Chapter 33: Father

Ah-Nuo's situation is indeed the top priority at hand.

The four of them returned to the Shen family trading house, and Lu Xingzhou and his disciple once again hid away in the west wing's small courtyard, refusing to come out.

Ignoring Ah-Nuo's struggles, Lu Xingzhou forcibly pinned her onto the bed and gave her a full physical examination from head to toe: "What's there to struggle about? You're just a little glutinous rice ball. From little to big, wasn't it always me who bathed you?"

Ah-Nuo felt wronged and wanted to say she was already ten years old now, not the six she appeared to be on the surface... Her master was clever about everything, yet always got fooled by appearances. Like Sister Fish—everyone clearly knew she wasn't just fourteen or fifteen, might even be an old granny, yet still couldn't help being enamored.

So silly.

Forget it, ten years old didn't really seem any different from six.

Lu Xingzhou had no idea what the little brat was thinking. With a stern face he seriously examined her once more, yet his brow only furrowed deeper.

He still couldn't find any problem. As for the so-called congenital illness, he didn't know whether it had already been completely cured by the pill just now, or whether it was hidden so deeply that his level simply couldn't detect it.

Hopefully it was the former. If it was the latter, this was still a massive hidden danger.

Lu Xingzhou had always known Ah-Nuo was very special—having memories while still in swaddling clothes went without saying, but which family's child ate normal food and didn't grow, only starting to grow rapidly when fed pills?

There was only one explanation for this phenomenon: the energy contained in ordinary food was negligible to Ah-Nuo, utterly insufficient to fuel her growth; only high-energy pills could.

In other words, Ah-Nuo's congenital bloodline was extremely special—she very likely wasn't human.

But no matter how Lu Xingzhou and the old Daoist Priest of those years had investigated, and even though Yuan Muyu had examined her too, the conclusion remained that she was human, not of the demon or monster kind. Moreover, Ah-Nuo faced no obstacles whatsoever in practicing human cultivation techniques, with none of the differences between monster and human cultivation.

After all, this was a world of cultivating immortality, where immortals might exist in the world. So one could perfectly well consider Ah-Nuo to be of immortal bloodline, and all her peculiarities could be explained away. Over these years Lu Xingzhou had stopped dwelling on the matter.

He had secretly investigated Ah-Nuo's birth parents, but unfortunately over the years had turned up nothing, and in the end gave up.

In short, something would go wrong with her. Although he hadn't anticipated it, when it really happened there was a feeling that it wasn't strange at all.

Over these past few years, Ah-Nuo had participated in quite a few Yama Hall battles—not because Yama Hall was so desperately short of hands, but mainly for her combat training. Yuan Muyu believed real combat was always the most important part of cultivation, and Lu Xingzhou wholeheartedly agreed.

So not only Ah-Nuo, but even Lu Xingzhou himself had secretly taken part in many real battles. However, Lu Xingzhou was mainly a planner; ordinary people had never seen him, whereas Ah-Nuo was often sent out to do the dirty work, earning herself a nickname she hated—"Ghost Boy."

Among them were battles against demons and monsters too. Ah-Nuo had been stained with plenty of demon blood and demon Qi, and never once had any problem arisen.

So why had something inexplicably gone wrong today?

Either this problem had nothing to do with demon blood, and it just happened to flare up at that moment—pure accident... but that demon's attitude didn't seem like it was unrelated...

Then could it be because Ah-Nuo had never before run into a demon of fourth grade or above?

But what's so special about fourth grade? Fourth grade was ultimately still within the middle three grades, hadn't crossed the watershed of the upper three grades, and didn't even qualify for listing in the Town Monster Division's "Heroes Register" or "Monsters Register"... What qualitative difference was there from the fifth or sixth grade ones Ah-Nuo had encountered before?

Or perhaps... the fourth-grade demon blood had suppressed Ah-Nuo's current fifth-grade cultivation? Thinking carefully, it did seem that in the past Ah-Nuo had never crossed grades when fighting demons.

And a demon capable of grade suppression could sense Ah-Nuo's special nature too, which was why that demon had shown delight.

