My Stomach Is Fine

Two months later, less than ten days remained before the auction.

The flow of people on Bamboo Leaf Mountain surged, reaching an unprecedented level of bustle.

Mu's Spirit Talisman Shop was thriving, and the two apprentices, Mu Shan and Mu Ershun, could barely keep up.

Because of this, the Mu Family sent two more clansmen over to lend a hand.

That day, Li Ergou also arrived at Bamboo Leaf Mountain.

"Father, Second Mother!"

Upon seeing his pot-bellied father, Mu Ershun excitedly waved his hand and rushed out of the shop.

Having spent many years in the Marketplace, Mu Ershun had only returned home once in the interim and had not seen his father in a long time.

"You're already this grown up. Can't you be a little more steady?"

Li Ergou put on a stern face. At his side stood a radiant, tall woman in palace robes—his second wife, Mu Caiwei. She possessed an Inferior Spiritual Root and was at the Qi Refining Second Layer.

"Brother Changqing, Er Shun simply hasn't seen you, his father, in a long time."

Mu Caiwei smiled sweetly as she hooked her arm through her husband's.

Mu Ershun scratched the back of his head and let out a foolish laugh, not daring to look directly at his beautiful second mother, who was not much older than him.

With a respectful manner, he led his father and second mother into the reception room behind the first floor.

"Big Brother."

"Changqing, younger brother and sister-in-law."

Before long, Lan Chang'an came downstairs to receive Li Ergou.

"Sigh, Big Brother, you really have it good. You cultivate the wood-element Evergreen Art, and after all these years, you've barely aged at all."

Li Ergou had now taken on the appearance of a middle-aged man, fat-headed and big-eared, with a body as broad as two Mu Caiweis.

"The Evergreen Art cultivates slowly. You also need a good state of mind, to nourish your health and restrain your desires, if you want to delay aging."

Lan Chang'an said this without blushing or missing a beat.

Li Ergou had not originally planned to come to the Marketplace, but he heard that Zhao Siyao and Lin Yiyao would be arriving soon, so he hurried over.

He also took the chance to visit his son and let him broaden his horizons.

The two discussed some matters within the lineage, then touched on cultivation as well.

"Sigh, I've been stuck at the Qi Refining Sixth Layer for five or six years and still haven't broken through."

Li Ergou sighed.

Lan Chang'an could tell that Li Ergou had lingered at the peak of the Qi Refining Sixth Layer for a long time.

This was a hurdle.

Most Qi Refining Realm cultivators could never cross it in their entire lives.

To break through, one either had to temper oneself over years and months, or use a Breakthrough Pill to increase the odds.

Neither method guaranteed success.

A breakthrough with one foot in life and the other in death was not realistic for Li Ergou either.

"You've had a smooth path these past years. Spending more time accumulating and tempering yourself isn't a bad thing. In the future, wait for a Jade Azure Pill."

Lan Chang'an said with a smile.

"A Jade Azure Pill? That's far too difficult! It's a breakthrough pill for the Qi Refining Late-Stage. Who knows how many cultivators in the lineage are waiting in line for one? Several have rendered meritorious service on the front lines. How could I compare to them...?"

Li Ergou knew his own limits.

Rank-Breaking Pills were scarce resources, expensive and seldom available for sale on the market.

Li Ergou had no special skill. At most, he worked part-time as a Spiritual Planter. Being able to support his family was already good enough; he did not have that kind of wealth.

Two days later.

Zhao Siyao and Lin Yi arrived at Bamboo Leaf Mountain together and found Mu's Spirit Talisman Shop.

The reception room behind the shop.

The four Immortal Seedlings who had come from Hengshui Prefecture all those years ago gathered together once more after twenty years.

Compared to their previous reunion at Golden Cloud Valley, the four had not changed much.

Li Ergou had grown more prosperous-looking, and his narrowed little eyes held a few more traces of worldly smoothness.

Lin Yi wore a loose robe, his bearing calm and steady. The beard at his lips had grown longer still.

