On that day, Tingyu, who had lived in Purple Earth since she was young, rarely knew the hardships of the human world, had a dream.
In the dream, Chen Feiyuan was fiercely making things difficult for Xu Qing. She was very angry.
It was early in the morning when Tingyu woke up from her dream. Her mood was a little different from the past. When she arrived at Grandmaster Bai’s tent, she sat there and recited the pharmacopoeia, feeling a little distracted. From time to time, she would raise her head and look outside the tent.
Until she saw… Chen Feiyuan.
Tingyu’s eyelids fluttered as she recalled the dream from yesterday.
Chen Feiyuan yawned and rubbed his eyes as he lifted the tent flap. Just as he was about to sit down beside Tingyu, the futon was moved away by her.
Chen Feiyuan was stunned and looked at Tingyu.
“What are you doing?”
“Sit there.” Tingyu couldn’t be bothered with Chen Feiyuan and pointed to where Xu Qing usually sat.
“Why?!” Chen Feiyuan instantly got annoyed and his eyes widened.
“Based on the fact that you don’t work hard in your studies, based on the fact that you’ve been taking leave frequently during this period of time, I’m annoyed by you sitting here. Is that enough?”
Tingyu glared at him with her almond-shaped eyes and spoke very quickly, causing Chen Feiyuan to be stunned once again. After a while, he mumbled a few words to himself as though he didn’t dare to provoke the other party. He then sat at Xu Qing’s seat gloomily.
“Sigh, Tingyu, you…” After sitting down, Chen Feiyuan was about to speak but before he could finish, Tingyu’s eyes revealed hostility.
“Don’t say the word ‘sigh’. What if someone hears it and misunderstands?”
“Ah? What’s wrong with the word ‘Sigh’?” Just when Chen Feiyuan was at a loss, the tent’s door opened and Xu Qing walked in.
Upon seeing Xu Qing, two shallow dimples appeared on Tingyu’s face. She then revealed a smile and patted the futon that originally belonged to Chen Feiyuan.
“Junior Brother, sit here.”
Xu Qing was stunned and so was Chen Feiyuan.
“What are you waiting for? Teacher is coming. Hurry up and come over.” Tingyu urged.
Xu Qing was a little hesitant. He looked at Tingyu and then at Chen Feiyuan who was sitting in his seat in a daze.
At that moment, it was indeed time for Grandmaster Bai to arrive. Hence, Xu Qing could only walk to Tingyu’s side and sit at the seat that used to belong to Chen Feiyuan.
Chen Feiyuan was dumbfounded. He pointed at Xu Qing and was about to speak when Tingyu turned and glared fiercely at him.
“Shut up!”
“I haven’t even spoken yet.” Chen Feiyuan was about to cry. He felt that it was unfair and was about to continue speaking when the tent door opened and Grandmaster Bai walked in.
Chen Feiyuan could only hold back what he wanted to say and sat there angrily. On the other hand, Tingyu seemed to be very comfortable. As for Xu Qing, he felt a little uncomfortable and felt like he was sitting on pins and needles.
As for Grandmaster Bai, after he walked in and saw where Xu Qing was sitting, he then looked at Tingyu and Chen Feiyuan who looked like a punching bag. A hint of a smile appeared on his face but he didn’t disturb them and started the assessment.
As usual, Chen Feiyuan stuttered as he was reprimanded. As for Tingyu, she proudly completed the assessment and looked at Xu Qing with anticipation.
Xu Qing’s answer was even more perfect. He even asked some of his questions during the assessment.
The entire process made Chen Feiyuan extremely depressed.
So, when today’s lesson ended, he was the first to run out of the tent. He felt that he had been discriminated against today.
Xu Qing felt uncomfortable sitting there during class. At that moment, he stood up and bowed to Grandmaster Bai. Just when he was about to leave, Tingyu called out to him.
“Junior Brother, why is your face dirty again?”
Tingyu took out her handkerchief and wanted to try wiping his face. However, Xu Qing frowned slightly and immediately dodged, leaving in a hurry.
After he left, Tingyu’s expression was a little aggrieved as she looked at Grandmaster Bai, who was watching the show.
“Teacher, why is this kid so dirty every day? I helped him out of goodwill.”
Grandmaster Bai laughed and patted the girl’s head dotingly.
“Because for people who live in misery and danger, it’s not a good thing to attract too much attention.”
Tingyu fell into deep thought and nodded.
Xu Qing didn’t hear Grandmaster Bai’s words but his thoughts were the same as what Grandmaster Bai said.
Growing up in the slums, he understood that the less attention he attracted, the safer he would be. Also, the people around him were mostly filthy. If he was different from the others, he would be like a torch in the dark night, adding to the danger.
This was his rule of survival since he was young. As for those who didn’t do so, unless their strength was extremely high, they wouldn’t be able to live for long.
It was precisely because of this that Xu Qing developed the habit of not cleaning. He needed to blend into the environment and make himself inconspicuous.
For example, the hunter hiding would only show his edge when he attacked.
At that moment, Xu Qing, who had left the campsite and arrived at the boundary of the forbidden zone was the same. He picked up some rotten leaves from the jungle, crushed them and smeared them on his body. He tried his best to blend into nature as he slowly stepped into the forbidden zone.