This was the only explanation that could be thought of for now, but it wasn't necessarily correct and still needed verification.

Ah-Nuo opened her bright big eyes, watching Lu Xingzhou sitting at the bedside frowning in thought, and suddenly said softly: "Master..."

Lu Xingzhou came back to himself and gave an "Mm."

"I'm sorry, for making you still unable to stand."

"Why are you bringing this up again." Lu Xingzhou rubbed her little head: "If it weren't for you, Master alone couldn't have gotten this thing either. This is our thing—yours to use, mine to use, is there any difference?"

"Master has other helpers now. Even without Ah-Nuo, you can still scheme."

"Don't talk nonsense. How can other people compare to you?"

"But... Ah-Nuo wants Master to stand up."

Lu Xingzhou bent down and pecked her cheek, saying gently: "Master will stand up... You fought a lot today, and something went wrong on top of that. Pills only cure illness, they can't cure your exhaustion. You have a good sleep first, don't overthink it. Who knows, when you open your eyes, Master might already be standing."

"... You're using the same lines from a few years ago to coax me again."

"In my eyes, you'll always be that little dumpling who needs me to coax you to sleep."

Ah-Nuo looked at him with sparkling eyes, and only after a long while said, biting her lower lip: "You fed me medicine in front of everyone—aren't you afraid of being exposed?"

"There is indeed a bit of a problem... Huo Yu died here, the pills disappeared, and I just happened to pull out a pill to treat you. If the Huo family sends people and strings it all together, it really is improper. But at the time Master's mind was only on how to treat you, I simply couldn't think about all this miscellaneous stuff..." Lu Xingzhou stroked her little face: "So little thing, don't have any problems. If something happens to you, something happens to Master too."

Master had more than just "something happen"—he had almost stopped being himself.

In Ah-Nuo's whole life she had only seen Lu Xingzhou lose his head once: when he completely overreached and went to assassinate the old Daoist Priest. The kill succeeded, but had Yuan Muyu not happened to arrive, the splashing blood alone would have taken Lu Xingzhou's life. At the time he hadn't given a single thought to whether he might be killed in retaliation.

This was the second time he had lost his proper reason, and both times were for her sake.

Ah-Nuo felt terrible inside and said softly: "Master... this trouble afterward..."

"It's no big deal... Your illness and a few words between us—distant onlookers can't figure it out. Only Shen Tang, Dugu Qingli, and Chen Zhangsi know clearly. Shen Tang and the others aren't a problem; as for Chen Zhangsi, I'll find a way to make it up to him later... If it really won't work, we'll just grab our buckets and run."

Ah-Nuo couldn't help but laugh a little.

Actually, they had planned to leave anyway. All the previous schemes had been to lure the Huo family here. Now that Huo Yu and his entire force had been wiped out here, unless the Huo family were fools, they wouldn't line up to deliver themselves one by one like the gourd brothers saving grandpa. Once the Huo family came to investigate Huo Yu's death next time, whoever came would certainly be high-end combat power—nothing to scheme against.

If Lu Xingzhou still wanted to get medicine from the Huo family, he'd have to set up a new scheme. A new scheme had to start from scratch; it was impossible to keep choosing Xiazhou.

"Alright, let's not talk about this anymore. I'll handle it, it's none of your business." Lu Xingzhou pulled the blanket up over her: "This time's matter, I've thought it over and over and it might be because of demon grade suppression. From now on, when you see a demon whose cultivation is higher than yours, retreat three houses' distance, stay far away. As for whether this is actually the reason, I'll find a way to verify it clearly."

"Then am I a demon?"

"You're an immortal." Lu Xingzhou rubbed her face again: "Immortals and demons are opposites; some mutual restraint is hardly surprising."

Ah-Nuo's little round face finally showed a relieved, easy smile: "Then I'm going to sleep!"

Watching Ah-Nuo fall asleep looking completely at ease, Lu Xingzhou adjusted her blanket once more, then sat by the bed motionless, keeping watch.

He was afraid something might go wrong in the middle of the night and didn't dare leave.

