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Putting aside his thoughts, Lin Xiao entered Liu Yunan's room.

Liu Yunan was already awake and was preparing to get up on his own.

Lin Xiao hurried over to help him up and asked,

"What do you need? The privy? Or some water?"

Liu Yunan pointed at the water bowl nearby and said weakly,

"Water."

Lin Xiao turned, picked up the bowl, which was over half full, and brought it to him.

Liu Yunan took it and tipped his head back, drinking more than half of it in one go. Only then did he let out a long breath and ask in a stronger voice,

"Brother Xiao, how are my mother and my little sister?"

Lin Xiao patted his chest and said to him,

"With me on the job, of course everything's taken care of!"

Then he grinned and said,

"As for that uncle of yours, let me tell you, I cut all the tendons in his hands and feet. He's completely crippled and can never trouble your family again! Well? Happy?"

Hearing that, Liu Yunan stared at Lin Xiao with wide eyes, looking as though he couldn't believe it.

"You really crippled him?"

Lin Xiao nodded.

"Would I lie to you, brother?"

Liu Yunan immediately felt a wave of relief wash over him, as though even the pain of his injuries had vanished.

"Haha! So Liu Dashan finally got what was coming to him! Hahahahaha! Brother Xiao! You're a true brother! One of these days I'll catch you a snake and have my mother make you some snake soup! Let me tell you, her snake soup is delicious! When my father was still around, he caught snakes a few times..."

The two were happily chatting when several voices suddenly began calling from outside in the courtyard.

"Tuzi! Are you home? We're here to see you-"

"Brother! I brought you a big bone!"

"Shh-keep your voices down. What if Tuzi's still resting?"

Who else could it be but Jiang Youfu, Hu Liang, and Qin Jianghe?

The three saw the broken courtyard gate leaning against the wall, leaving the entrance open, and walked straight in without ceremony.

They made their way to Liu Yunan's room, where they saw Lin Xiao and Liu Yunan chatting merrily through the open door.

"Come on, Brother Xiao! Something this big happened to Tuzi, and you didn't even think to let us know!"

Lin Xiao said,

"After dinner last night, I felt a little restless, so I went out for a walk to help my digestion. I didn't expect to run into it all."

Qin Jianghe grinned and slung an arm around Lin Xiao's shoulders.

"Brother Xiao, if you're going to lie, at least don't make things up so wildly. You went out for a walk and somehow walked all the way from the east end to the west end?"

Apart from Liu Yunan, Lin Xiao and the others all lived on the east side of Xiushui Village, and Lin Xiao's house was right at the eastern end. So to everyone listening, his explanation sounded like a brush-off.

Lin Xiao didn't know whether to laugh or cry. What could he do? Aside from hiding the fact that the system had let him know in advance about the oddity of Tuzi suddenly advancing to Qi Refining First Layer, everything he'd said was true.

Liu Yunan, sitting by the bed, laughed and said,

"If it weren't for Brother Xiao last night, my family would've been finished. Stop picking faults with him."

The mention of last night made everyone even more excited, and they pressed him for the details of what had happened.

After all, though gossip had been flying all over the village since early morning, the stories were a complete mess.

All they knew was that Uncle Liu's hands and feet had been crippled, leaving him a good-for-nothing.

They weren't very clear on anything else.

Only when Liu Yunan pulled down his clothes to show them the many wounds of all sizes across his body, and told them he'd coughed up several mouthfuls of blood from yesterday's beating, did they realize how vicious Boss Liu was.

Indignant, they spoke up one after another.

"What kind of uncle is that?! He's an enemy, plain and simple!"

"Exactly! It was one thing for him to take advantage of your family all the time, but now he even wanted to sell your sister, and he beat you like that, trying to kill you! Brother Xiao went easy on him just crippling his hands and feet! If it were me, I'd have killed him with one stroke!"

As they talked, Liu Yunan glanced toward the door.

Usually, when guests came over, his mother would already have begun seeing to them, but she was nowhere to be seen.

So he asked Lin Xiao,

"Brother Xiao, did my mother go out?"

Only then did Lin Xiao remember he'd forgotten to tell him about Auntie Liu going out. He nodded and said,

"Yeah. Your sister probably got caught in the rain last night. Your mother said she had a bad fever when she checked on her earlier, so she took her to town to see a doctor."

Liu Yunan was taken aback, clearly not expecting that answer.

He lowered his eyes.

They went to town to see a doctor... but there are only twenty copper coins left at home. I don't know if that'll be enough to get my little sister treated...

Tietou asked Liu Yunan,

"Tuzi, can you still come up the mountain to cultivate with us?"

Liu Yunan pushed his thoughts aside and nodded vigorously.

"Of course I can! I hurt my shoulder, not my legs. Come on, let's head up the mountain now!"

Besides, though he didn't know whether it was because he'd reached Qi Refining First Layer, he felt his injuries were already much better. Only the broken bone in his shoulder still hurt.

With that, he started to get up and get dressed.

Now, Liu Yunan was eager to cultivate.

His goal was no longer to play with his friends and learn fun Law Techniques.

Or rather, it was no longer just for those things.

He now had a more important goal.

To protect his mother and little sister.

If he'd had Brother Xiao's cultivation last night, he wouldn't have been beaten into such a sorry state by that dog!

And so, half an hour later, everyone arrived halfway up North Mountain.

For some reason, they suddenly felt as though they'd returned to a second home.

Especially when fellow Daoist Xiaoluan came out to greet them with a "cluck, cluck, cluck."

They hurriedly pulled a few handfuls of unhusked rice they'd quietly taken from home out of their pockets and put them in a small wooden bowl for fellow Daoist Xiaoluan.

By now, daylight had fully arrived, and Lin Yun and Sun Yigao had long since begun meditating and cultivating in the grass shelter.

Seeing them arrive so late, Sun Yigao didn't ask why. He simply greeted everyone, then glanced at Liu Yunan with some concern.

Seeing that he seemed to be in very good spirits, Sun Yigao was reassured and went back to cultivating.

Clearly, he too knew about what had happened at the Liu home last night.

It had to be said, gossip really did spread fast in the village.

As for Lin Yun, Lin Xiao had briefly told him about it before leaving home that morning. But Lin Yun wasn't close to Liu Yunan, and it wouldn't have been quite appropriate to bring it up abruptly now, so he simply said a few words of concern.

As usual, it was another day at the Lingxian Sect with its disciples and members cultivating diligently in the grass shelter while the sect master thought industriously about the sect's development beneath the peach blossom tree.

Lin Xiao first went to check on the Mist Spring Grass and Spirit-Gathering Grass growing in the spirit field.

Apart from growing a little larger and turning a little darker, the tender little shoots hadn't changed at all.

Remembering the twenty spirit grain seeds in his private storage, Lin Xiao went and synthesized another three-by-three-meter spirit field.

Then, like a hardworking old farmer, he carefully planted sixteen of the spirit grain seeds.

He kept the remaining four in case the planting failed.

Of course, he had only dared to plant them after thoroughly studying the Elementary Spirit Herb Cultivation Manual.