“It’s been over twenty years, and this is the first person bold enough to trespass on my mountain!”
“What do you think he was after?!”
“The spirit-stone mine is completely intact. Clearly, he wasn’t here to steal spirit stones. Besides, if he really wanted spirit stones, he wouldn’t have gone all the way to the mountaintop.”
Lou Chengfeng had spent the entire night puzzling over it, but still hadn’t come up with an answer.
Three chairs were lined up beside him, occupied in order by Liufeng Xin, Xiao Aiai, and Hong Chou.
Little Qiu kept bringing Lou Chengfeng cups of tea so he could soothe his throat.
Liufeng Xin held a handful of melon seeds and cracked one open with a click. “So nothing at all was missing from the house?”
“Nothing,” Lou Chengfeng replied. He had checked everything the night before.
Hong Chou bit into a piece of fruit and mumbled around it, “Wasn’t that person at the Great Perfection stage of the Dongxu realm? Someone with that kind of cultivation wouldn’t need to resort to petty theft, would he?”
The mention of it made Lou Chengfeng recall the way that person had departed so casually the night before, and his temper flared again. “If I were still at the Deity Transformation stage, I could crush some Dongxu Great Perfection cultivator with one hand!”
“Wow, so Uncle used to be a mighty Deity Transformation expert!” Liufeng Xin clapped enthusiastically, doing her best to flatter him.
Lou Chengfeng proudly lifted his chin. “That’s right. Don’t let my current cultivation at the early Dongxu stage fool you. Back in the day, I was a force to be reckoned with. No one of my generation could compare to me.”
“Then why did your cultivation regress?” Liufeng Xin asked curiously.
Lou Chengfeng choked. He immediately steered the conversation back on track. “That’s a story for another time! Today’s priority is figuring out that little thief’s objective and preventing this from happening again!”
Hong Chou picked up another piece of fruit. “I can’t imagine what a master like that would come here to steal.”
Xiao Aiai curved her eyes in a smile. “Perhaps… we should look at this from another angle. Maybe he wasn’t here to steal anything.”
Liufeng Xin spat out a melon-seed shell and casually added, “If he wasn’t here to steal things, could he have come to steal a person?”
Everyone else froze.
Liufeng Xin was just about to explain, but Lou Chengfeng suddenly slammed his hand down on the table.
“Of course! He came to steal a person!”
Liufeng Xin hurriedly waved her hands. “Hey, I was just saying it offhand.”
Lou Chengfeng raised a hand to silence her, his expression solemn. “No, you’re absolutely right.”
His heavy gaze swept over the three of them, and his voice rang out with righteous indignation. “I was looking at this all wrong last night. In the past, the most valuable things in our household were our treasures, but now—”
The three of them stared at him in silence, holding their breath.
Lou Chengfeng spread both hands, his expression aggrieved. “It’s you three! There are now three beautiful young ladies in this household. That little thief must have designs on your beauty!”
Liufeng Xin: “…”
Xiao Aiai: “…”
Only Hong Chou nodded with utmost seriousness. “That is quite possible. A lot of people used to sneak peeks at me while I was bathing.”
Liufeng Xin and Xiao Aiai exchanged a glance. Something about this didn’t seem right, but neither of them could put their finger on what.
After a moment, Liufeng Xin mused, “I didn’t notice anyone approaching. I was busy tinkering with medicinal ingredients all night.”
Xiao Aiai shook her head as well.
Hong Chou hadn’t noticed anything unusual either.
Liufeng Xin began cracking melon seeds again. “Forget it. I was only speaking offhand before, so it shouldn’t be taken seriously. Besides, even if he came to steal a person, that doesn’t necessarily mean he came to steal a woman.”
Those words struck Lou Chengfeng like a bolt of lightning.
Apart from the three beautiful young ladies, there was also his precious son!
Though he dressed like a man, he was still as graceful as a jade tree, with an appearance and bearing that stood head and shoulders above everyone else.
And when that thief had come the previous night, Lou Yue had indeed been bathing.
“Damn it!”
Lou Chengfeng roared.
“That thief came here to peek at Lou Yue while he was bathing!”
“What nonsense are you spouting?”
Lou Yue shoved open the door with a bang and snarled back at him.
Lou Chengfeng’s neck shrank, and his bravado instantly deflated by half.
Lou Yue glanced at the others.
Liufeng Xin sprang to her feet, picked up the plate of melon seeds, and walked away with her back turned, pretending to admire the scenery.
Hong Chou, meanwhile, grabbed Xiao Aiai by the wrist and began praising the bracelet she was wearing. Xiao Aiai immediately caught on and launched into a serious discussion about the finer points of choosing jewelry.
