“If there’s anything you don’t understand, you can always come looking for me. My name is Hou Yunfei. Many thanks for taking care of Xiaomei for me.” Hou Yunfei smiled, clasped hands and bowed. Then he turned and walked away.
“Hou Yunfei?” Bai Xiaochun returned the bow and watched Hou Yunfei walking off. After a moment of thought, he recalled the face of a young woman.
“Hou Xiaomei!” he thought, blinking. He suddenly realized that he had struck it very lucky, as if he’d shoved a random stick into the ground only to have it grow into a lovely shady tree.
After a moment, he took a deep breath and then looked over at his courtyard residence. His eyes gleamed, and he stood tall and straight beneath the moonlight.
“Well, I guess becoming an Outer Sect disciple isn’t that bad after all!” Flicking his sleeve, he walked into the courtyard.
1. Zhang Dahai’s name in Chinese is 张大海 zhāng dà hǎi – Zhang is a common surname. Dahai means ocean or literally “big sea”
2. Chen Qingrou’s name in Chinese is 陈轻柔 chén qīng róu. Chen is a common surname. Qingrou means “soft” or “gentle.” This sounds like a very feminine name
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Chapter
15: Undying Live Forever Technique!
Moonlight flooded down onto Fragrant Cloud Peak of the Spirit Stream Sect, dispersing some of the mists that covered it, and causing the entire scene to be spectacularly beautiful.
About halfway down the east face of the mountain, at the end of a side path, was a courtyard residence. The courtyard itself was as large as a field, and was filled with the delicate fragrance of flowers and plants. The residence itself was a log cabin, complete with a desk and a bed inside, all of which were made from some sort of magenta-colored wood that let off a lovely, fragrant aroma. This place was far superior to anything in the servants’ district.
The field in the courtyard had been cleared, and was ready for planting. There was even a well in one corner. Bai Xiaochun looked around at the moonlit scene, and his eyes sparkled with satisfaction.
“Outer Sect disciples are official disciples of the Spirit Stream Sect, so naturally they get much better compensation than the servants. This residence really isn’t bad at all. Although, I remember Eldest Brother saying that Inner Sect disciples get to live in Immortal’s caves… I wonder what those are like.” Bai Xiaochun looked up toward the top of Fragrant Cloud Peak.
Only Inner Sect disciples qualified to live on the top half of the mountain.
After a while, he went back into the log cabin, where he stretched lazily and then took out his bag of holding. After patting it carefully, a bottle of medicinal pills appeared in front of him, as well as a green stick of incense.
“Wow, this thing is awesome,” he thought, rubbing the bag of holding fondly. After a moment, his eyes came to rest on the medicinal pill bottle and the green incense. The pill bottle had a label on it, upon which were written the words ‘Spirit Condensation.’ As for the incense, the words ‘Green Rising’ were carved on the side. He had received similar things when he had become a servant. Consuming such pills would increase his cultivation base, and inhaling the smoke from the burning incense stick would have a similar effect.
“Using them as-is would be a big waste. It would be much better to use spirit enhancement on them first. Maybe I could even use them to break through a bottleneck in my cultivation base.” After pondering the matter for a bit, he made his decision. However, he only had one-colored firewood on hand, so he decided to go down the mountain the following morning to get something better.
Having made his decision, he sat down cross-legged and began to meditate. When it came to his cultivation, he had never given up. Although his progress had slowed recently, he still spent time every day on it.
The whole purpose to practicing cultivation was to live forever, so of course he would stick to it.
The night passed uneventfully, and soon it was dawn. Sunlight poked through the mist, making it seem as if valuable treasures were descending. Bai Xiaochun had been cultivating all night. He opened his eyes, donned his Outer Sect disciple clothing, and then hurried out of his log cabin to find the Scripture Pavilion that Elder Brother Hou had mentioned the day before.
The Scripture Pavilion was some distance away from his own residence, on another side of the mountain. It took about an hour of walking before he saw a cluster of towering pagodas off in the distance. They radiated shimmering light, and sent pulsing pressure out in all directions.
He encountered quite a few other Outer Sect disciples, all of whom were hustling about busily. When they sensed that Bai Xiaochun was only at the third level of Qi Condensation, they completely ignored him.
Bai Xiaochun didn’t care, but considering that most of the disciples he encountered had cultivation bases far higher than his own, he proceeded cautiously. There were even a few he encountered whose cultivation bases were so high that they were unreadable. Those ones always had crowds of other disciples clustered around them, laughing and chatting with them as they walked along.
The closer he got to the Scripture Pavilion, the more disciples he saw. Just as he was about to enter the area of the building itself, a beam of light flew down toward the area from one of the distant mountain peaks. Within that beam of light, it was possible to see a young man standing on a flying disk, who circled around Fragrant Cloud Peak before flying back off into the distance.
“That’s Qian Dajin from the Court Hall! Elder Brother Qian!”
“Elder Brother Qian is an Inner Sect disciple, and also a member of the Court Hall. He’s famous! I heard that he’s in the great circle of the eighth level of Qi Condensation, and has access to temporary flight items. I’m so jealous!”
Bai Xiaochun also looked over jealously. After Qian Dajin disappeared, he sighed inwardly.
“One of these days, when I can fly, I’m going take time every day to fly in circles around Fragrant Cloud Peak!” Muttering to himself in anticipation, he began to push his way through the crowd toward the Scripture Pavilion.
The building was huge. The first floor was completely empty except for a long table. Behind the table, an old man sat there with his eyes closed in meditation. All the disciples who wanted to go past him would put their identity medallion onto the table. After it shone with glittering light, they would pass by respectfully.
Copying everyone else, Bai Xiaochun placed his identity medallion onto the table. It only took a moment for it to glitter, after which he picked it back up and followed the other disciples up the stairs to the second floor.
This floor was filled with numerous shelves, which were packed with jade slips or the occasional bamboo scroll. All of them shimmered with bright light, making the second floor of the Scripture Pavilion an extraordinary place.
Seeing another staircase further off, Bai Xiaochun looked around and then walked over. However, when he tried to step onto it, his foot bounced back.
A young man was sitting off to the side, with straight eyebrows and a bamboo scroll in his hand. When he sensed what was happening, he looked up at Bai Xiaochun.
Bai Xiaochun put on his most charming expression and then curiously asked the young man, “Elder Brother, what qualifications do you need to go up there?”
“What, are you new here?” the young man replied slowly. “You have to be at the fifth level of Qi Condensation to go up there.” With that, he continued to read the bamboo scroll.
Bai Xiaochun could tell the young man didn’t want to be disturbed. Forgetting about the third floor, he began to stroll around the second floor. Occasionally he would pick up a jade slip to examine, or look through some bamboo scrolls. He saw all sorts of different magical techniques, all of which seemed very exciting.