Bathing · Sito Ping

  "Master Yu, the fragrant bath is ready. Shall we bathe now?" Left Qingfeng's pleasant voice sounded from outside the door.

  Yue Qing stood up: "I'll go now." He carried Xi Tu Ping and followed Zuo Qingfeng's guidance to the Soul Washing Cave.

  Moyu Cave is located behind the Moyu Cave, it is a place where three cave owners take a bath. Sometimes they also bring their own female apprentices to take a mandarin duck bath, so it is decorated very finely. The ground is paved with warm jade, and there is a fake mountain in the center. On the south side, there is a warm spring, and the hot air above the water pool is filled with flower petals. At the top of the mountain, there is also a clear spring, which flows northward to form a waterfall, with cool and refreshing water quality.

  Yue Qing let down her hair, took off her already tattered long gown, and saw Zuo Qingfeng also undressing. She coughed somewhat unnaturally: "You don't need to serve me here, go prepare some snacks."

  Zuo Qing bowed and said: "Shall we make lotus root cake like the other day? I remember Master Shibo praised it to no end back then."

  Yue Qing patted Situ Ping's forehead: "Whether I eat or not doesn't matter, it's been half a day since we left, this child must be starving."

  Zuo Qingfeng said: "Then bring a bowl of the freshly made yogurt from this morning."

  Yue Qing didn't know what yogurt was, but guessed that kids could eat it, so she nodded and let her go prepare it.

  He took off his clothes and removed Sutou Ping's big red bellyband, carrying him into the pool. The warm water rose inch by inch until it reached his chest. Sutou Ping was a bit scared, his two small hands tightly hugging his arm. Yue Qing walked to the side of the fake mountain, put Sutou Ping on the rock and sat him down, first washing his two little legs.

  Yue Qing could feel that Situ Ping was very afraid of him, even to the point of terror. He didn't dare say a word and sat there quietly, allowing Yue Qing to manipulate him as he pleased. As Yue Qing washed his feet, he asked him: "What's your name?"

  Situ Ping stared at him with wide eyes, looking terrified for a moment before slowly responding: "Situ Ping."

  "Oh, Situ Ping, how old are you this year?"

  Situ Ping thought for a moment: "Three, three years old."

  "Not bad, you still remember all these things, but do you know who I am?"

  Situ Ping trembled slightly and said cautiously: "You are, you are a god."

  "Haha! How did you know I'm a fairy?" Yue Qing's mood was obviously better than before, she picked up Si Tu Ping and put him on a lower rock, letting the water rise above his waist, continuing to wash his arms.

  Situ Ping said: "It turns out that my nanny told me stories about immortals, saying that those who can fly up to the sky are immortals."

  Yue Qing patted Situ Ping's small face, which was steaming red from the hot air: "Then do you want to become a flying immortal like me?"

  Situ Ping blinked: "Think."

  "Then from now on you'll have to call me Master, and I'll teach you the skill of flying through the sky, how about that?"

  Situ Ping hesitated for a moment, then nodded and called out: "Master."

  "Good boy!" Yue Qing brought over the Hundred Flowers Cream and washed his hair and body, putting him on a fake mountain. As she washed, she said, "Now I'll teach you a mnemonic device. If you can recite it, I'll teach you how to fly up into the sky. But if you can't recite it, Master will punish you. Listen carefully: My body has three treasures, essence, energy, and spirit are all clear. Essence transforms into energy, energy transforms into spirit, spirit and energy return to emptiness, drifting away."

  Situ Ping sat squarely on the rock, reciting in a milky voice: "I have three treasures, my essence and spirit are clear..."

  Yu Qing was washing his bath while teaching Si Tu to recite the song, and found that his mood was getting better and better. He carefully scrubbed every inch of his skin from head to toe several times, and in his heart, all the annoyance and unease about the past, as well as the confusion and worry about the future, were slowly stripped away with each scrub.

  He began to feel that he had no reason not to be happy. As Yue Qing, he not only gained a second life but also transformed from an orphan who sold goods on the street to make ends meet into an immortal being who could fly and live for centuries. This was something he never even dreamed of in his past life. And as Yue Qin Bin, he possessed a god-like perspective over the entire Shu Mountain world, knowing the direction of Emei School's development, the next move of the Three Sages and Two Elders, and the locations of various treasures hidden throughout the land. Although he had only watched half of the Shu Mountain series at night market, he grasped the general direction and with the help of his school's secret transmission of the Xiantian Divine Diagram, he could grasp the initiative before Emei School took action!

