Chapter Twelve Conflict

  The sun sets in the west, the remaining sunlight is like blood.

  Soft and gentle rays of light slanted down, passing through the open window, shining on Nie Kong's cross-legged sitting body on the bed, casting a long shadow on the ground. The remaining nine golden needles outside his body trembled slightly, buzzing softly, bursting out with dazzling golden light.

  "Boom!"

  The condensed spiritual energy between the meridians dissolves rapidly, and within the three spiritual orifices, the spiritual energy surges like a tidal wave, another layer of invisible barrier shatters.

  "The Five Spirits have been gathered!"

  Nie Kong's eyes slightly opened, and he softly muttered.

  After soaking in the medicinal bath, Nie Kong began his cultivation. However, to speed up the fusion and absorption of the medicinal properties into his muscles and bones, Nie Kong spent the first half of the day manipulating his spiritual power to surge throughout his body. It wasn't until sunset that he started using the "Nine Revolutions Golden Needle Technique" to dissolve the condensed spiritual power.

  After his body became stronger, Nie Kong's speed in unblocking the meridians was even faster.

  In less than an hour, the Du Mai and Chong Mai channels were completely unblocked, and Nie Kong's cultivation miraculously rose from Jiling Sanpin to Jiling Wupin. The originally small Ling Shen Sanqiao also expanded significantly, allowing it to hold more spiritual power.

  His strength increased rapidly, Nie Kong was delighted in his heart, but he didn't get carried away. He knew that all of this was due to the original owner's efforts.

  If he had cultivated from scratch himself, it would be impossible for him to advance four ranks in just two days.

  Moreover, yesterday Renmai continuously upgraded two levels, while today Du Mai and Chong Mai together only upgraded two levels. The further back, the more spiritual power is needed to upgrade cultivation, the smaller the effect of one meridian can produce.

  According to Nie Kong's estimation, after unblocking all the Eight Extraordinary Meridians and Twelve Regular Meridians, his own cultivation should be able to reach around Nine Spiritual Stages.

  By that time, what kind of state can be cultivated, everything depends on Nie Kong himself. However, being able to easily reach the ninth rank of Gathering Spirit, Nie Kong was already very satisfied.

  "That's all for today."

  He took out the golden needle and sewed up his clothes before walking out of the room.

  The house was quiet, and there was no sign of Huamei. Nie Kong knew she had gone to work and hadn't returned yet. Huamei's job was washing clothes for the family. In recent years, Nie Qingyang's consolation money and Nie Kong's living expenses had all been spent on medicine, so usually it was Huamei who worked to supplement the household income.

  Thinking of this, Nie Kong suddenly felt a pang in his heart and subconsciously walked out of the house...

  ……

  A small river winds its way through a cluster of houses, its clear waters visible to the bottom. On the riverbank, seven or eight women are washing clothes, most of them middle-aged women in their thirties and forties, while nineteen-year-old Huāméi stands out among them with her beautiful face.

  The women chattered about the family gossip, such as which man was assigned a good or bad job, whose son was awarded how many gold coins, and whose daughter was truly beautiful and capable, with remarkable achievements, while Hua Mei only occasionally smiled and nodded in agreement.

  A kind-faced old woman was washing clothes while looking at Huamei and said, "Oh dear, Huamei, you seem to be nineteen this year, right?"

  "Uh-huh."

  Hua Mei nodded slightly.

  "Alas, she was only 16 when she married into the Nie family and became a widow. What a sin!" Another woman sighed sympathetically, "Hua Mei, your brother-in-law is getting worse, I think you should consider remarrying while you're still young. You've already taken care of him for three years, that's enough to repay his family."

  "I won't remarry." Upon hearing this, Huā Méi's face turned slightly red as she shook her head, "Besides, my uncle's illness is almost completely cured." Thinking of Niè Kōng's miraculously robust body, Huā Méi happily added, "In a few days, he won't need to take medicine anymore."

