Chapter 10: Star Concealing Grass
The three things Xiao Che mentioned caused Xia Qingyue's phoenix eyes, which had been slightly closed, to abruptly open. "What do you intend to do?"
"Could it be that you actually have a way to obtain them?" Seeing that Xia Qingyue hadn't outright rejected him, Xiao Che immediately asked with hopeful anticipation.
Xia Qingyue's brow furrowed slightly as she said slowly, "I've never heard of the Seven-Profound Exquisite Grass. An Earth Profound Beast's Profound Pill can only be obtained by hunting and killing an Earth Profound Beast. How many people in the entire Cang Feng Empire are capable of that? Even if the Bing Yun Fairy Palace has one, it would surely be as rare as a unicorn's horn. As for a Purple Vein Heavenly Crystal, no amount of money can buy it. It's a heaven-and-earth supreme treasure that would drive the Four Great Sects wild with desire! Obtaining one is worth more than a dozen years of bitter cultivation. These three items — not even I, nor even the Palace Master, could possibly obtain them all at once."
Xiao Che's chest heaved heavily, then he closed his eyes and remained silent for a long time.
"What exactly do you need these three things for?" Xia Qingyue took the initiative to ask.
"To repair my Profound Veins," Xiao Che answered truthfully.
"...I can't help you," Xia Qingyue said. At the same time, she didn't really believe that these three items could repair Profound Veins. Otherwise, her master would definitely know.
Xiao Che shook his head indifferently. "These three things are indeed not something an ordinary person can get their hands on. I was just asking casually." He paused, then lowered his voice a few notches. "Wife, you said once you return to the Bing Yun Fairy Palace, will we ever see each other again?"
"Don't call me wife anymore! My name is Xia Qingyue!" Xia Qingyue had reached her limit, and her voice dropped at least eight degrees in coldness.
Xiao Che, however, didn't care at all. He said leisurely, "I married you, and you married me. We bowed to heaven and earth with a thousand witnesses. All the proper procedures were completed. Now I am your husband, and you are my wife. If I don't call you 'wife,' what should I call you?"
"..." Xia Qingyue was momentarily speechless. After a long while, she said coldly, "Fine, suit yourself."
Xiao Che's mouth immediately split into a grin... This wife couldn't be touched or messed with, but he could still get some verbal advantage!
"You haven't answered my question yet... After you return to the Bing Yun Fairy Palace, will we ever meet again?" Xiao Che asked again.
"No," Xia Qingyue replied.
"Good enough!" Xiao Che nodded, then leaned his head against the wall behind him, closed his eyes, and said, "Actually, you should have returned to the Bing Yun Fairy Palace long ago without worrying about me. With your talent, you never should have stayed in this tiny Liuyun City, let alone be tied down by me. After you leave, with your identity made public and the halo of being the husband of a Bing Yun Fairy Palace disciple, at least in this Liuyun City, no one should dare to harm me openly. I'll be able to live more peacefully because of it... Oh, right, you wouldn't object to me taking a concubine, would you?"
"...As you wish," Xia Qingyue said expressionlessly.
"Mm, that's more like it. Otherwise, if you never see me again in this life and won't let me take a concubine, I'd really have to divorce you."
Even with Xia Qingyue's calm heart, at this moment she felt a strong urge to kick him out.
Just then, she saw Xiao Che stand up and walk toward the door, so she asked, "Where are you going?"
"Can't sleep. Going out to look at the stars," Xiao Che replied, while groaning inwardly... Woman, you're squatting here half the night — let's see if you can sleep!
Xia Qingyue said no more. Xiao Che pushed open the door and went outside.
It was midnight, and all was silent. Standing in the middle of the courtyard, Xiao Che looked up at the star-filled sky. Though his gaze remained resolute, deep within it lay a lingering, inescapable confusion.
Today was the first day of his rebirth. Although his mentality had undergone a earth-shattering change compared to the past, his crippled Profound Veins meant that no matter how strong his mindset, he could find no way out of his current predicament.
If he could obtain the Seven-Profound Exquisite Grass, a Purple Vein Heavenly Crystal, and an Earth Profound Beast's Profound Pill, he would have more than a fifty percent chance of repairing his Profound Veins. But with his current abilities, obtaining even one of these three items was harder than ascending to heaven.
In the end, this world respected strength above all else. Without sufficient power, realizing one's desires was nothing but empty talk.
What should I do...
At that moment, a faint tremor came from Xiao Che's left palm. He instinctively raised his left hand and saw that the faint glow emitted by the Heavenly Poison Pearl pattern on his palm was flickering at a fairly rapid frequency.
Xiao Che's pupils contracted slightly. He suddenly turned and looked north.
"Could it be..."
The Heavenly Poison Pearl possessed not only terrifying poison power and a formidable refining ability, but also a special capability — the ability to sense high-grade poisonous or medicinal materials! When there was a high-grade poison or medicinal material within a certain range around it, it would detect it, flash with light, and point toward the target's location... but only if the material was of the highest grade! At the level of the Heavenly Poison Pearl, what it considered "high-grade" was not the same as what humans considered high-grade. In the Cang Yun Continent, he had only seen the Heavenly Poison Pearl flash six times, and each time, what he found was a world-shaking treasure!
On the very first day of returning to Tian Xuan Continent, the Heavenly Poison Pearl actually gave such a reaction! What kind of extraordinary treasure could be hidden nearby?
The direction the Heavenly Poison Pearl pointed to was north... which was the direction of the back mountain of the Xiao Sect.