Little Qiu slipped away at once, carrying off the tea cups.
Lou Yue turned her gaze back to Lou Chengfeng.
Lou Chengfeng smiled sheepishly. “Son, did I wake you? Did you sleep well last night?”
Lou Yue said nothing, merely staring at him coldly.
Lou Chengfeng gave two dry laughs. “Ah, you wouldn’t know this, but your old man lay in wait on the northern slope last night and caught that thief. Unfortunately, the fellow was too slippery, and I let him get away.”
“But don’t worry. I repaired the gap I’d deliberately left in the formation overnight, and even added two more formations. There won’t be a next time.”
“If that thief dares come again, I’ll make sure he arrives standing and leaves horizontally!”
After a pause, he corrected himself. “No, I’ll make sure he doesn’t even get the chance to come in horizontally.”
Lou Yue didn’t want to argue with him about any of that and got straight to the point. “I’m going out today. Lend me your flying beast.”
“What? Where are you going? When will you be back? You just came back, so why are you leaving again? Son, can’t you stay home? It’s dangerous for a man to spend the night outside alone.”
Lou Chengfeng immediately launched into a barrage of questions.
Lou Yue looked at the face before her—so similar to her modern-world father’s, even down to the same endless stream of nagging—and patiently replied, “I’ll be back before dark.”
“Why don’t I go with you?”
Lou Yue shot him a sidelong glance, her tone flat. “Say one more word and I won’t come back.”
“All right, all right, I won’t say anything.” Lou Chengfeng surrendered at once.
Lou Yue didn’t even bring Xuanba along. After saying goodbye to Liufeng Xin, Xiao Aiai, and Hong Chou, she went down the mountain, leaving behind a group of curious onlookers.
Once she left, however, she began coming and going at dawn and returning late at night for several days in a row.
Then, more than ten days later, Liufeng Xin—who had been holding back for days—got up early and stopped her. “You’ve been running off every day. What exactly have you been doing? Don’t even think about brushing me off!”
Lou Yue yawned. She glanced at the person who had barged into her room first thing in the morning, then lay back down on the bed. Her tone was languid. “Looking for that blasted divine temple.”
“The divine temple?” Liufeng Xin froze for a moment before finally realizing what she meant. “The place where Long Aotian and Hong Chou dual-cultivated in the book?!”
She hurriedly sat down on the bed and leaned closer. “Did you find it?”
Lou Yue answered with a lazy hum.
Liufeng Xin grew animated. She lowered her voice, though the excitement in it was impossible to suppress. “What are you planning to do?”
Lou Yue lifted her eyelids slightly. “Why are you so excited?”
Liufeng Xin ignored the teasing, practically vibrating with impatience. “Hurry up and tell me. What are you going to do?”
“Pick someone up, obviously. What else would I do?” Lou Yue gave her a sidelong look.
“And then? And then?”
Lou Yue stared at her in confusion. “Then I’ll bring him back for you to treat.”
“…”
Liufeng Xin looked utterly speechless as she reminded her best friend, “I’m not a physician. I’m an alchemist.”
“Same general field.”
“No, girl, I really can’t treat him. Even a physician couldn’t.” Liufeng Xin’s expression turned serious. “According to the book, his spiritual energy is running wild. The most direct and effective method is to release it—to find some way to help him drain the spiritual energy from his body. Pills can only do so much.”
Lou Yue propped herself up slightly and leaned against the headboard. “For example?”
“For example, dual cultivation.” Liufeng Xin smiled suggestively. “Isn’t that how Hong Chou saved him in the book?”
Lou Yue scowled. “Give me another option.”
Lou Yue dipped her chin and thought it over seriously for a moment. “In theory, spirit transfer could work too. It wouldn’t be as thorough as dual cultivation, but you could draw the spiritual energy from his body into your own and then disperse it yourself. That would count as a way of releasing it.”
“But this method is most effective if used as early as possible. Once the spiritual energy goes berserk, that vicious aura becomes completely uncontrollable. Recklessly drawing it into your own meridians would be extremely dangerous, and by then, you might not even be able to draw it out successfully.”
Lou Yue nodded, then asked, “Is there any other way?”
Liufeng Xin shook her head. “If it were that easy to solve, Long Aotian wouldn’t have been driven to the brink of death in the first place.”
Seeing Lou Yue fall silent in thought, Liufeng Xin suddenly flashed a mischievous smile and leaned closer. “I’m saying, you’re being awfully good to him lately. You’ve even thought of a way to save him in advance... You don’t happen to have feelings for him, do you?”
