Journey to the West: The Immortal Clan Begins by Feeding Monkeys at Five Elements Mountain

Chapter 71 Double Tempering
Seeing that he had made up his mind, Jiang Yi said no more.

He simply handed over the small, dark bottle, his tone calm: "Just take it outside, so I can keep an eye on it."

Jiang Liang responded, without asking about the medicinal properties or expressing any fear.

Reach out and pull out the cork, then bring it to your nose and take a light sniff.

The aroma, once it entered the nose, carried an indescribable flavor, neither clear nor turbid, sweet with a hint of bitterness, and a cool sensation within the bitterness.

He tilted his head back, his Adam's apple bobbed, and swallowed the dark pill.

Before the medicine even reached his stomach, it felt as if a ball of blazing fire exploded in his dantian, rushing upwards and directly into his mind.

In an instant, the surrounding scenery seemed to collapse.

Light and shadow surged like a tide, a myriad of scenes unfolded before my eyes, and whispers echoed in my ears, as if someone were murmuring tenderly and lingeringly, each word captivating.

Smiles amidst flowers, bustling worldly affairs, glint of swords, golden tents and vermilion towers...

These are all thoughts that people are unwilling to let go of, dare not think about, yet are the most wavering in their hearts.

Illusions surged forth like a tide, making it difficult to distinguish between truth and falsehood.

Fortunately, the calming pill in his body had not yet worn off, and a sliver of clarity shone through the chaos, like a flickering lamp in the wind, still emitting a faint light.

Jiang Liang clenched his teeth, his mind tense, and silently recited the "Treatise on Sitting in Oblivion" between his lips.

"With no attachment in my heart, my thoughts follow the clear emptiness..."

Each word, spoken slowly and deliberately, struck the heart like a stone falling to earth.

The illusion that had been overwhelming was indeed somewhat subdued.

Although not completely dispersed, it did take a step back, losing that ruthless force that threatened to engulf people.

Having survived this ordeal, Jiang Liang was drenched in sweat, as if he had been pulled out of the water, his legs were unsteady, and he felt completely paralyzed.

But his eyes shone with an astonishing brightness, glowing with a faint firelight, concealing an unyielding stubbornness.

Jiang Yi was about to tell him to take a break.

Unexpectedly, the light in the boy's eyes did not dim; instead, it shone even brighter, as if the fire in his heart was being blown more and more fiercely by the cold wind.

With a slight shift in his footing, he stepped directly into the deep, shrouded patch of illusory grass.

The blades of grass trembled slightly, as if they were quietly shivering in the wind.

Immediately, he raised his hand and tossed another pitch-black pill into his mouth.

It was that Illusion Pill.

This time, the purpose is to use the power of the elixir to accelerate one's cultivation, simultaneously working with that cold and gloomy place, undergoing a double illusionary tempering.

Jiang Yi's heart tightened, realizing that this step was too hasty and there was no time to stop it.

He quickened his pace, closing in close, and tightly gripped another bottle of calming pills in his sleeve.

His knuckles turned white, his palms were sweaty, and his eyes were fixed on that figure. Even his breathing became lighter.

They were just waiting for that one wrong move to strike immediately.

Within the illusory shadow grass, Jiang Liang stepped firmly, his body trembled slightly, and then he seemed to be nailed into the ground, remaining stationary in place.

His face was as pale as paper, his eyes were tightly closed, and his breath was extremely restrained, as if his whole body had sunk into his own body.

The wind rustled the grass, but he remained motionless, as if he were in deep meditation, or as if he had long been carved into a stone statue.

A chill seeped into his bones, and illusions surged, all flooding the depths of his mind like a tidal wave.

The light and shadow were hazy, and his illusions rippled like waves, disturbing his soul and seemingly trying to pull his entire being into that deep abyss.

But he held on to that last breath, stubbornly clinging to that last bit of clarity in his heart.

Holding on tightly, I forcefully suppressed those surging, chaotic thoughts, inch by inch, pushing them to the bottom of the water, preventing them from surfacing.

Jiang Yi's eyes were calm, but his heartstrings were already taut, as tight as a fully drawn bow.

If he hadn't been calm and composed, suppressing his inner turmoil, he wouldn't have been able to detect that the wisp of energy within Jiang Liang's body was still circulating.

