CH 57

In that flower field, there were well grown corpse flowers (known as man-eating piranha plants in the novel). Their blossoms were bigger than Lin Suci and the color was so dazzling and incomparably beautiful. Aside from clenching their teeth at Lin Suci, their other features were notably stunning.

The flower field was a distance from the foot of the mountain. Lin Suci walked from the mound to the outermost of the flower field. Approaching the purple corpse flowers, he dawdled for almost the whole day.

In the midst of the flower field, every step was a difficult attempt. The atmosphere as well as the soil there was different from other places. Every step Lin Suci took seemed that his feet were soaked with thick liquid, making him weigh like a thousand.

It was unfortunate that those flowers were hard to mess with.

Obviously, they were merely blooming flowers with no knowledge, but all of them seemed to have the vigilance and the ability to protect themselves. Besides Ruan Linggu, whoever approached would stimulate the corpse flowers to attack.

The day appeared to be late and Lin Suci was still standing ten feet away in front of the purple corpse flowers, staring at the big flower face in the dusk.

His master explained something before returning. Those flowers were incomparably delicate that they could not be picked with force. Otherwise, they would wither. Also, the spells method could not be used either. Otherwise, their medicinal power would be affected.

A poisonous liquid was spouted out from the mouth of one of the flowers. Lin Suci dodged in time and turned around. The position where he had just stood was corroded by the poisonous liquid, making a sizzling sound and accompanied by a white smoke thus making a pit appear on the spot.

Under the clear moonlit light, Lin Suci’s face was paralyzed. He faintly scanned the pit hole in the ground and heaved a sigh.

It took a day to step into the flower field and he had not touched anything yet. The night was arriving. If he chose to turn around and return back for a good night’s sleep, he would still have to repeat today’s action.

Lin Suci rolled up his sleeves and his delicate face was full of determination.

He felt that he should not sleep and pick the flowers instead!

The sun rose and the moon set, back and forth. During the chilly autumn season, Lin Suci took off his robe, and wore only a single thin layer of white clothes. He rolled up his sleeves, and held a small flower hoe. While the purple flowers kept twisting to spout venom, he leaped to the left and right. He made use of his dodges to strike and snatch the teeth of the corpse flowers.

In an acre of flower fields with countless carnivorous corpse flowers, they threw open their mouths like sunflowers chasing the sunlight. All the heads of the flowers followed the direction of Lin Suci’s movement. From where he started picking the flowers, the surrounding corpse flowers followed suit to spout venom at him.

Lin Suci’s arms were slender. His wrist bones in the sun were dazzling white. He grasped the small flower hoe in his palm with a piece of talisman pasted onto it. Along his battle dances, the talisman waved, fell and rose with him.

Five days, five whole days!

Lin Suci panted and stopped the offensive action. He bent over with his hands on his knees, panting and raising one hand to wipe off the slight sweat on his forehead.

He was thrown there by his master for five whole days. At first, he thought that he could finish it in a day or two even if they were just carnivorous corpse flowers. However, it took him five days to struggle for the first purple flower. Till the present…

…he still had not plucked it yet.

Lin Suci’s nose was full of sweat. The atmosphere outside gradually turned cold, but his whole body exuded sweat due to heat.

He knew he could not stop. If he waited for Yan Boshen to return after taking his senior sister to execute the person, he would be a laughing stock when they found that the overconfident junior brother could not even pick a single flower.

Lin Suci attached himself with a cooling talisman. After controlling his breathing, he rushed up again with the small flower hoe.

He went out for several months to cultivate. No matter how many rabbits, spiritual beasts, or cultivators he fought, he would never be as bad as a mere newbie. It was just a flower, he would definitely seize it!

One flower took eight days for Lin Suci. When he waited till the first purple flower finished spitting out all the venom it got and emptied its row of sharp fangs, Lin Suci would not have to be on guard around it anymore. With great joy, he could simply pick the flower and shove it into his fresh-keeping sack.

