Chapter 28: Walk in the night without light
On this day, Tingyu, who had grown up in the purple soil and found it hard to understand the hardships of the human world, had a dream.
In the dream, Chen Feiyuan was fiercely making things difficult for Xu Qing, and she was very angry.
By the early morning, when Tingyu woke up from her dream, her mood was somewhat different from before. After arriving at Master Bai's tent, while sitting there reciting the pharmacopoeia, she was also absent-minded and kept looking up at the outside of the tent from time to time.
Until I saw... Chen Feiyuan
Tingyu's eyelids rolled up as she recalled yesterday's dream.
Chen Feiyuan snorted, rubbed his eyes and lifted the tent. He plopped down and was about to sit beside Tingyu when the cushion was directly moved away by Tingyu in the next moment.
Chen Feiyuan was taken aback and looked at Tingyu.
What are you doing?
Sit there. Tingyu was too lazy to pay attention to Chen Feiyuan and pointed at the place where Xu Qing usually sat.
"Why?" Chen Feiyuan immediately lost his temper and his eyes widened.
Just because you don't study hard and have been asking for leave frequently these days, I'm annoyed by you sitting here. Is that enough?
Tingyu widened her eyes and spoke very fast. Chen Feiyuan was stunned there again. After a while, he muttered a few words, seemingly not daring to provoke him. With a depressed look, he sat down in Xu Qing's seat.
"Alas, Tingyu, you..." After sitting down, as soon as Chen Feiyuan began to speak, before he could finish, Tingyu's eyes showed a hint of unease.
"Don't say the word 'alas'. What if people hear it and misunderstand?"
"Ah? Alas, what's wrong with this word?" When Chen Feiyuan looked completely bewildered, the door of the tent was opened and Xu Qing walked in.
Seeing Xu Qing, two faint dimples appeared on Tingyu's face and she smiled, patting the cushion that had originally belonged to Chen Feiyuan beside her.
"Little junior brother, sit here."
Xu Qing was taken aback, and Chen Feiyuan was stunned for a moment.
"What are you still standing there for? The teacher is coming. Come over quickly!" Tingyu urged.
Xu Qing hesitated a little. He looked at Ting Yu and then at Chen Feiyuan, who was sitting in his seat, standing there.
It was indeed the time when Master Bai was coming, so Xu Qing could only walk to Ting Yu's side and sit in the spot that used to belong to Chen Feiyuan.
Chen Feiyuan was completely stunned. Just as he pointed at Xu Qing and was about to speak, Tingyu turned her head and glared at him fiercely.
"Shut up!"
I haven't spoken yet. Chen Feiyuan was on the verge of tears. He felt it was unfair and was about to continue speaking when the tent door opened and Master Bai walked in.
Chen Feiyuan could only hold back what he wanted to say and sat there fuming. On the other side, Tingyu seemed very relieved, but as for Xu Qing, he felt a bit uncomfortable, sitting on pins and needles.
When Master Bai walked in, upon seeing the seat where Xu Qing was sitting, he looked at Tingyu and Chen Feiyuan, who seemed to be in a bad mood. A smile also appeared on his face. He didn't disturb and began to assess.
As always, Chen Feiyuan was stammered and scolded, while Tingyu completed the assessment with pride and looked at Xu Qing with anticipation.
Xu Qing's response was even more perfect. She even asked some of her own questions during the assessment.
The entire process brought Chen Feiyuan's depression to its peak.
So when the classes of the day were over, he was the first to run out of the tent. He felt that he had been discriminated against today.
Xu Qing felt uncomfortable sitting there during this class. Just as he stood up, bowed to Master Bai and was about to leave, he was stopped by Tingyu.
"Little junior brother, why is your face dirty again?"
Tingyu took out the handkerchief and was eager to try. Xu Qing frowned slightly and immediately avoided it, leaving in a hurry.
It was not until he left that Tingyu looked somewhat aggrieved and turned to Master Bai, who was watching the commotion from the side.
"Teacher, why is this kid so dirty every day? It's my good intention to help him."
Master Bai laughed heartily, patted the girl's head affectionately and spoke softly.
Because, for those living in hardship and danger, being overly conspicuous is not a good thing.
Tingyu seemed lost in thought and nodded.
Xu Qing didn't hear Master Bai's words, but what was in his heart was exactly as Master Bai had said.
Growing up in a slum, he knew very well that the less conspicuous he was, the safer it was. And most people around him were dirty. If he was different, it would be like a torch in the dark night, adding to the danger.
This has been his survival rule since childhood. As for those who haven't done so, unless they are extremely powerful, most of them won't live long.
For this reason, Xu Qing developed the habit of not cleaning. He needed to blend into the environment and make himself unremarkable.
Just like a hidden hunter, it is only when he strikes that his sharpness is fully revealed.
At this moment, Xu Qing, who had left the camp and reached the edge of the restricted area, was in the same situation. He picked up some rotten leaves from the jungle, crushed them and applied them to his body, trying his best to blend into nature and gradually stepped into the restricted area.
Although the Thunder Team moved to live in the city, Xu Qing did not give up looking for the Celestial Destiny Flower.
The improvement of his cultivation and the increase in his strength, combined with his increasingly rich experience, knowledge of plants and trees, and his consistent vigilance, have reduced the dangers he encounters on the periphery of this restricted jungle.
So the scope of Xu Qing's exploration gradually no longer stopped at the temple but moved deeper and deeper.
Although the crisis was greater, this kind of tempering also continuously enhanced his combat effectiveness and made the harvest of grass and trees more abundant.
