CHAPTER 13 - NAN ZHI
The whip wounds on Ling Xi's body took three entire months to heal completely. Herbs wouldn't work on them, neither did Xian incantations have any effect on them. As Ling Xi laid on her bed, looking up at the night sky which did not let in a single ray of daylight, she would always think of Feng Shu.
That year when she had been sentenced to fifty rounds of whipping, Feng Shu had taken double the whip sentence in place of her before he brought her out of the water prison. A total of one hundred whips, not only had he never shown any discomposure in front of her, after that he had never once brought it up again.
All she had taken was one whip, and just that one whip was already enough to get her bed-ridden for three months. Those one hundred whips that were on his body, exactly how long must it have taken before they had completely healed?
Qing Kui shixiong even said that he had been lockup up here at the Xu Wang Cliff for five hundred years before. Here, there was only an hour everyday which one could see sunlight. All sounds from the outside world had been barred out. If she didn't have the company of a Xian spirit, she probably would've caved in just staying here for five days. Those five hundred years, what did those days Feng Shu spent here look like?
Every time these thoughts passed Ling Xi's mind, she would feel suffocated, as if her heart was being grinded by pieces of crushed stone, leaving her with a fragmented, resonating pain. That pain ultimately became a breath of air that she held inside her chest. It was by this breath of air that she would continue her cultivation, as Feng Shu would've wanted, to stay on Cang Jia Shan and become Cang Yu's disciple.
Ling Xi had this feeling all along, that from the moment she had arrived on Cang Jia Shan, the amount of things she could carry inside of her head became more and more. Also it was no longer that difficult to remember certain things. The only exceptions giving her a hard time were certain Xian incantations and how to use them. She would be met with countless difficulties.
For this, her black Xian spirit would usually give her that cold expression of his, mixed in with a tinge of helplessness and disdain, before he demonstrated it for her to see. As time passed, Ling Xi finally realized there was something off.
“Shouldn't I be the one teaching you? How could you take my books?”
Ling Xi sat there on the bed, brows creased together. Back then, Feng Shu had her memorize many incantation books. At that time she was just deliberately memorizing the words but couldn't grasp the meaning yet, but at least she had managed to memorize some of them. Now that she is determined to actually learn them and also to be a good mentor to Xiao Hei, so that he isn't wasting away all that spiritual energy inside of him, she had written down everything she could remember and bound them into journals in case she forgot them in the future.
Hei Gongzi's gaze shifted slightly, and that journal flew out the window on its own just like that, very quickly it disappeared beyond Ling Xi's line of sight.
“You... you...” Ling Xi was mad, “You threw my book out the window again! You already learned them all?”
Hei Gongzi leaned against the door leisurely, his eyes closed.
“Shape Shift, Shadow Swap!”
As soon as the words came out of Ling Xi's mouth, Hei Gongzi had already 'shifted' to her side.
“Pear Blossoms Scatter!” Ling Xi shouted challengingly.
Hei Gongzi uttered an incantation, still with his eyes closed. Outside the window, a gust of pear blossoms rained down from the sky like snowflakes.
“Shrouded Sky, Shielded Sun!”
This time, Hei Gongzi opened his eyes, forming a sign with his hands, his lips moving slightly. The sun outside the window disappeared before her eyes, dark clouds rolled across the sky, which darkened by the second. Ling Xi who hated nighttime the most, hastily shouted out, “Clouds Disperse, Sun Emerge!”
A ripple of amusement surfaced inside Hei Gongzi's eyes. As soon as he put down his hands, the dark clouds dispersed and the sun came out again.
Ling Xi had known since a long time ago that this little black turtle's potential was very high. He also learned things quickly, but unlike those last few books which he pretty much learned all in one day, this particular book that she already felt was very very hard, he still managed to...
“Even if you already learned it, you still shouldn't throw books away!” Ling Xi was very upset. Sure, he had already learned it, but she still hadn't...
Hei Gongzi suddenly turned his head, his gaze locking onto her. As if knowing exactly what she was thinking inside her heart, he said “What you don't know, I can teach you.”
Ling Xi shot him a sulking glare, “I'm the master here!”
Hei Gongzi secretly swept a glance over her. In a blink of an eye though, he had already returned to his spot by the doorway. With his arms crossed and back leaning against the doorway, his eyes were closed as if basking in the sunlight. A rare smile was even sitting on that icy cold face of his.
Ling Xi silently stuck her tongue out at him. Every time he finished learning a book, he would pretend it wasn't anything spectacular. Sometimes she would even find him with that arrogant grin on his face, soundlessly taunting her. To have a master like her who can't surpass him any way; appearance, intelligence, or abilities; how inflated his ego must be!
“Xiao Hei...” Ling Xi climbed down from her bed, smiling mischievously as she came running over to him. Tiptoeing, she reached up to pet him on the head, “Since you're so smart, how come when I turned you into a little black turtle, you aren't able to change yourself back this whole time?”