They would probably have already rushed into the bushes and dragged the person out.

Such silence is truly alarming.

The grass was still, the wind seemed to have disappeared, and the whole courtyard was shrouded in something invisible. Even the moonlight that shone down was chillingly quiet.

The slanting shadows of the roof tiles, sharp as knives and as clear as water, cut lines across the ground. Jiang Liang stood motionless in the grass from dusk, as if he had even stopped breathing.

The figure stood there in the night like ink still wet, exuding a chilling aura that did not recede in the slightest.

Only when Jiang Yi caught that faint ripple of energy, which caused tiny sparks, did he finally stop hesitating.

He strode forward and pulled the person out of the deep grass.

What he touched was a cold, almost bloodless shoulder.

Jiang Yi frowned slightly, escorted the person back to the bed, opened a calming pill, crushed it into powder, mixed it with warm water, and fed it to the person spoonful by spoonful.

After the medicine entered the stomach, the previously tense Qi gradually relaxed.

Jiang Liang slumped to the side and fell into a deep sleep.

Jiang Yi, however, did not dare to relax.

He went back to his room, found an old scripture, and sat down on a small stool in front of the bed.

The candlelight flickered, casting shadows on the mottled wall, as if it were keeping him company through the long night.

Turning the pages was extremely slow, one after another, my fingertips lightly tracing the paper, but my thoughts kept drifting to the face on the bed.

I dared not close my eyes, but held my breath and focused on the slight rise and fall of his chest and the soft, delicate breaths.

It seemed as if they were afraid that the slightest carelessness would disturb the clarity of the person in the dream.

This vigil lasted all night.

As the sky began to lighten with the first hint of dawn, Jiang Yicai let out a long breath.

The child's breathing was steady, blood flowed normally, brows were relaxed, and he was sleeping very soundly.

He yawned against the edge of the couch, gently closed the scroll in his hand, and silently returned to his room.

My nerves were on edge all night, and I even forgot to recite a single line of the "Treatise on Sitting in Oblivion." As soon as I rested, I fell into a deep sleep.

When I woke up again, the sun was already high in the sky, and sunlight streamed through the window, casting patches of light into the room.

The first thing Jiang Yi did upon opening his eyes was to turn around and push open the door.

But the bed was empty, with the bedding neatly folded.

My heart skipped a beat, and I jumped up and quickly stepped out the door.

As soon as I stepped out of the courtyard gate, I saw that familiar figure.

Sure enough, Jiang Liang stood in that cold ground again.

Although his face was still pale and cold, his aura was firm and unwavering, and his figure was as steady as a pebble falling into the bottom of a pool.

Meanwhile, Jiang Ming sat leaning against a pile of dried firewood by a haystack, with a well-worn book open in his hand.

She would occasionally lift her eyes from the book to glance at her younger brother, and only when she saw that he was alright would she look down again.

The two brothers stood, one standing and the other guarding, unperturbed by the cold wind that swept through the grass, as the morning light gradually fell, like sunlight shining into a deep, still stream.

The days passed by in the blink of an eye, with each passing day and evening.

Through their daily struggles, Liu Xiulian and her daughter Jiang Xi gradually figured out some tricks to improve their breathing and lightness of body.

Xiulian has never liked to show off. After she mastered the skill, she remained quiet and only when she was hanging clothes or picking fruit would she lightly leap onto the branches with a light touch of her toes.

Jiang Xi, however, was not like that.

The little girl is young, but she has a big temper. As soon as she makes a little progress, she wants to announce it to everyone in the neighborhood with great fanfare.

Once he mastered this light-footed skill, he darted to the beginning and end of the village early the next morning and "flew" over everyone.

One moment he was dangling his toes on top of the human wall, the next he was scrambling up the elm treetop, waving his arms and legs, not forgetting to shout:

"Just you wait and see!"

A group of teenagers stared wide-eyed, surrounding her and calling out "Fairy Sister," jumping up and down with envy on their faces.

Jiang Xi tilted her chin up, her eyebrows and eyes full of smugness. When someone asked, she put her hands on her hips and declared:

"Once the school reopens, I'm going to take back my position as vice gang leader!"

Her tone was resolute, like a female chieftain on a small hilltop, determined to reclaim her lost territory.

(End of this chapter)