Mischief

(Forgetting Worries)

In the valley, where yang energy was incredibly dense, Chu Xiaotian worked for most of the night. It was not until dawn broke that he finally mastered the entry-level cultivation method of the Heavenly Corpse Art. Now, he could use the technique to draw out the Corpse Poison lying dormant inside him.

But it was already broad daylight, so Chu Xiaotian stopped cultivating. He got to his feet and left the valley, then went into the woods and made himself a grass garment to cover his body, which had long since become completely naked. He also killed a little wild boar with a branch. Like a primitive man returning from a hunt, he headed for the valley where Xia Xue was staying.

Whether Xia Xue was angry because Chu Xiaotian had taken liberties with her the day before or because he had tossed her aside last night, she certainly gave him no warm welcome. She merely came out of her room, took the roasted wild boar meat Chu Xiaotian had prepared, and ducked back inside without another word.

Chu Xiaotian was focused on cultivating the Heavenly Corpse Art, so he did not bother with Xia Xue. He went to the edge of the small pool, sat cross-legged, and continued practicing the technique's cultivation method.

During the day, corpse energy was severely suppressed. Chu Xiaotian circulated the technique three times before he managed to draw out even a little of the Corpse Poison inside him. Instead of trying to draw out more, he began to practice controlling that small mass of poison. Controlling Corpse Poison was no simple matter. Even the Heavenly Corpse Art repeatedly warned cultivators to beware of letting it invade their minds.

All cultivators, regardless of their realm, relied on their spiritual sense to control the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. Their spiritual sense was therefore of utmost importance, and no one could bear the consequences of damage to it. Chu Xiaotian focused his mind and tried to control the mass of Corpse Poison with his will. The instant he touched it, a stabbing pain shot through his head. Frightened, he quickly stopped and let the Jade Pendant and the yang energy between heaven and earth suppress the poison again.

After resting for a full quarter of an hour and recovering, Chu Xiaotian drew out another mass of Corpse Poison and tried to control it again. As the saying went, read a book a thousand times, and its meaning will become clear. The same principle applied to cultivation. Without exceptional talent, the only way to control this frigid poison was through relentless practice. If one attempt failed, then practice ten times, a hundred times, a thousand times. With enough repetitions, one would gradually discover how to control the poison, and mastering it would no longer be impossible.

It was a painful and lonely endeavor. Anyone without a strong mind had no chance of succeeding. Chu Xiaotian practiced from morning until noon, but made little progress. He caught a few fish in the river and roasted them for lunch, then left a few by Xia Xue's door before returning to the pool to practice. That night, he still did not stay in the valley. Before the sun had completely set, he hurried back to the scorching valley where he had cultivated the night before. He relied on the valley's unique environment and the Jade Pendant around his neck to keep his mind clear as he continued practicing the Heavenly Corpse Art.

For the next two days, aside from eating and sleeping, Chu Xiaotian spent all his time cultivating. He did not even have a moment to say a word to Xia Xue. Of course, such arduous cultivation could not have yielded no results. After two days of nonstop practice, on the night of the third day, Chu Xiaotian finally managed to control the Corpse Poison in his body and use it to strengthen his flesh.

"Phew... This damned Heavenly Corpse Art really isn't easy to cultivate." Chu Xiaotian guided a small mass of corpse energy through his body. Once it was suppressed again, he let out a long breath, stood up, and muttered to himself. The frigid corpse energy had made him suffer plenty over the past two days. Now, even thinking about the Corpse Poison made a chill run through him.

He glanced at the sky and saw a faint glow on the horizon. After stretching, Chu Xiaotian headed out of the valley.

After roasting a rabbit, Chu Xiaotian did not immediately dig in as he had before. Instead, he looked toward Xia Xue's door. He had been so busy cultivating for the past few days that he had not had time to make peace with her. Now that he could control the Corpse Poison inside him, his cultivation was finally on track, and he had time to settle things between them. After waiting for a while, Xia Xue came out of her room and walked over, still wearing a frosty expression.

"Xia Xue, are you still mad?" Seeing her, Chu Xiaotian greeted her with a smile and led her to the fire where the meat was roasting.

Xia Xue glanced at him without replying, but unlike before, she did not take the food and head straight back inside. She sat down by the fire and looked up at Chu Xiaotian, her expression blank.

