Chapter 639: Dual Cultivation.

“Father,” Luo Huian greeted her father and tried to sit up straight on the bed, but before she could, Jiao Bo waved his hand and pushed her back down on the bed.

“There is no need to act tough with me; with how you are at the moment, even breathing would use up your spiritual energy. I should have known that this was going to happen; without proper cultivation, your inner core is like a bucket with a hole in the bottom and without anyone pouring water from the top, it’s running out quite fast.” Jiao Bo was frowning hard as he studied the mess within his daughter’s spiritual core.

This was the reason why he was not willing to let his daughter come here; this world was a mess with the gloom aura running rampant. The spiritual energy was really thin, and there was no abundance of it. It was a miracle that his daughter was able to last this long without falling.

He stared at his daughter hard and questioned, “Are you really not thinking of coming back?”

“No,” Luo Huian replied with a shake of her head. She could already imagine how the old hag would treat her if she went back now. Even if Luo Huian nearly lost her soul, she knew that Elder Madam Luo would certainly have something sarcastic to say to her. As the woman would never admit that she had done nothing wrong, and she would only use Luo Huian’s return as a means to channel her mean energy.

Luo Huian was totally not in the mood for that.

Of course, Jiao Bo also knew that. He knew his mother-in-law too well. She had grown more and more confused as she had grown older. Listening to the mutterings of those old fools who followed her. Elder Madam Luo might still be the same but she had no idea that the people who had once fought by her side to kill the demons were no longer the same. They had long changed, and their greed knew no bounds.

He said to Luo Huian, “It’s alright if you don’t want to return but have you thought about how to restore your spiritual energy?”

Upon hearing this question, Luo Huian was also stumped. She truly had no idea how to cultivate with such weak spiritual energy.

Seeing that his daughter was not saying anything, Jiao Bo sighed once again. He took out a book and handed it to her.

Luo Huian, realising that her father wanted to have it, she took it without saying or questioning anything. However, as soon as she opened the book, her face flushed red in shame and she closed it right away.

“Father!”

“Oh my, what’s with that shy look? Haven’t you already done it quite a lot of times?” Jiao Bo snickered when he saw the expression of his daughter. It was really amusing.

“Why–why did you give me such a book?” Luo Huian ignored his teasing and questioned. She looked down at the book and thought of the coarse and vulgar postures in the pages, and her face turned red in shame once again. She had heard a lot about these books, as Wei Yuxian had told her about them, but she had never seen them.

Now that she was looking at the pages, her face felt like it was stuffed with mini burning coals. She couldn’t believe that her father was the one who brought such a book for her. What was he even thinking when he brought such a thing to her? Was it really just to tease her?

“I am not trying to tease you,” Jiao Bo knew what his daughter was thinking, and he rolled his eyes and said to his daughter, “I brought it because I think this will be more helpful to you now that the situation has gotten to this.”

“What do you mean?” Luo Huian asked with a frown on her face.

“This is called dual cultivation,” explained Jiao Bo. “There are times when things don’t just work out for a few cultivators, so they partner up with individuals who have high spiritual energy and use the—intimate means to share the spiritual energy between them.”

The more Luo Huian listened, the more her expression turned awkward, as she knew what Jiao Bo was suggesting to her.

“Father—”

“I know that it feels a bit tricky and like a shortcut; you know that it’s better than nothing.” Jiao Bo interrupted her before she could say anything. “Think about it, Huian. Is it better to fight for your life or watch your soul disappear due to your silly convictions? I know that you are angry with your grandmother, and you have every right to be. But there is no need to harm yourself over it. If your soul disappeared, then think about it: what will I and your father do?”

“I know you believe that Tingfeng doesn’t love you, but the truth is that he loves you greatly. Do you know he has been going around trying to find the person who was the culprit behind the demon cultivators’ attack?”

Luo Huian raised her head in shock. Why was her father going around looking for the culprit, and why now? Did he not believe that it was she who caused the trouble? Why was he wasting his time looking for the mastermind now?

Seeing the shock in her eyes, Jiao Bo’s eyes softened. He raised his hand and patted her on the head. “Your father and I love you a lot. He might have made mistakes, but that doesn’t change the fact that he loves you more than anyone else. Try not to think too much about his mistakes—and do your best to survive. Stop paying attention to others or what they will say? Do you think that by using dual cultivation, you will be looked down upon by others?”

Luo Huian didn’t say anything, and Jiao Bo sighed.

He said, ‘Elder Qi did it. Elder Cheng did it too. There is no need for you too feel like the odd one out when the truth is that most of the elders had done it.” hearing this Luo Huian raised her head and looked at her father in shock. She blinked her eyes and questioned, “Elder Qi? He did it. I thought he did it all alone; he did boast a lot about becoming so strong on his own.”

Jiao Bo huffed. “Of course, he did. He didn’t like the idea of others saying that he made it by relying on his partner, who was a woman. So he changed his tune after his wife was killed in a demonic cultivator’s attack. He started telling everyone that he made it on his own, but the truth is not the same. He is someone who relied on his wife, whose spiritual energy was stronger than his own, and that was how he was able to climb so high.”

“It’s only because your father is too strict and doesn’t let me tell you these things, saying that you are still young and naive and I shouldn’t ruin your mind with such things. If not, I would have told you everything about the good things the elders had done.” Jiao Bo scoffed, “Just because it has been so many years, they think that everyone has forgotten it and act all smug and arrogant. As if!”

He knew what kind of dirty dealings those bastards had done when they were young, and yet they acted all smarmy in front of his daughter. If he ever got a chance again, he was going to make those bastards shed tears of blood!

Luo Huian’s mouth dropped open. She always thought that the elders were respectable and powerful; at least that was what they had told her. Always going on about how they were different from her and how she was having a good time, and that she had it easy, now that she found out the truth, Luo Huian couldn’t understand what to think of those bold words that those elders had said to her.

“You shouldn’t bother yourself too much,” Jiao Bo added with a soft voice. “I know it’s hard, but it’s better to ignore their boastful words. Who doesn’t know how to speak some arrogant words when they have made it to the top? You should just ignore it like I do. There is no need for you to listen to their words and keep them in your heart, thinking that they had done better than you. When they were your age, they were just like you—trying to find a way to get powerful and stronger as soon as possible.”

Luo Huian blinked her eyes and nodded.

Seeing that his daughter had understood, Jiao Bo smiled and said to her, “So try to learn these cultivation techniques and use them; this way your spiritual energy will get better. At least you will not fall sick like you did this time around.”