C13

In an ancient room in the Xiao family's residence.

Around his body, a light blue gaseous substance suddenly appeared. His eyes suddenly opened, and his pupils had turned a light blue color as well. Deep within his eyes, it seemed as if there was a vast ocean.

"Xuan Qi!"

Xiao Jiu's gaze returned to normal, but a trace of a light blue gas was jumping around on the tip of his right hand. After eighteen years, he finally managed to cultivate his first strand of mystical Qi. Even though it was only the first strand, Xiao Jiu understood what it meant.

If an ordinary person could cultivate Xuan Qi, then that meant that this ordinary person had the qualifications to step into the ranks of warriors.

A warrior, even if it was just a trace of mystical Qi, was not something that an ordinary person could compare with. No matter how strong a normal person was, they could only lift 300 Jin. As for those warriors who could cultivate a trace of mystical Qi, no matter how poor their talent was, they could still lift more than five hundred Jin with one hand.

Although Xiao Jiu was the world's number one assassin in his previous life, after a thousand years, he was able to cultivate Xuan Qi again.

The mystical Qi in his hand pulsed mischievously, and before long, it left the control of Xiao Jiu's fingertip and disappeared into the air.

"Although my physique is special, in order to help Qingcheng reform her host soul, the foundation of my body has almost been destroyed. Being able to cultivate this tiny bit of profound energy is already the result of more than ten years of hard work."

Xiao Jiu sighed with emotion as he watched the strand of mystical Qi disappear from his fingertip.

Cultivation was about refining one's Qi, channeling it into one's body, expanding the dantian, condensing it into a pill; outside, it was about tempering the body, tempering the body, cleansing the marrow, and strengthening the bones.

Qi Refinement and Body Refinement were complementary to each other. Both cultivated internally and externally.

The fact that he could cultivate the first wisp of mystical Qi meant that his body had the ability to do so. As long as he increased his physical strength, he would be able to train like a normal person.

Although he was barely able to train now, Xiao Jiu was not in a hurry to do so, because his current body was still too weak, and it would not be an exaggeration to say that he was powerless. Therefore, what he needed to do now was not to train, but to raise the strength of his own body, or else he would not be able to withstand the impact brought by Qi Drawing into his body.

There were two ways to improve the strength of the body. The first method was to train the body properly. This method was green without any side effects, but the speed was too slow and required too much time. The other method was to refine some medicinal ingredients and pills that could strengthen the body. Although this method's speed was fast, using large amounts of medicinal ingredients and pills would have certain effects on his future cultivation.

Therefore, after thinking about it again and again, Xiao Jiu decided not to use either method. Instead, he would use a combination of the two methods.

At the same time as he tempered his body, refining medicinal herbs had already achieved the purpose of strengthening his body.

As he thought of this, Xiao Jiu arrived at the courtyard. Within the courtyard, there were many equipment used to temper his body. Xiao Jiu randomly picked a stone about a hundred kilograms in weight, lifted it up and then put it down, experiencing the heaviness of the stone.

He repeated it a few more times, lifted it up and put it down, then began to train his body.

As for the body strengthening medicinal ingredients, he did not want to obtain them from the Xiao family. On one hand, he did not want his father to be troubled.

After training for about two hours, Xiao Jiu's body gradually began to feel tired, even somewhat exhausted. His white clothes were clearly already soaked through.

It was at this moment that he stopped. Based on his current physical condition, this level of training was already considered extreme. If he continued to train his body, his body would exceed its capacity to bear the burden. At that time, the gains would only be less than the losses.

He put down the boulder in his hand and returned to his room.

Time flew. Soon, it was night. At this moment, Xiao Chen had already washed himself and put on a simple white robe. He felt much more refreshed.

The silver moon was like a plate, the moon was bright and the stars were thin. The autumn night was cool and breezy.

Xiao Jiu had a habit of playing the zither alone on this kind of night, sitting on the pavilion in the middle of the courtyard.

For three thousand years, the person who played the zither still played solo, but the person who listened to the zither no longer existed. He had forgotten when he had developed such a habit.

The deep and lingering sound of the zither rippled through the courtyard. It fell into the ears of the night crow who was resting in the small forest outside the courtyard. The crow, however, was drowsy and fell down from the tree.

In the quiet little courtyard, everything seemed extremely quiet, as if they were all listening to a beautiful tune with their eyes closed. Only when the sound of the zither strings breaking was the sound of the zither suddenly stopped …

"Warmly bold and unrestrained, yet also deeply emotional, concealing sorrow, it should be an ancient song, 'Phoenix Cry for the Phoenix'!"

At that moment, a pleasant female voice was heard. At the entrance of the small courtyard stood an elegant and graceful young girl. Borrowing the moonlight, one could see the girl's peerlessly beautiful face. The person who had just arrived was obviously Mu Qingxue.

"You've been here for a long time, why haven't you come in?"

Xiao Jiu asked casually as he ignored Mu Qingxue, who was fiddling with the guqin in his hand.

"Since you knew I was coming, why didn't you call me in?"

Mu Qingxue pouted her small mouth as she spoke with some dissatisfaction.

If others were to see Mu Qingxue who looked like a little woman, they would definitely go crazy for her. However, Xiao Jiu did not even glance at it.

"Why did I call you in when you came uninvited?"

