The Eternal Way-Chapter 162: Memories

Shen Shuibei seemed very displeased with Hu Xian'er meddling with Li Qi's body, so she took over all of Li Qi's treatments, grumbling things like "Quack!" and "How could it have gotten this bad!" as she carried him into the kitchen.

At first, Li Qi didn't understand.

Then Shen Shuibei turned a pot upside down and placed him inside.

"Miss Shen, what is this?"

"Be quiet! I just managed to clear your blockages, and you let a quack mess it up again. Don't talk to me; I need to concentrate on sorting this out!" Shen Shuibei said in an unusually irritable tone.

Li Qi remained silent, as he couldn't move anyway.

However, this feeling... indeed...

He felt a bit apprehensive. If other skilled doctors saw his body, could they also easily undo the Clear Mist Sect Master's stitching, just like Shen Shuibei?

This risk... would affect future cultivation. No wonder Shen Shuibei was so angry.

It seemed that he really couldn't trust outside doctors anymore.

Their intentions might be good, but their medical skills certainly couldn't compare to those of his own companion.

As Li Qi pondered these thoughts, he lay in the pot while Shen Shuibei filled it with water and cast a Fire Spell to boil it, essentially stewing Li Qi in an iron pot.

She then busied herself, setting up three or five furnaces to start refining pills, which she threw into Li Qi's pot, causing it to bubble and boil.

Fortunately, ordinary boiling water couldn't harm Li Qi anymore, so he obediently stayed inside waiting to be cooked.

While cooking, Shen Shuibei lectured Li Qi: "You know about the microcosm of the human body, why did you let someone tamper with your body?"

"The microcosm of the human body has the head like heaven, feet like earth, weather connected to the lungs, earth energy connected to the throat, wind energy to the liver, thunder energy to the heart, valley energy to the spleen, rain energy to the kidneys, six meridians as rivers, intestines and stomach as seas, nine orifices as channels for water vapor, with four seasons and five elements in harmony, governed by the cycles of yin and yang, cold and heat. Rain harmonizes, wind rages, snow condenses, and rainbows stretch—these are the constants of heaven. Humans have four limbs and five organs, breathing and exchanging energy without pause, yin and yang energies spreading as vital defenses, blood vessels showing as complexion, and expressions manifesting as sounds—these are the constants of humans."

"If the connection between heaven and man is disrupted, your microcosm is already imbalanced. Further artificial repairs may look fine, but they create subtle differences from the external world. Your microcosm, born and sustained through witchcraft techniques, drawing on the energies of heaven and earth, following the laws of the four seasons, where mountains, rivers, soil, minerals, plants, and all things have grown, even hair, skin, muscles, blood, meridians, bones, and marrow must align with the external world. If not aligned, the divine essence cultivated within will be skewed, requiring complete re-cultivation during advancement. Constantly messing around, don't you care about yourself?"

"And the person who patched you up only had craftsmanship, lacking understanding, deserving to stay stuck at Seventh Rank!"

Shen Shuibei grew angrier as she spoke, increasing the intensity of the Fire Spell, causing steam to fly everywhere and the pot of water to evaporate in two to three seconds.

"Hot!" Li Qi almost flipped out of the water.

Unfortunately, he couldn't move.

"A lesson for you!" Shen Shuibei said, casting a Water Summoning Spell, dousing Li Qi with another round of cold water, covering his nose and mouth, causing him to bubble underwater.

But despite her complaints, she diligently refined medicine, placing it in the water to reorganize the chaotic energies within Li Qi's body.

She even rolled up her sleeves and personally massaged and kneaded every part of Li Qi's body.

Li Qi lay in the pot, eyes half-closed, feeling her hands moving across his body.

Was this... turning misfortune into fortune?

In any case, Li Qi was forced to rest for another day before regaining his mobility the next day.

Finally, they set off.

Old Horse had been eating well these days, fattening up again with a double chin.

Li Qi also gained a new item—a mustard seed bag.

