The news of the Heaven Reversal Pill had already been released for two days, but so far no one had responded to Jade Cicada Palace’s request. Xia Yuzhi had no appetite every day and looked miserable.
During this period, Xia Xiaochan had been awake for a long time after the Gu worms ate up his rotten veins. When Xia Xiaochan woke up and saw Xia Yuzhi sitting next to him, he smiled weakly and said, “Old Xia, I actually lied to you. The reason I didn’t want to eat wasn’t because of a lack of appetite, but because my lifespan was about to be exhausted, so I lost my appetite. We Jade Cicada Clan have such a short lifespan, but I’m content to have been with you for a hundred years.”
Xia Yuzhi’s face immediately turned ugly.
He said to Xia Xiaochan, “You should tell me about this kind of thing earlier, so that I can be more prepared. I don’t know how many times I have told you to concentrate on cultivation in the past, but you didn’t care. You felt that you were young and would not grow old, so you wasted a lot of time. Now, aren’t you just asking for trouble?”
Xia Xiaochan covered his ears. “Aiya aiya, I’m dying but you’re still lecturing me. Old Xia, are you in the menopausal stage?”
Xia Yuzhi, “….”
Xia Yuzhi pinched Xia Xiaochan’s face. “I posted an announcement all over the Five Continents, offering a reward for the Heaven Reversal Pill. The rotten veins in your body have been eaten, and your life has also been temporarily extended by a miracle pill. If we can find the Heaven Reversal Pill, you will be saved.”
Xia Xiaochan’s eyes lit up, and then dimmed again. “The materials needed to refine the Heaven Reversal Pill are all expensive spiritual plants. Among them, the Inquiring Immortals Spiritual Grass is the most difficult to find. I haven’t seen a single Inquiring Immortals Spiritual Grass even when I was in Heavenly Swamp Mysterious Land. Even if some families have the Heaven Reversal Pill in their hands, they will definitely not use them for others. Old Xia, you should prepare in advance.”
Xia Yuzhi shook his head. “I will not give up.”
Xia Xiaochan tried to open his eyes and looked at Xia Yuzhi’s face, which was as beautiful as it was a hundred years ago. “Old Xia, life doesn’t last forever, there will always be a day when people die of old age and illness. Even if they become gods, there will always be a day when they fade away. I have lived happily in the past hundred years. Even if I die today, I have no regrets.”
Xia Yuzhi asked with a sinking expression, “Don’t you have any yearning at all for this world?”
Xia Xiaochan smiled. “Who will I miss? Could it be you?”
Xia Yuzhi pursed his lips and said nothing.
Xia Xiaochan then whispered, “I know what you think of me, but I have been with you for a hundred years. If I could like you, I would have liked you a long time ago. You’d better find someone else. You don’t have to spend too much energy on me. When you saved me back then, I promised you that I will stay by your side for a hundred years. Now a hundred years have passed. Let me go. For us Jade Cicadas, freedom is more important than anything else.”
Xia Yuzhi clenched his fist and stood up. “After you recover, I will let you leave Jade Cicada Palace.”
Xiao Mo nodded and patted Xia Xiaochan’s head. “Don’t worry, just now someone has given us a response. They wanted us to find some kinds of spiritual plants. Master has determined that they are the ingredients needed to refine Heaven Reversal Pill. I think a powerhouse is willing to help you.”
Xia Xiaochan was taken aback. “Which spiritual plants did they want?”
Xiao Mo listed the names of ten spiritual plants.
The more Xia Xiaochan heard, the more his teeth hurt. Finally, he nearly died of shock. He sat up, slapped the bed board, and shouted, “And you just gave him everything he wanted? Where’s that big liar now?”
Xiao Mo scratched his head. “He used a skylark to send a message to our door. The spiritual plants we prepared were also taken away by the skylark.”
Xia Xiaochan said angrily, “He must be a swindler, there’s no doubt about it. He didn’t even dare to show his face and cheated the money away. Why are you so gullible?”
Xiao Mo defended, “It’s not that we’re gullible. In recent days, many swindlers have come to the door to deliver medicines, and they have all been seen through by the Palace Master. This… this powerhouse, since he can make a skylark who doesn’t yet have sentience listen to him, he must have some abilities. Moreover, the spiritual plants he wants just happens to be plants that we can take out from our reserves.”
“He didn’t ask for the Inquiring Immortals Spiritual Grass?” Xia Xiaochan was even more surprised.
Xiao Mo shook his head. “If he really wanted the Inquiring Immortals Spiritual Grass, I’m afraid we won’t be able to trade with him.”
Xia Xiaochan patted the bed angrily. “This shows even more that he is a big liar! Did a donkey kick Old Xia in the head? How can he just randomly believe anyone? This won’t do, Old Xia is too kind. When can he grow a brain?”
Xiao Mo sighed and said in a complicated tone, “Nowadays, Master would rather believe than doubt, even if he was deceived, it would still be better than waiting without any hope.”
Xia Xiaochan was stunned. He shrank slightly into the quilt and asked in a low voice, “Shixiong, if I really died, will Old Xia be very sad?”
Xiao Mo looked at him and answered, “If you die, I’m afraid there will no longer be anyone in the world that Master cares about.”
Xia Xiaochan was dazed for a moment and closed his eyes.
He…it wasn’t like he disliked Old Xia, but because he was destined to be unable to accompany him, he would rather not start something. However, he still felt sad when he thought of Old Xia being alone in the future.
