Zuo Xiaonian took a few steps, seemingly about to leave, but when she reached the door, she turned back. "Master, there's one more thing. You don't need to investigate my true origins for me anymore."
Mu Yanyan asked, "Why?"
Zuo Xiaonian said calmly, "I'm quite content now. I don't want any other news to shatter my peaceful life. Besides... if I want to investigate later, I can always pick it up again. Once I break through, I'll have more time and resources, won't I?"
Chapter 19: Zuo Xiaoduo the Daredevil
Mu Yanyan's cool gaze rested on Zuo Xiaonian's face. Slowly, her eyes grew cold as ice and snow. "Xiao Nian, you must remember this: your lifespan already far exceeds that of ordinary people. Don't venture into the trials of love. Once you do, it will do no good to others, yourself, or your family!"
Zuo Xiaonian smiled faintly. "Rest assured, Master. My family are the only people I hold most dear. I will never do anything that harms them."
Mu Yanyan broke into a smile and waved her hand. "Go on."
Zuo Xiaonian left.
Mu Yanyan stared at the doorway through which Zuo Xiaonian had departed for a long time, her gaze shifting as she drifted into a daze.
"If, back then... I had cared about my family and loved ones as Xiao Nian does... how would things have turned out? In life, only after losing something do you know regret, only then do you understand what you should have cherished... only then do you realize that, back then, I never cherished it at all..."
Mu Yanyan sighed softly. "I hope Xiao Nian can always keep her family safe."
That was precisely what Mu Yanyan had valued when she took Zuo Xiaonian as her disciple. Several sects had wanted to take Zuo Xiaonian in to cultivate, offering countless benefits with just one condition: she had to forsake her family to enter the Dao. But Zuo Xiaonian had resisted to the death, refusing to leave her parents no matter what anyone said.
Moved by this, Mu Yanyan had given up secluded cultivation in a secret sanctuary for her disciple's sake and come to Phoenix City to teach Zuo Xiaonian nearby.
"My disciple must not lose what I lost back then."
"Girls who can hold so firmly to this are all too rare. So I took this disciple, and I will do everything in my power to keep her from following in my disastrous footsteps."
Zuo Xiaonian walked out through the main entrance.
She immediately saw a sports car parked by the roadside. Who else could be in the driver's seat but Meng Chenyu? "Senior Sister, Senior Sister, Sister Xiao Nian... come on, come on, I'll give you a lift."
"Go on without me!"
Meng Chenyu jumped out of the car. "Senior Sister, I have a bottle of top-grade Marrow-Washing Pills from the Pill Sect. What do you think...?"
"Get in."
Zuo Xiaonian got into the car.
"You got it!"
Meng Chenyu leaped up and jumped back into the driver's seat. With a roar, the sports car started and shot off with a whoosh, like a shell leaving a cannon.
"Stop!"
Qin Fangyang called out.
There were no longer many people in the martial training hall.
Zuo Xiaoduo was now challenging the student ranked twenty-ninth. He had fought his way through the previous six like a madman, and even covered in wounds, he still wanted to keep challenging.
He was no longer fighting for rank. He was risking his life, fighting desperately to advance.
After every fight, he showed signs of utter exhaustion, seemingly unable to fight again. Yet after resting briefly, he would issue his next challenge. "Since I won, and since I'm qualified, of course I'm going to challenge someone ranked higher!"
Zuo Xiaoduo was now facing Xie Kuangwen. This was not their first exchange; they had fought three times, and each time, Zuo Xiaoduo had been knocked to the ground. By now, his whole body was so swollen that the sight was unbearable.
But he still wanted to fight, still insisted on fighting!
Even Qin Fangyang had not expected this outcome. This fellow, who seemed so slick, worldly, and adept at dealing with everyone, actually had such guts! He practically embodied "as long as one breath remains, the battle never ends"!
But if he kept fighting like this, he would inevitably reach the point of damaging his foundations.
Qin Fangyang had originally wanted to see just how far Zuo Xiaoduo could go, which was why he had deliberately watched two more rounds. Had he strictly followed the rules, he should have called a halt the first time Zuo Xiaoduo was knocked down.
And it was hardly just Qin Fangyang. Not a single student present had imagined that this self-proclaimed charlatan would have such guts. He was an absolute daredevil!
Meanwhile, Zuo Xiaoduo was secretly reveling inwardly.
The instant Long Yusheng fulfilled their wager and paid him twenty yuan, as the twenty yuan landed in Zuo Xiaoduo's hand, a cool sensation arose spontaneously, as though descending from the sky, or springing out of nothing.
Zuo Xiaoduo felt the mysterious region between his eyebrows suddenly fill with that cool sensation.
Some of that coolness seeped out of the mysterious region little by little and entered his meridians. The feeling of exhilaration was indescribable. Not only did his spirits instantly soar a hundredfold, but his cultivation also advanced considerably in an instant.
The other portion was stored directly inside the mysterious region.
Right at the bottom-half a drop?
Zuo Xiaoduo could distinctly sense that once he gathered a full drop, a mere thought would send that drop of Spirit Liquid into his eyes, allowing him to see someone's life and death, fortune and calamity over the next three months!
But...
I clearly read ten people's fortunes and earned ten fees. Why did I only get half a drop of Spirit Liquid? Wasn't I supposed to get one drop for each person?
Zuo Xiaoduo felt both delighted and frustrated.
He was delighted because he seemed to have discovered a broad road to the heavens that would let him improve rapidly, and he had also begun to understand how to use this ability. What frustrated him was... I clearly read ten people's fortunes, so why did I only get this measly half drop? What am I supposed to do with that?
So stingy!
Still, Zuo Xiaoduo quickly adjusted his attitude. As Teacher Qin had said, his so-called fortune-telling this time had really been based on his own experience, knowledge, and powers of observation, with more joking around than anything else. It could hardly count as fortune-telling at all. Getting half a drop was already pretty good.
Ever since that cool sensation had entered his body and spread, Zuo Xiaoduo had also clearly felt the changes in his meridians. That was why he had chosen to push forward through relentless fighting!