by Mars Gravity
Laying on the ground, Xiao Yulong was stupefied… He originally believed that with his third level of the Nascent Profound Realm’s profound strength, taking advantage of Xia Qingyue would be as easy as reaching out with his hand. No matter what, he didn’t think that upon meeting, he would end up on the ground with his entire body bruised and battered without even a chance to react. He stared with wide eyes in shock at the two bloody incisors that had fallen on the ground in front of him.
Xiao Yulong immediately picked himself up, his face twitching. He knew how battered and exhausted he looked at the moment. It could be said that with his status as the Xiao Clan’s young master, he had never in his lifetime been in such a sorry state… and also in front of the woman that he admired and longed for the most. However, Young Master Xiao was still Young Master Xiao. He forcibly swallowed the blood in his mouth, his face revealing a what could be considered warm and elegant smile: “Lady Xia’s tenth level of the Elementary Profound Realm strength is deserving of its reputation. Just then I was casually testing and had somewhat underestimated you. Then this time, Lady Xia must pay careful attention.”
With his two missing front teeth, Xiao Yulong’s words were punctuated by the sound of whistling air. After speaking, he had already raised his hands and mobilized all of his profound strength… He naively believed that the reason he ended up at a disadvantage just now was solely because he carelessly acted, whereas Xia Qingyue had reacted ruthlessly with her entire strength. With his third level of the Nascent Profound Realm’s strength, how could he not handle Xia Qingyue’s tenth level of the Elementary Profound Realm?!
Xiao Yulong walked forward. Three steps later, both hands simultaneously shot out, seeking to immediately wrap around Xia Qingyue’s arm. His actions caused Xia Qingyue to loathe him even more. With all her patience exhausted, her right arm abruptly swung out, her red sleeve fluttering along. A gust of profound strength carrying a tinge of icy coldness swept across Xiao Yulong’s face.
This bit of profound strength didn’t carry any trace of the Frozen Cloud Secret Arts, but still wasn’t something that Xiao Yulong could handle.
With a *peng* sound, Xiao Yulong’s right cheek sank downwards and his entire body flew backwards. He spun in the air at least seven or eight times like a top before landing heavily outside the courtyard. Three bloody teeth also were knocked free, two of them stabbing into Xiao Yulong’s face.
“The exchange of pointers is over, I won’t see you out.” Xia Qingyue didn’t even glance at him, her fairy-like voice ice cold.
Xiao Yulong’s entire right face was a patch of red, as if dyed with blood. Right now, even if he was an idiot, he would still understand that his third level of the Nascent Profound Realm’s strength was, from the start, insufficient in front of Xia Qingyue. He held the throbbing part of his right face and gave Xia Qingyue a look dyed with a tinge of terror. Taking in a rough breath, he staggered away without another word.
Xiao Yulong had reached the infirmary and was about to enter when he saw Xiao Che just then leaving, his left hand hold a medicinal pot and his right, a package. Upon seeing Xiao Yulong, Xiao Che promptly greeted him warmly: “Brother Yulong, why did you come here? Aiya! Brother Yulong, your face… what, what, what… what happened?”
Seeing Xiao Che, Xiao Yulong clenched his teeth, let out a cold snort, and immediately rushed into the infirmary. Shortly, the astonished sound of the Xiao Clan’s chief doctor, Xiao Guna, could be heard from inside. “Young master… Who, who, who, who…would be so bold to do this kind of evil thing to you?!”
“No harm done… When I was at the rear mountains training, I wasn’t careful and fell down…” Xiao Yulong’s voice was clearly riddled with pain. Of course he could not admit that his current state was because he was given a lesson while trying to take advantage of Xia Qingyue.
“How is this no harm done?! Your cheekbone has been shattered to no small extent, you’ve lost five teeth, and another three have been snapped in half. None of these can be grown back…”
Xiao Che had not walked too far away. The the voices that floated into his ear sent a cold chill up his spine.
This woman… her actions were far too ruthless!
The Murdering Heart Powder that had killed him most likely came from Xiao Yulong. Originally, Xiao Che wanted to borrow Xia Qingyue’s power to give him a little lesson… but how could this be considered a lesson? It was simply beating him half to death!
