For seven days, Qin Nana stayed in Yijia Town.
During these seven days, Mi Lan accompanied Qin Nana. He walked her through the streets of his childhood, stood with her on the Flower Bridge to watch the myriad lights of Yijia Town twinkling in the distance, and showed her the Mi Family's ten thousand mu of spiritual fields rippling in the wind. Above all, he had her beat up all the young upstarts from the Xiao, You, and Luo families who used to bully him—especially Luo Zhongyu, whose right foot hadn't even fully healed from last time, and whose left foot was now injured as well.
Nana was the one doing the fighting, but Mi Lan stood by her side with a happy smile, feeling that he had made an extraordinary contribution to his family's pill-making enterprise.
Today, outside Yijia Town, Qin Nana was about to leave, and Mi Lan had come to see her off.
"Nana, this is a gift for me to give you!" Mi Lan took out the quasi-sage weapon, the Hunyuan Heavenly Silk, which he had prepared long ago from his Storage Bag, and handed it to Qin Nana.
Qin Nana was slightly startled. Taking the Hunyuan Heavenly Silk from Mi Lan's hand, she gently stroked the soft red ribbon and instantly knew its quality, feeling deeply moved in her heart.
Mi Lan continued, "The outside world is fraught with danger. You must protect yourself well, and don't be rash or push yourself when things happen." He trailed off, as if wanting to say more.
Qin Nana gently hugged the chubby man in front of her. Aside from her father, mother, and master, this man was currently the one who treated her best in this world.
"Fatty Brother, you must take good care of yourself too," Nana said. "And practice hard. In the future... when our cultivation has borne fruit, how wonderful it will be to soar together through the skies hand in hand."
As for the path of cultivation, Mi Lan had never really cared much about it. In his mind, his grandfather and father were right there at home, and in the future, there would be his second brother. After all, his second brother, Mi Shui, was exceptionally talented and would surely lead the family to an even better future. The Mi Family currently lacked nothing; the family was harmonious, and their wealth and power were secure. All he needed to do was behave himself, avoid stirring up trouble, and quietly live the life of a pampered parasite. He knew his own aptitude well—he wouldn't even believe it himself if someone told him he could become a saint.
Yet Mi Lan still nodded heavily and agreed to Qin Nana's words. After all, for the sake of his future wife, a salted fish turning over with some effort was only right. "Mhm, I will work hard on my cultivation. By the way, do you lack money or pills?" Mi Lan asked Nana.
After all, Qin Nana was the daughter of the Commandery Governor, and a family of six, big and small, relied entirely on Qin Anbang's official salary. The empire maintained extremely strict oversight and crackdowns on official corruption, so while Qin Anbang's monthly salary was high and sufficient for a comfortable daily life, it was far from enough to support cultivation. Furthermore, Qin Anbang had two children to support in their cultivation—unless he had lost his mind and was willing to risk the extermination of his entire family by taking bribes left and right. Therefore, in cultivation, wealth and resources were paramount; while Qin Nana, having joined the Ziyi Sect, certainly lacked no cultivation techniques, she was bound to be short on cultivation resources. Having money would at least allow her to practice with peace of mind and occasionally browse various markets to snap up treasures she needed. Mi Lan knew that children from poor families mostly had to take on tasks or even do manual labor to earn cultivation resources, and he did not want to see Nana work that hard. Besides, through their seven days together, Mi Lan believed that Nana felt optimistic about their prospective marriage.
Qin Nana's face flushed red. "Fatty Brother, I lack nothing," she said. "You've already given me the Hunyuan Heavenly Silk; I cannot take anything more from you." Although she knew she needed resources, she couldn't bring herself to cast aside her pride.
"Nana, it's not just you—Xialong needs to cultivate too. You must take this and practice hard!" With that, Mi Lan snatched Qin Nana's Storage Bag with one hand while pulling out his own, frantically dumping gold coins inside. Lower-level cultivators lacked the ability to place spiritual seals on their Storage Bags, so whoever grabbed one could open it. Watching Mi Lan frantically transferring gold coins, Qin Nana's eyes turned slightly red; the man before her was truly someone to whom she could entrust her life.
