Chapter 15

Sometimes Xu Manman felt that Immortal Lang Yin was not entirely indifferent and unfeeling. When he looked at the lanterns by the roadside, she distinctly saw longing and melancholy in his eyes.

Skilled vendors adorned the roadside stalls with paper lanterns, crafted in various styles featuring flowers, birds, insects, and fish—everything imaginable.

The vendor had been watching the four immortals for a long time. Noticing Immortal Lang Yin staring intently at his lanterns, he mustered the courage to shout, “Immortal, would you like to buy a flower lantern?”

Immortal Lang Yin came to his senses, shook his head slightly, and said, “No need.”

With that, he turned and walked away.

Xu Manman glanced at his back, picked a lantern from the stall, tossed a piece of silver, and chased after him.

“Immortal master, immortal master,” Xu Manman called, catching up to him with a cheerful smile.

“What do you think of this lantern?”

Immortal Lang Yin glanced at it and said, “Not much.”

Xu Manman laughed. “This is a glass lotus lantern, somewhat akin to you.”

Immortal Lang Yin said nothing.

“Immortal, have you ever given a girl a lantern before?” Xu Manman asked.

Immortal Lang Yin was momentarily lost in thought before answering, “Yes.”

“Was it given to Xu Manman?” Xu Manman asked knowingly.

Immortal Lang Yin replied with a light “Hmm.”

“Did you like her back then?” Xu Manman cautiously asked, her heart pounding with fear of his answer.

Immortal Lang Yin did not immediately respond.

His gaze seemed distant, and after a long pause, he said, “No.”

“Then why did you give her a lantern?” Xu Manman asked, taken aback.

“I just wanted to make her happy.”

Immortal Lang Yin’s words puzzled Xu Manman.

Why would he want to make her happy if he didn’t like her?

Everyone who knew Immortal Lang Yin said he was aloof and cold, but Xu Manman often felt he was capricious and eccentric. He would hurt her with harsh truths and push her to train until she was exhausted. Yet, every time she was upset, he would appear, either offering clumsy comfort or a few novel trinkets to cheer her up like a child.

When she was sixteen, she had just opened her spiritual aperture but still couldn’t channel energy into her body. Immortal Lang Yin had scolded her and left her to practice alone in the herb garden for a long time.

One evening, she heard footsteps outside and went out to see the herb garden filled with lanterns. Immortal Lang Yin stood among them, his handsome face softened by the sunset and firelight.

He said, “Today is the Lantern Festival. I heard it’s customary to enjoy lanterns. Do you like these?”

She was stunned, unable to react for a moment, thinking, Who would enjoy lanterns during the day…

Immortal Lang Yin, perhaps mistaking her silence for dislike, began to take out various trinkets from his storage pouch.

Rabbit masks, colorful windmills, embroidered sachets, beauty round fans…

It wasn’t until he took out a whole stick of candied hawthorns that Xu Manman couldn’t help laughing.

“Do you like this?” Immortal Lang Yin seemed relieved, handing her the stick filled with candied hawthorns.

Of course, she liked it. When she was little in Xu family village, she only saw these sweet and festive treats at the market. Once, she had picked fruit for a long time to sell, finally saving enough to buy a stick of candied hawthorns, which she shared with Xu Shenzhi. She remembered there were seven pieces; after each eating three, they played rock-paper-scissors for the last one.

She chose paper, and Xu Shenzhi chose scissors.

After joining the Siyi Sect, she had a place to shelter from the rain, but surrounded by cultivators, she gradually forgot the taste she had longed for as a child.

Under Immortal Lang Yin’s gaze, she unwrapped the paper and took a bite.

It tasted like her memory, but perhaps three times sweeter.

As she savored the sweetness on her tongue, she heard Immortal Lang Yin’s low, cool voice say, “It doesn’t matter if you can’t draw spiritual energy into your body. Don’t worry. I will use spiritual energy to inject into your spiritual aperture for cultivation, and it will be the same…”

“Whatever the immortal master says,” she mumbled with the candied hawthorn in her mouth.

