Chapter 20: It’s Your Home Now

I stepped off my flying sword and touched down lightly on the terrace of Lonely Cloud Peak, tucking my blade back into its scabbard with a crisp metallic click. The night air was crisp, carrying the fragrant scent of mountain dew and spirit bamboo through the mist.

Walking around the courtyard, I approached the bathing chamber and set the neat bundle of moonlit-silk robes on the low wooden stool outside the door.

"Qingxue," I called out softly, knocking twice against the wooden frame. "I brought you some clean robes from my Senior Sister. I’ve left them right outside the door. The guest bedroom on the east side of the courtyard is already tidied up, so once you finish, that’s where you can sleep tonight."

I turned to head back to the courtyard, but before could take two steps, the wooden door slid open behind me.

"Master..."

I paused and glanced back, only to feel my breath catch slightly in my throat.

Shen Qingxue stood in the doorway, wrapped only in a thick, white cotton bath towel tucked tightly above her chest. Beads of warm water still clung to her porcelain collarbones, slowly trickling down the soft curve of her pale skin into the hollow of the towel.

She was twenty years old, in the full bloom of her youth, and even though months of fleeing through the mortal borderlands had left her body slender and noticeably malnourished, the underlying elegance of her figure was unmistakable. The medicinal spring had brought a healthy, rosy flush to her cheeks, making her look like a fresh lotus blooming out of clear water.

Her dark eyes were bright with unreserved reverence as she noticed the bundle of clothes. "Thank you, Master. You have gone through so much trouble for me."

She stepped forward to pick up the clothes, the movement accentuating the delicate lines of her shoulders and the supple curve of her waist.

Seeing her emaciated state up close, a pang of sympathy tightened in my chest. To endure months of starvation, broken bones, and bone poison while running from imperial assassins was a miracle in itself. An Asura Dao Heart could carry a person’s will through hell, but flesh and blood still required real sustenance.

Flipping my wrist, I retrieved a small celadon porcelain bottle from my storage ring and placed it gently into her hands alongside the folded robes.

"Take this," I said softly.

Qingxue looked down at the cool ceramic bottle, tilting her head. "Master, what is this?"

"A bottle of Dragon-Tiger Vitality Pills," I explained, leaning slightly against the wooden doorframe. "It’s not an aggressive cultivation pill, so you don’t have to worry about violent energy tearing your meridians. In the long run, your body will need a deep reservoir of vital essence to withstand true cultivation. With your current state of malnutrition, diving straight into harsh body tempering will place a massive toll on your organs. Take one pill every night right before you sleep."

I looked into her dark eyes and continued in a firmer tone, "Normally, an elder would tell his new disciple to meditate through the night and circulate qi without rest. But what your body needs most right now isn’t endless grinding, it needs deep, undisturbed rest to recover its natural vitality. Sleep well tonight, let the medicine do its work, and get yourself into proper shape."

I gave her a gentle smile and said, "Don’t keep your guard up around me all the time. If you need something, just ask. Whether it’s food, cultivation resources, clothes, or anything else, you can tell me. This is Lonely Cloud Peak, and from now on, it’s your home too."

Qingxue’s tense shoulders slowly relaxed, and a faint smile appeared on her face. She nodded lightly. "I understand, Master. I’ll remember."

"Good. Now go change and get some sleep. Tomorrow, we’ll continue with your training."

I reached out and gently flicked her forehead before turning around and walking away.

I knew she still hadn’t completely lowered her guard around me. That wasn’t surprising. Trust wasn’t something that could be built in a single day, especially for someone whose entire clan had been butchered because of political schemes.

If anything, I was already satisfied that she was willing to stay and be my wife.

After leaving Qingxue behind, I walked toward the eastern corner of the pavilion.

An ancient spirit-banyan tree stood there, its massive branches spreading outward like a natural canopy over the ground. This was the same tree beneath which I had spent countless days during the years I had remained stuck at Early Core Formation.

I sat down beneath it and crossed my legs.

I closed my eyes and slowly cleared my mind. The noises of the sect, the arguments of the Elders’ Council, Zhao Cang, Su Wan’er, all of them gradually faded from my thoughts.

For the first time in a long while, there was nothing distracting me.

It was time.

"System, retrieve the Primordial Five Elements Chaos Sutra."

The moment my voice fell, a jade scroll suddenly materialized before me.

It was made from a deep-grey jade that seemed to contain countless tiny specks of light within it. The moment it appeared, an ancient and terrifying pressure spread through the entire pavilion.

The surrounding spiritual qi began to tremble, and the five elements in the air seemed to resonate with the scroll.

Before I could even reach out and touch the scroll, an enormous amount of information suddenly flooded into my sea of consciousness.

My expression changed slightly as I quickly processed the information.

The opening requirements of the Primordial Five Elements Chaos Sutra were far more demanding than I had expected.

Fortunately, I had already broken through to the Late-Stage Core Formation Realm and acquired Heaven-Grade Spiritual Roots.

If I had tried to cultivate this technique with my old Spiritual Roots, the backlash would probably have been enough to cripple me.

Cultivation manuals weren’t simply collections of techniques that anyone could practice. The higher the grade of a manual, the more precise the circulation of spiritual qi became.

Every meridian and aperture in the body had to be used in a specific sequence, allowing spiritual qi to flow through them without causing instability.