Thinking about how he had used his grandfather as a shield to lead her by the hand early in the morning, Xiao Che couldn’t help but break into a cold sweat.
When he returned to his own courtyard, Xia Qingyue was calmly standing in the courtyard center. Seeing him return, she indifferently spoke. “Xiao Yulong came over.”
“Ah, yes, I know. I just saw him at the infirmary.” Xiao Che carefully took a look at Xia Qingyue’s expression before prudently responding.
Xia Qingyue no longer paid any attention to him. She lightly closed her eyes and a layer of ice cold air surrounded her body.
“Qingyue my wife, can I ask you a question?” Xiao Che opened his mouth to ask as he took a step forward.
“?” Xia Qingyue didn’t react in the least.
“What level is your profound strength really at?” To be able to force Xiao Yulong into such a sorry state, she should be at least at the fifth level of the Nascent Profound Realm! To be at the fifth level of the Nascent Profound Realm at the age of sixteen… if this was revealed, Floating Cloud City would truly explode.
Xia Qingyue still did not react in the least. She didn’t seem to have any intention of answering him.
The ignored Xiao Che had a face full of gloom. Looking at Xia Qingyue’s appearance, she should be silently practicing Frozen Cloud Asgard’s exclusive profound technique, the Frozen Cloud Secret Arts. He no longer spoke. After placing the things in his hands on the ground, he leaned his body back, crossed his hands over his chest, and leisurely watched the peaceful Xia Qingyue.
He watched until a quarter of an hour had passed.
Xia Qingyue generally stayed in her room in the past. While training in the Frozen Cloud Secret Arts, besides her master occasionally giving tips to her from the side, the rest of the time she was by herself, with absolutely no one else to bother her… not to mention a man who fixedly watched her with both eyes.
Even though she was calmly standing there with her eyes closed, firmly concentrating on her training with the Frozen Cloud Secret Arts circulating through her body, she could still feel Xiao Che’s standing there watching her. Moreover it was a constant stare… his gaze hardly ever left her for even a moment. That piercing gaze over and over again swept over every part of her body, giving her no way of completely calming her heart. Her entire body was uncomfortable… after all, she was still only a sixteen year old girl. To expect her heart to truly be like still water was simply asking for too much.
After an entire quarter hour, Xiao Che was still standing there, his gaze firmly on her. Xiao Qingyue finally could not restrain herself and opened her beautiful eyes to glance at him, coldly saying: “Why are you doing, always staring at me?”
“Waiting for you to voluntarily speak to me,” Xiao Che innocently replied.
“……” Xia Qingyue had the urge to kill someone.
“*Cough cough* Actually, I had something really important to talk to you about. But I was afraid of interrupting your training just now, so I had no choice but to wait.” Xiao Che got up, his expression sincere.
“… What is it?” Xia Qingyue asked, strongly suppressing her anger.
“Uhm, it’s like this.” Xiao Che’s expression became serious. He took a few steps forward until he was standing in front of Xia Qingyue, then confidently said: “Early this morning, when I held your hand… ah, ah! D, d, don’t do anything! I’m talking about serious business, serious business!” Upon seeing Xia Qingyue suddenly reveal her killing intent, Xiao Che promptly retreated several steps, a wary expression appearing o
n his face… The miserable state Xiao Yulong had just been in provided a bloody lesson… Seeing that Xia Qingyue didn’t, in fact, do anything, Xiao Che let out a small sigh of relief and continued: “When I held your hand, I felt your pulse in passing and found a big problem. An extremely big problem.”
His words didn’t cause Xia Qingyue’s gaze to waver even a bit… she didn’t believe him from the start.
Though she did feel him secretly measuring her pulse when he led her by the hand this morning, how could the man from the Xiao family that all of Floating Cloud City knew to be weak know anything about pulses?
But Xiao Che’s following words nevertheless caused Xia Qingyue to tremble slightly.
“Isn’t it true that you wake up every day at three in the morning? And not only that, but for the next half hour, your entire body would be ice cold, and your four limbs sore.”
Xia Qingyue’s gaze wavered, unwittingly asking, “How do you know?”