  "It's impossible, how can his illness possibly be cured?"

  "Yes, it's gotten to that point, being able to barely hold on is already good enough."

  “……”

  Several women were talking loudly among themselves, clearly disbelieving.

  "It's true, I'm not deceiving you." Huamei argued hastily.

  "Girl, don't pretend anymore. Even if your little uncle really recovers, can you still go on like this with him? Listen to me, while you're young and beautiful, hurry up and marry yourself off. I heard the third young master of the clan leader's family is quite taken with you, girl, you'd better think carefully about it."

  She puckered her brow and pursed her lips, saying nothing, seeming a bit displeased.

  "This is so true."

  A shrill voice suddenly cut in, a stout woman with a fat buttocks walked to the riverbank, this woman was called Nie Qinghua, also a collateral relative of the Nie family. Seeing her, those women all quieted down, because Nie Qinghua was their supervisor, usually very picky and sharp-tongued.

  "Flower Eyebrows, it's not that I'm saying you're not good enough, but Master Third is such a great person. He's a high-ranking spiritual master with plenty of gold to spare. Marrying him would be a blessing for you, even if it's just as a concubine. What about your sickly husband? He's already half-dead and buried in the ground. Even if you take care of him until he dies, what kind of future can you have with him? What benefits will you gain? If you really can't bear to part with him, Master Third can just give him more gold...

  "Shut up!"

  The little girl with a flower-shaped eyebrow and small face blushed with anger, interrupting the chubby woman's incessant chatter.

  "What?"

  Unexpectedly, the usually shy and timid flower eyebrow has become so bold. Nie Qinghua was stunned for a moment before regaining her composure, shouting in a shrill voice, "You little widow, how dare you tell me to shut up?"

  Hua Mei stood up and gritted her teeth: "Don't you dare talk about my uncle like that!"

  Nie Qinghua stood with her hands on her hips, her feet raised and her head held high, saying: "I'm just saying this about him, what's wrong? Sickly weakling, dead ghost, it's a waste of food for someone like him to live in the world, he might as well die early and ascend early..." The fat woman's saliva flew everywhere, a string of vicious curses spewing out with every opening and closing of her two thick lips.

  "You, you, you... this fat pig!"

  Hua Mei's delicate body trembled with rage, but she was not good at scolding people. After holding it in for half a day, only two words managed to escape her lips. The women around her almost burst out laughing, but they were afraid of being discovered by Nie Qinghua, so they all suppressed their smiles and turned away, feeling relieved on the one hand, but also worried about Hua Mei on the other.

  "Ah, you dare scold me!"

  Nie Qing's face was quivering with rage, and she let out a shrill cry as her chubby palm slapped fiercely towards Hua Mei's face.

  Huā Méi jīnghū zhe bì qǐ le yǎnjīng, piàn kè hòu, fāxiàn xiǎngxiàng zhōng de bāzhǎng bìng méiyǒu luò zài zìjǐ liǎn shàng, bù yóu zhēng kāi yǎnjīng kàn qù, jiù jiàn Niè Qīng Huā yáng qǐ de wàn zuò tǐngtǐng de diào zhù le yī zhī shǒuzhǎng, ér nà zhī shǒuzhǎng de zhǔ rén, jìng shì…… Niè Kōng.

  "Uncle, how did you come?" exclaimed Hua Mei in surprise.

  Uncle?

  Several women widened their eyes and stared at Nie Kong, was he really that sickly Nie Kong? He had actually become much more robust, and there wasn't a hint of illness on his face.

  Nie Kong smiled and said: "Sister, let's go home." With a flick of his right hand, the fat woman stumbled backward several steps, almost falling to the ground.

  Nie Qinghua was also taken aback by Nie Kong's change, and after coming to her senses, her face turned red with anger: "Leave? Don't want the job anymore?"

  "Five copper coins in January, it doesn't matter if you don't have them."

