Chapter 49: Trading Lives
In the courtyard of Huaxi Valley,
Jiang Yuebai was in a state of panic and confusion, wanting to help but forcefully pushed away by Tao Fengnian.
"Go out!"
Tao Fengnian roared, but Jiang Yuebai refused to leave.
With a quick thought, Jiang Yuebai took out the healing medicine that Mo Baichun had given her the last time, the one Tao Fengnian had insisted she carry for protection.
Trembling hands poured out the remaining three pills, and she offered them to Tao Fengnian.
Tao Fengnian, in unbearable pain, took the opportunity to grab the pills and swallowed them in one gulp.
After a moment, the poison began to recede on its own, and Tao Fengnian, drenched in sweat, took a deep breath.
"Grandpa, thankfully Jingshan helped me buy the longevity pill. Take it quickly, and you'll be fine."
With teary eyes, Jiang Yuebai handed the pill bottle to Tao Fengnian, who didn't take it. Instead, he looked at the bottle in her hands and burst into laughter.
"Haha, hahaha..."
Laughing until tears flowed, he wept at the table, crying bloody tears, his heart torn apart.
"It's all fate, all my fate, Tao Fengnian's fate!"
He had schemed for years to obtain the longevity pill, and Jiang Yuebai effortlessly got it in just two months.
It was absurd!
"Grandpa?"
Smack!
Tao Fengnian slapped the medicine bottle out of Jiang Yuebai's hand, glaring at her.
"Get out! Get out of here!"
Jiang Yuebai shivered, bewildered.
Tao Fengnian looked like a madman, with disheveled white hair and bloodshot eyes.
"It's all because of you! If you hadn't pushed me to fight for survival, would I have taken the risk of swallowing that venom?"
"Grandpa?!"
"The mother flower has withered, the poison is incurable. What use is the longevity pill now? I'm still going to die!"
Jiang Yuebai staggered back, checking the shattered flowerpot, her eyes blurred with tears. She wiped her eyes continuously.
"The flower isn't dead yet, Grandpa. Don't worry. I'll definitely save it. Don't give up. I've got the longevity pill. We can overcome this difficulty."
"It's all because of you, your fault! Get out, I don't want to see you, go away!" Tao Fengnian roared and waved his hands.
Jiang Yuebai felt aggrieved, clenched her fists, stood up, and shouted, "Blaming me and chasing me away won't help. If you don't want to die, fight to live!"
"I've been fighting all the time, enduring the agony of burning flames every day. Have I not fought enough? The heavens have never pitied me, only repeatedly casting me into the abyss without hope of recovery!"
"If you had started fighting from the moment you stepped on the immortal path, how could you end up like this!" Jiang Yuebai angrily exclaimed.
Many words lingered on Jiang Yuebai's tongue, but because Tao Fengnian was her elder and the person she respected the most, she held back.
Tao Fengnian's chest heaved intensely, staring at Jiang Yuebai without blinking.
Suppressing her emotions, Jiang Yuebai spoke slowly, "Grandpa taught me to be educated and virtuous, and I've engraved every word in my heart. But have you lived up to the principles you taught me?"
"You clearly have lofty aspirations, but you always act like a king in the mud. You fought to become a Spirit Farming Master among thousands of people, so why can't you even get a simple longevity pill? Thirty thousand contribution points, three thousand D-rank tasks, just sweeping and delivering letters, one per day. In ten years, you should have accumulated enough, right?"
"But you? Forty years of cultivation, what have you done in those forty years?! Look at other Spirit Farming Masters. Who, like you, stays in the valley all day, only cultivating a meager twenty acres of spirit fields?"
"If you were willing to strive, plant hundreds of acres of seventh-grade spirit herbs, and make friends with a few alchemy elders, someone would be willing to help you. If you do nothing, even the heavens can't save you! Where did the spirit you had when you became a Spirit Farming Master go?"
Tao Fengnian's mind buzzed, Jiang Yuebai's words piercing straight to his heart.
Thinking back to the past, when he received the Spirit Farming Master token, the elders of the sect were eager to offer him guidance. He was once full of enthusiasm, wanting to make a big impact, looking forward to reaching the Nascent Soul stage and wandering the world.
When did he become the timid, lethargic person he was today?
Jiang Yuebai wiped away her tears. "Yelling at me now won't help. If you have the ability, fight for your destiny! Don't use other excuses to justify your weakness and incompetence!"
