"Very good."
Fairy Lingyue gave Xu Taiping a faint smile.
She did not know why, but although the boy before her was only a little over ten, she felt his resolve was firmer than that of many adults. He reminded her very much of someone she had once known.
"Bring your head a little closer."
Fairy Lingyue suddenly beckoned to Xu Taiping.
"Do you have any other instructions, Fairy?"
Somewhat puzzled, Xu Taiping stepped forward.
Tap.
Just then, Fairy Lingyue extended a finger and lightly touched Xu Taiping's forehead.
Before Xu Taiping could react, he felt a refreshing coolness seep into his mind. Immediately afterward, a sheet of white paper appeared in his mind, bearing a medicinal recipe and instructions for preparing it.
"Marrow-Washing Bone-Cleansing Soup? There really is a medicinal recipe that lets someone with mortal bone cultivate."
After reading about the recipe's effects, Xu Taiping could not keep the delight from his face.
"Little fellow, don't celebrate too soon. This recipe for Marrow-Washing Bone-Cleansing Soup was originally meant to be used alongside another medicinal decoction. But the ingredients for that recipe are far too precious. Giving it to you would be useless, so you will encounter some difficulties while soaking in the Marrow-Washing Bone-Cleansing Soup."
Fairy Lingyue poured a bucket of cold water over Xu Taiping's excitement.
"What sort of difficulties?"
Xu Taiping asked at once.
"Without the other decoction, soaking in the Marrow-Washing Bone-Cleansing Soup will cause excruciating pain throughout your body, as though your flesh were being sliced away and your bones scraped."
Fairy Lingyue's expression was grave.
"I'm not afraid of pain."
Xu Taiping gave it some serious thought, then shook his head firmly.
Lingyue very much wanted to say that he only answered so readily because he had never tasted that suffering, but for some reason, she could not bring herself to say it.
"I am in a rather good mood today. Besides the medicinal recipe I promised you, This Venerable One shall give you something else."
Fairy Lingyue suddenly smiled, then reached out and gently closed her hand.
In an instant, Xu Taiping saw strands of white light gather in Fairy Lingyue's palm like ribbons. When she opened her hand again, three lustrous beads lay in it.
The moment those three beads took shape, Xu Taiping distinctly sensed that Fairy Lingyue's figure before him had become much more transparent.
Whoosh!
Before Xu Taiping could ask what they were, Fairy Lingyue abruptly raised her hand and scattered the three beads, casting them into three different positions in the Medicine Garden.
Once she had finished, Xu Taiping heard Fairy Lingyue begin softly chanting an incantation. At the same time, streams of pale blue-green light gathered around the three beads, forming a mysterious pattern of runes that enveloped the entire Medicine Garden.
"This is the Lesser Three Talents Spirit-Gathering Array. Though it cannot compare to a true spirit-gathering array, it will ensure that the yield of your half-mu Medicine Garden triples over the next year."
After finishing, Fairy Lingyue explained this to Xu Taiping in a somewhat weakened voice.
"Triples?"
At those words, delight first spread across Xu Taiping's face. Then he pulled the four soybean Spirit Crystals from his pocket and offered them to Fairy Lingyue.
"Fairy, please take these four beans. My grandfather said fairness matters most when trading with others. Otherwise, the arrangement won't last."
Seeing Xu Taiping say this with such solemn earnestness, Fairy Lingyue could not help bursting into laughter. But she immediately grew serious again.
"You're right. Since this is a trade, it ought to be fair. However, you will sorely need these Spirit Crystals for your cultivation ahead, so consider this a loan from me for now. When the Earth Treasury Fruit produces treasures again, you can repay me."
Hearing this, Xu Taiping gave it serious thought as well, then nodded. "Then I'll have to include interest when I repay you next time. I'll need to give you five Spirit Crystals."
"Quite right, quite right. There must be interest."
Fairy Lingyue covered her mouth and giggled again.
Just then, Fairy Lingyue's figure became a little more transparent, and her aura clearly weakened considerably as well.
"Little Taiping, This Venerable One’s remnant soul is far too frail. This Venerable One must continue resting and recuperating inside the Earth Treasury Fruit. It will be at least a month or two before This Venerable One can emerge again. From now on, you must look after both this Medicine Garden and your cultivation yourself. Be sure not to hold This Venerable One back. This Venerable One still needs the Earth Treasury Fruit to restore this Venerable One’s true body."
Fairy Lingyue instructed Xu Taiping in a slightly teasing tone.
"Rest assured, Fairy. Cultivation is my own responsibility in the first place. I will never hold you back."
Xu Taiping's gaze was utterly resolute.
"Well said. Cultivation is each person's own responsibility. On the long, long road of cultivation, others can help you for a time, but not for a lifetime. In the end, you must rely on yourself."
Fairy Lingyue smiled in satisfaction, then pointed at the bean plant that had already withered.
"Taiping, go inside and see whether there's a shovel. Dig up this bean stalk, then dig a hole in the center of the Medicine Garden and bury it."
"All right."
Xu Taiping nodded and, without another word, turned and headed into the house.
Just as he turned to go inside, Fairy Lingyue's gaze, which had been gentle and smiling all this while, suddenly grew sharp. She turned to look at the courtyard wall behind her.
Following her piercing gaze, one could see a pair of eyes glowing with an eerie blue light, furtively watching the courtyard.
The instant Fairy Lingyue turned her head, those eyes clearly noticed her too, and their owner flipped over and tumbled down from the courtyard wall.
Whoosh!
At the same time, Fairy Lingyue's somewhat ethereal figure abruptly transformed into a fierce gale that roared out of the courtyard, sending the figure tumbling from the wall flying with a single strike.
"Spare me, exalted immortal! Spare me! I am only a Tiger Wraith! The Tiger Lord of Green Peak Gorge forced me to come here and harm people!"
Before Fairy Lingyue could speak, a Corpse Wraith with an iron-blue face and a rotting body that exposed white bones dropped to the ground and kowtowed to her.
"Serving as a tiger's accomplice-that saying describes scum like you."
Fairy Lingyue snorted coldly, then sent the Corpse Wraith flying with a palm strike from afar. At that moment, she seemed an entirely different person from the one who had faced Xu Taiping.
"Wait. My strength has yet to recover. I may not be a match for that Tiger Demon. Killing this Tiger Wraith would only invite disaster. Better to cast a Soul-Bewildering Spell on him and make him forget what happened here for now. Once Taiping has made progress in his cultivation, I can have him subdue that Tiger Demon. That would be a fine trial for him, too."
Fairy Lingyue, who had been about to kill the Tiger Wraith in a single strike, suddenly withdrew her hand. She murmured those words under her breath, then broke into a delighted smile.
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