Chapter 41
Chapter 41: brother and sister
Hu Qing made Hu Nuan promise she wouldn’t tell anyone about the bead and the poison—except Master Qiao Yu. Master Qiao Yu already knew Amethyst Jade Zhi’s identity.
Then Hu Qing jabbed a finger toward the frozen mess outside. “Now, pull all that ice spiritual power back in. Do you even know how to live frugally?”
Hu Nuan huffed and puffed a few times and sucked the ice spiritual power back into her dantian. The ground was left wet and slick, scattered with stones.
Hu Qing sighed. “We’ll have to pay for this.”
“I don’t think so,” Hu Nuan said brightly. “The grandmasters all like me. They said to treat it like my own home.”
Hu Qing stared at her, conflicted. What was so great about a monk’s “home”? And why was this kid proud of being adored by whoever tried to win her over?
She scooped Hu Nuan up and went to find the others. “I glanced earlier. Your brother doesn’t seem right either.”
Hu Nuan tugged at Hu Qing’s loose hair. “Mm-hm. Brother got younger too.”
Hu Qing felt a wave of despair. How did a three-year-old get younger? Fine. Two counted.
They arrived to find a neat row of little radish heads and tiny radish heads. Hu Hua Hua looked up very seriously and announced, “Actually, I should start over as a baby who drinks milk.”
“Absolutely not,” Hu Qing said at once. “Please spare me.”
She counted again, then frowned. “Why does it feel like we’re missing one?”
Hu Hua Hua quietly produced an egg—bright yellow swirled with deep purple.
Hu Qing’s head started throbbing. So this was what it looked like when someone got stuffed back into the womb.
Hu Cai Cai, who had only hatched after two million words, was back to being a whole egg again.
Someone shook Hu Qing’s hand eagerly. “See, Mom? With us like this, don’t you feel so much better?”
Hu Qing clutched her stomach in reflex. Don’t tell me you’re actually aiming to go back inside…
As if to show off even more, Hu Hua Hua pulled out the shrunken Wu Ling Man. Thank goodness it hadn’t turned into an egg too. Still, it was barely bigger than a grain of rice.
Hu Qing felt her soul leaving her body.
Right on cue, Shui Xin brought over a huge bowl of rice and a big plate of dishes. Hu Qing glanced at it and felt even worse. No meat in the Buddhist Sect was one thing, but why was everything green?
Was that supposed to be a message?
She waved the kids away like she was shooing flies. “Go play. I need to calm down.”
Jin Xin grinned, eyes bright with a child’s quick wit and clarity. “Aunt, when we come back later, we’ll talk again!”
Hu Qing forced a smile. “Go on. Have fun.”
The kids took off like the wind—big ones carrying small ones—and vanished into the layered woods behind the monks’ quarters.
Hu Qing watched for a moment, then snapped back to herself. “Right. Does Elder Tang Er know Tang Yu Zi got smaller?”
Hu Nuan and the other five looked five or six. Xuan Yao and Tang Yu Zi looked around four. Hu Hua Hua and Hu Zhu Zhu were two. Hu Cai Cai… was still an egg.
When Hu Nuan had been five for real, Hu Hua Hua had only just been born. Tang Yu Zi hadn’t existed yet. Xuan Yao had still only been a devil spirit. So this “rejuvenation” clearly wasn’t a simple rewind.
What had that divine tree used as a standard to decide their ages?
“Elder Tang Er and Elder Tang Da are at Heaven’s Grace,” Hu Nuan said. “You didn’t run into them? Once they heard Yu Zi was safe, they didn’t rush back.”
Hu Qing’s mind flicked to Yu Liu Ya’s words. Heaven’s Grace Continent was probably in trouble. But that was too big for her to meddle in.
She looked back at the kids and frowned. “Bodies shrinking is one thing. Why did their minds shrink too? What is this?”
No one had an answer. Little Li Realm’s inheritance was flimsy to begin with. They didn’t even have a single art that brushed up against time. How would they understand the mysteries of reversing it?
Besides, the kids were fine. Gaining decades of lifespan for free sounded like a blessing.
Hu Qing turned to Master Qiao Yu and said sincerely, “You’ve worked hard.”
Raising such a troublemaking disciple wasn’t easy. Master and mother sighed at the same time.
