhonghua left for their provincial meeting.
Zhen Congming was still sleeping in. In the meantime, Little White had come out from their room with its tongue sticking out, begging Xie Yujia for elixir pills.
“I am going to Fifth Heaven; do you guys want to join me?” Xie Yujia took out two elixir pills for Little White before turning to ask the Lu sisters.
Ever since Zhao Yanzi’s school, LingZhao Middle School, had moved right across from East Ocean University, Zhao Yanzi had been aggressive in her pursuit of Hao Ren’s affection. It somehow brought Xie Yujia closer with the Lu sisters.
“Count us out! We’re going to go shopping downtown!” After looking at each other briefly, Lu Linlin and Lu Lili answered.
“I wonder if Zhao Yanzi would want to go…” Xie Yujia thought for a moment, and then she walked toward the balcony and began calling Zhao Yanzi on the phone. Hao Ren had asked her to tutor Zhao Yanzi for a few days, and that was why she had Zhao Yanzi’s phone number.
“Big Zhumu definitely has the temperament and tolerance for her role!” The Lu sisters praised after they saw Xie Yujia calling Zhao Yanzi.
Xie Yujia never held any grudges against Zhao Yanzi, and she didn’t forget to invite Zhao Yanzi when going to Fifth Heaven for cultivation. Such generosity and tolerance were qualities that Zhao Yanzi lacked.
Moments later, Xie Yujia returned to the living room from the balcony.
“I’m going to go pick up Zi and can take you downtown on my way,” she said.
“Thank you, Big Zhumu!” The Lu sisters answered with their sweet smiles.
Even Lu Linlin and Lu Lili recognized the fact that Xie Yujia was genuinely nice to everyone while they were only nice to Hao Ren. Moreover, Xie Yujia approached everything and everyone with kindness, gentleness, and orderliness, even better than them.
They thought that Hao Ren really should not have neglected Xie Yujia the way he did.
“Little White, let’s go!” Xie Yujia pulled at Little White’s ears.
Boom!
Little White was now already level 3. It swiftly turned into its snow lion form and carried Xie Yujia and the Lu Sisters out from the balcony.
After dropping off the Lu sisters in downtown, Xie Yujia went for Zhan Yanzi directly.
The sky was getting dark, and the rain slowly began to drizzle.
Seated by the window, Zhao Yanzi had just finished copying the first 150 chapters of Guwen Guanzhi.
Now looking out the window into the drizzling rain, she was lost in her own thoughts.
The window was half open, allowing some cold, humid air to come through.
When Zhao Yanzi received the phone call from Xie Yujia, Xie Yujia had offered to come and pick her up to go to Fifth Heaven for cultivation. Yet, Zhao Yanzi believed Xie Yujia was coming to confront her.
Recently, she had been very aggressive in their fight over Hao Ren’s attention. She was sure that it had made Xie Yujia hostile. Therefore, Xie Yujia had chosen this rainy day to come to her for a talk in her mind. Propping up her face with her hands, Zhao Yanzi was contemplating how she should respond to Xie Yujia.
Just then, Xie Yujia had suddenly appeared outside of the window on Little White’s back
Xie Yujia was wearing a cropped knitted s.h.i.+rt and rolled up jeans; she looked just like a friendly big sister from next door.
Although the energy sphere blocked most of the rain, she wasn’t experienced with it, and dabs of rain were still coming through, wetting strands of her hair and making her look even more exquisite.
Xie Yujia’s little white face was especially supple and soft. Her beautiful face and glittering eyes forced Zhao Yanzi to admit the fact that Xie Yujia was a real beauty.
When seeing Xie Yujia’s calm smile, Zhao Yanzi couldn’t get the sarcastic responses that she had just come up with out of her.
“Where are Uncle and Auntie?” Xie Yujia asked.
“They both went out!” Zhao Yanzi replied with a small pout.
