Chapter 57

In the winter mountain forest, Wei Shizhe was left alone again. The heartache had passed, but he did not feel relieved. In a sense, the poison had been forcing him to move forward step by step, never allowing him to slack off. Without such a relentless motivator, he felt a sense of loss.

Wei Shizhe shook his head, first putting the blood python's corpse into the Penglai bag, then waking up the blue wolf. The blue wolf had inhaled a small amount of poison mist and had been in a deep sleep for a long time. It was still somewhat listless, but Wei Shizhe took out a piece of the beauty python's flesh from the bag and fed it to the blue wolf.

After a while, the expected scene of the blue wolf inflating like a balloon and crashing into trees did not happen. It remained the same, drowsy and lethargic.

Wei Shizhe took another small piece of flesh, ignoring the blood, and swallowed it. Instantly, a warm current surged through his body, pure earth qi filling every pore. He involuntarily arched his back and slammed into a tree trunk with great force. The impact on his meridians and acupoints was intense, but he felt refreshed, roaring in pleasure.

Large clumps of snow fell from the branches, burying him in a snow pile.

Another heavy impact, and with a "crack," the tree trunk was broken. Wei Shizhe staggered out of the snow pile, steam rising from his body, looking quite disheveled.

"Damn it!" He wiped the remaining snow from his head and suddenly remembered Ruan Jing's words: "...To prove you have demon blood is easy. Birds are naturally able to fly, fish are naturally able to swim, and rats are naturally able to dig holes. This is called innate ability. Think about it, do you have any ability that ordinary people don't have?"

Wei Shizhe stood in the forest, lost in thought for a moment.

Ten days later, Zhang Jinghe found Wei Shizhe and told him to prepare. The next morning, he was to wait by the Crescent Moon Pond and accompany Wei Rongniang on an external training mission. As she spoke, her feelings were complex. Master Xun's insight was remarkable, discovering a pearl among the pebbles, while the disciple she valued, Hu Yong, turned out to be just a silver-tipped spear.

This group of trial disciples, because of Wei Shizhe and Xin Laoyao, the two "monsters," the others were more or less overlooked.

Wei Shizhe settled his junior sister, packed his bags, and prepared for the new journey. Qin Zhen had heard about this from him and was mentally prepared, but when it came time to part, she was still somewhat sad.

Seeing his junior sister in low spirits, Wei Shizhe tried to cheer her up with some idle talk. He mentioned the six great halls of Changying Temple: the main hall, the Three Pure Ones Hall, and the secondary hall, the Penglai Hall, which housed scriptures, elixirs, swords, and instruments. The other four halls were auxiliary: the Qingyang Hall for alchemy, the Zhuming Hall for ritual objects, the Baicang Hall for sword forging, and the Xuanying Hall for scripture study.

The temple master, Xi Huzi, personally oversaw the Three Pure Ones Hall, but he spent most of his time cultivating in his cave on Lotus Platform, not involving himself in secular affairs. The Three Pure Ones Hall was guarded in rotation by the Sword-Bearing Child and the Seal-Bearing Child, and Deng Shouyi and Fu Baoyuan's status had risen, implicitly considering themselves the master's disciples. The remaining five halls were each overseen by one of the master's five personal disciples. Xun Ye, the eldest disciple, oversaw the Penglai Hall and convened meetings on behalf of the master. Wei Rongniang oversaw the Qingyang Hall, Li Shaoyu the Zhuming Hall, Deng Yuan Tong the Baicang Hall, and Liu Baizi the Xuanying Hall. The term "oversee" was more of a nominal title, as each hall was also supervised by an elder from Xiandu, who could not act on their own.

The four stone rooms below Tiandu Peak were named after the last characters of Qingyang, Zhuming, Baicang, and Xuanying: Yang, Ming, Cang, and Ying. The Yang-numbered stone room was unoccupied due to a tragedy over thirty years ago. At that time, six trial disciples lived in the Yang-numbered stone room, one of whom was actually a demon in disguise. He killed all the trial disciples, ate their organs, and then killed his way to Immortal Cloud Peak. He was severely injured by Xi Huzi and fled into the Kunlun Mountains, never to be seen again. Since then, the Yang-numbered stone room has been sealed and left empty.

Qin Zhen held his arm, listening silently to his stories about Xiandu, occasionally saying "um" to show she was still listening.

Wei Shizhe thought for a moment and told her another story.

A long, long time ago, a man was wandering in a wilderness and was chased by a fierce elephant. The wanderer was panic-stricken and didn't know what to do. Fortunately, he saw an empty well with a tree beside it. The wanderer quickly grabbed the tree roots and climbed into the well to hide.

At this moment, two mice, one white and one black, started gnawing on the tree roots. On the four sides of the well, there were four venomous snakes, their tongues flicking out. Below the well, there was a poisonous dragon looking up.

The wanderer was afraid of the venomous snakes and the dragon, and worried that the tree roots would be gnawed through. He was in a dilemma, not knowing what to do. At this critical moment, five drops of honey fell from a beehive in the tree, landing precisely in the wanderer's mouth.

The wanderer instantly forgot all his fear and worry, savoring the sweet honey.

The story ended, and Qin Zhen's eyes sparkled. She asked him what the story meant.

Wei Shizhe said slowly, "Think about it when you have time. Keep it in mind. When I come back, I'll tell you the hidden meaning."

That night, they sat by the Crescent Moon Pond, bathed in moonlight and starlight, neither of them closing their eyes.