Liu Zhuang Xian

TL: Changing ‘dan yuan’ to ‘elixir core’

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“De…delicious…”

“Haha… I’m glad it’s delicious! I’m glad it’s delicious! It died for a worthy cause!”

Lu Xiaochan tilted his head and said, “Lord Kunwu… you seem particularly, particularly heartbroken…”

Kunwu shed tears, thinking to himself: Of course I’m heartbroken! I had cultivated it for over a thousand years! Every day I would stroke it, giving it a bit of my spiritual energy. You casually mentioned wanting to eat it, and the Sword Master just uprooted it for me! What could I do? Could I have fought them to the death over it?

“No! I’m not suffering, Xiaochan. You’ve endured so much hardship. Now that you’ve come to Tailing Pavilion, I’ll definitely make sure you live a good life!”

“You and Shu Wuxi treat me so well. Why is that? What good deeds did I do in my past life?”

This question had been lingering in Lu Xiaochan’s mind. Shu Wuxi never spoke about it, and while Kunwu wanted to tell him, he was very wary of Shu Wuxi, always swallowing his words just as they reached the tip of his tongue.

“It must be good karma, great good karma!”

Kunwu looked at the half piece of jade paste left on Lu Xiaochan’s plate, thinking about how much effort he had put into it, all of which had gone into Lu Xiaochan’s stomach. If only he could eat even a small piece!

Lu Xiaochan turned around, his chopsticks picking up the remaining half piece and about to put it in his mouth. Kunwu watched eagerly, while Shu Wuxi sat opposite, not daring to compete with Lu Xiaochan for food under any circumstances.

Lu Xiaochan brought it to his lips but then put it down, rubbing his stomach and saying, “The jade paste with osmanthus sugar is indeed delicious. But I’m full…”

Kunwu’s eyes lit up, thinking: It’s perfect if you’re full! Give it to me! Give it to me!

At this moment, Shu Wuxi spoke from across the table. “Eat the last piece. It’s good for your body.”

“Alright…”

Lu Xiaochan poked it with his chopsticks, but before he could put it in his mouth, it fell onto the table.

In that instant, Kunwu was so heartbroken he almost coughed up blood: That was jade paste! Jade paste! Just fallen on the table like that! One piece of jade paste represented ten years of cultivation!

Lu Xiaochan reached out with his hand to find it, and Shu Wuxi across the table raised his chopsticks, gently pressing them on Lu Xiaochan’s arm. “If it fell, don’t eat it. It’s dirty.”

“Oh.” Lu Xiaochan rubbed his stomach, thinking it was just as well he didn’t have to force himself to eat more, or his belly would have burst.

Kunwu’s eyes gleamed, no longer caring about his image. He directly picked up that piece of jade paste with his hand and stuffed it into his mouth, right in front of Shu Wuxi.

Shu Wuxi acted as if he hadn’t seen anything and raised his hand. “I’ll take you for a walk.”

When Kunwu heard this, he thought it was terrible!

Their earlier walk had uprooted over a thousand years of his hard work, and now another walk – what would they uproot this time?

“Wait! Wait! Shu Wuxi, I want to take Xiaochan to my quiet room to teach him something. You understand, right? The core techniques of our sect can’t be overheard by you!”

Kunwu looked at Shu Wuxi, outwardly calm but inwardly nervous.

He had so much to tell Xiaochan, and Xiaochan was unaware of so many secrets. He couldn’t afford to regret it after Shu Wuxi had taken him away.

But Shu Wuxi just sat there, concealing his spiritual energy and looking like an ordinary, well-mannered young man. However, Kunwu knew… in Shu Wuxi’s heart, there was no distinction between right and wrong, no grand principles of the world.

In the past, he had guarded the Wuyi Jingtian, a habit instilled by each generation of the Sword Sect.

But when Kunwu had sent his little junior brother up there years ago, this habit had been broken.

Shu Wuxi… now had something he wanted for himself.

And he would not be denied.

“Xiaochan, go with Kunwu and diligently practice the techniques he teaches you.”

Shu Wuxi used the Immortal-Locking Ribbon to pull Lu Xiaochan in front of him, straightening Lu Xiaochan’s crooked collar.

Lu Xiaochan’s hair was tied up by himself, and because he couldn’t see, there were always stray strands falling around his ears.

