I made the entire cultivation world cry

Chapter 174 Conflict (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

While the Xin family was immersed in the joy of Xin Hong's recovery, Jiang Yi was also immersed in Xin Xiaoman's nightmare, her dream world distorted into a suffocatingly vast and distant place in the eyes of a child.

The haystacks towered into the clouds, as if piercing the leaden sky, and the outlines of the village houses were stretched and fragmented, casting menacing shadows in the twilight.

The entire village was deathly silent; even the wind seemed to have stopped, and only Xin Xiaoman's own heartbeat could be heard pounding.

She looked up and saw her father's figure swaying precariously atop the tall haystack.

Suddenly, the father's body fell like a puppet with its strings cut.

click!
Her father's neck snapped at an unnatural angle, and his head rolled to her feet, still staring at her with a horrified expression.

Fear washed over Xin Xiaoman like a tidal wave, and her entire dream began to twist and distort.

The edges of the thatch transformed into sharp fangs, and countless skeletal arms stretched out from the shadows of the trees.

Something was whispering in the darkness, and sticky tentacles stretched out from the cracks in the ground, reaching out to grab her.

As an observer, Jiang Yi found the fear and distortion in the dream to be exceptionally real, because Xin Xiaoman's will even had a strong destructive power.

Just as Jiang Yi was about to leave, a light blue figure parted the distorted darkness and walked up to Xin Xiaoman.

The man wore a faded scholar's robe, as if carrying a wisp of mountain breeze. His eyebrows and eyes were gentle and refined, and he was exceptionally handsome, making him stand out from the crowd.

The scholar bent down and picked up the head that had rolled off the ground, his movements as gentle as if he were picking up a fallen flower.

"Xiaoman, don't be afraid," the scholar's voice was as clear as a spring as he gently put the severed head back in place. "Your father is not dead, he is just asleep."

Xin Xiaoman's tears were still on her cheeks, but she had already stopped crying.

She looked up at Pei Zhixu, sobbing as she called out, "Brother Zhixu..."

The distorted shadows in the dream receded like the tide, the hideous monsters turned into drifting mist, and the darkness was dispelled inch by inch.

The ridiculously tall haystacks had returned to their normal height, and the threshing ground was bathed in golden sunlight. Jiang Yi was surrounded by normal villagers, working in the fields, chatting and laughing, as if the fear he had just felt had never existed.

Pei Zhixu squatted down to be at eye level with Xin Xiaoman, gently wiping away the tears from the corners of her eyes with his fingertips, and said softly, "It was just a nightmare. You'll be fine after a good night's sleep. Don't be afraid."

His eyes were clear and firm, carrying a convincing power.

Xin Xiaoman sniffed, nodded vigorously, and gripped his sleeve with her small hand.

"Come on, brother will take you home."

Pei Zhixu smiled as he carried Xin Xiaoman on his back and passed by Jiang Yi. In Xin Xiaoman's eyes, Jiang Yi was just an ordinary villager and not worth paying attention to.

In his later dreams, Pei Zhixu and Xin Xiaoman played together. No matter what Xin Xiaoman asked for, Pei Zhixu agreed and patiently accompanied her without showing the slightest impatience.

The constant laughter and chatter made it both warm and uninteresting.

Aside from the fact that Pei Zhixu is indeed very good-looking and pleasing to the eye, there's nothing particularly special about him.

It's unclear whether his handsome appearance and gentle personality were a romanticized version of Xin Xiaoman's dream, or if he was truly like that in real life.

If Wushuang hadn't embarked on the path to immortality, she would probably have already married Pei Zhixu.

Jiang Yi deliberately left the dream and opened her eyes to see Xin Xiaoman sleeping on the kang (a heated brick bed), her eyes smiling and occasionally letting out a giggle.

Night had fallen, and a dim light shone from the east room of the Xin family's house, casting several blurry figures on the window paper.

Low sobs and murmured whispers could be faintly heard, suggesting that a family was recounting the pain of separation over the years.

Jiang Yi did not disturb this rare moment of reunion. She quietly walked out of the courtyard. With the help of the "leaf obscuring the view," she could walk in the snow without leaving any footprints, and her whole person was like a ghostly phantom.

As night deepened, Wuliu Village was enveloped in tranquility. The village was built against the mountain, with only a dozen or so households scattered at the foot of the mountain.

The village was quiet and deserted at the moment. Most people had already turned off their lights and gone to bed. As Jiang Yi strolled around, he discovered many dream traces. He casually examined a few places and found that they were all ordinary dreams of farmers about harvest or hunting, with nothing unusual.

Following the clues provided by Hu Qiyuan, Jiang Yi arrived at the abandoned thatched hut outside the village.

Zhang Wangshan, a follower of the Mengxian Sect, used to live here. The house is now dilapidated, with most of the roof collapsed under the weight of snow and the courtyard wall crumbling. It looks particularly desolate under the moonlight.

Jiang Yi searched carefully and found that all traces had been erased by the Taoist temple, leaving only a few expired yellow talismans. Zhang Wangshan's missing son was also nowhere to be found.

Judging from Hu Qiyuan's account and the notes left by the former abbot Wen, the death of abbot Wen was by no means accidental.

"Master Wen, what exactly did you find out that led to your tragic silencing?" As the night wind picked up, Jiang Yi wrapped her clothes tighter. With no clues, she could only put the investigation on hold and let things take their course.

