There was no way the fragrance of pear blossoms from the mountaintop could possibly be smelled all the way down at the foot of the mountain.
Wen Yao hadn’t smelled anything at all. He had only said that to test Shi Qixue.
The main reason his brother had kept Shi Qixue alive instead of killing him was because the strange fragrance emanating from Shi Qixue could alleviate the bizarre illness that had plagued him for years.
But when Wen Yao had gotten close to him just now, all he had smelled was a faint scent of soapleaf. He had also subtly tried to catch Shi Qixue’s scent whenever he encountered him around the sect, and no one had ever mentioned anything about pear blossoms.
“It really does smell wonderful, Senior Brother. You don’t smell it?”
Wen Yao smiled brightly, revealing two little canine teeth. Yet his eyes remained fixed on Shi Qixue.
“Hmm? Could it be…”
“I have something to attend to. You two carry on.”
Shi Qixue dropped the sentence and turned to leave, his footsteps somewhat hurried.
Wen Yao understood immediately.
Shi Qixue really does have some exclusive treasure on him that only affects my brother!
I have to find a way to steal it!
Shi Qixue returned to his Qingyue Hall.
After all, even if he walked as quickly as possible, getting from the foot of the mountain to the top still took at least an hour and a half.
Covering the back of his neck with one hand, he hurried into the woods. After looking around and making sure no one was nearby, he leaned against a tree and sat down on the ground, closing his eyes as he entered his spiritual consciousness space.
Damn.
Is there really some kind of herb that can be used as a scent-blocking patch?
Can everyone smell my pheromones?
Shi Qixue’s face turned slightly pale.
He couldn’t help remembering some things that had happened in his previous life.
The noisy, chaotic torrent of insults had swallowed him whole. Everyone had pointed accusing fingers at him, jabbing them hard into his back.
It had hurt.
It had hurt terribly.
But it still hadn’t compared to the pain of having his own family slap him across the face…
Shi Qixue’s long lashes trembled.
His expression looked fragile, and his clear eyes shifted evasively, as though he didn’t want to remember any more.
“Ten meters to your left… static… static…”
The elusive system suddenly appeared.
“That patch of dark-purple grass can block scents… static… It is an excellent material for making scent-blocking patches.”
Shi Qixue hurried over.
Sure enough, an entire field was planted with that exact type of grass.
His eyes immediately lit up.
He pulled up several stalks, found a stone, and began crushing them.
His hands never stopped moving, and neither did his mouth.
“System, since you already told me this, can’t you leak a little more information? For example, how about giving me a complete encyclopedia of all the medicinal herbs in this entire field?”
“…”
“Then give me some kind of cheat ability. I don’t have high expectations. Just let me ascend painlessly to the Golden Core stage.”
“…”
“Hello? Are you still there?”
“…”
Shi Qixue knew the system had fled again.
He puffed out his cheeks unhappily, but when he looked at the crushed herbs, his eyes brightened once more.
He smeared the mixture haphazardly onto the back of his neck, nodded in satisfaction, and left his spiritual consciousness space.
His footsteps were practically flying.
Completely unbeknownst to him, a pair of eyes had been watching him from the tree the entire time.
“Are the pear blossoms blooming? Have you smelled the fragrance of pear blossoms?”
Shi Qixue discreetly asked everyone he encountered.
After receiving the exact same answer from every single person—no—he returned to Qingyue Hall in high spirits, shut the doors, refused to see anyone, and devoted himself to cultivation.
That sleazy male protagonist had been wearing his face while running around causing trouble, leaving behind countless enemies and tangled romantic debts.
Shi Qixue hadn’t even stepped outside the sect these past few days, yet his enemies were already coming to his doorstep to challenge him.
For all he knew, the protagonist might have even used his face when he provoked some peerless great villain.
And, to make matters worse, the Immortal Dao Conference was only a month away.
The Immortal Dao Conference was held once every four years, beginning in early spring and lasting for three months.
Its location was determined by drawing lots, and countless powerful cultivators and immortals would gather there. Through various forms of sparring and exchanges, many people returned home having broken through to a higher cultivation realm or obtained powerful magical artifacts.
Of course, plenty of people also lost their lives there.
Just thinking about it made Shi Qixue’s calves tremble.
He had truly been furious when he’d mentioned the Immortal Dao Conference back then.
If he actually ran into Ruan Anjing there, wouldn’t the man beat him half to death?!
Disciple! Save your master—
Never mind.
His disciple was still practically helpless himself.
There was no way he could save him.
Shi Qixue swallowed his tears.
Following the cultivation method for drawing qi into the body given to him by the system, he soon began seeing tiny points of light in the darkness.
Those must be the spiritual energy spoken of in the cultivation world.
More and more points of light appeared around him.
Shi Qixue gathered them into a single mass, turning them into a huge sphere that he kneaded and squashed to his heart’s content.
It’s like cotton candy.
This is actually pretty fun.
When the spiritual energy reached his dantian, Shi Qixue discovered that he actually had a tiny silver core inside him.
It was only about the size of a fingernail.
It was probably the Nascent Core that cultivators above the Golden Core stage possessed.
He hadn’t expected the system to be so considerate.
Knowing that someone might inspect his Nascent Core, it had even filled in this part of the setting for him.
And so Shi Qixue continued cultivating while playing around.
Every now and then, he would feed a little spiritual energy into his Nascent Core.
He continued until the faint sound of someone striking the giant cauldron reached his ears again.
Only then did he stop.
The moment he opened his eyes, he sensed something different.
It was as though a thin mist had been swept away from before his eyes, leaving everything crystal clear.
Everything around him seemed to possess a spirit.
His body felt light and relaxed, as if several heavy burdens had been lifted from his shoulders.
He lowered his head and looked at his wrist.
