Chapter 67

Chapter 67: Don’t Go

Hu Qing was still stewing over Hu Nuan’s lack of drive, never imagining that Hu Nuan and the others were about to form cores—and jump straight to the peak in one go.

The Buddhist sect threw up a convenient excuse, calling it a “heaven-and-earth ageless art” trial. Shi Bai Zhou came to pick them up, and the kids couldn’t stand being cooped up any longer. They left for Changji Gate that very day.

Shi Bai Zhou was impatient to see Lin Shu. No one even needed to urge him. The little spirit boat streaked through the sky like a falling star.

“We want to go down and play!” Jin Xin protested, bouncing in place.

Surrounded by a group of friends turned into children, Shi Bai Zhou carried himself like a towering adult. He made a couple vague sounds—more humming than answering—and kept flying.

Jin Xin kicked him twice. Shi Bai Zhou only laughed and patted his head. “Be good. Once we get to Changji Gate, you can play as much as you want. I won’t stop you.”

He patted Jin Xin’s leg too, as if admiring it. “Tch. Such short legs.”

Lan Jiu clicked her tongue and nudged Xiao Ou. “His heart flew away ages ago. We turned into this and he didn’t even ask once.”

Leng Ruo gave a cold laugh. “Lin Shu did well, staying in seclusion. We should just go into seclusion with her. Three to five hundred years. Then we come out.”

Shi Bai Zhou smiled. “You wouldn’t last.”

Then Hu Nuan spoke up, very serious. “I’ve decided. I want Lin Shu to become small too.”

Shi Bai Zhou’s knees almost buckled. He squatted down in front of her, looking like he might actually beg. “Hu Nuan… brother is already suffering. Can you not make it harder?”

But Hu Nuan, with her childlike stubbornness in full force, said, “Big kids play with big kids. Little kids play with little kids. That’s the rule.”

Shi Bai Zhou looked around at all the eyes on him and swallowed his despair.

Sigh. The father-in-law was a mountain. The sister-in-law was one too.

At Changji Gate, Jun Bo came to meet them. The moment he saw a row of tiny radish heads, he froze so hard he forgot to greet anyone.

When he finally snapped out of it, his eyes lit up. “How did you do this? Let Lin Shu try too!”

The masters stared at him, speechless. You wanted your disciple to grow backward?

Jun Bo truly did.

Lin Shu was blood kin. He had raised her like a daughter. Now the Little Li Realm had become part of the Immortal Realm, and everyone was an immortal—what did it matter if a child took a thousand years to grow?

Shi Bai Zhou looked like he’d been struck by lightning. Only then did he remember to ask, “How did you end up like this? Other people can’t do it too, right?”

Jin Xin and the others only chuckled darkly.

Jun Bo led them toward his peak while talking. “Lin Shu has been in seclusion the whole time. I keep hoping she can break through to the Golden Core Stage in one shot.”

He frowned. “But these kids should have broken through long ago too. Don’t tell me turning small made their cultivation regress?”

“The breakthrough is close,” Lin Yin said. “They just can’t find the final trigger.”

“Then wait.” Jun Bo’s tone was firm. “Using pills to force it is never good.”

Lin Shu didn’t have many friends at Changji Gate. It was full of sword cultivators, and a sword cultivator’s best friend was a blade, not another person. Lin Shu had always been comfortable in her own world—until she met Hu Nuan. Two quiet souls, and somehow, they clicked instantly.

Jun Bo had been considering whether to call Lin Shu out of seclusion for a short break. If it wasn’t a critical point, relaxing might help her focus.

Of course, the “short break” would happen with everyone present. The annoying man could not be allowed to meet her alone.

Jun Bo’s eyes kept sliding toward Shi Bai Zhou, and Shi Bai Zhou kept imagining a hundred and eight ways a father-in-law could make his life miserable.

Jun Bo’s peak was different from the others. Plenty of peaks had beautiful scenery, but Jun Bo’s didn’t just look good—it smelled like fruit.

Planting helped wood spiritual roots, but most cultivators planted spirit herbs and medicinal plants, or at least spirit rice. Jun Bo planted melons and fruits and vegetables like he was running a farm.

Half the mountain was layered with plants—tall and short, thick and thin—arranged with strange artistry. Red fruit and green melons, yellow and purple and blue and white and black, glossy and heavy on branches or sprawling across the ground.