Hei Gongzi had only managed to achieve an ethereal body, which one could see but couldn't touch. Ling Xi's hand was actually passing through his head as if passing through air, but that didn't affect her enthusiasm in petting his head.
Hei Gongzi's grin fell off his face. Ling Xi continued petting him on the head, the glee obvious in her words, “Hehe, could it be... you're actually very satisfied with your image as a little turtle?”
Hei Gongzi had reverted back to his usual cold, straight face. He sat himself down against the door frame, but not before sweeping a glance over her that was neither salty nor flavorless. Ling Xi followed suit, sitting down besides him, continuing, “Hehe,” She laughed, “Stop acting all bothered, in the future, I'll still call you Xiao Hei, or do you want to be called Little Turtle? Or keep it straightforward Little Black Turtle?”
Ling Xi knows that Hei Gongzi doesn't like it when she calls him “Xiao Hei” and hates it most when she reminds him of his turtle dilemma. As soon as she him gloating though, she can't help but pour cold water on him and smother out that arrogance of his.
As expected, Hei Gongzi's pale face darkened immediately. Ling Xi still wanted to continue, but before she could even open her mouth again, he had vanished as if a hole had opened up underneath him and swallowed him whole.
“So touchy!” Ling Xi didn't know whether she should be angry or laughing. Every time he gets mad, he would make himself disappear. In the past she would worry, afraid that he would be gone for good just like that. Afterwards she discovered that, no matter how fast or how thoroughly he disappears, when it comes time to eat, he would show up again with wild fruits, or when it's time to sleep, a big black bear would suddenly appear besides her.
Apparently he should be at least sixty years old, how come... he seems to like throwing tantrums even more than her?
Ling Xi got back on her feet, dusting her hands off. She decided that before the sky gets dark again, she would take a walk and look around.
Da Shixiong had once lived here for five hundred years. The little wooden house she was living in right now must've been built by him. The flowers and plants outside were probably also grown by him. Not too far away from the little wooden house, there was another house. That might've been Da Shixiong's library. Ling Xi had taken a quick glance inside before. There were indeed a lot of books and journals inside.
Those Xian incantations that she had memorized, her little black turtle had already learned them all. Perhaps in that house, she could find some more...
In that house filled with books, there were incantation books of all categories: metal, wood, water, fire, earth. There were also books pertaining to each major sect in the Xian realm, both their official and unofficial histories. Some she could recognize with one glance, were Da Shixiong's handwriting, others were possibly brought over from Cang Jia Shan.
Ling Xi had originally just wanted to choose an incantation book for her black Xian spirit, but consequently her eyes became entranced by the official and unofficial histories of the various sects. After reading a few pages, she realized that the Xian realm also had similarities with the mortal realm. For example, in the unofficial history books, it spoke of romances between Xian and Yao, unaccepted by the Xian realm. In the mortal realm, operas would sing of the highborn lady and the poor scholar's romance, frowned upon by the everyone alike. Or for example, in certain sects of the Xian realm, some cultivators would overlook morals and persecute their own tong-men kin, simply to elevate their own cultivation and standing within the sect. This was exactly like what Gege said to her before, that mortals would resort to foul methods in pursuit of riches and power too.
Whether it was the official histories or unofficial histories, they both stirred up Ling Xi's interest to an unexplainable height, especially if it were related to Cang Jia Shan. Loosely flipping through a couple books, Ling Xi finally realized, within the four major sects of the Xian realm, Cang Jia Shan is considered a young sect. From its beginning to present, not even fifty thousand years had passed. The only reason it was able to hold a prominent name in the Xian realm was because ten thousand years ago, from within Cang Jia Shan, rose a shang-Xian that had ascended into the heavens and became a god. However that shang-Xian...
Ling Xi had specially looked through a good many books related to Cang Jia Shan. Every one of them were coincidentally missing pages containing the records from ten thousand years ago. Information about that shang-Xian, it turns out, could only be glimpsed from between the lines of those unofficial histories, mentioned briefly as a short line of background. It was rumored that when he arrived at Cang Jia Shan, he was already twenty-some years of age, yet miraculously cultivated a Xian's body in a mere few years. In less than a hundred years, he had ascended from a Xian into a god. It was told that on the day of his ascension, the lingshu grasses of the Shen realm bloomed forth ten thousand snow lotuses....
All these vague and fleeting rumors, yet missing exact records, left Ling Xi even more curious.
Only one hour's time was too short. Inside the house, her surroundings quickly fell into darkness only leaving her with the faint purple glow of her bracelet. Ling Xi could only put down the books in her hands, but that mysterious shang-Xian continued to linger around in the back of her mind.
Blooming forth ten thousand snow lotuses, was he somewhat like her?
So many books here, why were they all missing the records from exactly ten thousand years ago?
If he happened to be such a amazing shang-Xian, then why is it that she couldn't even find a name?
Ling Xi was mulling over these contradictions, sitting here alone in front of the bookshelf frozen for a moment. When she finally came to, she sprung up in fright when she saw there was a person in front of her.
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