Xiao Che continued to speak. “Also, after training in the Floating Cloud Secret Arts, every time your profound strength makes a breakthrough, within the next two or three days, isn’t it true that your entire body would be ice cold, your four limbs sore, and you’d be unable to eat or sleep peacefully?”
Xia Qingyue’s gaze once again violently shook… because what Xiao Che said was not wrong at all!
“Also…” Xiao Che’s feet moved straight in the direction of the courtyard door. Not until half his body was outside the door did he say with a serious face: “Your last… umm.. ah… period, wasn’t it late by about seven or eight days?”
Xia Qingyue, “！@#￥%……”
Only when he didn’t feel any killing intent from Xia Qingyue did Xiao Che cautiously walk back from the courtyard door: “Do you believe me now?”
“How do you know all of this?” Xia Qingyue’s eyebrows drooped as she asked.
“From your pulse!”
“You can measure pulses?”
“Would you believe me if I said I am a spirit doctor?” Xiao Che asked with a sincere face.
“If you want to joke around, then go find your little aunt.” Xia Qingyue glanced at him without expression.
Of course, Xiao Che didn’t expect Xia Qingyue to believe him. It would be weirder if she actually believed him: “These are all very serious symptoms. You don’t want to know how to treat them?”
“No need.” Xia Qingyue let out a cold voice: “The Frozen Cloud Secret Arts is the Frozen Cloud Asgard’s exclusive profound technique, subtle yet inexhaustible. Once you start practicing the Frozen Cloud Secret Arts, your entire body will have a hard time adjusting to the cold and will more or less show some negative side effects. In the Frozen Cloud Asgard, this is common sense that’s known to all the disciples. Even master and master’s ancestors experienced this. Once the Frozen Cloud Secret Arts have been trained to a certain extent, these negative side effects will disappear completely on their own.”
“Yes, yes, what you said isn’t wrong.” Xiao Che nodded with deep consideration then said with a chuckle: “But I also finally have some understanding of why Frozen Cloud Asgard teaches to prohibits emotion and suppresses desires… because even if the women of Frozen Cloud Asgard had lovers, they still wouldn’t be able to have children. If this were to be leaked, it would be very harmful to Frozen Cloud Asgard’s prestige. It’s better to just to prohibit the disciples of Frozen Cloud Asgard from seeing men and at the same time, protect this pretty disgraceful secret.”
Xia Qingyue’s eyebrows suddenly slanted and her gaze abruptly became cold. For the first time, she was truly angry at Xiao Che: “Shut up! I can tolerate your nonsense… but I won’t allow you to insult my school! If you continue with even half a sentence more of that kind of talk, then I won’t forgive you!”
Now, the previously cautious and cowering Xiao Che had not even a hint of a fearful expression. Instead, he faintly smiled and said leisurely: “Whether or not I was wrong, I know very well. I can also tell you… the more powerful the profound strength, the longer the life expectancy. However, from your pulse, I am absolutely certain that the life expectancy of members of your Frozen Cloud Asgard is one third less than that of someone else with the same level of profound strength, if not more!”
“Am I right or am I wrong?”
Xiao Che’s words were like a clap of thunder next to Xia Qingyue’s ears and caused her two beautiful pupils to contract for an instant.
Chapter 18: A Silver Needle to Release the Cold
“Who did you hear that from?” Xia Qingyue coldly asked, her thoughts startled. At the same level of profound strength, the life expectancy of members of Frozen Cloud Asgard was shorter than other people’s by a large amount. This was the cruel truth. Even within Frozen Cloud Asgard, this was a secret that had always been suppressed by the Frozen Cloud Asgard’s leadership.
The reason why Xia Qingyue knew about it was because her master had absentmindedly mentioned it to her after one of her breakthroughs. Furthermore, she told her that this was Frozen Cloud Asgard’s biggest flaw and strictly ordered her not to tell anyone, including her fellow disciples. Yet here, Xiao Che had readily said it out loud.
“If I were the master of the Frozen Cloud Asgard, I would use all my might to hide this ‘flaw’ and prevent outsiders from finding out. Do you think I could’ve possibly heard this from anyone?” Xiao Che said, curling his lips: “I really came to this conclusion from measuring your pulse, that’s all. From your reaction, it seems that everything I said was right.”
