Chapter 41: Restored Hope

However, this world is not lacking in heavenly treasures and earthly riches; later, once you reach a certain realm, you may by chance obtain some methods to reforge her meridians.

Lu Zhiyuan slowly spoke.

From Fang Xu's expression he could see that his own disciple would surely not give up on this little girl.

Simply giving him something to think about also counts as giving him motivation.

"Master, I'm taking Mu Xian back first."

It was already noon; having been busy from last night until now, the mess in his own courtyard still hadn't been cleaned up, so Fang Xu prepared to take Chu Mu back first and then talk.

"Go ahead, you should be more careful lately; since such a big incident happened in Maple Forest Town, Huangzhou Prefecture and Central State will definitely take action." Lu Zhiyuan reminded.

Fang Xu gave a slight nod.

Wang Ergou's death involved Wu; the Second Master of the Yun family died in Maple Forest Town, and adding last night's attack and the government troops who died miserably in Ti Lan Mountain, whether it's the Yun family or the Central State imperial family, they will undoubtedly pay great attention.

Pushing Chu Mu out of Zhi Yuan Hall, Fang Xu said nothing.

Chu Mu occasionally glanced at the dazed common folk after the disaster, his face showing pity.

"Fang Xu older brother..."

Chu Mu raised his head and shouted.

Fang Xu slightly lowered his head: "Hmm?"

"In a martial artist's eyes, is an ordinary person's life really worth so little?"

The wheelchair's speed paused slightly; Fang Xu glanced at those miserable common folk and sighed softly: "When you push the wheelchair, have you ever run over ants on the road?"

Chu Mu's expression froze, then he shook his head: "I don't know, Mu hasn't paid attention."

Fang Xu smiled faintly and said in a deep voice: "A cultivator, from an ordinary person becoming a martial novice, then a martial practitioner, and even higher-level martial artists, has their life level step by step leap; in a sense, ordinary people in their eyes are no different from ants or livestock."

"Their intentional or unintentional actions could possibly bring disaster upon ordinary common folk, but this is just like us walking normally; on the road ahead, would we care about occasionally stepping on a few ants?"

Hearing his words, Chu Mu lowered his head slightly; he obviously still couldn't accept Fang Xu's explanation.

"Saying this might be a bit improper, but the idea is roughly like this." He pursed his lips and continued: "On a martial artist's path forward, when encountering a passing ant, they can step on it directly without a second thought; but if they encounter a fierce beast, they will consider carefully and even choose to detour."

"If we want to survive well in this world, we must shed the identity of ants and become dreaded fierce beasts."

"Are you hungry?" Not wanting to discuss this heavy issue with Chu Mu, Fang Xu lowered his head and spoke softly.

Chu Mu nodded slightly; last night Chu Li returned home in the evening and made her something to eat; a night has passed, and now it's also noon—she truly is a bit hungry despite not having drunk a drop.

"Back home, brother will make you something tasty." Fang Xu said, quickening his pace, and soon pushed Chu Mu back to his own cottage.

After placing Chu Mu in the courtyard, Fang Xu picked up a broom, cleaned up the flying insect corpses inside and out, then put back the things overturned by last night's battle, letting the cottage return to its original state; only then did he rush into the kitchen to start preparing lunch for Chu Mu.

The kitchen still had plenty of low-grade blood food; to Fang Xu now, it was hardly different from ordinary livestock blood and meat.

So he simply cut some up to use as ordinary meat, stir-fried two small dishes for Chu Mu, and steamed a pot of millet rice.

The two began eating in the courtyard.

"Fang Xu older brother, this is blood food!!"

He picked up the meat Fang Xu had placed in his bowl, put it in his mouth and chewed a few bites; Chu Mu said somewhat incredulously.

"Low-grade blood food, eat up." Fang Xu didn't care.

Chu Mu, however, hesitated for a long time before slowly speaking: "Fang Xu older brother, each time I eat blood food, I can feel my legs growing slightly warm."

Hearing this, Fang Xu froze.

Lu Zhiyuan said, Chu Mu's legs are congenitally disabled, the meridians blocked.