A Clearwind Formation kept air flowing through the woods, fresh and open. The scent of fruit lingered everywhere.

Shi Bai Zhou almost said the Shi family didn’t lack food, and if Lin Shu married him he could plant all this for her. But one look at Jun Bo’s perfected face shut his mouth.

The kids didn’t wait for an invitation. The moment they arrived, they burst forward with delighted shrieks—picking fruit, snapping melons right off the vines.

Qiao Yu and the others looked awkward.

Jun Bo, meanwhile, laughed loudly. “Pure and unpretentious. Innocent. Not a shred of pretense.”

He’d barely finished speaking when Hu Nuan lifted a curtain of vines to peer underneath, and Hu Hua Hua crawled halfway in, butt sticking out, staring intently into the shadows.

“Martial Uncle Jun Bo,” Hu Nuan asked, “why don’t you raise little rabbits here?”

Hu Hua Hua wriggled out. “No meat.”

They had just come from the Buddhist sect. Where was the meat?

Jun Bo smiled, about to answer, when something occurred to him. His gaze turned cool as it landed on Shi Bai Zhou.

Shi Bai Zhou’s heart dropped. Oh no. In the rush, did he forget to treat the guests properly? Would his father-in-law mark him down?

Then he remembered—his people wouldn’t forget.

He forced a warm smile and crouched to coax the kids. “Hua Hua, what kind of meat do you want? Is the food at my place not to your taste?”

Father-in-law, I swear I didn’t bully any children.

Hu Hua Hua licked his lips. “I want blood. Fresh blood.”

Silence slammed down.

Hu Nuan quietly lowered the vines, scanned the ground, chose a large watermelon, snapped it off, and chopped it cleanly with her palm. Bright red juice splashed out.

“Drink,” she said, solemn as a judge.

Hu Hua Hua stared at the watermelon halves, blinking. Sis, are you seriously doing this?

“Mom said you can’t eat raw things,” Hu Nuan added. “Blood has parasites.”

Hu Hua Hua looked at the watermelon again. “Isn’t watermelon raw too?”

Hu Nuan’s fist rose.

Hu Hua Hua immediately took half the watermelon and gnawed at it like a well-behaved puppy.

Hu Zhu Zhu bared his teeth, as if to say, See? Why did you have to argue?

Then the other half of the watermelon was shoved into his hands.

He looked down at it, expression blank. He didn’t like vegetables.

Hu Nuan wiped her hands. “Mom said little kids can’t be picky.”

Hu Zhu Zhu lowered his head and gnawed too.

Jun Bo couldn’t help glancing at Qiao Yu. “Mom said this, Mom said that… you as her master—”

Qiao Yu’s face was calm. “I’m used to it.”

Jun Bo laughed again, as if it amused him more than it should. “Hu Nuan really looks like an eldest sister. Good. Very good.”

His eyes moved to Xuan Yao and Tang Yu Zi. “Hu Qing didn’t come?”

“She’s busy,” Qiao Yu said.

He already knew some of it from speaking with Yu Liu Ya. “She’s going into seclusion soon.”

Jun Bo nodded. “Makes sense. Once Lin Shu breaks through, I’ll go into seclusion too. You all have the same plan, yes?”

With the Immortal Realm’s spiritual energy and order pouring in, a wave of breakthroughs was inevitable.

As he spoke, everyone suddenly sensed something. Heads snapped up.

Tribulation clouds were gathering overhead.

And the center of the gathering was right here.

Lin Shu was about to form her core.

Boom!

The sealed stone door of Lin Shu’s cave dwelling exploded outward. Lin Shu shot out like an arrow. The moment she saw the crowd, she recognized her master first and sprinted toward him.

“Master! I’m going to form a core—” Then she saw the tiny figures and froze. “Huh? Little Nuan? Why are you so small?”

The shock was so sharp it cut her thoughts clean in half. She stood there blankly, forgetting what she’d come out for.

Jun Bo’s mouth twitched as he pointed sharply at the sky. “Are you forming your core today or not?”

“Yes!” Lin Shu blurted. “Of course! I’ll form it, then I’m going out to play!”

The masters: Of course. Another one who never grew up.

Jun Bo stared up at the shifting clouds with real panic in his eyes. “Hey, hey—tribulation clouds, don’t go!”