Chapter 7: Awakening Illusion Vine

“Wow, Uncle is so awesome, he knocked down a big wild boar.” Su Wanqing’s clear childish voice was full of joy and admiration.

The other two little kids also happily ran out, clapping and cheering.

Su Wan always maintained the innocence of a five-year-old child, and no one noticed anything unusual about her.

“Wild boar, big wild boar.” Su Xinyao’s childish voice was a bit unclear, like a happy little bird, fluttering around Su Mingshan nonstop.

Su Shanyu looked up at his father with admiration.

Only Xia Xian was frightened, her face pale and tears falling uncontrollably. Su Fu was also quite scared and quickly went inside to bring Su Mingshan a bowl of water. “Big brother, you must be thirsty, drink some water.” He hadn’t been home all day, probably parched.

Su Mingshan didn’t refuse, took the bowl, and drank deeply. The gulping sound was especially clear in the quiet courtyard. Xia Xian and Su Fu together dragged the big thing into the house. Both were shocked, happy, and scared — indescribable feelings.

Old Master Su, seeing his son return safely, had red eyes and choked up, “Don’t come home so late next time.”

He was so worried.

Su Mingshan went inside, closed the door firmly behind him, and only after sitting down did Xia Xian notice his body trembling violently, his lips pale.

Su Mingshan calmed down for a while before easing his inner fear and said, “Tonight, I met a great master. Without him, I probably wouldn’t be alive.”

“What? Husband, what exactly happened?” Xia Xian’s face changed, full of fear.

The others were also drawn in by Su Mingshan’s words and pricked up their ears.

Su Mingshan gathered his thoughts and roughly recounted what had happened, ending with, “There must have been a great master helping secretly. Otherwise, this thing wouldn’t have died so mysteriously.”

Old Master Su said, “Thanks to that great master, Mingshan. Next time, don’t be so reckless. That master isn’t always around.”

Su Mingshan nodded, “I remember.” He was the pillar of the whole family and absolutely could not afford to have an accident.

Su Fu brought a steaming bowl of rice to Su Mingshan, who grabbed his chopsticks and ate heartily.

While eating, Xia Xian told Su Mingshan about Su Xinyao and the others finding silver coins, which shocked him so much he choked several times before recovering. “You said what? Fifty taels?”

“It’s true. Today they went to the back mountain to dig wild vegetables, and Xinyao found this silver ingot,” Su Fu said with a smile.

After the shock, Su Mingshan was full of joy and quickly said, “Then Shanyu can attend the private school, right?”

“Yes, that’s what I was thinking,” Xia Xian said excitedly. Tomorrow they would take all the goods to sell and settle the matter of schooling.

The whole family was very excited, imagining Su Shanyu studying hard and becoming a successful scholar like Ning Yumo.

That night, except for Su Fu and Su Wan, no one could sleep due to excitement.

After Su Fu lay down, Su Wan, like the previous night, sent a gentle spiritual energy into her brain to help her sleep deeply. Su Wan herself practiced the “Mystic Feather Wood Technique.”

With experience from a past life, this time she was much more proficient, mastering the first form in just one night. She did not rush to learn the second form but practiced the first repeatedly.

Eyes closed, she focused, rehearsing the first move “Dead Wood Reviving.”

In her mind, a small figure moved gracefully, the flexible movements controlling vine-like tendrils as thick as arms, weaving, separating, and weaving again like lively snakes.

Suddenly, a vine wrapped around her left leg and slowly climbed up until it coiled around her slender waist like a willow branch.

It tightened more and more, seeming about to clamp onto her flesh.

Noticing something was wrong, Su Wan suddenly woke up. Upon opening her eyes, she was shocked to see a thin green vine twining around her wrist.

At the same time, she recalled her master’s words: “Disciple, though this Mystic Feather Wood Technique is a yellow-rank skill, no one has truly mastered it.”

She asked, “Then how is true mastery defined?”

“It’s to become one with it. Most fighters only use external power to manipulate the vines, but those who reach the ultimate understanding will have a phantom vine appear on their wrist that moves according to their will. Then, this yellow-rank skill is no longer yellow-rank but becomes earth-rank.”

Seeing the small green vine on her wrist, Su Wan trembled with excitement.

She hadn’t had this in her previous life, so maybe this time she truly understood the technique?

Great, truly great.

Since it’s a phantom vine, others couldn’t see it, but the damage it caused was very real.

“Master, disciple has understood it, disciple has understood it,” Su Wan cried with joy, wanting to tell her master, but he could no longer hear her.

She thought, since she died so suddenly, her master must have been deeply saddened.

She was the youngest and least talented in the sect, but her master and senior brothers never neglected her.

Whenever there was something good, they sent it to her cave.

These thoughts became overwhelming.

She unintentionally fell asleep until Su Xinyao pushed open the door and called, “Sister Wan, get up! Mom wants us all to go to the market. I love going to the market, there are meat buns!”

Su Wan opened her eyes and woke Su Fu as well.

Su Fu rubbed her eyes. “Look at me, I overslept again.” Seeing Su Xinyao, she suddenly remembered they had agreed to get up early and go to town.

“Aunt, don’t blame yourself. We just got up too early,” Su Xinyao comforted her in her inarticulate way.

Su Fu felt touched.

When the mother and daughter came out, Xia Xian had already prepared breakfast. This made Su Fu feel even more guilty for sleeping too deeply and not helping.

Xia Xian smiled, “Sister, don’t be like this, we’re all family. Whoever cooks it’s the same. Soon, we need to use the horse cart to haul that big thing to the town to sell.”

Su Fu naturally caught her implied meaning and said, “Since we’re family, the horse cart belongs to the Su family. Use it freely, sister-in-law, don’t feel burdened.”

They both said “family” but still felt a little embarrassed inside.

In the whole village, only the Su family had a horse cart; others used ox carts. Compared on the road, the Su family looked much more impressive.

But the villagers knew well that no horse cart compared to all the years Su Fu had worked for the Ning family, suffering for years only to get a horse cart and end up called a forsaken woman.

Su Mingshan drove the cart in front, taking Zhu Lizheng and his son along.

“Mingshan really is great to hunt such a big catch. Selling it at the market will bring a lot of silver. With extra money, we can send Shanyu to private school. Even if he can’t pass the exams, he can make a living writing letters. At least it’s a foundation,” Zhu Lizheng said.

Su Mingshan replied while driving, “Yes, that’s what we plan. After selling the tiger cub, we’ll inquire about the private school.”

“If it works, then it’s settled.”

“It will work for sure. We’ll travel with Wazi for company and protection on the road.” Zhu Lizheng’s son also attends the private school in town.

As they talked, they arrived at Qinghe Town.