Chapter Twenty-Six: Testing the Waters

The bamboo house was finally completed, with only the landscaping left to finish. Tang Wei was unsure what flowers to plant, so that evening, upon entering her spiritual space, she brought up the matter with Xiao Ling.

Xiao Ling offered an excellent suggestion, “Sister, why must you plant only flowers? Wouldn’t it be better to grow some common spiritual herbs in the garden plot?”

Tang Wei immediately tried to flatter her, “You’re right! How could I be so foolish, never even considering planting spiritual herbs? I’ll have to trouble you, Xiao Ling the beauty, to help me cultivate some spiritual herbs, won’t I?”

Xiao Ling laughed, “Of course I can! You needn’t worry about that, Sister. What you ought to concern yourself with is your brother—he’ll soon be coming out. How do you plan to arrange things for him? You can’t have him stay in the spiritual space forever; it wouldn’t be good for his cultivation.”

“What’s there to worry about? When my parents come in tonight, I’ll just introduce him to them. I’ll say he’s my junior disciple, entrusted to my care by our master. That should suffice.”

Tang Wei appeared utterly unconcerned, prompting Xiao Ling to shake her head in amusement, a knowing, mischievous smile on her lips. “As long as you’ve decided,” she said, her tone brimming with implication. Who could guess what schemes were brewing in her mind?

Whether Tang Wei failed to notice Xiao Ling’s sly grin or simply didn’t care, she casually asked, “When will Xiao Bai be able to come out?”

“By your time outside, it should be about two more days,” Xiao Ling replied after a moment’s thought.

“I’ll mention it to my parents when I get the chance. It’ll be time for him to come out soon, anyway,” Tang Wei said, utterly indifferent.

In truth, the thought of taking Zi Xuan as her other half had never crossed Tang Wei’s mind. Though Zi Xuan was strikingly handsome—at times captivatingly so—it meant little to her. She was well past the age of being dazzled by good looks, and she never worried about other women being attracted to Zi Xuan, or about him falling for someone else.

From her perspective, Xiao Ling was probably preoccupied with such matters. Tang Wei had considered the possibility that Zi Xuan might fall for someone after leaving the spiritual space, and she would actually welcome it. No one enjoyed being schemed against, not even if the person in question was breathtakingly beautiful.

To this day, she still didn’t know how the twins had come to be. Whenever she saw Zi Xuan, a strange itch would arise within her, making her want to give him a hard time. Yet, he had saved her life; she couldn’t truly bite the hand that fed her. So, her mischief was always kept to mere teasing.

The valley had already been built, but was not yet fit for habitation by the Shi family. The bamboo used for the house was freshly cut and still heavy with moisture, making it unhealthy to move in immediately. It would take a few months to dry out enough for people to live there. However, this didn’t prevent Tang Wei from setting up a spirit-gathering array right away. Once the spiritual herbs were planted, they would require spiritual energy to thrive, and though Xiao Ling still needed time to cultivate the herbs, it wouldn’t hurt to gather some spiritual energy in advance.

At present, the best Tang Wei could manage was to set up a spirit-gathering array. In fact, before leaving her spiritual space the day before, Xiao Ling had advised her to arrange an illusion array around the valley to prevent outsiders from wandering in. The illusion array would cause anyone who entered by mistake to unconsciously walk out again, with no memory of having entered at all.

Unfortunately, though Tang Wei had a knack for remembering medicinal herbs, she was hopeless when it came to arrays—“hopeless” being the kindest way to put it. Xiao Ling had tried teaching her over a dozen times, to no avail. In the end, she had to give up.

After Tang Wei returned from the valley, her mother, seeing that she was unoccupied, handed the children over to her care, insisting on entering the spiritual space herself to accompany Tang Wei’s father in cultivation. Up till now, the three members of the Tang family merely assumed Tang Wei possessed a teleportation artifact that allowed her to visit her master directly. After all, since embarking on the path of cultivation, they had witnessed too many strange things to question it. They never suspected that their cultivation ground was actually a space bound to Tang Wei’s soul.

The workers who built the bamboo house had left, and the Shi siblings were no longer around. Tang Wei’s parents and younger brother had become addicted to cultivation, slipping away into the spiritual space at every opportunity. Her grandmother, meanwhile, visited her old friend at Great Aunt’s house every day.

The twins were now four months old and terribly mischievous, requiring constant entertainment to stay quiet. Like Xiao Ling, they were much smarter than other children their age and could easily read people. If Tang Wei was looking after them, they insisted on being carried out to play—perhaps because she had brought them into the spiritual space since they were born. Tang Wei placed Ya Ya and Chong Chong in their stroller and wheeled them over to Great Aunt’s house, curious to see what the grandmothers were up to and how they found so much to talk about every day.

Even before reaching the door, she heard an elderly voice, “Fifth Aunt is so blessed! I remember how loving Fifth Uncle was when he was young…”

Only then did Tang Wei realize that the elderly ladies spent their days recounting stories from the past. No wonder—they were left alone at home with no one to talk to, so it was better to gather and share conversation with their peers.

All the men of her grandfather’s generation in the village had already passed away, and among their wives, only three remained: Tang Wei’s grandmother, Seventh Aunt, and Great Aunt. Recently, two sisters from Great Aunt’s maiden family had come to visit. With five elderly ladies together, the tales of youth flowed endlessly. Tang Wei decided it was best not to interrupt, so she remained outside, amusing the twins.

“Sister, sister, what’s wrong with you?” About an hour later, as Tang Wei was preparing to leave, she heard Great Aunt’s anxious cry from inside. She had no idea what had happened but dropped the twins and rushed in.

She saw the nurse who had come with the visitors flustered and pressing frantically on someone’s body. The elderly women were terrified, huddled to one side and speechless. Tang Wei grew anxious. She had no idea how to perform emergency first aid, but the nurse’s actions annoyed her. Unable to restrain herself, she took the old woman’s hand to check her condition.

“What are you doing? You’re interfering with my rescue efforts! If anything happens, can you take responsibility? Move aside!” the nurse snapped.

Tang Wei ignored her, focusing intently. The old woman’s meridians were completely blocked, with clots in her brain and severe internal bleeding. She did not know exactly what illness it was, but it was clear that if left untreated, the woman would not survive another ten minutes. Tang Wei had no choice but to quickly channel spiritual energy to repair the ruptured areas, but the effect was not ideal. External stimulation was needed.

Yet, time was running out. If she delayed any longer, it would be too late. After a brief hesitation, Tang Wei resolutely took a silver needle, about fifteen centimeters long, from her clothes and prepared to insert it into the woman’s skull.

“What are you doing?!” the nurse shrieked.

Tang Wei shoved her aside, “Get out of the way! If we don’t act now, she’ll die!” Without further delay, she thrust the needle in.

Spiritual energy streamed steadily into the wound. Only a small section of the silver needle remained outside, trembling violently. Seeing this, the nurse fell silent.

Tang Wei’s spiritual energy was rapidly depleted, sweat beading and running down her face. The bleeding in the old woman’s brain was about to stop, but Tang Wei was nearly at her limit. If she stopped now, all her effort would be wasted. Gritting her teeth, she sent the last thread of spiritual energy into the wound. Once she was certain she had succeeded, she collapsed to the floor with a thud.