Unknown

The water droplets among the trees scattered the sunlight.

Qin Yi slowly turned back, staring unblinkingly at the girl.

Ruan Su's answer had given him an entirely new line of thought. He had previously been considering things only from the perspective of overall interests, never having thought about the matter of inheritance.

Inheritance ran through civilization from beginning to end.

Whether academic theories, ingenious creations, or social currents of thought, all required vessels through which they could be passed down. They could be stone walls, bronze vessels, books and classics, or even humanity itself.

Hidden metaphors and proverbs, local customs, and regional slang all counted as inheritances woven into human life.

If things were truly as Ruan Su had said,

then the authors had scattered encrypted cultivation techniques through poems and miscellaneous writings that would spread far and wide, most likely in order to achieve precisely this.

Thinking of this, Qin Yi said softly:

"You mean these authors used people themselves to pass down cultivation techniques while they remained unaware of it?"

Hearing the question, Ruan Su thought seriously for a long while. Then she suddenly felt that Little Yi was like a roundworm in her belly—he had directly summed up what she herself had not yet fully figured out. She nodded.

"Yes."

"Why?"

This time, Qin Yi was not asking Ruan Su. He spoke aloud to himself instead.

"Why didn't those authors use the simplest methods, like bamboo slips or paper? Print some copies, hide them in some deep mountain forest, and they wouldn't need to fear the inheritance being cut off..."

As that thought arose, Qin Yi suddenly seemed to have grasped some crucial piece of information.

Fear.

Fear the inheritance would be cut off...?

Why would these people standing at the pinnacle of the world—people capable of founding sects, even rulers of entire nations—fear that cultivation techniques would fall out of transmission?

Given their identities, positions, and the resources they could command, hiding and passing down a few techniques should have been easier than easy.

So was this line of thought still wrong?

Thinking this, Qin Yi exhaled softly.

He decided not to think about the matter for now.

At present, he had only collected two techniques, Disrupted Scripture and Nine Songs. The sample size was still too small to be universal.

He silently followed Ruan Su onward.

Suddenly,

Crack—

A soft echo sounded as Qin Yi snapped a branch beneath his foot. His body abruptly stiffened, and the girl ahead of him, who was tugging on his sleeve, nearly pulled him into a stumble.

Ruan Su, laden with bags large and small, turned around and hurriedly wanted to support him, but Qin Yi raised a hand to stop her.

"Sis."

After steadying himself, Qin Yi suddenly realized something. He slowly lifted his eyes, his black pupils deep and dark, his calm voice spreading faintly.

"When we were in the Qin Lands, I was unconscious most of the time. Did you ever hear of Disrupted Scripture?"

"Dis... rupted Scripture?"

Ruan Su stood on the forest path, narrowing her eyes as she thought. After a moment, she shook her head.

"No..."

Qin Yi smiled faintly and handed her the translated copy of Nine Songs from his arms.

"Then take another look at this. Nine Songs should have circulated quite widely in the Qin Lands."

Ruan Su accepted it and quickly read through it, piece after piece. Only after finishing the entire book did she raise her eyes and shake her head.

"Still... no."

Qin Yi took Nine Songs back and confirmed:

"Not even one? Something similar would do too."

Confusion filled Ruan Su's eyes.

"No... why?"

Qin Yi smiled softly.

"Nothing. I just suddenly thought of something interesting."

Ruan Su immediately glared at him.

Little Yi only ever said half of what he meant. Annoying. Hmph.

Qin Yi did not mind. He patted the moisture clinging to his clothes.

No wonder they had to hide them.

Even after hiding them like this, the inheritance had still been cut off...

Cultivation techniques had originated from martial artists' inner strength. Anyone capable of creating cultivation techniques must have brought martial artists' inner strength to the pinnacle of perfection.

The people who had written works like Disrupted Scripture and Nine Songs—poetry, songs, essays, and casual notes—were most likely a group from the ruling class, powerful and highly placed.

Yet even with such careful planning, they had still been unable to avoid failure.

Who had done this?

Or rather...

Qin Yi looked up through the canopy and calmly glanced at the northern sky.

...What if those were not people at all, but certain "things"?

Qin Yi did not dwell on it any longer.

He would verify it if he encountered them someday. If not, so be it. When the sky fell, tall people would hold it up.

Like Meng Peijiu, that big sister.

Qin Yi thought she was quite suitable for the job.

