Chapter 23 Just Friends
Is a jade pendant given to the one you love?
Xiao Hanzhou didn't remember this statement, but clinging to his vague memories from back then, he seemed to have indeed seen people wearing love charms walking back and forth on the street.
He didn't remember what day it was—or perhaps he didn't even know back then—he only remembered that the people coming and going on the street were so noisy that it was irritating, and there were lanterns everywhere. The lanterns cast a hazy glow on everything in sight. It must have been a very beautiful scene, but Xiao Hanzhou, who was in the middle of it, had no interest in appreciating it. At that time, he was probably thinking about how to go back to his cultivation after being forcibly dragged out.
The images in his memory flashed by, and no matter how hard Xiao Hanzhou tried to recall them, he couldn't find any more details. In the end, his attention was forced back to the scene in front of him.
The two disciples who were chatting over there finally noticed the arrival of the patriarch. They hurriedly stood up straight and bowed, saying, "Disciples greet the patriarch."
Xiao Hanzhou composed himself and nodded to his two disciples, but his gaze involuntarily fell on Wu Fang's right side.
Because he was in such a panic and haste to see the patriarch, Wu Fang didn't have time to put the blood jade into his storage bag. He just held it in his palm, but Xiao Hanzhou could still see the details inside through his fingers.
The basic shape of the jade buckle has been polished out, but the carved patterns on it are not yet finished. On the exposed jade surface, some parts have patterns, while others are still smooth.
Xiao Hanzhou remained silent for a while, and given that Jiang Zhaoyu and Xiao Zhiyu had recently been cracking down on their disciples because of the rumors, everyone knew that the patriarch had been in a bad mood lately.
Upon seeing this, the two disciples, who were keeping their heads down, couldn't help but feel nervous and began to wonder if they had made any mistakes.
The more he thought about it, the more nervous he became. Wu Fang felt a cold sweat on his palms, and the thing he was holding slipped in his hand.
He was momentarily distracted before remembering what he had grabbed. He had been so anxious to see the patriarch that he had forgotten to put the blood jade away.
Thinking of this, Wu Fang became anxious and exerted even more force with his hands, but unexpectedly, he squeezed the jade out instead.
Normally, a cultivator's reaction speed would allow them to catch the object before it fell to the ground. However, in front of the patriarch, Wu Fang dared not act rashly and could only watch helplessly as the jade pendant fell to the ground.
He subconsciously closed his eyes for a moment, but unexpectedly the jade did not fall to the ground. Instead, it was drawn by spiritual energy and fell into the hands of another person.
Xiao Hanzhou hooked his finger on the jade pendant's cord, looked down at it for a while, and then raised his hand to return it to its owner.
He said in a deep voice, "Keep it safe."
This unexpected development left Wu Fang somewhat stunned. He blankly replied with a "yes," and even his action of taking the jade was a beat slow.
Xiao Hanzhou did not leave immediately. Seeing that the person had accepted the jade, he continued to ask, "What are the customs of Yishui?"
Wu Fang was a little taken aback by this sudden question. After all, the patriarch was not the type to chat idly with people. He couldn't tell if the patriarch was angry that he hadn't focused on cultivation and had instead put his mind on these trivial matters.
But now that he'd been asked, he could only bite the bullet and answer, "Master, this jade is indeed a custom of Yishui. There's a widely circulated saying there: 'A jade of love is given to one's beloved.' In other places, the jade of love is also called mother-and-child jade, but the jade of love in Yishui is different from that in other places. It's mostly made of blood jade and decorated with ruyi patterns, signifying eternal love and good fortune, and is used as a token of love."
After Wu Fang finished speaking, he saw that the family head was still looking at him as if he wanted to hear more, and for a moment he was speechless. After all, he wasn't from Yishui either; these things were just hearsay, plus inquiries from others, hoping to win the favor of his beloved.
But seeing the patriarch looking at him like that, he couldn't just remain silent like a saw-through gourd, so he could only continue talking about other related things, "...The Qixi Festival in Yishui City is very famous, and people from other places often make a special trip there. On the Qixi Festival, people give a jade pendant to the person they admire, and if the other person wears it around their waist, it means they have agreed to be together..."
Xiao Hanzhou listened to his disciple's description and was slightly lost in thought. The blurry scene seemed to become clearer. There were shy young girls and young men expressing their love. However, because the master's mind was not on the surrounding environment back then, the scenes were hazy and not very clear. But there was indeed a scene of wearing the love jade around the waist.
Xiao Hanzhou subconsciously asked, "What if there's no connection?"
Only after seeing the confused expression on the disciple's face did he realize that if tying the knot meant "acceptance," then not tying the knot naturally meant "rejection."
Xiao Hanzhou felt a certain emotion welling up from the bottom of his heart, making him feel as if something was blocking his chest, and he even had difficulty breathing.
He finally said nothing more, waved his hand to indicate that the two disciples did not need to be reserved, and then left silently as he had come.
The two disciples who remained looked at each other for a while. After a short while, the younger disciple, who was obviously younger, couldn't contain himself and spoke first, "Is the patriarch in a good mood today?"
Wu Fang hesitated, "Perhaps?"
Otherwise, he wouldn't suddenly care about these mundane matters.
The two disciples on one side were starting to have doubts about the patriarch's sudden concern, but Xiao Hanzhou on the other side was in a much worse state. He hadn't even had time to return to his room; he had only just stepped out of the two disciples' sight when he stumbled. He reached out and grabbed the railing on the side, finally managing to steady himself against a wooden pillar.
The memories that suddenly became clear surged back, almost overwhelming him.
