He'd just pulled off a big move. Even though there was a four- or five-month buffer, Liu Xiaolou had no intention of heading straight back to Wulong Mountain. He decided to stay out a while longer and see how things played out before making his next move.
He wasn't going back to Wulong Mountain, but staying in Yueyang Market didn't feel safe either. After weighing his options, he ended up returning to a more familiar place; southeast of the Tianmen Mountain marketplace, to that abandoned courtyard by Yangliu Bay.
He still had four and a half spirit stones left. Liu Xiaolou planned to absorb them all in one go, hoping to use the next two months to break through the Laogong acupoint.
Laogong acupoint wasn't just a major acupoint on the Pericardium meridian, it was also one of the most important among the 409 acupoints in the body. The more true qi he poured into it now, the more would be stored in its primordial pool in the future. And when it came time to fight, having a deep reserve here would give him a solid edge.
After taking back the Abyssal Blackstone Formation disk and getting his hands on the Groundbinding Spirit-Scattering Cord, Liu Xiaolou was in good spirits. And when your mood is right, it naturally helps with cultivation. Everything flowed better. As he refined his true qi and forced it through the barrier at the acupoint, the true qi surged like an unstoppable tide. Before long, he was completely absorbed in the process.
This kind of deep immersion wasn't a bad thing. In fact, it was a state cultivators aimed for. The mind sank into it so fully that it was hard to pull back out. Cultivating in this state had obvious benefits. Of course, there was always a tiny chance, maybe one in a hundred, that it could tip into something dangerous, the early signs of Qi Deviation. Hard to say for sure whether it was a blessing or a risk.
For three days straight, Liu Xiaolou stayed in that trance-like state. It wasn't until the half-used spirit stone in his hand was completely drained, and he vaguely heard the faint cracking sound of it breaking apart, that he snapped out of it in a jolt.
Three days without food or water had left him absolutely starving. He devoured everything he could get his hands on, eating and drinking like a madman. Only after stuffing himself full did he finally lean back, patting his belly in satisfaction. But then, his mind drifted back to that "crackling" sound he'd heard during his cultivation trance.
And with the sound came an image that etched in his senses: that jade hairpin, shattered under Zuo Gaofeng's foot, then tossed into the river.
He shook his head to clear the memory. Wandering a couple laps around the abandoned courtyard, he breathed in the sharp, desolate scent of autumn. Dry yellow leaves spun down onto his shoulders, and suddenly, he remembered. It was probably harvest time again on Ewe Ram Mountain. The spiritual rice would be ripe, though the harvest window was short. Even if he rushed over now, he'd likely only catch the tail end of it. A flicker of regret stirred in him.
Back in his room, he shut the door behind him, pulled out another spirit stone, and resumed cultivation. And just like that, two months went by.
One night deep into the second month, Liu Xiaolou slowly came out of cultivation. He gently ended his practice, and in the center of his palm, the Laogong acupoint felt like it was boiling. Like iron beads were rolling endlessly across the acupoint.
He'd finally broken through.
Now, only one acupoint remained on the Pericardium meridian: Zhongchong.
Altogether, it had taken five spirit stones. Every bit of true qi he'd refined had been stored up in the Laogong primordial pool, and the difference was unmistakable. In that moment, he actually felt his hands itch, restless and eager. He was itching for a fight.
He looked toward the tightly shut door, gathered his true qi for a moment, then struck out with his palm. A burst of force shot forward, slamming into the door seven feet away. It burst open with a heavy thud, swinging back and forth on its hinges as cold wind rushed in, carrying loose flurries of snow that swirled into the room.
Liu Xiaolou looked down at his hands, pleased. With the Laogong acupoint finally opened, his palm strength had more than doubled.
He stepped outside. Snow was falling hard, and the courtyard was already blanketed in white. After watching the snow for a while, that same image surfaced in his mind again. The jade hairpin crushed underfoot. And with it, the same "crack crack" sound echoed faintly in his ears.
