Green Gas

Chapter 6: Green Gas

After swallowing the Forget-Me-Not Pill, Luo Mu felt nothing unusual in his head; instead, a searing, agonizing pain erupted in his lower abdomen. This forced him to reconsider the pill he had just taken.

If it were truly as Bai Lin had claimed, the discomfort should have been localized in his head, not his gut!

Yet, Luo Mu's body was paralyzed at the time. Even knowing the pill was tainted, he was helpless. Now, the excruciating pain caused his entire body to curl into a ball, sweat pouring off him like rain.

Dark, black blood trickled from his nostrils, splashing onto the floor drop by drop. This only solidified Luo Mu's suspicions: the Forget-Me-Not Pill was indeed a sham.

Having studied medicine for so many years, if he couldn't diagnose his own condition, then all his years of learning had been in vain.

The intense agony sent Luo Mu rolling across the floor. Within moments, the ground was stained with black blood, and under the weight of the torment, Luo Mu lost consciousness, lying motionless on the floor like a corpse.

"Senior, can that Forget-Me-Not Pill really make Brother Luo Mu forget Ling'er?" On the way back, Xiao Ling'er asked Bai Lin, her face flushed with shame and her spirits low.

"Heh, of course. That brat will absolutely forget you entirely, Junior Sister Ling'er." Bai Lin offered a meaningful smile before speaking.

Of course he'll forget everything. Calculating the time, that brat should be on the road to the Yellow Springs by now, haha... Bai Lin chuckled to himself with smug satisfaction.

Hearing Bai Lin's confident assurance, Xiao Ling'er wore a conflicted expression, eventually letting out a deep sigh, her heart heavy with complex emotions.

"Junior Sister, there is no need for this. You must remember that you are a noble cultivator. You and that boy belong to two completely different worlds. Staying with him would only ruin your future. You must forget him entirely to avoid hindering your cultivation!" Seeing her low spirits, Bai Lin knew exactly why and quickly offered words of comfort in a grave, earnest tone.

"Thank you for the reminder, Senior. Ling'er knows what she wants. As for Brother Luo Mu, Ling'er will forget him completely." After a moment of struggle, a look of resolve crossed Xiao Ling'er's face, and she spoke with unwavering firmness.

"Good! Good! Good! Since Junior Sister Ling'er thinks this way, I, as your senior, can finally rest easy!" Bai Lin's face lit up, and he answered happily, repeating the word 'good' three times.

Father Xiao watched all of this, saying nothing, his expression unchanging. Yet, deep down, he felt a prick of conscience. The image of the late Father Luo kept circling in his mind, making Father Xiao feel a profound sense of guilt toward the deceased man and his only beloved son, Luo Mu.

Father Xiao knew that things had reached a point of no return. Now, he could only let nature take its course, taking it one step at a time. Having committed such an act against his own conscience, he only hoped that, as Bai Lin claimed, Xiao Ling'er could use her status as a cultivator to bring glory and respect to the Xiao Family, allowing them to live as people above the masses.

If that could truly happen, Father Xiao felt that this deed was worth the price.

"The sun has set. Once you return, Junior Sister, pack your things and get a good night's sleep. Tomorrow morning, we depart for Jinxiu City." Bai Lin looked at the sky and spoke.

"Yes, I shall follow your arrangements, Senior." Xiao Ling'er nodded gently in response.

Xiao Ling'er no longer thought of Luo Mu. In her eyes, her future was all that mattered. Learning that she would accompany Bai Lin to Jinxiu City tomorrow, she felt a surge of excitement—excitement for the brand-new beginning awaiting her, and for the world she had never before been qualified to touch.

The sun dipped below the horizon, and the sky gradually darkened. The expected moon did not appear; instead, layer upon layer of massive, dark clouds rolled in.

Within the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, a gale began to howl through Dragon Gate Town. Trees were bent double by the fierce winds, leaves danced wildly in the air, and the delicate flowers in the grass were shredded, their petals scattered to the winds.

By the looks of it, a storm would descend upon Dragon Gate Town before long.

"Bang! Bang!..." The door to Luo Mu's clinic was blown open by the gale, slamming repeatedly against the wall with a rhythmic, thunderous sound.

When Xiao Ling'er and the others had left, the guilt-ridden Father Xiao had closed the door, but to lock it required someone inside. Luo Mu, lying unconscious on the floor, was naturally unable to bolt it, and when the storm hit, the door was easily blown open.

"Creak... creak..." The wind surged into the room, causing the structure to groan. In the dim room, Luo Mu lay on the floor like a dead man, completely unaware of the approaching storm, and it was unclear whether he was truly dead or alive.

After the gale had raged for a full hour, a thunderclap exploded in the sky, followed by flashes of lightning and a torrential downpour. The storm had finally arrived.

