CH 100

At the age of twelve, Ren Shuhan’s day began before dawn.

The first order of business was sword practice.

Lingcheng, located in the Central Plains, had a climate characterized by damp cold winters and sweltering summers. Although there wasn’t much temperature difference between day and night, the dew at sunrise still chilled the body. Fortunately, being born in the northern seas, Ren Shuhan had inherited some ice water-dwelling creature’s bloodline, according to his master. Hence, he wasn’t afraid of the cold.

An hour later, as the sky began to brighten, Ren Shuhan put away his sword and fetched water to fill the three large tubs in the house. Then, he split firewood and heated plenty of water.

His Qingyue loved cleanliness.

Ever since they had their own little courtyard, they considered themselves grown-up enough not to need the servants from the Jiang mansion. Therefore, they divided the household chores such as fetching water, cooking, washing clothes, and washing dishes between the two of them. Ren Shuhan handled the physically demanding tasks, while Jiang Qingyue handled the mental ones.

By the time he brought hot water and charcoal back to the room, Jiang Qingyue was almost awake, rubbing his eyes under the covers and calling out to him.

“Big brother, it’s so cold.”

At night, they used to share the same blanket, feeling like they were holding a small heater. Now, Ren Shuhan had to wait until Jiang Qingyue had the hot water bottle stuffed into his arms and his clothes warmed up before he smiled and put them on.

“We finally started the fire today. I’ll be back early this afternoon,” little Jiang Qingyue put on his cotton coat and was about to leave, “I’ll make something delicious.”

Ren Shuhan hugged his waist, pulling him back and draping him in a small cloak.

“I’ll try to come back as soon as possible.”

The cloak was bought yesterday with the reward money he received. It had a fluffy collar around the neck, similar to the one Jiang Qingyue wore when he was six years old.

From the age of six until now, the Jiang family’s attitude had changed. They felt they had raised a bunch of useless children, none of whom had spiritual roots. In the past two years, they had not cared much about them. They hadn’t even bought new cloaks when the old ones became too small. Jiang Qingyue had altered them into matching scarves and gloves for the two of them, one set for Ren Shuhan and one for himself.

Ren Shuhan, like a little calf, could eat and work hard. He had always wanted to buy a new one for Jiang Qingyue, but the money was kept by Jiang Qingyue. Whenever he saved up enough, Jiang Qingyue would take it to buy meat for him to eat. So, after they came down from Jade Mountain, they finally had some extra money to buy new ones.

He fastened the strap around little Jiang Qingyue’s neck, pinched his cheek, and then went out.

Today, he was going to practice martial arts on Jade Mountain.

Because he didn’t want to give up his studies (and wanted to stay close to little Jiang Qingyue), the Jiang mansion arranged for him to go up the mountain every other day. After all, the Jiang mansion was located at the foot of Jade Mountain, and those who practiced martial arts had to go up and down the mountain every day.

Most of the Taoists on the mountain had reached the Foundation Building stage, with the top three being in the late Foundation Building stage. They could control their swords for hours, much more skilled than Jian Ci. They all wanted to take Ren Shuhan as their disciple, but Ren Shuhan declined, saying he already had a master and only needed to learn some basic cultivation methods on the mountain to travel around in the future. The Taoists on Jade Mountain naturally didn’t force him.

The first day was to test his spiritual roots.

It was said that in the immortal world, there were artifacts that could indicate spiritual roots, but they didn’t exist in the mortal world. So, they had to test one by one.

First, they tried the wood spiritual root. Ren Shuhan had no reaction to the test herbs, indicating that he didn’t have the wood attribute.

The second test was for water, as Ren Shuhan was not afraid of the cold and was born in the water. After sitting quietly in the cold pool for several hours, the scholars who had come to watch all expressed, “This is a water spiritual root prodigy!”

However, water spiritual roots were relatively weak and generally only suitable for becoming doctors, proficient in medicine refining and diagnosis. Obviously, it wasn’t a very good choice.

Next, they tried fire, and Ren Shuhan discovered for the first time…

He could actually manipulate objects in the fire!

Generally, no one had both water and fire spiritual roots at the same time, at least no one had ever heard of it in the mortal world. Ren Shuhan’s case was obviously very special, and the Taoists were all very surprised.

Fire spiritual roots were very aggressive, and people were naturally inclined to be stronger. Although it was rare for a cultivator to emerge as a Golden Core cultivator in the mortal realm, and one was considered quite remarkable with his potential of having both wood and water spiritual roots, so Ren Shuhan, who had both water and fire spiritual roots, clearly had the upper hand.

Everyone was very satisfied today, and the people from the Jiang mansion treated Ren Shuhan even more respectfully, completely unlike how they treated a twelve-year-old boy.

The people from Jade Mountain also said, “This child will surely become a great talent in the future!”

In theory, there were still two spiritual roots left to be tested, but the more spiritual roots one had, the harder it was to cultivate, and the poorer the aptitude. With Ren Shuhan’s physique, which allowed him to cultivate directly with spiritual stones, it was unlikely that he had any other spiritual roots.

Moreover, the gold and earth spiritual roots were difficult to test. Many people obviously had these two spiritual roots, but they never knew they had a celestial fate because, just like early cultivators couldn’t control water and fire, trying to control metal and sand would only be harder. The only characteristic that could be manifested was: a sturdy body.

Additionally, the testing method was rather unique, known as Body Refinement – Heavenly Thunder Infusion.

Usually, unless one was seeking death, they wouldn’t easily attempt this.

Of course, if successful, body cultivators were actually the strongest. Their combat power was on par with fire spiritual roots, and they were more malleable. They didn’t need to rely on spiritual medicines; as long as they persevered in cultivation, their future prospects would be limitless.

