Mountain and River Festival

Chapter 7: Seeking Fish in a Tree, Sailing on Land

As the night deepened, a light rain began to fall.

The painters had all departed, leaving the complex of houses that could have housed hundreds of people, and only the master and his apprentice were left huddled in the small alchemy room. Lu Xingzhou pulled out the spirit stones he'd acquired from the Danxia Gang and set up a spirit-gathering formation beside the flickering fire.

The master and disciple sat cross-legged to practice, and after a while, the spirit stone lost its spiritual energy and became dim.

This was a high-quality spirit gathering array that cost a large amount of spirit stones to set up, and it was completely absorbed in an instant.

If an outsider pays close attention, they will find that Lu Xingzhou actually absorbed only a small part of the spiritual energy, and most of it entered An Nuo's small body.

In just a few days, the large amount of spirit stones stolen from the Danxia Gang had been used up. No matter how much money was earned, it wouldn't be enough for this gold-eating beast to swallow.

Anuo opened his eyes first.

The windows were not closed tightly, and the autumn wind blew rain into the house, giving it a somewhat solemn feeling.

Anuo sat on the side with her chin in her hand, looking at her master's handsome face as he sat cross-legged with his eyes closed. He was still so calm and gentle. However, she always felt that since her master returned to Xiazhou, his heart had become as solemn and gloomy as the weather.

It was a demon from hell, back to take my life. No matter how well behaved he was out there, once he got here, he suppressed his murderous intent.

Ah Nuo wasn't six years old this year at all; she was ten. She was a direct witness to the events of ten years ago. However, she had a unique physique, and no matter how much she ate, she couldn't grow. She had to be fed high-quality medicinal pills, making her extremely difficult to raise. She looked much younger than she was.

Lu Xingzhou racked his brains to make pills and money, and most of it was fed to this four-legged gold-eating beast. He had gone through so much hardship to raise it to this size.

Anuo not only has a special physique, but also other aspects. Even when she was only in swaddling clothes, she knew everything that happened.

The year he raised her, Lu Xingzhou himself was only nine years old.

That year his name was Huo Qing.

Although his surname is also Huo, Huo is a big surname in the village and has nothing to do with the Huo family.

Although Sheng Yuanyao had already questioned the Huo family about whether they had bullied the villagers and had any grudges against them, she ultimately focused her attention on the seventh son of the Huo family. After all, it would be interesting if Huo Shang was seeking revenge, a story of family feuds that everyone from the government to the people would enjoy, and it would be particularly eye-catching.

Those oppressed people who were easily overlooked had no stories, no gimmicks, and no one cared.

Even if all the more than ten members of their family were killed, and the bodies were wrapped in rags and thrown down the back mountain, no one would care.

Among them was a nine-year-old child who was still breathing, but no one cared.

Anyone who took a look would have discovered that a baby had been "growing" in the soil in the valley between the hills behind Huo's residence and Danxia Mountain. When Huo Qing was thrown down, he rolled beside the baby and his teeth struck the baby's head, sending a trace of blood into his mouth.

Huo Qing, who was near death, inexplicably came back to life. He opened his eyes and saw the little girl crying in front of him. Somehow, he aroused his potential, and he forcibly carried the child up to Danxia Mountain in front of him, and fainted at the entrance of the Taoist temple.

There is no story about a kind old Taoist priest adopting children.

The old Taoist priest did save Huo Qing, but he didn't adopt him. Instead, he was intrigued by how this child, who should have been dead long ago, could still climb the mountain alive. So he used him as an experimental medicine man and tortured him with various drugs for two years.

In order to deal with the government's population check, the old Taoist priest actually registered him and made him a legitimate successor of Danxia Temple.

After two years of torture, Huo Qing's body was torn into a rag, and his broken leg, which could have been reconnected if he had received timely treatment, had completely lost hope of recovery.

In order to prevent the poisoned man from dying too easily, the old Taoist priest also taught Huo Qing some basic cultivation.

Having his leg broken at such a young age and his physical condition completely disrupted, it effectively cut off his path to martial arts cultivation, which he had been learning since childhood. He could only consider switching to Taoism, but that also presented many obstacles.