“I don’t believe you!” Xia Qingyue resolutely shook her head. To be able to infer Frozen Cloud Asgard’s biggest secret just from a pulse? That’s ridiculous. If it was that easy, with the countless number of spirit doctors in Blue Wind Empire, Frozen Cloud Asgard’s secret would have been exposed who knows how many years ago.
However, everything Xiao Che had just said went straight to the crux of the matter, without any flaws at all. There was no way Xia Qingyue would not be bewildered.
“I knew that you won’t believe me.” Xiao Che picked up the medicinal pot and package from the ground and walked into the house. “Follow me.”
Xia Qingyue’s gaze swept over the items held in his hands. After a bit of hesitation, she followed him into the room and closed the door behind her.
After setting down the medicinal pot and package, Xiao Che ordered Xia Qingyue: “Sit down.”
“What do you want to do?” Xia Qingyue looked at him with suspicion.
“Obviously, I want to treat you.”
“There’s no need.” Xia Qingyue immediately shook her head.
“Whether it’s necessary or not, it’s best if you wait until afterwards to decide… Hey! You shouldn’t be unwilling to even try it, right?”
Xiao Che opened the package and took out a silver box. He let out a sigh, a look of frustration and disappointment appeared on his face: “I know you basically don’t believe anything I say. But at the very least, I don’t have the ability, nor any reason, to hurt you. The reason I retrieved these things from the infirmary early in the morning is only because I wanted to give you treatment, that’s all. If it works, then that’s good, if not, you still won’t lose anything… Since you don’t want to believe me, and don’t want to give it a try, then forget it. Just pretend it’s unrequited affection.”
Xiao Che’s words startled Xia Qingyue and a bit of guilt grew in her heart… It was true that what he said before, and what he was saying now were all to help treat her. He didn’t request anything from her or raise any conditions. He also, as he said so himself, had no reason or ability to harm her… No matter what the result, to outright reject him was really a bit excessive.
Xia Qingyue let out a sigh in her heart and then sat down next to Xiao Che: “How are you going to treat me?”
“… You’re willing to receive treatment?” Xiao Che gave her a look and then turned his face away with a snort.
His attitude of a wronged child left Xia Qingyue unable to
decide whether she should laugh or cry and her voice relaxed: “I want to see how you’ll treat me.”
“En, now that’s more obedient.” When Xiao Che turned his face back, his expression was all smiles. This caused Xia Qingyue to stare distractedly at him… This guy’s mood swings were really too quick!
“Extend your hand.”
Xiao Che sat in front of Xia Qingyue. Xia Qingyue also accordingly extended both arms, resting them horizontally on the table. Her red sleeves pushed up to her elbows, exposing a pair of creamy, snow white arms.
Xiao Che opened the silver box. Surprisingly, arranged inside were several tens of thread thin silver needles.
“Silver needles… Don’t tell me you are going to use acupuncture?” Xia Qingyue’s moon like brows raised.
“Eh? You actually know acupuncture?” Xiao Che gave her a somewhat surprised look. Back on Blue Cloud Continent, there weren’t even ten people that could perform acupuncture, even if he and his medical saint master were included. However, on Profound Sky Continent, this apparently was among one of the more popular medical treatments. It was even possible to find a set of acupuncture tools in the Xiao Clan’s infirmary.
“Of course I know. I also know that to be skilled in acupuncture techniques requires a lot of time. You need tens of years to have even a little bit of success. I’ve never heard that you were studying medical techniques, not to mention acupuncture. Also, your room doesn’t have the smell or mark of traditional medicine. What exactly are you going to do?” Xia Qingyue’s eyes all along were wary and suspicious.
Xiao Che took out a silver needle, gripping its base with two fingers… When Xiao Che picked up the silver needle, Xiao Qingyue’s gaze became slightly distracted. That was because in Xiao Che’s hands, that silver needle had a kind of indescribably feeling of harmony, as if it had been naturally grown from Xiao Che’s hands. This feeling was very subtle and indescribable, yet it clearly and truly existed.
