The Sight He Did Not Wish to See

"Fourth Brother."

"What kind of tree is this? All its leaves have fallen off."

Begonia Mountain.

Not far from their residence, Chen Shaohe looked left and right, watching his fourth brother plant a tree with great interest.

After staying on Begonia Mountain for a month,

Chen Shaohe ate and drank well every day. During the day, he practiced Altered Abilities and trained his body. At night, when he slept, he assumed the posture of the "Foundation of Rectification Stretching" that Chen Jichuan had taught him, correcting his hunched back.

After all these days,

although his waist and back had not yet been fully corrected, his bearing and spirit were already utterly different from when he had been in Black Prison.

The weather in August and September

was scorching beneath the blazing sun.

His formerly deathly pale skin had darkened considerably as well. He looked much more pleasing to the eye now, no longer so ugly. Standing beside Chen Jichuan, he finally looked somewhat like his brother.

At this rate,

in another month or two, once his body had fully recovered from its former deficiencies, he could begin martial training.

Chen Jichuan dug with all his might, planting the Spirit Jujube Tree he had painstakingly carried back from seventy or eighty li away. Hearing Chen Shaohe's question, he answered without even raising his head, "A jujube tree."

"Does Fourth Brother want to eat jujubes?"

"Then I'll look for some in the mountains tomorrow. I wonder if I can find any at this time of year."

Chen Shaohe froze. He looked at the bare jujube tree, then at his fourth brother busily working in earnest. Smacking his lips, he tried to remember what jujubes tasted like and what month they could be eaten in.

But the last time he had eaten jujubes was six or seven years ago.

He had not even been ten back then. He could no longer remember the taste, nor the season.

"They should be sweet."

"Probably for hot weather."

Thinking that,

the craving in Chen Shaohe's belly was stirred awake. His heart was full of thoughts of finding jujube trees tomorrow and picking jujubes.

"Jujubes aren't tasty."

"Eat too many, and they'll sit heavy in your chest."

Neither in his past life nor this one had Chen Jichuan liked eating jujubes.

He was bent over his work, not thinking much, and casually replied with those two lines.

Only after speaking did he realize Chen Shaohe had led him astray, so he explained, "This isn't an ordinary jujube tree."

As he spoke, he raised his head.

Hearing Chen Shaohe muttering to himself and smacking his lips as he tried to recall the taste of jujubes, he could not help smiling. "There are four or five jin of jujubes in that bag over there. Why not go taste them?"

Chen Jichuan pointed to one side and smiled at Chen Shaohe.

"There are jujubes?"

"Then I want to taste them."

Chen Shaohe's eyes lit up, and he hurried over to rummage through it.

Before finding the jujubes, the first thing he saw was four gleaming steel sabers and two sharpened iron swords.

The sight dazzled him at once.

"Good heavens!"

"Where did these sabers come from?!"

Jujubes vanished from Chen Shaohe's mind in an instant. He picked up a steel saber, swung it left and right a few times, and beamed with excitement.

When he was little,

when he had been in Black Prison,

he had not known much about weapons.

But ever since he had hacked a Black Armor to death with a saber outside Wusheng Sect, he had developed a deep fondness for sabers.

A month ago, in order to slip into Yangshuo County, Chen Shaohe had reluctantly thrown away that Goose-Wing Saber long before reaching it. He had been thinking about it ever since.

Now that he suddenly saw several steel sabers, his face blossomed into a grin on the spot.

He practiced a couple of forms.

The saber whistled, fierce as a tiger in the wind.

They were different from the Goose-Wing Saber.

These steel sabers were all Ghost-Head Sabers. Their blades were heavy, ghost heads were carved into their hilts, and they were exceedingly sharp, capable of cutting gold and cleaving jade. Ghost-Head Sabers were broad and square, thick-backed and wide-faced, cumbersome in weight, suited to chopping and hacking—making them perfect for taking heads.

Even when unused, merely lying there, they radiated murderous intent.

"Fine sabers!"

