Su Xi was only a little curious. After Liu Xiaolou gave a casual explanation, she accepted it easily, or perhaps she just could not be bothered to press further.
After all, the two of them had once shared a bed. Now Liu Xiaolou sensed something faintly different about her compared to before, so he asked, “Fifth Lady, have your cultivation advanced?”
Su Xi smiled slightly. “By sheer chance, I entered a rift in a Grotto-Heaven. I lingered on the edges for half a month, escaping death more than once. In the end, my true qi transformed from qi into water.”
Liu Xiaolou did not even know what to say. All he could do was sigh in admiration. “Fifth Lady, your talent is extraordinary. It has been less than two years since you broke through to the Foundation Establishment stage, and now you have already stepped into the middle realm.”
After a cultivator reachs their foundation, what they are building is not the five notes of yin and yang arts, but the Sea of Qi. The Sea of Qi is vast and boundless. When true qi first gathers there, it appears as true qi, and this is the early Foundation Establishment stage. Once the true qi condenses into true water within the Sea of Qi, one enters the middle realm. That was the state Su Wuniang had reached.
“So for people like us, the only choice is to work even harder. You… how is your cultivation progressing?”
“Heh, I’m still at the fourth layer of Qi Refinement. There are just too many acupoints on the Hand Lesser Yang Meridian, and I have to open them one by one. But at least more than half are already cleared.”
Su Xi thought for a moment, then advised, “You’re simply too distracted. If you shut yourself away and cultivated steadily for half a year, wouldn’t it just be twenty-three acupoints? Is that really so hard? Just do it in one go and be done with it.”
Liu Xiaolou opened his mouth but held back from arguing. Their talents were different, their cultivation methods were different, and their circumstances were different. Advice like that was meaningless. So he changed the subject. “Fifth Lady, what brings you back this time?”
Su Xi gave him a puzzled look. “This is my home.”
Liu Xiaolou gave an awkward laugh. “That’s not what I meant. I was just wondering if there’s anything I can do to help.”
Su Xi thought for a moment. “Another year has passed. If you want to go down the mountain and visit your family, you should.”
According to the marriage agreement between Liu Xiaolou and the Su family, he was allowed three months of leave each year. He was well-off at the moment, and there was nothing urgent waiting for him back at Wulong Mountain, so he had not planned on going. But since Su Xi misunderstood him, he simply went along with it. “Then… should I head back tomorrow?”
Su Xi nodded, then added, “There’s no need to rush. A few days ago, in the Grotto-Heaven, I ran into Ninth Sister. She knew I was coming back to the mountain and said she would return in a few days as well. From the way she spoke, it seemed she had something she wanted to tell you. It won’t be too late to leave after you’ve seen her.”
“Ninth Lady? I haven’t seen her in a long time. What’s it about?”
“Who knows? I heard she’s been traveling constantly these days. That’s just her nature. She can’t sit still at home.”
Ninth Lady was not Su family’s biological daughter, so her position was rather detached. Once she had grown up, she often traveled abroad. Now that the matter of the sacred incense had been settled, she had gone back to her old ways, and even Su Zhi could do little to restrain her.
Could it be that some overbearing young lord from another clan had taken a liking to her, and she wanted his advice on how to turn him down? Liu Xiaolou wondered to himself, then excused himself from Su Xi.
After he returned to his room, Su Xi summoned Xiaohuan and told her that Liu Xiaolou would be returning to Wulong Mountain in a few days to visit his family. “Go check Yunhai Pavilion and see if Ninth Sister has come back yet. Don’t let Xiaolou wait too long.”
Xiao Huan muttered, “Madam has just returned, and yet the young master is already leaving the mountain. If word gets out, people will think Madam has treated him harshly.”
Su Xi shook her head. “It’s not that. He simply doesn’t want to stay around me. This past year, we’ve seen each other so little that we have only the name of husband and wife, not the reality. It’s natural for him to feel uneasy.”
Xiaohuan said, “That can hardly be blamed on Madam. It was made clear from the start when he was married into the family… and even if Madam were to agree, what could he really do?”
Su Xi smiled and shook her head. “Enough. In another year or two, I’ll let him go. He will no longer be tied to the Su family, and whatever he wishes to do will be up to him.”
Back at Yiling Hall, Liu Xiaolou could no longer hold himself up. He collapsed onto the bed, burying his head in the bedding, utterly drained in body and spirit. His wife’s rapid progress in cultivation weighed heavily on him, but that was not the real source of his exhaustion. What had truly worn him out was the depletion of his true qi while maintaining the formation earlier.
That day, Xiong Xi and two other cultivators, who had also paid in spirit stones, happened to visit the mountain at the same time. He had no choice but to admit them together into the formation. All three were in the middle or later stages of Qi Refinement far above his own layer. Handling them one by one was already difficult, let alone all at once. The effort of keeping the formation running was several times greater than usual. By the end of the demonstration, his true qi was nearly exhausted, his head felt heavy and muddled, and he drifted into sleep.
Half-dreaming, half-awake, he was roused by movement beside him. He lifted his head from the bedding and saw Susu, who had finished tidying the room and now sat at his bedside, massaging his feet and kneading his back.
“Are you very tired, young master?”
“Mmm… it’s been so long… since I last saw you, Susu…”
Susu smiled softly. “This servant has missed you too, young master.”
“Hoo… hoo…”
“Is young master asleep? Young master… there’s something I’ve always wanted to ask. Are you really… mm… everyone says you are, and at first I thought so too, but later I began to wonder. It doesn’t quite seem that way. Perhaps you’re not… but instead… you built this illusion formation as a way to heal yourself?”
“Hoo… hoo…”
“Right, young master, were you injured in a duel before? Or did something go wrong during cultivation? If that’s the case, you mustn’t push yourself too hard. I believe in you. I’m sure one day you’ll succeed.”
“Hoo… hoo…”
“It’s all right… just rest well, young master. There’s no hurry. Sleep peacefully.”
The next day, Ninth Lady really did return. After exchanging only a few words with Su Xi, she went straight to Yiling Hall. “Xiaolou, open the door. I have something to ask you! Open up, I know you’re in there. Why are you hiding from me?”
With a flick of her wrist, she forced the door open and saw Liu Xiaolou lying on the bed, half-asleep, staring at her in a daze.
He had slept for an entire day.