So, as Ren Shuhan descended the mountain this time, he was still somewhat dissatisfied.

He wasn’t afraid of pain; he just hoped to work hard to bring Jiang Qingyue a better life.

However, he quickly pushed aside this dissatisfaction, remembering Jiang Qingyue’s instructions to return home early.

Jiang Qingyue’s day began with making breakfast.

All of Ren Shuhan’s money was in his hands. Yesterday, when he received the reward, he went to buy a lot of meat that Ren Shuhan loved to eat. He stewed chickens, ducks, and fish together, only eating two bowls himself while Ren Shuhan ate a whole pot.

This morning, he also cleaned up the four fresh fish sent by the Jiang mansion and made a pot of seafood congee with a pile of fresh vegetables. He also cut two large plates of soy beef and heated two large bowls of fresh milk.

Of course, Jiang Qingyue only drank about half a bowl himself, leaving the rest for Ren Shuhan.

These past two years had been tight, and they were both busy with studies and livelihood. They had gotten used to eating two meals a day. Jiang Qingyue was afraid Ren Shuhan wouldn’t have enough to eat, so he wanted to give him another piece of meat, but Ren Shuhan said Jade Mountain would provide lunch and urged him to eat some himself, so Jiang Qingyue relented.

The other child in the courtyard watched on the side, dumbfounded.

His name was Ah Lu, the child saved by Ren Shuhan yesterday. Now they lived in the same courtyard, in the servants’ quarters next to the kitchen.

When Ah Lu helped with the shopping and cooking, he didn’t feel anything special. After all, everyone had been poor for the past two years. Finally having money to eat something nice and having a bit more was normal. Even though he didn’t dare to eat with Ren Shuhan, only eating a little in the kitchen, it was still much better than before.

But this morning, Ren Shuhan could actually eat so much…

And Ren Shuhan and Jiang Qingyue were very close, sleeping in the same room at night, which made Ah Lu inevitably start to think about things.

In the Xia Dynasty of the mortal realm, there were men who married men. The old master who had his eye on him had already married two male concubines. It was said that in the immortal world, there were many immortal couples who were either both men or both women.

If Ren Shuhan became rich and prosperous in the future, wouldn’t Jiang Qingyue also enjoy the glory with him? But what about himself?

After some thought, Ah Lu realized that Ren Shuhan was quite handsome…

Among the children of the mansion, Ah Lu felt that Ren Shuhan was the most handsome.

Of course, this was from his own aesthetic perspective. Ren Shuhan was the tallest, the strongest, and had the straightest nose among them. He would also be very handsome in the future. If he could follow him, Ah Lu felt that even doing those things, he would willingly do it!

He matured early and knew quite a bit about the affairs of the inner courtyard and worldly affairs. So, after some contemplation, he plucked up the courage to approach Ren Shuhan while washing dishes and engaged him in conversation.

“Young master,” Ah Lu tried to make himself look pitiful, saying, “the young master values ​​me by keeping me here. Give me a chance to serve the young master tonight? ”

Ren Shuhan was puzzled: “No need to serve, didn’t we agree already?”

Seeing him like this, seeming not to understand, Ah Lu was both surprised and delighted, continuing, “If I serve the young master once, the young master will know how good I am. I won’t be worse than Brother Qingyue. I can also serve the young master together with Brother Qingyue. Young master, give it a try…”

“Stop it.”

Although Ren Shuhan didn’t understand what was going on, he had a bad feeling and abruptly interrupted him, turning and walking away.

“And don’t talk to me about these unnecessary things in the future.” After putting some distance between them, he stopped and added, “Also, don’t call him Brother Qingyue. You’re not familiar with him.”

Ah Lu: “…”

Being rejected was one thing, but now all the kitchen cleaning chores were left to him alone…

But since he was originally a servant, it was only right for him to do it himself. Ah Lu could only reluctantly accept it, silently cursing this person for not understanding anything, truly a fool.

As the sun set, when he returned to the room, Ren Shuhan brought hot water.

He and Jiang Qingyue bathed together in the warm room, washing each other’s backs. After cleaning up, they put on white underclothes and lay down in bed. Ren Shuhan turned over and held Jiang Qingyue’s hand.

“In the future, I don’t want anyone else to serve me, and you shouldn’t serve anyone else either.” Ren Shuhan said seriously, then repeated it again, “You shouldn’t serve anyone else, and I won’t serve anyone else. Understand?”

Jiang Qingyue was a little dizzy from being spun around by him and didn’t even understand what “serve” meant anymore, but he still nodded.

The two hooked their fingers together, and Ren Shuhan finally fell asleep satisfied.

Jiang Qingyue closed his eyes and thought, I’m going to marry you in the future, isn’t that how it’s supposed to be? Why do you have to emphasize it so much? Didn’t we already agree and confirm our love for each other?

Feeling a bit puzzled, Jiang Qingyue then turned his thoughts to tomorrow’s menu, because Ren Shuhan said they couldn’t always eat too much. The scholars had advised him to prepare for fasting, so in the morning, he would only make a pot of lean meat porridge, fry two heart-shaped eggs, and steam a tray of crab roe soup dumplings. For dinner, he would prepare a pot of duck soup… Soon, he peacefully drifted off to sleep.

Early the next morning, a beautiful young girl came to the courtyard, saying she was looking for Ren Shuhan.

Jiang Qingyue suddenly remembered Ren Shuhan’s words from yesterday and hastily reassured himself that “everything was fine.” But his heart felt a little sour.

Lol, Qingqing, no need to worry, your husband only has eyes for you!!

Thank you for reading