From Xiao Jiu's words, Mu Qingxue could not hear the sorrowful joy in his voice. Although Xiao Jiu was about the same age as her, this person was as deep as water. It was as if she could not see through him no matter how hard she tried.

He was obviously only seventeen or eighteen years old, but his expression was calm, like an old demon that had lived for thousands of years.

"You …"

When Mu Qing Xue heard this, she became agitated and gently bit her red lips. Her charming face was flushed red from excitement.

"Speak!" What business do you have with me? "

Xiao Chen asked indifferently as he carefully placed the guqin, which had its string broken, on the table into a case.

"The《 Phoenix Cry for the Phoenix》 is an ancient song from the Primordial Era. A part of the zither music manual has been lost a long time ago, and I have heard of the Rain Pavilion's Courtesan Belle playing half of the song in Full Moon City. It is said that the other half of the song has long since been lost. "Where did you get the complete zither music manual from?"

Mu Qing Xue lifted her beautiful eyes slightly. Her long eyelashes blinked a couple of times as she asked as though she was pointing.

"There's no zither music, I just remember it in my heart!"

Xiao Jiu lightly replied. These words once again made Mu Qingxue unable to reply, so she could only change the topic once again.

"Is this for me?"

Mu Qingxue's beautiful eyes turned as a trace of hope appeared in her eyes.

"No!"

However, he received an ice-cold reply from Xiao Jiu.

"Then can you play a song for me?"

Mu Qingxue was still unwilling to accept this and continued to ask.

"The string is broken, you can't play it!"

The answer he got was still Xiao Jiu's ice-cold reply.

Mu Qing Xue didn't feel anything as she was rejected time and time again. Her beautiful face showed indifference, or it could be said that she was already used to it.

"Why must Miss Mu be so stubborn? As long as you want, who among the youths of the 18 cities of the Nine Prefectures isn't willing to play a song for you?"

Xiao Jiu gave a deep glance at Mu Qingxue before speaking with an indifferent tone.

"But I only like your music. If you don't want to now, I can wait until you do. "

Mu Qingxue said in an extremely determined tone. A faint smile appeared on her face, like the melting of ice. It was extremely enchanting, but Xiao Jiu did not take it to heart.

"You still haven't told me your purpose for coming here!" Xiao Jiu reminded him.

"My grandfather wants to see you!"

Mu Qingxue raised her beautiful eyes. After musing for a moment, she opened her mouth and spoke.

As he spoke, a black-clothed man in a black cloak walked in from outside the courtyard. He took off his cloak, and looked like a white-haired old man.

"Young Master Xiao, how have you been five years ago?"

When the old man saw Xiao Jiu, he clasped his hands at him and said with a loud and clear voice.

If there were others around, they would definitely think that the world had gone crazy. The renowned number one expert of Grand Desolate City actually bowed and kneeled down to greet a young master who was just a good-for-nothing.

And the number one beauty of the eighteen cities of the Nine Prefectures, she was actually rejected by all sorts of things by a young master trash. This world was simply crazy to the point that it couldn't be any more crazy.

"Master Mu, you are being too courteous. Our families are friends from the past. According to seniority, I, Xiao Jiu, am just a junior!"

Xiao Jiu was not surprised to see Mu Tianhai because he had already felt that something was unusual when this person had appeared. Moreover, from the strength that Mu Tianhai had displayed in the conference hall, besides the number one person in the Great Desolate City, it would be hard to find another.

"Hahaha …" It makes sense. My grandson's daughter has a marriage with you, and since it's based on seniority, you're my grandson-in-law. Since Young Master Xiao has said so, I will not be courteous anymore.

Mu Tianhai laughed heartily when he heard this before speaking again. When Xiao Jiu heard this, he only felt a dark cloud over his head. He had not expected that after so many years, he had still fallen for this old thing's trick.

He had even called his grandson-in-law in. This move of his was indeed vicious.

"Master Mu, have you done what I asked you to do?"

Xiao Jiu truly did not want to continue this nonsense with this old thing, so he hurriedly returned to the main topic at hand.

"This old man has come precisely for this matter. Aside from the thousand year Fire Spirit Zoysia, I've basically gathered all of the medicinal materials you've instructed me to find! "

As he spoke, a few embroidered boxes appeared in Mu Tianhai's hands.

"The Millennium Blood Ginseng is over 1500 years old, the Blueblood Grass is over 100 years old, and there is also this Scarlet Flame Vermillion Fruit, which is also over 100 years old!"

Mu Tianhai opened the embroidered box and introduced the people inside one by one. Blood ginseng wasn't anything rare in the Nine Realms Continent, but a thousand-year-old blood ginseng was priceless, much less 1500 year old or above.

As for the Blueblood Grass, it wasn't a precious ingredient, but for a material like the Blueblood Grass, it was impossible for it to survive to a hundred years. Mu Tianhai had to exert great effort to find one.

Of these three medicinal ingredients, only the Scarlet Flame Fruit was not considered a rare medicinal ingredient. However, its price was still close to a hundred thousand silver coins, equivalent to one fifth of the Xiao Clan's annual income.

The price of the three herbs would be able to cover the total income of the Xiao Clan for one to two years.

If anyone else saw that Mu Tianhai had actually given away such precious medicinal plants, they would definitely be angered to the point of vomiting blood.