A few days later, she overheard her sect brothers talking about something interesting that happened in the town below.

“On Lantern Festival night, a man who looked like an immortal came to the mountain town.”

“I heard he was asking everyone what he could give to make a girl happy.”

“The vendors, of course, tricked him into buying whatever they were selling.”

“Hahaha, they said the man, who looked so distinguished and extraordinary, was actually quite gullible and bought out the whole street.”

“In the evening, the young men and women who came out to stroll had no interest in playing, seeing the empty streets!”

“All the young people in the city were unhappy.”

“I wonder if the girl he tried to cheer up was happy.”

That girl was indeed cheered up.

Now, this grown woman is quite confused…

The four of them wandered the streets of Huizhou for a long time until they finally saw an inn.

“Owner, four upper rooms,” Xu Manman said with a smile.

“No upper rooms left, only one ground room,” the owner replied without looking up.

Xu Manman frowned, “Then let’s find another place.”

“You’re not going to find four upper rooms anywhere,” the owner said, finally looking up and seeing the four immortal-like people. He was momentarily stunned, but having seen many high level cultivators lately, he quickly composed himself and said with a smile, “Because of Lian Yue Daozun’s passing, many cultivators have come to pay their respects. Huizhou is closest to the Siyi Sect, so we have the most visitors. Many cultivators are still in town, waiting for the Fuyao array. No inn will have that many rooms. This one will be gone soon too if you don’t take it.”

Xu Manman turned around and said helplessly to the three others, “You heard him. Why don’t we all squeeze into one room?”

Immortal Lang Yin frowned, and Li Que immediately refused, “Men and women should be separate. How can we share a room?”

Xu Manman smiled and said, “Don’t worry, I’m not interested in men.”

Li Que was momentarily stunned—he had almost forgotten Xu Manman’s true identity.

Xu Manman continued, “Besides, you three don’t really count as men. If you revert to your original forms, we can all fit in one room. I’ll ask the innkeeper to make a soft nest for Third Brother, put a bucket of clean water for Fourth Brother, and place a pot of fertile soil for Immortal Lang Yin. The only bed will be left for me, the weak woman. Surely, you won’t object to that?”

Li Que was almost speechless, gritting his teeth, “Don’t go too far!”

Ao Xiu sneered, “I’m the dignified Sea Emperor…”

Immortal Langyin said, “I don’t need soil.”

Xu Manman asked, “Do you need a pot then?”

Immortal Lang Yin glanced at her, and Xu Manman quickly shrank back, laughing awkwardly, “Or maybe the bed can go to Immortal Lang Yin, and I’ll sleep on the floor.”

Ao Xiu said, “Surely, Immortal Lang Yin won’t agree with her!”

Ao Xiu had noticed that Xu Manman, though shameless and outspoken, had a bit of reverence for Immortal Lang Yin.

Immortal Lang Yin glanced at Ao Xiu and said, “It is indeed inappropriate. Ao Xiu is the emperor of the sea; he cannot be placed in a bucket…”

Ao Xiu smiled.

Immortal Lang Yin continued, “You need to add salt.”

Ao Xiu’s smile froze.

Li Que burst into laughter.

Immortal Lang Yin then turned to Li Que and said seriously, “Aren’t birds supposed to sleep in trees? Why would you sleep indoors?”

Li Que’s laughter stopped abruptly.

The two of them looked at Immortal Lang Yin’s serious face, unsure if he was deliberately mocking them. Regardless, it felt very mocking. And given their power differences, they couldn’t argue or fight back.

Suddenly, they understood why Xu Manman held Immortal Lang Yin in such high regard.

Xu Manman held back her laughter and said, “Forget it; I’ll think of another way. Wait here for a moment.”

Xu Manman walked into the inn and, after a while, returned with a smile on her face.

“It’s done. Four rooms are available,” Xu Manman said.

Li Que, watching the guests leaving the inn with their bags and smiling faces, asked Xu Manman in confusion, “How did you manage that?”

