He never had a plan, he just went with the flow

Chapter Nine

Sizhui was deep in concentration as he flipped through the book in his hands. Shishu had to go get permission from Bobo to get some books from the forbidden section. Bobo agreed, as he knew they were doing it to save A-Die, but he still came with them since Shishu wasn't a member of the main family.

They've been down here long enough that the dinner bells rang, but he carried on. He wasn't going to stop until curfew because then, who'd help A-Die? The previous weird healers hadn't been kicked out, and some people are still unhappy with A-Die's continued existence. They were likely the ones behind his assassination attempt last week.

The book he was reading currently was their best chance for an explanation. It was talking about documented cases of cultivators who got sick and started excreting a strange black fluid. It might be the same as the goo that's stuck in his meridians. And that hope that kept Sizhui from getting too impatient as each case ended in death.

Just as curfew slowly crept closer, he found a case of someone surviving. It was case #586, one of the more recent documents cases, occurring 696 years ago during the time of Lan Yi. The cultivator in question was Baosan Sanren, the last cultivator to ascend to immortality in over 600 years. He wasn't exaggerating. A-Die had it drilled in him that she ascended to immortality 682 years ago and was in her thirties.

It was then that the little cogs in his brain started moving. If the last person to survive this became an immortal, then does that mean A-Die is on track to immortality? Reading closer, Sizhui saw that after she recovered, Baosan Sanren's cultivation increased exponentially. Her method of survival was refusing to succumb and continuing to cultivate.

So, they just need to make sure A-Die doesn't stop cultivating?

Sizhui was then tapped on the shoulder. "Sizhui, it's almost curfew. You need to return to your room." Bobo had been the one to tap him. He had that worried crease between his brows again. It had finally gone away when A-Die had been cleared to leave his room, but it was now back as he worried for his health again.

"Bobo, I think I found it," he said, showing him the book. A-Die might ascend if he survives this." Bobo looked confused, like he was doubting himself, but he sighed. "I'll give it a read, Sizhui, but you need to go back to your dorm."

"Okay." He nodded. He won't force him to read it now because whether he reads it now or later, he'll have the same realization. Sizhui hurried as quickly as he could without running and went into his assigned dorm. He didn't have a roommate at the moment, but he hoped that he and Jingyi would share a dorm when he formed his core.

He was about to go to sleep as a good little Lan child should, but he couldn't. Crawling out of bed to where he kept a paper with an incomplete music score on it, he went under the window to find a way to finish the song even though A-Die was better. Maybe he could find another purpose for it, another person who might need it.

~.~

There's a strange rumor going around, he's heard it coming from Yunmeng for a little over a year but, lately, it's also been coming from former Wen territory. It's been of a cultivator who has been cleansing the land; sometimes it would be a male, sometimes it would be a female, but, always, they would come and kill any monster and take away those less fortunate to live a better life. Nie Huasiang is always on top of the latest gossip and is surprised by how long this one's been under his radar, it might be because he lives in Qinghe, not Yunmeng.

So he quickly did a little digging and found the rumors to be true. Someone had been traveling across Yunmeng, and everywhere they went, life began to flourish. Crops would grow quicker and yield more food, animals would populate faster, and there would be fewer demonic yaos running around.