Zhuolu - Chapter 16

Immortal Banxia was known as the Sanxian Immortal[1]. There were thousands of ways of cultivating immortality in the world. Some people cultivated immortality for the purpose of becoming princes and ministers, or gaining wealth and glory, and some people cultivated immortality just to pursue the Dao.

Pinellia[2] was her honorary name, but she was born with the name Qiuluo. She got the name because she had a weird temperament, she could cut off people’s tongues if they disagreed with her, and she was as poisonous as the medicine Pinellia.

The pointing of the small sword changed from time to time, and the Tanhuang Biaoji travelled quickly for half a day, and finally stopped at a barren mountain after spending a full ten taels of Luli.

“Master, over there!” Lin Xin pointed to a fallen tree.

Dwarf trees were broken in the middle, and scorched marks were everywhere. Zhu Xingli landed down and picked up a broken arm on the ground to check. It was a man’s right hand, shrivelled and bluish-white, but it was still warm, and the dried blood had coagulated the cloth on the severed arm into lumps, until the original color could not be seen.

Throwing away the arm and replacing it with a little sword fitted with a piece of Luli, the little thing that was brought out was like a live fish in the water, shaking its head and tail.

This little sword, named Moyu’er, was a secret treasure of the Zhu family in the Southern Region. To be able to let him bring out Moyu’er, it must be Zhu Xingli’s life-and-death acquaintance.

Touching Moyu’er could allow you to find a specific person and bring them back, but only if there was enough Luli.

With Lin Xin on his back, Zhu Xingli followed Moyu’er through the forest, making several turns and turning around to the back of a rock, until a strong smell of blood came over his face.

“Zhu Yixiao, you crawled all the way here, are you afraid I’m not dead!” Between the gravel and weeds, lay a woman with a delicate face, her skirt was stained with blood, yet she held a long sword with a gap in her hand, with tense muscles and one leg curled up, as if she might pounce on someone and cut the throat of anyone coming at any time.

“I think you’re quite energetic, why don’t I go down the mountain to buy a jug of wine?” Zhu Xingli said, but his movements were not slow, and he quickly sealed the opponent’s vital points like a lotus flower and pinched her wrist to feel her spiritual power and pulse.

“Who!” The young man who was running towards the spring wrapped in leaves shouted vigilantly and drew out the dagger at his waist before rushing over.

“Don’t move!” A rapier protruded from behind and was pressed half an inch to his neck. The young man Jian Zhong was startled, and raised his head to avoid it, but bumped into Lin Xin who was holding a sword, and was locked tightly by him like a monkey hugging a tree.

Jian Zhong froze, and recognized that the one who healed his mother was Zhu Xingli whom he had seen before and was slightly relieved, “Are you Uncle Zhu’s apprentice?”

Tsk, you are so clever! Lin Xin let go of his sword and looked up and down at this senior brother whom he had not seen for a lifetime. When he saw Jian Zhong for the first time, he had already been with Zhu Xingli for a year. Maybe it was too hard to beg for food with the master’s fortune telling, but he looked much thinner than now.

Now he still followed his mother’s surname, he was about the same age as Shen Lou, and a little older than Lin Xin, he obviously hadn’t started to beg, and the sides of his cheeks were still fleshy.

“Ahem, it’s alright, don’t bother.” Jian Qiuluo pushed Zhu Xingli away, coughed up a mouthful of blood, and waved her hands to prevent him from infusing more spiritual power.

Seeing his mother vomit blood, Jian Zhong didn’t care about talking to Lin Xin, and ran over quickly to support Jian Qiuluo, who was already unable to sit still.

Zhu Xingli’s eyes turned red, and he didn’t know whether it was because of sadness or anger, “You are really capable, you dare to cause trouble with your child around.”

“Who caused trouble? I have too many enemies, I don’t know who it is! Bah!” Jian Qiuluo spat out a mouthful of bloody foam, and tightly grasped her son’s hand, as if she had used all her strength, the back of her pale hand was bulging with blue veins, and she squeezed his scissored hand with a circle of bruises, “Ahem… This little bastard will be handed over to you from now on…”

“It doesn’t matter if I take care of him.” Zhu Xingli didn’t try to comfort her at all.

Jian Qiuluo laughed loudly, the laughter seemed to have come from a bellows, with a whirring sound, “If he doesn’t look for him, don’t look for him, if he finds him, don’t force him to stay.”

