Who Let Him Cultivate?! (WX)-Chapter 943: You Have Really Become Xiao Yangzi
Luo Hongxia and Elder Zhu Hong stood frozen, utterly at a loss.
Elder Zhu Hong admitted she did like children, but she had never imagined the Moon Laurel Immortal Palace would one day be filled with so many of them.
“Did someone cast a time-reversal spell, sending the immortal palace back to the past?"
“No, that’s not right either. Even going back in time wouldn’t result in this.”
The disciples range widely in age, yet all of them have taken on the appearance of children. This can’t be explained by time reversal.
What exactly happened?
Weren’t we only gone for three days? How did the immortal palace become so unrecognizable?
“You...you’re Lu Yang, right?” Luo Hongxia asked hesitantly. Even with his miniature size, one could still discern his original features.
“Not now,” Lu Yang firmly denied, then hastily retrieved his clothes from the ground and wrapped himself up.
“Now I am Lu Yang.”
That person standing with his buttocks bare in the snow a moment ago has nothing to do with me.
“What happened here?”
“I have no idea either! We just ate a roasted rabbit, slept, and woke up like this.” Lu Yang was innocent and just as flummoxed. Why have I suddenly turned into a child for no reason?
“Immortal Fairy, stop sleeping! Wake up!” Lu Yang shook the Everlasting Immortal Fairy awake from her snow bed, where she lay with her fingers crossed over her chest.
When the Everlasting Immortal Fairy slept, she was exceedingly beautiful, so much so that Lu Yang could momentarily forget all her antics and acknowledge her as the foremost of the Ten Ancient Beauties.
But now is not the time to admire her beauty!
The Everlasting Immortal Fairy slept even more soundly than Lu Yang was reluctant to wake up.
Upon rousing from her dreams, she caught sight of the childlike Lu Yang and instantly perked up.
“Ah! How did you become so small?”
The Everlasting Immortal Fairy shot upright in bed and repeatedly gestured, comparing Lu Yang’s height to hers. He now only reached her waist.
“You’ve really become Xiao Yangzi.”[1]
“Isn’t that why I came to ask you for a diagnosis?” Lu Yang implored her to help.
“Aiya, it’s pretty nice having you this small.” The Everlasting Immortal Fairy giggled as she crouched down and patted Lu Yang’s head, showing no inclination whatsoever to take charge of matters.
~~~
Outside, the Moon Laurel Immortal Palace disciples woke up one after another. Shrill cries pierced the air in succession, but their voices were so childish that it sounded like babies bawling. Lu Yang wondered if he had stumbled into some kindergarten, where he was the little grown-up, neither crying nor fussing.
Luo Hongxia and Zhu Hong had barely finished consoling one child before they had to turn and pacify another. They weren’t physically tired, but mentally exhausted.
Elder Zhu Hong began to feel that perhaps she didn’t need the Twins River’s water that much after all.
“Senior Brother Lu Yang, we...” Lan Ting bashfully wrapped herself in her clothes, covering even her head, leaving only half her face exposed.
Lu Yang pressed his hand to his forehead. Junior Sister Lan, don’t look at me like that. You’re making it seem as though something happened between us last night.
In our current state, both of us combined would barely be considered adults. What could possibly have happened?
Fortunately, the Moon Laurel Immortal Palace disciples weren’t truly children. They frequently went out on missions and handled major situations. After shouting a few times upon waking, they calmed down.
Though this was indeed a situation they had never encountered.
When the other elders heard that something had happened, they rushed over. Only the disciples had eaten the rabbit last night. The elders were mindful of their status and hadn’t participated in this grand gathering.
“Junior Sister Yulu, could you take a look and see what’s going on here?” Luo Hongxia summoned Elder Zhou Yulu, their most skilled medical expert. It was Elder Zhou Yulu who had successfully treated Xue Shilou’s bloodline issues.
Elder Zhou Yulu’s eyelid twitched at the sight of children everywhere. Her professionalism as a physician allowed her to maintain her composure, suppressing the urge to capture this scene with a recording orb. She proceeded to diagnose their pulses one by one.