It had been happening on and off for the past two months. Every time a spirit stone was fully drained and crumbled to dust, he'd hear that same sound. And see that same scene: the hairpin being shattered. It always pulled him out of his deep cultivation, snapping him back to himself. And no matter how many times it happened, he still couldn't make sense of it.
He'd been too focused on cultivation to dwell on it before. But now that the Laogong acupoint had been opened and the spirit stones were used up, he finally had the time to think things through. He recalled the strange, mystical arts practiced by the Qingyu Sect and began to wonder. Could that hairpin have contained some kind of spiritual imprint or soul technique? And if so… was it possible that it had recorded what happened the day they ambushed Hou Sheng?
But the hairpin had been shattered, then thrown into the river. Even a thousand techniques couldn't piece it back together. It was nearly impossible to recover anything from it now.
Still, something about it didn't sit right.
After thinking it through, he made up his mind. He would return to Tiger's Maw and take another look.
The trip back to Tiger's Maw went smoothly. When Liu Xiaolou caught sight of the cave entrance beneath the water's surface, he finally felt at ease. Two months had passed, and the river had risen several feet. The cave was now submerged, more like a pond than a hideout. Whatever traces had once been there were long washed away.
Still, he dove back into the river and searched the bottom thoroughly for an entire day. He didn't find a single thing left from that day. Most likely, the current had carried it all away...
That hairpin had clearly been an ordinary one. All four of them had examined it thoroughly, again and again. There was nothing unusual about it. So why did that scene keep replaying in his mind?
Snow in the south never lasted long. The thin layer covering the trees, grass, and ground quickly melted. Liu Xiaolou walked away from Tiger's Maw with mud clinging to his boots, distracted and lost in thought. He stayed that way until a passing carriage flung a splash of mud across him, snapping him out of his daze. His mind shifted back to old habits; his instincts as a rogue cultivator from Wulong Mountain.
Whenever you came across a wealthy household, as long as you had a halfway decent excuse, you couldn't just let the opportunity pass. Scamming a few taels of silver was fair game. And if you got it wrong? So what. A few curses and a slap or two. Hardly a big deal.
So, with a fierce glare, he leapt in front of the carriage and shouted, "Is this how you travel the roads? Splattering mud all over me. This how you think the road works?"
Right after shouting, Liu Xiaolou suddenly felt a jolt of unease. He'd been so caught up thinking about the jade hairpin that he'd completely overlooked something obvious. The carriage didn't have a driver. Just a single horse pulling it, plodding along all alone through the empty countryside. That kind of setup usually fell under the "Five Types You Don't Mess With."
But the words were already out. There was no taking them back now.
Just then, the carriage curtain lifted slightly, and an old woman peeked out. She was dressed in fine clothes, her hair adorned with jade and pearl ornaments. Strangely, she had no maid attending her; just sat there alone in the carriage. With a polite tone, she said,
"I've disturbed you, young man. The fault is mine. I offer my apologies."
An elderly woman, traveling alone in snowy weather? That was another entry on the "Five Types You Don't Mess With" list!
Even though he couldn't sense any cultivation aura from her, two of the five rules had already been triggered. Scam or no scam, at this point, he was just hoping to walk away in one piece.
Liu Xiaolou's heart was racing as he forced a grin onto his face. "Ah, I see. It's a madam. Well then, it's nothing at all. Just a bit of mud, no trouble. The roads are slippery, ma'am—please take care. I'll be on my way now, take care!"
The old woman squinted at him for a moment, then suddenly smiled. "You seem like a good lad. Tell me, do you have some free time? Would you be willing to help me drive the carriage for a while?"
Liu Xiaolou quickly bowed and nodded. "Of course, of course. Just sit tight, ma'am. I'll take the reins. Where are you headed?"
Her smile deepened. "I'm on my way to Luoshan. Just fifty li ahead. Thank you, child. It's a great help."