Until the dawn gradually rose and faint rooster crows came from afar. Seeing Ah-Nuo's little mouth smacking as if she were about to wake, and that there seemed to be no further problems, Lu Xingzhou gently let out a breath. Only then did he carefully wheel his chair away, not letting the little girl know he had stayed the whole night.

The moment Lu Xingzhou left Ah-Nuo's little room, Ah-Nuo on the bed opened her eyes. The little girl twitched her nose, turned over, buried her face in the pillow, and sobbed.

No matter how you looked at it, Master's leg medicine was gone, and there was extra trouble afterward—all because of her. Ah-Nuo had never hated herself so much for causing problems at a critical moment.

But Master hadn't had even the slightest thought of blame, and instead had gently guarded her—which made Ah-Nuo want to cry even more.

Master was never just a master—he was a father.

Lu Xingzhou didn't know the little girl had secretly cried. In his understanding, this girl was very strong and very good, and had never cried before...

He went straight out the door and headed for the Pill Division.

Sure enough, the Pill Division was ablaze with lights. Chen Jinnian had also been up all night, conducting an autopsy and writing a report.

Hearing that Lu Xingzhou had come to call, Chen Jinnian was not surprised: "Let him in."

A subordinate led Lu Xingzhou inside. Chen Jinnian dismissed the attendants on either side, looked at Lu Xingzhou for a while, and sighed: "I know what you want to say... The pill — is it from the Huo family?"

Lu Xingzhou nodded readily: "Yes."

Chen Jinnian absently twirled his beard, dazed for a long while before saying: "Strange. A pill that can snatch a life back from the King of Hell's hands has never appeared in the world — where did the Huo family get it... If the imperial family and the Sacred Lands were to learn of this..."

Lu Xingzhou smiled: "So now that Chen Zhangsi knows, you'd better be careful not to let it slip, or the Huo family will most likely silence you."

Chen Jinnian was a little speechless: "So you were certain I wouldn't spread it, which is why you dared use it right in front of me?"

"No, I really had lost my composure. At the time I truly had no mind to consider anything else. But thinking about it afterward, I felt it was best to come and tell Chen Zhangsi openly."

Chen Jinnian hesitated for a while, then sighed: "It seems you really are Huo Shang — you even know such a closely guarded matter of the Huo family."

Lu Xingzhou: "..."

Chen Jinnian ultimately could not hold back, and said in a lowered voice: "Your family's internal affairs are none of my concern, but the pill formula for that pill — could you possibly..."

"Don't mention Huo Shang — even Huo Yu wouldn't know the formula. But I did handle it after all... Although I can't give a detailed analysis, the main ingredients should be these few..." Lu Xingzhou very decisively wrote several medicinal ingredients on paper. He knew that for an alchemist like Chen Jinnian, what truly mattered in his heart was only this.

But regrettably, no matter how much Chen Jinnian researched, at most he could deepen his understanding of compounding a little — it was impossible for him to truly achieve the effect of the Huo family's pill.

After all, the true crux of that pill lay in the alchemy furnace, not in the formula itself.

How would Chen Jinnian know any of this? Obtaining a few main ingredients already satisfied him greatly — it meant that with more attempts, he might just be able to compound it.

The old man stared fixedly at the slip of paper in his hand; one look and his mind was already wandering: "Fine, I won't speak of this matter... If anyone asks about the specifics, I'll say your disciple was invaded by demonic qi and developed a grave illness, and that you yourself are an alchemist who, with my pointers, naturally handled it with ease."

Lu Xingzhou let out a breath, and bowed with hands clasped: "Then many thanks to Chen Zhangsi."

"No need to thank me." Chen Jinnian's gaze moved away from the paper, and he gave him a measuring look, with a sigh of feeling: "The affection of a parent for its young — who would not be moved... My own little granddaughter is about the same age as your disciple."

————

PS: Seeing the arguing annoyed me, so I'm updating early. Can a serialized story please not erupt into arguments every time something happens... Of course Lu was in the wrong here, but the point was to show that when faced with his "daughter's" life-or-death crisis, he would lose his composure completely, losing his usual calm — highlighting his extreme care for A-Nuo and his deeply emotional character.

Honestly speaking, if something happened to my own family, my reaction would be even more extreme.

(End of chapter)