“Is it the row of pharmacies behind the Medicine Monarch Manor? Think about it clearly first before replying, “Lu Xiao asked in a deep voice.
Xu Dongqing lay on his back and nodded tremblingly, “Yes.”
Without saying a word, Lu Xiao grabbed Qiu Yutong tightly with one hand, turned around and ran behind Medicine Monarch Manor.
The three of them just turned around a corridor when they heard a loud shout!
“Who’s there? Stop!”
Lu Xiao’s footsteps paused slightly, Qiu Yutong looked up and saw that not far from the front of the corridor, a young cultivator in the North Sea Sword Sect clothing, was holding a long sword with a gleaming cold light, and looking at them vigilantly.
Xu Dongqing shook violently, “It’s over, it’s over…”
Qiu Yutong whispered, “It’s okay, it’s a child who hasn’t circulated qi into his body yet.”
As he spoke, he casually folded a soft winter jasmine branch by the veranda. Just as he was about to cause the young cultivator to faint, Lu Xiao grabbed Xu Dongqing from his back and threw him!
The young cultivator was caught off guard, and before he could draw out his long sword, Lu Xiao had already easily grabbed his neck!
Lu Xiao twisted it hard without hesitation, only to hear a soft “crack!”, and the cultivator’s head drooped softly, his breathing stopped.
“Xiao-er, how could you…” Qiu Yutong lost his voice.
He didn’t intend to take the young cultivator’s life, he just wanted to stun him with a flower branch, but Lu Xiao’s movements were so fast that he had no time to stop him.
Lu Xiao picked up the corpse and threw it into a well beside the corridor. Then he turned around and explained, “This way, there is no blood, so it will save trouble. What’s the matter?”
“Nothing.” Qiu Yutong lowered his eyes and said didn’t continue.
It wasn’t the bloodstain issue, but he felt… Forget it, at this time, he really couldn’t care much. If he left the young cultivator alive, maybe the whereabouts of the three of them would be leaked. Lu Xiao did the right thing, being kind to the enemy was being cruel to his own people.
Lu Xiao came over, picked up Xu Dongqing and put him on his back, and handed the cultivator’s sharp sword to Qiu Yutong, “Shizun, you take this sword.”
The three hurried through the back garden and came to the backyard of Medicine Monarch Manor. In front of them was a row of short houses. This was the pharmacy where Xu Qiushi usually refined medicine.
Xu Dongqing pointed to the room on the far left, and said hoarsely, “That room!”
The three of them walked into the room, and an extremely unpleasant strong medicinal odor hit their faces.
This refining pharmacy was surrounded by tall medicine cabinets, with a huge medicine stove in the middle. Several scrolls of medicine scriptures were scattered on the ground, and there was a short table against the wall.
Lu Xiao put Xu Dongqing down and said solemnly, “Where is the tunnel?”
Xu Dongqing stared blankly at the table against the wall but didn’t say anything.
Lu Xiao said sternly, “Second Master, I’m asking you, where is the tunnel?”
“The tunnel, the tunnel is right under the bed. Seven years ago, the traitor of the North Sea Sword Sect died on this bed, and I was the one that collected the corpse. He was seriously injured, and he didn’t have any treasures on his body… My brother couldn’t save him. Even now, it’s a mystery how he killed himself…” Xu Dongqing stammered, and after speaking, his voice was almost choked.
“That traitor of the North Sea Sword Sect died on this bed? Hmm…” Lu Xiao narrowed his eyes as if thinking about something, and then shook his head again, “Forget it, let’s go in the tunnel first.”
Lu Xiao moved the bed away, Xu Dongqing knelt down and pressed a bluestone slab hard, only to hear a sound of “kakaka…”, which hurt the teeth. The bluestone slab, which was not more than a square foot, slowly tilted up.
Below the bluestone slab was a vertical dark passage. At first glance, it looked like a deep well. On the stone wall of the dark passage, there was a vertical iron ladder, which had been stained with rust.
“Shizun, you go first.”
“You hurry up, too.” Qiu Yutong nodded and got in first.
It was pitch black below, and he didn’t know how deep it was. Qiu Yutong climbed the iron ladder tightly, and groped to climb down, he felt that he had climbed down five or six feet before finally stepping on the ground. He breathed a sigh of relief and shouted in a low voice, “Second
Master, come down!”
Xu Dongqing also slowly climbed down, and Qiu Yutong caught him.
“Xiao-er?”
“Right now!” Lu Xiao worked upstairs for a while, putting the bed back in its place, pulling down the bluestone slab, and crawling down lightly.
