"Where's Min'er? I don't see her around."
Hearing this, the couple's faces froze. They exchanged glances before Huang Peng finally spoke.
"She's in her room, and it's been that way for a while."
"Oh, why is that?" Long Huang asked curiously. The couple looked at each other again before responding.
"You really don't know."
"No"
"After you left, we thought you were missing or worse," Huang Peng said, his tone lower than usual.
"So we posted a mission to find you. After the first month with no news, rumors started to spread that you were dead."
"But Huang Min didn't believe it. She often got into arguments with fellow disciples who claimed you were dead," Su Yan added.
"After the 2nd month, with no news still, we feared the worst. Huang Min has basically locked herself in her room since."
Hearing this, Long Huang was taken aback. He hadn't realized his sudden disappearance would affect them so deeply.
"I didn't think you would notice," he said, a hint of sadness in his voice.
"Of course, we'd noticed. You're our son," Su Yan said in a motherly tone, and Huang Peng nodded in agreement.
Long Huang then bowed and made his way to Huang Min's room.
Each step he made felt strangely heavy, as if the weight of a mountain rested on his shoulders.
He kept his head lowered, his mind racing as memories of laughter and the warmth of family meals flooded his mind.
Questions crashed through him: Would they forgive him? Had he hurt them too much? Guilt tangled with fear, making the hallway feel unending.
A tear slipped down his cheek as he began to realize how much the Huang family meant to him, and how much he meant to them.
This was truly an unknown feeling to him.
When he arrived at Huang Min's room, he knocked, but received no response. He knocked again, but still no answer. Deciding to investigate further, he walked to the balcony of Huang Min's room and climbed through the unlocked window.
After entering her room, he looked around, his eyes searching for Huang Min, and he suddenly felt something cold at his neck.
As he looked down, a knife was being held to him by none other than Huang Min.
"Hey now."
"I know you're mad, but can you please... put the knife down?"
Long Huang pleaded, but Huang Min looked at him as if he were a ghost.
"I'm sorry I left without saying anything," he added, his voice soft.
"I truly am sorry. I didn't think you'd care," he said as he looked at her. He could see how deeply his disappearance had affected her.
Her eyes, which usually radiated warmth and curiosity, now radiated a cold aura.
Her usual jade-like face was now marred by dark, puffy circles beneath her eyes, the unmistakable sign of tears and lack of sleep, and her hair, normally impeccably kept, fell in disheveled strands around her shoulders.
Seeing Huang Min this way sent a sharp pang of guilt through Long Huang's chest.
"Oh, come on, don't be like that," Long Huang said as he tried tickling her, but she maintained her silence.
Normally, he would continue to act stupid or say something funny to cheer her up, but right now, he felt nothing but shame.
He stood frozen between the desire to comfort her and the shame he felt. Huang Min, however, remained an unreadable fortress.
She looked at him with a cold, detached gaze, offering no solace before turning wordlessly and returning to her bed, leaving him alone in the charged silence.
"The silent treatment, I see."
"I brought you something," he said, pulling out the jade bed he had found in the cave.
Even with that, Huang Min didn't say a word, so Long Huang decided to give her some space. He placed about 500 gold notes on the jade bed before leaving.
"I'm sorry."
The heavy door clicked shut behind him, sealing away the stifling intensity of the room. Long Huang clutched his chest and drew a deep, steadying breath to slow his racing heart, but it did nothing.
Her red eyes, her puffy face, and her silence shattered his selfish thoughts: that no one would care if he went missing, that the world would keep spinning even if he died.
He'd always believed he could drift through life unnoticed, untouched by others' grief or love. Now he realized he was right yet wrong.
To the world, his death meant nothing, but for those around him, those who loved him, it meant a part of them would be ripped from them and lost forever.
With each step away from her quarters, tears fell from his eyes, his mind, once so isolated, began to tentatively embrace a new and fragile reality, and a profound shift settled within him.
For the first time, he finally accepted a truth he had long evaded: he wasn't alone; he had people who cared for him, people who viewed him as family.
For once, he felt loved and needed.
Once outside the manor gates, Long Huang decided he should increase his cultivation to distract himself from these stifling feelings, so he headed toward the medicine pavilion of the sect.
"Alright, next stop it is. I wonder what I should buy."
"Hmmm," Long Huang hummed as he was lost in thought. He heard something.
"Grass Snake, you're finally back! We thought you were dead."
At that moment, a clear, childlike, and familiar voice came from the right.
Hearing this voice, Long Huang's eyes twitched, and he tightened his fists. Frowning, he turned to look at the source of the voice.