……

Xin Wushuang talked with her family until midnight before returning to her room. Xin Xiaoman was taken away by her second sister, Xin Yuehe, leaving the room for Xin Wushuang to live alone.

Jiang Yi stayed on the roof as usual, bathing in starlight and trying to transform her divine sense into a sword. The Dream Immortal Sect, hidden in the shadows, made her feel a great sense of urgency. She couldn't be lazy, so she just let things take their course.

Xin Wushuang did not go to bed in the room, but sat cross-legged on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) to meditate and cultivate.

The spiritual energy in the mortal realm was thin, yet Xin Wushuang remained seated motionless. Moonlight streamed through the window, illuminating her slightly hunched back, her once upright posture seemingly bent by an invisible burden.

At dawn, just as the sky was beginning to lighten, Xin Wushuang got up.

Without using any magic, she picked up the bucket and trudged through the snow to the well at the village entrance to fetch water.

After filling two large vats with water, Xin Wushuang went to the backyard to chop firewood.

The axe chopped into the wooden stake with a dull thud. Xin Wushuang moved swiftly, chopping the wood one blow after another, and soon he had chopped up a pile of firewood, which he neatly stacked in the corner.

In the kitchen, her sister-in-law, Wang, was busy starting a fire and cooking. When she saw Wushuang come in, she quickly wiped her hands and said, "Wushuang, I can do these chores. You can rest."

"Sister-in-law, you're pregnant, you should rest."

Xin Wushuang squatted down and skillfully added firewood to the stove to start a fire.

Second sister Xin Yuehe carried a basket of cabbages she had taken from the cellar to the kitchen to pick them. Seeing Xin Wushuang's diligent work, she couldn't help but mutter to herself.

"A cultivator can summon water and start a fire with the flick of his finger, so why does he have to pretend to chop wood and carry water? Who is he trying to impress?"

Her voice was neither too loud nor too soft, just loud enough for Xin Wushuang to hear, and her tone carried a hint of bitterness that she herself was unaware of.

"If you're truly filial, why don't you bring your parents to live in the city? Buy a big house, hire some maids and servants to take care of them. Wouldn't that be better than pretending to be an ordinary person here and having to cook for them yourself?"

Wang, heavily pregnant, came over, tugged at Xin Yuehe's sleeve, and shook her head to signal her to stop talking.

Xin Wushuang ignored him, continuing to add firewood and boil water with a blank expression, as if these words had nothing to do with her.

Xin Yuehe slammed the cabbage leaves she had picked onto the cutting board. "She's always been like this since she was little. She keeps quiet and still gets praised and liked by her parents. I think she's just putting on an act!"

The eldest brother, Xin Changgeng, walked into the kitchen, frowning, and said, "Yuehe, say less!"

Watching Xin Wushuang's busy figure, Wang unconsciously placed her hand on her belly and murmured softly, "If only my child could have spiritual roots like his aunt..."

At breakfast, the family sat around Xin Wushuang's newly replaced elm wood table, and his mother, He Shi, put a chicken leg on Xin Wushuang's plate.

"Mom, I want to eat chicken legs too!" Xin Xiaoman pouted and shouted.

Xin Wushuang handed the chicken leg directly to Xin Xiaoman, saying, "You eat it, I'm fasting."

Second sister Xin Yuehe became sarcastic again, "Yes, you are an immortal, eating only immortal rice and fruits, and you look down on the simple meals that Mother cooks. If you hadn't come back, we would never have seen any oil or meat on a daily basis, and we would only eat pickled vegetables!"

Xin Wushuang remained expressionless and silent.

Xin Changgeng kicked Xin Yuehe under the table. He Shi ignored her second daughter Xin Yuehe's words and put a chicken leg on her daughter-in-law Wang Shi's plate.

Madam He said to Xin Wushuang, "Wushuang, you didn't come back when Zhixu got married. Over the years, he has taken good care of our family. Now that you're back, take some gifts to thank him."

"it is good."

Madam He continued, "Zhi Xu's wife is a hunter's daughter. She's straightforward and generous to everyone, and she never has any petty or narrow-minded traits. She and her husband have a very good relationship. At the beginning of the year, Zhi Xu failed the exam at the Taoist temple, but his wife wasn't upset. She went into the mountains every day to hunt and supplement their income. The two of them lived a prosperous life, and everyone in the village envied them."

Xin Wushuang hummed in response, her expression unreadable.

Madam He sighed silently, realizing that Xin Wushuang was still so clueless even after entering the immortal sect. She wondered if Xin Wushuang had any friends, and it was quite heartbreaking to see her like this all alone.

Her two daughters, one is too cunning and the other is too naive, sigh!
After the meal, Xin Wushuang took the initiative to clean up the dishes, as if she were just an ordinary farm girl, not a high and mighty immortal master.

After finishing the chores at home, Xin Wushuang couldn't see Jiang Yi and didn't know if she had gotten up, so she didn't send a message to Jiang Yi. Instead, she carried the meat and eggs her mother had given her and went to Pei Zhixu's house alone.

As she stepped out of her house, she suddenly heard Jiang Yi say that she was there. Xin Wushuang's tense mood relaxed, and her steps became much lighter.

Neither Xin Wushuang nor Jiang Yi expected that as soon as Pei's wife saw Xin Wushuang, she would grab a broom from the courtyard gate and throw her out, smashing the meat and eggs she had brought to the ground.

(End of this chapter)