He bought it using Jin Bu Huan's gift.

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The gift was truly valuable.

The mustard seed bag wasn't very large, about the size of a room.

In reality, there wasn't much space inside; it was merely an entrance. The principle involved delineating a region in the outer realms, similar to a cage, protected by spells, with a small opening leading to the bag. Items thrown in were placed in that cage.

Since the cage in the outer realms was directly exposed to the vast space, it could only hold dead objects or those with extremely strong vitality capable of surviving in the outer realms. Time inside was normal, food still had an expiration date, making it essentially a portable storage locker with harsh conditions—vacuum, no temperature, no light, no shadow, water would freeze.

When buying this, Li Qi learned an interesting fact.

Initially, mustard seed bags required cultivators of Fifth Rank or above to refine them.

Delineating space in the outer realms was too difficult, and creating fixed spatial rifts for teleportation wasn't something ordinary people could do.

However, later, a powerful cultivator started this business, delineating a vast area in the outer realms, dividing it into countless smaller sections, renting these spaces to lower-ranked refiners, allowing them to open mustard seed bags within his designated space, thus enabling the existence of lower-rank mustard seed bags.

This powerful cultivator collected rent from countless factions, acting like a massive cloud storage service, selling different sizes of space to various accounts. You could store items in the cloud and retrieve them when needed.

Lower-rank refiners simply used this powerful cultivator's cloud storage, unable to control it themselves. Different mustard seed bags were different accounts, each with varying storage capacities.

This made Li Qi marvel at the ingenuity.

Truly a shrewd businessman...

Depending on the size of the rented space from their own sect, these refiners could delineate different-sized areas in the outer realms. Li Qi's bag, being moderately priced, cost as much as a Tang sword, quite expensive.

Still, it was convenient, eliminating the need to carry a backpack.

Thanks to Young Master Jin, without his eight hundred spirit flowers, Li Qi's injuries wouldn't have healed so quickly, and without his other jewels and gold, Li Qi couldn't have afforded the mustard seed bag.

Though renting online cloud storage was convenient, if one preferred a portable hard drive, there were cave treasures.

Cave treasures were far more advanced than mustard seed bags. Though empty, they could be freely modified.

For example, Clear Mist Sect's main mountain gate was a large cave, everything inside transported from the outside and reshaped.

Cave treasures could hold anything suitable for the environment, with larger volumes, but prices were astronomical, beyond Li Qi's means, and unavailable in Clear Mist City.

Packing some frozen dishes from Piaoxu Kitchen into the mustard seed bag and buying some preserved meats and sausages from Piaoxu, they prepared for departure.

Li Qi led Old Horse, reluctant to leave and munching on Piaoxu's meals, along with Shen Shuibei, bidding farewell to Clear Mist City.

On the way, Qiyat followed, and Li Qi, after careful consideration, gave her a copy of "The Unmatched Song."

A gift out of fondness, as the little red fox was quite adorable.

With this done, they finally bid farewell to Clear Mist City.

Setting off, they reached the wilderness when Li Qi suddenly pulled the reins.

"Hmm? What's wrong?" Shen Shuibei, sitting behind, tilted her head, unsure what Li Qi was up to.

Li Qi looked around, confirming no one was nearby.

Then, he took out a porcelain bottle.

"Oh, Miss Shen, this is a gift for you. It was inconvenient to bring out in the city, but it should be fine here." Li Qi handed the bottle to Shen Shuibei.

Shen Shuibei examined the bottle, unsure of Li Qi's intentions.

Then, she removed the stopper.

Suddenly, though it was daytime, a bright, ethereal moon rose.

Concentrated Taiyin energy swept through.

A crescent moon appeared, surrounded by mist, cool and serene.

Li Qi widened his eyes.

Ah, the book never mentioned Moon Essence fragments causing such a commotion?

Was it something he didn't understand?

Li Qi looked at the stunned Shen Shuibei.