On anyone else, it would have looked messy. But Lu Xiaochan was handsome and cute, and the slightly disheveled hair only added to his youthful charm.

As Shu Wuxi’s fingers moved upwards along Lu Xiaochan’s neck, seemingly about to touch him at any moment, Kunwu watched nervously, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets.

“You mean Lord Kunwu wants to teach me Tailing Pavilion’s core techniques?”

Lu Xiaochan thought he had misheard.

Tailing Pavilion was the orthodox school of medicine in the world. Their core techniques focused on purifying the mind, following the natural way, and never deliberately pursuing so-called realms. Naturally, it wasn’t as arduous as sword cultivation like Jiang Wuchao’s, just slower in progress.

“Mm.” Shu Wuxi responded softly, his fingers moving upward as if to tuck Lu Xiaochan’s stray hair behind his ear.

Kunwu almost pounced forward. “Don’t!”

“Don’t what? You… you don’t want to teach me anymore?” Lu Xiaochan turned his head nervously.

As his hair tips brushed past Shu Wuxi’s knuckles, Shu Wuxi withdrew his hand, instead adjusting Lu Xiaochan’s hair tie, pulling it tighter on both sides.

“He won’t refuse to teach you,” Shu Wuxi said calmly.

“Of course! Of course! I promise to teach you well, until you’ve mastered it!” Kunwu patted his chest.

He felt that he really couldn’t let Lu Xiaochan stay with Shu Wuxi anymore. He knew very well that just now, it wasn’t that Shu Wuxi didn’t want to touch Lu Xiaochan, but that he desperately wanted to.

If it weren’t for the fact that he couldn’t touch him, it probably wouldn’t have been as simple as just fixing his collar and tightening his hair tie.

Kunwu had a momentary flashback to a thousand years ago when he had burst into the Sword Pavilion. His little junior brother’s hands had been tightly bound by this very Immortal-Locking Ribbon, from wrist to fingertip, unable to move or cast a single spell.

“If he doesn’t teach you well, I’ll just kill him,” Shu Wuxi replied.

A chill ran down Kunwu’s spine, and he almost lost his balance.

“What? Don’t kill him! I still need my eyes treated!” Lu Xiaochan became anxious too.

Sometimes he really couldn’t figure out Shu Wuxi’s ways.

When he was unhappy, when he wanted to pluck out someone’s eyes, when he wanted to kill someone.

His sense of right and wrong seemed different from Lu Xiaochan’s and even from other people’s.

“That’s right! Don’t kill me! Xiaochan still needs me to treat his illness!”

Hurry, hurry, they couldn’t stay any longer.

Kunwu beckoned to Lu Xiaochan, “Xiaochan, I’ll bring you back later.”

Lu Xiaochan followed Kunwu.

These days, Shu Wuxi had always been by his side, never leaving for a moment.

Now that he was really leaving him, even if just for a few hours, Lu Xiaochan felt a bit uneasy. Every few steps, he would unconsciously turn his head back in Shu Wuxi’s direction.

Kunwu wailed inwardly — Don’t look at him anymore! Looking too much will cause trouble!

As Lu Xiaochan walked out the door, he realized that the ground beneath his feet was completely different from when Shu Wuxi had led him out before.

Around his feet, he felt a cold mist without any chill, and he could hear various sounds around him.

There seemed to be insect chirps and bird calls, distant and ethereal.

There also seemed to be the sound of vines and plants growing, flowers blooming and falling in endless cycles.

Until he came to a door, and Kunwu led him inside.

Whenever Lu Xiaochan entered an unfamiliar place, he would instinctively reach out to touch his surroundings.

He touched cloud patterns carved from some kind of tree trunk, and those patterns, like the wine gourd at his waist, were flowing.

Every step Lu Xiaochan took felt like walking on clouds. He swayed a bit and asked curiously, “What’s under my feet?”

“A type of immortal grass that grows half an inch every thousand years. It’s called ‘Qianxun’.”

“Then what’s its effect?”

“It… it can clear fire.” Kunwu coughed.

“For phlegm and dry lungs?”

Kunwu placed Lu Xiaochan’s hand on his elbow and led him to sit on a cushion.

Above their heads was an old locust tree, identical to the one in Lushu Town, except this one soared into the clouds, its top invisible.

“It doesn’t clear dry fire, but desire… fire.” Kunwu thought for a moment and said, “Your hair hasn’t fully grown yet, you don’t need it!”

