The Third Young Master

Deep in the night, the west courtyard was deathly silent.

Li Tui sat cross-legged on the bed, eyes slightly closed. The essence he had accumulated over the past month was slowly converging toward the location of his spiritual root.

As the essence enveloped the spiritual root, that dormant seed gradually began to emit a verdant, emerald luster.

A quarter of an hour passed, then two...

Fine beads of sweat seeped from his forehead. The method of guiding essence was the most mentally taxing; the slightest carelessness could damage the origin of the spiritual root, leading to stagnant cultivation at best, or becoming a cripple at worst.

Li Tui's mind was taut.

Two hours later.

The first wisp of essence merged into the spiritual root, transforming into a thread of true qi that was extremely thin yet distinct, quietly permeating his dantian.

It was done.

Li Tui did not open his eyes, merely taking a deep breath.

The sensation of true qi flowing through him—warm, supple, and agile—was a feeling he had never experienced in his past life.

The gap in talent.

If a Grade C spiritual root could achieve this, what if he could truly raise it to Grade B, or Grade A... Li Tui suppressed the ripples in his heart and continued to guide the next wisp of essence.

He did not sleep the entire night.

As the morning light began to show, Li Tui opened his eyes.

The true qi in his dantian was sparse, yet it flowed steadily. His limbs and bones felt light, as if a thousand-pound shackle had been removed.

He did not get up, sitting quietly on the bed to carefully organize what he had gained last night.

The essence guidance was complete; the next step was to accumulate true qi, strike at the acupoints, and then have the acupoints throughout his body resonate with the spiritual root to convert true qi into spiritual energy, which was the only way to truly awaken the spiritual root and enter the stage of qi refining.

According to his past life's knowledge, an ordinary person with a Grade C spiritual root would need years of using true qi to strike at their acupoints before there was any possibility of awakening the spiritual root.

The older one was, the more clogged the acupoints were with impurities, making the difficulty of striking them even greater.

He needed resources—spiritual rice, medicinal pills, better cultivation techniques—anything that could accelerate the speed of essence guidance was something he required.

Li Tui stood up and fished that crude essence-guiding manual from under his pillow. The pages were yellowed and the handwriting sloppy; it was low-grade trash distributed by the Zhao Family to the children of their retainers.

His fingertips brushed over the paper, his gaze turning cold.

A knock sounded at the door.

"Wang Yuan, are you up?" It was the voice of Zhao Minglai.

Li Tui stuffed the manual back under his pillow, straightened his collar, and opened the door.

Zhao Minglai stood outside, and seeing him neatly dressed, a flash of satisfaction crossed his eyes: "Follow me. Today I am taking you to see the Third Young Master."

In the deepest part of the rear building, a carved wooden door stood slightly ajar.

Before they even drew near, they could hear the giggling of a woman from inside, her voice cloying and filled with deliberate, affected tenderness.

Zhao Minglai stopped before the door, his brow furrowed, and pushed it open.

The scent of incense mixed with cosmetics rushed to meet them.

The room was luxurious. The black stone desk was piled with brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones, the wolf-hair brushes on the rack shimmering with a jade luster. Water-blue curtains hung down, the tassels swaying; a single foot of that fabric was worth several years of a tenant farmer's harvest.

On the bed behind the curtains, a twelve or thirteen-year-old boy in fine silk was frolicking with two women.

Li Tui's gaze lingered on the two women for a moment.

The woman on the left wore a peach-red shirt with a silver hairpin in her hair, and she was feeding a grape to the boy's lips. Her face was wreathed in smiles, yet the corners of her eyes drooped slightly. Her movements were gentle as she offered the grape, and her fingertips paused imperceptibly just before touching the boy's lips, only to be retracted without a trace.

The woman on the right wore a goose-yellow dress and was kneading the boy's shoulders. Her technique was practiced, and her face wore a fawning smile.

The boy's features were youthful, but his expression held a laziness inconsistent with his age. He opened his mouth to take the grape, one hand resting casually on the waist of the woman in peach-red, the other toying with the silver hairpin in her hair.

"Third Young Master, as you ordered, the new study companion has been brought," Zhao Minglai stepped forward and bowed.

Zhao Yuanchong lifted his eyes lazily, swept his gaze over Li Tui, and then let it fall back onto the face of the woman in his arms: "Just him?"

"Yes." Zhao Minglai stepped aside and pushed Li Tui forward, "Wang Yuan, good talent, steady temperament."

Zhao Yuanchong sneered, pulled the silver hairpin from the woman's hair, and tossed it onto the floor: "Looks boring."

The silver hairpin rolled to Li Tui's feet, the peach blossom carved into the head reflecting the window light, blindingly bright.

Li Tui lowered his eyes and bowed: "Disciple Wang Yuan greets the Third Young Master."

The moment he bowed, his peripheral vision caught the reactions of the two women by the bed.

The woman in the peach-red shirt tilted her head slightly, her gaze lingering on him for a moment, as if she were looking at nothing more than a newly added piece of furniture.

Then she turned back to Zhao Yuanchong, her face once again piling up with cloying smiles as she said softly: "Young Master, this hairpin was the one you gifted me the day before yesterday."

The woman in the goose-yellow dress did not even lift her head, continuing only to knead Zhao Yuanchong's shoulders.

The corridor was silent.

Zhao Minglai let out a long breath, turned to look at Li Tui, his expression complex: "From now on, you must wait outside this room at the hour of the rabbit every day. Whenever the Third Young Master rises, whenever he calls, you must be there. Except for the hours he goes to the school, you must not leave his side."

He paused, lowering his voice: "The Young Master's temperament... you have seen it. Speak less, do more, and do not defy him."

Li Tui nodded: "This disciple understands."

"Your supplies will be issued according to the standard for a study companion from now on," Zhao Yuanlai said. "You will receive an extra three handfuls of spirit rice each month, and your monthly allowance will increase by thirty percent. Cultivate diligently and do not let me down."

"Thank you, Teacher." Li Tui bowed.

Zhao Minglai waved his hand and turned to leave, but then he paused, turned back, and gave him a deep look: "You and the young master... never mind, look after yourself."

Having said that, he walked away quickly.

The corridor returned to silence.

Li Tui stood where he was, watching Zhao Minglai's figure disappear around the corner, the layer of respect on his face receding like a tide.

If you can't find the book by its title, you can try searching for the author; perhaps it has just been renamed!