“It was simple, really. Just offered them a good deal. I gave them a high-grade spiritual stone, and they were eager to give up their rooms, afraid I might offer it to someone else,” Xu Manman said with a smile.

Following the waiter, the four entered the inn’s rooms. Ao Xiu frowned at the modest room and asked, “If it was that easy, why didn’t you get four upper rooms instead of these lower ones?”

Xu Manman asked, “May I ask, Your Majesty Sea Emperor, what would it take for someone to ask you to give up an upper room?”

Ao Xiu replied without hesitation, “Absolutely impossible.”

Realizing his answer, he looked awkwardly at Xu Manman.

Xu Manman smiled, “Huizhou City is crowded with cultivators. Those staying in upper rooms aren’t ordinary cultivators. I don’t have the ability to offer enough to move high-level cultivators. Moreover, people of that status value their reputation more than their benefits.”

Li Que grumbled, “Doesn’t our status and reputation matter too?”

Xu Manman said, “But I don’t care about mine.”

“You…” Li Que was speechless at Xu Manman’s shamelessness. After a pause, he added, “I don’t believe that if we reveal our status, they won’t respect us!”

Xu Manman chuckled, “Face is something that decreases the more you use it. Using status to oppress others is the real loss of face.”

Li Que blushed, speechless.

“Moreover, if even Immortal Lang Yin doesn’t mind, why are you being so proud?” Xu Manman mentioned Immortal Lang Yin, and they fell silent.

Xu Manman smiled and escorted Immortal Lang Yin into his room, warmly saying, “I’ll be next door. If Immortal Lang Yin needs anything, just call me.”

Immortal Lang Yin nodded indifferently, seemingly unconcerned about everything.

At night, Xu Manman didn’t sleep. She sat cross-legged on the bed, meditating, feeling the pulsating energy in her spiritual aperture.

She needed to seize every moment to train, hoping to restore her former abilities soon. Since drinking Immortal Lang Yin’s blood, her soul has fused more smoothly with her body. However, choosing the right cultivation method has become a challenge.

At sixteen, after opening her spiritual aperture, Xu Manman struggled to draw in spiritual energy. Immortal Lang Yin personally guided her, channeling his own spiritual energy into her meridians, gradually opening her major acupuncture points. She was like a baby unable to feed itself, waiting for an adult to nourish her.

Immortal Lang Yin questioned, “Is this you cultivating or me? Why does it seem like I am the one cultivating?”

She could only laugh awkwardly, sitting there as Immortal Lang Yin helped her cleanse and refine her meridians.

Under Immortal Lang Yin’s hands-on teaching, she learned to circulate spiritual energy. One could say that Immortal Lang Yin was very familiar with her body.

“Immortal Lang Yin, what cultivation method am I practicing?” she asked at the time.

Immortal Lang Yin replied, “I cultivate my innate immortal abilities. You can absorb my spiritual energy, but you cannot learn my immortal abilities. However, you can explore and create your own cultivation method.”

She blurted out, “Then let’s call it the Suixin Ruyi Method.”

Immortal Lang Yin said, “Effortless, indeed, it is quite satisfactory.”

Thus, she followed Immortal Lang Yin’s lead for many years, taking longer than others to establish her foundation. Only after that did she learn to independently absorb and refine spiritual energy, tempering her soul.

Later, Ning Xi sought her guidance on the Suixin Ruyi Method, but she found an excuse to refuse. She always felt that she shouldn’t have embarked on the cultivation path. It was Immortal Lang Yin who defied fate, and the journey was tough for both her and Immortal Lang Yin.

Now, with a new body, she felt that this body’s aptitude was thousands of times better than her own. Spiritual energy flowed smoothly through her meridians, and just by meditating, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth eagerly rushed into her spiritual aperture.

So this is what it feels like to be a genius…

Before Xu Manman could fully enjoy this realization, she noticed something amiss. After absorbing a large amount of spiritual energy, a massive surge of energy erupted from within her golden core, rushing through her meridians with lightning speed, seemingly with its own consciousness. Simultaneously, she lost control over her body.

