"Say hello to Dad for me when you get home."
Su Qing reached out to smooth a crease in Mu Chen's clothes, then gave his shoulder a pat.
"Don't worry, bro."
"All right. Stay safe on the way."
"I'm off, then. Bye!"
Mu Chen stepped into the Teleportation Spirit Array leading to the Mu Domain, then turned back and waved goodbye.
"Bye."
As Su Qing's voice faded, the Teleportation Spirit Array began to glow.
Indeed, although they had different surnames, Su Qing was Mu Chen's older brother, despite sharing neither a father nor a mother with him.
Back then, Mu Chen's mother, Qing Yanjing, was already pregnant with Mu Chen.
Mu Feng, Mu Chen's father, had taken his mother into the mountains to relax when they discovered Su Qing, who had just had his physical body formed and been placed in this world.
The kindhearted couple brought Su Qing home.
Qing Yanjing's maternal instincts then surged, and with the thought of finding Mu Chen a childhood playmate as well, she personally adopted Su Qing.
Su Qing's name had been written on the cloth he was wrapped in at the time.
In the end, the two decided to keep his current name, though they also gave him another one.
That name was far too embarrassing to mention.
Later, shortly after Mu Chen was born, pressure from her clan forced Qing Yanjing to leave the three of them.
Although Su Qing was affected by his young body, having lived two lives made him seem relatively mature.
Mu Feng had also told both Su Qing and Mu Chen early on that Su Qing was adopted.
This had done nothing to affect their family bonds. The older brother remained loving, the younger respectful, the father kind, and the sons filial.
For various reasons, Su Qing had initially been filled with hostility.
During his childhood, children his age had also spread cruel gossip about him.
The usual sort: a bastard without parents, an orphan.
Children's unrestrained words cut the deepest.
Although Su Qing had once been an adult in his twenties mentally, those words still left their mark.
Back then, the only children his age close to him were Mu Chen and Tang Qian'er.
One went with him to teach those people a lesson, while the other bandaged their wounds after the fights.
Mu Feng would prepare a few gifts and clumsily come over to comfort him.
Although he had kept his surname out of consideration for his parents from his previous life, in his heart, he also accepted himself as "Mu Qing."
That might have been the most bewildering time of his life.
The fear of another world, his suddenly changed body, the insults and slander all around him.
The people who treated him kindly then were all etched into his heart.
With their help, Su Qing gradually shed his hostility and became more cheerful.
As he grew older, all those malicious rumors vanished, and outsiders gradually began greeting him with smiles.
Later, Mu Chen received an invitation to the Spirit Road, and Su Qing taught him all the hand-to-hand techniques he had kept as his trump cards back then.
Afterward, the wheels of history rolled onward, slowly grinding along the tracks already laid.
New encounters, bloodshed, expulsion from the Spirit Road.
"Liu Yang?"
"Yeah," said Su Ling, who was helping Su Qing clean up for Master Mo.
"While you were away this afternoon, that guy brought some people over to provoke Mu Chen. He said he would choose Mu Chen as his opponent in the Two-Academy Examination in ten days, and Mu Chen agreed."
"Those people from the Western Academy have also spread word that Liu Yang has a Human-Grade Spiritual Meridian. Will Mu Chen be all right?"
Worry appeared on Su Ling's face.
"He'll be fine. A single Human-Grade Spiritual Meridian isn't enough to do much to Mu Chen. I'm only worried his family might have prepared some nasty trick for Liu Yang."
Su Qing's voice gradually grew cold toward the end.
He still remembered that, in the original course of history, Liu Yang had eventually produced a Spirit Breaking Bead, only for Mu Chen to snatch it away before it could do anything.
But Liu Yang had already intended to kill him.
Like his older brother, Liu Mubai, he had always been at odds with the Mu Family.
Compared with his brother, however, he was far too straightforward, impulsive and quick-tempered, with little cunning.
Liu Mubai was fairly capable in every respect, but his family's influence ran too deep, leaving him overly sinister.