After all, without the Foot Meridian, the internal Qi flow wouldn't reach the Yongquan point. It could reach the heavens, but it couldn't touch the earth, failing to achieve the Great Circulation. Coupled with his poor physical condition, this spiritual Qi practice ultimately proved difficult to achieve.

What's more, Taoism requires more understanding and qualifications, and it is not something that can be learned just by wanting to.

But Huo Qing still cherished this opportunity. Although being a medicine man was tough, with his broken leg, he couldn't take An Nuo away. If he left, the Huo family would easily find out. So, he decided to stay here and learn. So, he quietly studied for two years, undergoing various drug trials and tortures, while saving the pitiful porridge he ate to feed An Nuo.

The little glutinous rice ball, looking at him with its bright big eyes, was the only warmth that little Huo Qing felt in this purgatory on earth.

At first, Anuo didn't grow big. The old Taoist priest thought it was normal for her to lack nutrition and didn't pay much attention to it. He thought she would die in a few days anyway, so why bother? However, the little creature was incredibly tenacious and actually survived. However, two years later, her growth had completely stopped, and this finally puzzled the old Taoist priest, who decided to use Anuo for research.

This action completely angered Huo Qing.

Huo Qing's submissive demeanor over the past two years had already dispelled the old Taoist's vigilance. He didn't know that Huo Qing had already learned the basics of formations in his childhood, and that he had secretly studied his system over the past two years, and had secretly analyzed many of his unique methods.

While the old Taoist priest was in a deep state of meditation, Huo Qing quietly destroyed the protective magic circle he had set up and easily chopped the old Taoist priest's neck with a kitchen knife.

Unfortunately, although the old Taoist priest was not a very powerful cultivator, he was at least at the seventh or eighth level. His dying counterattack was not something his rag-like body could withstand.

The old Taoist priest, whose neck was cut off, was bleeding profusely, and the blood arrow was enough to take his life.

At the critical moment, a slender hand like white jade passed by, blocking the blood arrow's attack. A charming voice rang in his ears: "Interesting little brother... You should have died twice, this is the third time..."

Huo Qing turned around and saw a pretty face of about fourteen or fifteen years old, which could either express anger or joy.

Like a ray of light, shining into the dark hell.

Died twice? Once by the Huo family, and once by... traveling here in a previous life?

Huo Qing took a deep breath: "The girl is..."

"I'm a life lender." The girl's eyes rolled around. "You should have died, but I'm giving you one on credit. You have to pay me back one day."

Huo Qing was silent for a moment: "Miss, you saved me. My life originally belonged to you. If you want to take it, you can take it anytime."

"Hmm... How long have you been in this mountain?"

"Two years."

"Have you ever heard the old Taoist priest mention any elixirs?" "He makes elixirs every day. What are you referring to, young lady?"

"Well... of course it's a very high-level elixir that can allow people to ascend to heaven directly after eating it."

"If he had this kind of elixir, he wouldn't have only reached the seventh or eighth level of cultivation, and still died in my hands." Huo Qing said expressionlessly: "Perhaps he dreams of refining this kind of elixir. Isn't everything he does for this reason?"

"Ha..." The girl laughed, "That's true. I think the Huo family is more likely to have it than here. The hexagram should be a little off."

Huo Qing immediately urged: "Why don't you go to the Huo family and search?"

"Ha... The Huo family is quite powerful, but I don't want to provoke them right now." The girl laughed and said, "I ran away from home to start my own business, and I'm short of manpower. I think you look quite interesting, acting like a little adult. How about you help me?"

Seeing that she didn't cause trouble for the Huo family, Huo Qing sighed with regret: "Since my life belongs to you, I will go wherever you tell me to go. The only prerequisite is that I take An Nuo with me."

The girl turned her head and looked at the little girl in the cradle, with a hint of fondness in her eyes: "Of course."

Huo Qing nodded and began to take something out of the old Taoist priest's arms.

The girl watched with interest as he took out secret manuals of martial arts, elixirs, and even a land deed.

