Chapter 9: Cultivation Confusion

Time passed unnoticed. In a blink of an eye, Wu Yan had been in the Iron Sword League for almost a year. He missed his family more and more, but Elder Feng strictly forbade him to leave Qiancao Valley. He couldn't go out, so he had no chance to find out the whereabouts of his family, which made him very upset.

Not only that, since he practiced the nameless formula, he felt that his spirit and memory were much better than before, and his body was much stronger than before, but there was no other change. This made him feel very boring. He felt that the life he was living now was completely different from his dream life of learning unique skills, roaming the world with swords, and taking revenge.

Whenever he stood at the entrance of the valley and looked out, he would always feel a lot of envy and desire when he saw those majestic Iron Sword League disciples carrying iron swords and passing by the outside of the valley in a hurry.

This unchanging and boring life made him see no hope and no future. He gradually became absent-minded. Many times every day, he always sat in the Qingzhu Pavilion beside the Cangjian Pond, staring at the quiet and clear pond in a daze.

This situation finally attracted the attention of Elder Feng. Elder Feng called him to the door of the big house several times to enlighten and reprimand him. But after returning, he still did not change. When it came to practicing, he could not get up the spirit. He missed his lost relatives, he longed for the wonderful world outside, and he hoped to learn advanced kung fu.

His spirit gradually became listless, and he frowned all day long, looking like he was worried.

Elder Feng has become irritable recently. He often went to the several acres of herb garden. When he came back, his face was always gloomy, as if water could drip out.

In Qiancao Valley, Elder Feng opened up three herb gardens, each of which was one acre in size. Now, among the three herb gardens, one of them has no herbs in it. That is the herb with the longest planting year. The worst one has been more than ten years old. This was his life's accumulation, and he himself was reluctant to use it. After Wu Yan came, he used up his life's accumulation in less than a year.

As for the other two herb gardens, they were all newly planted herbs, and the oldest one was only about four or five years old. Moreover, even these have been used up by more than half. Only in the northernmost one, there are still many green herb seedlings growing lushly. These were planted by him last year.

Elder Feng seemed very angry that he could not get the corresponding return after spending so much effort.

On this day, Elder Feng called Wu Yan to his room early in the morning.

This was the first time Wu Yan officially entered Elder Feng's room. After entering, he secretly looked around. When he saw Elder Feng's face with an expression colder than ice, Wu Yan lowered his head in fear and stood in front of the desk without saying a word.

Along the walls of the room, there were rows of bookshelves, on which many books were densely placed. However, these did not arouse Wu Yan's interest. He just took a quick look and saw several puppets of different heights placed on the east wall of the house. The puppets were carved to look lifelike. The strange thing is that these puppets are actually wearing clothes. If you don't look carefully, you might think there are several real people standing there.

"Master." Wu Yan lowered his head and called softly.

Elder Feng sat on the armchair behind the desk, looking at Wu Yan with a gloomy and complicated look. He stared at Wu Yan for a long time, and saw that Wu Yan looked listless. He turned his eyes to the roof, silent, and seemed to be lost in thought.

Elder Feng didn't speak, and Wu Yan didn't dare to speak. He had to stand there quietly, thinking about random things, occasionally secretly looking up and glancing at Elder Feng. Seeing that he was still in deep thought, he turned his eyes curiously to the puppets on the east wall.

"I have put so much effort into you, just to help you cultivate to a higher level as soon as possible. For this reason, I have used all the best herbs in the herb garden to refine the Essence Condensation Pill for you. Don't you know that?"

After a long silence, Elder Feng finally spoke, and his tone was not good.

Wu Yan lowered his head in shame and whispered, "Master, I, I... I failed your expectations."

"Why?" Pharmacist Feng stood up and slapped the desk with a slap, pointing at Wu Yan's nose with a distorted face, "Why don't you practice hard? Do you know that I have spent half my life savings to let you practice, but how do you repay me?"

Wu Yan was frightened by Elder Feng's distorted face and stern tone. He waved his hands anxiously and said, "Master, I am not practicing hard?"

"Then why have you been absent-minded and listless when you practiced recently? You run to Qingzhu Pavilion to be in a daze every day. Do you think I can't see it?" Elder Feng roared in a cold tone with anger suppressed.

"Master, I, I miss my parents, my brothers and sisters. When I joined the Iron Sword League last year, I fled here..." Wu Yan felt very guilty when he saw Elder Feng's expression of disappointment. He thought about it, then told Elder Feng about his experiences and worries.

After listening to Wu Yan's words, Elder Feng slowly sat back with a gloomy expression. This made Wu Yan even more uneasy. He couldn't explain why he felt such uneasiness. Anyway, when he saw Elder Feng's complicated eyes and expression, he felt unspeakably anxious and uneasy.

"Well, I don't see that you are still a filial son." Elder Feng looked expressionless again. He nodded and continued: "Besides missing your family, which makes you uneasy and unable to practice with peace of mind, is there any other reason?"

"Master, I want to learn martial arts and swordsmanship, and I want to play with other fellow disciples. I stay alone in Qiancao Valley every day and can't go anywhere. I'm almost going crazy." Wu Yan took courage and The words he had been holding in his heart came out.

After all, he is only a thirteen-year-old child, and there are some children at this age who are not playful. It is really rare for people like Wu Yan to stay in the valley every day, unable to play and communicate with their peers, and sit there practicing every day.

After hearing this, Elder Feng twirled his white beard and pondered in silence.

"Forget it, I happen to be going on a long trip, so I would like to help you find out the whereabouts of your family. You can tell me their names, appearances, ages, places where they may go, etc. in detail. If you can find them, I will take them to Gushan Town to settle down, what do you think?"

Wu Yan looked at Elder Feng in disbelief. Seeing his serious expression, he immediately became excited, nodding like a chicken pecking at rice, and said in a grateful tone: "Disciple, thank you Master! Master, you are such a good person. People are the best good people in the world. I must practice hard in the future and strive to meet Master's requirements as soon as possible."

Elder Feng showed an expression that could barely be considered a smile, but it was uglier than crying. He bared his teeth and praised Wu Yan a few words.

After letting go of one thing on his mind, Wu Yan looked much more relaxed. Elder Feng then gave him a silver token and a key. He explained: "I will leave tomorrow. This token is the elder's order of this alliance. With it, you can go anywhere in the alliance except the two most confidential places. However, I don't have any Don't cause trouble before returning to the valley. I will arrange a few disciples to take care of your safety. If you feel bored, you can come to this study to read and relieve your boredom. Okay, go ahead. Lu Chunyang and Hua Chunsheng from Taniguchi called over, I have something to tell them."

Wu Yan agreed happily, put away the silver token and key, and walked out quickly. Elder Feng looked uncertain, pacing in the room, seeming to be thinking about something.