Chapter 541 Senior Brother
"Um?"
Song Chunxue was puzzled; she hadn't said where she was going yet.
"I had a dream, I dreamt of my mother..."
Sanwa shook his head. "Forget it, let's not talk about it. People say that even Yama, the King of Hell, is wary of those who don't talk about dreams. It's better not to say anything."
Song Chunxue nodded, "That's right. Whether it's a good dream or a bad dream, just keep it to yourself. After all, dreams are just dreams, and over-interpreting them will only make you panic."
"Besides, I am your mother, and I gave birth to all of you. Even if I go out to travel, I will always come back after a while. How could I be so resolute in my Daoist beliefs that I would simply turn my back on my family?"
"That's not determination, that's madness. It's normal to be unable to let go of worldly desires, but being heartless and ungrateful is against the natural order. Your mother learned the righteous path of Master Zhang. He clearly distinguishes between good and evil and even dares to judge the rules of his own sect. How could he possibly teach me crooked and evil things?"
Sanwa smiled and nodded, "Mother, don't be angry, that's not what I meant."
"Go to sleep, don't drink too much, or you'll get a headache."
Sanwa got up. "Okay, then Mother, go to sleep early too."
The two wolfhounds got up and followed behind Sanwa, watching him enter the house before running to Song Chunxue's side.
These days, the wolfhounds were previously being cared for by Ren Haitang, but for the past two days, they've been tied up in the backyard to prevent them from biting people.
He was very clingy at this moment, staying right at Song Chunxue's feet.
"It's good to have you two with me, but if I'm gone, who will take care of you?"
Song Chunxue squatted down and rubbed their heads. Looking at them lying on the ground with their bellies exposed, there was no trace of the ferocity of wolfhounds.
"Junior brother!"
Um?
Song Chunxue immediately looked up.
"Bang!"
Her forehead hit the stone table, and the pain made her nose sting and her vision blur.
"Hiss... Ah..."
She clutched her head, enduring the pain, and stood up, thinking to herself, "Who the hell teased me with my senior brother?"
"Why are you so agitated? Did you bump your head and get a bump?"
Just then, a voice rang out, seemingly eager to stir up trouble.
Song Chunxue suddenly turned her head and found someone standing behind her.
He had a faint scent of sandalwood on him.
"Senior brother?"
The tears that I had been trying so hard to hold back just now finally fell.
She held her forehead with one hand and patted the Taoist priest's arm with the other, "You make it sound so easy. It's been years since we last met. How could I not be excited to suddenly hear your voice!"
Enraged, she sniffed and stomped on his foot. "Senior brother, where have you been these past two years? You haven't even written me a single letter of reassurance. Are you testing my resolve?"
The Taoist priest hissed, "I have chilblains on my feet, don't step on them and ruin them."
"Ah?" Song Chunxue looked panicked and blushed as she quickly said, "Where is it? Let me see."
"Oh, I'm so sorry, I'm a bit too strong now, please don't be angry, senior brother."
Thinking of something, she squatted down and said irritably, "What happened to you? Couldn't you have told me? Aren't you very good at medicine? How come your feet are frostbitten?"
"I was just kidding, I'm perfectly fine." The Taoist priest pulled her up from behind his collar. "Get up. I came early because I knew you were worried, otherwise I was planning to come find you in a few days."
As he spoke, he took a flask of wine out of his cloth bag and placed it on the stone table.
"Would you like to try some apricot blossom wine from Jiangnan?"
Song Chunxue wiped away her tears, sat down, and stared straight at him.
"You've been in Jiangnan these past two years?" she asked curiously. "I heard you were undergoing tribulation in the desert. You sent me a letter during the New Year and then disappeared. Could it be that you encountered some powerful female cultivator who kidnapped you to marry and live with you?"
"..."
"Or did you encounter some powerful figure who insisted on taking you as their last disciple and teaching you some extraordinary skills?"