Today, she was hoping that Hao Ren would come over and tutor her again. However, when she tried to give him a call, she found that Hao Ren’s cellphone had been turned off. That was the moment when she received the phone call from Xie Yujia.
“I see. Let’s leave for Fifth Heaven then!” Xie Yujia reached out her arm to Zhao Yanzi.
There were a few times when Zhao Yanzi’s behavior seriously angered her. Nonetheless, she thought through everything and knew that she shouldn’t take the matters to heart. After all, Zhao Yanzi was only a middle-schooler.
Xie Yujia could still recall her middle school years, and she was a little hot-tempered and aloof, quite like how Zhao Yanzi was now.
“Did you not… come here to negotiate with me?” Zhao Yanzi asked as she stared at Xie Yujia.
“Negotiate?” Xie Yujia looked at her in confusion.
In Zhao Yanzi’s mind, Xie Yujia had made up a random excuse to ask her out. Then, they would head to a cafe and confront each other face to face. In middle school, if two girls were after the same boy, that was the way to resolve it.
Now seeing that Xie Yujia looked lost and confused, Zhao Yanzi knew that she had misunderstood the intention. She blushed and said, “No matter what, I won’t let you have Hao Ren!”
Xie Yujia was stunned for a moment as she was not expecting to have this conversation with Zhao Yanzi. On her way here, she had pictured all sorts of scenarios, just not this one.
“I… won’t back down, either!” Feeling compelled, she couldn’t help but respond.
As soon as the words came out of her mouth, a blush also appeared on Xie Yujia’s face; she felt a little embarra.s.sed about fighting with a little girl like Zhao Yanzi.
“Fine! Let’s see who wins then!” Gritting her teeth, Zhao Yanzi jumped out of the window and landed herself in front of Xie Yujia.
Biting her lower lip, Xie Yujia didn’t know how to react. She had never imagined that one day, she would have to fight over her Little Older Brother with other girls.
She had once prepared herself for the possible scenario in which her Little Older Brother was already in a relations.h.i.+p. If that happened, she would just quietly leave while giving him her best wishes.
However, when her Little Older Brother actually reappeared in her life, things were not as easy as how she had imagined.
“Little White, off to Fifth Heaven!” Seated at the front, Zhao Yanzi smacked Little White’s head and yelled.
Ruff… Ruff… Lowering its head and with flames spurting out from its four paws, Little White briskly flew up into the high sky. It felt wronged and thought, “It is a fight between you two; what are you hitting me for…”
The rain continued to drizzle, bringing along a sense of coolness.
With Little White’s incredible flying speed, drops of rain began attacking them like hails of bullets. While trying her best to sustain the energy sphere with her limited abilities as a low-tier Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator, Xie Yujia saw that Zhao Yanzi’s forehead was wet from the rain, so she put out both of her hands to help shelter Zhao Yanzi from the rain.
With her mind being occupied by various concerns, Zhao Yanzi unexpectedly found the tender and almost translucent palms above her head. She turned around and looked at Xie Yujia while her heart sank a little for reasons unknown to herself.
“Even though I’ve been so mean to her, she’s still trying to look out for me… Is it just because Hao Ren asked her to look after me…” Zhao Yanzi thought as her heart softened, but she was too stubborn to admit it. She put out her hand and pushed Xie Yujia’s arm away as she said, “I don’t need you to block off the rain for me!”
Wham!
Zhao Yanzi put up an energy sphere of her own.
Since she was mid-tier Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator and more powerful than Xie Yujia, the energy sphere that she had was of higher quality; it instantly blocked all the wind and rain.
Having her genuine offer met with rejection, Xie Yujia felt a little uneasy. However, she did not make a fuss over it. She knew from past experiences that Zhao Yanzi was not really a bad person.
She knew that if it weren’t for Hao Ren, she probably would have been fonder of Zhao Yanzi, and Zhao Yanzi wouldn’t be so hostile toward her either.