With that plan as his starter, it would possibly be easier afterwards.

All three purple corpse flowers that Master assigned were all kept in his sack. All there was left to pick were seven red flowers, twelve blue flowers, six white flowers, and eighteen yellow flowers…

Lin Suci lifted his sleeves to wipe off sweat from his forehead and counted the other carnivorous flowers that were getting more grumpy in the flower field. The amount Master assigned was enough but the distribution of those colors was slightly apart.

Unlike the purple flowers in the beginning, other corpse flowers were distanced at least half a meter from each other.  Not to mention others, it was well enough for Lin Suci to stand between them.

The red flowers grew densely together. If he followed the plan when picking the purple flowers, he would surely be mouthfully eaten.

After thinking about it, Lin Suci squatted in the flower field and began to prepare the talismans.

Hui Lian once taught him the substitute talisman that he used for a short period of time. It would disappear after receiving an attack.

It was not the greatest to use but as long as it avoided difficulties, it was fine.

Lin Suci relied on a dozen substitute talismans and forcibly plucked from the densely packed  red and blue corpse flowers. It was a success.

It had been a month since he was thrown into that flower field by his master.

Lin Suci tilted the medicine bottle in his hand and poured out the final fasting pellet from it.

For the period of a month, he relied on the fasting pellets to forcibly live in that field. He gritted his teeth while busy fighting with the corpse flowers and he could not even gnaw a bite on a small dried fish.

He recalled that his Senior Brother Hui Lian made him many boxes of small dried fish and put them in the kitchen, right?

In the flower field, nearly half of the carnivorous flowers had been intervaled by Lin Suci. The remaining practically smelled Lin Suci’s scent and were full of fighting spirits. They were tempted by the taste of Lin Suci’s brain as they ground their teeth, “Kacha, kacha…”

Lin Suci stroked his belly, bent down decisively to pick up the robe on the ground and flung away the small flower hoe. He sneaked back to find himself a snack.

It took more than a quarter of an hour to walk from the flower field in the mountain towards the small courtyard at the foot of the mountain. Lin Suci starved so much that he started meowing. He casually turned to his original form and skedaddled away.

Passing by the path, Lin Suci caught sight of their courtyard.

Smoke puffed up from the roof.

Lin Suci’s eyes brightened upon that scene. Was Brother Huilian back?!

Brother Hui Lian = Kitchen = All kinds of delicacies! The kitten who had been fasting for a month was absolutely unable to restrain from moving swiftly with his four paws. The kitten’s face was filled with excitement and with the fullest of joy that was treading on air, he called out, “Third senior brother!!!”

Passing along the path, the trees were no longer in the way and the courtyard was just located before his eyes.

Lin Suci’s footsteps rushed hurriedly with several footprints imprinted on the ground.

His eyes widened, his whiskers were trembling and he could not even meow that time.

In the yard surrounded by fence posts, there were a total of five rooms, with one at the main hall, and a pair on the left and right wing respectively. It was the familiar view he had seen for more than a year. Even a month ago, it still remained the same when he followed his master to the flower field.

However, at present…

The yard was in a mess and the ground was full of charcoal after being destroyed by fire.

In the yard, the wooden bench Ruan Linggu used for betterment of artifacts was already burned black. Merely charcoal remained on the three wheeled cart where Zhongli Haiming piled up goods. The glistering bright bluestone slab in the yard had been washed all year round, but now there was no trace of cleanliness.

“Master!”

Lin Suci panicked. His heart seemed to be tightly grasped by an invisible huge palm. He did somersaults, stumbling and staggering along while changing into his human form.

What had happened! Why was there a fire at home? Where is Master?

Was the fire… a natural disaster or a man-made disaster?

Lin Suci had all the thoughts in his mind but he was not supposed to think much about life and death.

The beams of the hall in the center were broken and the ground was entirely ruined. The commonly used tea cups and pottery vases with flowers were broken with fragments all over the ground. The bits and pieces glazed white were the only color in the ruins.

