In the original plot, Zhong Wuxi’s fate was tied to only two people: the protagonist, Zongzheng Lan, and his Master. Therefore, Zhong Wuxi had to figure out what that little creature really was.
The creature looked exactly like his Master, yet its personality was completely different. Zhong Wuxi recalled the scenes where it appeared: sometimes sitting on his Master’s shoulder, sometimes floating in the air. It loved lotus flowers and would hold onto their petals. It seemed to be nothing more than a phantom, devoid of any weight. Was it perhaps, like the Ascension Staircase Secret Realm, a wisp of his Master’s divine consciousness? If so, why couldn’t his Master see it?
Forget it. I will just try to coax it out later.
Zhong Wuxi remembered that at the time, he had been surrounded by small clouds, tripped, and was caught by his Master, which was when the little creature appeared. He climbed into bed, planning to replicate those exact events after waking up to see if the little creature would appear again. Zhong Wuxi closed his eyes and fell asleep quickly.
Moonlight shone into the snow hut, condensing into countless silver points of light like a vast sea of stars. This starry sea gathered around Zhong Wuxi, flickering intermittently for a long while, before finally being absorbed by the young boy on the bed.
Sunlight shone obliquely into the window, casting colorful shadows through the glaze embedded in the lattice. Zhong Wuxi woke up groggily, gazing at the scorching sunlight outside. He sat up abruptly and was instantly relieved to see the white floor and walls. Thankfully, he was still on Jimo Peak; he had not transmigrated again.
He climbed out of bed, put on his shoes, and looked up to see Yin Jiuli sitting in a chair.
“Master, did you install the doors and windows on the snow hut?”
Yin Jiuli set down his teacup and nodded slightly.
Zhong Wuxi excitedly ran around the hut and discovered that not only were there doors and windows, but the lattice was inlaid with beautiful glaze. This glaze was unlike ordinary glass; it was exceptionally clear and bright. Looking at the sun through it turned the sunlight into a kaleidoscope of colors. Furthermore, several night-luminescent pearls hung from the ceiling in lamp holders with long, dangling tassels.
Zhong Wuxi loved these sparkling items. He bowed solemnly to Yin Jiuli. “I am deeply grateful for your care, Master. I wish to serve by your side at all times.”
“That is unnecessary.”
Zhong Wuxi felt a pang of disappointment. He just wanted to hug his Master’s thigh to save his own life and be the most special plant in the sect, but his Master was far too blunt in his refusal.
After breakfast, Zhong Wuxi stepped outside and noticed a touch of warmth amidst the cold white landscape. He walked over to see a box carved from solid cold jade placed beside the hut, filled with ice and fresh fruits. Zhong Wuxi picked up a fruit and took a bite, vaguely hearing someone calling his name. He turned around to see his Senior Brother, the Sect Leader, and Senior Sister Xuan Ling flying toward him on their swords.
Zhong Wuxi ran toward them excitedly. “Senior Brother! Fifth Senior Sister!”
Seeing their slow-moving, dumpling-like Junior Brother running so fast, Xuan Ling was startled. “Have you successfully guided qi into your body?”
“Not yet,” Zhong Wuxi stopped. “I only started cultivating yesterday. If I succeeded today, would that not make me a genius?”
Xuan Ling stared at him in silence.
Zhong Wuxi gave an awkward laugh. As one of only two people in the Qingyuan Realm to awaken a mutated Light Spirit Root, he could indeed be called a genius.
Xuan Ling sighed. “The spiritual energy on Jimo Peak is so abundant; I want to stay here to cultivate.”
Zhong Wuxi blinked and announced loudly, “Master! Senior Sister Xuan Ling says she wants to stay on Jimo Peak to cultivate!”
“Keep your voice down!” Xuan Ling quickly covered his mouth. “We haven’t seen each other in two days, and you are already trying to sabotage me the moment we meet? That is too much.”
Zhong Wuxi smiled broadly. “Senior Brother, Senior Sister, I have good things for you.”
His Junior Brother’s smile was incredibly sweet, with two little pear dimples appearing on his cheeks. Xuan Ling smiled along with him. “What good things?”
Zhong Wuxi took several medicinal herbs from his qiankun bag. “Senior Brother, you have a Water Spirit Root. I am giving you this Condensing Dew Grass and Emerald Coral.”
“Senior Sister, this Broken Goose Vine is for you, along with this Yin Yang Ghost Face Flower. The gu insects you raise will surely love it.”
“And this one.”
Zhong Wuxi distributed the supreme-grade herbs among his three senior siblings and added, “Second Senior Sister is out traveling, and Third Senior Brother is in seclusion. I will keep their gifts for now and give them later.”
Xuan Ling’s hands trembled as she took the Yin Yang Ghost Face Flower; she was almost in tears. “I have been searching for this herb for a hundred years. I only recently learned that it had been extinct for three hundred years.”
“Junior Brother, how did you obtain this herb?”
Xuan Sect Leader Xuan Su remained solemn, though his hands trembled slightly as he held his herbs.
“These were all gifts from Master for taking me as his disciple.” Zhong Wuxi picked out a few more precious herbs. “This is for Zongzheng Lan, this is for Ye Yizhou, and this is for Liu Wan. Senior Sister, there is a disciple named Liu Wan in the sect; could you help me?”
“She is at Sade Peak and is my new personal disciple,” Xuan Ling said, taking the herbs. “Junior Brother, how do you know little Wan’er?”