The Taoist priest was wearing the same clothes he wore two years ago, and he looked much the same as he had two years ago.
Song Chunxue felt that something seemed to have changed, though she couldn't quite put her finger on it.
He then pulled out a roast chicken wrapped in oil paper from the cloth bag and smiled helplessly.
"You've been reading too many storybooks, haven't you? You've improved a lot in the last two years, and you've put in a lot of effort to travel." As he spoke, he tore off a chicken leg and handed it to Song Chunxue.
Song Chunxue slowly took it, watching her senior brother toss the chicken head and chicken butt to the dog that was frantically gnawing on it.
"Hmm, I felt incompetent and couldn't let down the short sword Xiaobai gave me, so I focused on martial arts cultivation, and I feel my physique has improved a lot." She took a bite of chicken leg meat, not missing any expression on his face.
"Senior brother," she said in a cool voice, "why are your lips a little pale?"
The Taoist priest rubbed it twice, "How could that be? I've been sleeping well lately and meditating diligently."
"Then dare you let me see your pulse?"
"..." The Taoist priest paused and looked at her, then laughed, "Junior brother has learned to bluff people. I haven't done anything wrong, so why wouldn't I dare?"
As he spoke, he stretched out his arm.
"Come, let me test your medical skills now." The Taoist priest looked relaxed and chatted freely. "But I heard from Lord Xie that you got into two fights in Jincheng in just two days. You're quite something."
“I’ve already been very restrained. If it were before, Wang Can might have suffered even more. He was a born villain who harmed so many innocent people. I wouldn’t hit someone for no reason.” Song Chunxue’s face was devoid of a smile. “By the way, you went to see Lord Xie. Why didn’t you come to find me sooner?”
"Or is it that my junior brother is ultimately not as close as others?"
"..." The Taoist priest looked helpless. "You're still bothered by this?"
"What, shouldn't I be holding this against you?" Song Chunxue probed with a half-smile. "Could it be that all these years, you simply cut off all contact with me to avoid worrying me, while frequently corresponding with Lord Xie?"
"..."
"Senior brother, you don't trust your junior brother at all." Song Chunxue placed her fingers on his wrist and carefully took his pulse.
A moment later, her expression turned serious. "Senior brother, were you seriously injured?"
She was not very skilled, but she could feel that her senior brother's pulse was extremely weak, clearly indicating that he had suffered a severe injury.
"Did you suffer a great loss of vitality during your tribulation two years ago, Senior Brother?"
If that's the case, then it makes perfect sense that my senior brother disappeared for two years.
The Taoist priest nodded and stopped struggling to hide it.
"Yes, I'm sorry you had to laugh at me. I'm actually not that powerful. I almost died during that tribulation. The jade pendant and sandalwood beads you gave me protected me from the tribulation. They were shattered so badly that not even a trace could be found. Please don't blame me, junior brother."
Watching him talk about the tribulation with such ease, Song Chunxue was speechless for a long time.
Given his senior brother's cultivation level, the tribulation lightning must have been extraordinary; it's already a miracle that he survived.
"How come your heart meridian is still so weak after two years? Is there any way to remedy this?"
The Taoist priest waved his hand, "It's alright. Don't let his current weakness fool you; he'll live to be a hundred without any problem. Tell me about my junior brother. I heard you're planning to go to the desert to find me?"
"Now that Senior Brother is back, what else is there for me to look for? I wonder what Senior Brother's plans are next?" She took a sip of wine, which was sweeter than the wine here.
Seeing her senior brother looking preoccupied, Song Chunxue felt that he couldn't just tell her what was on his mind.
"I don't have any plans. I came by sword and will be back in Jincheng later. The Taoist temple on the mountaintop is almost finished. Have you gone to see it yet?"
"No."
Song Chunxue observed her senior brother's expression, wondering what could have made him so guilty.
Suddenly, she noticed that his cuffs were worn out.
"Senior brother, you wouldn't have spent all that money, would you?"
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