When nearly a thousand gold coins from his own Storage Bag had all been transferred into Qin Nana's, Mi Lan handed the bag back to her and said, "Nana, you must take care of yourself."
He fell silent for a moment, as if gathering his courage, then gently grasped Qin Nana's hand and spoke aloud, "Nana, I want to prepare... gifts to go visit Uncle Qin. I want to marry you."
Qin Nana's face blushed, turning red all the way down to her neck. She unclasped one of the two silver bells on her left wrist and handed it to Mi Lan, murmuring, "Fatty Brother, in a year's time, I will return. We'll meet in the commandery city. You take good care of yourself too." With that, she turned and fled into the distance like a frightened bird.
Mi Lan smiled as he watched Qin Nana's receding figure, gently stroking the bell in his palm with sweetness filling his heart.
Recalling Nana's words about soaring together through the skies hand in hand, Mi Lan felt his heart burn with passion, thinking his cultivation might still be salvageable.
Returning to the Mi Estate and entering his own small courtyard, Mi Lan sat upright on a straw meditation mat, centering his mind and calming his breath. Following the breathing techniques recorded in the ancestral "Fertilizer Scripture," he gathered all his vital energy into his chest, slowly dispersed it into his limbs, and then adjusted his posture—getting down on all fours with his head hanging down in full prostration. Finally, he directed the vital energy from his limbs back to his Dantian to complete a full cycle.
From the bottom of his heart, Mi Lan resisted this posture; he found it utterly humiliating. But according to the ancestral "Fertilizer Scripture," the Fertilizer Body could absorb the vital essence of the earth to nourish itself. The full prostration posture allowed one to absorb earth essence simultaneously from all four limbs and the head, making the circulation of the great heavenly orbit much faster and easier.
Mi Lan had no idea what realm his ancestors had reached, how they had come up with such a posture, or what quality of scripture the "Fertilizer Scripture" was. But he believed his ancestors wouldn't deceive them. After all, through countless years, although the Mi Family had never produced any earth-shattering figures, quite a few predecessors had reached the Tongxuan Realm. The Tongxuan Realm was nothing compared to the One Empire, Four Saints, and Five Families, but in Yijia Town or even Donghai City, it was the absolute pinnacle of existence.
Mi Lan maintained the prostrate posture for about an hour. After completing the seventh great heavenly orbit, he felt a powerful surge of energy erupting from his limbs and head, which flowed in a full circle and settled into his Dantian. The Eighth Layer of Body Refining that had plagued him for over a year was broken in an instant, pushing him into the Ninth Layer of Body Refining.
With his breathing exercise finished, Mi Lan hurriedly stood up, ran out into the courtyard, and executed a set of the ancestral "Fertilizer Fists." According to the Fertilizer Scripture, the Body Refining Realm focused primarily on the physical body with Qi acting as a secondary aid; after each session of cultivating Qi, executing a set of Fertilizer Fists would temper the body to even greater perfection.
The "Fertilizer Fists" were very simple, consisting of only two punches: a left punch and a right punch.
However, the "Fertilizer Scripture" recorded that these two punches were not as simple as they looked. One was supposed to channel earth Qi with the left hand and wood Qi with the right hand, merging earth and generating wood; with earth and wood neutralizing each other, true fertilizer was born. That founding ancestor had figured that anyone you couldn't beat with these fists wouldn't be helped by practicing anything else anyway, while anyone you could beat only needed two punches. Thus, only two punches had been passed down through the generations. With Mi Lan's current cultivation at the ninth layer of Body Refining, he couldn't even channel earth and wood Qi yet, so he could naturally only strike forms that were empty of the true essence. Once he reached the Qi Control Realm in the future, he would be able to unleash the true power of the Fertilizer Fists, with earth on the left and wood on the right.
After throwing hundreds of Fertilizer Fists and feeling his newly stabilized realm settling in, Mi Lan stopped and headed toward the dining hall. Today had been a day of great fortune and immense joy—it called for a celebration! He would reward himself with three huge bowls of spiritual rice!