Zhong Wuxi recounted the incident on the high platform during the selection process when Liu Wan had given him a bottle of Hunyuan Bigu pills unique to the Liu family of Xianzhou. “By the way, Senior Brother and Sister, is something wrong in the sect that brought you to Jimo Peak?”
“No, the Martial Uncle sent a message to retrieve some items from the treasury, and I came to deliver them personally,” Xuan Ling said, patting her Junior Brother’s head. “I was worried about you, so I came along to check on you.”
She lowered her voice. “Didn’t you used to be terrified of the Martial Uncle?”
“I am not afraid of Master at all now. Master is wonderful. Even if he were to kill me in the future, I would still think he is wonderful,” Zhong Wuxi said seriously.
“You even asked me before if I would kill you if you turned into a demon,” Xuan Ling said helplessly. “Junior Brother, you are only three years old; why do you spend all day thinking about such things?”
She looked up at the beautiful, small snow hut that stood out against the snowy backdrop of Jimo Peak. The Qingyuan Realm only had the six rites of apprenticeship; there was no such thing as a disciple-taking gift. It seemed the Martial Uncle valued his Junior Brother highly and had great expectations for him.
Xuan Ling bent down to pat Zhong Wuxi’s head. “You must cultivate diligently from now on. Do not be lazy. Strive to reach the Foundation Establishment stage as soon as possible, and do not fail the Martial Uncle’s painstaking efforts.”
Zhong Wuxi nodded, suddenly remembering the missing little creature. “Senior Sister, I hear that cultivators at the Spirit Transformation stage can divide their soul. Do you know how to do that?”
Xuan Ling sighed. “I am just an ordinary Nascent Soul practitioner. Give me a thousand years, and once I have mastered the path of heartlessness, I will teach you how to divide your soul.”
Zhong Wuxi pursed his lips, feeling a bit bitter. “If I master the path of heartlessness, I will no longer be your favorite Junior Brother.”
Xuan Ling felt even more bitter. “Is there any possibility that I will never master the path of heartlessness in my entire life?”
Sigh.
The two of them sighed together.
The Sect Leader had sent many dishes, all stored in the cold jade box reinforced by a magical array. With the problems of eating and sleeping solved, Zhong Wuxi was determined to cultivate diligently. But before that, he had to figure out the mystery of the little creature.
The entire morning, Zhong Wuxi practiced how to fall so that it would look more natural. Not only that, he had to fall within his Master’s reach so that his Master could catch him.
It is so difficult.
His Master commanded him to cultivate in the wind and snow for at least four hours every day. Now that he had successfully guided qi into his body, the circulation of spiritual power could ward off the cold. However.
Zhong Wuxi sat in the heavy snow, absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth while pondering the little creature. A burst of true energy struck his arm; it was chilly, stinging just a little.
“Do not be distracted, or you risk qigong deviation.”
Zhong Wuxi was startled and sat up straight to cultivate for two hours. Noon approached, and he took a plate of five spice mandarin fish and crystal osmanthus cakes from the cold jade box for lunch. The fish was delicious; if he could, Zhong Wuxi hoped never to reach bigu (fasting).
But his life was too difficult.
Zhong Wuxi looked up at Yin Jiuli, who was meditating. “Master, you said that one should not be distracted while cultivating to avoid qigong deviation.”
“This disciple does not quite understand.”
Half a minute later, a small cloud drifted over carrying several cultivation manuals. Zhong Wuxi flipped through the contents. Distraction leads to qigong deviation; external interference leads to qigong deviation; deep obsession leads to qigong deviation.
It was far too easy to fall into qigong deviation.
Zhong Wuxi was now terrified of the word “demon,” and he cast the book aside, trembling. The novel never explained how the original host fell into the demonic path, nor how his Master cleaned house, mentioning the cannon-fodder’s fate only briefly through others.
Zhong Wuxi looked at Yin Jiuli. The Holy Monarch of the Xuanqing Sect wore the white robes every Master in xianxia novels wore, his phoenix eyes framed by long, ink-black lines, and the cinnabar flame mark on his forehead was vivid and bright. Despite his vibrant, worldly appearance, he possessed no seven emotions or six desires, carrying an aloofness that was untouchable.
The original plot revolved mostly around the protagonist, Zongzheng Lan, who had been taken in as a personal disciple by the Sect Leader, Xuan Su. Thus, the author had not spent much ink on the Holy Monarch, the Nine Departures Immortal Venerable.
Zhong Wuxi stared blankly at his Master, only to realize his Master was also watching him. He offered a strained, wrinkled smile. “Master, I was just thinking, what if I fall into qigong deviation?”
“You will not.”
Zhong Wuxi looked down at his palms. “That is true. I awakened a mutated Light Spirit Root. If I fall into qigong deviation in the future, I can use the Light Spirit Root to heal myself.”
“Master, aside from healing, how else can one cultivate with the mutated Light Spirit Root?”
“Come.”
Yin Jiuli led Zhong Wuxi into a forest covered in ice and snow. He cast a spell, and a brilliant green glow emerged from his fingertips. The green light drifted into the forest, causing the frozen branches and leaves to grow wildly in an instant. Long vines shot into the snow, blooming with flowers amidst the ice.
“This is Growth.”
Zhong Wuxi stared at the vines in the snow, a brilliant idea striking him. If he were tripped by these vines, his Master would surely reach out to catch him.
Zhong Wuxi pretended to step back carelessly and fell.
A soft vine wrapped around his waist, binding him and bringing him to safety.
Zhong Wuxi remained silent.