When the morning bell rang for the second time, Chu Xuan slipped in at the time of the bell. The people in front of the stove had wound their way to the door, and he felt a bit of his missing earthenware bowl in his hand and cut in line with a sense of security - there was a half-step gap in front of him, and he slipped sideways.
"Hey, kid of the mortal world, do you understand the rules?" Someone grumbled discontentedly.
Chu Xuan turned back, grinning with sharp teeth and a sharp tongue: "Rules? Which one is senior brother referring to? I have a good understanding of the laws of the Qingyun Sect, but I have not seen 'the earthenware bowl with a notch must be ranked last'."
The crowd burst into laughter. The young man blushed and mumbled a few words before turning his head away. Chu Xuan moved forward with a clear conscience, but in his mind he was thinking about another thing: the silver thread that had seeped out of the remnant line on the back mountain had quietly grown a section last night, like spring grass, silently taking root deep into the meridians. He had to find a more secure place to let the "grass" see the sunlight.
The "Jilingtai" where the disciples of the Outer Gate of the dining hall gather is the only natural spiritual vein node of the outer gate. The size of a palm, twenty cushions in a circle, first come first served. Chu Xuan arrived early and picked up a corner spot. As soon as he sat down, Zhao Tianlei's voice came from behind: "Oh, even a lowly spirit deserves to occupy the spirit eye? Get out of the way."
The voice was not loud, but it was enough to make the disciples nearby all look sideways. Zhao Tianlei changed into a moon-white tight-fitting outfit today. The golden thread at the cuffs was so dazzling that it made people dizzy. He hung a small bronze plaque that read "Supervisor of Duty" at his waist and walked with a jingling sound. Two dog legs followed behind him, one holding a sword and the other a cup of tea, more imposing than the inner gate.
Chu Xuan did not move, but raised his eyes and smiled: "Senior Brother Zhao, did the spirit eye write your name?"
Zhao Tianlei closed his fan with a "pop", and the fan ribs struck his palm, making a crisp sound: "I didn't write it, but my father said the outer gate spirit vein is under my control. Shall you roll yourself or shall I ask you to roll?"
Before he could finish his words, he lifted his toe, and a spiritual force hit Chu Xuan's knee along the ground. It was the spiritual pressure of the seventh level of qi cultivation. A lowly spirit would have to kneel at the very least. Chu Xuan, however, felt as if he had been scratched by a blade of grass, not even shaking his knees. The silver thread from last night was now quietly entwined around his calf, and when the external spiritual force touched it, it was instantly torn into several wisps of smoke and swallowed.
Zhao narrowed his eyes and looked straight at the poor boy for the first time. Chu Xuan still laughed, his teeth itchy: "Senior Brother is regulating the spiritual veins, not the knees. I'm sitting here and it doesn't affect your inhalation."
A low sneer was heard around, and someone couldn't hold it in and giggled. Zhao Tianlei, unable to hold back his pride, pointed his fan at Chu Xuan's nose: "Well, after three breaths, if you can sit still, I'll count as your ability!"
One breath. Zhao Tianlei's palm gave rise to a pale green spiritual wind, carrying dust and sand, and rushed straight to Chu Xuan's face. Two breaths. The spirit winds into tiny blades, cutting the air hissing. Before three breaths, Chu Xuan suddenly raised his hand, his sleeve trembled slightly, and a strand of silver thread thinner than a hair crept out, pressed against the ground, and swam to Zhao Tianlei's feet like a snake, and touched gently.
Click - a faint crack, audible only to Zhao Tianlei himself. The nodes of the spiritual veins on the soles of his feet, like bubbles punctured by a silver needle, "sipped" out half of the spiritual energy. The wind blade lost its support and scattered halfway, turning into a harmless little cool breeze that only lifted a few strands of hair on Chu Xuan's forehead.
"Three breaths have arrived." " Chu Xuan kindly reminded, his voice not loud enough for the disciples around to hear clearly. Some couldn't help laughing out loud and quickly covered their mouths. Zhao Tianlei's face turned pale and blue, and the fan was almost crushed: "What underhanded trick did you use?"
