Chapter 29

In the Ten Thousand Spirits Cave, Amu only exchanged for two bronze-level spirit coins, which was equivalent to two hundred spirit stones. However, this was enough for him to use for some time. He put one hundred and fifty of them into the Qiankun如意 Bracelet as a reserve, and left the rest for Lishui.

Although Lishui did not want to take them, Amu insisted, saying it was for improving their meals, and so Lishui had to accept them.

The night passed without incident.

From the next day on, Amu began to cultivate alone in the Luo Yun Cliff’s Heavenly Numbered Cave. In a blink, seven days had passed, and he felt no discomfort at all, indicating that he had been thoroughly recognized by the Heavenly Numbered Cave.

During this period, Tieyun visited once. Seeing that Amu was doing well, he was naturally pleased and informed Han Qianli.

After that, the news that Amu could cultivate in the Luo Yun Cliff’s Heavenly Numbered Cave spread throughout the entire Northern Cold Sect.

Everyone in the Northern Cold Sect was waiting for Amu to nurture a celestial root. Such a once-in-a-millennium talent would surely bring great prestige to the Northern Cold Sect in the future.

If one could nurture a celestial root in three to four months, their cultivation level would at least reach the Soul Cultivation Realm.

Soul-level experts were rare and hard to come by. The Northern Cold Sect had not seen such an expert for three to four thousand years.

In the blink of an eye, another half a month passed, and Amu had been in the Northern Cold Sect for nearly a month. The days were relatively peaceful, with cultivation being the only focus.

Twenty-seven days of cultivation in the Heavenly Numbered Cave greatly benefited Amu. The spiritual energy in his dantian had completed the manifestation stage and was gradually forming into a root shape.

When he looked inward, Amu could faintly see a flame-like spiritual energy swaying in his dantian.

Manifestation, root shape, solidification, and grading were the stages of nurturing a celestial root.

Ordinary disciples usually took about a year and a half to complete the manifestation stage and enter the root shape stage, but Amu reached this stage in just one month.

One reason was that Amu’s celestial bone was partially formed, and the other was that the spiritual energy in the Heavenly Numbered Cave was abundant like the sea. The combination of these two factors made Amu’s speed not surprising.

However, there was one aspect where Amu was somewhat different.

According to the *Root Nurturing Technique*, due to the different constitutions of cultivators, the color and quality of the celestial roots they nurtured would also differ. Most spirit roots were of the five elements colors: white, green, blue, red, purple, yellow, blue, and black. There were also some special spirit roots that appeared light gold, but such roots were extremely rare.

Generally, the purer the color of a celestial root, the higher its grade. Conversely, if the color was mixed, the grade would be lower.

Amu felt that his current spiritual energy manifestation seemed to be a black water-type celestial root, but it was slightly dark, and he could not see it clearly.

However, everything else was fine, and Amu did not pay much attention to it.

Occasionally, Amu would take out the black vine from his body, thinking of his master and Yu'er, wondering how his master’s journey to the northern country was going.

Every time he thought about this, Amu wished he could immediately nurture a celestial root, learn the techniques, and go down the mountain. However, he could only think about it, as he was still far from that goal.

During these days, Amu occasionally met other disciples who were also cultivating on the Luo Yun Cliff, but they were all beginners, as the advanced disciples rarely left their seclusion.

These people were quite friendly to Amu, addressing him as junior brother and being very close.

Amu also made a few friends, such as Feng Tian from the Sunset Peak, He Shaoqing from the Southern Peak, and Han Yucheng from the Thousand Cloud Cave, all of whom were at the eighth stage of beginner cultivation.

Their strength was far beyond what a cultivation child like Amu could match, but they still befriended him because of his potential.

One day, just like any other, Amu finished his cultivation and rode the Heavenly Profound Flying Disc back to his small courtyard on the back mountain.

Lishui had been waiting early, preparing the meal.

"Senior Brother Lishui, thank you for your hard work!" Amu smiled as he landed in the courtyard.

"Welcome back, Amu!" Lishui replied.

Since becoming friends with Amu, although Lishui did not change his shy and timid nature, he had become more outgoing and occasionally joked with Amu and shared interesting stories.

However, today Amu felt that Lishui seemed somewhat different, as if he had something on his mind.

"Senior Brother Lishui, what's wrong?" Amu asked.

"Nothing!" Lishui said, but he seemed somewhat distracted.

"Did someone bully you?" Seeing Lishui’s appearance, Amu’s first thought was this, and he couldn’t help but frown.

