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Chapter 3: Born without Tears
The red-dressed beauty lightly opened his vermilion lips and blew into the jade flute. The sound of the flute was full of lingering affection, softly touching at hearts, as though inviting all the listeners to enter the red curtain and share in the beautiful scenery.
Song Qingshi’s mother was an internationally renowned pianist. Under her influence, music has become Song Qingshi’s only hobby outside of school. In the last days of Song Qingshi’s life, all his body functions had been lost but his consciousness had been exceptionally clear.
His mother invested heavily in installing top-notch audio equipment in his ward to play music nonstop. She also used her connections to ask top musicians in various fields to give him a small concert every day.
Music rescued him from the brink of despair and soothed his heart. During this special time, Song Qingshi became particularly sensitive to the emotions in music. He could hear the gentleness of the performer in the impassioned piano music and he could also find the hidden encouragement in the sad and sorrowful guzheng music…
Now, he actually heard the familiar struggle and despair in the lingering and passionate sound of the flute.
Song Qingshi finally raised his head, staring at the brilliant phoenix in a daze. He could no longer look away.
Jin Feiren found that a beauty had finally caught Song Qingshi’s interest and was overjoyed. “Song Xianzun is interested in this slave? His name is Yue Wuhuan, naturally seductive, a rare best quality single wood-type spiritual root. It makes him very resilient to being tossed about in bed. The more you torment him, the more unrestrained he becomes. There is no one who has tried him that hasn’t praised him. Would Xianzun like to have a taste?”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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Jin Feiren waved his hand and said, “You flatter me. Its with thirty hu of mermaid pearls that he has a good relationship with.”
Ling Bao Xianzun laughed, “If money could be used in this world to create friendships, my good friend would have the most friends in the world. Come, come, let me share a toast with my good friend and congratulate him on his wind and moon.”
Jin Feiren also laughed. He ordered the young man in his arms to fill a glass of wine and drink with Ling Bao Xianzun.
Ling Bao Xianzun had drunk quite a lot and was already tipsy. He leaned against the table and listened to the flute music. He sighed, “I remember when this beauty first entered your gates. He was unwilling to accompany guests even under the control of the Acacia Seal. It was quite enjoyable to have a taste of that. But now he has become so promiscuous. It has changed to a different special flavor. I can see that your methods are brilliant, my good friend.”
Jin Feiren shook his head: “It’s a pity that this beauty won’t cry no matter how much he is tossed about. He was born without tears and he’s a little less of a delight because of it.”
Song Qingshi heard a professional problem and couldn’t help answering, “Being born without tears may be indicative of a problem with the lacrimal secretion system.”
Jin Feiren was momentarily struck dumb. He had every intention of building a friendship with Song Qingshi but he couldn’t carry on a conversation about his medical obsessions. He had could only laugh awkwardly and switch the topic, “Don’t let this beauty’s debauchery fool you. Back then, in the mortal realm, he too was an honorable and high-ranking prince. When he was eight years old, Xie Que discovered that he had excellent aptitude when he was looking for beauties in the mortal world. He showed his supernatural powers and presented the emperor with a pill for prolonging life. He praised his son as having spiritual roots and wanted to accept him as a disciple. The old emperor was so overjoyed that he happily handed his son to the immortal elder. That Xie Que is also very ingenious. He does seriously accept mortals with spiritual roots as disciples and coaxes them to trust him. He then tricks them into voluntarily signing the spiritual contract into slavery. He teaches them superficial cultivation methods and when their appearance reaches its peak, he brands them with the Acacia Seal, keeping them always at their most suitable time for picking. He then sells them off to the brothels to serve on their beds.”
“Although everyone knows that he is taking advantage of the loopholes, they all turn a blind eye to it and acquiesced to this method of trafficking in slaves. ”
The Yanshou pill can only be taken once to extend one’s life to 100 years.
Cultivators who’ve reached the Foundation Building stage can live up to at least three hundred years. They had no use for this trifling plaything. Most of these were bought to be used by mortal servants. The price was very cheap, worth only two of the lowest-grade spirit stones. Such huge profits have continuously sustained cultivators who trafficked in slaves. But none of them could raise slaves as well was Xie Que.
Song Qingshi was surprised to find in his memory that the original body had encountered Xie Que before..