He didn’t understand a word, but Lin Xin knew. Jian Zhong was the child born to Jian Qiuluo and Ren Chunfeng, and this “he” should refer to Jian Zhong’s father.

“Okay.” Zhu Xingli responded in a low voice and put Tanhuang Biaoji back into its scabbard.

“Cough cough cough… Do as you please, little bastard, remember your mother’s words…” Jian Qiuluo squeezed out the words from between her teeth, then looked at Zhu Xingli, “Remember to burn the paper money for me.”

“…” Zhu Xingli didn’t speak, as he watched Jian Qiuluo suddenly close her eyes, then her spiritual energy was cut off, as her soul returned to the sky.

“Mother…mother!” Jian Zhong hugged his mother’s corpse and cried bitterly.

This senior brother seldom cried, he always smiled as if he didn’t have any worries, the only time in his previous life he saw him crying so sadly was when their master died.

After dealing with the funeral of Jian Qiuluo, Zhu Xingli took the two children and continued to run around.

“From now on, I will be your senior brother.” Lin Xin stood on tiptoe and patted Jian Zhong’s shoulder.

Jian Zhong gnawed on a piece of sesame seed cake and looked down at him, “But I’m older than you.”

“Senior brother is the one who is first to get picked up by the master, if you don’t believe me, ask the master!” Lin Xin looked at Zhu Xingli proudly.

Zhu Xingli was pouring wine into his mouth from the jug, and nodded indiscriminately, “Well, your senior brother is right, whoever gets started first is the senior.”

The cheap Lin Xin was very happy for a while.

Winter turned to spring, and the four seasons rotated.

The barbarian tribes in the Northern Desert gradually merged in the war with the Northern Territory, the small ones were wiped out by the big ones, and the big ones were annexed by the bigger ones. Not only did they not lose their will because of the war, but they were like a pack of wolves competing for food, and the best wolf was to be selected in the fight.

There were intermittent battles, one dozen for six years.

“The prince is back!”

“The prince has returned to Huan Xinghai!”

As soon as he turned back from the battlefield, Shen Lou jumped down from the spirit sword with a murderous aura all over his body. Yu Yuan, his natal spiritual sword, swirled in the air, and the vast spiritual power was like a rainbow piercing the sun, pressing down several mortals who came out to welcome the son to their knees.

With the sword in hand, Shen Lou stepped into Huan Xinghai with a cold expression, and a cold arrow suddenly pierced through the air.

“Om——” Yu Yuan set in the sun, and the aura turned into thousands of rainbow shadows, instantly shattering the iron arrow into three sections. The arrow without Luli clattered on the bluestone slab without making a sound.

“Brother!” Shen Yingying, who was flying towards him with a quiver on her back, was amazed, “Why are you stronger than last time?”

“Nonsense!” Shen Lou frowned and turned to go to Fengjin Pavilion.

“Hey, don’t go,” Shen Yingying quickly followed, walking backwards facing her brother, “I just came back from Yongdu, won’t you ask me what rank I got?”

“Fourth.” Shen Lou took off his armor, throwing it to Zishu who had come up to meet him, he turned his wrist, then he lay down on the soft couch with a plop, closing his eyes and resting his mind.

Got it right again! Shen Yingying pursed her lips, “You didn’t go to Xianchi to hunt this year. It just let that kid from the Lin family show off. Zhong Youyu almost made my ears go numb. You must go and see him this year.”

“Miss, the son just came back, let him rest for a while.” Zishu came over with a bowl of medicine soup, and persuaded Shen Yingying to leave.

When Shen Yingying saw the soup, she immediately shut up.

The son of Xuan Guogong was brave and unparalleled on the battlefield, and he was victorious in every battle, but he became a sick child when he got off the battlefield. He had seen many doctors all these years, but he couldn’t see why, they could only watch Shen Lou’s body getting worse day by day.

Shen Lou slowly opened his eyes, took the medicine from Zishu’s hand and drank it down.

With the growth of his spiritual power, his body was getting worse and worse. After using spiritual power, there would be long-term pain waiting for him. The elixir that was originally used to replenish the body indiscriminately was replaced by a decoction that calmed the nerves and relieved his pain.

After drinking the medicine, Shen Lou’s complexion improved obviously. He sat up and took Zhong Youyu’s letter to read.