“Huh?” Lu Xiaochan tugged at the corner of his mouth, “You old liar, why are you bringing up my hair again! I haven’t even settled accounts with you yet! You’re not going to trick me again this time, are you?”

“You little brat! Ungrateful! I…”

Lu Xiaochan raised his finger to scratch his ear. “I’m tired of hearing about how you raised me from a baby! Just tell me, why did you fake your death and run away?”

Kunwu thought silently for a moment. Although there were some things he didn’t want Lu Xiaochan to remember, he also truly didn’t want this fool to have no guard against Shu Wuxi. Otherwise, he might be burned to ashes and still consider Shu Wuxi his benefactor!

“I originally wanted to accompany you as you grew up, watch you get married and have children, cook red eggs for you…”

“Stop, stop, get to the point!”

“Alright, alright, I’ll get to the point. We were living well together, but the evil god Chaos had always coveted my elixir core…”

Lu Xiaochan rolled his eyes. “Old liar, the evil god Chaos is sealed under the Linglong Cold Jade, how could he covet your elixir core!”

Kunwu was stumped by this, thinking it was now or never. “Fine, fine, Shu Wuxi covets your…”

“My what?”

Lu Xiaochan had always wanted to know why Shu Wuxi was so good to him, thinking perhaps he wanted to get something from him. Seeing Kunwu about to say it, Lu Xiaochan widened his eyes and clenched his fists.

Kunwu swallowed. “He covets your beauty…”

Lu Xiaochan almost choked on his own saliva.

With Shu Wuxi’s cold personality, even if you sent a naked beauty into his arms, he would probably just wave his sleeve and sweep them away like cleaning up.

“Old liar, if you don’t speak properly, I’ll go back and tell Shu Wuxi you didn’t teach me well, and then go uproot seventeen or eighteen of your celestial grasses!”

“No, no, no, it was Shu Wuxi who wanted to cause me trouble. I was afraid he would come to Lushu Town to settle scores with me, so I quickly faked my death and ran away. You’ve seen his temperament these days. If he had found me, I wouldn’t have survived!”

Kunwu’s voice was sincere.

He was telling the truth. Back then, his junior brother was suffering from the burning of chaos’s karmic fire, about to be completely destroyed. If it wasn’t for Kunwu’s quick thinking in using one of Tailing Pavilion’s three treasures, the “Tailing Zhenxu,” to collect his junior brother’s elixir core, how could Lu Xiaochan be standing before him now, showing off and questioning him?

“Why did he want to cause you trouble?” Lu Xiaochan continued to ask.

“It’s just that I had promised to tell him something. It’s been over a thousand years, I thought he had long forgotten about it, who knew he still remembered… But I couldn’t tell him, so I had to run away.”

Kunwu slapped his knee, thinking this wasn’t right. He was supposed to be the one with things to tell Lu Xiaochan, how had it turned into Lu Xiaochan questioning him?

“Enough! Stop with your questions! I’m still an Immortal Lord, and you, a little blind thing, have no manners at all. Now it’s my turn to ask you.”

“Go ahead.”

“Shu Wuxi… he really hasn’t touched you at all this whole time?”

“No. Every time I try to touch him, he whips my palm with a bamboo branch. Even harsher than a schoolmaster.”

Lu Xiaochan rubbed his palms, still feeling the pain as he recalled.

“You deserve it!”

“I just want to know, what’s the big deal if I touch him? What hidden reason does he have for not letting me touch him?”

Kunwu lowered his head, sighing helplessly.

“He doesn’t let you touch him for your own good. If one day he really can touch you, I fear it would be your doom, and your elixir core would surely be drained.”

“Then just tell me why!”

“If I tell you, Shu Wuxi will surely flay me alive and condemn me to eternal damnation… However, if you really want to know, I can tell you, but not now.”

“Why not?”

“When a person lacks the ability, seeking the truth is meaningless. When you truly have the ability to protect yourself and those you want to protect, I’ll tell you then. But I want to ask you, aren’t you afraid of Shu Wuxi at all?”

“Why should I be afraid of him? Afraid he’ll whip my palms?”

Lu Xiaochan thought to himself, was there anyone in this world who could treat him better than Shu Wuxi?

“Don’t you think he’s treating you very well now? He treats you well because he wants you to be utterly devoted to him.”