There, in pale golden letters, were the words:
Mid-Foundation Establishment Stage.
This was a cultivation-level display the system had specifically created to keep him from bothering it.
Only he could see it.
Judging by the sound of the cauldron and the color of the sky, it should be around five in the morning.
It hadn’t even been a full day, yet he’d gone from a complete amateur to the mid-Foundation Establishment stage, skipping straight past Qi Refinement and nearly catching up to his disciple’s cultivation.
Apparently, he really did have some talent for cultivation.
“Junior Brother, did you feel that spiritual energy was extremely scarce last night?”
“I thought I was imagining it.”
“I wonder who was breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage. Could it have been someone from the Wenjian Sect…”
Shi Qixue happened to pass by a group of disciples.
His face was full of pride.
He straightened his back a little more and finally lifted his lowered head.
Look at that.
I only cultivated for a little while, and I already made it look like someone was about to break through to the Nascent Soul stage.
I really must have some talent for cultivation.
Cultivation is so much fun.
“Disciple, today your master will finally teach you something useful.”
Shi Qixue stood in front of Chi Yan and tossed him a dusty manual he had found in the library.
It was a technique for sword flight.
“You must learn sword flight. In an emergency, it could save your life. Cultivators all value comprehension. Today, you will comprehend this sword-flight technique. Your master will test you afterward.”
Shi Qixue had originally intended to study it himself.
But the books in this cultivation world were all written in traditional Chinese characters. He had stared at the manual until his eyes hurt and had only managed to understand half of it.
It would be better to let his disciple learn it first and have him teach his master afterward.
Chi Yan lowered his head slightly and met those bright, spirited eyes.
His posture was straight as a bamboo stalk, and he appeared no different from usual.
Yet the rabbit on his shoulder, which had been looking listless for the past few days, now had its fluffy chest puffed out proudly.
It even spun around in circles on the spot.
Chi Yan had no idea what good thing had happened to it.
He accepted the book.
But when he leaned slightly closer, the intoxicating fragrance of pear blossoms was nowhere to be found.
His gaze landed on the medicated patch covering the back of Shi Qixue’s neck, and his brows drew together.
For some reason, an inexplicable irritation rose within him.
Chi Yan didn’t ask about it.
He simply opened the book and pretended to study seriously.
He had inherited the talents of both his parents.
He had been capable of sword flight since the age of three, and cultivating had always been as easy for him as eating or drinking.
Now, at twenty-two, his cultivation was already comparable to that of a mid-Tribulation cultivator.
Yet at this moment, he deliberately acted as though he knew nothing.
He scratched his head and pretended to struggle through the material, wobbling precariously as he flew on his sword and occasionally plunging into the forest.
“I’ve learned it, Master. Please test me.”
Shi Qixue was still picking herbs inside his spiritual consciousness space.
He was now a genuine cultivator.
Everything in his eyes seemed to possess spiritual energy, and he could see three different colored clusters of light in the medicinal field: green, purple, and yellow.
Green represented beneficial herbs.
Purple represented poisonous herbs.
The yellow ones were probably similar to the Divination Grass, with all sorts of strange and unpredictable functions.
Shi Qixue hadn’t yet had time to test his theory when he heard his disciple calling him.
See?
I told you there are no stupid students in this world, only lazy ones.
My disciple learned sword flight in just two hours.
Wonderful. Wonderful.
Now he can teach me.
Shi Qixue dusted off his backside and stood up.
He clasped his hands behind his back and gave a slight nod.
“Then your master shall test you. First, tell me the steps you took to learn it.”
“Circulate your spiritual energy…”
“Mm.”
Shi Qixue secretly began circulating his own spiritual energy.
“Wrap it completely around the sword, sink your qi into your dantian, and control the direction with your mind.”
Shi Qixue followed his instructions.
He was practically holding his bladder so hard he thought he might wet himself.
Nothing happened.
“Ahem…”
Shi Qixue felt somewhat embarrassed.
“Your master will get onto the sword and see how well you’ve mastered directional control.”
Shi Qixue climbed onto his disciple’s sword.
The moment he looked down at the vast expanse thousands of feet below, he shuddered in fear and nearly fell off.
“Master, be careful.”
A pair of large hands firmly steadied his waist.
The broad back behind him seemed to envelop him completely, making him feel inexplicably safe.
What a good disciple!
Shi Qixue’s eyes filled with tears.
He grabbed the corner of his disciple’s sleeve.
Completely unaware of the slight frown on the face of the person behind him.
After getting used to being so high up, he stopped being afraid.
Instead, he began to feel as though he were on some sort of amusement ride.
Once he felt he had more or less grasped the technique, he volunteered to take control of the sword himself.
The instant control was handed over to him, the sword began shaking violently, as though it intended to throw both of them off.
Shi Qixue maintained a completely straight face.
“Your master is demonstrating common mistakes that occur during sword flight.”
“…”
After demonstrating more than a hundred different ways to do it wrong, Shi Qixue finally managed to grasp the trick to sword flight.
Still unwilling to surrender the last shred of his dignity, he turned to his disciple.
“Did you see that clearly? You must remember all these mistakes and make sure you never commit them.”
“…”
“Yes.”
Shi Qixue had so much fun that he flew around the Chaoyang Sect three full times.
From the foot of the mountain to his Qingyue Hall at the summit, they shot past in an instant.
For once, he was able to enjoy the scenery that he normally had no time to appreciate.
Then, suddenly, the area at the back of his neck where his sensitive gland was located was lightly rubbed a few times through the medicated patch.
The warmth of those fingertips seemed to seep through the patch and spread directly into his skin, burning with frightening intensity.
A deep voice, slightly husky for some inexplicable reason, sounded beside his ear.
“Master, are you injured?”