As soon as the slate was covered, the tunnel was pitch dark.
“It’s too dark. I can’t see the road, where can I go?” Qiu Yutong muttered.
“It’s too narrow for a fire. By the way, I brought something.”
Qiu Yutong heard Lu Xiao rustling for a moment, and then suddenly his eyes lit up.
Lu Xiao held a thumb-sized night pearl and lowered his voice, “Let’s go.”
The tunnel was extremely complicated. In addition to the traces of artificial cuts, many places were strangely rugged, and in some places there were white stalactites hanging, dripping with water. This Medicine Monarch Manor was located in Linglu Valley, with high mountains on both sides. It seemed that this tunnel was not completely manually excavated, but was cut along a natural cave.
The ground was very slippery and uneven; Qiu Yutong headed the group, Xu Dongqing was in the middle, and Lu Xiao was at the end. The three of them walked with one foot deep and one shallow foot on the ground, unaware of how long they had walked, yet they still had not reached the end.
Qiu Yutong took a breath and was feeling a little tired when suddenly he heard a “splash!” behind him, he turned around and looked, only to see Xu Dongqing lying on the ground.
Qiu Yutong suddenly became anxious, “Second Master!”
Lu Xiao bent down and carefully felt for Xu Dongqing’s breath, “It’s nothing, it seems to be exhaustion. Adding that he was extremely frightened, he fainted.”
“I see.” Qiu Yutong breathed a sigh of relief, “Yes, it’s been a long walk, why don’t we just rest here for a while.”
Lu Xiao nodded, “There has been no movement in the back, so the people from the North Sea Sword Sect probably didn’t find us, so it’s okay to take a break.”
For most of the day, he was too nervous, so when he suddenly relaxed at this time, Qiu Yutong felt that his whole body was a little weak, so he sat down on a large stone next to him and wiped the fine sweat from his forehead.
He recalled these hair-raising hours, and couldn’t help but let out a soft sigh, “Xiao-er, luckily you were here. Otherwise, even if I stayed, I might not be able to stop the people from the North Sea Sword Sect… If it didn’t go well, now we would all be wiped out.”
“Shizun, did you think I wouldn’t let you stay because I was afraid you wouldn’t be able to stop them?” Lu Xiao cut him off directly.
Qiu Yutong was stunned for a moment, but he didn’t mean that, “Uh, that’s not what I meant…”
In the soft halo of the night pearl, Lu Xiao’s dark eyes stared at him, “Really?”
Qiu Yutong was a little scared at the complex and profound gaze, and then inwardly disdained himself. He was stared at by the apprentice till he was scared. Had he matured?
He thought for a while, and just as he was about to say something, Lu Xiao suddenly said softly, “You are very important to me… You are much more important than you think.”
Lu Xiao was calm and reserved, and it was rare to say such straightforward words, Qiu Yutong’s chest warmed slightly, and his heart was a little soft. His little apprentice was already so big. He was handsome and strong in appearance. He was also very smart and calm, but he still relied on him as he did when he was a child. The feeling of being depended on was really… good.
He hesitated for a moment but didn’t know how to express his feelings. He could only touch Lu Xiao’s dark and soft hair just like he used to coax little Lu Xiao, “I see.”
“… En.” Lu Xiao closed his eyes and rubbed his handsome face in his palm lightly.
Qiu Yutong secretly laughed and was a little emotional. When Lu Xiao was a child, he liked to rub against his palm like a kitten, but now Lu Xiao did it, eh, not like a kitten, but like some kind of beast.
He couldn’t help but bend the corners of his mouth and sigh with a smile.
“What is Shizun thinking?” Lu Xiao suddenly opened his eyes.
Looking straight at those dark eyes, Qiu Yutong said in a dull tone, “Uh, it’s nothing, I just remembered when you were a child…”
As he talked, he couldn’t go on, the tunnel was extremely quiet, the light of the night pearl was warm and soft, Lu Xiao’s dark phoenix eyes were bottomless, in this extreme silence, Qiu Yutong suddenly felt the atmosphere was kind of weird.
“Cough, cough…” At this moment, Xu Dongqing, who was lying next to him, suddenly coughed violently, and finally woke up, “Brother, brother!”
Qiu Yutong quickly got up to support him, “Second Master, are you awake?”
Xu Dongqing looked up at him in a daze, “Where’s my brother?”
“Second Master…” Qiu Yutong couldn’t answer, and felt sad for a while; that irritable and rude Doctor Xu was no longer there.