No, this definitely wasn't caused by Moon Essence fragments!

He grabbed Shen Shuibei.

The icy touch felt like being wet by morning dew, a cool breeze passing through, freezing his entire body.

The surroundings changed, appearing faintly blue, like being underwater.

Li Qi struggled to stand, pulling Shen Shuibei.

As she moved, the world became clearer, as if surfacing from underwater, her body restored, senses no longer blurred.

But, a moon still glowed near Shen Shuibei.

And she cried.

The rabbit sobbed, clutching the small bottle.

Though she sometimes acted out, she had never cried like this.

Tears stained her face, jade hairpins fell, her voice soft yet sorrowful.

Clear skies, slight rain, tender and lingering thoughts.

This unprecedented scene left Li Qi momentarily stunned.

Feeling heartache, he also felt...

So beautiful.

Fortunately, he didn't remain stunned long, quickly reacting, approaching her, holding her hand: "What's wrong?"

"Nothing... nothing..." Shen Shuibei wiped her face, but couldn't wipe away the tears, eventually sitting on the ground, removing the stopper again, peering inside.

This time, she sobbed audibly.

Despite trying to suppress her sobs, they were still clear.

Li Qi approached, squatting in front of her, saying nothing, waiting awkwardly.

Usually eloquent, Li Qi found himself speechless at this moment.

After a while, Shen Shuibei gradually calmed her tears.

Her face tear-streaked, still kneeling, she looked up, tears continuously falling, asking Li Qi: "Li Qi, do... do you know everything?"

Li Qi was confused.

Know what?

I don't know.

But he didn't show it, silently wiping her face with his sleeve.

Shen Shuibei finally stopped crying, sitting on the ground, holding the bottle, her voice soft yet joyful: "Thank you, Li Qi... you actually helped me find something from Luo Fu Mountain."

The sparkle in her eyes made Li Qi glance away.

He felt it was an expression rarely seen on her.

"No... no need to thank me, it's nothing," Li Qi responded quickly.

Looking up at the sky, he thought:

Lord of Green Mountain.

Good brother! You've gone to great lengths.

Wiping Shen Shuibei's face, touching her cheek, he felt its softness.

Shen Shuibei didn't seem to notice Li Qi caressing her face. She opened the bottle, telling him, "This is the core of the Moon Essence from Luo Fu Cave Heaven, my former residence."

Li Qi sat facing her, listening.

Unexpectedly, Shen Shuibei began recounting past stories, memories flooding back.

"At that time, Yang Ning hated me because yin and yang clash, my Taiyin energy made her uncomfortable, so she often beat me... and I couldn't fight back, I was never good at fighting..."

"Once, after she beat me, I ran to Lady and cried. She called Yang Ning over and asked why she hit me."

"She proudly lifted her head, saying, 'I've always disliked her and wanted to hit her! If not for Lady's disapproval, I would have done it two years ago!'"

"Heh..." Li Qi couldn't help laughing.

"It's funny, right? After hearing her answer, Lady hung her on the osmanthus tree, blowing yin energy for four hours until the fire on her head was extinguished."

Saying this, Shen Shuibei's tone turned melancholic: "But, when the General came with the final ultimatum, Yang Ning and I were intercepted, and she pushed me out, covering my retreat."

"That's why I ended up wandering alone, separated from Lady and the others..." Shen Shuibei's tone turned sorrowful.

"Alright, enough of that, let me tell you about my childhood. I lived inside this piece of Moon Essence fragment, brought back from Taiyin by Lady herself."

"There are carvings I secretly made inside, let me show you. These were carved when I was young. This bottle is a miniature mustard seed bag; let me unlock it."

Shen Shuibei enthusiastically shared childhood stories, Li Qi listening attentively.

Flying clouds dimming at sunset, night scenes reflecting, recalling the past.

Old Horse snorted, rolling his eyes, wisely retreating to graze elsewhere.

It seemed Li Qi's journey would be delayed for another night.