Chapter 33: Father

Ah Nuo's matter is indeed the current top priority.

The four people returned to the Shen family trading company. Lu Xingzhou and his disciple again hid in the west wing small courtyard and did not come out.

Lu Xingzhou ignored Ah Nuo's struggles and forcibly pressed her onto the bed, giving her a full physical examination from head to toe. "What are you struggling for? You're just a little sticky rice dumpling. Didn't I help you bathe since you were small?"

Ah Nuo felt wronged and pathetic. She really wanted to say that she was already ten years old, not the six years old she appeared to be... This master was smart about everything, yet he was always confused by appearances. Just like that Ren Yu sister, he clearly knew she was not just fourteen or fifteen, maybe even an old woman, yet he still couldn't help but admire her.

Really silly.

Forget it, ten years old seemed no different from six years old anyway.

Lu Xingzhou didn't know what the little child was thinking. He checked her thoroughly with a straight face, his eyebrows furrowed deeper.

He still couldn't find any problems. The so-called innate illness, he didn't know if it had already been completely cured by the earlier elixirs, or if it was hidden too deep for his level to detect.

He hoped it was the former. If it was the latter, this was still a huge hidden danger.

Lu Xingzhou had always known that Ah Nuo was very special. Not to mention her being able to remember things in her swaddling clothes, which child from which family didn't grow up on normal food and only started growing rapidly after eating elixirs?

There was only one reason for this phenomenon: the energy contained in ordinary food was negligible to Ah Nuo, and simply couldn't provide what she needed for growth. Only high-energy elixirs could.

That is to say, Ah Nuo's innate bloodline was extremely special, and it was very likely not human.

But no matter how Lu Xingzhou and the old Taoist from that year investigated, even Yuan Muyu investigated, the conclusion was still that she was human, not of the demon or evil category. And Ah Nuo cultivated human cultivation methods without any hindrance, there was no difference between the cultivation of demons and evil creatures and humans.

After all, this was the immortal cultivation world. Since immortals might exist in this world, it was completely possible to think that Ah Nuo had immortal bloodline. All her special characteristics could be explained this way. Lu Xingzhou had not gotten entangled in this matter again these years.

Instead, he had secretly investigated Ah Nuo's birth parents, but unfortunately, he had gained nothing for many years and eventually gave up.

In short, he always knew she would have problems. Although he didn't foresee it, when it actually happened, he didn't feel surprised.

These years, Ah Nuo had participated in quite a few Yanluo Hall battles. It wasn't that Yanluo Hall lacked manpower to this extent, it was mainly for her battle experience. Yuan Muyu believed that actual combat was always the most important link in cultivation, and Lu Xingzhou deeply agreed.

So not only Ah Nuo, but even Lu Xingzhou had secretly participated in many actual combats. Although Lu Xingzhou mainly belonged to the planners and was not seen by ordinary people, Ah Nuo was often sent out to do the dirty work, which earned her a nickname she deeply hated: "Ghost Child."

Among these were battles against demons and evil creatures. Ah Nuo's body was stained with a considerable amount of demon blood and demonic energy, and she had never had any problems.

Then why did she inexplicably have problems today?

Either this problem was unrelated to demon blood, and it just happened to onset at that time, belonging to an accident... But that demon's attitude didn't seem unrelated...

Was it because Ah Nuo hadn't encountered demons above the fourth grade before?

But what was so special about the fourth grade? The fourth grade was still only in the middle three grades. It hadn't broken through the watershed of the upper three grades. It didn't even have the qualification to be included in the list of powerful figures or the list of demons in the Town Demon Division... Was there any qualitative difference between it and the fifth and sixth grade demons Ah Nuo had encountered before?

Or was it... the demon blood of the fourth grade that suppressed the current fifth grade of Ah Nuo? Thinking back carefully, Ah Nuo didn't seem to have fought against demons above her level before.

And demons suppressed by her grade could also sense Ah Nuo's special characteristics, which made that demon show surprise.

