The water was warm, washing away the fatigue from his body. Before taking a bath, Zhang Jingmo had added a lot of spiritual liquid to the pool. This spiritual liquid could not only remove impurities from the body, but also repair physical damage. However, if used too many times, it would no longer be effective.

Zhang Jingmo immersed his body in the water, his black hair floating on the surface like dense seaweed. Due to his cultivation, his entire body was as white and smooth as jade, except for that glaring patch of black on his left shoulder. The rest of his body appeared quite perfect.

Just as Zhang Jingmo was resting, there was suddenly a knock on the door.

Zhang Jingmo asked with a raised voice, "Who is it?"

A childish voice came from outside the door, "Master, are you back?"

Zhang Jingmo said, "Guijiu? Didn't you already go to bed?"

Lu Guijiu said, "I vaguely heard Master and Qingfeng talking in the room..."

Zhang Jingmo was silent for a moment, then said, "Come in."

With a creak, four-year-old Lu Guijiu stood on tiptoe to open the door, then carefully walked into the steamy bathroom.

Zhang Jingmo was soaking in the pool. Seeing Lu Guijiu walking towards him, there were still some tear stains on his face.

Zhang Jingmo frowned when he saw this, "Why are you crying?"

Lu Guijiu whimpered, but regardless of Zhang Jingmo still being in the water, he suddenly threw himself into his arms.

After catching Lu Guijiu's soft body, Zhang Jingmo only felt that he had caught a block of ice. He touched Lu Guijiu's pale little face, frowning even more tightly, "Why are you so cold... what happened?"

Lu Guijiu's hands hugged Zhang Jingmo tightly, refusing to let go no matter what. Seeing this, Zhang Jingmo didn't force the question. He just took off the cold clothes on Lu Guijiu's body and soaked the child in the warm water.

The temperature brought a layer of redness to Lu Guijiu's cheeks. His emotions finally calmed down and he stopped sobbing, but he still hugged Zhang Jingmo and refused to let go.

The baby in front of him was soft and small, with a white and tender face and body. His lotus root-like hands tightly hugged Zhang Jingmo's arm, his eyes, darker than purple grapes, were filled with tears.

Even though he knew what kind of domineering figure his disciple would be in the future, Zhang Jingmo's heart still softened a bit. He said, "Tell me, what's wrong?"

Lu Guijiu stammered as he told Zhang Jingmo what happened.

It turned out that he had a terrible nightmare. After waking up in a daze, he vaguely heard the conversation between Zhang Jingmo and Qingfeng. He originally wanted to come out to see Zhang Jingmo, but after becoming fully awake, he actually found that he had wet the bed...

Lu Guijiu was both anxious and scared. He hadn't wet the bed since he was three years old, and his family had even praised him for it. He never thought that this time he would "fail to maintain dignity in old age". Looking at the stain on the bedsheet, he felt extremely sad. Coupled with the realistic nightmare he just had, Lu Guijiu, who was just a young child, completely broke down emotionally.

He crawled out of bed with his bare feet, wearing his pee-soaked pants, and came to find Zhang Jingmo crying...

After hearing Lu Guijiu's intermittent narration, Zhang Jingmo just felt it was funny, but he was afraid that laughing would hurt Lu Guijiu's self-esteem, so he gently said, "So what did Guijiu dream about? Tell Master and let me hear it."

Lu Guijiu shook his head, his face that had regained some ruddiness turned pale again.

Zhang Jingmo said, "Master won't blame you, go ahead and say it."

Lu Guijiu lowered his head like a mischievous cat discovered by its owner. After Zhang Jingmo repeatedly asked, he reluctantly told the content of the nightmare. He said, "I dreamed that there was a big fire at my home... Brother and Father, they both... died."

Zhang Jingmo's heart moved slightly upon hearing this, but he didn't show it on his face. He said, "Is that so... What else did Guijiu dream about?"

Lu Guijiu's face showed a dazed expression. He said, "I also dreamed that there was a terrifying monster, so scary... It had no eyes, like a stone with a big mouth..."

Zhang Jingmo was silent for a moment, then said, "Does Guijiu like his home?"

Lu Guijiu nodded. In fact, he didn't understand why his father had to send him away, but he also knew that his father hadn't mistreated him. He said, "I miss Father, and I miss Brother too."

These were words Zhang Jingmo had never heard before.

In the past, Lu Guijiu was always very well-behaved in front of him. The master and disciple lived quite far apart, meeting only once every three or four months.

Zhang Jingmo had never asked about Lu Guijiu's family, and Lu Guijiu had never spoken about it either.

But Zhang Jingmo vaguely remembered that the Lu family later suffered a disaster, and Lu Guijiu's father and brother did not survive... This seemed to have become a heart demon for Lu Guijiu as well.

Zhang Jingmo calculated with his fingers and found that the Lu family was indeed facing a calamity, but he was injured and powerless to figure out exactly what the calamity was.

However, this didn't matter. After his injury healed, he could go to the Lu family in person.