“Ay…” Xie Yujia sighed a little; she never thought that she would have to fight over a guy with a girl from middle school.
Shortly after, the flames from the bottoms of Little White’s paws had turned into four rays of light, and it dashed right into Fifth Heaven.
In Ethereal Summit, more than a dozen snow lion cubs were rolling around in the meadow, and the spiritual herbs were growing prosperously in their separated spiritual fields.
The spiritual fields were arranged according to the five elements, and the spiritual herbs of each element including Water Lily, Earthy Lichen, Golden Weed, Wooden Fruit, and Fire Roots were all thriving.
Fire-elemental spiritual herbs were cultivated in heated greenhouses; water-elemental spiritual herbs were floating on top of the ponds; earth-elemental spiritual herbs were planted in the soil…
These were all agricultural principles that were pa.s.sed down to Xie Yujia from Grandma and were reworked by both Xie Yujia and Hao Ren.
Upon seeing Little White’s arrival, the fluffy snow lion cubs began stumbling their way over. They were pus.h.i.+ng and shoving each other, and some fell and rolled around. However, those cubs immediately got back up again.
“Food is here!” Xie Yujia threw out more than a dozen level 3 elixir pills.
Watching the snow lion cubs fight against one another, Little White yawned in disinterest. At its current level, it was no longer interested in level 3 elixir pulls.
After jumping onto the meadow, Zhao Yanzi held a snow lion cub in her arms. However, it wanted to eat the elixir pills, so it swung its paws, looking absolutely adorable.
Xie Yujia went around the spiritual field for inspection. Seeing that most of the spiritual herbs were doing well, she scattered some of Little White’s golden p.o.o.p powder around the ones that looked slightly shriveled to help them replenish their energy.
The Ethereal Summit naturally had abundant nature essence. In addition, Zhen Congming had set up array formations that attracted and condensed nature essence. As a result, the absorbable nature essence here was plenty and sufficient for the number of spiritual herbs. However, some spiritual herbs were of a higher level and required more nature essence, which was why Xie Yujia was utilizing Little White’s ‘condensed essence’ as a supplement for these herbs.
As soon as Xie Yujia scattered the last bits of Little White’s p.o.o.p powder into the pond, the slightly shriveled spiritual herbs immediately came back to life and began glowing.
After becoming a level 3 spirit beast, Little White’s p.o.o.p now had an even higher value.
Both Hao Ren and Xie Yujia collected such ‘condensed essence’. Nowadays, Little White was so well-trained that whenever it had to p.o.o.p, it would walk toward Hao Ren or Xie Yujia while swaying its b.u.t.t. Seeing that, Hao Ren or Xie Yujia would take out one huge piece of paper to prepare Little White for it.
Xie Yujia was patient and caring, so she did not mind it all that much. On the other hand, Hao Ren found it slightly disgusting, even though Little White’s p.o.o.p had no bad smell at all.
“Wind-Chasing Weed, Stone Lotus Flowers, Blood-Dissipating Gra.s.s…” Xie Yujia started picking some spiritual herbs that had already matured; she was planning to make another batch of beauty pills.
Beauty pills had now become a very popular type of elixir pill, and they were comparable to foundation establishment pills; its price had been catching up as well.
These pills were especially popular among female cultivators who were at the Core Formation Realm. As they moved on from the Foundation Establishment Realm, they immediately wanted to sustain their youthful appearances. Moreover, the Core Formation Realm cultivators were more likely to be from well-off families that were all very resourceful.
On the other hand, there were those male cultivators who wanted to pursue female cultivators.
To attract the female cultivators and gain their approval, male cultivators often gave up their last resources in exchange of gathering different types of spiritual herbs and went to Qin Yin Sect near the Ethereal Summit to seek beauty pulls.
Such scenarios were the equivalence of men buying women diamond rings with their hard-earned money in the mortal world.
Furthermore, some rivalrous female cultivators began competing against one another with beauty pills. Statements such as “Well, I have beauty pills from the Herb King Master, do you?” were thrown around like weapons to anger their opponents greatly.