"No, no one bullies me now!" Lishui smiled bitterly.

Indeed, no one bullied Lishui anymore, as most of the disciples in the Northern Cold Sect’s eight veins knew that Lishui was the brother of the future sect leader’s direct disciple, and no one wanted to run afoul of him.

"Since nothing is wrong, why do you look so worried?" Amu relaxed when he heard it wasn’t that.

"Uh? I... I have a... friend... whose grandfather is sick!" Lishui, seeing Amu’s persistent questioning, stammered and blushed.

"Friend?" This was the first time Amu heard that Lishui had friends besides himself. "What kind of friend? Senior Brother Lishui, why are you so nervous?"

This question made Lishui’s face even redder, and his eyes darted around. He only said, "A friend... from the mountains below!"

"A friend from the mountains below?" Amu frowned, thinking, "Having a friend is normal, but Senior Brother Lishui’s expression is a bit strange!"

"Hmm? No, it’s not right!" Amu frowned, looked at Lishui, and then said with a half-smile, "Senior Brother Lishui, is your friend a girl?"

"Hmm? Amu, how did you know?" Lishui was surprised.

"Ha ha!" Amu laughed. "Senior Brother Lishui, anyone could guess from your expression! It’s not just a regular friend, right?"

Saying this, Amu winked at Lishui.

"Cough, cough! We... we are... regular friends, regular friends!" Lishui stammered.

Sigh! No one would believe Lishui’s words.

However, Amu knew that Lishui was shy, so he decided not to press further.

"Senior Brother Lishui, is your regular friend’s grandfather very ill?" Amu deliberately emphasized the word "regular."

"Yes! He’s over eighty, and it doesn’t look good. I went down the mountain two months ago to visit them. At that time, he was already not well. This morning, I heard from the disciples who went down the mountain that he seems to be very ill." Mentioning his regular friend’s grandfather’s illness, Lishui seemed quite concerned and did not pay attention to Amu’s teasing.

Seeing Lishui’s serious expression, Amu also put aside his playful mood and said, "Senior Brother Lishui, what do you plan to do?"

"Actually, I want to go down the mountain to see him!" Lishui frowned slightly, as if he had some reservations.

"Hmm!" Amu nodded and looked at Lishui. "Senior Brother Lishui, do you lack gold, silver, or spirit stones?"

Seeing Lishui still looking worried, Amu thought Lishui might be lacking these things.

"I lack nothing. The spirit stones you gave me, except for the one I had to turn in, I haven’t used any. These spirit stones are enough for most things in the secular world." Lishui said.

"If you lack nothing, why are you still hesitant to go down the mountain?" Amu was puzzled.

"Amu, you know that the Northern Cold Sect’s rules do not allow cultivation children to go down the mountain casually. Moreover, the place I want to go is quite far, and it might take ten to fifteen days to go and return. Who will take care of you if I leave?" Lishui sighed.

"Who will take care of me?" Hearing Lishui’s words, Amu found Lishui’s thoughts amusing but was also touched.

"Senior Brother Lishui, you go ahead, I’ll be fine on my own!"

"No, it’s too long. Even if I arrange everything for you, Uncle Tieyun might not agree to let me go down the mountain!" Lishui said.

"Senior Brother Lishui, where does your friend live? Is it far?" Amu suddenly asked.

"A thousand miles away, with rugged mountain paths, almost to the eastern border of our Northern Cold Sect." Lishui frowned.

"Oh!" Amu smiled. "Senior Brother Lishui, how about this! I’ll go down the mountain with you tomorrow!"

"You and I go together? That’s not possible! It will delay your cultivation!" Lishui shook his head.

"Cultivation is not something that can be achieved in a day. If we go together, riding the Heavenly Profound Flying Disc, a thousand miles can be covered in a day, and we can make several round trips. All problems will be solved, and you won’t have to climb the mountain paths." Amu smiled.

"Will Uncle Tieyun agree?" Amu going with him would be great, but Lishui was still worried.

"Don’t worry, I’ll talk to Brother Tieyun tomorrow! There won’t be any problem." Amu smiled.

Since Amu was going to speak up, Tieyun would likely agree.

With the problem solved, Lishui’s worried expression faded, and he felt warm inside. "Junior Brother Amu, thank you!"

Seeing Lishui’s serious tone, Amu smiled. "Senior Brother Lishui, we’re brothers, no need to be so formal! We share the good times! I also want to meet your regular friend!"

Ha ha, Amu laughed and opened the basket of food Lishui had brought, and the aroma of the meal filled the room.

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