Xie Yujia cooked a couple of dishes and packed them in separate boxes before going to the nearby shanty town.
After arriving in front of the old Grandma’s rundown little house, Xie Yujia knocked, and the old Grandma opened the door.
“Grandma, I cooked these dishes and they are still warm.” Xie Yujia walked in and placed the boxes on the black wooden table.
The old Grandma nodded and sat at the table.
Xie Yujia sat next to her and took out two pairs of chopsticks. Today, she was alone at home, so she cooked the meal to eat with the old Grandma.
The old Grandma ate slowly without a word.
Xie Yujia glanced at her and said after a few seconds of hesitation, “Grandma…”
“Yes?” The old Grandma looked up.
“One of my friends wants to make Beauty Pills. She… wants you to help her,” Xie Yujia said cautiously while observing the old Grandma’s expression.
“What’s her name?”
“Su Han.”
“The Dragon Tribe’s inspector in East Ocean City? I won’t help her,” the old Grandma said.
Xie Yujia was a little surprised, but she didn’t pursue the topic since the old Grandma had refused to help Su Han.
“However, I can teach you how to make the pills,” seeing Xie Yujia’s awkward expression, the old Grandma softened and changed her tone.
“Me?” Xie Yujia looked at her with doubt and excitement. “Can I do it?”
“Why not? You are my disciple!” The old Grandma’s face fell a little.
She couldn’t bear to see Xie Yujia in such a hesitant and self-doubting way. She was a lively and confident girl, but she had become so hesitant and indecisive due to her love life. The old Grandma’s heart ached for her.
A moment later, the old Grandma’s expression softened. “The Life-Death Note I taught you is not a simple technique of attack and defense. It can control the changes of the nature essence. Naturally, it can make elixir pills.”
Elixir creation, after all, extracted the five-elemental essences from the materials before combining them in proper proportions with special techniques in a furnace.
The Five-Elemental Life-Death Note could use the five-elemental essences in nature, so it could control the flows of the five elemental essences in the furnace. By extracting the purest elemental essences from the materials, it could greatly enhance the success rate.
“But you can’t make elixirs with mortal fires. You need to borrow the snow lion from that kid,” the old Grandma continued.
She called Hao Ren “that kid” instead of his name, showing her disapproval of him.
“Ok, Grandma,” Xie Yujia, who lowered her head to focus on her meal, answered gently.
The old Grandma stopped talking and began savoring the dishes cooked by Xie Yujia.
After the meal, Xie Yujia cleaned the table, and the old Grandma rested for a while before teaching Xie Yujia how to make elixir pills with the technique.
The Five-Elemental Life-Death Note was the technique that earned old Grandma her reputation in the world of cultivation. The Five-Elemental Note controlled life, death, and nature. She had used this technique to take essence from nature by force, leaping from the top-tier Nascent Soul Realm to the Soul Formation Realm.
By learning the Life-Death Note, Xie Yujia had undoubtedly become the direct disciple of the old Grandma. However, due to her poor cultivation talent, the old Grandma had no hopes of her reaching the Nascent Soul Realm.
Here is the key; the Five-Elemental Life-Death Note was the perfect counter for the Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll.
While the Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll could activate the five-elemental essences and turn the essences into sword energies, the Five-Elemental Life-Death Note could control and collect the five elemental essences in nature and thus became the nemesis of the Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll.
The old Grandma taught Xie Yujia this technique, not in the hopes that she would sweep over the mortal world. Instead, the old Grandma hoped that Xie Yujia could use it against Hao Ren if the latter dared to ‘bully’ her.
No matter how many sword energies or sword energy array formations Hao Ren released, Xie Yujia could absorb them all with the Five-Elemental Note.
If the Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll was a sword, then the Five-Elemental Life-Death Note was the scabbard.
“I would never allow my disciple to be slighted!”
Seeing Xie Yujia practicing the elixir making technique with Five-Elemental Note, the old Grandma beckoned to her.
“Grandma, is there anything wrong?” Xie Yujia got anxious since she hadn’t made any progress after cultivating for a long while. Although she was smart in studying, she was quite obtuse in cultivation.
“Last time, I gave you the Life Note, and now I’ll plant in you the Death Note.” The old Grandma placed her hand on Xie Yujia’s shoulder, and a surge of pure nature essence entered the center of her left palm after passing through her meridians instantly.
With a burning sensation in the center of her left palm, a faint silver note was printed in Xie Yujia’s palm.
Golden was life while silver was death. One was the Life Note, and the other was the Death Note.