Xu Manman was terrified. No matter how hard she tried, it was futile. Fortunately, this energy seemed benevolent, gently nourishing her body. As she relaxed, she sensed a pattern in the flow of this energy…

Could it be the original owner’s consciousness?

Who was the original owner of this body to have such a strong consciousness even after years of death and a fragmented golden core, almost reversing the possession of her soul?

Xu Manman was puzzled but had no choice but to accept the situation and observe.

As the spiritual energy flowed through her meridians and acupuncture points, she envisioned stars lighting up one by one, forming a splendid star chart like a fiery tree in full bloom.

This is a cultivation method!

She immediately realized this, marveling at its mysterious and profound nature, which seemed to resonate with the entire universe. When she consciously circulated it, her senses heightened to an alarming degree, hearing whispers, breaths, and winds within ten miles, smelling the burnt charcoal in the kitchen fire and the blooming lotus in the courtyard, all vividly forming a nightscape in her mind.

At that moment, she felt one with the universe.

With her golden core cultivation, she could sense like a Dharma Aspect Realm expert. What would it be like if she reached that realm?

However, her current cultivation couldn’t sustain such heightened senses for long, and soon her head began to throb painfully. Trying to retract her senses, she was horrified to find she couldn’t control her body.

If this continued, her brain would suffer severe damage!

Xu Manman panicked, fearing she would die inexplicably after finally coming back to life, or worse, become a fool.

She struggled and screamed inwardly to break free from this state, to no avail, enduring only the relentless noise and growing pain.

Suddenly, all sounds ceased.

Xu Manman relaxed momentarily, then tensed up again.

A dark purple figure appeared in the dim room, hidden in the shadows, but she recognized the scent.

Immortal Lang Yin!

No, “Immortal Langyin!”

He had set up a barrier to isolate everything outside, inadvertently saving Xu Manman’s life, but his late-night visit likely meant he was there to kill her.

The dark purple-robed Immortal Lang Yin approached the bed.

“Heh heh…” His handsome face seemed veiled by the night, and his deep, hoarse voice was cold and mocking.

“You have quite the nerve, seeing me and remaining unmoved. Do you think you can escape from me again?”

Xu Manman was in despair. Even if she could move, she couldn’t resist, let alone now when she couldn’t budge.

“Two slaps, one bite mark…” Immortal Lang Yin’s eyes were vicious as he stepped closer, “Tonight, I’ll repay tenfold and ensure you die miserably!”

He stopped five steps from the bed.

“Why aren’t you speaking? What scheme are you plotting?”

“Do you think I won’t kill you, or can’t kill you?”

Immortal Lang Yin frowned, looking around, suspecting Xu Manman of setting a trap.

He sensed Xu Manman’s steady breathing, which was lively and warm—definitely not a puppet illusion. So, where was the trap?

Immortal Lang Yin waited impatiently for Xu Manman’s response, then sneered, “With your shallow cultivation, no amount of scheming will help. Die!”

He raised his hand, spiritual energy surged, and a slap aimed for Xu Manman’s left cheek, which, if unblocked, would leave her either dead or crippled.

Immortal Lang Yin kept his word about repaying tenfold!

The spiritual energy struck like thunder, but Xu Manman moved, dodging the slap at the fastest speed of her life. As the palm wind shattered the wooden bed, she dropped to all fours, lowering her head and shouting, “Immortal Lang Yin, please spare me! I was wrong!”

Immortal Lang Yin paused, his hand frozen in mid-air.

Xu Manman curled up humbly on the floor, her attitude toward admitting fault exceedingly sincere.

“Last night, I failed to recognize you, Immortal Lang Yin, and offended you. It was a misunderstanding. Please, have mercy and spare me!”

Before coming, Immortal Lang Yin planned to avenge last night by beating this audacious woman half to death and then making her beg for mercy. But she begged too quickly; he hadn’t even started.

This left Immortal Lang Yin somewhat at a loss…