Chapter 36: Loquat Fruit (Part 10)

Despite strictly adhering to regulations and meticulously planning, after a month, finances were still tight.
In the realm of immortals (Xianmen), spiritual stones circulated, and banquets were held only once every few years. The reserve of silver and gold was already limited, and it couldn’t withstand Xu Qianyu’s daily expenses. Furthermore, she always wanted some chilled sweets during the summer, which had to be purchased from outside the island, adding to the transportation costs.
Shen Suwei decided to seek Xu Binglai.
Xu Binglai couldn’t help but ask, “What do you need the money for?”
Shen Suwei didn’t mention it was for Xu Qianyu. The master didn’t particularly like Xu Qianyu; if he said it was for her, it might seem like a complaint, and Xu Qianyu’s hard-earned four dishes and a soup would likely be banned again.
Fortunately, Xu Binglai soon thought of Shen Suwei’s years of hard work and achievements; he reasoned that it was only natural for her to ask for some money, so he rummaged through his things and fell silent.
He handed Shen Suwei a few copper coins and his only silver ingot, saying, “Come back tomorrow, and I’ll give you more.”
“Thank you, Master.”
Xu Binglai’s silver was mostly kept with Qianqian since it had rarely been used over the years. He had to go visit Qianqian, greet her warmly, and shamelessly ask for a pouch of coins.
But it was clear that this amount was insufficient.
Shen Suwei weighed it in her hand and, upon returning, took off a spirit jade from her body, handing it to the attendant. “Go exchange this for money.”
With what was left, she could keep a reserve for future banquet expenses.
Before long, the attendant returned, handing the spirit jade back to her, saying, “Senior Brother, the shops outside the island all say they admire our immortal sect and are willing to extend credit.”
Shen Suwei sighed.
She didn’t like being in debt to others, but now there was no choice.
Over time, Xu Qianyu figured out the routine: the person in charge of the dishes adhered to the principle of four dishes and a soup daily, which didn’t accommodate her extra requests.
So she stopped writing out the full list of dishes on the paper; at most, she would write one. If she couldn’t think of anything, she wouldn’t write at all, and sometimes she would scribble something depending on her mood.
Shen Suwei had grown accustomed to receiving the paper every day; the front had the dish names, while the back was filled with Xu Qianyu’s random doodles. Occasionally, he would find the front and back completely blank, and on such days, his heart would feel empty as well.
Xu Qianyu’s drawings reflected the teachings of great scholars, exhibiting an elegant style. But on the note, she only used simple ink lines to sketch exaggerated little figures. One was a stooped old woman with her hair tied up in a bun, representing the disdainful old lady. Another little figure with two ears was her, though it didn’t depict ears but rather her two hair buns.
This little person sometimes practices swordplay, sometimes sits at the table in deep thought, and sometimes supports himself on the ground with his arms while lying on the bed, with his legs draped over the edge, covered with a blanket, in a position that indicates he can’t get out of bed.
Recently, she must be quite happy.
The little person is always drinking and dancing, and the times she can’t get out of bed have decreased.
Xu Qianyu is indeed in a very good mood.
She has gained from her sword practice, and her internal energy has also improved.
At first, she could never complete the third step, “Observing the Spiritual Veins.” It was really difficult for her to manipulate the flowing spiritual energy to come out just right from the tangled branches and hit the top. As a result, she would exhaust her spiritual energy and be ejected repeatedly.
One day, she could no longer help but ask the illusion, “Can I ask a question?”
Wuzhen looked straight ahead, paused for a moment, and said, “Ask.”
Xu Qianyu was overjoyed; indeed, this image of Master Wuzhen not only had a technique for knocking on the head with a scroll but also had a Q&A feature.
She said, “Master Uncle, what exactly should I do for the third step?”
Wuzhen replied, “Which step? Name it.”
“Observing the Spiritual Veins.”
Wuzhen asked, “What did you do?”
Xu Qianyu replied, “I adjusted the spiritual energy, intending to use it to extract the top…”
Wuzhen interrupted her, “What is the name of this step?”
Xu Qianyu answered, “Observing the Spiritual Veins?”
Wuzhen said, “What are you doing?”
Xu Qianyu was annoyed: “I’m extracting the top!”
Wuzhen continued, “What is the name of this step?”
Xu Qianyu responded, “Observing the Spiritual Veins!”
Wuzhen asked again, “What are you doing?”
Xu Qianyu pressed her chest and calmed her breath: “I…”
Wait a moment; it seemed like she had an epiphany.
Why was she trying to extract the top? It didn’t require her to extract the top at all.
Wuzhen flatly stated, “What are you doing? Why not just ‘observe’?”
The next time Xu Qianyu saw that loquat tree with its golden threads, she decided not to think or do anything but simply to look at it.
After a moment, she heard Wuzhen say, “Good, fourth step, adjust the spiritual breath.”
Xu Qianyu and the system were so excited they hugged their heads and cried.
