Heart-Severing Cold Syndrome

"That's impressive." Chen Qin sighed. "I remember you just started your second year of high school this year. Have you picked your Companion Beast yet?"

Chen Beiwu said, "I have a few candidates, but I haven't made up my mind yet."

The Azure Spirit Newt was only a backup choice. If the Seven-Colored Encounter triggered successfully and let him meet a Companion Beast with better aptitude and more compatible attributes at the Spirit Beast Pavilion, Chen Beiwu naturally wouldn't pass up the opportunity.

"The Companion Beasts at the Spirit Beast Pavilion are docile, and their quality is a cut above the Spirit Beasts sold on the market. I happen to have some information on water-type Spirit Beasts from Fallen Dragon Prefecture. You can use it for reference." Chen Qin took a sparkling Jade Slip from her handbag.

Chen Beiwu didn't refuse. He accepted the Jade Slip and thanked her.

"What are you thanking me for? We've only been apart for a little while, and already you're acting like a stranger. You weren't this polite when you touched my Lei before!" Chen Qin glanced at him in surprise.

"Sister Qin, that was CPR. I was saving someone," Chen Beiwu said helplessly.

Chen Qin smiled, raised her chin and chest, and teased him on purpose. "I don't care. Just tell me, did you touch it or not?"

Chen Beiwu instinctively glanced at the full, enticing fruit before him, then shook his head slightly. "Sister Qin, don't joke around."

"Fine, I won't give you a hard time." Chen Qin turned to look at the neighborhood fountain and brought up the chief matter. "Beiwu, have you ever heard of the Cleansing Spirit Tune?"

"I haven't." Chen Beiwu shook his head.

Musicians used music as a medium to play specific tunes that guided the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, granting cultivators all kinds of enhancements.

Among the many arts of cultivation, musicians weren't as popular with cultivators as Alchemists, Talisman Masters, Formation Masters, and other sought-after professions, but they still held a certain standing.

The Cleansing Spirit Tune was the entry-level piece for musicians. Anyone who could successfully play it was a First Tier musician.

Passed down from ancient times, the Cleansing Spirit Tune contained a trace of the profound rhythms of heaven and earth. It could help Qi Refining mortal cultivators improve their cultivation and break through bottlenecks. Unfortunately, it only worked the first time one heard it; listening again was useless.

Besides that, the Cleansing Spirit Tune had another drawback: its effects depended on one's comprehension.

Those with poor comprehension gained very little from listening to the Cleansing Spirit Tune-not as much as they would from a single Low-Grade First Tier Spirit-Gathering Pill.

Conversely, those with high comprehension could not only quickly grasp the tune's rhythms, greatly increasing the purity of their Magic Power, but could also catch a glimpse of a higher realm and break through their bottlenecks.

For that very reason, the Cleansing Spirit Tune had a nickname known to every cultivator: the Genius-Test Tune. Cultivators who advanced by one minor realm after listening to it were also called geniuses.

Chen Beiwu had once wanted to test the caliber of the Immortal Seed Screening Tune, too, but in the end, its exorbitant price had put him off.

"Good thing you haven't heard it." Chen Qin let out a sigh of relief. Her gaze at Chen Beiwu grew more serious. "Here's a little advice: try not to listen to the Cleansing Spirit Tune until you've reached the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining."

Chen Beiwu paused, but didn't ask why. He simply nodded in silence.

Seeing that, Chen Qin felt a warmth in her heart.

She hesitated for a moment, then rose onto her tiptoes and whispered in Chen Beiwu's ear, "I'll let you in on a secret. After a cultivator breaks through to the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining, listening to the Cleansing Spirit Tune can increase the chance of breaking through to Foundation Establishment by one percent."

The fragrance lingering beneath his nose and the warm breath by his ear made Chen Beiwu instinctively take a step back.

"Tsk, why are you so shy? Your big sister isn't some man-eating tiger." She clasped her hands behind her back and walked farther away, her boots making a crisp, pleasant sound.

Watching Chen Qin disappear from sight, Chen Beiwu was somewhat lost in thought.

"What, you've watched her grow up, and you still can't get enough?"

Hearing that, Chen Beiwu spun around. A sturdy, middle-aged man with dark, rough skin immediately came into view.

