A hunch, whether it was good or ominous, wasn't something that any random person could sense. A cultivator was on a journey and happened to run into another cultivator—could he sense whether the next thing that other cultivator experienced would be good or bad? 

Of course, he couldn't. First of all, to be able to sense such hunches, cultivators must've reached a certain cultivation level. Secondly, there must be some connections between the cultivator who sensed the hunch and the cultivator whom the hunch was about. And in the end, the nature of those connections had never been too certain. In general, they should be quite closely related to each other.

Lord Daoist Jinghe's remark sounded solemn, but how could Qin Xi not sense his meaning? Ye Zhenji was obviously next to him, making him feel even more embarra.s.sed. Because of that, he threw a death glare at Lord Daoist Jinghe and said, "Master, just focus on the real problem!" 

"Are you the master or am I the master?" Lord Daoist Jinghe, who now had Qin Xi's weakness in his hand, was very calm. He said with a grin: "Your disciple's here too. If you keep disrespecting me, be careful or your disciple will also follow your footsteps. At that point, he won't give you any face either."

Unfortunately, Ye Zhenji was an honest person. He promptly answered, "I'll always respect master."

"..." Lord Daoist Jinghe's smiling expression turned into an angry one. "Brat, step to the side!"

Ye Zhenji felt aggrieved. He sneaked a glance at his master then said pleadingly, "Grandmaster, please help my aunt. What should we do if she still doesn't wake up in several dozen years and damages her body?"

"Hmph!" Lord Daoist Jinghe snorted furiously. "Stop with this act. You master-disciple pair—one's threatening me and one's crying and begging—you're bullying me for being alone, aren't you?"

Qin Xi seemed to have thought of something then said calmly, "Master, the one lying here is your disciple, not mine."

"You're absolutely correct!" Lord Daoist Jinghe clapped his hands. "That's right! This is my disciple, and she's your junior martial sister at most, so why are you even more anxious than me, your master? You actually used medicinal pills to threaten me, hmph!"

Qin Xi was still very calm. "Say it; what do you want in the end?"

The moment he saw Qin Xi's conceding look, Lord Daoist Jinghe immediately felt complacent. He glanced at Ye Zhenji and said, "We'll discuss this slowly when we are alone." Upon seeing how Qin Xi secretly heaved a sigh, he came close to him and whispered, "Rest a.s.sured, since your disciple's here, I won't make you look too bad."

After he said that, Lord Daoist Jinghe once again went towards Mo Tiange to examine her condition. He then said seriously, "There's essentially no direct solution for a closed sea of knowledge. However, Master knows a kind of medicinal pill which is very helpful in this kind of situation. Although it can't directly rouse her, it can prevent her body from corrupting." 

"Where's the pill recipe?"

Lord Daoist Jinghe put his hand into his Qiankun Bag and started to fumble for something. A moment later, he took out a pile of Jade Slips. "You guys look for it. In any case, it's somewhere inside—I suddenly forget which one it is."

Qin Xi felt helpless. He shot a brief glare at Lord Daoist Jinghe and helplessly started to search. Fortunately, there were three of them—although there were several hundred Jade Slips in this pile, they finally managed to find the correct one after looking for a while. 

Once he read the pill recipe, Qin Xi once again frowned. "These spiritual plants...."

"You're right; some of them are very rare nowadays. Presumably, you'd have to spend quite a while finding them."

"But we don't have much time!"

"You don't have to worry about this." Lord Daoist Jinghe let out a deceitful laugh. "Master knows a kind of healing technique which is useful in this kind of situation. You'll only need to apply this to her once a day. At the very least, it'll guarantee nothing will happen to her body in several years."

"..." The wrinkle on Qin Xi's brows remained. "Where's the manual?"

This time, Lord Daoist Jinghe didn't take out a pile of Jade Slips. Instead, he threw Qin Xi a book made of animal skin. He then said: "Since you already came out of your Closed Door Meditation, don't think about forming your Nascent Soul for the time being—take a rest for several years. You've been in Closed Door Meditation for thirty five years, so you haven't relaxed your mind at all during that period. Forming one's Nascent Soul is a very tiring matter; your current condition isn't properly positioned to take that opportunity. Take some time to rest properly. When you feel relaxed, you can try again."

Qin Xi was silent but he eventually didn't object. If he was still in Closed Door Meditation, he would've definitely objected, but since the current situation was like this, he couldn't continue his Closed Door Meditation. 