He had seen it before, he had seen this kind of concentric jade.
He could still clearly remember the pattern on the jade, so much so that the moment he saw the unfinished concentric jade, he knew what the complete pattern should look like.
That wasn't just a fleeting glimpse on the street; it was someone entrusting their heartfelt sentiments to the jade, carefully and solemnly handing it over to him.
...A-Yi.
That vague and ambiguous feeling finally found a definite definition, and he finally understood what he wanted.
Not just "friends", and more than just "friends".
He wanted to go further.
But how did he respond that time?
...At that time, he was worried about Jinliu's injuries.
Bai Jinliu was poisoned by fire in the secret realm. By the time he realized it, it was too late. The poison had invaded his dantian through his meridians and even entangled his spiritual root. While there were ways to cure both the meridians and the dantian, the damage to his spiritual root was a serious matter, and he might be unable to pursue the path of cultivation thereafter.
Xiao Hanzhou had heard about the Bai family's ethos back then, and it had only intensified in recent years. The direct line treated the illegitimate sons of the collateral branches as servants, using them at will. As an illegitimate son, Bai Jinliu's situation in the Bai family was difficult. He only managed to get by because of his outstanding talent, which made him even more diligent in his cultivation.
Xiao Hanzhou dared not imagine what would happen if the other party lost their cultivation.
He imagined Bai Jinliu waking from his coma, his face deathly pale, yet managing a forced smile as he asked, "Brother Xiao, tell me the truth... I..."
He didn't even dare to ask.
Xiao Hanzhou could only offer words of comfort and advice, but could only watch helplessly as the young man's eyes grew increasingly vacant.
He realized that the inability to cultivate was a bigger blow to Bai Jinliu than he had thought.
Fortunately, the medical practitioner who came to diagnose the problem suggested a solution—transferring spiritual roots, which involved transplanting someone else's spiritual roots into Bai Jinliu's body.
With a complete spiritual root, one can naturally continue cultivating.
Xiao Hanzhou naturally agreed. Even if it was just to repay the life-saving grace from back then, he was willing to exchange his spiritual root for Bai Jinliu.
However, their attributes were incompatible. Xiao Hanzhou had a single metal spiritual root and was a natural swordsman, while Bai Jinliu had dual water and wood spiritual roots, with the latter leaning more towards water. Therefore, even if he changed his spiritual root, it would have to lean towards the water attribute. Furthermore, because Bai Jinliu was poisoned by fire, even a normal water spiritual root wouldn't work; he would need a mutated water spiritual root—also known as an ice spiritual root.
Only those with spiritual roots are qualified to embark on the path of cultivation. These people are already one in ten thousand, and those with mutated spiritual roots are even more favored by the Heavenly Dao, being one in ten thousand of the ten thousand.
Xiao Hanzhou used almost all the resources at his disposal to search, but to no avail.
Mutant spirits are extremely rare; perhaps only one exists every few thousand years. How could they be so easy to find?
The mutated spiritual root could not be found, but Bai Jinliu could not wait any longer.
The corrosive effects of the fire poison continue. If this drags on any longer, it won't just be a matter of losing cultivation; it will be a matter of life and death.
Despite repeated urging from the medical staff, Xiao Hanzhou remained silent.
He actually knew someone with an ice spirit root.
—Ayi.
Xiao Hanzhou knew even more clearly that as long as he asked, the other party would agree immediately.
He thought again that A-Yi possessed the Daoist spirit, so even without spiritual roots, it wouldn't affect his cultivation.
As for the damage caused by losing his spiritual roots, he will compensate him a thousandfold.
...
Xiao Hanzhou thought about many things and came up with one reason after another, but he still couldn't bring himself to speak.
Wait, wait a little longer.
A Yi recently accepted a mission from the Loose Cultivator Alliance and is currently not in Tianhuan City. Jin Liu will be there for some time, so he might find another ice spirit root during this period.
Xiao Hanzhou was trying to convince himself of this, but unexpectedly, the other party returned at that very moment.
"Hanzhou, you gave me a piece of warm jade last time, and I haven't returned the favor yet. This time when I went to Yuyun Township, I got a piece of blood jade of excellent quality. On the way back, I had nothing to do, so I polished it a bit. Now it's finally presentable enough to give away."
Xiao Hanzhou was preoccupied with his own thoughts at the moment. He heard Ren Yi's words but didn't take them to heart. He casually replied, "No need. Between you and me, why bother with such formalities?"
Unexpectedly, Ren Yi responded with an unusually strong attitude: "We will take it back."
Xiao Hanzhou was taken aback.
Even though he was preoccupied with his own thoughts, Xiao Hanzhou still noticed the unusual attitude of Ren Yi. The other party rarely contradicted him so forcefully; most of the time, he went along with him.
He couldn't help but look up, only to meet a pair of burning eyes staring at him.
Those eyes were extremely beautiful, with slightly sunken inner corners and elongated outer corners, and the surrounding skin was flushed with a light red. When she looked at him steadily now, it seemed that her heart and eyes were only on him.
This wasn't the first time Xiao Hanzhou had been looked at like this, but his heart still skipped a beat, and he awkwardly looked away.
Ah Yi seems to be in a very good mood since he came back this time?
As Xiao Hanzhou thought about the gaze directed at him, his bright eyes seemed to hold fallen stars, brimming with anticipation.
He couldn't help but recall what the other person had just said.
Ah Yi, he probably really likes that piece of blood jade, right?
...
The memory abruptly stopped for a moment, and Xiao Hanzhou squeezed his eyes shut—
He didn't know.
At that time, he didn't know.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