  "The jade pillow is on the back of the spine, the spirit is in the three dan tian, after the three passes, before the three passes, and it becomes virtuous after passing the three!" He recited the Wutai Sect's entry-level qigong formula sentence by sentence. Sito Ping sat on the fake mountain, following along with a single thread, the clear and crisp childlike voice echoing in the cave accompanied by the gurgling sound of water.

  "Master Yu, the cream has been prepared, and also your favorite lotus seed cake and celestial wine." Zuo Qingfeng walked in with a food box, took out a plate of exquisite pastries, a silver wine jug inlaid with gems, and a bowl of cream, placing them on a jade table by the water's edge, specially for eating and drinking while bathing.

  Yue Qing took the yogurt and looked at it, roughly knowing that it was steamed with milk. He ate a small spoonful, sweet and creamy with a strong milky flavor. Then he picked up a thumb-sized lotus seed cake and took a bite, the taste was quite good: "You've gone to a lot of trouble."

  Zuo Qingfeng smiled and said, "As long as Master eats to his satisfaction, I will be content." As he spoke, he glanced at Yue Qing, who was exposing only the upper half of her body above the water's surface, and asked tentatively, "Master, do you want me to scrub your back for you?"

  "Never mind, I'm almost done washing too, you go down first."

  Zuo Qingfeng's eyes revealed a hint of disappointment, he responded with a sound, and retreated out.

  Yu Qing brought over Shi Tu Ping to feed him yogurt, Shi Tu Ping was very hungry, but still carefully said: "Master, you eat first."

  "Go ahead and eat, Master has already passed the fasting period, it doesn't matter whether you eat or not."

  Situ Ping ate another two mouthfuls: "Master, I can eat it myself."

  "Is it? My disciple is so formidable, then you eat one and show your master."

  Situ Ping took over the spoon and crouched down to scoop the butter into his mouth without spilling a single drop.

  Yu Qing smiled and praised him, then let the child eat by himself. He swam a few laps in the water and walked ashore, dried his body, put on the clothes left for him by Qing Feng - underpants, undershirt, long shirt, waistband, socks, boots, each one familiar yet strange as he dressed himself. His hair was not dry, he found it scattered and annoying, so he simply tied it back with a silver thread.

  He waited until he finished, and Situ Ping had also eaten a bowl of yogurt clean. Yue Qing washed his head, face and hands again, put on the small jacket with a left-facing button that Zuo Qingfeng had prepared, and wore shorts and cloth shoes underneath. Then, holding his hand, they walked out of the Soul Washing Cave. Along the narrow corridor, they went down to return to the Earthly Soul Cave. The three ghosts of Menggui Slope were already waiting here.

  Ye You Taisheng was over thirty years old, tall and large in stature, with a waxen yellow complexion, his hair tied up in a golden crown like dry grass. His hands and feet were long and thin, bony and rugged, wearing a yellow robe. Bai Gui Lian He Xiaoshan was short and small, only reaching the chest of Qi Deng, with a pale white face that had no blood color at all, his hair was also white, wearing a white shirt of a scholar. Gui Ying Zi Xiao Longzi was even taller than Qi Deng, but thin as a piece of paper, a slight breeze could blow him away, his skin was actually quite white, but a layer of black air was faintly visible, like the corpse of someone who died from poisoning, his whole body was cold and icy, without any vitality.

  They were only a few decades old in their Taoist careers, and at that time they had not yet received the guidance of Yue Qinbin, so they were very polite to him. When they saw him coming in, they surrounded him together: "Brother Yue, why didn't you succeed in refining the divine infant sword again?"

  Yue Qing sat down, took the tea from Zuo Qingfeng and slowly drank it, recounting what had happened before. However, he didn't mention that Xu Fei'niang was the one who saved him, as she was still in a state of "hiding her light" and even got close to the Emei Sect people, often going to Jiuhua Mountain to chat with Qi Shuiyuan's wife. It wasn't good to expose herself now, so he just said it was an old friend who happened to pass by and joined hands to drive away Jiang Xuejun and save himself.

  "Jiang Xuejun!" Qi Deng slapped the table and said in a trembling voice, "How could it be this woman!"