This was the only explanation he could think of at the moment, but it wasn't necessarily correct and still needed to be verified.

Ah Nuo opened her bright, big eyes and looked at Lu Xingzhou sitting by the bed, frowning in thought. Suddenly, she said in a low voice, "Master..."

Lu Xingzhou woke up and replied, "Hmm."

"Sorry, it's my fault you still can't stand up."

"Why are you saying this again?" Lu Xingzhou rubbed her head. "If it weren't for you, master alone couldn't have gotten this thing. This is our thing, whether you use it or I use it, what's the difference?"

"Master has other helpers now. You can still scheme without Ah Nuo."

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

"But... Ah Nuo wants master to stand up."

Lu Xingzhou leaned down and pecked her cheek, saying gently, "Master will stand up... You fought a lot today and then had an accident. The elixir only cures illness, it doesn't cure your fatigue. You should sleep well for a while, don't think too much. Maybe when you open your eyes, master will already be standing."

"...You're using the same words you used to coax me several years ago."

"In my eyes, you will forever be that little dumpling who needs me to coax her to sleep."

Ah Nuo looked at him with bright, sparkling eyes. After a long time, she bit her lower lip and said, "You fed me medicine in public, aren't you afraid of being exposed?"

"It's indeed a bit of a problem... He Yu died here, the elixir disappeared again, and I just happened to take out an elixir to cure you. If the He family comes and connects the dots, it's indeed not proper. But at that time, master's mind was only on how to cure you, and he didn't think about these trivial things at all..." Lu Xingzhou stroked her face. "This is a small matter. You can't have an accident. If you have an accident, master will also have an accident."

Master didn't just have an accident, he almost wasn't the person he was.

Ah Nuo had only seen Lu Xingzhou lose his mind once in this lifetime, and that was when he went to assassinate the old Taoist, completely overestimating himself. He did kill him, but if Yuan Muyu hadn't arrived just in time, the backlash at that time would have cost Lu Xingzhou his life. At that time, he simply hadn't considered the possibility of being killed in return.

This was the second time he had lost his reason, and both times were because of her.

Ah Nuo felt very uncomfortable and said in a low voice, "Master... this aftermath..."

"It's not a big problem... Your symptoms and our few sentences of dialogue were figured out by distant bystanders. Only Shen Tang, Du Guqing, Li and Chen Zhangsi were clear. Shen Tang and the others are not a problem. I will find another way to appease Chen Zhangsi... If it really doesn't work, we'll just pack our bags and run away."

Ah Nuo couldn't help but laugh a little.

Actually, they had originally planned to leave anyway. All the previous schemes were to lure the He family. Now that He Yu's army was wiped out here, unless the He family was foolish, they would line up to deliver themselves like the Calabash Brothers saving their grandpa. Once the He family came to investigate He Yu's death next time, they would surely send high-end fighting forces, and they couldn't scheme against them.

If Lu Xingzhou still wanted to get medicine from the He family, he had to set up another scheme. The new scheme had to start from scratch and couldn't continue in Xia State.

"Okay, don't talk about this. I will handle it, it's not your business." Lu Xingzhou helped her pull up the quilt. "This matter, I think it's likely caused by the demon's grade suppressing you. Later, if you see demons with higher cultivation than you, retreat three steps first and hide far away. As for whether this is the specific reason, I will find another way to verify it clearly."

"Then am I a demon?"

"You are an immortal." Lu Xingzhou rubbed her face again. "Immortals and demons are opposites, it's not uncommon for them to restrain each other."

Ah Nuo's small round face finally showed a relaxed smile as if a heavy burden had been lifted. "Then I'll sleep!"

Seeing Ah Nuo relax completely and fall asleep, Lu Xingzhou tidied her quilt again and then sat by the bed, guarding her without moving.

He was afraid that she would have problems again in the middle of the night and didn't dare to leave.

