Grandpa (Second Update)

The second update is here! The recommendations aren't coming in strong enough, fellow Daoists. This is Seeking Demon's first little burst of updates, so please give Er Gen the motivation to keep going! Everything starts somewhere, and this is the beginning of the burst. Fellow Daoists, please give Er Gen your recommendation votes!

"Big brother..."

"Big brother... can you hear me..." That familiar, gentle voice, tinged with sadness, echoed through Su Ming's mind once more in his dream, lingering for a long time. His unconscious body trembled faintly, as if struggling against something.

"Big brother, I'm waiting for you..."

When the voice calling to him reached its peak, Su Ming jolted awake. His eyes were vacant as he stared at the wall ahead for a long while. A series of excited cries broke through his daze. He turned and saw Little Monkey beside him, rushing over in delight and excitement, scrambling all over him.

Little Monkey had woken up long ago. It had only been unconscious before and hadn't suffered much real harm. After waking, it had been terribly worried about Su Ming and had waited anxiously by his side.

Now that it saw Su Ming had woken up too, it was quite excited.

Su Ming looked at the monkey and smiled, but confusion lurked beneath that smile. That dream had appeared for the second time...

He let out a deep breath and shook his head, forcing himself to stop thinking about the strange dream. Instead, he lowered his gaze to the ordinary-looking black shard hanging around his neck.

As he touched the shard, Su Ming's eyes gradually brightened.

He had experienced firsthand the changes the black shard had brought him. Refining the Dust-Clearing Powder had greatly increased the speed of his cultivation. And the accidental refinement of the red Medicine Stone had allowed him to seize the initiative completely in his earlier fight to the death.

"I need to keep refining Medicine Stones... In that strange place, I only saw a door, but it had fifteen little holes in it. I hesitated before because I didn't have enough Medicine Stones, but now I really want to know what will happen to that door after I offer up fifteen pellets of Dust-Clearing Powder..." Su Ming murmured to himself.

"I also need to refine some more Blood Powder. This powder... is my trump card!"

"Besides, I need to return to the tribe... I haven't been back in a long time. Grandpa hasn't seemed to make much progress in his cultivation these past years. Perhaps Dust-Clearing Powder could help him too." Lost in thought, Su Ming rose to his feet and stretched. Much of his fatigue faded.

He gathered his strength and immersed himself in Powder Refining once more, while keeping up his cultivation of the blood inside his body. Yet whenever his blood flowed through certain parts of him, it felt sluggish, not as smooth as before. Su Ming guessed that these were hidden injuries from breaking through the first layer of the Blood Condensation Realm, and they would probably take a long time to heal.

A month passed in a flash. During that time, Su Ming went out several times and even had Little Monkey help gather herbs.

In particular, Su Ming went out to collect two more stalks of the red herb used to refine Blood Powder. He had wanted to gather more, but he sensed danger lurking there and, after some hesitation, decided not to get greedy.

With all those herbs, Su Ming spent the month cultivating his qi and blood day and night and refining Medicine Stones. The dull thuds often echoed through the cavern.

At dawn a month later, with the sky just beginning to brighten, Su Ming gave Little Monkey a few instructions, then descended the mountain alone and disappeared into the forest.

In the forest, Su Ming, now at the second layer of the Blood Condensation Realm, moved with incredible speed, darting across the snow. Before noon, he had already crossed the mountain woods and appeared outside the Wu Mountain Tribe. Looking at the tribe in the distance, Su Ming smiled.

"It's been a while since I came back..." Su Ming strode toward the tribe. Everything inside was as usual: many children were playing, while some tribespeople sparred with one another.

Su Ming's return drew the attention of several tribespeople. After all, he had been gone for a long time. Smiling, he exchanged greetings with them.

"Su Ming! You're finally back. Where have you been all this time?" Su Ming patted a child on the head. He was about to hurry over to Grandpa's place when a hearty voice came from behind him.

He turned and saw a burly man. His face looked somewhat youthful, though, revealing that he wasn't very old. It was Lei Chen.

"Oh!" Su Ming glanced at Lei Chen and clearly sensed that the qi and blood within him were extremely vigorous, seemingly even stronger than those of the Barbarian Warrior from the Black Mountain Tribe whom Su Ming had killed with Blood Powder.

"Are you about to break through to the fourth layer of the Blood Condensation Realm?" Su Ming asked in surprise.

Lei Chen grinned, came over beside Su Ming, and began speaking in a low voice.

"I feel like I'm about to break through. Heh, Grandpa says the Barbarian Blood inside me is very pure. Given enough time, I might even reach Grandpa's level." Lei Chen's eyes shone with excitement as he spoke, but then he suddenly froze. After studying Su Ming closely, he opened his eyes wide in disbelief and was about to say something.

"Come to my place tonight. We'll talk then. I'm going to see Grandpa first." Su Ming knew what Lei Chen wanted to say. He smiled faintly, turned, and headed for Grandpa's dwelling.

Watching Su Ming's back, Lei Chen stood there in a daze for a long while. He scratched his head and muttered a few words, still unable to figure it out, but he remembered that he was supposed to visit Su Ming that night.