After saying this, Jiang Yuebai took the Burning Heart Mother Flower and left.
Tao Fengnian reached out to stop her, but couldn't utter a word. He could only see the longevity pill bottle lying quietly in the corner, within reach yet out of grasp.
In the woods behind Huaxi Valley, the rain drizzled.
Jiang Yuebai, covered in mud, sat on the ground. She took the best spirit soil from the spirit field, wrapped the Burning Heart Mother Flower, and a green light spread from her fingertips, infusing into the flower.
"Why is it not working?"
Anxious, Jiang Yuebai repeated the process until the spiritual energy was depleted, but the leaves of the Burning Heart Mother Flower remained lifeless, showing no signs of vitality.
She used spirit stones to recover, surveyed the surrounding trees, and directly plundered the essence of the trees, turning it into spirit orbs to feed the Burning Heart Mother Flower.
"No use, still no use. What should I do?"
Her face, whether from rain or tears, couldn't be wiped clean. Jiang Yuebai, in a panic, trembled at her fingertips. The surrounding trees, drained by her, withered and died, a dead silence lingering.
After much contemplation, Jiang Yuebai's eyes hardened. She abruptly initiated a technique on herself.
A sense of emptiness engulfed her, and she held her breath, maintaining the technique. The color drained from her face as her own essence and blood turned into crimson beads in her palm.
When the technique was released, she breathed a sigh of relief, injecting the essence and blood beads into the Burning Heart Mother Flower.
The withered leaves finally showed signs of revival, and Jiang Yuebai cried tears of joy.
"It worked! Finally, it worked."
Without hesitation, she performed the technique again.
A small green figure emerged from her sea of consciousness, rushing towards Jiang Yuebai.
"Get away, don't bother me!"
Jiang Yuebai sternly drove away the small green figure, ignoring it and continuing to draw her own essence and blood.
Beside her, the small green figure flickered with phosphorescence, seeming angry and anxious. Eventually, it helplessly returned to Jiang Yuebai's sea of consciousness, emitting a bright silver light to stabilize her soul.
"Jiang Yuebai, what are you doing!!"
Suddenly, Lü Ying appeared and forcefully pushed her away.
Looking at the Burning Heart Mother Flower on the ground, then at Jiang Yuebai, Lü Ying said angrily, "Have you gone mad? For the sake of a flower, you're drawing your own essence and blood. Do you know that this consumes your lifespan?"
Overwhelmed by concern, Jiang Yuebai collapsed for a moment, crying helplessly.
"This is not just a flower; it's my grandpa's life. I have to save it. I have to save my grandpa's life. What should I do? I have to save my grandpa's life..."
The sky was gloomy, the cold air penetrating. The fine rain was like needles, piercing bone-deep.
Helpless, unable to express the desolation...
At that moment, the heavens and earth were shrouded in darkness, dim and lightless.
Tao Fengnian, exhausted, returned from outside, sitting by the stone table in the courtyard, silently wiping his lock-scythe.
Jia Wei, invited over, casually strolled into the small courtyard.
"Tao Fengnian, what brings you to find me?"
Tao Fengnian didn't lift his eyes, placing the storage bag by his side, methodically wiping away the stains on the lock-scythe.
"Offending Lin Xiangtian in my early years, I should have known that I couldn't escape death. I shouldn't have clung to the illusion of surviving. I thought that with my extensive knowledge, understanding, and insight, I was superior to a mere girl. In the end, she sees things more clearly than I do."
Jia Wei, with an arrogant demeanor, looked at the storage bag with burning eyes and sneered, "You understand it now, albeit a bit late."
"Death frightens me, but facing death, I fear even more that the girl will look down on me. If she's going to call me grandpa, I should at least have some dignity. Before I die, I should plan a bit for her."
Jia Wei stared at the storage bag and said, "It's time to plan for her. Otherwise, when you're gone, and she blossoms into a charming young lady in a couple of years, she's bound to be bullied by others."
"But unlike Lin Xiangtian, I have no personal grudge against you. If you give me all your belongings, I'll ensure her safety. Otherwise... hehe..."
Tao Fengnian put down the cloth, "This lock-scythe is the best eighth-grade artifact on me. If you want it, take it, as long as... you can survive!"
As the words fell, a grand formation emerged.