Then, in the pitch-black field of vision, the figure of a person appeared, also transparent like the loquat tree, with spiritual energy circulating inside, but it was flowing very slowly.
Wuzhen said, “This step is to control the spiritual energy to be expelled from the body, releasing it through the fingers.”
After saying this, the transparent person slowly raised an arm to facilitate Xu Qianyu’s operations.
Xu Qianyu:?
Isn’t this exactly what she had done with the loquat tree before?
When it changed into a person, the veins inside were no longer tangled within the fine branches but were clearly displayed in the arms and abdominal cavity, making it a hundred times simpler than before; she passed through it in one go.
This internal energy tutorial, called Wuzhen’s Breakdown, was clear and straightforward; each step was much simpler than she had imagined. Subsequently, she madly advanced five steps in one day.
When she reached the ninth step, “Expanding the Spiritual Pool,” Xu Qianyu found that her spiritual pool had truly expanded.
In the past, when practicing swordplay, she would need to stop and rest after swinging the sword two or three hundred times.
Now, she could complete five hundred swings in one go, reducing the time to within two hours.
And the expansion of the spiritual pool, in the most straightforward sense, meant: promotion.
She was now at the Qi refinement stage.
At first, she was eager to leave, but when it came time to really leave this small courtyard and part of Old Granny Mie, she felt a bit reluctant. Xu Qianyu decided to stay here for another seven days, treating it as a vacation before entering the outer sect.
That day, Shen Suwei received a note that didn’t have a dish name written on it. The front had a small figure drawn, with much more patience than before, and some indoor curtains were depicted; the curtains fluttered in the wind. The little figure with ears sat at the window, resting its chin on its hand and turning to look outside.
Turning to the back, she unexpectedly wrote a line of poetry:
“The water’s light ripples beautifully when the sky is clear; the mountain’s hue is ethereal and wondrous in the rain.”
Xu Qianyu’s handwriting was influenced by famous calligraphy masters in her youth, later taught by Guan Niang, and she had developed her own style. Her strokes were more assertive than those of an ordinary girl. Written on the note, it had a free and lively beauty.
He also knew what she was writing and looking at.
Recently, it has been the rainy season in Penglai.
For several days, the island was shrouded in misty rain, the water surface rippling with countless rain swirls, dragonflies flying low, and mountain shadows hidden in the blue mist, like a painted fairyland.
*
Before Xu Qianyu left the courtyard, she came to say goodbye to Shen Suwei: “Senior Brother Shen, I’m going to the outer sect.”
The outer sect disciples have a unified residence, which is a dormitory in the Pine Waves and Snowy Clouds Courtyard behind the disciples’ hall, quite far from here.
Shen Suwei said, “Congratulations.”
Xu Qianyu approached and handed a piece of paper to her senior brother. Shen Suwei took it, looked it over, and asked, “The third step of the mental method?”
Then he added, “I can’t help you with that. Otherwise, it becomes my mental method, not yours. Mental methods are related to each person’s path; you need to slowly comprehend them yourself.”
Xu Qianyu felt disappointed; it seemed she would have to grapple with this tongue-twisting phrase for a while longer.
She then curiously asked, “Then what is your mental method?”
“Are you asking about my path?” Shen Suwei replied. He had already learned quite a few mental methods. “Currently, it’s ‘Empty Heart, Clear Realm.'”
Xu Qianyu talked back and forth with him about the mental method several times. Clearly, as a beginner, she was clueless and full of errors, yet she spoke very naturally and confidently. Shen Suwei felt a headache coming on and stopped her, saying, “It’s hard to explain. Should I show you two books?”
Xu Qianyu immediately stopped: “Okay.”
After a pause, she looked eagerly at the books and said, “Thank you, Senior Brother.”
Shen Suwei hesitated, glanced at the books, and asked her, “If you want to borrow books, why not just ask directly?”
“I…” Xu Qianyu felt ashamed and at a loss for words.
She didn’t even know when she had developed the habit of competing with everyone, unwilling to be left behind, especially in front of her senior brother, fearing loss of face, her tone either commanding or assuming. Every time she wanted to speak properly, it was a different matter.
Shen Suwei looked at her and said, “Why can you express yourself when asking for things from others? Why can you be so free with ‘Lady Wang’?”
Seeing Xu Qianyu’s flickering gaze, he chose not to point it out. Instead, he sighed and turned his gaze away. “Xu Qianyu, I don’t look down on you.”
“The sword ‘Yaoguang is my destiny sword; I cannot casually gift it to an ordinary person. It is precisely because I appreciate you and your family that I chose to give it.”
Xu Qianyu’s bright eyes looked at him, and she quickly said, “I liked what you said when you gifted the sword that day. I respect you a lot too.”
Shen Suwei slightly lowered his eyelashes.
He understood. She liked and respected him.
Xu Qianyu whistled, and with a loud “bang,” a massive creature landed outside the courtyard, squeezing its way in and shedding a lot of feathers.