That glamorous outer skin could not hide the darkness within him or his contempt for others.
Thinking back, Tang Qian'er had once asked Su Qing about it.
"Why were you always firmly at the top of your year before, but now you've been stuck at the threshold of the Spirit Wheel Realm for so long that Liu Mubai has overtaken you?"
"People out there are already spreading rumors that you only surpassed Liu Mubai before by using some crooked method."
At the time, Su Qing had smiled and replied, "Still waters run deep. Both Cangwu and Taiyi can serve as starting points, so why fight for a moment's advantage?"
One person merely followed his cultivation method to pile up spiritual energy, then broke through with the momentum.
Su Qing, by contrast, repeatedly used Nine Breaths to Subdue Qi to nourish and secure his foundations, tempering his spiritual energy and meridians.
This was painstaking work, like grinding with water. It allowed neither impatience nor shortcuts.
"I'm heading off, Su Qing."
Su Ling's farewell came from beside him.
"All right. Stay safe."
Before he knew it, the world outside had darkened, and the last streak of sunset on the horizon had faded.
The early autumn night still rang with insect calls, while the cool evening breeze swiftly carried away the heat lingering in the blue stone paving.
Su Qing stepped over a fallen leaf whose edges had yellowed slightly and entered the loft.
The lighting Spirit Arrays engraved on the corridor pillars cast a warm yellow glow.
Once inside, Su Qing took off his outer clothes and fetched warm water for a quick wash.
He cupped a handful of warm water in both hands and splashed it onto his face, letting it trickle down past his temples.
Just as Su Qing was wiping the remaining droplets from his face with a silk cloth, he spat out a mouthful of blood.
Violent coughing followed. Su Qing braced one hand against the wooden basin while the other tightly clenched the collar over his chest.
His back hunched, and threads of bloody froth trickled from the corner of his mouth.
Before long, the coughing stopped.
Su Qing dampened the silk cloth and wiped away the blood at his mouth and the specks splashed onto the counter. Then he poured a cup of water, rinsed the bloody froth from his mouth, and went into the bedroom to lie down on the bed.
The lungs belonged to metal among the five elements.
In his early years, Su Qing had been eager for quick success. While his cultivation was still shallow, he had followed the Golden Palace Jade Record to cultivate a breath of Sharp Metal Qi within his lungs.
He had then suffered cultivation deviation, and that breath of sharp qi had nearly shredded his lungs.
He had been forced to cripple his own cultivation.
Afterward, he had spent several years nurturing the meridians injured by the Sharp Metal Qi.
By now, thanks to Nine Breaths to Subdue Qi, his meridians had not only healed but grown stronger than before.
His lungs, however, still harbored a hidden injury.
It could only be healed through the Body Tribulation when he advanced to the Supreme Realm, breaking himself down to rebuild anew and undergoing a complete transformation.
Because of this hidden injury to his lungs, Su Qing could not condense the breath of Sharp Metal Qi crucial to the Golden Palace Jade Record until he recovered.
Fortunately, even without that breath of Sharp Metal Qi, the Golden Palace Jade Record remained a top-tier cultivation method, and Su Qing still possessed extraordinary talent.
Metal generated water, and water in turn gave rise to thunder. Whether it was Mastery of the Five Thunders from the Thirty-Six Heavenly Dipper Arts or lightning techniques from other orthodox Daoist arts, Su Qing mastered them quickly.
After nurturing his meridians back to health and resuming cultivation, he had still risen to the top in a place like the Northern Spirit Domain.
After this experience, however, Su Qing had also reined in his temperament. Even though his cultivation had reached the point where he could break through at any moment, he still refrained, choosing instead to suppress his cultivation, temper his foundations, and root out impurities.
As the saying went, still waters ran deep. Both Cangwu and Taiyi could serve as starting points, so why fight for a moment's advantage?
Only by building deep reserves before unleashing them, and taking every step well, could he attain the Great Dao.