Weak Waters, Three Thousand

In high spirits beneath the sunny skies, Wu Ming first went to the kitchen and found a few pieces of hardtack to feed the guardian piglet. Then he picked up the sleepy little pig, drowsy now that its belly was full, and headed to the Sect Leader Temple with light, nimble Root Stance to leave a happy report for his master, who was still in seclusion.

While he was at it, he also wanted to ask about the next stage of cultivating the Spirit-Melting Qi-Transformation Art.

The mountain path from Xianyun Abode to the Sect Leader Temple had once taken Wu Ming half a day of hard walking. Now, it felt like a stroll through a courtyard... Even though he placed every step in time with Root Stance, he completed the whole journey in less than two hours.

When the Sect Leader Temple's weathered outer walls came into view, it was not yet noon, and the temple gates stood wide open.

As if in answer to the fine weather, Gu Bai had emerged from seclusion that very day.

After seven days of seclusion, the old man had finally recovered completely, and his vigor had blossomed anew, like an old tree greeting spring. Even from far away, Wu Ming could sense what seemed to be a gigantic heart beating slowly inside the temple.

Even crippled by a damaged Dao foundation, this Nascent Soul Cultivator, who styled himself a Heterodox Zen practitioner, still possessed a terrifying vitality hundreds, even thousands, of times greater than an ordinary person's.

"Ming'er, you're here? Come on in."

Hearing his master's warm voice by his ear, Wu Ming couldn't help smiling as he stepped into the temple. Sure enough, the old man who had once looked so sickly now appeared radiant, like an old pear tree about to weigh down the crabapples beneath it.

Gu Bai was even more astonished to see Wu Ming.

"Good heavens, it's only been a few days, but it feels like a lifetime! Your cultivation progress always manages to exceed my expectations, Ming'er."

Wu Ming smiled. "As an expert at clearing things first, it's only natural for my early progress to be fast... The later stages take steady, painstaking work, and there's not much room for shortcuts."

Gu Bai shook his head. "With your mindset of not getting conceited in victory or discouraged in defeat, that so-called painstaking work will be as easy as floating downstream. All right, you came to ask about the later stages of the Spirit-Melting Qi-Transformation Art, didn't you? As it happens, today I'll also teach you the body-tempering Green Pine Stance I promised you. After that, if you practice it alongside the Spring Encounter Book, you should gain even more insights."

Wu Ming's eyes lit up. "Thank you, Master!"

Ever since joining the Gujian Sect, the sect had been in decline and short on resources, but its teaching and transmission of techniques had brought him one pleasant surprise after another.

After that, master and disciple skipped the small talk. Gu Bai stood up, pondered briefly, then stepped through a sequence of astral paces, forming hand seals as he took seven steps through the Sect Leader Temple.

His movement flowed without pause, yet each step had a distinct rhythm. In those seven steps, he imprinted every posture of the Green Pine Stance deeply and completely into Wu Ming's mind.

Just as Wu Ming began to grasp something, Gu Bai smiled. "I'll demonstrate it once more. Watch closely."

The old man took seven steps again. Each one seemed to have a brief pause, making the rhythm between steps clear. But after the seventh, Wu Ming could only remember a string of blurry afterimages, linked together like an endless, flowing stream.

Gu Bai asked, "Do you need me to demonstrate it again?"

Wu Ming pondered for a moment, then shook his head.

The two demonstrations were like yin and yang... Gu Bai had displayed the most crucial aspects of the Green Pine Stance—movement and stillness—in an exquisitely subtle way. Wu Ming had seen clearly enough. There was no need to disrupt the balance of perception he had already found.

Lost in thought, Wu Ming formed the hand seal as well and stepped forward.

Bang!

The step landed with the steadiness of Root Stance and the lightness of spring growth. The earth's spiritual energy harmonized with his blood and qi, then resonated with the Inner Landscape Mysterious Spirit. It was as though an invisible hammer had fallen, forging a sword blank and shaking the three aspects into harmony.

