When they left the hall and headed towards the pond, Qiu Xier couldn't help but say in tears, "Is Shifu intentionally making life difficult for us? If he really can't stand us, I'll voluntarily leave the mountain. This daily water-fetching routine, is not for humans!"
In the past, if Qiu Xier had said such words, Gao Cang would have reprimanded her immediately. He revered the master the most and couldn't stand anyone speaking ill of him.
However, this time, even Gao Cang remained silent. The boy in his teens clenched the wooden bucket in his hand tightly and finally squatted down, crying bitterly.
But Ranran said, "If we can't learn our skills well, we deserve punishment. Let's go."
When the group reached the pond, they found that due to last night's rain, the previously half-filled pond was now almost overflowing. With just the four of them, it would take ages to empty the pond.
Ranran looked at the dejected trio, without saying a word.
She felt a little guilty, thinking these three were being punished as well because of her. So, she started scooping water first, then carried the bucket and headed down the mountain.
The path down the mountain seemed to have changed significantly, perhaps due to the rain washing it away, becoming more rugged. One had to concentrate to keep their footing and move forward slowly.
Ranran concentrated on the path for a while before starting to walk down the mountain. However, after a while, she exclaimed in surprise and quickened her pace, rushing down the mountain to pour out the water and then coming back up.
At first, she walked very slowly, but as she continued, her pace quickened.
"Quick, fetch some water and come down with me!" Ranran exclaimed excitedly.
Bai Baishan and Gao Cang were discussing how to bid farewell to their master and ask for permission to leave. When they heard Ranran's words, they looked up listlessly. "We're already leaving anyway, why bother with fetching water?" Bai Baishan said.
Ranran walked over and pulled them up, saying, "Hurry up, I'll show you something fun."
Hearing her, they had no choice but to get up, fetch water, and follow Ranran down the mountain.
However, the mountain path was not only wet and slippery but also more difficult to traverse, with no remarkable features. Gao Cang and the others couldn't understand why their little junior sister was so excited.
At this moment, Ranran spoke up, "Haven't you noticed that the twists and turns of this mountain path are exactly the same as the qi circulation method Shifu taught us today?"
Hearing this, Bai Baishan focused on the path and tried a few more steps, looking delighted. "You're right, little junior sister. We didn't notice until you pointed it out! But how did the path change like this? Wasn't it due to the rain erosion?"
Ranran shook her head. Looking at these paths now, it seemed like they were formed by a surge of vitality qi, not naturally formed at all.
If these rugged mountain paths were drawn by Su Yishui's vitality qi, he definitely wouldn't exert so much effort just to make things difficult for his foolish disciples.
She thought for a moment and said, "As you carry water, try circulating qi according to the direction of the mountain path and see if you can comprehend the main points."
This time, they all put their hearts into it. While carrying water, they didn't walk lightly as usual. Instead, they tried to maintain stability on steep slopes and slow down on uphill stretches to prevent the water from spilling out of the buckets. So, once they followed the route to circulate their qi, it became clear where to condense qi and where to speed up and turn.
After making dozens of trips back and forth, the stagnant qi that had been difficult to move forward suddenly broke through many obstacles. Gao Cang and Bai Baishan's heads began to emit steam. Qiu Xier also had an epiphany, feeling that carrying water became lighter and not as heavy as before.
However, Ranran tried a few times and still felt her vitality being blocked. She knew that the aftereffects she experienced in the Netherworld realm had not dissipated, so she didn't rush to circulate qi and instead used light body technique to swiftly carry water.
After understanding Shifu's intentions, Gao Cang and the others became very spirited and stopped mentioning returning home.
After spending three days emptying the pond, Gao Cang and the others felt that their qi circulation is now abundant, and had greatly surpassed their two years of cultivation in the past.
The disciples' comprehension levels varied, so naturally, the teaching methods had to be different. Su Yishui had evidently taught these foolish disciples through a more direct and intuitive method.