Lord Daoist Jinghe seemed relieved. "Alright. Take Tiange back to Mingxin Residence and tell Xiuqin and the others to take care of her. Those girls are now obedient after she sorted them up, so you can rest a.s.sured." 

Qin Xi nodded. Without further ado, he picked Mo Tiange up then made his way towards Mingxin Residence.

Even though he hadn't returned after Mo Tiange started living at Mingxin Residence, he was still very familiar with everything around there. 

The pool in front of the house, the medicinal field at the back of the house... She'd given the bedroom to Zhenji while she herself occupied the cultivating room. Who said he was mad about cultivating? In fact, she was just the same as him.

Xiuqin and the others were also Foundation Building cultivators, so they also entered the Ten Thousand Laws of Nature Formation today. They hadn't come back yet.

Qin Xi took Mo Tiange into the bedroom and placed her on the bed. All of a sudden, he remembered Ruan Mingzhu. "Zhenji, go and tell your grandmaster that Mingzhu also has some problems; find some people to bring her back."

"Oh..." Ye Zhenji responded but didn't make any moves.

After a while, Qin Xi's attention finally fell on him. "Why aren't you going?"

Ye Zhenji was silent for some time, but he eventually summoned his courage and asked, "Master, what's your relations.h.i.+p with my aunt?"

Stunned, Qin Xi gazed into the distance and stayed motionless.

Ye Zhenji said, "I... I always thought there's no friends.h.i.+p between you and my aunt but now... it seems things aren't how I thought they were..."

Some time pa.s.sed before Qin Xi finally moved the corners of his lips, forcing himself to smile. "No need to think about this too much. Alright, look after your aunt; I'm going to look for your grandmaster."

After he said that, he left Mingxin Residence without even looking back once as if he was running from something.

Once he was out of Mingxin Residence, Ye Zhenji slowly muttered, "Master, I'm not accusing you of anything. Why would you..."

Qin Xi, who just walked out of Mingxin Residence, didn't head straight to the main hall to look for Lord Daoist Jinghe. Rather, he sat on a certain railing on the side and entered a daze.

There were some matters which he could ignore but would come back to entangle him in the end.

Thirty five years... He originally thought he was indifferent, and that aside from forming his Nascent Soul, his heart really couldn't accommodate any other matters. However, the moment he finally saw her again, he understood—he'd never really forgotten. In fact, these past thirty five years were just a trap he set for himself. He thought he could be indifferent. He thought he could be the same as before, focusing his heart and mind on cultivating. In the end, however, he simply made himself bound tighter and tighter by this matter. 

What was affection? He never had the chance to comprehend it, so he was never on guard against it. He wasn't on his guard, so he didn't even know how this matter began...

The year he went to Demonic Mountain, he ran into Ye Hai and felt the two of them were alike in temperament, so they went through crises together all the way. Later, as they were trapped in the Demonic Mountain for full ten years, they went from being strangers who met by chance into close acquaintances.

Unfortunately, Ye Hai's injuries were too heavy, and he knew he couldn't survive for long. For the sake of giving his junior someone to rely on, he eventually fell on the Demonic Mountain.

Although Qin Xi had an indifferent personality, he was never accustomed to owing others anything. He owed half his life to Ye Hai, so he agreed to Ye Hai's final wish.

Upon knowing that this child might be a girl with a Pure Yin Const.i.tution and spiritual roots, it wasn't that he didn't have any idea about her. He had some thoughts about her only because a female cultivator with a Pure Yin Const.i.tution generally would make some achievements as long as their spiritual roots weren't too terrible. Furthermore, if she joined a cultivation group, there was a high chance she'd perform Dual Cultivation with a disciple in the group. For the group, this meant the appearance of another high level cultivator and at the same time, an increase in the group's strength. 

But for Qin Xi himself, this matter really had no benefit at all. Firstly, he practiced a pure Dao School cultivation method. If it wasn't for Yuan Bao's tricks inside the Virtual Sky World giving him a Pure Yang Technique and transforming his const.i.tution into one practically identical to a Pure Yang Const.i.tution, Dual Cultivation really couldn't confer any worthy benefits at all from his point of view. Secondly, he had his pride. Ever since he started to walk on the path towards immortality, he always believed he could achieve the Great Dao without having to rely on unorthodox methods like Dual Cultivation. Thirdly, she was a child, and one that could be considered an orphan entrusted by his friend—even if he had no sense of shame, he never would've thought about her in this regard.

