Who Let Him Cultivate?! (WX)-Chapter 293: Li Haoran’s Pain

At the dining hall on Artifact Refinement Peak, Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou found Zhou Lulu, who was reading a book while painting tangren sugar art.[1]

“Senior Sister Zhou, is Junior Brother Li on the mountain?” Lu Yang asked politely.

“Oh, it’s Junior Brother Lu and Junior Brother Meng. You have formed your golden cores? That’s fast.” Zhou Lulu looked up, a trace of surprise flashing past her eyes upon noticing the cultivation realms of Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou.

At their age, I was still at the Advanced Foundation Establishment Stage.

“You’re looking for Junior Brother Li? He’s in his cave abode.”

Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou flashed a smile simultaneously. Since we are as close as brothers with Li Haoran, we naturally have to show off in front of him now that we have formed our golden cores.

Otherwise, what is the point of working so hard to cultivate?

“Junior Brother Li should be sleeping.”

“Sleeping? I don’t remember Junior Brother Li as someone who likes to sleep.”

“He wasn’t in the past, but ever since he returned from visiting his family, he’s started sleeping a lot. Every time he wakes up, he looks gloomy, as if he’s had a nightmare. I asked him if he dreamed of something bad, but he wasn’t willing to tell me.

“I asked my father, and he told me not to meddle in this.”

Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou exchanged a glance, roughly guessing the situation—Li Haoran was likely dreaming of memories from his past life.

Qin Haoran was a bona fide diabolic creed leader who had committed heinous deeds. Coupled with what the Everlasting Creed’s leader had mentioned about many people coveting Qin Haoran’s position, all of this would make Li Haoran uneasy.

The two put aside their intention to show off and decided to visit Li Haoran.

However, it wouldn’t be appropriate to go empty-handed. Seeing that Zhou Lulu’s tangren sugar art looked quite fun, Lu Yang thought about buying one for Li Haoran.

Before he could ask, however, Zhou Lulu gently blew, and the two tangren figurines seemed to have come to life. Wielding weapons made of sugary syrup, they clashed in mid-air, creating clanking sounds.

The corner of Lu Yang’s eyes twitched as he witnessed this scene. If I’m not mistaken, these two tangren figurines possess combat power equivalent to the Golden Core Stage.

If I buy these two tangren figurines for Li Haoran, they might beat him up.

Forget it, I’ll find another gift.

Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou walked around the dining hall. There were youtiao that could grow or shrink to serve as roof beams, baozi that could be used as covert weapons, shaobing that could act as a Heart-Protecting Mirror[2] or chest armor plate, and fried sesame seeds that could be used for practicing Iron Sand Palm[3]—none of these could be used as gifts.

“The cooking standards in your dining hall are impressive!” The sole spirit chef gave the Artifact Refinement Peak’s dining hall a positive appraisal.

“I’d rather their standards be lower.”

“You’re so unambitious!”