Chu Xuan spread his hands, looking innocent: "Senior brother, I don't even have a spirit root of the lowest rank. How could I have a trick?"
Zhao Tianlei did not believe it, but the spirit energy was still leaking out from the soles of his feet, like a boat with a leaky bottom. He didn't dare to waste any more, for fear of making a fool of himself in public, snorted and waved his sleeve: "All right, you sit down! I hope you can sit still!" As he turned, he lowered his voice, which only Chu Xuan could hear. "In three days' service assessment, I ordered you to get out of the Qingyun Sect with your bowl."
Chu Xuan watched the three of them go away, lowered his head and patted his knee, silvery quietly pulled back into his sleeve and turned contentedly. He looked up, met the astonished and admiring glances around him, and grinned: "Senior brothers, the morning class is about to begin. Reserve your seats early."
The crowd was in an uproar, and the disciples who had been watching the spectacle were scrambling for seats, fearing that they would be the next to be targeted. Chu Xuan sat down again, closed his eyes, and his silvery strands wandered through his meridians like a cat stealing its full meal, lazily licking its PAWS. He could sense that the half of the spiritual energy flowing from the nodes of the spiritual vein was being rolled back to the dantian bit by bit by the silver thread, at a speed three minutes faster than last night.
"Dao Qi..." He murmured in his mind, his tongue touching the upper palate and making a soft sound like holding an unexploded thunderbolt, "Grow faster, there will be a big show in three days."
In the afternoon, the sun was as scorching as an alchemy furnace. At the back of the Bingzi Courtyard, Chu Xuan, bare-chested, splashed the last bucket of stream water on the rock face. With a "sizzle", the water turned into white mist. In the cracks of the rock wall, the silver thread, as if summoned, suddenly retracted into his palm - in the night it had doubled in thickness, swaying in the dantian like a well-fed silkworm.
"It's done." Chu Xuan wiped the sweat off his face, the corners of his mouth curled up so much that he could hang an oil bottle. The back mountain, which he had dug out, was left with nothing but an empty shell. If he sucked it in again, it would collapse. He dressed himself and kicked the cracked rocks into the grass to destroy the corpses and cover up the traces.
Just as he turned around, the grass rustled and a round face emerged - Lin Hao, a round face young man of the same batch of the sect, of the fourth rank of miscellaneous spirits, two ranks higher than Chu Xuan, but as cowardly as a quail.
"Brother Chu, you've figured it out!" Lin Hao wiped his sweat and lowered his voice, "Zhao Tianlei has given the order. In three days' service assessment, you'll be sent to the 'Lingyao Garden' as a laborer, specifically picking the most poisonous dragontooth grass! That thing gets blisters when it touches the skin, and he's going to kill you!"
"Oh," Chu Xuan said, laughing his teeth out: "Dragon tooth grass? It's fine. I'm lacking it."
Lin Hao rubbed his hands in a hurry: "Don't force yourself. His father is a powerful elder of the outer sect, and with just one word, he can make you go all out! Or... Are you going to apologize? It's better to back down than to be kicked out."
Chu Xuan put his arm around his shoulder and spoke in a light tone: "Senior Brother Lin, we come from the mortal world. Our knees are not worth much, but our spines are worth it. An apology is useful, but what's the point of fists? Rest assured, I know."
Seeing that he was unyielding, Lin Hao could only sigh. The two walked back side by side. The sunlight stretched their shadows long, like two bamboo poles that refused to bend.
...
Three days later, before the morning bell rang, the elixir garden was already shrouded in mist. The dragon tooth grass was a foot tall, its leaf margins serrated like knives, giving off a deep blue poisonous glow. Zhao Tianlei stood on the ridge of the field with his arms crossed, followed by a dog leg holding a sword and a cup of tea. The scene was even more grand than last time.
