“Nineteen years?”
A strange thought flashed through Jiu Hui’s mind: “The time your garlic chive went missing is very close to the time when Bu Ting used the Soul-Swallowing Formation.”
Zhi You didn’t react.
“Do you think it’s possible that Bu Ting is involved in this?” Jiu Hui suddenly felt wide awake and clear-headed. “Otherwise, how could it be such a coincidence?”
“No, this matter must be investigated thoroughly.” Jiu Hui pondered for a moment. “Before the succession ceremony for Nan Feng in a few days, there will definitely be many guests at the Jiutian Sect. We’ll find a way to investigate further then.”
“Oh.” Zhi You nodded.carpreads.pages.dev
“Oh, what oh? What if the garlic chive you’ve been growing for over four hundred years ended up being made into chive dumplings by that old fart?” Jiu Hui couldn’t help but stand up and knock him on the forehead. “Why aren’t you worried at all?”
“I searched for her the day I left Fuguang Mountain, but she wasn’t at Jiutian Sect.” Zhi You looked up at Jiu Hui, who had just stood up. “I searched all ten major sects, but I couldn’t find her anywhere.”
“So you went looking for it as soon as you left Fuguang Mountain.” Jiu Hui nodded. “That’s true. The garlic chive you raised with your own hands is naturally your first priority.”
“There is no one else in my heart,” Zhi You explained earnestly. “Only my little Senior Sister.”
“Cough.” Jiu Hui crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m not a three-year-old child. You don’t have to tell me that I’m the best in the world.”
“But I want to be the best in the world with my little Senior Sister.” Zhi You gently tugged on the corner of Jiu Hui’s sleeve. “I want to be the best with you.”
“Childish.” Jiu Hui snorted. “Anyway, we still have to check with Bu Ting.”
“Hey!” Jiu Hui’s eyes lit up, and she suddenly said, “There’s someone else who can help you!” She grabbed Zhi You and ran outside.
Yawning, Grandpa Bu looked at Jiu Hui, who was sitting in front of him with an obedient expression. “You want me to divine?”
“Yes,” Jiu Hui nodded. “Divination for something.”
“Alright, tell me where and when you lost this thing.” Grandpa Bu was very patient when it came to coaxing children.
“It was lost on a full moon night nineteen years ago, the location was…” Jiu Hui paused, and took out a flowerpot from her bosom. “This is the flowerpot it was planted in, Grandpa Bu, can you touch it and see if you can divine anything?”
Jiu Hui didn’t say where it was lost. Grandpa Bu glanced at the two children, didn’t continue to ask, and turned his gaze to the flowerpot: “Using top-grade red jade as a flowerpot, what kind of heavenly material and earthly treasure is worthy of this pot?”
Jiu Hui: “A stalk of garlic chive.”
“Garlic chive?” Grandpa Bu’s gaze grew even more enigmatic. “In all the world, you are the only garlic chive capable of taking human form.”
“What if it hasn’t taken form yet?” Jiu Hui shoved the flowerpot into Grandpa Bu’s hands. “This garlic chive is a bit delicate. It’s afraid of the cold and heat, but it can glow and show the way. Can you tell if it’s still alive?”
The moment Grandpa Bu’s fingertip touched the flowerpot, his gaze flickered. He pinched his fingers and calculated carefully, then quickly let go.
He looked up at Jiu Hui and Zhi You, but did not speak for a long time.
When Jiu Hui saw the look in Grandpa Bu’s eyes, her heart skipped a beat. Could it be that the garlic chive was gone?
Recalling the delicate and demanding nature of this garlic chive, Jiu Hui reached out and grasped Zhi You’s wrist, hoping he would stay strong.
Zhi You met this garlic chive when he was five years old, and it disappeared nineteen years ago. Even though this garlic chive had no spiritual intelligence, could not speak, and often wanted to die in front of Zhi You, it had accompanied Zhi You for more than four hundred years on the snow-covered Fuguang Mountain.
“Grandpa Bu,” Jiu Hui’s voice lowered, “if you can’t calculate his whereabouts, we’ll think of other ways.”
Don’t tell Zhi You directly that the garlic chive is gone, ahhhhhhhhh!