That spring, the original body was doing a closed-door study on a new method to create pills when Xie Que came to seek medical treatment for a comatose child. The child was a mortal, about eleven or twelve years old, with a rarely seen pure yang constitution and a wood-type spiritual root. Moreover, he had already reached the third rank. He had exceptional talent and was even better than some of the wastes descended from some of the immortal families. Xie Que said that it was his new disciple, who he had recruited more than three years ago. When he went to the mountains to practice, he was bitten by a Devil Mask Snake. Devil Mask Snakes were not extremely poisonous, but they will dye the poisoned person’s face in all sorts of color, akin to having them wear a comic mask.
The original body originally did not treat mortals. But Xie Que was crying and begging, saying that this was his most important disciple and that he was willing to pay a high price to save him. The original body was in a good mood at the time and he was vexed by all his crying. Moreover, it was easy to detoxify the poison of the Devil Mask Snake. And so, he finally relented. He ordered a servant to give him two detoxification pills and forbade him from crying again.
Xie Que stayed by his disciple’s bed and took care of him for three whole days. His disciple woke up from the coma, there was no longer any serious hindrance to his health but it took time for the marks on his face to fade away. Xie Que was still worried, afraid that there was still some lingering poison and so they stayed at the Medicine King’s Valley for half a month and waited until the disciple’s face completely recovered.
During that period, the peach blossoms in the medicine garden bloomed like a red brocade over the sky. When the original body encounter a problem refining medicine, he often sat on a high place and looked at the peach blossom to think. Every time, the original body would see a small figure under the peach blossoms practicing swordsmanship. He practiced in the morning, noon, and evening, as if it had turned to living in symbiosis with the peach blossoms.
Mortals who embark on the path of cultivation were like fish leaping over a dragon gate. There were innumerable hazards and hardships and very few make it through.
Xie Que was always by his side, with a worried expression on his face. If he wasn’t worrying that the sword would slip out of his hand, then he was worrying that he might exhaust himself and harm his body. The two quarreled several times because of this. On a whim, the original body sent out a mental probe to investigate. He heard the child say to Xie Que: “Shifu, although mortals are not as good as immortals, my father has taught me that the Heavens rewards the diligent and that diligence cures clumsiness. So I have to redouble my efforts and never waste time.”
“What you said makes sense,” Xie Que conceded with a bitter face and tried to persuade him, “Your injury is still not healed, I’m afraid you would hurt your body. And… why must you practice swords? My Yanshan Sect follows the Way of Music. Would it be better for you to learn to play the flute or the guqin or something?”
“The Way of Music that master taught me is very good,” the child scratched his head embarrassedly, “but I like swords. I want to be like Mo Yuan Jianzun. Shifu, don’t worry, I know all the songs you taught me. I’ve practiced them so that I’m even better than the senior brothers and sisters. It definitely won’t get in the way of my practice.”
Xie Que has no choice but to say: “I will find you the right ice silk gloves later. You must wear them when you practice swords. At night, you must soak your hands in lotion to soften your hands. There must be no calluses so as not to affect your subsequent practices…”
The child cheered and was in high spirits. “Shifu, you are so kind.”
“Don’t get hurt,” Xie Que knocked lightly on his forehead and grumbled, “You naughty little demon. You’ve given your master a really bad scare. From now on, you will stay within the sect to practice and you are no longer allowed to go to the back mountains to play. You’re also not allowed to practice without rest like this or else you’ll ruin your eyes.”
The child agreed to each of his rules.
Xie Que leaned over, rubbed his head lightly, and sighed, “You don’t know how much Shifu values you…”
“I know,” the child raised his head and said earnestly: “I know that the immortal realm looks down on mortals cultivating and even looks down on Shifu who only accepts mortals as disciples. I don’t want cause shame to Shifu, so I must cultivate a Golden Core to prove to everyone that Shifu’s vision was right!”
Xie Que looked at his face quietly, his eyes dark and gloomy and difficult to recognize.
The child pulled at Xie Que’s sleeves, turned his eyes away and said embarrassedly, “Wuhuan likes Shifu the most!”
Xie Que stretched out his fingertips and stroked the child’s face that was dyed with all sorts of colors. He looked carefully, and finally stopped reluctantly on the small red mole under his left eye. The mole was dazzlingly beautiful. He was silent for a long time and then showed a very kind smile. “Shifu also likes you the most.”