With that single step, Wu Ming had faintly grasped the marvel of the Green Pine Stance. By itself, it might have been a fairly ordinary superior body-tempering technique. But combined with Root Stance, the Spring Encounter Book, and the Spirit-Melting Qi-Transformation Art, it was transformed, forming a set bonus.

But that set bonus didn't come free... Wu Ming took one step and experienced the marvel of the three aspects merging, but the feeling lasted only an instant. He was soon left slightly dizzy, while the blood and qi in his body stagnated and his mana scattered, showing faint signs of cultivation deviation!

Clearly, that step had been far from perfect; in fact, it was riddled with mistakes. He had done everything he could to imitate his master Gu Bai's movements, but he hadn't fully grasped the "momentum." So the Green Pine Stance had only the outward appearance, without the substance needed to support the set bonus.

The Green Pine Stance by itself shouldn't be difficult. But if he wanted to combine it with other techniques and preserve the set bonus, its difficulty would multiply, and the risks would rise just as sharply.

He really was going to spend his whole life collecting the full set of techniques!

As Wu Ming pondered and worked through the principles, Gu Bai couldn't help smiling. "All right, take a little break. The Green Pine Stance isn't about quick results. What matters is practicing it steadily through all four seasons. The process of constantly making mistakes and building up your understanding bit by bit is more important than the result of mastering it."

Wu Ming seemed to understand. Perhaps cultivating the Green Pine Stance was like a hero exploring a maze: reaching the end in one straight shot meant giving up all the side-quest rewards. So winning quickly wasn't necessarily a good thing.

Gu Bai nodded lightly, only half understanding.

Or perhaps it was like marriage. Marrying early and having children meant giving up the soul-stirring, life-and-death romances with countless immortal beauties—and bidding farewell forever to the freedom of wandering among flowers.

Gu Bai understood at once, but how could he possibly nod? He merely coughed and said, "Next, let's study the second section of the Spirit-Melting Qi-Transformation Art..."

Since his master had spoken, Wu Ming set aside his fixation on the Green Pine Stance for the time being and studied the second-stage formula with Gu Bai. By then, it was afternoon, and Wu Ming was feeling a little tired. He asked, "Master, are you hungry? Would you like something to eat?"

Gu Bai wasn't hungry, but he thought it might be nice to share a simple meal with his disciple.

Then he saw Wu Ming turn to knock on the guardian piglet, which was dozing off...

"Wait, your master isn't hungry at all!"

"Oh, I see." Wu Ming looked a little disappointed. "I was going to have it ask Senior Sister Ling Xi for some Fruit Pastries."

"...It's fine, I really am not hungry." As Gu Bai spoke, he smacked his lips and chuckled at himself. "I'm just having a craving."

"What craving!?" Wu Ming nearly jumped out of his skin.

Then Gu Bai flipped his hand, and a bundle of short crimson sticks wrapped in gold appeared in his palm.

Merely seeing the treasured bundle brought a satisfied sigh from Gu Bai, and the tension seemed to leave his muscles.

Wu Ming got a good look. There were ten red sticks in the bundle—not one fewer than before!

"Master, you've been in seclusion alone these past few days. You didn't sneak off to take Five Minerals Powder, did you? It's not often Senior Sister is away."

Gu Bai gave a wry smile. "It's precisely because Ying'er isn't here that I can't break my vow. Besides, Ying'er only wants me to avoid harming myself with Five Minerals Powder. This Golden Rouge, on the other hand, is a very rare, harmless Smoke Powder. Its workmanship and ingredients are nothing like ordinary goods. It's just... hard to bring myself to use it."

"If you like it, we can find a chance to have Liu Qi express his good intentions again."

Gu Bai shook his head. "Only one Aristocratic Clan of alchemists in Dongjun, Qiongzhou, can make this. It's extremely scarce. I doubt Third Young Master Liu could just casually offer it to express his good intentions."