“Poison? Doesn’t seem like it? A tonic effect?”
“Was there a problem with what they ate yesterday?” Luo Hongxia pointed to the rack where only the demon rabbit’s skeleton remained.
“That shouldn’t be. I examined this demon rabbit before consumption; it was fine.”
Nevertheless, Elder Zhou Yulu scraped a small piece of meat from the skeleton and let her spiritual consciousness seep into it, analyzing it repeatedly. “There’s indeed no problem with the meat.”
Lu Yang exhaled a sigh of relief. At least I wasn’t the one who caused the problem.
Suddenly, Elder Zhou Yulu noticed that the charred wood in the large pit looked somewhat strange.
“Is this moon laurel tree cleaved and used as firewood?”
She drew a piece of charred wood toward her, letting her spiritual consciousness seep into it, analyzing its composition. Finally, she pinpointed the issue.
“There’s a problem with the moon laurel wood. This particular tree was tampered with. Several substances were added, giving it a shrinking effect.
“When burned, the moon laurel tree’s fragrance masked the other scents. Anyone who inhaled them would be unknowingly affected.”
In fact, after the demon rabbit was smoked with the moon laurel wood, these substances also remained on the meat, but only on the surface layers, not permeating the meat closest to the bone.
Lu Yang re-inhaled the breath of relief he exhaled. So it’s connected to me after all.
“But are Little Lan and the others alright?” This was Luo Hongxia’s primary concern.
“It’s nothing serious. They have merely shrunk in size. Left alone, they should return to normal in a few days. By the time I even develop an antidote, they’ll likely have already recovered on their own.”
“As long as it’s nothing serious.”
“Palace Leader, the problem now isn’t with Junior Niece Lan and the others but with the moon laurel trees.”
Elder Zhou Yulu pointed at the skeletal remains of the demon rabbit and said gravely, “This demon rabbit grew large because it ate the mooncake with osmanthus filling. Subsequent investigations revealed that the moon laurel tree from which the osmanthus was harvested had been tampered with, containing enlarging effects.
“Now we’ve discovered another moon laurel with shrinking effects.
“Who exactly tampered with these moon laurel trees, and how many have been affected?”
Luo Hongxia’s expression grew solemn. This is indeed a major problem.
The immortal palace is protected by arrays, so outsiders can’t get in. This must be an inside job!
“Immortal Fairy, do you know who did this?”
The Everlasting Immortal Fairy shook her head. “No idea.”
I’m not the type of person with no sense of propriety, using my immortal consciousness to observe everything happening in the immortal palace all day long. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢
The matter of the moon laurel trees was important, but not the most pressing issue. The most urgent matter at hand was these “children.”
“Lu Yang, would you like to return to your guest room first?” Luo Hongxia suggested.
Lu Yang was the only male cultivator at the scene. The Moon Laurel Immortal Palace disciples who had transformed into children couldn’t wear proper clothing. With Lu Yang present, they were too shy to move, fearing he might see things he shouldn’t.
“Alright.” Lu Yang understood the boundaries between men and women.
However, some individuals were apparently oblivious to such concepts; the Everlasting Immortal Fairy was one example.
Inside the mental space, the Everlasting Immortal Fairy scooped up little Lu Yang under his arms and spun him around, cooing “ooh-ooh” in rhythm. Her joyful laughter echoed throughout the space.
Lu Yang’s expression was blank, his eyes like those of a lifeless fish, toyed with at the Everlasting Immortal Fairy’s whim.
“Immortal Fairy, there should be boundaries between men and women,” Lu Yang kindly reminded her, attempting to improve the way she treated him.
The Everlasting Immortal Fairy crouched down and poked Lu Yang’s forehead, finding his current form fun to play with. With a wide grin, she said, “What is there to distinguish between men and women when you’re such a little tyke?”
1. This was probably mentioned in an earlier chapter, but the “xiao” here means small. ☜