Ranran realized that she had misunderstood Shifu. She really shouldn't have argued with him earlier.
Since she was wrong, apologizing was the right thing to do.
So, after emptying the pond, Ranran disregarded her sore arms and legs, and went back to the kitchen. She kneaded dough, made fillings, steamed the bean cakes that Shifu loved, and personally delivered them to his study.
Usually, at this time, Shifu would be reading. As expected, when she entered the study, Shifu was sitting on the incense mat, frowning as he read the few remaining books in the study.
Hmm, looking at the now empty study, Ranran felt that she had taken too many books with her when she left.
When she followed Su Yishui back, she didn't bring any books back with her, so the book Shifu was reading now… is that deadly "Playing Classics"…
Seeing Su Yishui's handsome brows become increasingly furrowed, Ranran decided to give the bean cakes to the senior brothers to eat instead.
As she was about to quietly back out, Su Yishui spoke, "Since you're here, why not come in?"
So Ranran had no choice but to awkwardly smile and carry the tray in.
She deliberately avoided looking at the open "Playing Classics" and instead picked up the bean cakes, saying to Su Yishui, "These are red bean cakes I made myself with honey filling. They taste best eaten hot."
Su Yishui didn't say anything but looked at the steaming cakes. They were ordinary bean cakes, but Ranran had shaped them into little red rabbits with peach-shaped mouths, looking really cute, but no matter how you looked at it, they seemed like things for amusing children.
Su Yishui found it childish and didn't want to eat them. He just lowered his eyes and said, "If there's nothing else, you can leave."
Ranran didn't leave because she had come with the intention to apologize to Su Yishui. So, although it was difficult to speak up, she still said, "Shifu, I was wrong…"
Su Yishui raised an eyebrow, looking at the girl with blushing cheeks as red as peaches, and sneered, "You can make mistakes? Throughout the entire cultivation world, there's no other disciple like you who dares to lecture the master, better don't overwhelm me with your apology!"
If it were any other girl, hearing such mocking words would have made her cry and run away long ago.
But Ranran picked up a rabbit-shaped bean cake and solicitously placed it by Su Yishui's lips, saying, "Shifu, take a bite of this rabbit's butt. I added a special filling inside!"
Su Yishui, still with plenty of mocking words left to say, his mouth blocked by the rabbit's butt, and the fragrance of the cake filled his nostrils. His mouth involuntarily took a bite.
Hmm… Inside was a diluted bean paste with honey, sweet but not cloying, quickly spreading and diffusing on his taste buds.
Ranran smiled and asked, "Isn't it delicious? When I tried making it last time, I ate three of them at one go!"
After eating the sweet treat with honey filling, Su Yishui couldn't help but put the rest of the rabbit-shaped cake held in Ranran's hand into his mouth.
After finishing it, his brain seemed to be wrapped in the sweetness of honey, causing him to exert himself to recall what words he had prepared to scold this girl with.
"Are you sincerely apologizing or intentionally using food to shut people up?" Su Yi Shui couldn't help but eat another peach-shaped bean cake, then asked with a stern face.
Ranran was pouring hot tea for him to cleanse his palate and replied with a half-raised head, "Naturally, I want to apologize and also make sure you eat well!"
After that, she quickly put away the "Playing Classics" she had written in her past life smoothly back on the nearby bookshelf. Then she sincerely said, "I shouldn't have misunderstood your good intentions in teaching disciples. The foundation of senior brother and the others is indeed much weaker compared to the new disciples, so they can't study advanced techniques with them. So, Shifu, when you had them do rough chores like chopping wood, it's actually to temper them, to help them lay a solid foundation…"
But Su Yishui laughed coldly after hearing Ranran's words. "You didn't misunderstand. I did indeed make things difficult for them before, hoping they would have some insight and leave on their own."
This… hearing Su Yishui's candid admission, Ranran suddenly found it difficult to continue flattering him.