Huo Qing handed them all to her: "I have nothing to repay you with, this is a thank you gift."

"No, keep it for yourself... From now on you will be my little brother. My name is Yuan Muyu, what's yours?"

“…Lu Xingzhou.”

Climbing a tree to catch fish, sailing on land.

Sister Yu is the master’s new life, but the master is An Nuo’s life.

…………

With a loud "bang", the window of the alchemy room was broken, and Anuo's memories shattered like a mirror, returning to reality.

Looking up, a cold light shot out in the autumn rain and headed straight for Lu Xingzhou, who seemed to be meditating with his eyes closed beside the alchemy furnace.

Lu Xingzhou stretched out two fingers, and a talisman was already between them, which ignited without fire.

The cold light could not reach Lu Xingzhou, and Anuo flicked his sleeves and intercepted it, but it was just a dart.

At the same time, the talisman burned out.

Thunder suddenly roared in the night sky, and a bolt of lightning struck straight down. A dark figure outside the window was about to flee, but how could it avoid the speed of the thunder?
With a loud bang, lightning struck the black shadow accurately, and the black shadow screamed: "Lu Xingzhou! You, you are not an eighth-grade Taoist cultivator at all. How dare you hide your cultivation from Yan Jun!"

"I didn't hide anything from her, I just hid it from you idiots."

"I come here on the orders of Lord Yan, how dare you kill me!"

"You said you didn't even know about my cultivation, so how dare you claim to be sent by her?" Lu Xingzhou said calmly, "Pretending to pass on Lord Yama's orders to me... You're truly following your master's lead, utterly foolish."

The man rolled over screaming, shouting at the top of his lungs: "You...how can you be so sure that I'm faking it?! Let me go! Otherwise...Ah!"

The sound became smaller and smaller, and soon it was inaudible, and in an instant he was on the verge of death.

As he was on the verge of death, he heard Lu Xingzhou sighing in his ears: "She and I have never been at odds... My departure wasn't due to your master's slander, but simply because... she didn't love me."

There was no sound outside the window.

Anuo climbed up and went to the window to look out. The rain outside poured on the corpse, like corpse-dissolving water, gradually corroding the corpse until not even a trace of ash was left.

Anuo didn’t know whether the other party heard the last sentence before dying. He hoped that he didn’t hear it, otherwise it would be pitiful if he blurted it out before dying.

"Master, why didn't you put it back this time like you did before? Did you ignore the incense?"

"They've already found their way to Xiazhou. Sending them back will only cause endless trouble. My business in Xiazhou is very important, and I don't have the time to deal with those idiots whose minds are only focused on competing with each other."

"What should I do if Sister Yu gets angry?"

"The path to immortality is long and arduous... Yuan Muyu's gaze would never rest on mortals like us for even a moment, no matter who we are." Lu Xingzhou sighed, "I'll have to have the windows fixed tomorrow. What a waste of money."

"Tsk, boring." Anuo knew at a glance that the man was avoiding the subject again. It was just that he couldn't lick a woman, but he made it sound so mysterious.

Sister Yu is pretty, but her face is not as round as An Nuo's.

The elixir furnace swayed slightly, and the fragrance of the elixir overflowed.

Three golden pills floated out, and the spiritual energy contained in them almost made Anuo drunk.

Seventh-grade soul-nourishing pill, three pills in one furnace, quality...top quality.

Anuo drooled.

Lu Xingzhou was still very dissatisfied with himself. He stared at the waste slag in the furnace in a trance and muttered to himself, "I wasted two... My strength is still not enough."

Ah Nuo said, "That's already quite impressive, Master. Even a seventh-grade alchemist refining seventh-grade pills has never been able to consistently produce top-grade pills, let alone multiples."

"But if I am satisfied with this, how can I break through to the sixth level?"

"Uh……"

"The seventh rank is only the lower third rank after all, and it still has some quality deficiencies. If I want to truly heal my leg, I must break through to the sixth rank, only then will there be a glimmer of hope..." Lu Xingzhou sighed, "As for the opportunity to break through... I hope the Huo family won't let me down."

(End of this chapter)