"Dad, when did you get here?" he asked in surprise.

"I've been here the whole time, but it seems neither of you could see me."

Chen Dong spread his broad, thick hands and shrugged. "She's three years older than you-marry her, and you'll have a golden brick in your arms. If you want to, Dad won't object. You might just have to talk to your mother about it."

"Sister Qin and I are just friends." Chen Beiwu gazed at the sunset glow in the distance. "You can tease me all you want, Dad, but don't start matchmaking in front of Mom."

When he got home with his father and finished dinner, Chen Beiwu noticed that the Spirit Beast meat that had been drying in the ventilated area for more than ten years had suddenly vanished without a trace.

Noticing her son's gaze, Huang Xiaoling began clearing the bowls and chopsticks from the table. "Go focus on your cultivation. Don't worry about things at home."

Knowing his parents had something to discuss, Chen Beiwu could only get up and return to the Cultivation Room.

Lying on the soft meditation cushion, he sighed.

To purge the cold poison from his mother's body without leaving any lingering trouble, she would need to take at least three Frostfall Pills-that was nine hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

It was far too many Spirit Stones. Even if they emptied all their savings, the family couldn't come up with that much.

Even if selling the family's assets could just barely raise enough, his mother wouldn't agree, given her nature.

But three years should be enough! Chen Beiwu lowered his head and looked at his heart.

College Entrance Examination rewards varied from one region to another.

In the relatively remote Far Sky County, students who passed the entrance examination for the Seventy-Nine Upper Sect could receive a thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones from the Immortal Alliance's World Affairs Hall. Those who entered one of the Thirteen Immortal Sects could receive ten thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

As for getting into one of the Five Great Grotto-Heavens, that was a dream beyond the reach of countless students.

The Grotto-Heaven rewards publicly announced by the Immortal Alliance alone amounted to as much as five hundred thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones, not to mention the huge sponsorships from local Aristocratic Clans and businesses.

Forget a small place like Far Sky County-even in the higher-level Fallen Dragon Prefecture, no one had ever managed to enter a Grotto-Heaven. One could imagine just how difficult it was.

It was no exaggeration to say that students who got into one of the Five Great Grotto-Heavens had essentially secured a ticket to the Nascent Soul realm. The only problem was that this ticket was so hard to obtain that even Chen Beiwu wasn't fully confident.

Still, he didn't need to get into one of the Five Great Grotto-Heavens. He only needed to enter a cultivation university affiliated with one of the Thirteen Immortal Sects or higher, and all the family's troubles would be resolved.

First-floor kitchen.

"How many Spirit Stones are we short?" Chen Dong asked gravely.

Huang Xiaoling's hand tightened into a fist as she washed the dishes, then slowly relaxed. "We've sold everything at home that could be sold, and we're still short five hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones."

Chen Dong furrowed his brows and got up to head for the door.

"Where are you going?" Huang Xiaoling asked hastily.

Chen Dong stopped. "I'm going to borrow some Spirit Stones."

Huang Xiaoling pressed her lips together, her expression hesitant. "You know what the neighbors are like. We can't borrow more than a few Spirit Stones, and Beiwu needs Spirit Stones for his cultivation, too. How about I stop taking the medicine?"

"Medicine pills don't cost that many Spirit Stones. Don't do anything foolish!" Chen Dong said anxiously, stopping in his tracks. "There's a brick-firing job at the Tile Factory lately. The pay's generous. If I take it, I should just about be able to scrape together the money for the surgery."

"Don't. It's too dangerous," Huang Xiaoling blurted out.

The brick-firing job at the Azure Radiance Tile Factory was no simple task. It was practically the same as trading your body for Spirit Stones.

"Then what do you suggest? I can't just stand by and watch you die." Chen Dong slammed a palm onto the table, his chest heaving.

"Everyone dies eventually. Some die sooner, some later." Huang Xiaoling feigned calm. "Heart-Severing Cold Syndrome can only be cured by breaking through to Foundation Establishment. Even if the surgery succeeds, it'll only let me live a few more years."

"What do you mean?" Chen Dong's pupils contracted.

"Beiwu's aptitude far surpasses ours. If we spend those five hundred Spirit Stones on him, his future will be much brighter." She forced a smile.