The Best Gift

"Brother, do not be alarmed upon reading this letter..."

Yue Shuo saw the automatically unfolding sheet of letter paper and the familiar handwriting upon it. His entire face went expressionless.

After he finished reading, the letter combusted on its own.

This was a letter his sister-in-law had sent on behalf of his elder brother.

Simply put—

His sister-in-law had encountered a fortuitous opportunity and begun cultivating immortality!

Good heavens!

Had he transmigrated into a novel?

Into some female-oriented cultivation novel with a powerful female lead?

He carefully recalled the letter's contents. It had indeed said his sister-in-law, not his elder brother—his sister-in-law had encountered a fortuitous opportunity and begun cultivating immortality!

"If my father is just an ordinary person, I'll fucking..."

A surge of pent-up frustration rose in Yue Shuo's heart.

However,

He quickly calmed down.

In the past, when he had been Innate Realm deficient and physically frail, he could not let his emotions fluctuate too greatly. Otherwise, he would fall ill.

"Father chose an engaged woman with a Spiritual Root for my elder brother..."

Yue Shuo immediately discerned some implications beyond the letter's surface.

"So, he might have a means of testing Spiritual Roots, while I had no Spiritual Root before my Tai Chi Fist reached perfection..."

Perhaps his elder brother had none either.

Or perhaps he did, but his Spiritual Root was poor?

That was why their father had found him a fiancée with a Spiritual Root—was he planning to have his elder brother produce more children, in hopes of the future?

As for Yue Shuo—

Perhaps no suitable person of a matching age had been found on the island.

Or perhaps... his father had taken his frailty into consideration?

The corner of Yue Shuo's mouth twitched.

After practicing Tai Chi Fist for several years, his body had basically recovered. Still, he did not want to lose the "benefits" of being physically weak.

So he maintained the image of frailty in everyone else's eyes.

Of course, Yue Shuo was not depressed at having missed out on a fiancée gift package. He merely felt that it meant far less trouble.

Yue Shuo looked toward the little blue bird.

The little blue bird tilted its head at him curiously as well.

In the letter—

His elder brother had briefly said that his sister-in-law had encountered an immortal opportunity and begun cultivating. She had achieved slight success and, fearing Yue Shuo would worry about home, had sent him a letter to put his mind at ease.

His elder brother's health had already improved.

He was told not to overthink their parents' affairs.

At the end of the year, the two brothers would meet again on Little Hemmu Island. Some supplies had been sent along with the letter, so that he could cultivate without worry.

"So, where are the supplies?"

Yue Shuo looked at the little blue bird and asked.

Those two words seemed to trigger the bird's memory. It pecked at the inch-long gray letter tube.

Yue Shuo had originally thought it was merely an ordinary tube for holding letter paper.

Seeing this, he reached out and picked it up in puzzlement.

He turned it over a few times.

After thinking for a moment, he sent mana into it.

In his senses, a small space measuring one foot square appeared. He was utterly astonished.

This was actually a spatial artifact!?

He was not only shocked that he had inexplicably received the first spatial artifact of his life from his elder brother and sister-in-law.

He was also wondering—

What exactly was going on with his family?

Had these resources been left behind by his father, or were they gains his sister-in-law had obtained from her own immortal opportunity?

His elder brother had not explained in detail in the letter.

However, the letter also said that this Azure Spirit Bird could be controlled through the Beast-Taming Token sent with it.

This was a Pseudo-Spirit Bird.

The added word "pseudo" did not mean it was a fake bird.

Simply put—

This Azure Spirit Bird possessed some spirituality, but had not reached the level of a spirit bird. It had been sent to him so it could warn him of danger and deliver letters.

His elder brother had not said where the bird came from.

In any case, it could not possibly have been raised by his family.

As far as he remembered, they did not have one.

"This is called having only a little spirituality? Not having reached the level of a spirit bird?"

Yue Shuo looked at the needle prick on his finger, which had already healed, then at the Azure Spirit Bird. His expression was rather strange.