"Xia Xue, don't be mad anymore. It was just that you were too alluring, and I couldn't help myself. If you're really angry, go ahead and hit me a couple of times. You'll feel better once you've let it out. Just don't kick me out, or I won't have anywhere to go." Xia Xue's gaze made Chu Xiaotian feel a little uneasy. In his nervousness, he grabbed her hand again and spoke in a fluster.

He had taken liberties with her before, then ignored her for so many days. He was genuinely afraid she was angry.

"And what about now? Are you nervous?" Xia Xue glanced at Chu Xiaotian with an amused look as he held her hand again, then spoke slowly. In truth, Chu Xiaotian had only grabbed her hand that one time. She had been a little angry in the moment, but after that, she had stopped being angry altogether. The main reason she had ignored him was that he went out every night and she could not follow him, so she had no idea what he was up to.

"I, I, well, I..." Chu Xiaotian quickly let go, flustered once more. Though he had come from the twenty-first century, he had only recently left his mountain home and was just as clueless when it came to men and women. Xia Xue's teasing left him feeling unsettled.

"Ha! I was just teasing you. I stopped being mad ages ago. But you have to tell me where you've been going at night, or I'll really get angry." Seeing Chu Xiaotian's expression, Xia Xue smiled radiantly.

"I knew Xia Xue was the best. Here, eat some more roasted meat. This is good stuff. But I can't tell you what I've been doing at night yet. I'll tell you once I've succeeded completely. You'll be happy when you hear it." Xia Xue's words finally put Chu Xiaotian at ease. Still, he had no intention of telling her what he had been doing at night. He wanted to wait until his cultivation had truly borne fruit before telling her. After all, the fact that he had turned into a zombie was not something he could tell just anyone.

"You're really not going to tell me? Then I'm really going to get mad." Xia Xue pouted at Chu Xiaotian, looking as though she would ignore him if he did not tell her.

But Chu Xiaotian had already figured out Xia Xue's temperament and knew she would not really get angry. Smiling, he walked up to her and said, "Xia Xue, don't rush me. I'll tell you as soon as I succeed. Then you can do whatever you want. For now, finish your food, and then I'll go herb-gathering with you. You're out of medicinal herbs, aren't you? The weather's so nice today, so it's the perfect time to go." Without waiting for Xia Xue to respond, he tore a rabbit leg from the roasted rabbit and held it to her mouth.

Chu Xiaotian successfully distracted Xia Xue. After a few words from him, she completely forgot what she had been about to say and began eating the fragrant roasted meat. Seeing that Xia Xue had stopped asking questions, Chu Xiaotian started eating heartily too.

"All right, I'm full now. You promised, so you have to come herb-gathering with me. I haven't refined any pills for two days, and I'm getting rusty." After slowly eating about half the meat from a rabbit leg, Xia Xue set down what she was holding and looked at Chu Xiaotian with a smile. But in that smile, Chu Xiaotian seemed to detect something called a scheme.

After tidying up, the two headed into the forest. Xia Xue had run out of herbs for pill refining several days earlier, but she had been resting and had not gone into the woods to gather more. Now that Chu Xiaotian had brought it up, she was eager to go pick herbs and refine pills.

"This one, this one, and this one too. These are all materials I urgently need. Help me gather them." As they walked through the dense forest, Xia Xue kept pointing out flowers and plants growing in the cracks of high tree trunks and ordering Chu Xiaotian to climb up and pick them. She then put them into a little pouch she had previously used to trade things with Ba Dao. Before long, Chu Xiaotian had climbed more than a hundred trees, each over ten zhang tall, and gathered a huge pile of herbs. Xia Xue stored them all in the little pouch called the Qiankun Bag.

Xia Xue still had nothing in her hands, as if she had come for a scenic stroll. Chu Xiaotian, on the other hand, was having a rough time. The herbs all grew on trees more than ten meters tall, and climbing up and down nonstop soon left him drenched in sweat and panting. If his body had not been strong enough, he would have collapsed on the ground long ago.

Xia Xue paid no attention to his plight. Instead, she praised him while pointing out more herbs in the trees for him to pick. And each tree was taller than the last. Chu Xiaotian wanted nothing more than to lie down on the ground, but whenever he heard Xia Xue's praise and saw her smile, bright as the sun, his feet couldn't help carrying him toward the towering tree she pointed to.