Shu Tang already knew this beauty"s emotional IQ was low, but hearing those words still hurt.
Was everyone rude in this world?! Or did all the rude people in this world become immortal?!
The piglet lost its energy and stopped moving in her arms. Fuyu was alarmed. After checking it was still alive, she let out a sigh of relief.
She wasn"t trying to be rude just now. She had already prepared her heart for Bai Huahua"s death and was astonished when she survived.
But, "Bai Huahua"/Shu Tang didn"t know this, so she was still sulking.
Fuyu rubbed its belly. She was about to bring it back to the bedroom to rest when her arm touched something. She lifted the piglet"s head and found it was the pendant without the immortal silk string.
Earlier, she placed the pendant down on the table. It must have been knocked over when the piglet fell. But, this seemed unlikely; when she caught the piglet earlier, she didn"t see anything else fall with it.
Fuyu pursed her lips and thought for a while. She gently placed the piglet on the ground. Then, she drew a circular seal on the table and recited a spell. The seal activated with a bright light.
Shu Tang, being a pig, couldn"t lift her head and see this gorgeous scene. But from the faint glow she could see by the table leg, she could tell Fuyu had cast a spell.
But, what kind of spell could she be performing on a table?
Fuyu naturally didn"t know what this piglet was thinking. The palm of her right hand hit the middle of the glowing seal and a hazy image gradually appeared.
On the tabletop, there was an image of a pink little pig wagging its tail seemingly pondering about something. Suddenly, its tail stopped, and its body shook. Instantly, the pendant that sat on the table flew and attached itself to the piglet"s head, almost embedding itself. The little pig"s body shook again and fell over, rolling in agony.
What happened after, Fuyu already knew. She lifted her hand to deactivate the seal and picked up the piglet.
Shu Tang humphed, eyes watching the pendant. Fuyu saw this and smiled, "You also know it"s the culprit?"
The piglet humphed again. Fuyu raised its hoof, wanting to joke around with it. A very thin line of spiritual energy pa.s.sed through the pig"s hoof and onto her.
The great immortal immediately froze and held the hoof tightly.
Suddenly, she asked, "Why do you have spiritual energy?" Before Shu Tang could reply, Fuyu realized that it didn"t originate from Shu Tang"s body but the pendant.
In other words, this piglet could turn external spiritual energy into its own?
It can"t be….. it can"t be!
Fuyu has never felt this curious before. She transferred spiritual energy into Shu Tang. Circulating her energy into its body prompted a dull pain but nothing more.
She had just transferred three parts of her spiritual energy, and the piglet continued to wag its tail, completely unaffected.
Fuyu smacked her lips. With slender fingers grasping the hoof, she took back the energy she sent forth. It continued to wag its tail without a care.
The always slow-to-react Fuyu Shangxian was astonished and didn"t know what was going on. If she tried to figure it out on her own, it would"ve taken her three days. So, she ran to Nantan Shangxian with the piglet.
She always felt that Luhua wasn"t very reliable. If she encountered a problem, she usually went to Nantan.
Nantan was never one to disappoint. After hearing her explain the situation, he held the piglet"s hoof and spun in a circle, examining it. "Your piglet has an immortal fate that has never been seen in a thousand years. If it cultivated, it would take less than ten years to achieve a human form. In addition…" He paused and placed the piglet back on the table. "It has the spiritual intelligence of a human; you could communicate with it."
The piglet"s eyes brightened, and Fuyu"s eyes widened, not a great immortal-like expression. "It could communicate with me?" After receiving Nantan"s confirmation, Fuyu immediately poked Shu Tang"s nose. "Call out once as a test."
Shu Tang glanced at her. Still sulking but also wanting to display her intelligence, she humphed.
Fuyu was captivated by this unfamiliar novelty. She"s had thousands of pigs in the past but never one that could communicate and cultivate.
However, what Nantan said next hit her like a bucket of cold water, "The jade pendant Luhua gifted has a repairing effect. The pain from before was the pendant actively repairing the piglet"s broken spiritual roots. The spiritual energy you pa.s.sed on afterward a.s.sisted the pendant. Consider it, you mistakenly doing the right thing."
"Its spiritual roots are broken?" Fuyu was stupefied.
Nantan Shangxian continued, "Its spiritual roots were destroyed by external forces not too long ago. The jade pendant wasn"t successful in repairing it, on the contrary, it accidentally opened the spiritual veins."
The spiritual veins were the channels that allowed for the flow of mana* and spiritual energy. Fuyu chimed in, "So, that"s why Luhua"s spiritual energy was absorbed by it and then sensed by me?
Shu Tang, having heard that her spiritual roots have been broken, laid down dismally on the tabletop. As a human, she had a feeble body; as a pig, she had broken spiritual roots. All of a sudden, she felt sorry for herself.
Watching the half-dead pig, Nantan said, "You reacted quickly this time."