The two notes the old Grandma injected into Xie Yujia’s body with her cultivation strength of the Soul Formation Realm were ‘Source Notes.’ After she could circulate them proficiently, she could create limitless Life-Death Notes.
The Life Note could absorb the essences of nature and other people’s cultivation strength; the Death Note could shoot condensed energy beads into enemies’ acupoints, blocking their meridians and exploding their bodies.
The Life-Death Note was a very aggressive technique both in cultivation and combat.
“Death and Life correspond to Yin and Yang respectively, but it’s not a fixed rule. Since you are still at the Qi Refinement Realm, you can’t understand the greatness of the Life-Death Note…”
The old Grandma straightened up the nature essence in Xie Yujia’s body, and she explained to her the concepts of the notes at the same time.
Xie Yujia cultivated while she listened, feeling one cold energy current and one hot surge of energy current moving in her body. It was an exquisite sensation.
“Grandma, did you say that Hao Ren is already at the Core Formation Realm?” Xie Yujia asked abruptly.
“He has better cultivation talent than you. With that little help from me, he is now at the Core Formation Realm,” the old Grandma said genially.
“Core Formation Realm…” Xie Yujia murmured to herself.
According to the old Grandma, she was now only on level 2 of Qi Refinement Realm. After reaching level 10 of Qi Refinement Realm, she would have the opportunity to advance to Foundation Establishment Realm. After she reached the top-tier of Foundation Establishment Realm, she would have the chance to form an internal core… There seemed to be a long way ahead of her before she could catch up to Hao Ren.
“Grandma, you can speak well. Why did you pretend to be mute?” Xie Yujia asked suddenly.
“What can I say to these mortals around me? It’s enough for me to sit in the mortal world and watch the vicissitudes of the world,” the old Grandma answered.
Xie Yujia didn’t quite understand the thoughts and the mind of the old Grandma who was already a Soul Formation Realm cultivator. However, she knew that she was quite fortunate that the old Grandma talked to her.
Time passed quietly, and the moon rose and fell.
Without noticing it, Xie Yujia had cultivated for a whole night in the old Grandma’s place.
The house looked broken, but the essence intensity in it was dozens of times more potent than the outside. After one night’s cultivation, Xie Yujia felt like her realm had elevated.
“Grandma, it seems like I got a small breakthrough,” Xie Yujia, a new cultivator, said with pleasant surprise.
“Well, you are at level 3 of Qi Refinement.” The old Grandma, who was sitting cross-legged on her wooden board bed, opened her eyes slowly and nodded.
“Hehe, thank you, Grandma!” Xie Yujia was pleased.
A smile appeared on the old Grandma’s wrinkled face.
In fact, she was a little exasperated. Xie Yujia possessed the ‘Stone Body Type’ that was the most unsuitable for cultivation. After cultivating with a Nascent Soul Realm Life Note, she only broke through one level in the Qi Refinement Realm…
“Grandma, I have some errands to run today. I’ll buy you breakfast, and then I’ll head back,” Xie Yujia stretched and said.
“You don’t have to buy me breakfast. You’ve cultivated for one night, so you must be tired. I’ll give you a lift.” The old Grandma waved her arm.
Xie Yujia felt her body was lifted suddenly. When she opened her eyes again, she was in the clouds.
“That kid doesn’t cherish you, but I cherish you. Don’t worry, Yujia, as long as I have a breath in me, I’ll never allow you to suffer,” the old Grandma held onto Xie Yujia’s hand lightly and said while they traveled in the clouds.
While feeling the moist mist rushing against her face, Xie Yujia heard the old Grandma’s words; she suddenly felt like crying.
“Go! You are too soft-hearted. You don’t want to fight for yourself, but I’ll fight for you!” The old Grandma released her abruptly.
Xie Yujia fell toward the ground. When she was close to the ground, beams of light appeared under her feet and steadied her body.
She looked around and found that she was standing in front of Hao Ren’s house!
“Grandma even knows that I wanted to come here…” Xie Yujia looked up at the sky but couldn’t see the old Grandma in the thick white clouds.
No one could see the whereabouts of a grandmaster of the Soul Formation Realm! In the whole world, who would have the audacious to block a Soul Formation Realm cultivator?!
“Grandma! Grandma!” Xie Yujia stood in the doorway and called out in her clear voice.
Hao Ren’s grandma was an early riser. Hearing the voice, she immediately opened the window to check who it was.
“Well! It’s you, little Yujia.”
“I’m free today, so I came to see you,” Xie Yujia said, blushing.
“I was wondering why you haven’t come yet!” Hurriedly, Grandma walked downstairs and opened the door for her.