Although Xiao Che had his own courtyard, its location was the most remote and arguably the most dangerous in the entire Xiao Sect. That was because climbing over the courtyard wall led directly to the back mountain. This back mountain was private land of the Xiao Sect, where a few low-level profound beasts roamed, and occasionally a beast would climb over the wall and break in. Furthermore, if someone wanted to infiltrate the Xiao Sect, entering through the back mountain here was also a pretty good option. However, given the Xiao Sect's power in Liuyun City, no one had done so up to this day.
Without hesitation, Xiao Che climbed directly over the wall. Although his power at the first level of Initial Xuan Realm was very weak, climbing a wall less than three meters high was no problem.
The back mountain area was quiet and eerie. The previous Xiao Che would never have dared to come here in the middle of the night. But tonight, the bright moon hung high and countless stars shone, so the light wasn't too dim. Xiao Che looked around, confirmed no one was there, lightened his steps, and walked in the direction the Heavenly Poison Pearl indicated.
Under the moonlight, the mountain range seemed shrouded in a thin layer of mist — mysterious and dangerous. Before long, Xiao Che had arrived at the foot of the mountain. Right here, the flickering frequency of the Heavenly Poison Pearl reached its peak. Xiao Che stopped, feeling quite puzzled... Could it be around here? But this was clearly the base of the mountain, a place the alchemists of the Xiao Sect passed by every day. If something were growing here, even if it weren't a heaven-and-earth rare treasure, even a slightly good medicinal herb would have been discovered long ago. How could it be left for him to pick?
But the fact that the Heavenly Poison Pearl's flickering had reached this frequency meant the target was within ten steps of his current position.
Under the clear moonlight, Xiao Che furrowed his brow and slowly began to scan his gaze, carefully examining every inch of the surrounding ground.
Generally speaking, the more precious a medicinal herb, the more likely it would grow in steep or extreme locations. This area at the mountain's base was covered in weeds as far as the eye could see. Xiao Che couldn't help but wonder if the Heavenly Poison Pearl's detection was malfunctioning.
After scanning a small circle, he found nothing but weeds — not even the most common medicinal herb. Just as he was about to give up, the corner of his eye caught a vague, blurry change in a certain spot.
Xiao Che's spiritual perception was now extremely sharp. He quickly raised his head and immediately looked toward the direction where that sense of disharmony had appeared. There was also a patch of weeds there, and because it grew at the edge of a rock, it hadn't been trampled. Xiao Che walked over, crouched beside the rock, and stared at the weeds. After a long while, he fixed his gaze on a spot in the middle of the weed patch... Weeds had tenacious vitality; without interference, they would grow everywhere and take root in any crevice. But right in the middle of this patch of weeds that had clearly never been stepped on, there was a gap. The gap was very small — at most enough to accommodate two small blades of grass — but its presence there was unusually conspicuous.
A night breeze slowly brushed past, and the weeds beside him swayed slightly. At that moment, at the "gap" where Xiao Che's gaze had been locked, two images of small grasses suddenly, eerily appeared... They flashed into existence, then vanished without a trace.
Xiao Che's eyes flew wide open, and then they were filled with wild joy. He quickly extended his left hand, bringing the Heavenly Poison Pearl in his palm close to the gap. Under the faint green light, two "small grasses" slowly materialized. They were about two fingers tall, dark green all over, and didn't look any different from the surrounding weeds.
"Star Concealing Grass! It really is Star Concealing Grass! And two of them!" Xiao Che let out a low, excited roar. He reached out with his left hand, and with a flash of light from the Heavenly Poison Pearl, the two Star Concealing Grasses were uprooted and entered Xiao Che's palm.
The higher the grade of a medicinal herb, the more difficult it was to harvest. The slightest mistake could damage the herb — at best reducing its efficacy, at worst rendering it completely useless. But with the Heavenly Poison Pearl, there was no need for such concerns. No matter what he harvested, the Heavenly Poison Pearl's aura would completely envelop the target at the moment of plucking, preventing even a trace of its spiritual energy from leaking out.
"Rather than a surprise, this is a miracle!" Looking at the two Star Concealing Grasses that were faintly visible in his palm, Xiao Che's arms trembled with excitement. In his twenty-four years on the Cang Yun Continent, he had traveled almost everywhere and had only ever found a single Star Concealing Grass. Yet on his very first day back on the Tian Xuan Continent, he had found two at once! And right in his own back mountain!
The appearance of Star Concealing Grass was virtually identical to ordinary weeds, making it almost impossible to notice. Additionally, it possessed an incredibly bizarre ability... invisibility! This made it even harder to discover. However, as his master had once told him, although Star Concealing Grass was a heaven-and-earth rare treasure, very few people knew of its existence. No more than five people across the entire continent could identify it, and the only one in the world who could fully refine it was the Heavenly Poison Pearl!
"Heaven helps me! With these two Star Concealing Grasses, I have two foolproof trump cards! After refining them into Star Concealing Pills, I can save my life, ambush others, steal wealth, have my way with women, kill people, and take their goods... I can do practically anything I want!" Gripping the Star Concealing Grasses tightly, Xiao Che transmitted them into the space of the Heavenly Poison Pearl and smiled to himself.
The flickering of the Heavenly Poison Pearl had completely stopped by now. With his mood greatly improved, Xiao Che had no reason to stay any longer. He turned to head back, but as he turned, the corner of his eye caught a fleeting, abnormal cold light.
Xiao Che's about-to-step foot paused. He turned his head toward the direction of that cold light. Under the not-too-dim moonlight, he suddenly saw, less than fifty meters to the north, a blurry, indistinct white shadow.
What was that?
[I've seen so many tips and so many monthly tickets — I'm at a complete loss for words... Thank you all for your selfless support. A thousand words converge into one sentence — you guys are too fierce! ... Can you be even fiercer?!]