Chen Shaohe praised them with affected solemnity, carefully stroking all four Ghost-Head Sabers, unable to put them down.

Just as he was about to ask where the sabers had been bought, he suddenly paused. One Ghost-Head Saber had a charred black edge, like dried blood that had been scorched.

Chen Shaohe's heart skipped a beat. Looking at his fourth brother, still bent over his work, he could not help asking, "Fourth Brother, these sabers weren't bought?"

"No."

"I killed a few Li River Gang scum today and picked them off their bodies."

Chen Jichuan had never intended to hide it from Chen Shaohe and answered casually.

The large pit had already been dug.

With quick, deft movements, he buried the Spirit Jujube Tree's roots. Looking around from every side, he nodded repeatedly.

As the saying went: when people moved, they lived; when trees moved, they died.

But this jujube tree was easy to keep alive.

Chen Jichuan had carried it back and found a gently sloping patch of land where he usually practiced, with deep, fertile soil. This kind of earth was most suitable for jujube trees. He only needed to fetch water and irrigate it for the first few days; afterward, it would need no care.

By this time next year, they would have fragrant, sweet Spirit Jujubes to eat.

However,

a year was too long.

What Chen Jichuan truly valued was the Spirit Jujube Tree's ability to gather spiritual energy. He intended to practice beneath it with Chen Shaohe and personally test whether it truly helped cultivation.

"Fourth Brother—"

Chen Shaohe had no interest in the jujube tree. Hearing that his fourth brother had killed people today—and people from the Li River Gang, at that—he felt both frightened afterward and curious.

"Pick up the bundle. I'll tell you on the way."

Chen Jichuan looked at the sky. It was getting late.

It was just as well. He needed to tell Chen Shaohe about today's events anyway.

Two minds were better than one.

He had never believed that one person alone could think every matter through perfectly.

"That's how it happened."

"In ten days,"

"if Sheng Dayang goes to Rubble Stone Forest, I'll teach him martial arts. If he doesn't go, then forget it."

On the road,

Chen Jichuan told Chen Shaohe about what had happened that day and his own plans.

By the time they reached their residence, he had said nearly everything.

"Sheng Dayang still has a nine-year-old son to raise. He might not go."

Chen Shaohe frowned after hearing it.

Chen Jichuan nodded as well.

If it were him, with Chen Shaohe in tow, he would not be willing to trust anyone, much less place himself in danger.

But that was because he possessed the Dao Fruit and was confident that, without relying on anyone, he could improve himself and gain strength enough to protect himself and even take revenge.

But what about Sheng Dayang?

"Maybe he'll go."

"Maybe he won't."

Chen Jichuan did not care much either way.

When all was said and done,

his own strength was still what mattered most. Everything else was merely something done in passing; whether it succeeded or failed did not matter.

And today's greatest gains

were, first, the Spirit Jujubes,

and second, the Spirit Jujube Tree.

"After the Li River Gang captured Sheng Dayang and his son and confirmed that both were Altered Humans, they forced them to reveal whether they had touched or eaten anything unusual."

"That was how they forced out the existence of the Spirit Jujube Tree."

"Looking at it this way,"

"the Li River Gang clearly had experience."

Chen Jichuan pondered many things along the way. From Sheng Dayang's account and the Li River Gang's actions, he analyzed much information. "Altered Humans and Altered Abilities are inseparable from spiritual energy. The Li River Gang certainly has other spiritual objects and spiritual trees like the Spirit Jujube Tree. Who knows how many Altered Humans they have cultivated."

Chen Jichuan's expression grew somewhat grave.

The Spirit Jujube Tree he had carried back could bear Spirit Jujubes and cultivate Altered Humans.

Cultivating beneath the tree was also more efficient.

He had happened to come across it today, allowing him to snatch it from under their noses. Then how many had the Li River Gang acquired before, ones he had never encountered?

His enemies were growing stronger.

Their depth was unknown.

That was what Chen Jichuan least wished to see.

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