Still, he took out the Beast-Taming Token from inside the gray little letter tube.

He refined it with mana.

Through his mental senses, he discovered that he could give orders to this little blue bird and even control its life and death.

Yue Shuo reached out and grabbed the Azure Spirit Bird.

"Chirp chirp?"

The Azure Spirit Bird gave a questioning chirp.

The way it tilted its head and looked at him carried a uniquely adorable, lively air.

Yue Shuo had originally wanted to frighten the little bird and avenge the minor grudge of it pecking him. At this moment, though, his mood had faded.

He gently stroked the soft down atop the bird's head.

"From now on, your name will be... Azure Feather!"

Yue Shuo liked the gift from his elder brother very much. The more he looked at it, the more he liked it, to the point that he was in no hurry to inspect the supplies inside the spatial artifact.

He began talking to the Azure Spirit Bird he had named Azure Feather.

After some thought, he took out one of the two remaining Grain-Repelling Pills and fed it to the bird. Azure Feather happily swallowed the Grain-Repelling Pill.

He had heard that Grain-Repelling Pills were refined with spirit rice added to them.

It seemed that was true.

"Azure Feather, do you like that name?"

"Chirp chirp."

"How did you fly through the Spirit Field formation and get in here? Isn't the formation supposed to stop birds and insects from flying through?"

"Chirp chirp chirp..."

He cultivated alone according to a fixed routine, his schedule cycling over and over. In the past few days, he had not even eaten three meals a day.

He had gone without grain.

Even though the attribute panel allowed him to see his proficiency rising—

Giving him motivation to work hard—

Psychologically,

It was not as though he felt no fatigue or tension.

As for Gu Jiu, Yue Shuo dared to use him, but did not dare trust him completely. After all, Gu Jiu's entire family, young and old, and his whole clan were on Qin Clan territory.

The same went for Zou Chongying and Tian Wan.

He had a very good impression of the two youngsters and was willing to befriend them.

Yet the same problem remained: he still had doubts over whether his own father stood in a different camp from the Qin Clan.

Toward the Qin Clan—

He had always maintained the mindset that he was only staying temporarily.

Considering a way out.

That was why—

Unlike Zou Chongying and Tian Wan, he had not expanded his network outward or built influence among the Qin Clan's guest disciples.

If he wanted to, of course he could do those things too.

"Huh? You mean... the barrier is very thin?"

Yue Shuo communicated with Azure Feather.

He could roughly discern some emotions from its chirps, but every now and then, he seemed to somehow understand what Azure Feather was saying.

Just like this time, after hearing Azure Feather chirp continuously for quite a while—

This thought naturally arose in his mind.

"Chirp!"

Azure Feather truly understood what he said.

It answered with only one chirp, then tilted its adorable little head and stared at him just like that.

Yue Shuo vaguely noticed—

From the time this Azure Spirit Bird had arrived until now, it seemed to hold an innate sense of closeness toward him.

Being approached by a small animal filled Yue Shuo's heart with joy.

He simply took out another stalk of Gathering Spirit Grass and handed it to Azure Feather. Only after he gestured did it eat the Gathering Spirit Grass.

Afterward, it became even closer to him.

"Chirp chirp chirp!"

Yue Shuo played with the bird for a while, then had Azure Feather fly to a large tree within the stream valley to keep watch over the surroundings for him.

Only then did he take out—

The supplies his elder brother had mentioned from inside the spatial artifact and inspect them.

The supplies were packed in three boxes. Naturally, merely looking at the boxes did not reveal what was inside.

Of course, to Yue Shuo—

Receiving Azure Feather was already the best gift.

With a smile on his face, Yue Shuo opened one box. Inside was a small bundle of incense sticks, which he had seen in a Qin Clan shop.

This was Spirit-Drawing Incense.

It was a cultivation resource that helped those in the Spirit-Drawing Stage enter meditation more easily.

His elder brother and sister-in-law had truly put thought into this!

Moved, Yue Shuo opened the remaining two boxes.