Meng Nan explained everything.
The two of them cuddled for a while.
After quite some time, Zhao Xiaoshuang finally remembered to dig out Meng Nan's diaries.
Twelve years' worth, from beginning to end—three large chests, containing well over a thousand notebooks.
It was too much.
Under the bed were also Meng Nan and Zhao Xiaoshuang's cultivation notes from those twelve years, along with a small box containing the dozens of Suoluo Seeds they had collected over the years.
Everything was stored under the bed, packed neatly into boxes.
Zhao Xiaoshuang pulled it all out in one go, and Meng Nan went to help her.
They dragged them out.
Then opened them.
Inside, the boxes were packed full of notebooks wrapped in cowhide.
Every last one of them was full of memories!
Meng Nan began reading from late September of Immortal Calendar Year 18, occasionally asking Zhao Xiaoshuang questions as he went.
Putting the two together—
Before long, Meng Nan had pieced together a rough outline of what had happened over those twelve years.
He thought it over briefly.
His expression grew somewhat complicated, and he couldn't help letting out a sigh.
"Was it because of Aunt Qian Yu?"
Zhao Xiaoshuang was perceptive and sensitive. Seeing Meng Nan sigh, then remembering how his mood had shifted while they recalled the past twelve years together, she suddenly remembered that he had acted strangely when Aunt Qian Yu had met with disaster. He had been especially odd for those two days.
Just like he was now—
Guilt!
Regret!
A sigh!
"Aunt Yu—"
Meng Nan truly felt guilty about Qian Yu.
"Xiaoshuang and I still hadn't managed to reach the Inner Qi Stage by the end of Immortal Calendar Year 18. We didn't have the exemption from having children, so in this life we still had three kids."
"Zhou Shan's death caused quite a stir in Yinlian Village. Aunt Yu bore the blame alone and didn't implicate me."
"In Immortal Calendar Year 22, I failed to reach the True Qi Stage, so I moved the Suoluo Seed tree. Aunt Yu never encountered that opportunity. Later that year, when she returned to her maiden household, she was beaten to death by Zhou Shan's son, Zhou Boren. He slaughtered all thirty-five members of her maiden family, sparing not one."
"Zhou Boren had already reached the True Essence Stage. After massacring them, he walked away scot-free!"
"The following year, Zhou Boren came to Yinlian Village again. He killed Aunt Yu's entire family, including her husband and children. He even slaughtered every household in the dozen or so homes next door to hers, then drifted away once more."
Meng Nan pieced together the general sequence of events, sighing inwardly.
Qian Yu's death had nothing to do with the Suoluo Seed tree.
In the year she died, even along the original course of events, they had only just discovered the Suoluo Seed tree. She hadn't had time to improve her strength.
But Qian Yu's death was still connected to Meng Nan.
Directly connected.
It was precisely because he had used Qian Yu to kill Zhou Shan that she was later killed by Zhou Shan's eldest son, Zhou Boren, when he returned four years later.
Qian Yu was dead.
Her maiden family had been wiped out.
Her husband's family had been wiped out.
Dozens of people, along with the ordinary villagers from a dozen or so households in Yinlian Village, had all been slaughtered by Zhou Boren in his rage. He had reached the True Essence Stage and came and went like the wind. Even the two True Essence Stage experts in the village had been unable to do anything to him.
In the following years, Zhou Boren returned twice more, killing dozens of people each time.
The Fort Lord had been forced to go to Tianlin Cave and obtain a Minor Thousand Mechanism Array to shield Yinlian Village. They then set an ambush and gravely wounded Zhou Boren. Only then did the village enjoy several years of peace.
"Zhou Boren is no human being!"
"Zhou Shan was devious and vicious. After Aunt Yu killed him, the Fort Lord and the others had even planned to deal with Zhou Boren and his family too. Aunt Yu pleaded for them, and later helped Zhou's widowed wife and children again and again!"
"And after all that!"
"Zhou Boren still held a grudge and was so vicious! How could he do something like that?"
Whenever Qian Yu's fate came up, Zhao Xiaoshuang was just as furious.
Zhou Boren!
He couldn't tell right from wrong, and he repaid kindness with cruelty!
Utterly detestable!
"Sooner or later, I'll kill him!"
Meng Nan held the diary for Immortal Calendar Year 18. On one page, he found the date Zhou Boren had left Yinlian Village.