If one were to say that foundation establishment pills were the most popular pills in the cultivation world, then beauty pills must be the most luxurious pills.
However, beauty pills were not always available and had a very limited supply! Although Xie Yujia could make about 20 to 30 pills per batch, she did not make them every week as she sometimes had to make foundation establishment pills as well.
As a result, the number of beauty pills available was far from sufficient for the countless cultivators who sought after them!
Once the beauty pills were traded from Qin Yin Sect, one could sell them for a very high price on the secondary market. Because of this, every cultivator from every sect on Fifth Heaven had been putting their mind to gathering spiritual herbs to exchange for beauty pills at Qin Yin Sect!
If they could get a beauty pill and sell it, they would be able to become rich overnight!
As a result of this, an endless supply of spiritual herbs had been flowing toward the Ethereal Summit, even some of the spiritual herbs from Sixth Heaven had slipped into Fifth Heaven!
After gathering enough spiritual herbs, Xie Yujia walked into her cave; her elixir making room was deep into her cave abode.
However, since the spiritual herbs had only been harvested now, time was needed for them to dry up completely before being used.
“I’m going to take Little White for a ride outside!” Riding on Little White’s back, Zhao Yanzi took out the Purple Green Treasure Sword from her cave abode and flew out of Ethereal Summit.
Little White had reached level 3 already and was more powerful. Also, Zhao Yanzi had reached mid-tier Foundation Establishment Realm and had mastered Tianxuan Technique of the Big Dipper Constellation Scroll. Therefore, it was easy for them to take on regular cultivators on their own.
After shaking her head lightly, Xie Yujia focused on cultivating her “Spells’ Origin Note Scroll. She wasn’t as talented as Zhao Yanzi. Now that Zhao Yanzi had already achieved mid-tier Foundation Establishment Realm, Xie Yujia could only work as hard and as often as she could to catch up.
“Little White, faster!” As soon as she got out of Ethereal Summit, Zhao Yanzi’s mood brightened.
She was a little upset about the boring weekend she was about to have at home and did not antic.i.p.ate a trip to Fifth Heaven at all.
Now that Little White had reached level 3, its speed seemed to have become faster than before. Since the landscape of Fifth Heaven was mesmerizingly beautiful, being able to soar through it freely was an excellent way for Zhao Yanzi to unwind and relax.
The cultivators who were flying among the clouds and mists had promptly flown onto the nearby mountains to avoid contact with Little White, which almost had the speed of a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator. After all, these ordinary cultivators didn’t dare to mess with such masters.
Recently, the Sky Mountain Sect of Sixth Heaven had put out a Sky Mountain Order to track down and investigate a sect called the City Sect. Therefore, the number of Nascent Soul Realm cultivators had increased significantly on Fifth Heaven, which had caused all the cultivators on Fifth Heaven to feel uneasy and on alert.
There was this third-tier sect called the Sentry Sect. Just because the p.r.o.nunciation of their sect name was the slightly close to City Sect, more than a dozen Core Formation Realm cultivators forced their way in for an investigation. The sect was too small for such trouble, so it was demolished immediately.
A second-tier sect which had more than a dozen Core Formation Realm cultivators was also targeted by the Sky Mountain Sect only because this sect focused mainly on sword techniques. A Nascent Soul Realm cultivator visited the sect and searched through all of the cultivators; even the restricted areas of the sect were destroyed. Although that sect had escaped the fate of being annihilated, it was greatly undermined; the elders who guarded the restricted areas were all severely injured.
Some sects on Fifth Heaven which were affiliated with the Sky Mountain Sect had been secretly spreading the words; they said that the Sky Mountain Order was put out directly by that Grand Uncle-Master who was a top-tier Nascent Soul Realm cultivator and hadn’t involved himself in any sect affairs for the past few hundred years!
However, no one knew the reason behind it.