Chapter 5: Practicing the Xuan Yu Wood Technique

Su Wan appeared to be playing with children in the yard, but in truth, she was all ears, listening intently to the sounds coming from inside the house.

The villagers naturally heard the crying from inside and felt pity for the Su family.

In the end, one of them sighed and said, “Loyalty is often found among lowly scoundrels; betrayal often comes from the learned.”

“Poor Su family’s girl has been cast aside like this, with a five-year-old child in tow. Both old folks in the Su family have broken legs — life will be hard from now on.”

“Break it up, break it up! Let the family have some time to reminisce,” Zhu Li called his son as he was leaving.

The Ning family’s main and second branches had grudges with Ning Yumo’s family. Now hearing that Ning Yumo might be able to connect with a noble in the capital, a faint calculating look flashed in their eyes.

Ning Yumo’s father died early. Over the years, the Su family spent a lot of money supporting the Ning family so Ning Yumo could focus on the imperial exams without distractions. Because of this, the Su family still lived in a simple thatched house.

Only three small side rooms.

After Su Shi returned, the two children had to squeeze in with Su Mingshan and Xia Xian.

Su Wan had money in her space, but it was inconvenient to take out now, so she had to think of ways slowly.

At night, the whole family squeezed around a small square table for dinner, all distracted by the heavy matters on their minds.

Su Mingshan was sulking all day and barely ate before leaving the table.

Su mother kept wiping her tears. “Wanwan, tell grandma honestly, did Zhou Shi hit you?”

“Yes, Wanwan doesn’t like granny or father.” Su Wan did not lie; Zhou Shi often looked at her with displeasure and would beat and scold her when Su Shi was not around, calling her a burden.

After rebirth into the cultivation world, she was often awakened by nightmares filled with images of the Su family and villagers dying horribly, and being pushed into the lake by the Princess of Pingle County.

Those scenes kept replaying in her dreams as if reminding her not to forget the hatred and grievances from her past life.

Because of these dreams, she never forgot in the cultivation world, even after thirty years.

In her past life, Su Wan was afraid of Zhou Shi and didn’t dare tell her mother even when beaten—worried about implicating her mother and fearing Zhou Shi would worsen her abuse.

Even when Su Shi saw her injuries, Su Wan said she fell by herself.

Everyone in the room felt bad hearing this.

“I’ll kill him,” Su Mingshan was furious, standing up sharply from his stool.

Xia Xian advised, “Yaor’s father, the Ning family is no longer what it once was. You probably wouldn’t even get to see his face before you’d be killed.”

“Now we can’t afford to provoke the Ning family; instead, we have to pretend to be their relatives. If the Princess of Pingle County suspects and sends people to ask, we must admit to being relatives of the Ning family, or she won’t let us go.”

Su Wan took a bite of rice and casually said, “Father, do you think he’d be scared we might slip and tell, so he’d send someone to kill us? His eyes looked terrifying when I left.” After speaking, Su Wan shivered slightly.

Everyone’s faces changed drastically hearing this.

Su Shi recalled Zhou Lan’s threatening words, trembling inside.

“It won’t happen. The whole village knows about this, he can’t kill everyone,” Xia Xian said, reminding everyone.

Su mother and father’s faces turned pale.

Would the Ning family really dare to attack the whole village?

No, they wouldn’t.

If the incident came to light, Ning Yumo would be finished.

He wouldn’t gamble with that.

Whether they believe it or not, it was better to warn them first.

Su Wan thought this to herself.

After dinner, Su Mingshan took the elders back to their room to rest, and Su Shi helped Xia Xian clean the dishes.

After tidying up, Xia Xian came over to help Su Shi clean the room. “Sister, the bed is a bit small. When there’s time, I’ll have your brother make you a bigger bed board.”

“No need to trouble yourself. This is fine. Sister-in-law has worked hard all day, go rest.” Su Shi’s eyes reddened. Luckily the oil lamp was dim, so it wasn’t too obvious; otherwise, Xia Xian would comfort her again.

Su Shi quickly wiped away her tears and hurried over. “Wanwan, go to sleep. We are back at grandma’s now. No one will bully us anymore.”

“Wanwan knows. Wanwan likes grandma’s home. Wanwan believes life will get better.”

“Good child, it will get better.” Su Shi took off her shoes and went to bed.

After Su Shi went to bed, Su Wan hugged her and, where Su Shi couldn’t see, gently sent spiritual power into Su Shi’s body.

Soon, Su Shi yawned, feeling sleepy.

“Mom, sleep well. Everything will be alright.” Su Wan’s childish voice seemed almost hypnotic, and Su Shi quickly fell into a deep sleep.

Once asleep, Su Wan took out three jade statues from her space to set up a formation.

After completing it and preparing to meditate, she overheard Su Mingshan and Xia Xian quietly talking next door.

“Child’s father, money is running low, and parents need leg treatment. Let’s postpone Yu’er’s schooling for another year.”

“That’s fine. Listen to the wife.” He was illiterate and only knew hunting; Xia Xian handled all household affairs.

These years, Xia Xian managed the household well. If it weren’t for the elders’ broken legs, this year, the seven-year-old Su Shanyu would have already started school.

Now with Su Fu and Su Wan back, money was even tighter; filling their stomachs was the priority.

Most village families were not well off, and few children could study. Seeing Ning family produce a top scholar, they clung to the hope that officialdom was the only way out.

Su Mingshan felt the Ning family owed the Su family too much. Ordinary villagers couldn’t do anything about it, so they pinned their hopes on Su Shanyu eventually going to the capital to seek justice for the Su family.

So, he resolved that starting tomorrow, he would hunt daily to save money to send Su Shanyu to a private school.

Hearing this, Su Wan had a thought and quietly began to focus on cultivation.

After breaking through to the third layer of Qi Refining, her temperament subtly transformed.

She could clearly sense the flow of spiritual energy around her much more keenly. The faint strands of spiritual energy now felt like tangible streams, and with a thought, she could guide the energy to flow through her meridians, with both speed and volume greatly improved compared to the second layer of Qi Refining.

Her actions and perception both improved significantly.

Now she could properly cultivate her techniques. With her past life’s foundation, understanding came naturally.

She clearly remembered the first cultivation technique was called Xuan Yu Wood Technique, as she had dual Wood and Fire spiritual roots, so her cultivation needed to relate to Wood or Fire.

Another point worth mentioning was her ability to refine pills. Wood has vitality and represents hope, while Fire allowed better resonance with earthly fire, making pill refining easier.

When the time was right, she would go to the mountains to find herbs to heal her grandparents’ legs.

Su Wan did not rush to break through to the fourth layer but followed the cultivation memories from her past life in the cultivation world and practiced the Xuan Yu Wood Technique.

Though it was only a low-grade Yellow Tier technique, it was more than enough to deal with bandits.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments section.