Lou Yue gave her a cool sidelong glance. “I treat you better than I treat him. Does that mean I have even stronger feelings for you?”
“Huh?”
“I’m going to cultivate. I need to make up for the days I missed recently.”
“Oh.”
As usual, Liufeng Xin responded instinctively and obediently got up to leave.
It was only after she had walked back to her room that she smacked her forehead.
How could treating her well and treating Xiao Rangchen well possibly be compared?!
The feelings between the two of them were sisterly affection. But what was it between Lou Yue and Xiao Rangchen?
They were a man and a woman, and the man even liked her. Even if they called it friendship, it couldn’t exactly be considered pure, could it?
Liufeng Xin stood where she was, her eyes widening and brightening.
After such a long time, she had finally caught the scent of gossip again.
At that moment, Lou Yue had indeed already entered a state of cultivation.
She had set up concealed formations both inside and around the abandoned temple. As long as Xiao Rangchen came within fifty li of the place, she would sense him immediately.
The journey here from the temple was even shorter than the trip from Heyu City, so she had more than enough time.
Xiao Rangchen’s cultivation speed had been far faster than she had expected. If she didn’t hurry, her advantage in reaching the inheritance first would disappear.
She absolutely refused to lose to him. Hmph.
It was just that after reaching the Deity Transformation stage, advancing one’s cultivation became exceedingly difficult. Otherwise, the highest cultivation level in this world would not still be the peak of the Deity Transformation stage.
Lou Yue decided to enter seclusion immediately and ordered Lou Chengfeng not to disturb her.
Lou Chengfeng let out another long, mournful sigh.
After finally coming home, she hadn’t spent any time chatting with her old father. Instead, she had plunged straight into cultivation and had even forgotten the memorial date he had set.
Come to think of it, what day had he told Little Qiu the memorial date would be?
Lou Chengfeng thought for quite a while, but couldn’t remember at all. So, in an act of thoroughly considerate planning, he simply informed Little Qiu, Xiao Aiai, and the others, “The madam’s memorial ceremony will be postponed until Qingming, half a month from now.”
Little Qiu, Xiao Aiai, Liufeng Xin, and Hong Chou fell silent on the spot.
A memorial ceremony... could it really be postponed just like that?
Could this even be a real memorial ceremony?
Still, the dead were to be respected, so none of them asked any further questions. They simply nodded in silence.
Three days later, deep in the night, Lou Yue suddenly opened her eyes from her meditation.
An indescribable feeling made it impossible for her to concentrate.
Had she been too eager for quick results in her cultivation lately?
She rose from the bed and walked outside.
Perhaps because the spirit stone mine was so rich in spiritual energy, the night sky atop the mountain was clear as though it had been washed clean, and even the breeze carried a hint of purity.
With a light tap of her toes, Lou Yue leapt onto the stone stele engraved with the words “Good Things Are Brewing” and sat down calmly.
From this angle, the night sky looked astonishingly vast. It was exceptionally beautiful—so beautiful that it even seemed somewhat familiar.
Bracing herself against the cold stone with both hands, Lou Yue tilted her head back and closed her eyes. She let the night breeze brush across her cheeks, trying to soothe her troubled mind.
But after a long while, instead of settling down, her thoughts grew even more restless.
It was as though something important was slowly slipping beyond her control somewhere she could not see.
A powerful, inexplicable urge to visit the abandoned temple suddenly welled up inside her.
She had set up formations there. If Xiao Rangchen approached, she would know. Besides, he shouldn’t have been able to undergo his tribulation so soon.
Reason told her again and again that there was no need to make the trip.
But the unease lingering in her heart still kept her from calming down.
Lou Yue stood.
She might as well make the trip. It would be better than overthinking things here and tormenting herself for no reason.
She leapt from the stone stele.
At the sound of her whistle, a flying beast shot out from the forest and caught her securely.
Lou Yue placed one hand on its head. “East!”
The flying beast beat its wings, cleaving through the night sky as it sped toward the abandoned temple.
Everything around the temple was peaceful, without the slightest disturbance.
For some reason, Lou Yue felt relieved. She mounted the flying beast and began to return. But just after they rose into the air, she suddenly turned her head and looked toward the eastern horizon, shrouded beneath the boundless night.
The darkness there was thick as ink, and heavy clouds and mist hung low. At a glance, it looked no different from any ordinary night.
But although her cultivation was restricted in her current male body, her senses were still as keen as those of someone in the Deity Transformation stage.
And at that moment, she detected a familiar aura—the aura of a lightning tribulation.
“Go east!”
Lou Yue’s low command rang out.
Hearing it, the flying beast immediately turned in midair and rapidly flew east, away from Qiqing Mountain.