Just like the outer areas, although there are more herbs in the deep areas, most of them are still evil and toxic.
Most of the plants were poisonous, which also led Xu Qing's knowledge of plants and trees to be mostly focused on the preparation of poisons. As he became more and more proficient, he also developed several more types of toxic powders.
For this reason, he specially went to a clothing store and bought a coat full of pockets, with different poisons in each pocket.
As for the black gloves obtained from the Blood Shadow Captain's leather bag, Xu Qing also put them on and gradually found them more and more comfortable.
This glove not only enhances the destructive power of his fists but also has a certain function of blocking poisons. Therefore, together with the dagger given by the Cross, it has become a daily weapon on him, just like an iron stick.
Now, as the sun was about to set, Xu Qing, who had just finished a day of sharpening and developing poisons, emerged from the small pharmacy in the canyon, sorted out his weapons and poison powder, and with a gentle bend, headed straight for the temple.
Every time before leaving the restricted area, he would go to the temple to look for the scar-removing stone.
Although he had visited many times before but failed, he had inquired about this kind of stone and knew that it was naturally formed, with seven colors and could be seen occasionally. So he persisted until this time...
After arriving at the temple, under the afterglow of the setting sun, he saw the position between the eyebrows of the stone statue's head in the distance, as if there was a glimmer of seven-colored light shining.
Xu Qing's eyes narrowed. He quickly looked around and checked his previous hidden arrangements. After finding them intact, he jumped onto the top of a temple and squatted down to observe again.
Finally confirming that there was no danger here, he rushed straight to the place where Shi Diao's head was.
When he arrived, he saw a seven-colored stone growing in the crack between his eyebrows.
This stone should have been ordinary once, but in this mysterious temple, after being washed by the passage of time, on this day, it has changed.
Xu Qing hurriedly took them down and then quickly searched around until he had searched the entire temple complex. He found six such stones.
Looking at the stone in his hand, Xu Qing let out a long sigh of relief. He had finally found one of the two items, the Celestial Destiny Flower and the Scar Removal Stone.
After carefully putting away these six small stones, Xu Qing took a deep look at the temple complex, bowed down, and then sped away, vanishing into the distant jungle.
Speeding along, Xu Qing's figure leaped and undulated among the tree canopies.
As night fell and the roars of the ferocious beasts echoed, his pace remained unchanged, sometimes fast and sometimes slow, moving closer and closer to the edge of the jungle.
It wasn't long before Xu Qing jumped onto a tree trunk, just as he was about to use the force to move forward, suddenly the mud on the ground beside him burst open, and a giant horned python suddenly rushed out, opening its wide mouth and swallowing at him all of a sudden.
Its body was even larger than what he had encountered in the camp that day.
Facing this sudden attack, Xu Qing's expression remained unchanged in the slightest. He merely raised his right hand and flicked out a finger, landing it on the head of the giant horned python that had been devouring it.
With a bang, the giant horned python couldn't bear it. Its shrill roar came to an abrupt halt as soon as it was released. Its tough skin couldn't hold back the power from Xu Qing, and its head was torn apart, with flesh and blood collapsing.
This breakdown spread throughout the body in the blink of an eye until it turned into a cloud of blood mist.
Only his courage... It remained unscathed and fell from the blood mist. Xu Qing grabbed it in his hand and left in a flash.
In this way, at dawn, Xu Qing walked out of the jungle and returned to the camp.
The pitch-dark camp had few lights at this time. Xu Qing walked through it, and as he got the small stone, his mood became gloomy as he drew closer to his residence.
His residence was also pitch-dark. Only those dozen or so wild dogs, upon noticing his return, lay on the ground and wagged their tails.
Xu Qing, who walked into the courtyard, habitually glanced at Captain Lei's former room and then silently walked into the kitchen.
He reheated the leftovers from yesterday and swallowed them just to fill his stomach. After tidying up and returning to his room, he let out a soft sigh.
"I wonder how Captain Lei is doing in the city. It should be fine. If I still can't find the Celestial Destiny Flower in the end, I'll save up more spirit coins and buy a spot too." "
Xu Qing muttered to himself, closed his eyes and let himself sink into his cultivation.
The next day, Xu Qing went to class as usual.
Tingyu returned to normal, but the seat was still reserved for him. Chen Feiyuan resigned himself to his fate and stared longingly at Xu Qing sitting in her original position.
As the course came to an end, Tingyu no longer opened her mouth to wipe his face, and there was more understanding in her eyes.
Xu Qing sensed this understanding. He slightly lowered his head and bid farewell to Master Bai.
When leaving the tent, Xu Qing touched the small stone in the leather bag and walked towards the grocery store where the little girl was.
Before he could get close, he saw from afar that there was actually a group of strangers outside the grocery store!
Their attire was quite distinctive. On the black robes, blood-red SUNS were embroidered, exuding a sense of solemnity and bloodshed that was particularly evident on them.
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I'd like to share a real experience from my childhood with you all. I don't know why, but I still remember it to this day. Maybe it was because I was in a daze for too long at that time, so I even went home and asked my parents...
It was when I was in the fourth grade of primary school. My deskmate was a girl. One morning, for some reason, she looked at me very badly. I still remember clearly that I said to her at that time, "Oh, so-and-so, could you lend me your homework for a while?"
Then she looked at me fiercely and said, "Don't say the word 'alas'. What if others misunderstand it?" Having said that, it seemed that she turned her head and quickly glanced at a male classmate in front of us...
It was a true experience. Later, when I grew up and had a class reunion, I still joked about it, but my old deskmate wouldn't admit it anymore...