Like father, like son. Meng Nan wouldn't go easy on him!
Qian Yu's tragedy ought to be avoidable in reality.
After talking about Qian Yu.
After considering Zhou Boren.
Meng Nan turned his attention back to himself.
Grieving for Qian Yu's unjust death and enraged by Zhou Boren's cruelty, he had also remained trapped in the Inner Qi Stage's Qi Circulation Realm, unable to make a breakthrough. So, in Immortal Calendar Year 28, Meng Nan and Zhao Xiaoshuang left Yinlian Village to seek opportunities elsewhere.
Two years later.
That was, not long ago.
Meng Nan had been gravely wounded and left on the brink of death, then brought back to Yinlian Village by Zhao Xiaoshuang.
There were many diaries, numbered year by year. Meng Nan found the one for Immortal Calendar Year 30 and flipped to the very end—
"August 20, Immortal Calendar Year 30. We found the spiritual herb Yingxiang Grass in Great Goose Valley, but someone ambushed us and tried to steal it. He was no match for Xiaoshuang and me. As he lay dying, he suddenly struck back. A blood arrow he spat out at the last moment damaged my heart and lungs, leaving me with little time to live. Xiaoshuang stabbed him to death, then searched his body and obtained the secret art Blood Arrow. We picked the Yingxiang Grass and left."
"August 21, Immortal Calendar Year 30. On the road. Today's route map is as follows."
"August 22, Immortal Calendar Year 30. On the road. Today's route map is as follows."
"August 23, Immortal Calendar Year 30. On the road. Today's route map is as follows."
"August 24, Immortal Calendar Year 30. On the road. Today's route map is as follows."
"August 25, Immortal Calendar Year 30. On the road. Today's route map is as follows."
"August 26, Immortal Calendar Year 30. We returned safely to Yinlian Village. Today's route map is as follows."
August 26, Immortal Calendar Year 30.
When Zhao Xiaoshuang carried Meng Nan back, he was barely breathing. He lay motionless, his face deathly pale. The moment the three children saw him, they thought their father was dead. Meng Santan was the first to wail, then Meng Xingzhe and Meng Jian panicked and started crying too.
In fact, Meng Nan still had two months to live this time.
They'd started crying too soon.
That was the scene Meng Nan had seen when he first arrived and opened his eyes.
Name: Meng Nan Lifespan: 0/8 Faction: Chashan Cave Cultivation: Fetal Breath Contemplation Inner Breath: 18 Root Bone: 1 Cultivation Method: Thunder Illumination Scripture, Third Layer Spell: Spirit Wandering Steps (Second Layer) Skills: None Death Log: Available
"Fetal Breath Contemplation."
"Inner Qi circulation."
It was still the bamboo grove.
He breathed in the fresh air.
Bamboo leaves whispered in the breeze beside his ears.
Sitting in the little courtyard, Meng Nan held the records of his cultivation progress from the past twelve years, along with his collected mistakes. He couldn't help shaking his head.
Twelve years!
Twelve years!
And he had started cultivating from Fetal Breath Contemplation, with a spiritual fruit like the Suoluo Seed to help him along.
Twelve years had passed. He had cultivated for twelve years, yet he was still only at the Inner Qi Stage's Qi Circulation Realm?!
"Is it really this hard?"
"Am I really this useless?"
Meng Nan looked over his progress and his collection of mistakes. The farther he read, the darker his expression grew. In the end, he gave a bitter smile.
It really was hard!
Fetal Breath Contemplation.
Inner Qi circulation.
The Visualization Realm at the start required him to construct a Qi Circulation Diagram.
The Qi Circulation Realm that followed required him to open the many acupoints needed to circulate the Lesser Celestial Circuit, allowing Inner Qi to flow along it. Only then could he reach the Inner Qi Minor Heavenly Cycle.
But both were incredibly difficult.
On top of that, perhaps as a lingering effect of his first life's future, Meng Nan was terrified of Qi Deviation in this life. He didn't dare rush things even a little. All he wanted was to take it slow and steady—no Qi Deviation, no madness.
Being careful did indeed keep him safe.
But it was also painfully slow.
Slow as molasses!
Stumbling every step of the way!
And even now, he still hadn't completed the Lesser Celestial Circuit.
Thanks to 'Shan He Lue Zhu' for the 1,000 reward; thanks to 'Gentleman Li Youran' for the 100 reward!
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