When he returned from the Demonic Mountain, he entered Closed Door Meditation to heal his injuries. At the same time, he also chose a trustworthy martial nephew to run an errand for him. At that time, he didn't really have any expectations. A Pure Yin Const.i.tution was rare, and so was spiritual roots. Although that girl's father had spiritual roots and her mother had a Pure Yin Const.i.tution, she was still most likely to be born as an ordinary human. As for her having inherited both of these traits, the odds weren't even 10%.

Against all expectations, however, the news brought back by his martial nephew really gave him a shock. She really was a child with a Pure Yin Const.i.tution and spiritual roots, and moreover, she already entered the path of cultivation. Unfortunately, that martial nephew didn't handle the matter well, thus causing the uncle-niece pair to misunderstand his intentions. 

At that time, Qin Xi thought that since the uncle was the child's blood-related uncle who also held the utmost respect and love for his own elder brother, he would certainly treat the child well, so Qin Xi let them be. Since they were worried he had evil intentions towards them, then they could do as they saw fit. In any case, he was simply repaying Ye Hai half his life and didn't covet anything from them. He also wasn't kind-hearted enough that he would still come to their door to persuade them after being rejected. 

Later on, Qin Xi's injuries didn't improve. In desperation, he left the school to look for medicine.

As for why he went to Yunwu Sect, it was because despite being unknown, that small cultivation group had the spiritual panacea he wanted. Besides, their sovereigns also pa.s.sed down a manual for Body-Refining Technique which was rarely seen in Kunwu, and he happened to be collecting Body-Refining Technique manuals. Hence, he devised a plan to sneak into that small cultivation group. It was far enough from west Kunwu anyway—even if people knew who Qin Shoujing was, they definitely wouldn't know who Qin Xi was.

He was quiet by nature. Aside from cultivating, he completely wasn't interested in any other things. After he entered Yunwu Sect, he indeed had no interest in being with other Aura Refining disciples. It was just that since he took on the ident.i.ty of an Aura Refining disciple, it would've been odd if he never mingled with them. 

The first time he saw her, he didn't recognize her as a woman. Although he felt she looked too delicate, neither her conduct nor bearing had the slightest girliness to them.

At that time, he only felt a bit curious. Although this child was always smiling, polite and amiable, her gaze contained vague arrogance. It wasn't the sort of arrogance that scorned others; rather, it was a kind of arrogance that was born out of self-confidence and self-respect.

Nevertheless, how could a trivial Aura Refining cultivator possibly pique his interest? Therefore, he simply felt a bit of curiosity, nothing more.

Later, in their trip into Miwu Valley, they remained together for several days. That was when he started to feel strange. He always felt she carried a kind of familiar breath; it seemed like she had something that belonged to him. He then took advantage of her when she was off-guard. He used his divine comprehension to examine her and finally discovered her secret.

As it turned out, she was a woman who had a Spirit-Concealing Pendant in her possession. After that event, through other methods, he found out she also had an uncle who was a Foundation Building cultivator.

At that point, he already had some certainty about her ident.i.ty.

So she was the girl of that year.

He actually ran into her in this kind of small cultivation group... This was indeed too coincidental.

From that moment on, he finally began to pay attention to her constantly.

Because of that, he found out that although they had nothing in common on the surface, their temperaments were actually unusually similar to each other. 

She was hard-working, cool-headed, a.s.sertive and resolute. These were the traits he believed a successful cultivator needed to have. She seemed the same as other Aura Refining disciples, but in reality, she actually possessed these qualifications.

When she looked at others, no matter how she chatted and smiled warmly, her gaze was still suffused with a sense of alienation and vigilance. She seemed to be accustomed to putting her guard up against anyone, but when she faced a problem, she was usually more warmhearted than others. She was such a contradictory person. 

Consequently, he thought she was still a child in the end—she still needed to temper herself properly.

Therefore, whatever feelings he had didn't start then. At that point, he still considered her a child—a contradictory, struggling child who made him admire her and piqued his interest.

His feelings also didn't start during the two months' journey when he was bringing her back. At that time, he only sympathized with her and pitied her rough life, so he was more patient towards her than he usually was towards others.

But that was all there was to it.