Lu Yang pretended he heard nothing.

~~~

In a pitch-black cave, a person’s face was twisted in agony, his body involuntarily writhing, as if he was experiencing pain in his dreams. Yet, he was unable to wake up and could only endure the suffering in silence.

Suddenly, he opened his eyes, his clothes and bedding drenched in sweat.

The candlelight flickered, illuminating the entire cave abode and also Li Haoran’s face.

He looked around the cave abode in confusion, only then realizing he had woken up.

Recalling the experiences in his dreams, including the dark side of the Nine-Netherworlds Creed and the unknown pressures Qin Haoran faced, Li Haoran couldn’t help but shudder and curse under his breath, “Damn these past-life memories...”

As for the occasional emergence of his past-life memories, even his shifu, Fifth Elder, who managed the Artifact Refining Peak, couldn’t offer a decent solution.

Li Haoran silently recited, casting a Garment-Cleansing Incantation on his clothes, then a Body-Cleansing Incantation. Only then did he feel somewhat better.

“Hmm? Senior Brother Lu and Senior Brother Meng are at the entrance?” The cave abode’s array alerted him, lifting his spirits.

Opening the door, he saw Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou, both wearing bright smiles.

“Junior Brother Li, you’re awake?” Lu Yang smiled, subtly observing Li Haoran’s condition.

Li Haoran had dark circles under his eyes, and his eyelids drooped, making him appear dispirited. Ruling out the possibility of self-inflicted vitality exhaustion, Lu Yang could only attribute the cause to Qin Haoran’s memories.

“Please, come in,” Li Haoran greeted them warmly.

The two entered Li Haoran’s cave abode and saw sundry displays of refined magical artifacts, including armor, shields, and bronze cauldrons. If a Golden Core artifact-refining master were here, they would marvel at the extraordinary craftsmanship.

Li Haoran curled his finger slightly, and the teapot on the table began to move on its own. It grew arms and legs, clattering across the table. Then, it filled itself with water, added tea leaves, put on the lid, and sat on the stove to heat itself up. In no time, the tea was bubbling. The teapot tilted its body and poured tea into the cups, pushing them in front of Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou.

The two instinctively said “thank you,” only to realize afterward that the teapot was just a magical artifact without sentience. Why were we thanking it?

“Junior Brother Li, I heard you haven’t been resting well lately?”

At the mention of this topic, Li Haoran slumped, a sliver of a bitter smile appearing on his visage. “You guessed it right, Senior Brother Lu. I can’t tell anyone else about being Qin Haoran’s reincarnation, so I can only vent to you two.”

Lu Yang patted Li Haoran’s shoulder, his expression one of understanding. “You must have seen many secrets of the Nine-Netherworlds Creed in your dreams, and these secrets have caused you boundless pain.”

Li Haoran nodded, emotional about finally feeling understood. “Yes, every time I close my eyes, all I see are the Nine-Netherworlds Creed’s financial deficits!

“Wages for the creed members, expenses for handling aftermaths, funds for business trips, costs of building bases—it’s all money going out. However, the Nine-Netherworlds Creed had no proper way to make money. All they did was kill and plunder, but how much income could that have been? It was just like a drop in the ocean.

“Every day, it was just losses, losses, and losses!

“A massive creed like the Nine-Netherworlds Creed needed money for food, clothing, shelter, and travel. But spirit stones don’t grow on trees. Where were they supposed to find spirit stones?

“Those people below have no idea what was going on. They were delusional, talking about building an above-ground Nine-Netherworlds City. Forget whether the imperial court would find out—does the Nine-Netherworlds Creed even have the spirit stones to build a city?

“Can you imagine? Qin Haoran sat in the creed leader’s seat every day and handled all sorts of matters, and then he had to think of ways to make money.

“Whenever I dream, I view things from Qin Haoran’s eyes, sitting blankly with him and racking my brain to figure out how to make money.

“If not, I’d be facing the deficit data and numbers with Qin Haoran, attempting to find a way out. Now, just seeing numbers gives me a headache!

“Fortunately, Qin Haoran later met Yiren, who provided him a safe haven. Otherwise, I can’t even imagine how much more hellish Qin Haoran’s plight would have been.”

Li Haoran rubbed his temples in pain as he complained to the two.

Lu Yang, “...”

Meng Jingzhou, “...”

Why is this different from what we’d imagined?

Lu Yang recalled how Qin Haoran had met Su Yiren. Someone was hunting Qin Haoran down, causing him to be gravely injured. He crashed through a barrier and fainted in front of Su Yiren, and that sparked their subsequent fate with each other.

Previously, Lu Yang had deduced that the Nine-Netherworlds Creed was in turmoil, with a power grab happening and people ganging up to overthrow Qin Haoran.

But from what he had just heard, that no longer seemed to be the case.

“Then the people chasing Qin Haoran were...”

Li Haoran answered expressionlessly, “Debt collectors.”

1. Tangren is a type of traditional folk art and street food where liquid sugar is used to mold or draw figurines. I’ll show more examples below. ☜

2. Instead of wearing a breastplate, soldiers would sew a huxinjing or “Heart-Protecting Mirror” to the front and back of their war garment or armor to protect themselves. ☜

3. Feel free to read more about Tieshazhang here or any article online. ☜