Not until the morning light gradually rose and faint crowing of chickens could be heard in the distance. Seeing Ah Nuo smacking her small mouth as if about to wake up, and seeing that she had no problems, Lu Xingzhou gently sighed and carefully wheeled himself out, not letting the little girl know that he had stayed there all night.

Just after he left Ah Nuo's small house, Ah Nuo on the bed opened her eyes. The little girl sniffled and turned her head to lie on the pillow, whimpering and crying.

No matter what, master's leg medicine was gone, and there was still the aftermath, all because of her. Ah Nuo had never hated herself so much for having an accident on the scene.

But master didn't even have a hint of blame, instead, he guarded her gently. This made Ah Nuo want to cry even more.

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

Wasn't brother just stacking buffs again?

Yu always filial.

Lu Xingzhou didn't know the little girl was secretly crying. In his perception, this girl was very strong and obedient, and never cried...

He went straight out the door and directly to the Dan Medicine Department.

Indeed, the Dan Medicine Department was brightly lit. Chen Jinnian had also not slept all night, examining the corpse and writing the report.

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

A subordinate brought Lu Xingzhou inside. Chen Jinnian dismissed his attendants, looked at Lu Xingzhou for a while, and sighed. "I know what you want to say... Was that elixir from the He family?"

Lu Xingzhou nodded straightforwardly. "Yes."

Chen Jinnian twisted his beard absent-mindedly and was lost in thought for a long time before saying, "Strange, this kind of elixir that can snatch life from the hands of Yanwang has never appeared in the world. Where did the He family get it... If this thing is known by the imperial family and the holy land..."

Lu Xingzhou smiled. "So now that Chen Zhangsi knows, he should be careful not to leak it, otherwise the He family will most likely silence him."

Chen Jinnian was a little speechless. "So you were certain I wouldn't spread it, that's why you dared to use it in front of me?"

"No, I was really confused and truly didn't have the mind to consider other things at the time. But after thinking about it, I felt it was best to come and tell Chen Zhangsi openly."

Chen Jinnian hesitated for a while and sighed. "It seems you really are He Shang. You even know such a secret matter of the He family."

Lu Xingzhou: "..."

Chen Jinnian eventually couldn't resist and said in a low voice, "I don't care about your family's internal affairs, but the elixir formula for that elixir, can I have it..."

"Not to mention He Shang, even He Yu wouldn't know the elixir formula. But I've handled it at least... Although I can't analyze it specifically, the main ingredients should be these few..." Lu Xingzhou very straightforwardly wrote down several herbs on paper. He knew that for an elixir master like Chen Jinnian, this was all he truly cared about.

But unfortunately, no matter how Chen Jinnian researched, he could at most improve his understanding of medicine a little. It was impossible to truly achieve the effect of the He family's elixir.

After all, the true key to that elixir lay in the elixir furnace, not the formula itself.

Chen Jinnian didn't know these things. He was very satisfied just getting several main ingredients. This meant he could try more and perhaps match them.

The old man's eyes were fixed on the paper strip in his hand, and his mind was already drifting. "Alright, I won't talk about this matter... If someone asks about the specific situation, I will say that your disciple was invaded by demonic energy which triggered a malignant disease, and you yourself are an elixir master, and with my guidance, it was naturally easy to handle."

Lu Xingzhou sighed and bowed. "Then I thank Chen Zhangsi very much."

"No need to thank me." Chen Jinnian's gaze moved away from the paper, and he sized him up for a moment, sighing slightly. "Who doesn't feel the affection of licking a calf... My little granddaughter is also about the same age as your disciple."

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PS: I'm annoyed by the quarreling, so I'll update early. Must the serialized text not have any quarrels when something comes out... Of course, Lu is wrong in this matter, but it's just to express that when his "daughter's" life was in critical condition, he would lose his composure and his usual calmness, highlighting his extreme care and emotions towards Ah Nuo.

Honestly, if something happened to my family, I would react even more severely.