Lu Guijiu was too small. Sitting in the pool, his entire body would likely be submerged by the water, so he sat on Zhang Jingmo's lap while clinging to him with his hands. Lu Guijiu had been too emotional earlier to notice anything, but after his emotions stabilized, he noticed a patch of black on Zhang Jingmo's right shoulder, revealing a few hideous marks, obviously injured by something.

Lu Guijiu wanted to touch the wound with his hand, but didn't dare. He said with a crying voice, "Master, what happened to your shoulder?"

Zhang Jingmo said, "Injured by a demon beast, it's nothing, it will heal in a few days."

Lu Guijiu obviously didn't believe it. He looked at Zhang Jingmo with heartache, then pouted his lips and gently blew on the wound, "No pain, no pain..."

Zhang Jingmo found it amusing. He said, "Don't be afraid, Master is not in pain."

Lu Guijiu muttered in a low voice, saying that when he grew up, he would kill all these annoying demon beasts so that Master wouldn't get hurt... and so on.

Zhang Jingmo listened while regulating his breathing. When he noticed Lu Guijiu had gone quiet, he lowered his head to look, only to find that this little meatball had already fallen asleep with his eyes closed. Zhang Jingmo felt both annoyed and amused. He knew that children were immature and would often forget what they said, but he never expected this little brat to fall asleep while trying to comfort him. Zhang Jingmo picked up Lu Guijiu, dried his body, and wrapped him in clean clothes.

Although Zhang Jingmo was by his side, Lu Guijiu was clearly troubled and still had a frowning face even in his sleep. Seeing this, Zhang Jingmo was displeased and gently pressed down on Lu Guijiu's furrowed brows with his index finger.

Only when Lu Guijiu's sleeping face relaxed did Zhang Jingmo feel satisfied. He used magic to dry his long hair, changed into clean clothes, and carried Lu Guijiu out of the bathroom.

As he walked out, he suddenly remembered that the pool water had been mixed with spiritual liquid. He wasn't sure if it was a good or bad thing for Lu Guijiu to soak in it at such a young age.

Mingyue, who was guarding outside the door, showed a startled expression when he saw Zhang Jingmo carrying Lu Guijiu out.

Zhang Jingmo asked, "Where did you go just now?" If Mingyue had still been guarding the door, Lu Guijiu shouldn't have been able to knock it open.

Mingyue knelt down trembling and replied in a shaky voice, "Mingyue had an urgent need to relieve himself... and left for a moment..."

Zhang Jingmo gave him a deep look without saying anything and left with Lu Guijiu in his arms. He knew this servant boy wouldn't dare to lie and had no reason to.

It seemed that the vitality of Lu Guijiu's family had indeed fallen upon him.

After carrying Lu Guijiu back to the room, Zhang Jingmo changed the bedsheets.

Actually, Zhang Jingmo felt a bit strange. He had never heard of Lu Guijiu wetting the bed after entering the sect, so Lu Guijiu probably didn't want to tell others and kept it a secret.

But this time, he had encountered it. Did this mean that Lu Guijiu now had a weakness in his hands?

Thinking about it, Zhang Jingmo found it a bit amusing. He put Lu Guijiu on the bed, covered him with the quilt, and then left.

In fact, since his rebirth, he had made up his mind to let Lu Guijiu do things he couldn't accomplish. He no longer single-mindedly pursued the Dao like before, and his state of mind had become inexplicably clearer.

Perhaps it was just as his master had said - he, Zhang Jingmo, was truly not suited for cultivation.

After leaving, Zhang Jingmo didn't return to his room but began healing his injuries on the spiritual vein of the cave abode.

The python must have used all its strength to bite Zhang Jingmo, intending to kill him, so the injury naturally wouldn't be light.

If Zhang Jingmo hadn't known that the python had a life-saving Mingzhi growing above its vital point that could neutralize the venom, he probably wouldn't have used this simple but absolutely dangerous method.

Based on Zhang Jingmo's previous experience, it would probably take several years for this injury to heal completely. However, it wouldn't have much impact on daily life, only occasionally causing a dull pain.

But at this time, the wound was still black, and the poisoned blood in the flesh had not been fully drained. Zhang Jingmo would probably need to soak in spiritual liquid for a few more days to fully recover.

Even for a large sect like Lingxu, spiritual liquid was extremely precious. With Zhang Jingmo's status and position, he could probably only obtain a small bottle within ten years.

However, Zhang Jingmo had already planned to use spiritual liquid to help Lu Guijiu remove all impurities from his body before he built his foundation. The little amount of spiritual liquid he had on hand was obviously not enough.

If it wasn't enough, he would go and seize it. This was the law of the cultivation world.

Although Zhang Jingmo's cultivation was still shallow, his actual combat experience was unmatched. If he really made up his mind to rob spiritual liquid, it would probably be very easy to succeed.

But there was no need to take this risky move now, because Zhang Jingmo knew the locations of two undiscovered underground spiritual spring veins.

He wondered, if he threw Lu Guijiu directly into the spiritual spring, what kind of body with copper skin and iron bones would Lu Guijiu cultivate? Thinking of this, Zhang Jingmo showed a hint of interest on his face.