Lock-scythe out, vicious dogs cry!
Jiang Yuebai was in a state of panic and confusion, wanting to help but forcefully pushed away by Tao Fengnian.
"Go out!"
Tao Fengnian roared, but Jiang Yuebai refused to leave.
With a quick thought, Jiang Yuebai took out the healing medicine that Mo Baichun had given her the last time, the one Tao Fengnian had insisted she carry for protection.
Trembling hands poured out the remaining three pills, and she offered them to Tao Fengnian.
Tao Fengnian, in unbearable pain, took the opportunity to grab the pills and swallowed them in one gulp.
After a moment, the poison began to recede on its own, and Tao Fengnian, drenched in sweat, took a deep breath.
"Grandpa, thankfully Jingshan helped me buy the longevity pill. Take it quickly, and you'll be fine."
With teary eyes, Jiang Yuebai handed the pill bottle to Tao Fengnian, who didn't take it. Instead, he looked at the bottle in her hands and burst into laughter.
"Haha, hahaha..."
Laughing until tears flowed, he wept at the table, crying bloody tears, his heart torn apart.
"It's all fate, all my fate, Tao Fengnian's fate!"
He had schemed for years to obtain the longevity pill, and Jiang Yuebai effortlessly got it in just two months.
It was absurd!
"Grandpa?"
Smack!
Tao Fengnian slapped the medicine bottle out of Jiang Yuebai's hand, glaring at her.
"Get out! Get out of here!"
Jiang Yuebai shivered, bewildered.
Tao Fengnian looked like a madman, with disheveled white hair and bloodshot eyes.
"It's all because of you! If you hadn't pushed me to fight for survival, would I have taken the risk of swallowing that venom?"
"Grandpa?!"
"The mother flower has withered, the poison is incurable. What use is the longevity pill now? I'm still going to die!"
Jiang Yuebai staggered back, checking the shattered flowerpot, her eyes blurred with tears. She wiped her eyes continuously.
"The flower isn't dead yet, Grandpa. Don't worry. I'll definitely save it. Don't give up. I've got the longevity pill. We can overcome this difficulty."
"It's all because of you, your fault! Get out, I don't want to see you, go away!" Tao Fengnian roared and waved his hands.
Jiang Yuebai felt aggrieved, clenched her fists, stood up, and shouted, "Blaming me and chasing me away won't help. If you don't want to die, fight to live!"
"I've been fighting all the time, enduring the agony of burning flames every day. Have I not fought enough? The heavens have never pitied me, only repeatedly casting me into the abyss without hope of recovery!"
"If you had started fighting from the moment you stepped on the immortal path, how could you end up like this!" Jiang Yuebai angrily exclaimed.
Many words lingered on Jiang Yuebai's tongue, but because Tao Fengnian was her elder and the person she respected the most, she held back.
Tao Fengnian's chest heaved intensely, staring at Jiang Yuebai without blinking.
Suppressing her emotions, Jiang Yuebai spoke slowly, "Grandpa taught me to be educated and virtuous, and I've engraved every word in my heart. But have you lived up to the principles you taught me?"
"You clearly have lofty aspirations, but you always act like a king in the mud. You fought to become a Spirit Farming Master among thousands of people, so why can't you even get a simple longevity pill? Thirty thousand contribution points, three thousand D-rank tasks, just sweeping and delivering letters, one per day. In ten years, you should have accumulated enough, right?"
"But you? Forty years of cultivation, what have you done in those forty years?! Look at other Spirit Farming Masters. Who, like you, stays in the valley all day, only cultivating a meager twenty acres of spirit fields?"
"If you were willing to strive, plant hundreds of acres of seventh-grade spirit herbs, and make friends with a few alchemy elders, someone would be willing to help you. If you do nothing, even the heavens can't save you! Where did the spirit you had when you became a Spirit Farming Master go?"
Tao Fengnian's mind buzzed, Jiang Yuebai's words piercing straight to his heart.
Thinking back to the past, when he received the Spirit Farming Master token, the elders of the sect were eager to offer him guidance. He was once full of enthusiasm, wanting to make a big impact, looking forward to reaching the Nascent Soul stage and wandering the world.
When did he become the timid, lethargic person he was today?
Jiang Yuebai wiped away her tears. "Yelling at me now won't help. If you have the ability, fight for your destiny! Don't use other excuses to justify your weakness and incompetence!"
