A week later at Green Serenity Courtyard, it happened for Sister Qing. She stiffened. A shiver ran through her, leaving her feel clear and weightless. And just like that, the Foot Yang Bright ridian she’d been battering at for years finally gave way and opened up.
With the Foot Greater Yang, Foot Lesser Yang, and now Foot Yang Bright ridians all flowing freely, it ant only one thing: she had stepped into the second layer of Qi Refinent. From today on, she was no longer just a martial artist... she was officially a cultivator.
Yes, it was only the early Qi Refinent stage, but those first three ridians she’d cleared were the ones with the most acupoints. That's half of all twelve ridians combined.
Sister Qing was so happy she couldn’t hold it in. Tears rolled down her cheeks and plopped onto Liu Xiaolou’s chest one after another. It took her a long while to calm the storm inside her heart. Finally, she let out a long breath and said, voice still shaky, “I’m almost forty. I really thought this was it for , that my life would just stay ordinary forever. Never dread I’d actually get to step onto the path of cultivation one day. I don’t want anything else… I’m already content.”
Liu Xiaolou grinned. “Now that you’ve stepped onto the path of cultivation, Sister Qing, you’ll live to a hundred.”
Sister Qing let out a soft sigh. “Live to a hundred? I don’t care about that. What really scares is two years from now, my face wrinkling up, my hair turning white, my voice going raspy... ending up like Mama Zhang across the street. I’d rather throw myself into the river than end up like that! But now things are different. With this face and this body… looks like I’ve got at least another ten good years in .”
“Living to a hundred? Doesn’t even matter to ,” Sister Qing murmured softly. “What I was scared of was waking up in a couple years with wrinkles all over my face, gray hair, that croaky old-lady voice like Mama Zhang across the street... I’d rather drown myself in the river than let that happen. But now? Look at . This face, this body… hell, I could probably keep it just like this for another ten years at least...”
Mama Zhang from the Red Jade Courtyard was just like Sister Qing. Both once courtesans from Wuchao Town, both forr town beauties in their day. But Mama Zhang never trained in martial arts. Never cultivated, so by the ti she was not even forty, she was already looking worn-out. She was only about ten years older than Sister Qing, yet now she looked like a bent-over granny. No comparison at all.
Liu Xiaolou said, “Wait till I grab you so spiritual pills. Forget ten years, this face and body of yours will stay exactly like this for twenty, thirty years, no problem. Only thing is, if Mama Zhang catches sight of you looking twenty-five when she’s pushing seventy, she might hurl herself off the roof in a jealous rage. Guess we’ll have to figure out a way to stop her… can’t let the old hotown girl kill herself over it...”
They joked around for a bit. Then Sister Qing rolled out of bed, slipped on a robe, and started knotting the crimson sash around her waist. She glanced back at him. “Xiaolou, are you still heading to the black market tonight?”
Liu Xiaolou lay back with his arms behind his head, watching as she rested one foot on the edge of the bed. “Sister Qing, have you been training all along? Your legs are looking strong…”
Balancing on one leg, Sister Qing traced the tip of her bare foot slowly from Liu Xiaolou’s chest down to his ankle. “My family’s martial arts are all legwork. The three ridians I’ve opened are leg ridians, too. But as for the other nine… honestly, I’ve got no idea how I’m supposed to cultivate those. So, are you going to the black market or not?”
Liu Xiaolou said, “Just follow the True Mysteries Scripture. I’ll teach it to you later. It’s easy, really. You’ve practiced most of it before anyway. And yeah, I still have to go to the black market; there’s no Foundation Establishnt technique for sale anywhere in Yueyang.”
“I might have another lead,” Sister Qing said. “A guest from Lingnan, he ford his foundation last year. He’s been living in Green Pearl’s room ever since. He used to be one of her regulars. He wants to buy her freedom. I agreed, and in a few days Green Pearl will go back to Lingnan with him.”
Liu Xiaolou blinked in surprise. “Now that’s loyalty. And love.”
Back in the day, Green Pearl had been one of Sister Qing’s biggest cash cow, but ten years had flown by. Though she still got so charm left, she was no longer the dazzling beauty she once was. For that man to still want to redeem her, take her ho, and make her his concubine... it was truly rare.
And he was a Foundation Establishnt cultivator, no less.
Soone like that was definitely worth eting.
The man’s na was Han Jiuqian. He had taken Green Pearl out on the Miluo River all day. They didn’t roll back until nightfall. Sister Qing cleared out a private room in the back courtyard and arranged a small banquet just for him.