Master Qiao Yu also let out a breath. Good. Maybe he wouldn’t get torn apart by hand.
Hu Qing spun around, fury blazing. “You damned monk! What did I say? What did I say! I told you you weren’t allowed to bring Hu Nuan to the Buddhist Sect! Did you take my words as fart?”
Shui Xin started to protest. “Do you have to talk that harsh—”
He didn’t finish. A thunder dragon arm cracked with sparks, and Hu Qing lunged.
One chased. One fled.
Lightning struck from behind, electricity flashed ahead, and the sky lit up in chaotic bursts. The Buddhist Sect’s “pure land” turned into a storm of crackling thunder.
On the hillside, the four lords could only tilt their heads and watch.
Shuang Hua clicked her tongue and spoke with relief. “Good. Hu Qing has vented her anger.”
“As long as it’s not aimed at us,” someone muttered.
Shuang Hua waved at the dishes. “This is top-tier vegetarian food. Let’s eat.”
Shui Xin’s attempt to win Hu Qing over had been sincere, and this was the highest standard the Buddhist Sect could produce. Wasting it would be a shame.
Master Qiao Yu finally relaxed a fraction.
Lin Yin glanced at him, half-smiling. “You’re relaxing too early.”
Hu Nuan’s state-of-mind problem still wasn’t solved.
“I always planned to wait until she was older before digging for the root cause,” Master Qiao Yu said heavily. “Now…”
Now she’d grown back down again.
Di Yuan said, “Perfect. You and Hu Qing can sit down and talk strategy properly.”
Before, Hu Qing hadn’t taken it seriously. Everyone understood why—because all of them had clung to the same hope: maybe Hu Nuan would simply grow out of it. Now that hope was shattered. A crack in one’s state of mind didn’t heal just because time passed.
Di Yuan added, “Even something impossible like reversing time happened to them. Hu Nuan is blessed with great fortune.”
He’d been around monks too long. Even he was talking about “fortune” now.
In the main hall, monks were staring up at the sky with fascinated expressions, watching lightning burst in all directions like some strange performance.
And who was Shui Xin? Little Li Realm’s wildest monk. Back then, he had a small mess every three days and a big mess every five. The worst time, he’d pointed at Buddha’s statue and sworn—if Buddha fell and crushed him to death, he still wasn’t wrong.
Now look at him, getting chased until he ran like a headless chicken.
Old Monk asked Shui Cong quietly, “This is the Hu Qing you mentioned?”
Shui Cong nodded, smiling. “She’s very interesting.”
Old Monk’s wise eyes shone like fire. He squinted, stared, and finally sighed. “I can’t see through her.”
“Don’t mind those ‘brother and sister,’” Shui Cong said. “Let’s go check on Hu Nuan.”
They had sensed Hu Nuan’s loss of control the instant it happened, but they hadn’t shown themselves. Now that the mother and daughter had talked it out, they needed to see what was going on.
Old Monk glanced at the sky again, then back at Shui Cong. Shui Xin was hated by gods and ghosts alike. Any so-called “mortal trial” that found him was usually just his own bad luck. This time, though, he’d met someone he didn’t dare strike back against.
Interesting. Truly interesting.
Up in the storm, Shui Xin didn’t find it interesting at all. After one exchange, he realized in horror that Hu Qing’s strength had jumped by a huge margin.
He couldn’t beat her anymore.
So he worked himself to the bone raising a kid for her, and she quietly got stronger on her own? Was that something a person did?
He got caught. Hu Qing’s grin turned feral as Bai Wen shot out—white-gold metal bands lashing forward and clamping down, locking Shui Xin from head to toe.
Shui Xin screamed, “Bai Wen! Let go of me—”
Bai Wen ignored him. Not only did it not loosen, it lifted him even closer to Hu Qing, as if offering him up.
Hu Qing bared her teeth. “Run. Go on. Run again.”
Then she hammered him with iron-training fists, one blow after another, like a summer downpour.
Shui Xin’s howl echoed across the sky.
On the hillside below, Hu Little Nuan’s eyes sparkled.
“So this is what brother and sister are supposed to be like,” she whispered in awe.
Jin Xin, Xiao Ou, and Lan Jiu snapped back at once. “Absolutely not!”
Hu Hua Hua looked dead serious. “I’m only a brother, thanks. Really. Thank you.”