After following Ruan Su for quite some distance, Qin Yi suddenly felt a faint tremor. He initially thought his head ailment had flared up, but when he saw dead leaves rustling down around them, flocks of birds rising from the mountains, and beasts roaring, he understood.

It was an earthquake.

The tremors grew stronger from weak beginnings.

It looked rather spectacular amid the forest—truly the earth shaking and mountains swaying.

Ruan Su stood rooted to the spot, not knowing what was happening. Her little face had turned pale as she looked toward Qin Yi. It was clearly her first time experiencing this.

Qin Yi, on the other hand, did not look the least bit alarmed.

It was only an earthquake. No need to make a mountain out of a molehill.

Seeing that Ruan Su was still standing there, Qin Yi comforted her.

"The earth dragon is turning over. It doesn't look too severe, and Compassion Mountain won't collapse that easily. But our traps will probably suffer."

As his words fell, the mountains indeed gradually stopped shaking. Only the beasts deep in the mountains continued howling chaotically, one after another.

Seeing Qin Yi gradually walking away, Ruan Su hurriedly followed after him at a jog with her bags large and small on her back.

When they returned home and saw the state of the courtyard, Qin Yi sighed softly despite having expected it.

More than half the traps in the courtyard had been triggered.

Quite a few arrows stood embedded in the soil. Several hanging traps had also gone off, and even the conical wooden stake by the entrance had slid down, smashing their wooden door clean off. It was currently swinging from the doorframe like a swing.

With Qin Yi's earlier warning, Ruan Su was about to walk straight in. Seeing this, Qin Yi quickly called out to stop his older sister.

"Sis, wait a moment."

As he spoke, he formed a hand seal and summoned light.

Over the past few days, he had discovered that he did not need to use the breathing technique to enter Cultivation Sight before outputting Spirit Resonance, though doing so was very strenuous.

After using the light to trigger the remaining traps in the courtyard, Qin Yi explained:

"The mechanisms on these traps have probably all loosened. They need to be remade. I'll go inside and check my body. You can reset the traps using the method I taught you..."

Halfway through,

Qin Yi suddenly stopped and shook his little head.

"Forget it. Before you adapt to your strength, you shouldn't do anything. I'll handle the cooking and chores for now. Mm... if you're bored, Sis, practice the blade techniques Uncle Peng taught you in the courtyard."

Sometimes, when one's realm and numerical values rose too quickly, it could instead affect combat strength in battle.

Ruan Su was somewhat flattered, but then she looked at him eagerly and asked:

"Then... the medicine... for my throat..."

Faced with those imploring eyes, Qin Yi ignored her. He used light to loop around a cloth bag on the girl's back and lift it up, walking toward the kitchen as he left behind a helpless sentence.

"I'll brew it for you. Practice your blade techniques properly."

"Hehe~ Okay!"

Two hours later,

Qin Yi emerged from the small house, a steaming porcelain bowl floating behind him. He looked somewhat unexpectedly at the mess all over the small courtyard.

The increase in Ruan Su's strength this time had been even greater than he had imagined.

When she saw Qin Yi come out, the girl immediately ran over in high spirits, reaching for the porcelain bowl.

"Little Yi... is it... ready?!"

Smack!

Qin Yi slapped her hand away and looked up at his older sister, who was a head taller than him.

"Lower yourself a little. I'll feed you. Don't break the bowl—we only have enough for this one dose."

"Oh, oh... okay."

Ruan Su came to her senses and nodded.

Qin Yi watched the girl crouch halfway in front of him. He bent down slightly as well, holding up the bowl to her lips.

His movements were gentle and slow.

Ruan Su stared unblinkingly at the boy before her.

Gulp, gulp, gulp.

The medicinal soup was gradually swallowed.

The medicine for her throat seemed very bitter. As Ruan Su drank, her lovely brows unconsciously furrowed, and she shut her eyes on instinct. When the bowl was nearly empty, the girl's whole body trembled lightly. Opening her eyes and seeing that a little dregs remained, she even wanted to lick them clean.

All right, Qin Yi seemed to have underestimated how much her congenital physical defect had harmed his older sister.

Still, he moved the porcelain bowl away.

It was too undignified for a girl to do that.

Qin Yi waved his hand and asked:

"Meng Peijiu didn't say how long before this medicine takes effect. Sis, how do you feel now?"

"Cough, cough..."

Ruan Su coughed, touched her throat, and carefully sensed it.

A pleasant voice, light and clear as wind chimes, softly rang out in the siblings' little courtyard:

"Mm... I don't feel anything else. My throat is just a little itchy. Eh? Eh?"