Although Captain Lei had gone to the city to stay, Xu Qing didn’t give up on searching for the heavenfate flower.
Also, with the increase in his cultivation base and strength, coupled with his increasingly rich experience and knowledge about plants, as well as his usual vigilance, he encountered fewer dangers in the outer perimeter of the forbidden zone’s jungle.
Hence, the range of Xu Qing’s exploration no longer stopped at the temple. Instead, he slowly probed deeper.
Even though the danger was greater, this tempering also allowed his combat strength to continuously increase. His herbs harvest also became richer.
However, just like the outer region, although there were more herbs in the depths, the majority of them were still evil yin poison grass.
As there was a lot of poisonous grass, Xu Qing’s knowledge of herbs was mostly on the concoction of poison. As he improved, he also gained a few more types of poison powder.
For this reason, he specially went to a clothing shop and bought a jacket filled with pockets. Each pocket contained a different poison.
As for the black gloves he had obtained from the Bloodshadow Team Captain’s leather pouch, Xu Qing put them on as well. He gradually felt that they were more comfortable to wear.
Not only could this glove increase the lethality of his punches but it also had a certain degree of anti-poisoning effects. Therefore, together with the dagger Cross had given him, it became a daily weapon like the iron stick on him.
At that moment, as the sun was about to set, Xu Qing, who had ended a day of tempering and researching poison, walked out of the small lab in the canyon. After tidying up his weapons and poison powder, he bent down and headed straight for the temple.
Every time before he left the forbidden zone, he would make a trip to the temple to search for the scar removal stone.
Although he had failed many times before, he had inquired about this stone and knew that it was naturally formed. It was colorful and could occasionally be seen. Hence, he persisted until this time…
When he arrived at the temple, under the afterglow of the setting sun, he saw that there seemed to be a flash of seven-colored light between the brows of the stone statue head in the distance.
Xu Qing’s eyes narrowed as he rapidly surveyed his surroundings. He then checked his hidden arrangements from before. After discovering that everything was fine, he jumped to the top of a temple and squatted down to observe again.
After confirming that there was really no danger here, he headed straight for the stone statue’s head.
When he arrived, he saw a seven-colored stone growing in the crack between his brows.
This stone should have been ordinary in the past but in this mysterious temple, it had changed over time.
Xu Qing hurriedly took it down and quickly searched the entire temple cluster. He found six such stones.
Looking at the stone in his hand, Xu Qing let out a long sigh of relief. He had finally found one of the two items, the scar removal stone.
After Xu Qing carefully kept the six small stones, he cast a deep glance at the cluster of temples. After that, he bent down and bowed before quickly leaving, disappearing into the distant jungle.
As he sped along, Xu Qing’s figure leaped up and down on the tree crowns.
As the night fell and the roars of the ferocious beasts echoed, his pace didn’t change. His speed was sometimes fast and sometimes slow as he got closer and closer to the edge of the jungle.
Not long later, when Xu Qing jumped onto a tree trunk and wanted to borrow the momentum to move forward, the silt on the ground at the side suddenly exploded. A giant-horn python suddenly rushed out and opened its mouth, wanting to devour him.
Its body was even larger than what he had encountered back at the campsite.
Faced with such a surprise attack, Xu Qing’s expression didn’t change at all. He merely lifted his right hand and flicked out a finger, tapping on the head of the giant-horn python that was trying to devour him.
With a bang, the giant-horn python couldn’t endure it anymore. As soon as it let out a mournful roar, it abruptly stopped. Its tough skin was unable to block Xu Qing’s strength and its head was torn apart, its flesh crumbling.
This collapse spread throughout his body in the blink of an eye until he turned into a ball of blood mist.
Only his gallbladder… remained unscathed as it fell from the blood mist. Xu Qing then grabbed it and left.
Just like this, at dawn, Xu Qing walked out of the jungle and returned to the campsite.
At the pitch-black campsite, there were very few lights at this time. As Xu Qing walked, the happy mood that he had when he obtained the small stone also became gloomy as he got closer to his residence.
His residence was also pitch-black. Only the dozen or so wild dogs lay on the ground and wagged their tails after sensing his return.
After Xu Qing entered the courtyard, he habitually glanced at Captain Lei’s room and silently walked into the kitchen.
He heated the leftover food from yesterday and swallowed it as though it was to fill his stomach. After he was done, he returned to his room and sighed softly.
“I wonder how Captain Lei is doing in the city. He should be doing very well. If I still can’t find the heavenfate flower in the end, I’ll save up some spirit coins and buy a spot too.”
Xu Qing mumbled and closed his eyes, allowing himself to sink into cultivation.
The next day, Xu Qing went to class as usual.
Tingyu returned to normal but the seat was still left for him. As for Chen Feiyuan, he had also resigned himself to fate and could only watch as Xu Qing sat in his original seat.
As the lesson ended, Tingyu no longer spoke up to wipe his face. There was more understanding in her gaze.
Xu Qing felt this understanding. He lowered his head slightly and bid farewell to Grandmaster Bai.
When he left the tent, Xu Qing touched the small stone in his leather pouch and walked toward the general store where the little girl was at.
However, before he could get close, he saw a group of strangers outside the general store from afar!
Their clothes were very special. Their black robes were embroidered with blood-colored suns and a murderous and bloody aura was especially obvious on them.