Xuanxiao chuckled and said, "Ao Yue, close your eyes and completely open your mind. Don't worry. For Qian Yu's sake, I won't do anything to you."
Hearing this, Ao Yue nodded and opened his mind. Xuanxiao then chuckled, sealing away all his memories and cultivation in one go. With a casual toss, he said, "How dare you talk to me like that, you little bastard. Now enjoy crawling back to the Great Dao from rock bottom..."
Afterward, Xuanxiao bought a water mirror and said, "Qian Yu, watch closely. Your husband is going to start his path of cultivation all over again, from nothing."
The gray sky drizzled with rain. Ao Yue rubbed his fingers, which had gone blue with cold, and cursed under his breath, "What awful weather. I'm freezing to death! This lousy Shuyang Gate examination—if I ever take it again, I'll be a pig!"
He tightened his patched gray robe and walked down the muddy mountain path. The hem was spattered with mud and clung wetly to his legs, making him unbearably uncomfortable. Ao Yue calculated that this trip to Shuyang Gate had gotten him nothing but half-frozen and out of pocket. To prepare for the examination, he had spent all the Spirit Stones he had saved over three months on a low-grade "Swift Wind Talisman," only to find that it did not even make him run faster than the others.
"If I'd known, I would've bought that 'Light Body Talisman.' It was a little more expensive, but at least I could've made the top fifty and gotten half my Spirit Stones back..." The thought of those gleaming Spirit Stones made Ao Yue's heart ache. He could not help cursing again, "Bloodsuckers! Heartless bloodsuckers!"
At the foot of the mountain, he spotted a small tea stall by the