Chapter 39: True Friendship Forged in Hardship

Gu Xiaoyun’s follower hurried to catch up. “Senior Brother, what are you going to do to that Qin fellow now?”

“Do to him? Do what?” Gu Xiaoyun cursed under his breath. “Didn’t you see the Purple Seed with him? We’ll have to think about this in the long run. See if there’s an opening with the other two Purple Seeds…”

“But what you said to Junior Brother Zhang Yang just now…”

“Heh… does Zhang Yang really think I’m that stupid? That I’d go looking for trouble with Qin Haoxuan just because of a few words from him? That’s a guy with a Purple Seed backing him! If I hadn’t acted angry at Qin Haoxuan, wouldn’t he have just found another chance to provoke me? Haven’t I lost enough face already? By pretending to be mad, he’ll leave me alone for now.”

Gu Xiaoyun quickened his pace, his mind still scheming how to get his hands on that plot of land with the Spirit Spring. With it, he could grow high-level spiritual herbs. The hundred-year-old blood ginseng he currently possessed would never improve in his own field, its potency forever capped.

He needed a high-grade spirit field! But getting one from the other senior brothers would be even more difficult. And if he borrowed their land, he’d have to share the harvest. For now, Qin Haoxuan’s plot was the best option.

“Brother Haoxuan, when my cultivation is strong enough, I’ll have them all thrown into the Ice-Fire Purgatory!”

Xu Yu said with a resentful look. Qin Haoxuan could only give a wry smile. Although her and Murong Chao’s support had prevented a direct conflict, they couldn’t protect him forever. Besides, he didn’t like to rely on others. In a treacherous place like the Taichu Sect, he had to speed up his cultivation. Only with strength could he protect what was his.

This incident had shaken off most of Qin Haoxuan’s sleepiness. Seeing everyone else desperately carrying water to irrigate and upgrade their fields, and having learned from Gu Xiaoyun that even spirit fields had different grades, he decided not to be lazy. He picked up his empty buckets and went to fetch water.

Though it was manual labor, it was also a way to temper his Dao Heart. For Qin Haoxuan, who was eager to improve in every aspect, this was a good form of training. Cultivation wasn’t just about meditating. These past few days, he had come to realize the importance of cultivating the heart. A lack of spiritual energy could be made up for with elixirs and treasures, but no amount of pills could improve one’s state of mind.

After carrying nearly a hundred buckets of water, by noon, even Qin Haoxuan was exhausted. He sat down on the ground to rest. Just then, Murong Chao came over, dropped his carrying pole, and sat down on the ridge beside him.

“Senior Brother Qin, thank you for helping me till the soil and carry water yesterday.”

Although they had gotten closer over the past two days, they hadn’t spoken much. Qin Haoxuan wasn’t sure what Murong Chao was thinking.

He looked at the young noble and offered a warm smile. “And thank you for standing with me this morning.”

Murong Chao smiled back, and the hesitation in his expression vanished. “Senior Brother Qin, from now on, can we be friends?”

“Friends?” The word coming from him was somewhat surprising. Qin Haoxuan asked with a smile, “Why?”

“When I’m with you and Junior Sister Xu, I feel at ease. There’s no need for scheming or backstabbing. And you have an indescribable charisma, something that even the three Purple Seed disciples lack. Among all 200 of us, I feel you are the one closest to the Dao.”

“The Dao?” Qin Haoxuan’s face showed a hint of confusion, as if speaking to himself. “What is the Dao? What does it mean?”

He fell silent for a long moment, his eyes gazing at the vast sky as if in deep thought. After a while, he came back to himself and said apologetically, “Sorry, I got lost in thought.”

“No, Senior Brother Qin. Your every word and deed seems to contain a deep philosophy. I can see it just from the way you’ve been carrying water these past two days. Even Li Jing and Zhang Kuang can’t compare to you, let alone the rest of us.”

There was a sincerity in Murong Chao’s eyes, a stark contrast to the vicious bully who had tried to steal his quilt on the first night. Perhaps the gossip and ridicule he had endured these past few days had brought about a change in him.

“Senior Brother Qin, I was born into a noble family and was educated in ethics and etiquette since I was a child. But those are just the rules for mortals. From you, I have learned about equality and respect, and I have understood what it means to have an unyielding spirit. A cultivator must be unyielding to the heavens to achieve greatness. If you can’t even be unyielding to other people, how can you talk about being unyielding to the heavens?”

Listening to his words, Qin Haoxuan smiled faintly.