Lin Suci pounced desperately towards the ruins with horizontal beams that were broken. Even if it was burnt, it was so heavy that Lin Suci could not move it with his hands alone.

He knelt among the pile of charcoal. His hands trembled while digging through the ruins.

“Calm down, calm down…” Lin Suci closed his eyes and gritted his teeth as he reminded himself.

He took a few deep breaths and finally his hands stopped shaking. While being muddle-headed, he realized that it was unnecessary to use his hands.

The talisman he was carrying was still there. Lin Suci quickly selected a few useful ones and threw them out from his hands.

The wood that had been burnt to charcoal and ashes were all floating up from the ground with the aid of gales. In an instant, the wind stopped.

Only the empty courtyard was left and the ground was stained with yellow ocres.

Lin Suci’s lips slightly trembled.

No one was there. Is this supposed to be a good thing or a bad thing?

“Master?!”

Lin Suci fiercely squeezed his thigh. Forcing himself to be calm, he got up and shouted while looking around.

He stumbled along the way like a melon sprawling vines all over the mountain valley.  He ran with potency to look everywhere he could find, but there was no one.

Lin Suci directly headed towards Yan Boshen’s cave. The cave had been empty for several months and had not been stayed by anyone.

No one!

Lin Suci searched all over the small river in the mountains, from top to bottom, on both sides of the river bank and the cave of the mountain streams.

Still, there was no one!

Lin Suci bit his lower lip, turned his head and ran towards the opposite direction.

There was still another place.

Hanging in mid-air along the spiralled staircase, Lin Suci shortened three steps to two as he continuously rushed while rolling down to the bottom of the cliff.

The mist curled with the wind. There stood the place where they constantly cultivated.

A paradise full of blessings.

However, at that moment, there was a strong bloody odour in the atmosphere.

Lin Suci’s face changed instantly.

He was sure there had been someone there, so he madly ran forward.

“Master!”

There were a few white-clothed corpses on the ground. Lin Suci accidentally kicked a corpse and stumbled, tumbled as he fell. He touched his sore head and got up. He happened to be on the edge of the cold lake. Who he saw at first glance, was a white-haired young man standing with his hands down.

“Suci…”

Qing Fou’s hair bun was slightly loose and messy. His clothes were immersed in water and there was nothing to be seen. It was like his usual posture, except that when he met Lin Suci’s eyes, he had double his astonishment.

“Master!”

Seeing that Qing Fou was fine, Lin Suci finally heaved a sigh of relief. His heart had been pounding ever since his search. He sat on the ground, panting and patting his chest. With a look of shock, he said with confusion, “Our sect is on fire and burned to ruins. I am worried that something will happen to you and I’ve been looking for you for a whole day.  You scared me out of my wits, yet you are actually just right here, cultivating.”

Qing Fou’s face slightly hesitated and said, “Suci…”

“If you’re alright, then it’s fine. It’s fine…” Lin Suci’s head was full of bad thoughts just a moment ago and forcibly suppressed the anxiety in his head. Now, he was relieved, so he finally could wipe his sweaty forehead with ease.

Standing there in the midst of the curling mist, Qing Fou’s expression was incomprehensible.

Lin Suci had enough rest, so he stood up and stretched his waist. With a smile, he said, “Master, I have collected enough purple flowers, red flowers and blue flowers. Let’s go back and have a meal… Ah, it’s not right, the important thing now is to repair the house first.”

Lin Suci sighed, “Why is our house on fire? Even the kitchen is all gone.”

Master Qing Fou, who stood in the cold lake, looked at Lin Suci, but what continued was a long silence.

“Master, aren’t you going back now?”

Lin Suci suddenly panicked as he took a step forward and paused. He had stepped on something.

He lowered his head.

There was another corpse that he accidentally kicked when he was not paying attention just now.

White clothes, crimson red blood.

Lin Suci took a breath.

“Suci…”

In the cold lake, Qing Fou smiled helplessly and said, “I can’t go back anymore.”