A spirit crane carried several boxes forward and obediently crouched on the ground.
Xu Qianyu unloaded two or three boxes of gold and silver and placed them in Shen Suwei’s room. “I know these mundane items are useless in the immortal sect. But this is all I have, so I can only use this to thank you.”
Shen Suwei had taught her how to build a sword foundation, lent her books, and even gave her spirit stones, while he had sent a sword to her family. But she had no spirit stones, no magical artifacts, nor anything useful in the immortal sect. Still, she wanted to give a return gift to the best of her ability.
The pixiu red string that Xiao Dong gave her was still worn on her wrist, accompanying her.
This was a lesson Xiao Dong taught her.
Shen Suwei looked at the gold and silver; his heart stirred. She had brought these from thousands of miles away and was willing to give them away in such large boxes.
He didn’t think they were useless. At the very least, the debts hanging over her in the mortal realm could be settled, alleviating her urgent needs.
Xu Qianyu then brought over a basket of loquats and placed it on his desk. “Just take this as a small token of my appreciation. It’s not a mundane item; it’s very sweet and edible.”
She had picked them one by one with a whip. Now she could hold the whip and pick fruit with her left hand.
She glanced at Shen Suwei and noticed him staring at the loquats in the basket. Feeling uneasy, she said, “Is it a bit too little?”
Indeed, it was a bit sparse, with fewer than ten loquats scattered in the basket, making it look very simple. She couldn’t help but add, “Actually, there are still many on the tree. I thought about it and decided not to pick too many. The weather is too hot, and if I picked too many, we wouldn’t be able to eat them all at once, which would affect the taste.”
Shen Suwei lifted the basket and accepted it.
He didn’t say anything else but took out a box of ice skin mooncakes belonging to Xu Qianyu from his “realm” space and quietly handed it to her.
Xu Qianyu was surprised, not expecting this item to still be preserved after such a long time. Shen Suwei explained to her, “Cultivators have a personal space called’realm.’ My ‘realm’ is made of ice and snow, so I stored it there.”
Seeing Xu Qianyu looking at him with a seemingly disappointed expression, he understood that this girl had a strong sense of jealousy and competitiveness, so he said, “It’s nothing special. If you practice hard in the future, you will have one too.”
But Xu Qianyu wasn’t disappointed for that reason. She thought, since Shen Suwei had this space, why did she only pick ten fruits? She should have filled a basket to avoid making it seem so shabby.
But then again, wouldn’t sending a basket of loquats still be considered shabby?
She was still pondering this as she stepped out with the mooncake.
Shen Suwei watched her retreating figure leave. The space was finally empty, with only the wind and snow left.
In recent days, his sword techniques had repeatedly broken through. He could only cultivate up to the third or fourth level before they would break, as if a wound that couldn’t heal had ruptured, likely due to external factors.
Now they were finally even. Most outer sect members might struggle for their entire lives to enter the inner sect. With today’s parting, opportunities to meet again in the future would be rare. He could now concentrate on his cultivation.
However, just as he thought of this, he suddenly felt a surge of pain in his internal organs, as yesterday’s practice had once again failed. He was startled to see Xu Qianyu suddenly turn around and run back. Shen Suwei quickly wiped the blood from the corner of his lips before turning around and asking, “What’s wrong?”
Xu Qianyu opened the box for him to see, her expression pitiful. “There’s only one left.”
He understood what Xu Qianyu meant.
Only one ice skin mooncake remained. If she ate it, the last trace of her attachment to her family would vanish, making it hard to find again in the mortal realm.
“Can I…,” Xu Qianyu hesitated. “Could you please, Senior Brother Shen, help me store it in ‘realm’?”
But she also felt this request was unreasonable; Senior Brother’s “realm” was for battle use and must be precious space. How could it be used to store her miscellaneous items? So she hurriedly added, “I will pay rent monthly for the space I borrow from your ‘realm.’ I’ll provide something you like in return!”
Shen Suwei glanced at her. This was the first time he had heard of someone renting space in a cultivator’s “realm” monthly.
But after she listed her reasons, Shen Suwei paused and accepted the mooncake box. “Okay.”
Xu Qianyu was very pleased with his agreement and felt empowered. She whistled again, causing the spirit crane’s feathers to fly everywhere as it brought two more boxes from outside, containing her hairpins, skirts, and other items.
She had brought too many things from home that day, making it inconvenient to stay in the dormitory. She was worried about where to store them.
Since she was already going to pay rent, it didn’t matter if it was a little more or less. In the future, she would work hard to earn more spirit stones and magical artifacts to give a proper gift, which would be a fitting return.
Shen Suwei looked coldly at the two boxes, feeling quite speechless.
Not only were there fewer items, but there were also more.
But he still didn’t say anything. He piled the boxes into the part of the “realm” not covered by ice and snow and buried the mooncake box back in its original spot.
He didn’t even know what he liked. He was curious about what Xu Qianyu was so certain he would “definitely like.”