Chapter 36: A Fortuitous Night

With that thought, Yan Li pulled Yan Shu into his arms and, with practiced ease, compressed his spiritual energy to its thinnest and sent it into her body.

The spiritual energy traveled slowly along her tiny meridians. At first, it went fairly smoothly.

But before long, Yan Shu’s little face scrunched up. She twisted uneasily and let out a thin whimper.

Yan Li immediately withdrew his hand, not daring to push further.

After a pause, he tried again. This time he refined and compressed the spiritual energy until it was thinner than a hair, then carefully guided it into her meridians.

Yet the moment the energy approached those blocked nodes, Yan Shu’s face paled. Her small hands clenched tight, her lashes trembled, and her brows knit together. Seeing this, Yan Li had no choice but to withdraw again.

Unwilling to accept it, he tried several more times.

But no matter how thin and gentle he made the energy, as soon as it touched those blocked nodes, Yan Shu would curl up in discomfort.

The little one went from soft whimpers to breathing rapidly.

After all that, sweat beaded on his own forehead.

He watched the little one squirm in his arms, tears clinging to the corners of her eyes, her small mouth trembling as if she might burst into tears at any moment.

In the end, Yan Li could not bear to force it any further.

Once the uncomfortable spiritual energy withdrew, Yan Shu finally quieted a little. But her small hand still clutched his collar and would not let go.

Yan Li was silent for a moment. He brushed his fingertips gently against her pale cheek and wiped away the wetness at the corners of her eyes.

The little one seemed to recognize his scent. She nuzzled pitifully into his palm and gave a few thin whimpers.

Yan Li closed his eyes and sighed in resignation. “…Fine.”

A moment later, with a dark expression, he took out the moon-white ruqun again and put it on.

Layer upon layer of skirt fell around him. The formation patterns on the dress lit up, and a soft, cool aura flowed through the garment and around his body.

His temple twitched. He gathered Yan Shu back into his arms and sent spiritual energy into her body once more.

The radiance of the Taiyin flowed out along the patterns on the dress. It turned his originally sharp and fierce spiritual energy into something warm and gentle, then traveled slowly through her small, fragile meridians.

As the spiritual energy entered her, the cold yin energy within Yan Shu was also drawn out. Two streams of energy, one large and one small, circulated between them, forming a delicate cycle.

The little one smacked her lips in her sleep and burrowed further into his arms.

Yan Li closed his eyes and felt the circulating flow. After one full cycle, most of the blockages in Yan Shu’s body had been cleared.

He guided the energy through two more cycles, until even the most stubborn meridians were fully open. Only then did he finally let out a breath.

Yan Shu’s breathing gradually steadied. Her little face pressed against his chest, and this time she was truly asleep.

Yan Li placed her back in the crib. He had wanted to change back into his daoist robe, but after thinking it over, he decided against it.

He sat cross-legged on the bed, closed his eyes, and sank his consciousness into his dantian.

At the center of the vortex, a small taiji hovered quietly. As yin and yang revolved, threads of heaven and earth spiritual energy were continuously drawn in and transformed into purer spiritual energy that circulated through his body.

As his cultivation method operated, the distracting thoughts clinging to his mind, like the auction, spirit stones, and so on, gradually faded.

He lost count of how many grand cycles he completed. He only felt his spiritual energy steadily accumulating and growing, his meridians becoming tougher under its flow.

Outside the window, the darkness slowly faded. When the first light of dawn finally appeared on the horizon, Yan Li slowly ended his cultivation and let out a long breath.

He opened his palm. Spiritual energy flowed smoothly through his fingertips, perfect and unimpeded.

Looking at that thread of energy, he was silent for a moment. A rare ripple appeared in his usually calm eyes.

A single night of cultivation was worth several days of hard training in the past, and the momentum of growth showed no sign of stopping.

He could not help but look toward Yan Shu, who was sleeping soundly in the crib.

Who would have thought that such a fortuitous opportunity would come from a baby he had casually picked up in a secret realm?

He withdrew his gaze and looked at the moon-white dress on his body, falling silent again.

If it were any other opportunity, he would probably be calculating how to maximize the benefits. But facing this dress, he only felt his temple throb.

‘Do I really have to wear it?’

With a dark expression, he took off the dress. He had just changed into his daoist robe when two knocks came from outside the door.

“Senior Brother? Are you up?” It was Xuan Shiyan.

Yan Li quickly stuffed the dress into his storage ring and removed the restriction. “Come in.”

He stood by the table in a white daoist robe, his expression as cold as ever.

Xuan Shiyan pushed the door open and entered. His eyes flickered slightly.

Last night, his senior brother still carried some of the sharpness from the great battle. Now it had all settled. His spiritual energy flowed like water, smooth and unobstructed.

A flicker of surprise passed through his eyes, but he quickly composed himself.

His senior brother was exceptionally gifted. A life-and-death battle leading to improvement was not strange.

He smiled. “Looks like yesterday’s fight wasn’t for nothing.”

Yan Li gave a grunt of acknowledgment and did not explain further.

Xuan Shiyan did not press further. He placed a storage pouch on the table. “Sun Mazi’s head. Three hundred high-grade spirit stones.”

“Thanks.” Yan Li took it and nodded.

But Xuan Shiyan’s gaze lingered on him for a moment.

It was not just that his aura was calmer. Even his features seemed more refined.

Inappropriately, the image of that figure in goose-yellow flashed through his mind.

After a brief silence, he looked away as if nothing had happened.

On the crib nearby, Yan Shu was sprawled out asleep. Her little blanket had been kicked aside, one leg exposed, and her small feet twitched from time to time, as if she were dreaming of something.

He found it somewhat amusing and walked over to tuck her back in.

“I’ve already had the inn prepare breakfast.” He turned back to Yan Li. “Senior Brother, take Yan Shu downstairs to eat something first.”

A short while later, the three went downstairs.

The first floor of Hongfu Inn was already packed early in the morning. Cultivators, merchant caravans, and rogue cultivators mixed together in a noisy crowd.

They had just sat down when someone at the next table slapped the table and shouted, “Hey, did you hear? That Sun Mazi from Qingfeng Gorge was killed yesterday!”

At those words, many nearby immediately perked up.

“Really? That bastard is dead? He was a ruthless one at late Foundation Establishment!”

“No kidding! And you know what, that guy wasn’t late Foundation Establishment at all. He was actually peak Foundation Establishment.”

“What the hell?”

The surrounding people gasped.

“Then the bounty pavilion wrote late Foundation Establishment as a joke?”

“Who knows? Probably the intel was watered down.”

“Then who killed him?”

The cultivator who had spoken first grew excited. He slapped the table and said eagerly:

“That’s what you don’t know! I heard he was cut down by a female cultivator!”

“A female cultivator?”

“They say she was like a fairy, carrying a baby in her arms. The moment her flying sword came out, Sun Mazi was forced to his knees.”

“???”

“Are you f*cking drunk?”

“No, cutting down a peak Foundation Establishment cultivator while holding a baby? Were you there watching the show or what?”

“Get lost!”

The entire inn burst into laughter.

Yan Li: “…”

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