Zhao Siyao's immortal skirts fluttered around her. Her brows and eyes were picturesque, cold and ethereal, untouched by the dust of the mortal world.

"Fellow Daoists! If I haven't calculated wrongly, exactly twenty years have passed since we first met."

Lin Yi stroked his beard and smiled, light shining in his eyes as his expression filled with gratification.

"Twenty years..."

The four looked at one another and smiled, unable to suppress their sighs as they marveled at how swiftly time had passed.

At that moment, they did not know.

Their last perfect reunion across twenty years of time would forever freeze in this very scene.

"Your children are already as old as we were back then."

Zhao Siyao smiled with pursed lips, looking toward Mu Ershun and Lin Yi's sixth son, Lin Lu.

Lin Lu was fifteen years old. He wore a magnificent brocade robe, a golden crown and jade belt, with handsome features, red lips, and white teeth.

Mu Ershun had already turned eighteen. He had thick brows and large eyes, a burly build, and an honest-looking face.

Whether in talent or aptitude, Mu Ershun was eclipsed and inferior to Lin Lu.

"Little Lu, get to know Er Shun properly. In the future, the two of you must be as close as brothers and support one another."

Lin Yi looked at his outstandingly handsome son and instructed him.

"Yes, Father."

Lin Lu reluctantly forced out a smile and conversed with Mu Ershun.

Clearly, Lin Lu looked down on Mu Ershun.

Lin Lu's spiritual root sensitivity had reached eighteen, close to a Mid-Grade Spiritual Root. Moreover, he had received vast investments of resources from both Hidden Immortal Pavilion and the Guang'an Marquis Estate, passing Golden Cloud Valley's assessment last year.

He was now an Outer Sect disciple of Golden Cloud Valley.

In contrast, Mu Ershun was a lineage disciple with a spiritual root sensitivity of twelve, merely an apprentice.

They were fundamentally youths from two different strata.

Within the room, Lin Lu treated only Zhao Siyao with the utmost respect. He did not take the two elders, Lan Chang'an and Li Ergou, seriously at all.

In his eyes, they were both rejects cast out by sects, dependent on others and reduced to becoming sons-in-law.

How could they compare with his own father? Even after failing, his father had risen amid adversity, establishing Hidden Immortal Pavilion with his own hands and earning a modest reputation among Rogue Cultivators.

"Your Little Lu has built a fine foundation."

Lan Chang'an offered an evaluation.

For a teenage boy and a sect disciple, having a little pride was perfectly normal.

"Haha! Do you know how much effort I've poured into Little Lu over the years? It was precisely so he wouldn't repeat the mistakes I made back then."

Lin Yi could not help feeling somewhat proud of his son, who had surpassed his father.

His own cultivation had become increasingly arduous, and his future accomplishments would not match Lan Chang'an's or Li Ergou's.

But his son was outstanding.

During their casual conversation, Lin Yi subtly revealed that the new generation's Guang'an Marquis was now his younger brother, whom he had secretly supported into power.

In other words, Lin Yi controlled both Hidden Immortal Pavilion and the Guang'an Marquis Estate at once.

The four chatted so engrossedly that they finished an entire pot of tea.

"I'll brew another pot."

Lan Chang'an prepared to rise.

"Let me do it."

A woman's voice, clear as a spring, drifted over.

At some point, Mu Xiuyun had appeared. Graceful and generous, she rolled up her sleeves and brewed tea for them.

When Zhao Siyao and Lin Yi had first arrived, Mu Xiuyun had been tending the shop and had exchanged simple greetings with them.

They knew that this gentle, quiet woman was the Eldest Miss of the Mu Family.

Before long.

Mu Xiuyun brought over the teapot. Her warm, bright starry eyes met Zhao Siyao's for a moment.

Zhao Siyao's eyes were delicate and clear. She nodded and smiled.

"Eldest Miss, this won't do!"

Li Ergou and Lin Yi were both flattered and alarmed at having Mu Xiuyun serve them tea.

"Chang'an, continue chatting. I still have matters to handle."