"Then, knowing Senior Sister's temperament, she'll probably sell all these precious addictive things at a high price and trade them for something useful. She'd keep at most one out of ten—maybe hang it from a ceiling beam, so you could look up at it when your craving hits and take some comfort."

Gu Bai's face paled as he listened. "...That's exactly right."

"So you'd better enjoy it while Senior Sister hasn't returned to the mountain. Speaking of which, when is she coming back? Could she have run into trouble while training? Should I go down the mountain and rescue her?"

Gu Bai laughed. "It's kind of you to offer. She sent word two days ago that she'd finished hunting down all the monsters and evil spirits and was returning from the Eshui River... At her pace, she should be back in a day or two."

Before he had finished speaking, a sudden rustle of leaves came from outside the temple, followed by a howl of mountain wind. It carried an undeniable, chilling might, and that might...

The expressions of master and disciple changed at once.

"Senior Sister!?"

"Ying'er!?"

Outside the temple, a woman's soft laugh drifted in on the wind.

Amid the laughter, the petite figure they had missed for so long gradually climbed the steps from the end of the mountain path, appearing bit by bit in their view.

Compared with a month ago, the girl looked a little more travel-worn. Her plain robe had gained several patches and traces of blood, a clear sign that this trip down the mountain to hunt monsters had been anything but easy. Yet her cat-pupiled eyes shone brighter and more vividly than ever.

An invisible layer of spiritual energy swirled around her, naturally keeping much of the dust and grime in the wind at bay. She was far from spotless, but the spiritual energy around her was more than enough to tell them something.

No wonder she had returned ahead of schedule.

"Congratulations, Senior Sister, on breaking through your bottleneck and becoming a Foundation Establishment Middle Stage powerhouse!"

Gu Bai nodded in approval.

"Good, you broke through. Very good..."

The next moment, Zhu Ying lightly touched down with her lotus feet, crossed the small open space before the Sect Leader Temple in a single step, and landed gently inside.

"Master, your disciple has fulfilled her mission and returned with a breakthrough!"

Zhu Ying's voice trembled slightly, full of joy—and something even greater than joy.

But the tremor lasted only an instant. The girl quickly regained the dignity of the Gujian Sect's senior disciple. She first looked at Wu Ming, her gaze filled with surprise and delight.

"Qi Refining, third tier, complete?! Junior Brother, you really are incredible! As it happens, I brought you a gift this time."

As she spoke, Zhu Ying took a small backpack off her back and spread it on the ground, revealing a pair of rather exquisite short boots made of animal hide.

"I asked a fellow cultivator who was skilled at tanning and sewing... to make these from Mountain Spirit hide. As you walk, they naturally draw upon the power of the mountains and earth, making them perfect for practicing Root Stance."

Wu Ming was stunned and embarrassed by her words.

Sorry, Senior Sister. I shouldn't have joked behind your back about height-boosting shoes... At this moment, you're truly six feet tall!

After that, Zhu Ying looked at Gu Bai, studied his complexion, and smiled. "Master looks well too. You must have been resting properly during this time, so..."

As she spoke, the girl pulled out a small wooden box, looking a little amused with herself, but also a little reluctant.

"While hunting monsters, I met the daughter of an Aristocratic Clan of alchemists. When we parted, she insisted on giving me this. She said it was a family specialty that she'd refined herself..."

When she opened the wooden box, a short crimson stick wrapped in gold lay quietly inside.

The Sect Leader Temple fell silent.

Zhu Ying looked puzzled. "Why does Master look so troubled? You don't think I'm baiting you, do you? Honestly... This Golden Rouge is harmless and non-toxic. It was made by a junior in an Aristocratic Clan, so it may be a little weaker than the kind sold in the marketplace, but... that doesn't mean you can't make an exception once in a while."

Before she had finished speaking, Gu Bai let out a long, trembling sigh.

"Your master... is just so surprised, so delighted."

At the same time, the bundle of Golden Rouge hidden behind his back silently vanished into nothingness, as if it had never existed at all.