If that's the case, she shouldn't be able to feel anything.

"Mu, wait a moment." Somewhat excitedly putting down his bowl and chopsticks, Fang Xu hurried back into the room, took out an ordinary Blood Qi Pill and handed it to her, saying: "Try eating this Blood Qi Pill."

Looking at the Blood Qi Pill in Fang Xu's hand, Chu Mu felt a bit uneasy.

"Mu, as a disabled person, it's better not to waste such a precious medicinal pill."

Her grandfather, who in life was the manager of Qin Xiang Zhai, naturally knew that a Blood Qi Pill was worth ten taels of silver, enough to offset her grandfather's wages for nearly half a year.

"Go ahead, brother still has more." He directly brought the Blood Qi Pill to Chu Mu's lips and said softly.

This is indeed a Dan Xiang Sacred Body, a future genius pill master.

If the Blood Qi Pill and blood food could truly let Chu Mu stand, let her cultivate martial arts and become a pill master, Fang Xu felt this investment would certainly not be a loss.

Sniffing the fragrance of the Blood Qi Pill before him, Chu Mu lifted his head to look at Fang Xu, after a long while he slightly opened his small mouth and swallowed the Blood Qi Pill.

The terrifying Blood Qi Power instantly dissolved in her abdomen, then surged into her limbs and bones!

His body trembled slightly; Chu Mu's brows knit tightly, dense beads of sweat seeped from his forehead, his face showing an expression of extreme pain.

Seeing this, Fang Xu was somewhat startled and quickly asked: "Mu, what's wrong?"

Chu Mu endured the pain and said: "Fang Xu... brother, I... I'm fine."

Saying that, she also forced out a faint smile: "Leg... legs have feeling now... although... although it really hurts..."

After saying those two sentences, her body trembled even more violently!

Even as he bit his lips until they bled and dug his nails into the wheelchair armrests, Chu Mu never let out a single cry of pain.

Since the leg meridians were blocked, the terrifying Blood Qi Power transformed from the Blood Qi Pill was like a sharp drill, gradually boring open those obstructed meridians!

This pain, like a tide, continually washed over his brain.

Fang Xu watched anxiously from the side, secretly blaming himself a bit for being too rash.

The terrifying Blood Qi Power of the Blood Qi Pill is, for someone who has never cultivated, no different from poison.

As time trickled by, Chu Mu's clothes were soaked through with sweat, strands of damp hair clung to his forehead, and his originally somewhat pale cheeks had turned deathly pale.

But he was still persisting.

A quarter hour, though not long, felt exceedingly long for Fang Xu and Chu Mu; after a quarter hour passed, the pain on Chu Mu's face gradually lessened and his trembling diminished slightly.

Afterwards, she slowly opened her eyes, meeting Fang Xu's anxious expression and forced a smile: "Thank you, Fang Xu older brother..."

"How do you feel?" Fang Xu quickly asked.

After Chu Mu whispered the two words "I'm so tired...", she fainted right away.

Fang Xu hurriedly grabbed her small hand, felt her breathing was relatively stable, let out a slight sigh of relief, then directly lifted Chu Mu from the wheelchair and placed her on his bed.

After covering her with a blanket, Fang Xu came to the courtyard, brought the uneaten food into the kitchen, planning to wait for Chu Mu to wake up before reheating it for her.

He himself chose a piece of high-grade meat, washed it clean, put it in the pot to stew, then went to the courtyard to practice the Nine Ape Staff.

As an eighth-grade staff technique secret manual, having only practiced a little superficially, even under the siege of three sixth-realm martial apprentices last night, it could still produce decent results; Fang Xu looked forward to the Nine Ape Staff.

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye it was already dark.

Chu Mu still hadn't awakened; Fang Xu went to the side wing room, simply tidied up the house where his grandfather used to live, preparing to spend the night there.

In the deep night, the sharp cry of a night owl sounded outside Maple Forest Town; moments later, a figure wearing a bamboo hat darted out from the town, heading toward the direction of Ti Lan Mountain outside the town.

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(End of chapter)