“Where’s… Hao Ren?” Entering the house, Xie Yujia whispered shyly.
“Him! He’s still in bed! He told me that he was going to the beach for a jog, and he came back very late. He must be tired.” Grandma walked toward the stairs. “I’ll go and wake him up.”
“Don’t! Grandma!” Xie Yujia stopped Grandma immediately. “Let him sleep.”
“Ok, ok!” Grandma looked back at Xie Yujia’s flushed face. “Yujia, you are even prettier than a couple of days ago!”
“I wasn’t planning to come here, but I still wanted to see you.” Xie Yujia tiptoed onto the second floor.
“You must come every weekend!” Grandma held onto Xie Yujia’s hand and said warmly.
When Xie Yujia began to carry her heavy beddings to the balcony, she immediately said, “You are here to keep me company, not to do these chores!”
“The sunlight is great today; I’ll help you put the beddings in the sun!” With smooth movements, she spread the bedding out on a string in the balcony. “Hao Ren is a guy, so he doesn’t know how to do these things.”
“Just like his father, he cares for me but doesn’t know how to do these things properly. Neither does his mother; she doesn’t know how to do house chores too,” Grandma complained while shaking her head.
“They are busy,” Xie Yujia helped their defense before asking, “Is there any laundry that needs to be done?”
“I can’t let you do such things for me,” Grandma said.
“Grandma, don’t take me as an outsider. I will just do it while I’m here,” Xie Yujia said with a smile.
“I washed the laundry in the washing machine and planned to let Ren hang them to dry outside when he gets up,” Grandma yielded after a moment of consideration.
“Let me do it!” Xie Yujia walked into the laundry room, took out the damp laundry, and put them into a basin.
The damp clothes were heavy; no wonder Grandma had left them in there and waited for Hao Ren to get them out.
In Xie Yujia’s hands, such chores were a piece of cake. Although she had little talent in cultivation, she was a master in housekeeping.
Watching Xie Yujia hanging clothes on her tiptoes, Grandma watched her and murmured to herself, “The girl is going to be a great wife…”
On the balcony, Xie Yujia found a couple of Hao Ren’s washed underpants at the bottom of the basin.
She picked them up and secured them on the hangers while flushing.
When she carried the empty basin back to the house, it was already past ten o’clock.
Without a word, she rolled up her sleeves and went into the kitchen to prepare lunch.
Grandma was pleasantly surprised. She smiled in satisfaction while remembering the cute face of Little Carrot when she was little and played around her.
A little more than half an hour later, the aroma of dishes floated from the kitchen. The alluring smell of the stewed pork ribs she cooked was especially mouth-watering.
“Grandma! The lunch is ready!” With some sweat droplets on her nose, Xie Yujia walked out of the kitchen.
“Ok. I’ll call Ren downstairs for lunch! The lazy boy is sleeping in so late today!” Grandma ‘scolded’ her grandson with a smile.
“Well, if there’s nothing else you need me to do, I’ll head back!” Xie Yujia waved at Grandma and walked toward the door.
“What? Why are you leaving so early?” Grandma asked anxiously.
“I have some homework to finish this afternoon. I came here in the morning to see you.” Xie Yujia walked out of the door, declining Grandma’s invitation to stay a bit longer.
Meanwhile, Hao Ren sat in his room cross-legged facing the sea.
Gradually, he returned from the state of oblivion.
Last night, he tried the lightning cultivation again and unlocked two more openings.
The progress was extremely fast with lightning cultivation.
After reaching Zhen-level, the dragon cultivators would find the cultivation progress slower than before, and the unlocking of openings would get even more difficult.
The early stages were easy, but the later stages were challenging.
However, the lightning cultivation could not only temper his body but also unlock the openings in the dragon core. It almost broke all the cultivation rules for the dragon cultivators.
Since the newly unlocked openings were not stable, he had emerged himself in cultivation until noon.
The moment he regained his senses, he heard Grandma knocking loudly on his door.
“Ren! What are you doing in there?”
“What is it, Grandma?” Hao Ren immediately walked over and opened the door.
Seeing the bafflement on his face, Grandma said helplessly, “Lunch is ready.”
“It smells so good!” Hao Ren inhaled deeply, and his eyes lit up. “Haha, Grandma, you cooked today? They are all my favorites!”
Grandma glared at him, “Go down and eat!”
She didn’t plan to tell Hao Ren about Xie Yujia’s visit. To her, this boy was dull and oblivious to his peach blossom, and she didn’t want to change her grandson.
