Chapter 576: A Visit
Qiang Wanzhou’s reply confused Chu Liuyue for a moment, but she soon understood why he said that. He mentioned before that he’s illiterate. I had so much fun teasing him that I completely forgot that he couldn’t read the words on this list.
With his face tilted away and his soft blond hair covering his eyes, all she saw was his clear and smooth jaw, sharp nose, and slightly pouty lips.
He… actually minds a lot about it, right? Her heart throbbed in pain as if it had been p.r.i.c.ked with a sharp needle. But when she opened her mouth to say something, the words just wouldn’t come out. It was as if there was something stuck in her throat. I-it’s like déjà vu all over again. Wasn’t Mu Qinghe just like him back then? That’s why I taught him how to read, write, cultivate, and the way of the world…
Mu Qinghe was very smart, so he picked up anything he learned really quickly and did them very well. That was the reason for his speedy growth in becoming a pivotal figure in the Tianling Dynasty in just a short decade. The entire Dahuang Swamp would shake with just a stomp of his foot!
But… What happened after that? There’s no after that.
When Qiang Wanzhou heard nothing from Chu Liuyue for a while, he turned his head back to look at her, only to see that she was staring blankly at him. No, she’s not looking at me.
He walked over with a frown. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” answered Chu Liuyue after coming back to her senses.
Qiang Wanzhou met her gaze with a serious expression. “There’s a melancholy look on your face.”
Chu Liuyue sighed. He can be a little too smart at times.
Pausing for a moment, Qiang Wanzhou said, “I’ll keep the list well.”
Does this kid… think that he can cheer me up by doing this? Chu Liuyue looked at him blankly for a moment. Something seemed to be slowly melting in her heart as she said, “I’ll teach you.”
Qiang Wanzhou was baffled. “What?”
As Chu Liuyue wrote some words on the paper with a brush, Qiang Wanzhou finally understood what she was talking about. He pressed his lips tightly together as he fell deep in thought.
Chu Liuyue then stroked him on the head. “I won’t be teaching you for free. As payment, you have to help me do things in the future.”
“Okay. ” Qiang Wanzhou nodded his head seriously.
…
Jiang residence.
Jiang Yucheng was lying on the ground in pain. His face had lost all of its color, and big droplets of sweat were falling from his forehead.
The force in his body had suddenly split into two, and each portion was currently fighting and trying to kill off the other.
The excruciating pain coursing through his entire body almost made him pa.s.s out. Worried that he might make some sort of noise and attract the attention of the people outside, he clenched his teeth tightly as he bore with the pain and checked his palm.
There was an extremely thin blood line that extended from the middle of his palm to his wrist. However, it was currently rapidly disintegrating from the end at his wrist.
Jiang Yucheng was shocked. W-why is this happening? Wasn’t it fine all this while? Don’t tell me that… Chong Xu Cabinet has discovered something?!
He desperately pressed hard on that blood line, trying to stop it from disintegrating, but it was to no avail. As the blood line slowly faded away, the force in his body quickly dissipated into the surroundings as well.
He tried using his other force to suppress it. However, not only was it useless, but it even sped up the loss of his force. Horror flashed across his eyes. “N-no..”
It wasn’t easy for me to reach my current cultivation level, so how can I possibly just watch this force slip away from me? A trace of deep panic flashed across his eyes. Something must’ve happened to the Messed Yuan Gravel! But that thing is only available in Nan Jiang. Few people in Xi Ling know about it, much less know how to deal with it! So who could that person be?!
Jiang Yucheng stood up with much difficulty, but just as he took two steps forward, he b.u.mped into the table next to him.
Clank!
A porcelain item fell from the table and crashed onto the ground.
“Eldest Young Master, what happened?” asked a servant from outside. The door then rattled as if they were about to burst into the room.
“n.o.body is allowed to step in here!” yelled Jiang Yucheng.
Startled, the servant outside hurriedly backed away. “Yes, Eldest Young Master!”
Taking a deep breath, Jiang Yucheng supported himself with the table’s help and sat down on the chair next to it. He felt as if countless knives were slas.h.i.+ng at his internal organs.
The suffocating pain spread throughout his body, making him arch his back as he propped himself up by holding the table. Bulging veins were visible on the hand that was gripping the table.
Not only did the pain not fade away as time pa.s.sed, but it even became more intense. However, what worried Jiang Yucheng most was that he was losing his force so quickly that his cultivation level was about to drop. He looked down at his wrist and saw that most of the blood line had already faded away. If this goes on, the consequences will be unthinkable! I’ll definitely suffer greatly from the clash of the forces in my body.
Before long, there was a surge of a thick, bloodthirsty aura.
Spurt!
He finally couldn’t take it anymore and coughed up a mouthful of blood. At the same time, his cultivation level dropped to the intermediate eighth stage before dropping further to the beginner stage.
He then collapsed to the ground with a dull thump, but he wasn’t concerned about it. All he thought was: My cultivation level has fallen!
One should know that at this level, even a difference in stage could mean a tremendous difference in strength. On top of that, a regression in cultivation didn’t only mean losing one’s force. The damage to their Yuan meridian and state of mind was immeasurable.
Jiang Yucheng had spent an entire year raising his cultivation level, yet it was all going to waste now. Worse still, he had no idea how much more time it would take for him to get to where he was. There was even a possibility that he might never be able to improve his cultivation!
When the servants outside heard the commotion, they dared not enter the room even though they were worried about him. They remembered his order and thus could only wait outside anxiously.
It was quiet both inside and outside the room. All Jiang Yucheng could hear was his own breathing and his thumping heartbeats as he sat dumbly on the ground. The two forces surging in his Yuan meridian seemed like they could burst out at any time.
After a long time, he had seemingly gotten used to the intense pain. However, he quickly realized that it wasn’t that he had gotten numb to it, but that the pain in his body was indeed fading.
He showed no sense of relief, however. Instead, it seemed as if he had foreseen something.
He slowly looked down at his wrist. The blood line had completely disintegrated and left behind a b.l.o.o.d.y wound only, which was evidence of what had happened earlier. If it doesn’t stop, my cultivation might fall below the eighth stage!
A belated sense of fear and helplessness. .h.i.t him right there and then. Everything happened so abruptly that his mind had been rendered blank. He only returned to his senses sometime after the blood on him started drying up. This is definitely no coincidence…
Knock, knock…
“Eldest Young Master, Chong Xu Cabinet’s Cabinet Master is here!”