Chapter 46 is about Blood Spirit Grass used to tease cats.
Mingjian felt as if he were sinking into a deep, warm, chaotic sea, having a dream so long that he almost didn't want to wake up.
In the dream, he was only six or seven years old. His parents died when he was four, and he became a little beggar, living by begging.
When he was eight years old, he met his master.
My master always spoke gently, and his face was always adorned with a warm, spring-like smile. He looked quite young, with handsome features, but he told me that he had suffered very serious injuries and didn't have many days left to live.
Mingjian didn't understand at the time, but he knew that his master's words meant that after a while, he would leave him forever, just like his parents.
Xiao Ming thought he hadn't done enough, so he always tried to do everything he could. He helped his master with laundry, cooking, back massages, and buying wine.
Perhaps because he was well-behaved, his master treated him very well.
My master would go down the mountain every two months, and each time he would be gone for two or three days. When he returned, he would magically pull out from his pocket sweet cakes or candied fruits wrapped in oil paper, or a rough but lifelike little clay figure.
If his master was in a particularly good mood, he would even hold his hand and take him down the mountain together.
Mingjian didn't know what his master was doing down the mountain. He only remembered that the market at the foot of the mountain was very lively and bustling with people, and he liked the road back to the mountain the most.
The master would carry the little boy on his broad, warm back, steadily climbing upwards step by step. The setting sun cast their shadows long and deep, and the master's voice was deep and gentle as he told him strange and wonderful stories about spirits and monsters.
In the distant sky, the stars, as if someone had overturned a basket, glittered and scattered across the dark blue night sky, forming a shimmering Milky Way.
Xiao Ming lay on his master's warm and broad back, listening to his master say, "My little one, if your master dies in the future, you should take your master's jade token and go to Jianming Immortal Mountain to become an outer disciple. Cultivate well and be sure to live longer than your master."
Feeling drowsy, Xiao Ming nodded his head and asked indistinctly, "Master... Master, how old are you this year?"
The master remained silent for a long time, so long that Xiaoming was almost falling asleep again, before he heard a very low sigh: "Master is three hundred years old this year."
"Mingjian—Mingjian! Wake up!"
A familiar voice reached my ears.
Mingjian felt his eyes were heavy. He wanted to open them, but he vaguely sensed that it was time to say goodbye to his master. He pressed his face against his master's back with lingering affection and whispered in a voice only he could hear, "Master, I should wake up now. I'll come to see you again next time."
In the dream, the figure carrying him paused, and after a long while, a reply filled with endless melancholy came: "...Okay."
When I opened my eyes again, I clearly saw Gu Zhi's enlarged face in front of me.
Caught off guard, their eyes met.
Mingjian: "..."
"Song Heyu!" Gu Zhi turned around excitedly, her voice rising several decibels, "Look! Mingjian is awake!"
Not far away, Song Heyu stood with his sword in his arms, warily scanning his surroundings.
Hearing the call, he immediately hurried over. Seeing Mingjian's still somewhat dazed expression, a genuine smile appeared in his eyes, as if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders. "Junior Brother, you're awake?"
Mingjian was still a little dazed; the unfamiliar environment made it difficult for him to react for a moment.
He lay on a soft patch of grass, surrounded by rolling green hills, with the clear chirping of birds and the babbling of a stream in his ears. It was springtime, and the branches were laden with blossoms. A gust of wind would send the petals fluttering down, carpeting the ground, before being swept up by the breeze and swirling towards the azure sky.
Gu Zhi sat down next to him, her hands casually behind her back, a blade of grass dangling from her mouth, her posture flamboyant and unrestrained. "Stop looking, we're coming out."
Mingjian froze, then instinctively asked, "We're out?!"
"Hmm." Gu Zhi nodded and said, "Song Heyu and I don't know exactly how we got out. We just remember hearing a particularly piercing sound before we fainted, and when we woke up, we were here."
"And unfortunately, Song Heyu and I have completely run out of spiritual energy. If we want to recover our spiritual energy and fly back to Jianming Immortal Mountain on our swords, we'll probably have to meditate here for two days."
Gu Zhi sighed deeply.
Mingjian was taken aback upon hearing this.
He frowned and asked tentatively, "What about Xie Linzhao? Didn't I see him surrounded in the main courtyard? How is he?"
Both Gu Zhi and Song Heyu had blank expressions on their faces at the same time.
"Weren't we going to find Princess Yunyue together? What does this have to do with Xie Linzhao?"
Mingjian understood immediately; their memories had been tampered with, and someone had fabricated a memory for them out of thin air.
"Speaking of which," Gu Zhi seemed to suddenly remember something, glancing around, "Where is Xie Hanwei? Why isn't he with you?"
Mingjian recalled the last thing he saw before he completely lost consciousness: the fluttering white hem of a robe and the cold fingertips pressing on his lower abdomen.
