"You really don't know."
"No"
"After you left, we thought you were missing," Huang Peng began.
"So we posted a mission to find you. After the first month with no news, rumors started to spread that you were dead."
"But Huang Min didn't believe it. She often got into arguments with fellow disciples who claimed you were dead," Su Yan added.
"After that initial month, with still no news, we feared the worst. Huang Min has locked herself in her room since."
Hearing this, Long Huang was taken aback. He hadn't realized his sudden disappearance would affect them so deeply.
"I didn't think you would notice," he said, a hint of sadness in his voice.
"Of course, we'd noticed. You're like a son to us," Su Yan said in a motherly tone, and Huang Peng nodded in agreement.
Long Huang then bowed and made his way to Huang Min's room. As he walked, he realized how much the Huang family meant to him and how much he meant to them.
When he arrived at Huang Min's room, he knocked, but received no response. He knocked again, but still no answer. Deciding to investigate further, he walked to the balcony of Huang Min's room and climbed through the window, which was unlocked.
As he climbed through the window and entered her room. He looked around, his eyes searching for Huang Min, and he suddenly felt something cold at his neck.
As he looked down, a knife was being held to him by none other than Huang Min.
"Hey now."
"I know you're mad, but can you please... put the knife down?"
Long Huang pleaded, but Huang Min looked at him as if he were a ghost.
"I'm sorry I left without saying anything," he added, his voice soft. Her ice-blue eyes held his gaze, which usually radiated a cold aura. But now, he saw the faint redness around them—the unmistakable sign of tears he had caused.
"I truly am okay."
He could see how deeply his disappearance had affected her. The usual jade-like skin of her face was now marred by dark, puffy circles beneath her eyes, and her hair, normally impeccably kept, fell in disheveled strands around her shoulders.
"Oh, come on, don't be like that," Long Huang said, but she maintained her silence.
"The silent treatment, I see."
"I brought you something," he said, pulling out the jade bed he had found in the cave.
Even with that, Huang Min didn't say a word, so Long Huang decided to give her some space. He placed about 500 gold notes on the jade bed before leaving.
"I'm sorry."
Seeing Huang Min this way sent a sharp pang of guilt through Long Huang's chest. Yet, having her face so close to his — close enough to feel the warmth of her breath, causing Long Huang to be flustered, heat rushing to his cheeks.
He stood frozen between the desire to comfort her and the sudden, shy awareness of her nearness. Huang Min, however, remained an unreadable fortress.
She observed his flustered expression with a cool, detached gaze, offering no solace before turning wordlessly and returning to her bed, leaving him alone in the charged silence.
The heavy door clicked shut behind him, sealing away the stifling intensity of the room. Long Huang drew a deep, steadying breath of the cool evening air, but the encounter clung to him. Her red eyes, her puffy face, and her silence shattered his own selfish thoughts that no one would care.
With each step away from her quarters, tears fell from his eyes, his mind, once so isolated, began to tentatively embrace a new and fragile reality, and a profound shift settled within him. For the first time, he finally accepted a truth he had long evaded: he wasn't alone; he had people who cared for him, people who viewed him as family.
Once outside, Long Huang decided he should increase his cultivation to distract himself and gain a bit more strength before the competition, so he headed toward the medicine pavilion of the sect.
"Alright, next stop it is. I wonder what I should buy."
"Hmmm," Long Huang hummed as he was lost in thought. He heard something.
"Grass Snake, you're finally back! We thought you were dead or something…"
At that moment, a clear, childlike, and familiar voice came from the right.
Hearing this voice, Long Huang's eyes twitched, and he tightened his fists. Frowning, he turned to look at the source of the voice.
Not far away stood a male and a female. The one speaking was a youth dressed in a purple robe adorned with a black lotus on the back, exuding a slight, intimidating aura.
"It's him. My God, why did it have to be this annoying guy…" Long Huang sighed.
The male and female duo were Chi Wei and Zhao Xue. Zhao Xue was the female disciple who had insulted Long Huang the last time they met; she was a direct descendant of the Zhao family in Blossom City.
