My consciousness returned, leaving the Purple Mansion space, but my mood became more and more restless. There are too many things waiting for me to do. YunQingYue needs to find her family, JIETOU's situation is uncertain, and most importantly, Xiao Hutu is still in a state of being banned by both ghosts and gods, sealed at the intersection of Huangquan Road. Although I now have the wisdom root spirit bud, I have not yet formed a fetus so I still don't know if I can defeat that blood-sucking demon.
Not to mention all these things about going to school and studying; it starts in two days. At that time, I must go to school even though it's a waste of time because I have no choice but to do so - it's like asking for death.
There are also matters concerning Bai Xinghua and even Wang Qinyuan - everything is chaotic with no clear direction on what should be done.
At this moment, I deeply understand what it means to be busy like an emperor...
Perhaps this is what they call "the capable ones bear more responsibilities."
After thinking calmly for a while, I realized that being restless without any plan won't work. Just as one eats their food bite by bite or lives day by day; tasks must also be completed one by one.
I found my backpack and took out paper and pen then started making a plan list:
Firstly: patiently endure these two days until school starts since this was my parents' request which requires some emotional consideration from me.
Of course these two days are very precious so there's no time for idleness either. The jade essence left in my bottle has some roots remaining which means finding ways to use them will help create something useful.
Secondly: cultivate the spirit bud since everything else depends on improving strength through practice despite how tedious it may seem because only then can we do what we want.
Thirdly: during these two days, I can also make time to visit Bai Xinghua. My parents obviously don't want me to see her but since I want to, this is something that must be done even if the Emperor himself tries to stop me.
Lastly: after school starts, work hard for the first week then head straight to the old man's house on weekends. Wait a minute - going home on weekends will raise suspicion from my parents so it's better if I take leave on Wednesday and go directly there instead; check JIETOU's situation and ask the old man for help in finding YunQingYue's family.
If YunQingYue's search for her family is successful, it shouldn't be too much trouble. At most, she'll just check on her brother's current life status. This won't take up too much time. As for finding her brother's remains, I think there is absolutely no hope of finding them. We can cross that off the list and focus on helping her find her brother's reincarnated body.
Once YunQingYue's situation is resolved, my next priority will be to rescue Little Fool. But before that, I need to let the old man evaluate my strength and see if I can handle the Soul Devourer. If possible, he could also help me with divination.
After taking care of these matters, it should be around the weekend when I go home to visit my parents and put their minds at ease before returning to school and continuing my leave of absence in order to rush over to Mo Du Mountain to save Little Fool.
That roughly sums up my plan.
As I finished writing down this plan at my desk, a serious problem suddenly occurred to me: where exactly was Mo Du Mountain? What kind of place was it? There didn't seem to be such a place nearby - where would I even begin looking?
Realizing this was a major issue that couldn't wait any longer, I immediately went outside and asked my parents about it. To my surprise though they had never heard of Mo Du Mountain before.
"It might be far away," I said anxiously as they shook their heads in confusion.
"No way," replied Dad curiously "Why are you so eager about this place? Is something going on?"
"Nothing really,"I lied "I'm just curious about this place all of sudden."
"Well then since you're studying now don't you have maps?" suggested Dad "Just look it up yourself."
This reminded me that indeed there were maps in one of my textbooks and I had a geography book as well. So I quickly went back to my room, pulled out the maps and books, turned on my flashlight and spent the whole night searching for Mo Du Mountain until it was time for dinner. But unfortunately, I couldn't find any place called Mo Du Mountain.
This was strange - if there really was such a mountain then it should be marked on the map. It seemed like this wasn't some famous landmark after all; instead, I would have to ask around slowly to see if anyone knew where it was located.
I suddenly remembered that the old man had traveled extensively throughout his life so he might know where Mo Du Mountain is located. With that thought in mind, I relaxed and ate dinner before continuing with my cultivation practice to restore my energy.
By morning, most of my energy had been restored and I felt refreshed.
I haven't walked around the village for a long time, so I strolled towards the village. I just wanted to take a walk, but something unexpected happened soon after.
There is a small hill at the east end of our village with dense forests on it. The best thing about it is that there is a very large peach tree facing south in the sunny area.
The peach tree blooms with pink flowers every year, which are very beautiful. People in the village say that this tree has been alive for hundreds of years and is a spiritual sacred tree. During festivals and holidays, some people even go under the tree to worship.
However, there is one strange thing about this tree: although its flowers are beautiful, it rarely bears fruit. Sometimes even if peaches grow on it, they are just small buds that fall off and never mature.
The elderly say that this is because the age of the tree is too old and cannot keep up with nutrition intake to bear fruit.
But this explanation seems incorrect because people have dug deep trenches around the peach tree in previous years and fertilized it with manure inside them. However, no fruits were seen growing on it next year either.
This has always been an unsolved mystery; fortunately, due to its good appearance and lushness over time despite not bearing fruit well - otherwise such an unproductive peach would have been cut down by villagers long ago.
The incident occurred near where grass was growing around that same peach tree.
As winter turned into spring when all things began sprouting anew again including green shoots emerging from last year's dry straw still flourishing within those tall grasses reaching over one foot high making visibility difficult from afar.
At first I had intended to climb up onto mountain absorbing some purple energy coming from Eastward direction but as soon as I got closer heard cries coming from within those layers of grasses nearby instead! Curious what could be causing such sounds early morning like this, I went over to investigate and found a very hidden and vicious hunting trap. Inside the trap was a little black fox spinning around and crying out.
Upon closer inspection, I realized it was a half-grown fox.