The brothers of the Zhong family were trapped in the capital, studying and practicing with the prince. Three years ago, their uncle Zhong Suifeng crowned the two of them at the age of fifteen in the name of setting up the family earlier since their father died young. He wanted to use this as an excuse to let Zhong Youyu return to the Western Regions to inherit the throne.

However, the emperor kept the record of the memorial to the duke of the state, and he insisted on detaining the two in Yongdu, so that Zhong Suifeng, who was in a hurry, had to continue to govern the Western Regions. The Zhong family gradually declined, and there was already chaos in the Western Regions.

Shen Lou rubbed the center of his brows and sighed softly. In this life, he had used his experience to end the Beimo Rebellion two years ahead of schedule, but he had no time to take care of the Zhong family. He now had more important things to do.

“Huang Ge, last time you said that Yanqiu has already been bought?” Shen Lou raised his eyes and asked Huang Ge who was standing in the corner.

“Yes, they moved in a year ago.” Over the years, Huang Ge had been ordered to search for Zhu Xingli’s whereabouts, and every time there was news, he had disappeared by the time he chased over. Six years ago, the Shizi asked him to buy Yanqiu, saying that he was waiting for someone to buy it. After waiting for so many years, someone finally came to ask him last year.

The person who asked for the price happened to be Zhu Xingli.

Huang Shiwei admired the son’s predictions like a god, and ran back happily to report the news, but the son had gone to the battlefield again.

“Qiu Ting[3], come with me to see father.” Shen Lou changed into a black brocade robe, the black background with silver patterns made his face look even paler. Eighteen-year-old Shen Lou, with a slender figure and a dignified appearance, did not look thin at all, but that handsome face that had never had a healthy color has always made people feel uneasy.

“Where are you going?” Shen Qirui looked at his son in surprise.

“To get medical treatment,” Shen Lou lowered his eyes, “six years ago when I was in a coma at Zhong’s house, I vaguely heard Zhu Xingli’s words that I could be cured.”

“Really?” Shen Qirui got up suddenly.

Shen Yingying on the side stomped her feet angrily, “Brother, why didn’t you say it earlier!”

“Zhu Xingli’s whereabouts were uncertain, and he did not return to the Southern Region even during the Chinese New Year. I had been looking for him for six years before I get any news.” Shen Lou said, “Now the northern border is relatively safe, and I can be away for a while. If there is an emergency, my father can take Qiu Ting there. She has already won the fourth place in the hunting in Xianchi, and she can go to the battlefield.”

Shen Yingying didn’t know the meaning of her elder brother bringing her here just now, so he was waiting for her here, hearing this she suddenly cried, “Brother, I will worry about you, let me go with you.”

“No need.” Shen Lou said lightly, then he turned and left, leaving only the old father with eyes full of relief and his own sister who wanted to cry but had no tears.

Yanqiu was a small hill located at the junction of the Southern Region and the Eastern Region. The scenery was beautiful and the climate was pleasant. Zhu Xingli and his two apprentices wandered outside for four or five years, and finally settled in this area.

Zhu Xingli, who was so poor that he was begging for food, didn’t even blink when he bought the land, and he gave away boxes of gold and silver.

“It turns out that Master is so rich.” Jian Zhong gnawed on the steamed stuffed bun bought with fortune-telling money, looking at the vast land with emotion.

Lin Xin pursed his lips and smiled, “Yes, yes, the Luli we use to cultivate will be available in the future, so go and ask Master for a piece.”

Jian Zhong stretched out his hand to Master with a smile.

“Crack!” Zhu Xingli slapped back, “What do you want? Our family is so poor that we can’t get rid of it. You have to rely on yourself in cultivation, don’t always think about relying on Luli.”

The author has something to say:

Small Theater:

Master: Poor, poor, poor

Loulou: If there is a chance to make money, do you want it?

Master: What?

Loulou: Sell Lin Xin to me

Master: Hehe, who do you think my Zhu family in the Southern Region is, who would sell an apprentice for your stinky money… How much will you give?

Xinxin: (╰_╯)#

[1] The sanxian is a three-stringed traditional Chinese lute.

[2] Raw Pinelliae Rhizoma (RPR) is a representative toxic herb that is widely used for eliminating phlegm or treating cough and vomiting

[3] Honorary name of Shen Yingying.