After a brief silence, she asked in a small voice, "But Shifu, why did you change your mind?"
Su Yi Shui stretched out his long arm, took down the "Playing Classics" again, flipped to the section about Ferocious beasts, and tapped on the pages, saying, "These annotations were written by you? I'm really curious, am I really as good as you say?"
Hmm, when she later corrected the mistakes, she did write quite a few good praises about Shifu. Like dotes on his disciples, being stern but soft-hearted, and being the best Shifu in the world, and so on.
Su Yishui leaned close and whispered softly in Ranran's ear, "I've been thinking, I was probably tolerating you useless people around me for a reason. Before I remember it, you lot better become more useful, or else it's a waste of food…"
Ranran's mouth was half-open, especially regretting her actions of correcting the mistakes in the "Playing Classics" in the past.
It turned out that her previous self from her past life had looked foolish but was actually truly wise, completely seeing through Shifu's hypocritical facade. This is no ferocious beast, he was practically a venom-spewing serpent with big fangs!
She looked at him with pursed lips, feeling increasingly dizzy from anger. So she picked up the remaining bean cakes and was about to leave.
But Su Yi Shui grabbed her hand before she could leave. "You brought it here and now you want to take it away? Are you a three-year-old child?"
Before he could finish speaking, his brows furrowed because his fingers happened to touch her pulse, and he suddenly noticed that her pulse was unstable, even worse than before?
Su Yishui asked urgently, "What's going on? Did you take a wrong path in your qi circulation practice?"
Since he had discovered it, Ranran shook her head, feeling even more dizzy. As Su Yi Shui was holding her hand, her body went limp, and she fainted in his arms.
When her fragrant and soft body fell into Su Yishui's arms, his body stiffened slightly, and he intuitively felt his empty heart suddenly filled up.
But he didn't have time to think about it. He quickly sat her up and then placed his hand on her back to circulate vitality qi for her.
As his vitality qi circulated into her body, Ranran felt a familiar warmth spreading. She instinctively started circulating qi according to the mantra her master had taught her, as if a long-lost spring was flowing again, and the blockages were noticeably relieved.
However, Su Yi Shui's brows were still furrowed because he found that the blockages in Ranran's body were located at the major life gates of the Shen Ting and Cheng Guang. These blockages weren't formed overnight but were due to innate deficiencies. It was just that someone had been guiding her qi circulation before, which was how she seemed no different from ordinary people.
Just now, when he activated his qi, this girl actually started circulating qi on her own, like a hungry little bird eagerly absorbing his qi.
He felt the qi in his dantian sink, and if he hadn't quickly pulled back, she might have absorbed it all…
After forgetting parts of his memory, Su Yi Shui had always been puzzled by one thing — even though he had handed over half of his golden core, twenty years of cultivation should have been enough to compensate. So why was his current cultivation still insufficient to form a nascent soul? There also seemed to be subtle signs of internal energy depletion.
It wasn't until just now, when he transferred qi to Ranran, that he finally realized that he must have been constantly transferring qi to this female disciple to prolong her life. That's why his cultivation had stagnated and couldn't progress further to reach the next stage. And all his hard-earned cultivation during these recent days was instantly drained in a moment by this damned girl!
Thinking of this, Su Yi Shui's face turned extremely grim. He grabbed Ranran's shoulders and emphasized each word, "What curse did you put on me? I actually sacrificed my vitality qi to nourish you this way?"
Ranran, who had just regained consciousness, blinked her eyes and was stunned when she understood Su Yi Shui's words. Just now, when Shifu had transferred vitality qi to her, it was a cultivation practice they had done often in the past.
Every once in a while, when Shifu guided her in qi cultivation, he would also transfer vitality qi to her. So Ranran had already gotten used to it, thinking it was a necessary process for master and disciple in cultivation.