Grandpa Bu looked at Zhi You, whose expression was calm, and chuckled, “Don’t worry, this delicate, rambunctious, temperature-sensitive, and illuminating garlic chive is still alive and well.”
“Oh, that’s good, that’s good.” Jiu Hui breathed a sigh of relief, and then asked again, “Can it still be found?”
Grandpa Bu answered irrelevantly, “No wonder, no wonder, so that’s it, so that’s it!”
He looked at Zhi You with a big laugh, “Your fates are intertwined. If you were to calculate it carefully, it would be hard to say who owes the other more. However, all living beings in this world owe you nine parts of their gratitude.”
After he finished speaking, he continued to laugh out loud.
“Grandpa Bu, don’t laugh like that. It’s a little creepy.” Seeing Grandpa Bu holding onto the jade flowerpot, Jiu Hui cautiously said, “If you like this flowerpot, once we find that garlic chive, we’ll give this pot to you.”
“Zhi You’s flowerpot, why do you decide to give it to me?” Grandpa Bu asked with a smile.
Oh, right, this flowerpot belonged to Zhi You.
Why did she take it for granted that this flowerpot was hers?
Jiu Hui began to doubt herself. Was she really that shameless?
“What’s mine is Jiu Hui’s.” Zhi You said, “If Grandpa Bu likes it, take it now.”
Hearing Zhi You being so tolerant and generous to her, Jiu Hui despised herself in her heart. It was fine to swindle others, but how could she do it to her little junior brother?
Jiu Hui, oh Jiu Hui, you are truly shameless!
“Not now, I haven’t found that delicate garlic chive yet.” Jiu Hui reached out to take the flowerpot from Grandpa Bu.
“No need to look for it.” Grandpa Bu held up the flowerpot. “Give it to me now.”
“No way.” Jiu Hui jumped up and snatched it. “This is mine.”
“It’s not yours, it’s Zhi You’s.” Grandpa Bu dodged out of the way. “Zhi You said he gave it to me, so it’s mine.”
“I…” Jiu Hui put her hands on her hips. “Grandpa Bu, I’m going to make a fuss!”
“Tsk, the older the child, the less they can stand teasing.” Grandpa Bu returned the flowerpot to Jiu Hui. “Go, go, go, go play with your flowerpot yourself.”
Jiu Hui tucked the ice-cold flowerpot into her arms, looked at it in confusion, and then looked at Grandpa Bu in confusion: “Grandpa Bu, are you hiding something from me?”
“I’ve calculated everything you asked me to, and I’ve told you the answers. I haven’t kept anything from you.” Grandpa Bu raised his chin at Zhi You. “Go play with Zhi You. I’m going to sleep.”
Jiu Hui handed the flowerpot to Grandpa Bu: “This is for you.”
Although she was a little reluctant, it was rare for her elders to be interested in something, so how could she not be willing to give it to them?
“I’ve lived for over ten thousand years. What use do I have for your garlic chive’s flowerpot?” Grandpa Bu saw that Jiu Hui had really given him the flowerpot and smiled kindly. “My true form is too large to fit in such a small flowerpot.”
The flowerpot returned to Jiu Hui’s hands once more. She held the flowerpot and walked out of Grandpa Bu’s courtyard in a daze, always feeling like she had overlooked something.
What could it be?
Last year, she was eighteen, this year, she is nineteen… nineteen…
Jiu Hui suddenly stopped in her tracks and looked at Zhi You with suspicion. “After you went to the Ten Great Sects, where else did you go?”
“No.” Zhi You shook his head. “Then I went to Wenxian City, and then… I met you.”
Thousands of miles away, the disciples of the Jiutian Sect had already begun to hang red silk around the sect. The sect master’s jade crown and auspicious clothing were also ready. The entire sect was immersed in a sense of confusion and anticipation.
The Sect Master had angered the Immortal Lord and was injured. Rumors of his entanglement with the female demon spread, causing the Jiutian Sect, once revered by cultivators, to become the object of strange looks.
After Eldest Senior Brother Nan Feng succeed the sect leader, the younger generation of disciples in the sect would all be convinced. As the New Year approached, everyone thought that the storm had passed, but unexpectedly, a storybook called “After Being Killed by a Heartless Man, I Became an Immortal” suddenly appeared and became extremely popular in both the human and demon realms.