As he neared Grandpa's dwelling, Su Ming slowed his steps. His expression grew a little uneasy. He deeply respected Grandpa, who had raised him from childhood and constantly taught him how to become a man. To Su Ming, Grandpa was just like his own grandfather; the depth of that feeling couldn't be put into words.

He didn't want to deceive Grandpa, but there were things he couldn't explain completely, such as the shard around his neck... Su Ming wasn't a child anymore. He could tell that if anyone learned about the shard, the disaster might not befall him alone, but the entire tribe.

He couldn't tell him.

Drawing a deep breath, Su Ming stopped outside Grandpa's dwelling. He didn't go in at once, as he could faintly hear voices inside. It seemed several people were discussing something.

After waiting patiently for a moment, the door to Grandpa's dwelling opened, and three burly men walked out. All three were extremely imposing, like small mountains. Their appearance brought a powerful pressure that Su Ming could clearly feel. Even the sight of them stirred the qi and blood inside him, giving him the illusion that he was caught in a storm and about to be swept away.

Su Ming sucked in a breath and instinctively retreated several steps. The man leading the three was the chief of the Wu Mountain Tribe. Before, when Su Ming saw him, he hadn't felt much, only vaguely knowing that he was the tribe's strongest man after Grandpa.

But now that Su Ming had reached the second layer of the Blood Condensation Realm, seeing the Wu Mountain Tribe Chief again affected him far more intensely than before.

To Su Ming, the qi and blood inside the Wu Mountain Tribe Chief seemed capable of shaking heaven and earth. The faint patterns on his face only made him seem even more terrifying.

Su Ming also knew the two men beside the chief. The burly man on the chief's left was around forty. A hazy scorpion-shaped pattern flickered on his face, and the qi and blood inside him were vigorous, seemingly second only to the Wu Mountain Tribe Chief.

He also had long arms and carried a great bow on his back. For some reason, when Su Ming looked at the bow, he seemed to hear countless wails in his ears, filling him with unease.

This man was the Scout Leader of the Wu Mountain Tribe!

Scout Leader wasn't a name, but a title passed down through the generations. Each tribe could have only one Scout Leader, an honor reserved for the best archer in the entire tribe.

The last man stood on the chief's right. He was around thirty, with a wooden expression and no smile. His eyes were usually narrowed, revealing only a flash of light through the slits; it was hard to see his pupils clearly.

He was the head of the Wu Mountain Tribe's hunting team, responsible for all the tribe's hunting on its outskirts. His name was Shan Hen!

These three were arguably the strongest people in the entire tribe, aside from Grandpa!

Su Ming drew a deep breath and quickly bowed, standing off to one side.

The Wu Mountain Tribe Chief was frowning, clearly displeased by his earlier conversation with Grandpa. After leaving the house, he didn't look at Su Ming, but simply walked past him.

The Scout Leader carrying the bow glanced at Su Ming, smiled, and nodded before following the chief away.

As for Shan Hen, the head of the hunting team, it was as if Su Ming didn't exist in his eyes. He didn't look at him either as he walked past.

Only after all three had gone did Su Ming's gaze flicker with puzzlement. He couldn't understand why Lei Chen could sense the power of qi and blood inside him, while these three powerful tribesmen hadn't noticed anything at all.

"I concealed your qi and blood for you. Why are you still standing outside? Come in!" Grandpa's stern voice came from inside the dwelling as Su Ming wondered.

Su Ming lowered his head and entered the dwelling.

"So you do know how to come back." Grandpa wore a hemp robe, and his head was still covered with numerous little braids. His face showed the wear of age, but his eyes were exceptionally bright. Though his words were stern, the delight in his eyes couldn't be concealed.

Su Ming mumbled a few words, keeping his head lowered and hardly daring to speak.

"Got some ability now, do you? You can stay away from home for months and forget all about this old man, huh? Hmph. Lift your head and come over so I can have a look at you." Grandpa's voice was full of displeasure.

Su Ming grimaced and looked up at Grandpa.

"Grandpa..."

Before he could finish, Grandpa suddenly narrowed his eyes. He raised his right hand and beckoned Su Ming. Su Ming's body moved forward against his will, and Grandpa's right hand pressed directly against his chest.

A gentle force spread through Su Ming's body. It mingled with his blood and circulated, instantly healing several hidden injuries he hadn't even noticed. It also repaired the damage caused by his reckless attempt to break through to the second layer, followed by going out to kill before he had stabilized his cultivation.

When Grandpa withdrew his right hand from Su Ming's chest, Su Ming shuddered. Without thinking, he immediately drew the Medicine Blade and cut open a wound on his arm. Some blackened blood flowed out of the wound, carrying a faint, foul smell.

"You haven't even stabilized your cultivation, and you've already gone off to fight someone. You've certainly gotten capable." Grandpa watched Su Ming's actions, and the admiration in his eyes grew stronger. Yet his voice remained stern. He took out a small, dark green bottle and handed it to Su Ming.

Once all the black blood had flowed from the wound, Su Ming immediately felt invigorated. He accepted the little bottle, opened it, dipped a finger inside, and smeared some on the wound.