But Su Yi Shui had gritted his teeth and said that she was using the demonic cultivation's dark arts to absorb qi… Ranran was gaping with surprise and speechless for a long while…
In other words, her recent bouts of dizziness was not because of a reversal of yin and yang, but because Su Yi Shui, after returning from the Netherworld realm, completely forgot to replenish her in time, causing her to collapse.
Although Ranran had inwardly decided to strictly adhere to etiquette with Shifu, and try to forget the memory of their period of inappropriate intimacy. But now she suddenly realized that Shifu had been silently using the cultivation that was precious to all cultivators, just to keep her alive. Ranran suddenly felt an onset of tears as her eyes reddened.
So what if everyone said that he owed her? She knew he had always done his best to compensate, even sacrificing his own foundation building cultivation to prolong her life! That was enough!
Perhaps due to her innate frailty, Ranran had never experienced strong emotions from childhood to adulthood. But her emotions were always stirred by the glaring man before her…
He had completely forgotten everything, but why did she feel indebted to him with her entire being, and unable to repay him back no matter what?
Feeling choked up, Ranran felt extremely distressed. She didn't care about etiquette anymore and suddenly hugged the man's waist, throwing herself into his arms and burst into tears.
Su Yi Shui had been waiting to see how this little demoness would defend herself, and explain how she had once bewitched him and absorbed his cultivation.
But unexpectedly, the little demoness didn't say a word, just threw herself into his arms, crying loudly. Those who didn't know better, might think he had taken advantage of her!
Su Yi Shui was extremely furious. He reached out, thinking to push her away with force, but the sobbing and limp little demoness in his arms made him feel at a loss.
He couldn't push her away, and hollering at her didn't make her leave. He could only let her wet tears soak the front of his clothes.
Watching her shoulders shake uncontrollably as she cried, Su Yi Shui's countenance changed several times. Finally, he sighed helplessly and asked, "What are you crying for? Is it because you haven't absorbed enough qi?"
Ranran finally raised her head, sniffed hard, and tried to calm down. She said, "Shifu, you should take back your golden core, and don't transfer vitality qi to me again in future. There's a natural order to the world. I shouldn't have been reincarnated like this. Rather than always burdening you, it's better to let me fend for myself."
As a cultivator, the greatest pain should be the stagnation of cultivation, watching hope for immortality fade, and gradually aging and dying.
Even though Su Yi Shui was a rare genius, using vitality qi to nourish another was not a long-term solution. If it weren't for his earlier scheming against Wei Jiu, he might have already exhausted his qi and been unable to keep up.
But he had never told her these things before. Ranran would never have let Su Yi Shui do this if she had known earlier.
Hearing the girl's decided words, Su Yishui raised an eyebrow and said, "Aren't you afraid of death?"
Ranran shook her head and said in a low voice, "I hope you can live well…"
Seeing the determination in her slightly red eyes, Su Yi Shui suddenly felt his heart tighten, the pain making it hard for him to draw breath…
He didn't know what was wrong with him. Just the thought that Ranran might die filled him with inexplicable panic, as if he had seen her die before…
Su Yi Shui calmed his mind. As if driven by a mysterious force, he reached out to wipe away her tears with his hands, saying gruffly, "Until I remember why I saved you like this, you better stay alive! What I've given, you can't just return as you like!"
Ranran looked at Su Yi Shui's seemingly heartless expression but felt her heart overflowing with warmth. She couldn't help but embrace this threatening ferocious beast again, sniffing greedily at his familiar scent in his arms.
For a moment, she couldn't remember when was the last time she hugged him like this.
Su Yi Shui didn't push her away. He lowered his gaze thoughtfully and coldly asked, "Did you always hug me like this before?"
This little girl was quite beautiful. Could it be that she had seduced him like this before, which made him pay special attention to her?
Ranran knew she had forgot herself. Although she was very reluctant, she slowly let go of him, sat up, brushed the stray hair from her forehead, and muttered, "Shifu, you… are just like my father… When I miss my father, I occasionally can't help but hug you…"
This explanation seemed the most reasonable. Ranran didn't want the current Su Yishui to have any misunderstandings.
