Boom!
Mu Hongyu and the others—who were still waiting in the Mystic Forest—looked up when they heard the explosion. Ye Ranran’s eyes widened a little. “Isn’t that Eldest Young Master Jiang’s signal?”
Mu Hongyu—who had no fond feelings toward Jiang Yucheng and his company—frowned. “Shouldn’t they have left by now?”
“I think they’re gathering everyone… Are they waiting for us to go back?” asked Ye Ranran, who then exchanged a baffled look with Mu Hongyu. They left ages ago, so why are they summoning us now?
“That signal came from the Gray Triangle. They probably intend to wait for you guys for a bit before leaving. They won’t wait too long though,” Qin Yi told them. If those people really wanted to leave together with these kids, they would’ve sent a signal long ago. Why wait until now when they’re already at the transportation formation? It doesn’t matter to them when they call these kids over, for they’re just doing it in passing.
Mu Hongyu shook her head. “I’m staying until Liuyue comes out.”
“Same.” Ye Ranran nodded firmly.
Qiang Wanzhou—on the other hand—silently stood on the side. He didn’t even look at the signal, for all his attention had been on the mother tree the whole time.
“Hypocrites!” Lei Laosi snorted at the sight of the gradually disappearing fireworks. Given the kind of a person Jiang Yucheng is, these kids are probably nothing in his eyes. Only god knows why he’s calling them back. Either way, he must be up to no good again. If Her Highness hadn’t been forming a contract with the red-tailed phoenix, we wouldn’t have let that scumbag off. As for Shangguan Wan… Since the Nine-Colored Heavenly Pheasant has successfully broken through to become a red-tailed phoenix, there’s no need for Qin Yi and me to be stationed here anymore. Therefore, we can leave with Her Highness once she comes out. When that time comes, they’ll be in for it!
In any case, they weren’t too bothered about the signal. After talking about it for a bit, they put this matter aside and focused on waiting for Chu Liuyue instead.
At Qin Yi’s request, Mu Hongyu and Ye Ranran began cultivating. There was no telling when Chu Liuyue would emerge, so they figured that they might as well make use of the time to raise their cultivation level.
As for Qiang Wanzhou… He swallowed a pill before he continued his wait.
Qin Yi didn’t pay much attention to Qiang Wanzhou at first, thinking that the pill was just something for the latter to heal his injuries with. However, it didn’t take long before he realized that Qiang Wanzhou’s aura was intensifying. The point was that the latter wasn’t absorbing the surrounding Heaven and Earth Force to raise his cultivation—the force came from his own body. His cultivation base was slowly improving even though he wasn’t concentrating on it like Mu Hongyu and Ye Ranran.
Slowly, a layer of ice formed on Qiang Wanzhou’s body, and the ground underneath his feet even frosted over. While cold air emanated from his body, the Cloud-Sky Copper Sword burned with blue flames.
As the sword contained Chu Liuyue’s force, it could sense her aura better. Thus, Qiang Wanzhou cultivated while waiting for Chu Liuyue under two extreme temperatures.
“What’s wrong with this kid?” Lei Laisi muttered the question under his breath when he noticed something amiss with Qiang Wanzhou. I’ve never seen such a cultivation method before.
Qin Yi narrowed his eyes. “I think there’s cold qi in him, and it contains a lot of force. To get stronger, all he needs to do is dissolve this cold qi.”
Secretly marveling at Qin Yi’s keen eyes, Lei Laosi couldn’t resist giving the other a thumbs-up. “How did you know this when you’re not a heavenly doctor?”
Qin Yi flashed him a smile. “It was just a guess.”
Qiang Wanzhou turned to look at them, his gaze stopping on Qin Yi’s face for a second as he furrowed his eyebrows—which were covered by his short blond hair. Apart from himself, the only other person who knew about his condition was Chu Liuyue, so he felt wary when he realized that Qin Yi knew it too. How did he… know about it? I don’t believe that it was just a guess. It was too accurate to be true!
Upon sensing his suspicion, Qin Yi raised his eyebrows. “You don’t have to look at me like that. Your condition merely reminded me of a similar case I came across in a book.”
Astonishment flashed across Qiang Wanzhou’s face, and he hesitated for a moment before asking, “You… came across a condition similar to mine in a book?”
“According to the book, that person successfully dissolved the cold qi in his body and eventually became a top warrior. It was a grueling process though; the average person won’t be able to take it,” answered Qin Yi with a nod.
However, he didn’t mention that this wasn’t the only example recorded in the book—in fact, there were thousands of similar cases, but only one survived. Still, it meant that there were likely many other people with the same condition as Qiang Wanzhou, although he was the only one who had luckily survived this long.
It was clear that Qiang Wanzhou knew nothing about this.
“…What book is that? May I take a look at it?” Qiang Wanzhou asked.
His condition had been like this for as long as he could remember. Having no parents, relatives, or even friends, growing up in the barren and uncivilized Nan Jiang had been tough on him. If he hadn’t met that person later on, he probably would’ve died at Qian Wei Lake long ago.
“That book doesn’t belong to me, and I don’t think it can be found anymore.” A hint of despondency showed in Qin Yi’s eyes as he said this.
Qiang Wanzhou thus didn’t ask further questions about that book.
After a brief silence, Qin Yi asked, “Was the pill you took earlier supposed to help dissolve the cold qi?”
Qiang Wanzhou nodded.
“Where did you get it from?”
“Liuyue refined it,” answered Qiang Wanzhou honestly.
As I expected. Her Highness has also read that book before, so it’s unsurprising that she knows how to refine it. I’m surprised that Qiang Wanzhou managed to survive on his own though. Qin Yi smiled. “You sure are lucky.”
Qiang Wanzhou gave a solemn nod of his head. Indeed. All the people I met have been really kind to me too.
All of a sudden, a faint pattern flashed across his glabella, which was much to Qin Yi’s surprise. “There’s a seal in your body?”
Qiang Wanzhou looked at him in surprise as he nodded hesitantly. Not even Liuyue knows about this.
That seal had been covered by the cold qi, but the seal was slowly starting to surface as it gradually dissolved. Qiang Wanzhou hadn’t paid much attention to the seal because nothing had happened to it before.
Filled with shock, Qin Yi hurriedly asked, “Who left that seal on you?!”
That looks like…