Liu Xiaolou glanced at Green Pearl sitting obediently beside Han Jiuqian. She was older now, sure, but still had a certain allure. As a matter of fact, her tits looked even… heavier and prouder than they had been ten years ago.
He imagined her breasts pressing against his face, and he unconsciously wet his lips. He raised his cup toward Han Jiuqian. “Congratulations, Brother Han. You finally got what you wanted; taking a beauty ho with you.”
Han Jiuqian let out a hearty laugh. “Green Pearl’s told about you, Brother Liu. Glad I finally get to et you!”
With Sister Qing and Green Pearl by his side, the atmosphere at the table quickly ward up. The two n went from strangers to familiar, and from familiar to friendly. Before long, they beca fellow cultivators.
Han Jiuqian is six years older than Liu Xiaolou. He really is from Lingnan and cos from the Han clan of Dafeng Mountain, a family known in the region for its long tradition of cultivation. The Han clan is affiliated with the Luofu Sect.
When Han Jiuqian was young, he was a drifter who never took life seriously, and his family had pretty much given up expecting anything from him. He ran away from ho and wandered the martial world. By pure luck, he struck up a friendship with an inner-sect disciple of the Luofu Sect, which eventually earned him a Foundation Establishnt Pill. He succeeded in forming his foundation last year.
Eight years ago, he passed through Yueyang. His cultivation was still weak back then, and he got injured during a quarrel. Green Pearl happened to be passing by in a carriage, took him back to Green Serenity Courtyard, and nursed him back to health.
To repay her for saving his life, he originally wanted to marry Green Pearl. The Han family flatly refused, so he had to give up for the ti being, although he still returned to Yueyang every year and stayed for several months.
After achieving Foundation Establishnt last year, he gained a much stronger voice within the family. When he brought the matter up again, no one at ho had anything left to say. He made so compromises, agreeing to take her only as a concubine, but he also decided that he would never take a formal wife.
Liu Xiaolou gave a brief rundown of his own situation. He shared what he could, and left out the parts that weren’t proper to bring up.
When Han Jiuqian heard that he had once been a son-in-law to the Su family of Shenwu Mountain, he was seriously intrigued and asked for the whole story.
“Brother Liu, please don’t take it the wrong way. I’m not trying to pry into your private affairs. It’s just that I can’t help relating to it. My own father married into the family as well, and I was born as a married-in son of the Han clan.”
“I see. That really is… sothing.”
Liu Xiaolou didn’t quite know what to say.
But now he finally understood why Han Jiuqian had felt such a sense of kinship the mont they t. He must have heard about Liu’s past, maybe from Green Pearl or Sister Qing. And felt that they were in the sa boat.
He’d also heard that Han’s father had passed away ten years ago. Liu Xiaolou sighed. “Brother Han, you’ve built your foundation and beco a standout of the Han clan. If the elder could see you from the afterlife, he’d be smiling for sure. Co on, let’s raise a cup to honor him.”
Han Jiuqian’s eyes reddened. “Thank you, brother.”
With that bond between them made clear, it beca much easier to speak openly. Liu Xiaolou said, “It’s honestly embarrassing. My master died too soon, then the Su family cast out. After I scraped my way into Foundation Establishnt, I’ve had no one to guide . Every step of my cultivation has been a struggle.”
“Where are you stuck, brother?” Han Jiuqian asked generously. “I started cultivating a year before you, and whatever I know, I won’t keep to myself.”
So Liu Xiaolou brought up the matter of nurturing a flying sword. Han Jiuqian asked, “Your sect’s cultivation thod doesn’t include the formula for warming and nurturing a flying sword?”
Liu Xiaolou shook his head. “Not a single word of it.”
“Logically,” Han Jiuqian said, “if your sect’s thod allows you to reach Foundation Establishnt, it should also include all the post-foundation techniques. Things like nurturing a flying sword, gathering spiritual dew, forming a core... there should at least be sothing. It shouldn’t be completely empty.”
Liu Xiaolou frowned in frustration. “But I’ve got nothing. What am I supposed to do?”
Han Jiuqian thought for a mont. “Then the lineage must have been broken sowhere, and the teachings weren’t passed down. Even so, it’s not hopeless. You just need to look for cultivation thods that are as close as possible to your sect’s scripture. The closer they are, the better. Otherwise, it may cause trouble when you try to form your core later on. Which tradition is your sect’s thod from? If you trace its origin, it’ll be easier to find sothing compatible.”
...
TLer: sorry, ive been really busy the past few days. gonna try to do 3 chapters tomorrow.
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