Unconventional [Rebirth] - Chapter 67

Rong Jingtang’s blunt “I know” left Jiang Rui momentarily speechless, his prepared words dying in his throat.

Should he continue? Should he tell Rong Jingtang that he was in this state because of his own kin? Or should he simply promise that he could heal him? Neither option felt appropriate at this moment. Jiang Rui fell silent, his gaze on Rong Jingtang growing hazy.

“You told me all of this… to express what, exactly?” Rong Jingtang asked softly, resting his chin on his hand.

Jiang Rui shook his head with a bitter laugh. “I don’t even know what possessed me to tell you these things today.” He gestured toward the infant spirit whose arms were wrapped tightly around Rong Jingtang’s neck. “Can you feel… the thing behind you?”

The infant was incapable of speech, but having spent over twenty years as a spirit, it clearly understood Jiang Rui’s words. Jiang Rui was baffled; in just one day, the infant spirit he had successfully begun to purify had regressed into a vengeful wraith. He wasn’t an expert in ghost cultivation, but his intuition suggested that the child’s physical body or its “vital energy” had undergone a drastic change elsewhere.

Rong Jingtang’s lips quirked up. “I know.”

He was well aware that his so-called younger brother was clinging to his neck, siphoning away his life force. It was the reason why a mere half-day outing had left him utterly exhausted.

Jiang Rui didn’t ask why Rong Jingtang allowed the child to do this; he assumed there was a desperate reason behind such a dangerous gambit. With a helpless sigh, Jiang Rui reached into his pocket and pulled out an ancient-looking necklace. It was a dark, profound stone strung on a deep purple cord. “Wear this.”

Rong Jingtang accepted it without a word, unaware of how much it pained Jiang Rui to part with it. The stone contained a drop of the Jade Tree’s Essence. It wasn’t a large amount, but Jiang Rui had risked his cultivation to extract it. Though Miao Xuan had said such a feat was only possible after the Foundation Establishment stage, it had still been an ordeal.

“This is a Spirit-Gathering Bead,” Jiang Rui explained. “The child’s obsession and resentment are deep; it will attract unclean things.”

He stopped there, lacking the heart to continue. Rong Jingtang was still wearing the “Yin-Heavy” Guanyin Jade around his neck, which was a primary driver of his worsening condition. Giving him another necklace seemed redundant.

Just as Jiang Rui was wondering how to ask for the Guanyin Jade back to modify it, Rong Jingtang took it off himself and handed it to him.

Jiang Rui was startled. The jade was ice-cold to the touch.

“You are…”

Rong Jingtang slowly fastened the dark stone necklace. Against his white clothes and jade-like skin, the black stone gleamed with a deep, polished luster, making his features look even more flawless.

“Before, it wasn’t possible. Now, it is,” Rong Jingtang said cryptically. Jiang Rui found the phrasing awkward but didn’t dwell on it. He pocketed the Guanyin Jade and said, “If you trust me… I will find out the truth as soon as possible.”

“As you wish.” Rong Jingtang closed his eyes and stood up. “Sleeping together?”

Jiang Rui’s head shook like a rattle. “No, I have to get back to school.”

He had never attended university in his past life, especially not the medical school he had set his sights on. He knew little of modern medicine, and while the Secret Realm contained many medical texts, they focused on traditional Chinese medicine. After everything he had been through, he felt that medical knowledge was a precious treasure.

Seeing that Rong Jingtang was truly exhausted, Jiang Rui didn’t push further. He tucked Rong Jingtang in and watched as the infant spirit, now resting on his chest, looked significantly less terrifying.

After quietly closing the bedroom door, Jiang Rui returned to the backyard. The two peach trees had withered overnight, a sight that had deeply saddened Uncle Cheng. Out of sentimentality—and because the graves of the former masters lay beneath them—the trees hadn’t been removed, in the hope they might one day bloom again.

The trees had thrived because they were nourished by the Yin energy of the three souls beneath them. Now that the source was gone, the trees could no longer sustain themselves.

But Jiang Rui was here for another reason: this peach tree had developed a Spirit Intellect. It wasn’t a full-blown “demon” or “yao” yet, but it was certainly sentient.

Jiang Rui poured a bit of spiritual spring water at its base and performed a series of complex, rhythmic steps around the trunk. He then patted the bark and smiled. As if in gratitude, the withered branches gave a weak, labored shake.

Jiang Rui “listened” as the tree used its intent to struggle through the history of the house. The story began on the day Madam Rong gave birth. It wasn’t a complex tale of grand conspiracies, but it was no less thorny for its simplicity. According to the tree, the mastermind had never even shown their face.

The tree had been here since the Siheyuan was built over a hundred years ago; it had seen everything that transpired within the Rong family. The family had been embroiled in internal power struggles for a century. The tree mentioned that it had gained its intellect because its roots were entwined around a piece of jade buried by the Rong ancestors—a stone of unknown origin.

Jiang Rui didn’t dig for the jade. Instead, he asked, “Who was present when the Master was buried?”

The tree replied that very few were there: Rong Jingtang, Uncle Cheng, and an old family servant whose whereabouts were now unknown.

“Ah, there was one more,” the tree’s voice echoed in Jiang Rui’s mind, sounding ethereal and distant. “The child called him ‘Youngest Uncle.’ He was a young master of the Rong family then. His name was Rong Anchen.”

Jiang Rui narrowed his eyes. “Did he do anything unusual?”

The tree’s branches swayed in denial. “No. He had a very pleasant scent that I liked. But he also carried a terrifyingly cold, Yin energy. I didn’t dare make a sound.”

Jiang Rui thought of the Buddhist artifact Rong Anchen wore. He wondered if someone’s soul was dwelling within that artifact, and why a man like Rong Anchen would sacrifice the life of Rong Jingtang’s younger brother to nourish it.

“He came here many times, looking for something he never found,” the tree whispered. “He hates monks. Seven years ago, a monk from Putuo Temple came here for alms, and he chased him out…”

Jiang Rui made a mental note of this. He then asked the tree about its own cultivation.

“I am lucky,” the tree said shyly. “I was nourished by Yin energy since I was a sapling, and my roots touch a stone with Dragon Qi. It took only a hundred years to gain intellect… but to take human form, I likely need another century.”

Jiang Rui smiled and produced two pills. “I don’t like to owe favors.” He crushed the pills into powder and used a thread of spiritual energy to waft them into the tree.

The tree let out a joyful rustle. “Thank you! Thank you!” After a long hesitation, it offered a branch from its “Natal Stem” to Jiang Rui. “You saved my life and gave me these Spirit Pills… take this. It can ward off three calamities. I have observed your fate; you were meant to have a smooth life, but a calamity at age twelve broke your path…”

Suddenly, thunder rumbled and the clouds thickened.

“Oh no, I’ve said too much—!” the tree shrieked.

A bolt of lightning struck down, snapping two of its branches. The tree began to sob. “I cannot tell you more, but your Love Calamity is too heavy. If it goes well, you will have a partner for life; if not, it will be a fight to the death. It depends on who you meet… if it is the one in that room…”

A second bolt of lightning, as thick as a man’s arm, struck.

Jiang Rui looked at the charred, smoking tree and felt a sudden urge to laugh. He bowed to it and placed five more pills on its branches. “What you have told me is already a great help. Thank you.”

The tree pathetically stroked its smoking bark, a pinkish sap leaking out like tears. “Just… take care of yourself.”

Jiang Rui couldn’t help but let out a loud laugh. “Thank you again.”