Mingjian shook his head. "I don't know either."
"Never mind." Song Heyu held her sword and said, "Junior Brother Xie always goes alone except when he is with Junior Brother. Perhaps he left first because he did not lose his spiritual power."
Mingjian's feelings were complicated. Well, actually, he thought Xiao Bumian was angry.
Thinking of Xiao Bumian's ambiguous smile, Mingjian felt a chill run down his spine.
He seems really angry this time, otherwise he wouldn't have disappeared.
Mingjian sighed softly, with a sense of melancholy that he couldn't quite explain.
He lay back down, raised his arm to cover his eyes, blocking the dappled sunlight filtering through the leaves, but his mind was a jumbled mess.
Gu Zhi and Song Heyu's memories had been tampered with, but he remembered them clearly, which meant that the system had protected his consciousness.
The system seized the opportunity to boast: "Hehe, host, 051 keeps you conscious and prevents you from being bewitched by Xiao Bumian!"
Mingjian twitched his lips, too lazy to pay attention to it; this was one of the few advantages of this broken system.
His thoughts drifted uncontrollably, Xie Linzhao's face appearing in his mind one moment, and then Rong Yunzhi and Bai Zhang's words the next. Once he knew that Xie Linzhao was that young prince, everything made sense.
No wonder Xie Linzhao's injuries healed so quickly.
So, is he really Rong Yunzhi and Xie Wuwang's child? Is Xie Wuwang the prince consort that Bai Zhang mentioned who deceived the mermaid princess's feelings?
If that's the case, why did Xie Wuwang insist on having his men slaughter all the merfolk of the South China Sea clan?
Seeing that he couldn't figure it out, he could only wait until Xiao Bumian returned before asking him.
"System, how many redemption points do you have now?"
The system's voice instantly became incredibly cheerful: [Congratulations, host! Your current villain redemption value is 23%. The reward of 10,000 high-grade spirit stones, Qi Refining Level 8 cultivation, and one memory fragment has been sent to your account. Please check your account.]
[Host, keep up the good work!]
Mingjian, on the verge of death, was startled awake from his dream. He suddenly sprang to his feet, the movement so forceful that it nearly knocked over the ancient branches beside him.
The lingering melancholy and fear from before were instantly swept away by the overwhelming joy.
!!
He's ready again! He feels he can do another four-star mission!
Gu Zhi was startled by him, turned her head and gave him a disgusted look: "What's wrong with you? You suddenly came back to life like a zombie, and your smile is so creepy?"
Mingjian tried hard to suppress his smile, but he couldn't control himself at all, and his voice trembled, "N-nothing! I just suddenly feel that my spiritual energy is abundant, and I think I'm about to break through."
“It’s time for you to break through.” Gu Zhi looked him up and down, clicked her tongue, and turned back, not forgetting to complain, “Otherwise, with your Qi Refining Level 6 cultivation, I wouldn’t even want to say I know you.”
Mingjian: "..."
—
In the ruins of the mermaids, a thick fog clung to my clothes.
Xiao Bumian walked through the forest, holding his plain white umbrella. Several pale blue butterflies fluttered in front of him, scattering specks of firefly light that illuminated the twisted, withered trees in the mist.
The vengeful spirits of the mermaids sleeping in the forest were all collected into Xiao Bumian's Qiankun Bag, making the forest appear even more desolate and empty. There was no sound of insects chirping, no smell of life, only a kind of desolation that had been forgotten by time.
"They've all gone out, why aren't you going out yet?" A childish voice rang out in the empty forest. He put his hands behind his head, walked backwards, and asked curiously.
This is a vengeful spirit that Xiao Bumian collected along the way, estimated to be a six or seven-year-old merman. Because it had been asleep for too long, it started chattering incessantly after waking up.
Xiao Bumian was getting annoyed. He smiled gently and threatened, "If you speak again, I will kill you."
The little mermaid was not afraid at all; on the contrary, she seemed happy to finally get a response, tilting her head and saying, "But I have been dead for many years."
Xiao Bumian walked through the woods with an umbrella in hand, a habitual smile on her lips, ignoring him completely.
He stopped abruptly at a certain point.
Several thin white bone chains wrapped around his pale wrist shot out as if alive, disappearing into the depths of the thick fog. A moment later, the bone chains rustled back, their bodies wrapped with several crimson herbs, leaving behind several glaring, still-dry, mottled streaks of blood where the chains had dragged.
Xiao Bumian lowered his eyes, and a faint smile finally appeared in them.
"Blood Spirit Grass?" The little merman curiously approached, circling around the herbs. "You haven't reached Foundation Establishment yet?"
Xiao Bumian carefully placed them into a jade box that exuded a chilling aura before looking up at the little mermaid, a slight smile playing on his lips.
No, that's not it.
"It's for teasing cats."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
