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Putting away his thoughts, Lin Xiao entered Liu Yunan's room.

He saw that he was already awake and was about to get up on his own.

Lin Xiao quickly went over to help him up and asked,

"What do you want to do? Use the restroom? Or drink water?"

Liu Yunan pointed to the water bowl on the side and said weakly,

"Water."

Lin Xiao turned around, picked up the bowl which was more than half full, and handed it to him.

Liu Yunan took it, tilted his head back, and drank most of it in one breath. Only then did he let out a long sigh, his voice regaining some strength,

"Brother Xiao, how are my mother and my little sister?"

Lin Xiao patted his chest and said to him,

"With me stepping in, of course everything is settled!"

Then he chuckled and said,

"As for your eldest uncle, let me tell you, I cut the tendons in his hands and feet. He's completely crippled and will never be able to cause trouble for your family again! How about it? Happy?"

Hearing this, Liu Yunan widened his eyes in surprise and looked at Lin Xiao in disbelief,

"You really crippled him?"

Lin Xiao nodded,

"Would I lie to you, my brother?"

Liu Yunan immediately felt a wave of relief wash over his heart, as if the pain from his injuries had vanished.

"Haha! So Liu Dashan finally gets his comeuppance! Hahahaha! Brother Xiao! You're a true brother! Some other day, I'll catch a snake and have my mom make snake soup for you! Let me tell you, my mom's snake soup is delicious! When my dad was still around, he caught snakes a few times..."

Just as the two were chatting happily, they heard several voices clamoring outside in the courtyard.

"Baldy! Are you home! We've come to see you!"

"Good brother! I brought you a big bone!"

"Shh, keep your voices down. What if Baldy is still resting?"

Who else could the arrivals be but Jiang Youfu, Hu Liang, and Qin Jianghe?

Seeing the battered courtyard door leaning against the wall and the entrance wide open, the three of them walked straight in without any hesitation.

The three of them navigated familiarly to the front of Liu Yunan's room, only to see Lin Xiao and Liu Yunan chatting merrily in the room with its door wide open.

"Well, well! Brother Xiao, Baldy got into such a huge mess, and you didn't even think to let us know!"

Lin Xiao replied,

"After dinner last night, I felt a bit uneasy, so I went out for a walk to digest my food. I didn't expect to just happen to run into it."

Qin Jianghe smilingly threw an arm around Lin Xiao's shoulders and said,

"Brother Xiao, you're not even trying with that lie. You went for a walk and strolled all the way from the east end to the west end."

Except for Liu Yunan, the homes of Lin Xiao and the others were all on the east side of Xiushui Village, and Lin Xiao's house was at the very start of the east side. Therefore, Lin Xiao's excuse sounded extremely perfunctory to everyone.

Lin Xiao didn't know whether to laugh or cry. What could he do? Aside from hiding the fact that he knew in advance about Baldy's sudden breakthrough to the first level of Qi Refining because of the system, everything else was the truth.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Liu Yunan smiled and said,

"If it weren't for Brother Xiao last night, my family would be finished. Don't pick on him."

Mentioning last night's events made everyone even more excited, and they repeatedly pressed for the specific details of what happened.

After all, even though the village had been buzzing with gossip since early morning, the rumors were a chaotic mess.

They only knew that the eldest uncle of the Liu family had his hands and feet crippled, turning him into an invalid.

Everything else was unclear.

It wasn't until Liu Yunan pulled down his clothes to show them the myriad of large and small scars on his body, and told them how he had been beaten until he coughed up several mouthfuls of blood yesterday, that everyone truly realized the ruthlessness of Eldest Liu.

One after another, they became filled with righteous indignation:

What kind of uncle is that?! He is clearly an enemy!

Exactly! Normally, taking advantage of your family is one thing, but now he even wanted to sell your sister and beat you to death! Brother Xiao crippling his limbs is getting off lightly! If it were me, I would have butchered him with a single knife strike!

As the crowd spoke, they saw Liu Yunan looking towards the door.

Usually, when guests came to the house, his mother would have started entertaining them long ago, but she was nowhere to be seen today.

So he asked Lin Xiao,

Brother Xiao, did my mother go out?

Lin Xiao then remembered that he had forgotten to tell him about Auntie Liu going out, so he nodded at him and said,

Yeah, your sister probably caught a chill from the rain last night. Your mother said she had a high fever earlier, so she took her to town to see a doctor.

Liu Yunan was stunned, clearly not expecting this answer.

He lowered his eyes.

Going to town to see a doctor... but there were only twenty copper coins left at home. Who knew if that would be enough to treat his little sister...

Tietou asked Liu Yunan,

Baldy, can you still go up the mountain to cultivate with us?

Liu Yunan pushed aside his thoughts and nodded vigorously, saying,

Of course I can! I injured my shoulder, not my legs. Let us go, we will head up the mountain right now!

Moreover, perhaps because he was already at the first level of Qi Condensation, he felt that the injuries on his body had healed significantly, though the broken bone in his shoulder still hurt.

Saying this, he was about to get up and put on his clothes.

Now, Liu Yunan was extremely eager to cultivate.

His purpose was no longer just to play with his friends and learn fun spells.

Or rather, it was no longer solely for those reasons.

He had a more paramount goal.

To protect his mother and little sister.

If he had Brother Xiao's cultivation base last night, he would not have been beaten so miserably by that dog!

Thus, half an hour later, everyone arrived halfway up the North Mountain.

For some reason, the crowd suddenly felt as if they had returned to a second home.

Especially when Fellow Daoist Little Luan came out clucking to greet them.

Everyone hurriedly took out the handfuls of rice they had secretly snuck out from their homes and poured them into a small wooden bowl for Fellow Daoist Little Luan.

By this time, it was already broad daylight. Lin Yun and Sun Yigao had long since started meditating and cultivating in the thatched hut.

Seeing them arrive so late, Sun Yigao did not ask why. He simply greeted everyone, then cast a somewhat worried glance at Liu Yunan standing to the side.

Seeing that he looked quite spirited, Sun Yigao felt relieved and resumed his cultivation.

Clearly, he also knew about what happened at the Liu household last night.

One had to admit, the speed of gossip in the village was truly fast.

As for Lin Yun, Lin Xiao had briefly told him about it before leaving the house in the morning. However, he was not close to Liu Yunan, and bringing the matter up rashly at this time would not be appropriate, so he simply offered a few words of concern.

Just like any other day, today at the Lingxian Sect was still a day where the disciples cultivated diligently in the thatched hut, while the Sect Master sat under the peach blossom tree, earnestly pondering the sect's development.

Lin Xiao first went to check the growth of the Mist Spring Grass and Spirit Gathering Grass in the spirit field.

Aside from growing a bit larger and turning a slightly deeper color, the tender little sprouts showed no other changes.

Remembering the 20 spirit rice seeds in his private storage, Lin Xiao went and synthesized another 3x3 square meter spirit field.

Then, like a hardworking old farmer, he carefully planted sixteen of the spirit rice seeds.

The remaining four seeds were kept in reserve just in case the planting failed.

Naturally, he only dared to plant them after thoroughly studying the Basic Spirit Herb Cultivation Manual.