They even suspected that the book might have already spread to the demon realm, but they didn’t know enough about the demon realm to know how widespread it was there.
The characters in the book, such as “Mu Qi”, “Qiu Hua”, “Bu Ting”, and “Demon King’s Consort”, were obviously referring to certain people when you look closely.
The writer known as “Song Xia Xiaoyao” was very good at describing character conflicts and plot twists. People who got their hands on his books would unknowingly finish them in one sitting, and even after finishing them, they would help Mu Qi curse Bu Ting.
After the scolding, everyone slowly came to a realization. This Bu Ting… could he be the Immortal Venerable Bu of the Jiutian Sect?
Bu Ting, a character in the book, was naturally gifted and had a somewhat alluring appearance. He carried a Heaven and Earth Sword and managed to trick the Immortal Tree into giving him its fruit.
Cosmos vs. Heaven and Earth, wasn’t this exactly Bu Ting?
Mu Qi’s heart was gouged out, her blood was used as medicine, her bones and flesh became materials for refining cauldrons, and in the end, Bu Ting became the world’s most respected number one swordsman.
In the storybook, there was also a child who had been imprisoned in the mountains since birth and was guarded by countless puppets. He was forced to vomit blood and almost lost his life, but he was not allowed to communicate with anyone, nor was he allowed to leave the mountain half a step.
The mortals pitied Mu Qi and felt sorry for the child, but only the cultivators knew that this pitiful child was Immortal Lord Fuguang of Fuguang Mountain.
After finishing the storybook, the Sect Master of the Wanhuo Sect secretly sighed in relief. Fortunately, this Song Xia Xiaoyao didn’t fabricate a story about him, saying that he fought with Bu Ting over a woman from the Demon Clan.
It seems that although the author hated Bu Ting, he still showed mercy to him.
“Sect Master, Wangshu Pavilion has come to pay their respects for the new year. They said that they will be rushing to Jiutian Sect in a few days, so they came early this year to pay their respects.”
“Is it Little Friend Jiu Hui who has come?”
“It is the Wangshu Pavilion’s head disciple, Yan Bo.”
“Oh.” Sect Master Huo hid the storybook. “Invite him in.”
He still had some impression of Yan Bo, who was an extremely honest and simple young man.
-—–
After the storybook was released, the Jiutian Sect investigated for several days but failed to find out who “Song Xia Xiaoyao” was. With the new sect master’s succession ceremony approaching, the sect had no choice but to pretend that nothing had happened.
As long as the sect master changed quickly enough, the reputation of their Jiutian Sect could still be barely preserved.
Bu Ting could sense that the stewards and disciples in the sect were gradually taking Nan Feng’s orders as their priority. The courtyard where he lived was becoming increasingly quiet, as if everyone was keeping something from him.
He gently flicked the jade beads hanging from the curtain, and finally remembered what he had forgotten.
Fuguang should be heartless, but his emotions could not be concealed, so after Fuguang was lost and found at the age of five, a string of calming beads was added to his wrist.
But that day on Fuguang Mountain, the Calming Heart Beads on Lord Fuguang’s wrist was missing.
-—–
“Zhi You, is that little garlic chive really gone. You can’t find it?” Jiu Hui walked side by side with Zhi You in the village. She looked down at the flowerpot in her hand and said, “If you lie to me, you’re a puppy.”
Zhi You fell silent.
“Speak.” Jiu Hui put the flowerpot away in her storage ring and poked his arm with her finger.
Zhi You blushed and stammered for a long time, but couldn’t say anything. Finally, he lowered his head and said, “Woof?”
Hearing this little bark, Jiu Hui was stunned for a moment: “If I say you’re honest, you lied to me. If I say you’re not honest, you barked like a puppy to me.”
“You’re making this so difficult. You can’t possibly mean that I’m your precious little garlic chive, can you?” The garlic chive had a sudden, absurd guess, and turned her head to see Zhi You looking at her with gentle, indulgent eyes.
Impossible, absolutely impossible!
She, Jiu Hui, had been strong, honest, and easy to raise since she was little. She definitely had nothing to do with being delicate!
Author’s Note
God of Fate: Young lad, did you lose this delicate little garlic chive, or this garlic chive that can kill ten or eight little yaos with one punch? Liars are little doggies~
Zhi You: …Woof…