“Senior Brother Qin, although my aptitude is better than yours, you can interact with Xu Yu as an equal, you were able to find a Spirit Spring, and you repaid my injustice with kindness! These past few days, everyone, including Li Jing’s faction, has been mocking me for not completing the Rooting Stage yet. You and Junior Sister Xu are the only ones who haven’t. I truly hope we can be friends. If, in the future, my cultivation is fortunate enough to surpass yours, I will never let villains like Gu Xiaoyun bully you. If I have the ability, I will also help you improve.”

Qin Haoxuan smiled again, a trace of warmth in his heart. From the look on his face, he could tell his words were sincere.

“Friends help and support each other. They share weal and woe and would never kick someone when they are down. If you can do that, then we are friends.”

Hearing his solemn words, Murong Chao nodded seriously. They looked at each other and smiled. Their hands clasped together in a firm grip.

In the following days, all the new disciples tended to their crops in the morning and cultivated on their own in the afternoon. On the afternoon of the fifth day, a faint ripple of spiritual energy came from Murong Chao’s room.

He had completed the Rooting Stage!

14 days. Although slower than Zhang Yang, it was six days faster than the current Sect Master’s record of 20 days. All five special seed disciples had now completed the Rooting Stage. This made Elder Chu incredibly happy. He rushed to Murong Chao’s room to offer his praise and encouragement.

When Murong Chao walked out of his room, he noticed that the members of Li Jing’s faction who had mocked him were now avoiding his gaze. Li Jing himself came over with a smile to congratulate him. Towards this two-faced tiger, Murong Chao was completely indifferent, responding with the same lukewarm attitude Qin Haoxuan had shown him.

Li Jing had wanted to chat a little longer, but just then, Qin Haoxuan and Xu Yu, having heard the news, also arrived. The moment they appeared, Murong Chao ignored the enthusiastic Li Jing and turned to greet them with a smile.

If not for his plan to win over Xu Yu, this public snub would have already made Li Jing lose his temper. But even so, he made a silent vow: Murong Chao, oh Murong Chao, just you wait. After I win over Xu Yu, I will make you wish for death but be unable to find it. I will make you pay the price for your betrayal and show everyone else that I, Li Jing, am not Zhang Kuang.

“Congratulations,” Qin Haoxuan said with a smile. The two words were not flowery flattery, but they were full of sincerity.

“Senior Brother Qin, I’ve finally done it! In the future, I won’t have to be looked down upon by those snobs. Come, let’s sit in my room. I’ll share my experience of the Rooting Stage with you.”

Qin Haoxuan accepted his invitation. Although Xu Yu had already shared her experience, she was a Purple Seed, and her experience was not necessarily suitable for him. Murong Chao’s, as a Gray Seed, would be more applicable.

Under Li Jing’s cold, angry glare, the three of them walked into the room together, further strengthening the prince’s resolve to one day make them both suffer a fate worse than death.

Time flew by, and another five days passed. Murong Chao had unreservedly shared his experience with him, which had been a great inspiration to Qin Haoxuan. For several days, he had felt on the verge of a breakthrough, but like a difficult birth, the feeling came and went, and his Immortal Seed remained unchanged.

That night, Qin Haoxuan sat in the thicket. After digesting the pill Master Guyun had given him, he looked inside himself and found that his Immortal Seed was now entwined with tiny roots, which made him very confused.

Isn’t the immortal root supposed to be a single main root that grows into the dantian? Why does my seed have so many fine, lateral roots, but no main root at all?

He thought for a long time but couldn’t find an answer. Not daring to ask anyone, he could only remain puzzled.

He meditated for a while longer, infusing spiritual energy into his Immortal Seed. The seed, which had been showing signs of a breakthrough for days, began to stir again. Having been disappointed many times before, he didn’t pay it much mind and continued to pour in energy.

As he was concentrating on absorbing energy and neutralizing the remnants of the lotus’s power, his heart suddenly skipped a beat. His Immortal Seed began to tremble violently.

What’s going on? He stopped infusing energy, but the trembling only grew stronger. Neither Xu Yu nor Murong Chao had mentioned this happening during their breakthroughs. Is this a sign of my seed’s mutation? Or is it changing again after absorbing the Corrosion Pill’s poison for so many days?

But there was no point in wild speculation. If he let his thoughts run wild, they could become a Heart Demon. He quickly cleared his mind, focused his will, and silently observed the changing seed.

As it trembled, a hundred tiny, thread-like roots sprouted from the crack in the seed. They wrapped around the entire seed, then began to spread out towards his dantian.