She reminded herself not to lose control like this again in the future, so she didn't notice that her fatherly Shifu's face had turned even darker.
Su Yi Shui never expected her to come up with such things. He looked at himself in the mirror and saw his appearance as a nineteen-year-old youth. How could he look like this little demoness's father?
He couldn't help but say coldly, "Next time you miss your father, go back to visit him! Don't call every man you see as your father. If there's nothing else, you can leave!"
Ranran sniffed and got up quickly. "Shifu, do you… feel alright now? Do you feel uncomfortable?"
Perhaps it had been a long time since she had absorbed Shifu's qi, and she seemed to have unconsciously absorbed a lot just now. She didn't know if it would affect Su Yi Shui.
But Su Yishui was annoyed. He just repeated coldly, "Leave!"
Ranran had no choice but to slowly walk out.
When the young girl disappeared from view, Su Yi Shui realized belatedly that once again he had been too lenient and had let this little demoness off too easily.
After all, he had slowly given her more than half of his cultivation and vitality qi.
Su Yi Shui had never thought that there was anything too important in the memories sealed by the Soul-Cleansing Talisman.
But now he was increasingly curious about why he accomodated Xue Ranran so much and why he was willing to risk his life to save the Mu Qingge sisters.
If he wanted to find out everything, he had to find Elder Jiu to remove the Soul-Cleansing Talisman.
Ranran had always thought that Su Yi Shui had taken in so many disciples recently simply because he was dissatisfied with how weak his previous disciples were.
But later, she discovered that these new disciples all had astonishing backgrounds. For example, Shen Kuo, whose grandfather was the former Sect Master of Crimson Gate, Shen Wen.
Although Shen Wen was a demonic cultivator, back then he was also a respected great figure of his generation. Unfortunately, he mistakenly took in Wei Jiu, the ungrateful one, as his disciple.
Everyone knew that Wei Jiu, in his eagerness for quick success, had killed his own master, Shen Wen. Shen Kuo and Wei Jiu were sworn enemies.
Su Yi Shui took in Shen Kuo with obvious intentions — to gather forces and deal with Wei Jiu first.
As for Yue Sheng, he was a descendant of the Yu Mountain Sect, which used to rival the three major sects. The rise of the Jiuhua Sect and its leadership with the other two major sects to suppress Yu Mountain were events that few people now remembered.
But as a descendant of Yu Mountain, Yue Sheng was determined to revive his sect. Following Su Yi Shui, who was at odds with the three major sects, was a natural choice.
Although Yue Sheng was young, Yu Mountain Sect still had many connections, and he had gathered a lot of information about recent activities in Crimson Gate.
For example, there were many unfamiliar disciples entering Crimson Gate recently. They wore Crimson gate disciples' clothes, but the other members didn't recognize them.
Moreover, Wei Jiu had allocated a secluded dojo in Crimson Gate's Red Flame Mountain to them.
So Su Yi Shui planned to lead his people to investigate and find out what was going on.
With so many talents in West Mountain now, Gao Cang and the others originally thought their Shifu wouldn't take them along again.
But unexpectedly, their master brought along several senior disciples, including the slightly weaker Bai Baishan.
Among the newly selected disciples, Su Yi Shui only chose Shen Kuo and Yue Sheng, the top ones.
But this time, they didn't travel by carriage but rode on the wind.
Yue Sheng still looked down on Gao Cang and the others, but his manner have become much more polite.
It was because when they hadn't left the West Mountain, Yue Sheng had provoked Gao Cang and Bai Baishan several times, which Su Yi Shui had seen.
Su Yishui didn't say anything, he just let Yue Sheng have a contest with Gao Cang, to step on eggshells. The loser would have to write the rules of the West Mountain Sect a hundred times.