Dao Lord Jinghe's words carried a deeper meaning.
Omens of fortune and calamity were not something just anyone could sense. If a cultivator walked down the road and happened to meet another cultivator, could he sense whether that cultivator was about to encounter good or ill fortune?
Of course not. First, the cultivator who sensed the omen needed to possess a certain level of cultivation. Second, there needed to be some connection between them. As for what exactly this connection was, it wasn't strictly defined, but generally, it involved a relatively close relationship.
Dao Lord Jinghe spoke with a serious face, but how could Qin Xi not understand his implication? The fact that Ye Zhenji was right beside him only made it more awkward. So, he glared fiercely at Dao Lord Jinghe. "Master, let's talk business!"
"Are you the master or am I the master?" Dao Lord Jinghe, holding the upper hand, remained unruffled and smiled. "Your disciple is right here. If you don't show some respect to your master, be careful your disciple follows your example and gives you a hard time later."
Unfortunately, Ye Zhenji was an honest soul and immediately said, "I will always respect my master."
"..." Dao Lord Jinghe's smile turned to anger. "You brat, go away!"
Ye Zhenji looked aggrieved, glanced at his master, and pleaded, "Grandmaster, please save my aunt. If she really doesn't wake up for decades, what will happen to her body?"
"Hmph!" Dao Lord Jinghe snorted angrily. "Don't try that. You master and disciple, one threatening, the other begging and crying, ganging up to bully this old man, is that it?"
After thinking for a moment, Qin Xi calmed down. "Master, the one lying here is your disciple, not mine."
"Well said!" Dao Lord Jinghe clapped his hands. "Exactly! This is my disciple, at most your junior sister. Why are you more anxious than your master? You even threatened me with pills, hmph!"
Qin Xi remained calm. "Just say it. What do you want?"
Seeing his resigned look, Dao Lord Jinghe grew smug. He glanced at Ye Zhenji and said, "We'll talk about it slowly later, just us master and disciple." Noticing Qin Xi secretly sigh in relief, he leaned closer and whispered, "Don't worry. In front of your disciple, I'll save you some face."
After that, Dao Lord Jinghe went back to check on Mo Tiange's condition and said seriously, "When the Sea of Consciousness is closed, there's basically no immediate cure. However, your master knows of a pill that is very helpful in such situations. Even if it can't wake her immediately, it can at least ensure her body doesn't deteriorate."
"The formula?"
Dao Lord Jinghe reached into his Qiankun Bag, rummaged around, and pulled out a large pile of jade slips. "Look for it. It's definitely here somewhere. I've forgotten which one it is for the moment."
Qin Xi had no choice but to glare at him and start searching. Fortunately, there were three of them. The pile contained hundreds of jade slips, but after searching for a while, they found it.
However, upon seeing the formula, Qin Xi's brow furrowed again. "These spirit herbs..."
"That's right. Some of these spirit herbs are quite rare nowadays. It'll probably take some time to gather them."
"But we need it urgently!"
"No need to worry about that." Dao Lord Jinghe grinned slyly again. "Your master has a set of recuperation techniques useful for this situation. If you apply them to her once a day, you can at least ensure she'll be fine for several years."
"..." Qin Xi's brow remained furrowed. "The technique?"
This time, he didn't produce another pile of jade slips but tossed over a book made of animal hide. Dao Lord Jinghe instructed, "Since you're out of seclusion anyway, don't attempt to form your Nascent Soul for now. Rest for a few years first. You've been in seclusion for thirty-five years, never relaxing mentally for a moment. Forming a Nascent Soul is extremely taxing. This isn't the right time. Rest properly for a while. Try again when you feel more at ease."
Qin Xi fell silent but ultimately did not object. If he were still in seclusion, he would have refused. But given the current circumstances, he couldn't continue his seclusion anyway.
Dao Lord Jinghe looked pleased. "Alright, take Tian Ge back to Mingxin Abode. Let Xiuqin and the others take care of her. Those girls have been disciplined into obedience by her. You can rest assured."
Qin Xi nodded without another word. He picked up Mo Tiange and headed towards Mingxin Abode.
Even though he hadn't returned here since she moved into Mingxin Abode, he was familiar with every plant and tree.
The pond in front of the house, the herb garden behind it... She had given the resting room to Zhenji, choosing to live in the cultivation chamber herself. Who said he was the cultivation fanatic? In truth, she was one too.
Xiuqin and the others were also Foundation Establishment cultivators. They had gone to the Myriad Laws of Nature Formation today and hadn't returned yet.
Qin Xi carried Mo Tiange into the resting room and settled her on the bed. Suddenly remembering Ruan Mingzhu, he said, "Zhenji, go tell your grandmaster that Mingzhu also ran into some trouble. Have someone bring her back."
"Oh..." Ye Zhenji acknowledged but didn't move.
After a moment, Qin Xi finally turned his gaze to him. "Why aren't you going?"
Ye Zhenji was silent for a while before mustering his courage to ask, "Master, what is your relationship with Aunt?"
Qin Xi was taken aback. His gaze drifted into empty space and froze.
Ye Zhenji continued, "I... I always thought there wasn't much connection between you and Aunt. But from what I saw just now, that doesn't seem to be the case..."
After a long pause, Qin Xi finally moved the corner of his mouth, forcing a smile. "Don't overthink it. Alright, you watch over your aunt. I'll go find your grandmaster."
Having said that, as if escaping something, he left Mingxin Abode without looking back.
Only after he had left did Ye Zhenji slowly say, "Master, I didn't say anything. Why did you..."
Qin Xi, having left Mingxin Abode, didn't immediately return to the main hall to find Dao Lord Jinghe. Instead, he sat on the nearby railing and became still.