Xu Dongqing stared blankly at Qiu Yutong, and finally woke up. Tears welled up in his eyes, “My brother… is gone. I… I have always been afraid of him, and I rarely talk to him, I still thought he was too rude, too grumpy…I, I…”
Qiu Yutong gently hugged him and comforted him softly, “The Eldest Master has already been reborn and reincarnated. He has helped the dying and healed the injured in this life, so he will be born in a good family in the next life.”
Xu Dongqing couldn’t bear it any longer, hugged Qiu Yutong fiercely, and burst into tears, “Wuwu… wuwu… brother, brother…”
Qiu Yutong felt sad and helpless in his heart, so he could only comfort him and pat his back lightly.
Lu Xiao pursed his lips and suddenly said, “Shizun, just now I felt something under the bed of the pharmacy. I guessed that this thing might be the item that the traitor of the North Sea Sword Sect stuffed into the gap beside the bed before he died. “
Qiu Yutong was stunned, and gently pushed Xu Dongqing away, “Xiao-er, what did you find?”
Lu Xiao took out a small cloth bag from his arms and handed it to Qiu Yutong, “This is it.”
The cloth bag was only the size of a palm, and it looked very old, with a thick layer of dust and cobwebs on it. Qiu Yutong realized something, frowned slightly, and slowly opened the cloth bag.
It was a tortoiseshell.
It was exactly the same as the on him, a palm-sized, dark-skinned tortoiseshell with curved lines on it.
Qiu Yutong stared at the tortoiseshell, and inexplicably felt his throat dry a little, it was too weird… What the hell was it?
He calmed down and handed the tortoiseshell to Xu Dongqing, “Second Master, this tortoiseshell should be what the North Sea Sword Sect is looking for, take it.”
Xu Dongqing’s face turned pale, and he shook her head desperately, “This kind of thing… I don’t want it, I don’t want it.”
“But…” Qiu Yutong hesitated for a while. Although he didn’t know what this thing was, the North Sea Sword Sect valued it so much that Xu Qiushi died for it without knowing; this turtle shell must be something extremely important.
“This thing is not from Medicine Monarch Manor, and my brother died for it… It’s an ominous thing, I wouldn’t want it! How about we throw it away?” Xu Qiushi said in a trembling voice.
“…” Qiu Yutong was silent for a while, “I’ll keep it for now.”
Lu Xiao nodded, “Shizun, you should keep it for now. We should continue to move forward.”
The three got up and walked through the tunnel for a long time, and finally reached the end of the tunnel — at the end, there was a heavy stone door.
Lu Xiao pressed his shoulder against the stone door, and with a little bit of skill, the stone door slowly opened.
Qiu Yutong walked out of the stone door, and there was a dense mountain forest outside, with large lush trees, all shrouded in the blood-colored sunset afterglow. Except for the rustling of the wind over the treetops and the cry of tired birds returning to their nests, there was no sound at all. The original three people had been in the tunnel, and they had actually walked for a whole afternoon; it was already dusk.
Qiu Yutong took a deep breath, the air in the early spring evening was slightly cool and fresh, it was refreshing.
“It’s not advisable to stay here for a long time, let’s keep going,” Lu Xiao said in a low voice.
“En,” Qiu Yutong nodded.
The three of them did not stop for a moment, they went all the way into the long grass, and walked into the dense forest.
After a long time, the sky gradually darkened.
Behind Qiu Yutong, Xu Dongqing’s pace became slower and slower, and he couldn’t help but look back at him worriedly, “Second Master, are you alright?”
Before Xu Dongqing could answer, Lu Xiao suddenly said, “There seems to be a temple ahead.”
Qiu Yutong looked up, and sure enough, not far away, in the shadow of the woods, a temple was faintly seen.
“Is there a temple in front?” Xu Dongqing gasped, “How about we go and rest… I really can’t walk.
“Second Master, why are you so deli…” Lu Xiao glared at Xu Dongqing, but Qiu Yutong quickly interrupted him, “My feet hurt a little too.”
“Why didn’t you tell me earlier? Is it twisted? Let me see.” Lu Xiao immediately knelt down halfway, and gently pinched Qiu Yutong’s ankle, wanting to check.
“No, no, I’m just tired.” Qiu Yutong said quickly.
Lu Xiao stood up, glanced at Xu Dongqing again, and seemed to realize that Qiu Yutong was protecting him, so he couldn’t help but snort coldly, “Okay, let’s rest in front. It is estimated that those from the North Sea Sword Sect are either still searching in Medicine Monarch Manor, or they’ve already left.”
Not long after, the three of them arrived at the gate of the temple.