She shot Long Huang a disdainful look, though deep down she wished to gain his favor and have him climb into bed with her. However, she acted this way to please the childish Chi Wei, as he was her ticket to a more cushy life.
"Brother Chi, he looks like he wants to buy something here," Zhao Xue said mockingly.
"Hmph, just him? Does he even have the right to enter the medicine pavilion? Anything from the medicine pavilion costs a few years of his income," Chi Wei replied disdainfully, glancing at Long Huang.
Zhao Xue provoked Chi Wei like this to belittle Long Huang, knowing that with Long Huang's background, it would be challenging for him to produce even a few hundred silver coins, much less gold notes.
In comparison, Chi Wei's father was both an alchemist and a cultivator of the Profound Xiantian Origin Realm and held the most prestigious positions in the sect, making their wealth incomparable.
She hoped to humiliate Long Huang just enough so she could later discuss a business proposal of sorts that might improve his situation.
Ignoring the pair, Long Huang walked into the Medicine Pavilion and began searching for resources that would aid his cultivation. The pavilion was bustling with disciples purchasing herbs and pills, some of whom stared at Long Huang as he entered, but he was too preoccupied with his thoughts to notice.
"Meridian Tempering Realm, the second most painful realm when pushed to the limit… This is when the body's qi becomes stronger. In this direction, common-grade pills and herbs are incredibly beneficial. They can consolidate one's foundation and even help some cultivators understand Inner Strength early…"
Long Huang contemplated this and confirmed his needs. Among all the available items, he opted for herbs rather than pills because of the impurities often found in pills. Although herbs weren't as effective as pills, they contained no impurities.
He focused on herbs that aid in tempering the meridians and concluded that ginseng was the most useful for cultivators in the Meridian Tempering Realm.
Spirit ginseng plants are categorized by age; older plants possess greater medicinal properties, making them more expensive. The reason was quite simply, the older the ginseng, the more beneficial its effects.
"One hundred-year-old spirit ginseng, 50 gold. Two hundred-year-old spirit ginseng.... 200 gold notes. Three hundred-year-old spirit ginseng…. 300 gold notes and 50 silver coins….. Five-hundred-year-old spirit ginseng… 1000 gold notes. Thousand-year-old spirit ginseng.... 10000 gold notes, huh, how do they even have this on sale?"
Long Huang meticulously scanned the price list of the various spirit ginsengs displayed at the pavilion, his sharp eyes taking in each detail. For cultivators like him, the best available option was spirit ginseng plants that were five hundred years old, something few could afford.
Just then, Zhao Xue's voice cut through the ambient chatter, laced with a subtle but unmistakable hint of seduction.
"Brother Chi, if I could get my hands on a perfect-grade Skin Tempering Pill, I might be able to ascend to the peak of the Skin Tempering Realm in just half a year," she said, her tone both alluring and hopeful.
Chi Wei rolled his eyes, responding with a note of practicality.
"That's not realistic. At most, I can manage to buy you a mid-grade pill."
"You know I'm trying to break through to the Meridian Tempering Realm before the competition, and I need every bit of my gold notes for essential materials to help me achieve that."
While Chi Wei was indeed wealthy, he was far from reckless about his spending, well aware of Zhao Xue's attempts to manipulate him for her benefit.
"A mid-grade one is acceptable too," Zhao Xue conceded, a faint smile flickering on her lips. Yet disappointment was evident in her eyes, betraying her true feelings.
At that moment, a calm and authoritative voice pierced through the noise.
"Elder, I would like to purchase two three-hundred-year-old spirit ginsengs and two five-hundred-year-old spirit ginsengs, please." The voice commanded attention, drawing curious glances from several bystanders.
"It's him!"
Zhao Xue thought, her heart racing as she spotted Long Huang standing confidently a short distance away. There was something about his demeanor that intrigued her. And his looks, of course.
"Five-hundred-year-old spirit ginseng? He must be exaggerating," Chi Wei sneered, unable to conceal his skepticism.
"There's no way a mere official disciple could afford such extravagant demands."
The elder's voice rang out, succinct and professional. "Two three-hundred-year-old spirit ginsengs and two five-hundred-year-old spirit ginsengs will cost you 2,600 gold notes."