  Seeing Hua Mei's worried frown, Nie Kong smiled indifferently. There was no need to buy medicine for treatment now; the fifty gold coins of monthly allowance were enough for family expenses. After a few more months when he turned eighteen, even if the allowance stopped, he would have the ability to earn money, and these five gold coins really didn't seem important.

  Seeing that she couldn't intimidate Nie Kong and Hua Mei, Fei Po suddenly became a bit hysterical and shouted at the two people's backs: "Hmph! I said why this little widow refused to remarry such a good Third Master, it turns out she was having an affair with her own uncle, tsk tsk, truly a case of husband and wife following each other!"

  "You..."

  Hua Mei turned around and glared at Nie Qinghua, her heart filled with both shame and anger. Her pretty face was red to the point of almost bleeding, and two misty tears involuntarily welled up in her eyes.

  Nie Qinghua smiled smugly: "Look, look, I was right, wasn't I?" As she spoke, her small eyes glanced at Nie Kong again. This sickly guy may have changed his appearance a bit, but Nie Qinghua didn't take him seriously at all. Who in the Nie family didn't know that he had cultivated for ten years and only managed to gather one spiritual product, while she was already at three spiritual products?

  "Fatty pig, you asked for it!"

  Jian Huamei was so angry that she couldn't help but lunge at Nie Kong. Nie Kong's face sank, and he reached out to grab Jian Huamei's left shoulder.

  The fat woman looked at Nie Kong's palm with disdain, letting it fall on her shoulder. Then, the fatty palm lifted and swept towards Nie Kong's head. A piece of trash that was only a first-rate cultivator would be slapped flying by just one palm. The fat woman's face was full of mockery. However, before the slap landed, the smile on her face froze. A tearing pain came from her shoulder, and the fat woman's mouth opened wide, letting out a pig-like scream.

  Nie Kong's mouth curled up in a cold smile, and the wooden spiritual energy burst out from his palm. He picked up Nie Qing's plump body with one hand, then swung his arm around, grabbing her two feet and shaking them upside down in mid-air. A few glittering gold coins fell out of her bosom: "Almost forgot, my sister-in-law has already done half the work this month. I'll take the three gold coins as wages." After saying that, he raised his right arm, and the fat woman flew out instantly.

  "Bang!"

  A loud crash, Nie Qinghua fell into the river.

  Nie Kong picked up three gold coins and walked onto the riverbank with Hua Mei. Before long, that sharp, ear-piercing shriek echoed from behind them once again: "You're a dead man walking, I won't let you off!"

  Several women glared at each other, looking at the scattered Nie Qinghua in the river water, and then looked at the distant figures of Nie Kong and Hua Mei. Their minds were a mess, Nie Qinghua was a third-grade Gathering Spirit Master, but Hua Mei's younger uncle, who only had first-grade Gathering Spirit, had easily thrown her into the river?

  ……

  As they walked home, Huā Méi expressed her concern: "Uncle, I lost my job, is it really okay?"

  Nie Kong smiled and waved his hand: "Of course, no problem. Sister-in-law, I'm the man of this house, so from now on, let me handle the matter of making money."

  Hua Mei nodded and sighed: "Uncle, you just threw Nie Qinghua into the river, you really offended her badly."

  "With a woman like that, you have to be tough. The softer you are, the more arrogant she becomes. Besides, she's just a minor official, offending her doesn't matter much. I forgot to tell you, I've already gathered five spiritual essences."

  "Really?"

  Her small mouth opened into an "O" shape, but after a while, she blushed and said somewhat awkwardly, "But she will go and spread rumors, saying that we...that we..."

  Nie Kong said calmly: "Sister-in-law, don't worry about it. Let others say what they want to say. Their mouths are their own, we just need to live our own lives well."

  "Oh."

  She furrowed her brow, wrinkled her sleeves, and looked worried. After all, she was a woman, and still a young widow with only a younger brother-in-law left in the family, it was impossible for her to be as carefree as Nie Kong from Earth...

  ……