It was a small earth temple, the apricot-yellow wall paint was peeling off, the two ochre red wooden doors were crooked, and the painted statue of the earth god in the temple was covered with dust and looked very dilapidated.
Lu Xiao went in first, looked back and forth, and nodded when he came back, “It’s very small and no one is inside.”
Qiu Yutong breathed a sigh of relief, turned to Xu Dongqing and said, “Let’s rest here for the night.”
The three walked into the temple, and Xu Dongqing slumped on a pile of straw.
Today was really not easy for this kid. Qiu Yutong sighed with emotion, but his stomach suddenly growled inappropriately, and it was very loud.
Lu Xiao immediately looked at him.
Qiu Yutong was very embarrassed. Trying to save face, he reluctantly explained, “Uh, this body cannot fast. I can’t do anything either.”
“Wait for me.” Lu Xiao nodded, turned and walked out the door.
After a while, he came back with a fat hare. By the small pond behind the temple, he washed and peeled the hare, then cut it into two pieces with a sword, tore one of them into small pieces, and used a banana leaf to wrap it up. Then, he stuffed it into the incense burner under the statue of the Earth God.
Qiu Yutong looked at his movements and couldn’t help but wonder, what was this kid Lu Xiao doing?
He couldn’t help but ask, “Xiao-er, when we roasted rabbits in the wild before, didn’t we directly pierce them with branches and roast them on the fire?
Lu Xiao carefully fiddled with the ashes in the incense burner and explained, “I’m worried that the people from the North Sea Sword Sect are patrolling the sky with swords. If they see a fire, it’s over. Instead, wrapping the rabbit meat and roasting it with the embers of the ashes would be better. It can also be cooked, and the taste is not bad, but it is a little troublesome. “
“I see.” Qiu Yutong suddenly realized and nodded.
After he understood, he couldn’t help but feel a little embarrassed. As a master, he was not as careful as his apprentice… Alas, what a shame. However, he quickly comforted himself. After all, he used to have a high level of cultivation and liked to use force on things, but this little apprentice grew up in a deep palace, where people fought and schemed against each other, so his mind was naturally more complicated. Yes, it was like that.
After a while, the smell of meat came from the incense burner.
Lu Xiao carefully took out the banana leaf dumplings. After removing the banana leaves, the rabbit meat inside was already cooked, and it was hot and fragrant.
It looked delicious… Qiu Yutong couldn’t help but swallow softly.
Lu Xiao picked up a rabbit leg, blew it slightly, and handed it to Qiu Yutong, “Be careful of the heat.”
“Yeah.” Qiu Yutong sniffed, took the rabbit’s leg happily, and was about to eat it, but suddenly felt something, he turned his head and looked, Xu Dongqing was looking at himself eagerly.
Qiu Yutong blinked, looked down at the warm rabbit legs in his hands, and was really reluctant. But he was two hundred years old, and Xu Dongqing was only a seventeen or eighteen-year-old boy, and his relative had just died…
He struggled for a long time with this dilemma, and finally reluctantly handed the rabbit leg to Xu Dongqing, “Here.”
Xu Dongqing took the rabbit’s leg and his eyes were slightly red, “You are so kind to me.”
Lu Xiao stared at Qiu Yutong.
Although Lu Xiao didn’t say anything, Qiu Yutong was already guilty. The little apprentice worked hard to catch and roast this rabbit and even gave him the best rabbit legs, yet he gave it to others in a blink of an eye.
He smiled hesitantly, trying to make up for it, “Xiao-er, let me roast it for you.”
Lu Xiao pushed the remaining half of the raw rabbit over without saying a word.
Half an hour later, Qiu Yutong stared at the lump of rabbit meat or the lump of black charcoal in front of him, and his whole person was dumbfounded. It was obviously the same method. He tore the rabbit meat into small pieces, wrapped them in large pieces of banana leaves, buried them in the ashes of the incense burner, and then fiddled with the sparks to slowly roast them… How could Lu Xiao make it look and taste great? What he made was… a lump of black charcoal?!
Lu Xiao stared at the pile of black charcoal and was silent. After a while, he tried to fiddle with a piece of rabbit meat that was not so black, put it in his mouth and chewed it dryly for a few times, then forced a smile, “Actually, it’s not bad, it has a torched smell.”
“Really? I’ll try it.” Qiu Yutong’s eyes lit up slightly, and he quickly picked up a small piece of rabbit meat, wanting to put it in his mouth.
Lu Xiao grabbed his wrist and panicked so much that his voice trembled, “Don’t eat it!”