Mu Xiuyun's gaze was tender as she looked at Lan Chang'an. Then she departed with composed grace.

"Brother Lu, you and the Eldest Miss..."

Li Ergou sensed that something was off and widened his eyes.

Judging from how Lan Chang'an and Mu Xiuyun interacted, they did not seem like ordinary male and female friends.

"Brother Lu truly is extraordinary! If he doesn't act, then so be it—but once he does, he takes down the Mu Family's Eldest Miss in one stroke."

Lin Yi stroked his beard inwardly with a smile, though his heart was in truth shaken, doubtful, and envious.

This was the Eldest Miss of the Jade Moon Lake Mu Family.

Zhao Siyao was stunned, her gaze turning strange as she looked over.

Lan Chang'an actually harbored such ambitions?

Could he be the sort of man who lived off a woman?

"Brother Lu, is this true?" Li Ergou's jaw nearly dropped. Mu Xiuyun was the dream goddess of countless young men in the lineage.

"Don't fabricate rumors, and don't spread rumors."

Lan Chang'an denied it outright.

Mu Xiuyun had perhaps mistaken Zhao Siyao for a "love rival" just now and had deliberately come over to display their closeness.

Usually, when outsiders were present, Mu Xiuyun was actually rather reserved and subtle.

Seeing their skeptical, unconvinced expressions, he smiled helplessly. "Actually, my stomach is fine."

That night, Lan Chang'an treated them to a spiritual food banquet in the Marketplace.

Lin Yi and Zhao Siyao intended to attend the auction and first checked into an inn in the Marketplace.

With three days remaining before the auction, all the major inns on Bamboo Leaf Mountain were full, and prices had risen across the board.

"Are you participating in this auction?"

After returning to the second floor of the shop, Mu Xiuyun entered Lan Chang'an's room, her manner soft and graceful.

"I am."

Lan Chang'an answered without hesitation.

Among the leaked auction items was something he absolutely had to buy.

"Our Mu Family received an invitation letter, which grants us distinguished guest treatment. Will you come with us then?"

Mu Xiuyun's eyes shone brightly, carrying a faint note of anticipation.

"All right."

Lan Chang'an thought to himself that if he offended anyone while competing at the auction, the Mu Family's higher-ups would be there to shield him.

Mu Xiuyun was delighted inwardly, affection filling her eyes.

A flush surfaced on her delicately beautiful face as she said softly, "Lu-lang, I won't be going upstairs tonight..."

Puff!

A fragrant breeze swept through, extinguishing the light in the room.

Three days later, the day of the auction arrived.

Bamboo Leaf Mountain was extraordinarily lively. Flashes of light occasionally streaked across the sky, accompanied by the comings and goings of magical artifacts and flying birds.

From time to time, a Foundation Establishment Realm expert appeared, their powerful spiritual pressure forcing nearby cultivators to retreat one after another.

Mu's Spirit Talisman Shop.

Several higher-ups of the Mu Family came to inspect it, nodding repeatedly.

Mu Renlong of the Foundation Establishment Realm and the family head, Mu Maode, had come to Bamboo Leaf Mountain for the auction and stopped by the Spirit Talisman Shop along the way.

"Father, Lan Chang'an will be attending the auction with us."

Dressed in a plain skirt, Mu Xiuyun was gentle as jade as she stood shoulder to shoulder with Lan Chang'an.

"No matter."

Mu Maode wore a green robe and possessed an elegant, scholarly air, though gray hairs had appeared at his temples.

He stroked his beard and smiled, his gaze sweeping over the two of them.

Abruptly, Mu Maode's expression changed. His sharp, blade-like gaze landed on Lan Chang'an.

"Maode, what is it?"

Mu Renlong, dressed in black robes, looked over and noticed Mu Maode's unpleasant expression.

Mu Renlong swept his gaze over Mu Xiuyun. Her snow-white skin carried a rosy glow, and her figure was alluringly curved.

He immediately understood.

This current Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator of the Mu Family curled his lips into a smile. His hawk-like eyes looked toward Lan Chang'an, faint approval unexpectedly showing within them.