"Brother Chu, today it's not about eloquence, but about skill." He pointed to the most poisonous piece of dragontooth grass, "in an hour, cut three baskets. If one plant is missing, you will be considered slack and expelled from the sect."
The disciples around whispered and looked at Chu Xuan with pity - three baskets of dragontooth grass, venom splashed on the skin, at least for half a month. Zhao Tianlei, this is a blatant death.
Chu Xuan, however, stepped into the field and rolled up his sleeves, revealing his arms wrapped in strips. He bent down, held the grass in his left hand and the sickle in his right, and with a flash of light, "snap" a dragon tooth grass was cut at the root. The venom splatters, but within an inch of his skin, it is bounced away by an invisible film - silver threads move stealthily beneath the skin, weaving a fine web, and the venom, upon contact, breaks down and turns into wisps of spiritual energy, which penetrates the arm into the meridians.
"One plant." Chu Xuan counted softly, not high enough for his disciples who were watching on the ridge to hear clearly. The second, the third... The flashes of the blades formed a patch, and the venom splashed like blue rain, but not a drop landed on his skin. Zhao Tianlei's smile froze - the young man was cutting grass faster than the old gardener, and there was even a pleasant smile on his face as if he were not cutting poisonous grass but picking cabbages from his own garden.
In half an hour, the first basket was full. Chu Xuan looked up and shook the wicker basket at Zhao Tianlei: "Senior brother, the basket is too small. Can it be replaced with a larger one?"
Low laughter rang out from all around. Zhao Tianlei's face turned ashen and he waved his fan: "Change to the biggest one!"
Dog Leg hurriedly carried a basket taller than a man. Chu Xuan said thanks and continued to bend down. The blade shone like a silver dragon, and wherever it passed, the dragon tooth grass broke at the root, and the poison was swallowed silently by the silver thread. In his dantian, the little snake was fat to the size of a thumb, rolling around in comfort. With each mouthful of poisonous spirit energy, it spat out a wisp of more refined spirit energy, traveling along the meridians, and passing through the acupoints, it felt slightly hot.
Before an hour had passed, the three baskets were full. Chu Xuan put away his knife, and the cloth was spotless, not even a speck of poison splashed on it. He bowed to Zhao Tianlei and said, "Senior brother, the mission is completed. Are you satisfied?"
Zhao Tianlei's lips turned purple and he was about to speak when Chu Xuan bent down and grabbed a dragon tooth grass, flicked the leaf lightly with his fingertips, and the poison "sneaked" turned into a wisp of blue smoke, which was sucked up by the belly of his finger. The leaves turned yellow in an instant, as if they had been drained of life.
"Poisonous grass nourishes the body, thank you, senior brother, for your reward." Chu Xuan laughed until his teeth turned white and his voice was so low that only Zhao Tianlei could hear him. "Next time there's such a good thing, remember to come to me again."
Zhao Tianlei's pupils constricted, and a chill climbed up to the top of his feet - this kid wasn't mowing grass at all, he was devouring! Just as he was about to shout, Chu Xuan turned and walked out of the ridge of the field. His back was stretched long by the sunlight, like a knife that had just drunk blood, its edge could not be concealed.
The disciples around automatically made way, their gaze changing from pity to shock and then to awe. Lin Hao jumped very high in the crowd, his round face flushed: "Brother Chu is mighty!"
Zhao Tianlei stood there, his fists clenched, but he dared not chase - in full view of the crowd, if he did it again, it would be a blatant violation of the sect's rules. He could only grit his teeth and swallow his hatred, turning into a cold growl: "Chu Xuan, don't be too smug too early! The duty assessment is not over yet. Let's see!"
Chu Xuan did not stop his steps. With his back to him, he waved his hand, his voice softened by the wind: "Take care, senior brother. No seeing off. Next time you want to play, try something new."
The setting sun slanted, and the mist in the elixir garden rose, like a lingering war. Chu Xuan walked back in the afterglow, the silver thread in his dantian rolled lazily as if to say: Three days later? Another thirty days, I'll keep you company.