“Isn’t that how it should be? If he can always treat me this well, of course I’ll be utterly devoted,” Lu Xiaochan asked.

“You… don’t come crying to me for help in the future!”

Kunwu really wanted to crack open this kid’s skull and see what was inside.

After talking for so long, Kunwu finally returned to the main point.

“Stop, stop! Now I’ll teach you Tailing Pavilion’s first level of core techniques. Remember it well, and never…”

“Never tell others, right? Do I need to kneel down and kowtow to you? Call you ‘Master’? Should I also offer you tea?”

“No need! I don’t want such a troublesome disciple at all! You… why don’t you just call me ‘Senior Brother’?”

“What?” Lu Xiaochan widened his eyes, “If I call you ‘Senior Brother’, wouldn’t that put me on the same level as Medical Sage Liche? That doesn’t seem right, does it?”

“There’s nothing wrong with it. Let’s just do it this way!”

Kunwu thought to himself, it’s much better than you calling me “old liar” every day.

“Alright, Senior Brother, please accept your junior brother’s bow!”

Lu Xiaochan cupped his hands and bowed his head to Kunwu.

If it were an ordinary person, who would dare to actually call Kunwu “Senior Brother”? But Lu Xiaochan didn’t care about such formalities. Whatever made Kunwu happy was fine with him.

This address of “Senior Brother” immediately brought tears to Kunwu’s eyes, leaving him speechless for a long while.

Lu Xiaochan maintained his bowing posture with cupped hands, his back almost unable to hold up anymore. He sighed, thinking that Kunwu’s suggestion to call him “Senior Brother” was indeed just lip service. If not for Shu Wuxi’s intimidation, Kunwu probably wouldn’t want to teach him anything!

“How about… I call you Great-Grandmaster?” Lu Xiaochan looked up and asked.

“No, no, no, ‘Senior Brother’ is just right. ‘Master’ is too old! Great-Grandmasters have all passed away! Are you cursing me?”

Kunwu immediately helped Lu Xiaochan up, and in doing so, his fingers touched Lu Xiaochan’s wrist. A stream of mystic true qi flowed into Lu Xiaochan’s bloodstream, completing a small cycle before settling in his elixir core. “You’ve indeed formed your core.”

“Brother Wuxi taught me!” Lu Xiaochan said, raising his head.

Kunwu shook his head and smiled. “He didn’t teach you. Rather, he let his own true qi enter your body, gathering the scattered spiritual energy in your four limbs and hundred bones, then entering your internal organs to form the core for you. For ordinary people, those with high aptitude would need three to five years, while those with lower aptitude might need decades.”

“What? Someone else can form the core for me?”

“That’s because you already had a elixir core; he just ignited it for you. It’s like a medicinal furnace that has gone out – no matter how good the furnace is, it needs to be lit before it can refine elixirs. So next, I’ll guide you to the ‘Entering the Power’ realm.”

Kunwu didn’t mention that even to gather and ignite one’s elixir core for them would consume decades of cultivation.

For other cultivators, unless it was for their closest kin, no one would be willing to do this.

But for Shu Wuxi, who once used the world’s greatest sword to cheer up his little junior brother, how could he care about a few decades of cultivation?

“How will you guide me? Are there any incantations or mental techniques?”

“Incantations and mental techniques are tangible things, while ‘Entering the Power’ requires you to sense the spiritual nature of all things in heaven and earth, to resonate with them and connect to them. The medium used by various immortal sects to accommodate the enlightenment of successive sect leaders differs. The medium for our Tailing Pavilion’s generational mental technique is this ten-thousand-year-old locust tree.”

Kunwu stood up, raised his hand with his palm facing up, and a locust leaf slowly floated down, landing precisely in his palm.

He placed this leaf in Lu Xiaochan’s hand and said, “Eat it, then savor it carefully.”

It was Lu Xiaochan’s first time eating a locust leaf, and he found it extraordinarily novel.

The fresh fragrance of the locust leaf entered his nostrils. With the first bite, it was as if countless fine streams flowed through Lu Xiaochan’s lips and tongue. His body felt like quiet, rolling hills, and as he swallowed, it seemed as if massive waves from the heavenly river surged down, rolling and about to submerge everything. Yet, it transformed into a vast cloud, flowing and lingering on the horizon, gradually turning into a fine rain, seeping into cracks between stones and grains of sand, nourishing all things.