After saying this, Jiang Yuebai took the Burning Heart Mother Flower and left.
Tao Fengnian reached out to stop her, but couldn't utter a word. He could only see the longevity pill bottle lying quietly in the corner, within reach yet out of grasp.
In the woods behind Huaxi Valley, the rain drizzled.
Jiang Yuebai, covered in mud, sat on the ground. She took the best spirit soil from the spirit field, wrapped the Burning Heart Mother Flower, and a green light spread from her fingertips, infusing into the flower.
"Why is it not working?"
Anxious, Jiang Yuebai repeated the process until the spiritual energy was depleted, but the leaves of the Burning Heart Mother Flower remained lifeless, showing no signs of vitality.
She used spirit stones to recover, surveyed the surrounding trees, and directly plundered the essence of the trees, turning it into spirit orbs to feed the Burning Heart Mother Flower.
"No use, still no use. What should I do?"
Her face, whether from rain or tears, couldn't be wiped clean. Jiang Yuebai, in a panic, trembled at her fingertips. The surrounding trees, drained by her, withered and died, a dead silence lingering.
After much contemplation, Jiang Yuebai's eyes hardened. She abruptly initiated a technique on herself.
A sense of emptiness engulfed her, and she held her breath, maintaining the technique. The color drained from her face as her own essence and blood turned into crimson beads in her palm.
When the technique was released, she breathed a sigh of relief, injecting the essence and blood beads into the Burning Heart Mother Flower.
The withered leaves finally showed signs of revival, and Jiang Yuebai cried tears of joy.
"It worked! Finally, it worked."
Without hesitation, she performed the technique again.
A small green figure emerged from her sea of consciousness, rushing towards Jiang Yuebai.
"Get away, don't bother me!"
Jiang Yuebai sternly drove away the small green figure, ignoring it and continuing to draw her own essence and blood.
Beside her, the small green figure flickered with phosphorescence, seeming angry and anxious. Eventually, it helplessly returned to Jiang Yuebai's sea of consciousness, emitting a bright silver light to stabilize her soul.
"Jiang Yuebai, what are you doing!!"
Suddenly, Lü Ying appeared and forcefully pushed her away.
Looking at the Burning Heart Mother Flower on the ground, then at Jiang Yuebai, Lü Ying said angrily, "Have you gone mad? For the sake of a flower, you're drawing your own essence and blood. Do you know that this consumes your lifespan?"
Overwhelmed by concern, Jiang Yuebai collapsed for a moment, crying helplessly.
"This is not just a flower; it's my grandpa's life. I have to save it. I have to save my grandpa's life. What should I do? I have to save my grandpa's life..."
The sky was gloomy, the cold air penetrating. The fine rain was like needles, piercing bone-deep.
Helpless, unable to express the desolation...
At that moment, the heavens and earth were shrouded in darkness, dim and lightless.
Tao Fengnian, exhausted, returned from outside, sitting by the stone table in the courtyard, silently wiping his lock-scythe.
Jia Wei, invited over, casually strolled into the small courtyard.
"Tao Fengnian, what brings you to find me?"
Tao Fengnian didn't lift his eyes, placing the storage bag by his side, methodically wiping away the stains on the lock-scythe.
"Offending Lin Xiangtian in my early years, I should have known that I couldn't escape death. I shouldn't have clung to the illusion of surviving. I thought that with my extensive knowledge, understanding, and insight, I was superior to a mere girl. In the end, she sees things more clearly than I do."
Jia Wei, with an arrogant demeanor, looked at the storage bag with burning eyes and sneered, "You understand it now, albeit a bit late."
"Death frightens me, but facing death, I fear even more that the girl will look down on me. If she's going to call me grandpa, I should at least have some dignity. Before I die, I should plan a bit for her."
Jia Wei stared at the storage bag and said, "It's time to plan for her. Otherwise, when you're gone, and she blossoms into a charming young lady in a couple of years, she's bound to be bullied by others."
"But unlike Lin Xiangtian, I have no personal grudge against you. If you give me all your belongings, I'll ensure her safety. Otherwise... hehe..."
Tao Fengnian put down the cloth, "This lock-scythe is the best eighth-grade artifact on me. If you want it, take it, as long as... you can survive!"
As the words fell, a grand formation emerged.
Lock-scythe out, vicious dogs cry!
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