Lightning streaked across the sky one after another, bathing the world in a silver-white glow. Through the open door of the clinic, aided by the brilliant flashes, one could faintly see Luo Mu, who had been motionless for hours, slowly crawling up. His movements were sluggish and labored.

If Bai Lin were here to witness this, he would surely scream in terror! Only he knew that there was no such thing as a 'Forget-Me-Not Pill' in this world, or at least, none he could ever hope to obtain. The pill he had fed Luo Mu was indeed a precious, mid-tier first-grade pill, but it was not a Forget-Me-Not Pill—it was a poison pill!

This poison was known as the Heartbreak Pill. Its toxicity was so potent that even many cultivators at the Qi Refining stage would tremble at its name. If one failed to take the antidote within the specified time after ingestion, they would, as the name suggested, truly experience the sensation of their heart breaking.

That Bai Lin had passed off such a lethal poison as a Forget-Me-Not Pill and had Xiao Ling'er feed it to Luo Mu personally showed just how vicious his intentions were. A poison that even ordinary Qi Refining cultivators found troublesome had been swallowed by a mere mortal like Luo Mu; the consequences seemed obvious without even needing to guess.

Yet, what defied all logic was that after consuming the Heartbreak Pill, Luo Mu had not died of poisoning, but had instead slowly crawled up from the floor. It was truly bizarre.

Luo Mu slumped over the table, his shoulders heaving as if he were gasping for air. Outside, the rain continued to fall, the wind raged, and the thunder flashed, but Luo Mu seemed entirely oblivious to it all, letting the wind and rain sweep into the room.

His shoulders began to heave even more violently. However, this time, Luo Mu was not gasping for air—he was laughing. The laughter was low, but his body shook with intensity.

"Heh... heh..." The low laughter revealed joy, but also a sense of desolation; it was complex.

The laughter lasted for the duration of a meal before it finally ceased. Luo Mu straightened his posture, sitting upright on the stool. As the wind surged into the room again, whipping his long robes, Luo Mu waved his hand without looking back. A stream of green gas shot from his palm, moving with such speed that it struck the two doors blown open by the wind instantly.

"Thud!" Defying the gale, the doors slammed shut. The wooden bolt fell into place automatically, securing the doors firmly so the wind could no longer force them open.

At this moment, faint green gas emanated from Luo Mu's hands, looking incredibly miraculous. If one weren't paying close attention, it would be hard to notice the phenomenon on his hands.

Luo Mu stared at his own hands with a complex expression, his face shifting between fascination, frustration, and solemnity—his emotions were as unpredictable as the weather.

Having just discovered he hadn't died, Luo Mu had laughed for the duration of a meal, filled with a mix of joy and desolation. Once he finished laughing, he began to examine his body. He was certain he had been poisoned, and he was deeply puzzled as to why he was still alive, so he began to search for the cause.

It was a good thing he checked, for upon doing so, Luo Mu was instantly petrified.

His Dantian, which had been unable to gather spiritual energy despite consuming countless low-grade spirit herbs, now contained a faint trace of green gas. This discovery made Luo Mu ecstatic, but it was immediately followed by a look of utter confusion!

The presence of gas in the Dantian proved that he had stepped into the lowest level of cultivation: the Qi Refining stage! This was the reason for his joy.

However, the spiritual energy gathered in the Dantian of a Qi Refining cultivator was always milky white, yet the gas in Luo Mu's Dantian was pale green! This was the source of his confusion.

Over the years, although Luo Mu's Dantian couldn't gather energy, he had read every book on the cultivation world in the town school's library multiple times. While these weren't rare texts and only covered basic common knowledge, they had still benefited him greatly.

At school, Luo Mu could be considered the student with the most knowledge of cultivation basics. Yet, even a scholar as learned as he had never seen a book that mentioned green spiritual energy in the Dantian!

Just as he thought of this, the frustrated Luo Mu heard the sound of the door slamming against the wall behind him. He prepared to stand up to close it, but his eyes flickered, and he dismissed the idea of getting up himself.

Since he couldn't understand the green gas in his Dantian, he would test whether it possessed the properties of spiritual energy. With that thought, Luo Mu followed the instructions from the books and began to channel the gas toward his palms.

The result was the scene where he had closed the door.

Having successfully closed the door, Luo Mu was thrilled! In his excitement, he began to study the green gas on his palms closely, completely casting aside the mystery of why he hadn't died from the poison pill. This green gas had captured his entire attention.

After carefully scrutinizing the green gas on his palms, Luo Mu ended up in his current state—his expressions shifting between fascination, frustration, and solemnity, showing the intense emotional turmoil within him.

Because after his careful observation, Luo Mu had discovered that the green gas gathered in his Dantian was not spiritual energy at all!