There were some things he had deliberately ignored, but in the end, he couldn't ignore them after all.
Thirty-five years. He had originally thought he had grown indifferent, that his heart held nothing but forming his Nascent Soul. But only upon seeing her did he understand. He had never forgotten. These thirty-five years were actually a trap he had set for himself, thinking he could become indifferent, thinking he could return to how he was before, single-mindedly focused on cultivation. But the result was only entangling himself more tightly.
What was affection? He had never had the chance to understand it, so he hadn't been the least bit wary. He didn't even know how it had begun...
That year, when he went to Tianmo Mountain, he met Ye Hai and felt a deep kinship with him. They faced difficulties together along the way. Later, trapped in Tianmo Mountain for a full ten years, the two went from chance acquaintances to bosom friends.
Unfortunately, Ye Hai's injuries were too severe. Seeing he wouldn't survive, and wanting to secure a protector for his descendant, he ultimately perished in Tianmo Mountain.
Though Qin Xi had a cold personality, he was never one to owe others. He owed Ye Hai half his life, so he agreed to his dying wish to care for his orphan.
Knowing the child might be a girl with a Pure Yin Constitution and Spirit Root, he wasn't entirely unmoved. But this feeling was merely because a female cultivator with a Pure Yin Constitution, as long as her Spirit Root wasn't too poor, would generally achieve something. Moreover, if she joined a sect, she would likely engage in Dual Cultivation with a sect disciple. For the sect, producing one more high-level cultivator would strengthen its power.
But for himself, there was no particular benefit. First, he cultivated orthodox Daoist techniques. If not for Yuan Bao's mischief in the Void Heaven Realm, giving him the Pure Yang Art and transforming him to be infinitely close to a Pure Yang Constitution, Dual Cultivation held no tempting advantages for him. Second, he had his own pride. Since stepping onto the immortal path, he had always believed he could achieve the Great Dao without relying on side paths like Dual Cultivation. Third, a child, and the orphan entrusted by someone he could call a friend—no matter how shameless he was, he wouldn't think in that direction.
Returning from Tianmo Mountain, he entered seclusion to heal his injuries and selected a trustworthy grand-nephew to handle the matter. At the time, he wasn't very expectant. Because a Pure Yin Constitution was rare, and a Spirit Root was also rare. Although the girl's father had a Spirit Root and her mother had a Pure Yin Constitution, the greatest likelihood was that she would be an ordinary person. The chance of possessing both was less than one in ten.
Who would have thought the news brought back by that grand-nephew would shock him? It really was a child with both a Pure Yin Constitution and a Spirit Root, and she had already embarked on the path of cultivation. But the bad part was that grand-nephew had messed things up again, causing the uncle and niece to misunderstand their intentions.
At that time, he thought, since that person was the child's biological uncle and held his elder brother in the highest esteem, he would surely treat the child well. So let it be. If they worried he had ulterior motives, so be it. After all, he was only repaying half his life debt to Ye Hai; he wasn't coveting anything from them. He wasn't so enthusiastic as to force his help on others who had refused it.
Later, his injuries ultimately didn't heal. With no other choice, he left the sect to search for medicine.
The reason he went to the Cloud Mist Sect was because this minor sect, though unknown, had the spirit herb he needed. Moreover, their founder had passed down a body-refining technique rare even in Kunwu, and he happened to be collecting body-refining techniques. So, he decided to infiltrate this minor sect. After all, it was far enough from West Kunwu; even if people knew who Qin Shoujing was, they certainly wouldn't know who Qin Xi was.
He was taciturn by nature and, apart from cultivation, had no interest in anything else. Entering the Cloud Mist Sect and being with a group of Qi Refining disciples was truly dull. But since his identity was also that of a Qi Refining disciple, if he never associated with them, it would be too unsociable.
The first time he saw her, he didn't realize she was a girl. Though she was overly delicate, her behavior and mannerisms held not a hint of femininity.
At that time, he was merely a bit curious. This child always greeted people with a smile, amiable and kind, yet there was a faint pride in her eyes. Not the pride that looked down on others, but a kind of confidence and self-respect.
But how could a mere Qi Refining cultivator pique his interest? So, he was only curious for a moment.
Then, during the trip to Misty Valley, those few days of being inseparable, he began to feel something was off. He kept feeling a familiar aura about her, as if she carried something that belonged to him. Taking advantage of her inattention, he probed with his divine sense and discovered her secret.
So she was a woman, and a woman carrying his Spirit-Hiding Pendant. Afterwards, he learned through other means that she had an uncle who was a Foundation Establishment cultivator.
By then, he was eighty percent certain of her identity.
So it was that girl from back then.
To think he would encounter her in such a minor sect. What a coincidence.
It was from this point that he began to pay attention to her frequently.
And so he discovered that, though her surface demeanor was poles apart from his, their personalities were surprisingly similar.
She was diligent, calm, ambitious, and decisive. These were qualities he believed a successful cultivator must possess. On the surface, she seemed no different from other Qi Refining disciples, but in reality, she fully possessed these traits.
When she looked at others, even while laughing and chatting warmly, there was still distance and wariness in her eyes. She seemed habitually wary of everyone. Yet when things happened, she often showed more concern than others. Such a contradictory person.
So he thought, she was still a child after all, still in need of proper tempering.
Therefore, his feelings didn't start from this moment. At this time, he still only saw her as a child, a contradictory, struggling child whom he found admirable and interesting.
Nor did his feelings start during the two months he brought her back. At that time, he merely sympathized and pitied her for her troubled life, so he gave her more patience than others.
That was all.