Fifteen days later, the door of the room in the inn was opened from inside. Lin Xuanzhi looked up and saw Yan Tianhen holding a cat-eye blue pill in his hand, a big smile on his face. Lin Xuanzhi raised his eyebrows and said, “Have you finished refining the Heaven Reversal Pill?”
Yan Tianhen nodded. “Yeah, and it’s also a top-grade Heaven Reversal Pill. After eating it, not only will it rejuvenate the person, but it will also make the cultivator’s spiritual roots more pure. Xia Xiaochan really got a bargain ah.”
“Let’s go and send it to Jade Cicada Palace. If it’s any later, I’m afraid you won’t be able to save Xia Xiaochan.”
Feng Jingyu flew on top of Lin Xuanzhi’s head. “At least this king gave him a divine pill to extend his life. If he died as easily as that, wouldn’t it be an insult to this king’s divine pill?”
Lin Xuanzhi said coolly, “You spat a mouthful of saliva and mixed it with some of the leftover snacks and dregs you had eaten, then shaped it into a ball. Can it even be called a divine pill?”
Feng Jingyu stretched out his neck. “That can definitely be called a divine pill. You think just anyone can get this king’s saliva? It’s a great tonic! It can extend someone’s life with just one bite!”
Yan Tianhen pondered and said, “That’s true, I’ll have to study Maomao’s whole body one day.”
Feng Jingyu, “……”
Yan Tianhen quickly handed the pill to Feng Jingyu and asked him to send the pitiful and ignorant skylark to Jade Cicada Palace with the pill bottle clasped in its beak to hand this medicinal pill over to the Palace Master.
“Master!” Xiao Mo rushed over with a bottle in his hand, with a look of ecstasy on his face. “That great power has brought us the pill!”
Xia Yuzhi, who was already about to lose heart, stood up at once, grabbed the bottle with one hand, and poured out the pill. After sniffing it carefully, he couldn’t help breathing in a gasp, “What a strong medicinal aroma.”
Xia Yuzhi glanced at the back room and said, “I’ll feed it to Xiaochan.”
“Master, don’t you have to test the pill beforehand?” Xiao Mo asked, “What if it is a fake?”
Xia Yuzhi shook his head. “Xiaochan is already like this. It’s up to fate whether or not he can be saved. I also know that the Ji family has a Heaven Reversal Pill, but after I came to their door to ask for it, they sent me away with a few words, which shows how important the Heaven Reversal Pill is to a family. All the disciples I sent to ask for the pill also returned empty-handed. This pill is our last hope.”
Xiao Mo nodded heavily. “Only at the critical moment you can truly see people’s hearts.”
Xia Yuzhi was noncommittal, but went to the back room and gave the pill to Xia Xiaochan, who had already fallen into a coma.
Not long after the pill was taken, Xia Xiaochan’s skin color began to return to normal, and even the rotten veins that had been swallowed up began to sprout new veins. After a while, when the pill’s effect was fully released, even the Dantian Qi Sea, which had shrunk to the size of a thumb cap, gradually expanded and recovered to its original state.
Xia Xiaochan opened his eyes and was confused for a moment. He said in a puzzled manner, “Why do I feel like I am coming back to life again? My cultivation level seems to have returned, and my spiritual roots are more pure… You really found the Heaven Reversal Pill?”
Xia Yuzhi chuckled briskly. “Yeah, this is Xiaochan’s fortune. You’re quite lucky to have met such a great power.”
Xia Xiaochan sat up and stared into Xia Yuzhi’s eyes. “What did you promise them?
“I gave a set of Teleportation Arrays that can enter Heavenly Swamp Mysterious Land in advance, and also 10 million gold.”
Xia Xiaochan said thoughtfully, “That person is not greedy.”
Xia Yuzhi nodded. “Yeah, if I were him, I would want the entire Jade Cicada Palace in exchange, or the entire Heavenly Swamp Mysterious Land.”
Xia Xiaochan couldn’t help being happy. “The entire Heavenly Swamp Mysterious Land is okay, but the entire Jade Cicada Palace is too much. Who dares to ask for this? That would be a clear challenge and provocation.”
Xia Yuzhi just smiled lightly and thought, Even if someone really asked for the whole Jade Cicada Palace in exchange for Xia Xiaochan’s life, he would make an exchange without any hesitation. However, it was unnecessary for Xia Xiaochan to know this.
Xia Yuzhi raised his hand and touched Xia Xiaochan’s head, and said lovingly, “Xiaochan, you should cultivate well in the future, and cherish this hard-won opportunity to live again.”
Xia Xiaochan nodded and rubbed Xia Yuzhi’s palm with his head, then looked at him with burning eyes. “I never thought before that we Golden Cicadas could fight against destiny and even be reborn again after a hundred years. The biggest calamity in my life has passed. After this, the curse that the Golden Cicada clan cannot survive past a hundred years has been broken on me, so I can be like ordinary cultivators, cultivating and striving for immortality.”
Xia Yuzhi laughed knowingly. “This is the best.”
Xia Xiaochan looked at Xia Yuzhi, and his mood was indescribable. Now he especially wanted to jump into Xia Yuzhi’s arms and act coquettish. However, Xia Yuzhi avoided his gaze as he spoke, “You have just recovered. Take a rest. If there is anything you want to eat, tell Xiao Mo. Heavenly Swamp Mysterious Land is opening soon, so I still have some other things to deal with.”
Xia Xiaochan could only watch Xia Yuzhi leave.
—