Not far away stood a male and a female. The one speaking was a youth dressed in a purple robe adorned with a black lotus on the back, exuding a slight, intimidating aura.
"It's him. My God, why did it have to be this annoying guy…" Long Huang sighed.
The male and female duo were Chi Wei and Zhao Xue. Zhao Xue was the female disciple who had insulted Long Huang the last time they met; she was a direct descendant of the Zhao family in Blossom City.
She shot Long Huang a disdainful look, her lips curling in a faint sneer. However, as she turned her gaze away, her fingers tightened imperceptibly around the sash of her robe.
A fleeting, unspoken frustration flickered in her eyes; she wished that Long Huang would one day notice her and talk to her.
She knew deep down she had always liked Long Huang; however, she had to act this way to please the somewhat childish Chi Wei, as he was her ticket to a more cushy life.
"Brother Chi, he looks like he wants to buy something here," Zhao Xue said mockingly.
"Hmph, just him? Does he even have the right to enter the medicine pavilion? Anything from the medicine pavilion costs a few years of his income," Chi Wei replied disdainfully, glancing at Long Huang.
Ignoring the pair, Long Huang walked into the Medicine Pavilion.
The pavilion was bustling with disciples purchasing herbs and pills, some of whom stared at Long Huang as he entered, but he was too preoccupied with his thoughts to notice.
"I need some resources that can consolidate one's foundation, and raise one's cultivation steadily and quickly… In this direction, common-grade pills and herbs are incredibly beneficial."
Long Huang contemplated this and confirmed his needs. Among all the available items, he opted for herbs rather than pills because of the impurities often found in pills.
Although herbs weren't as effective as pills, they contained no impurities.
And they were cheaper, of course.
He focused on herbs that aid in tempering the muscles and concluded that ginseng was the most useful for cultivators in the Muscle Tempering Realm.
Spirit ginseng plants are categorized by age; older plants possess greater medicinal properties, making them more expensive. The reason was quite simply that the older the ginseng, the more beneficial its effects.
Long Huang meticulously scanned the price list of the various spirit ginsengs displayed at the pavilion, his sharp eyes taking in each detail.
For cultivators like him, the best available option was spirit ginseng plants that were five hundred years old, something few could afford
"100-year-old spirit ginseng, to 500-year-old spirit ginseng, 50 to 800 gold notes. A 1000-year-old spirit ginseng 2000 gold notes."
'10,000-year-old spirit ginseng.... 50,000 gold notes, huh? Why is this in the official Disciple shop? No one can afford this, much less consume it.' Long Huang thought as he looked at the ridiculous price of the herb.
Just then, Zhao Xue's voice cut through his train of thought. Her voice was laced with a subtle but unmistakable hint of seduction.
"Brother Chi, if I could get my hands on a perfect-grade Skin Tempering Pill, I might be able to ascend to the peak of the Skin Tempering Realm in just half a year," she said, her tone both alluring and hopeful.
Chi Wei rolled his eyes, responding with a note of practicality.
"That's not realistic. At most, I can manage to buy you a mid-grade pill."
"You know I'm trying to break through to the Meridian Tempering Realm before the competition, and I need every bit of my gold notes for essential materials to help me achieve that."
While Chi Wei was indeed wealthy, he was far from reckless about his spending, well aware of Zhao Xue's attempts to manipulate him for her benefit.
"A mid-grade one is acceptable too," Zhao Xue conceded, a faint smile flickering on her lips.
Yet disappointment was evident in her eyes, betraying her true feelings.
Others around her watched her with mixed gazes, and even at Chi Wei. Chi Wei, noticing this was about to give in, was about to give in when, at that moment, a voice broke the atmosphere and grabbed everyone's attention.
"Elder, I would like to purchase two 300-year-old spirit ginsengs, two 500-year-old spirit ginsengs, and two 1000-year-old spirit ginsengs."
The voice had a calm, commanding tone.
'It's him!' Zhao Xue thought, her heart racing as she spotted Long Huang standing confidently a short distance away.
There was something about his demeanor that intrigued her. And his looks, of course.
"Did he just say two 1000-year-old spirit ginsengs? He must be exaggerating," Chi Wei sneered, unable to conceal his skepticism.
"Brother Chi, you're hearing things. There's no way a mere official disciple could afford such extravagant demands," added Zhao Xue.
"That will be 6,000 gold notes." The elder's voice rang out, succinct and professional.
Long Huang reached into his robe, producing a stack of gold notes, and handed them to the elder.
Chi Wei's previously confident smile slowly morphed into an expression of unwillingness.