After gaining her human figure, Fuyu has lived for four thousand years and never once had anyone say that about her, so she couldn"t help but blush. Feeling awkward, she changed the subject, "What problems would it face if it were to cultivate?"
"It wouldn"t have any problems cultivating." Nantan shook his head. "In fact, its cultivation speed would be faster than most humans and demons. However, it could only cultivate into a human form. It wouldn"t be able to have any abilities because it doesn"t have the spiritual veins to use mana or spiritual energy. Without mana or spiritual energy, it wouldn"t be able to do anything."
Fuyu furrowed her brows, still looking impossibly beautiful.
Knowing what"s bothering her, Nantan sighed, "There is a way to repair broken spiritual veins, but I don"t recommend it."
Fuyu, still furrowing her brows, was silent. Seeing this, Shu Tang also wanted to furrow her brows. She spent a long time furrowing before she realized she didn"t have any brows; all the hairs on her head were just peach fuzz.
Nantan has known Fuyu for thousands of years and knew what she was thinking. Without Fuyu even opening her mouth, he said, "There are many remnants of animal souls in the barren land of ancient times. If it could merge with one, it could inherit the spiritual veins. But…" He didn"t finish his words before Fuyu unfurrowed her brows and nodded.
The Ancient Barren Land was once the battleground for a war between immortals and demons. Now, not a blade of gra.s.s grew and only sandstorms raged. After the last battle, all the immortals, demons, and ghosts scattered, forming the three realms. Although there were no immortal or demon bones left behind, there were souls of ancient immortals and animals as well as a tremendous condensation of spiritual energy and mana, currently being consumed by the remaining souls.
There were opportunities to gain immense power, but it was also extremely dangerous. Even the top three immortals of the immortal realm didn"t wander in there idly.
Those who have successfully merged their souls have had either great strength and brutality or an unyielding desire for power. Those who overrated their own abilities or were simply unlucky became overpowered by the souls and were consumed.
The way Nantan saw it, a pig with broken spiritual veins wasn"t worth the risk of going into the Ancient Barren Land.
Seeing Fuyu"s calm appearance, Nantan couldn"t help sighing. "You"ve already decided to go there?"
Fuyu nodded, "En*, it"s rare to meet a pig with great immortal fate. If it could cultivate into an immortal, then it would be the first pig that I haven"t killed." She paused before adding, "It"s significant."
Shu Tang felt that she should be moved by these words, but she struggled for a long time and still didn"t feel anything.
"The first pig that I haven"t killed…" Those words were full of sadness. Shu Tang pictured the thousands of pigs that preceded her dying and shivered.
Shu Tang didn"t know where the Ancient Barren Land was, but just from the name she could guess that it wouldn"t be easy to get there.
Fuyu was a genuine piece of hard stone; when she"s made up her mind, ten cows couldn"t hold her back. Nantan sighed and, with his right hand, pulled a book out of thin air.
He gave the book to Fuyu and said, "You"ve never taken a disciple before and don"t have any cultivation books, so I will give this one to you. The little pig had only just opened its spiritual veins and cannot produce its own spiritual energy. It would be wise to wait three months for its body to stabilize before you go to the Ancient Barren Land.
Fuyu flipped through the book before putting it away in her sleeves and thanking him.
"No need for thanks. You taking a disciple is the fortune of the immortal realm."
Disciple? Shu Tang wiggled her ears, looking so cute even Nantan couldn"t help but pet her.
"I only wanted to raise pigs and never considered taking a disciple." Distress colored her face. "Training a disciple is too troublesome."
Nantan laughed a little and comforted her, "Don"t worry; training a disciple is not that different from raising pigs."
Shu Tang: "…….." There"s no way that"s true!
When the little pig humphed to oppose his remarks, Nantan stood and said, "That pendant was an immortal item that somehow ended up in the human realm; I"ll start an investigation into this issue. You don"t have to worry."
Fuyu nodded and picked up the sick pig. "I"ll leave it to you then, Nantan. Now that things have been cleared up, I"ll take Bai Huahua and go."
Shu Tang was a little startled. She didn"t antic.i.p.ate such polite words from her. Nantan Shangxian seemed accustomed to it; his expression didn"t change. He just blinked and gestured them out.
On the way home, neither of them spoke. Once they got back, Fuyu placed her on top of a table and very seriously asked her, "Since you"ve had spiritual intelligence* all along, why are you here?"
*Mana: energy used to cast spells.
*En: “恩” is a sound that indicates yes
*Spiritual intelligence: meaning conscious and capable of complex human thoughts
T/N: Wow, it was so hard to translate that Ancient Barren Land part! And I think it was made worse by how serious this chapter was. It was kind of a confusingly phrased info dump. I hope the next chapter is better because this was super stressful. On another note, I recently found my chapters on some unauthorized sites (aka not Sapphic Dalliance). I wish they would at least cite me as the source since I spent so many hours slaving over these chapters trying to get them right TT.TT Anyway, thank you for reading MDCTM here! If you spot a mistake, please let me know!