Chapter 148: Nascent Soul

Hearing Yan Chixia out, Bai Xiaoyue felt that his words made a lot of sense. She therefore said with great solemnity:
"Very well! Danzi—that is what I shall call you from now on; and from now on, you must call me Mingzi!"

Before Bai Xiaoyue's voice had even died away, Tu Xiaomeng suddenly bounded in and chimed in playfully:
"Oh! Sister Bai, Brother Yan, it is your birthday today, so why have you gone and changed how you address each other? Could it be that this is what they call 'the awakening of young love'?"

"Hehehe..." Songtaer trotted in right after her, letting out a good-natured laugh. "'The awakening of young love' sounds wonderful! Xiaomeng, why don't you and I 'awaken our young love' too?"

"Awaken your head!" Tu Xiaomeng retorted, her face flushing crimson. "Songtaer, why are you always so thoughtless with what you say? I really worry so much about you!"

Yet, to her dismay, Songtaer simply laughed with his usual simple-minded cheer:
"Hehee, Xiaomeng, what is there for me to worry about? I am always so happy when I am with you!"

Seeing his innocent and guileless demeanor, both Yan Chixia and Bai Xiaoyue could not help but worry for him as well.

"You..." Tu Xiaomeng was so exasperated she didn't even know what to say.

Then, she heard Bai Xiaoyue say with a smile:
"Xiaomeng, don't pick on Songtaer. He meant no harm by it, so why take it to heart? The reason your Brother Yan and I changed how we address each other today is because his birthday makes him older than me. Strictly speaking, I ought to call him 'Older Brother', but to be honest, I just cannot bring myself to say it. Yet I can no longer call him 'Younger Brother' either, so from now on I shall call him 'Danzi'. As for your Brother Yan, he has called me 'Elder Sister' for five years now, and it wouldn't be right for him to change and call me 'Younger Sister' either, so from now on he will call me 'Mingzi'."

"Oh, so that's how it is!" Tu Xiaomeng said, suddenly seeing the light.

Songtaer suddenly clapped his hands and laughed aloud:
"Hahaha... Brother Yan and Sister Bai are so interesting! Xiaomeng, both of them have changed how they address each other, why don't you and I change ours as well?"

Hearing this, Tu Xiaomeng's interest was piqued, and she immediately expressed her approval:
"All right! Songtaer, let's give it a try then. I shall use your Daoist name now: Chizi, Chizi, Chizi..."

Tu Xiaomeng called out Songtaer's Daoist name repeatedly, but he stood right in front of her with a cheerful grin, acting as if nothing was the matter and showing zero reaction. This infuriated Tu Xiaomeng, who gave him a light kick and snapped:
"Songtaer, are you deaf or dumb? I am calling you, why aren't you answering?"

"Huh?" Songtaer only then came to his senses and asked, "Xiaomeng, were you calling me just now?"

"If I wasn't calling you, who was I calling?" Tu Xiaomeng shot him a sidelong glance.

Songtaer looked thoroughly puzzled and remarked:
"How very strange! Xiaomeng, when you called me just now, why did I feel as though you were calling someone else? Let me try calling you now: Congzi, Congzi, Congzi..."

Songtaer called out repeatedly, while Tu Xiaomeng stared right at him without a word of response. Immediately, Songtaer had his retort ready:
"Hehehe, Xiaomeng, when you called me 'Chizi' just now, I didn't answer, and you asked if I was deaf or dumb. Now that I am calling you 'Congzi', you are reacting the exact same way as me—could it be that you've turned deaf and dumb too?"

"Well, that is bizarre!" Tu Xiaomeng raised a hand to scratch the back of her head. "What on earth is going on? Whenever Master calls me 'Congzi', I feel a deep sense of warmth and respond immediately; but when Songtaer calls me 'Congzi', why does it sound so utterly strange, as if he isn't calling me at all?"

"Hehe..." Songtaer chuckled good-naturedly. "Xiaomeng, you felt that way too? When you called me 'Chizi' earlier, it felt terribly unfamiliar to me as well, as though you weren't addressing me at all, which is why I didn't answer..."

"Indeed!" Tu Xiaomeng waved a hand. "Never mind! Songtaer, let's not bother changing how we address each other. You keep calling me Xiaomeng, and I'll keep calling you Songtaer."

"Heh," Yan Chixia smiled. "That's right, let everything take its natural course. Mingzi, Xiaomeng, Songtaer, Master is sparing no effort to study and forge various magical implements and treasures for our sakes; we must not let down his earnest expectations for us! Now that we have abundant cultivation resources, everyone must make full use of them and practice diligently—perhaps before long, Master will send us down the mountain to undergo trials."

Hearing this, Bai Xiaoyue became quite excited and said:
"Danzi, you are entirely right! Xiaomeng, Songtaer, if we want to shed fewer tears of blood when we go down the mountain for our trials in the future, we must sweat more now—fear no hardship and cultivate with all our might!"

"Brother Yan, Sister Bai, what you say is so true!" Tu Xiaomeng said, her spirits soaring. "Only when our cultivation realms are high enough can we possess sufficient strength to defeat enemies when we go down the mountain for trials in the future! Therefore, Songtaer, I must offer you a solemn and friendly reminder: among the four of us, your cultivation realm is currently the lowest by far. You must seize every single second to cultivate diligently—at the very least, your realm has to catch up to mine, otherwise, when we go down for trials in the future, Brother Yan will take Sister Bai and me with him, and he simply won't take you along!"

"What?" Songtaer took her literally and panicked, stammering, "How can that be? If you all leave me behind, how am I supposed to brave the elements and see the world?"

"Oh!" Tu Xiaomeng laughed. "Well, well, Songtaer, you're learning! You even know phrases like 'brave the elements' and 'see the world'! Since you don't want to be left behind, why aren't you hurrying off to cultivate?"

"That's right!" Songtaer said, instantly re-energized. "Xiaomeng's words have reminded me. I must seize every second and practice with all my might..." With that, he spun around and bolted out the door.

Seeing Songtaer rush back to his room like a gust of wind to cultivate, Tu Xiaomeng laughed triumphantly:
"Brother Yan, Sister Bai, what do you think? Did my reverse psychology work like a charm?"

"Hehe..." Bai Xiaoyue, heart brimming with joy, reached out and tapped Tu Xiaomeng gently on the forehead. "Xiaomeng, you really are a little sprite in a big body!"

"Indeed!" Yan Chixia chimed in, "Xiaomeng, if you and Songtaer ever went to the marketplace together, I'm afraid you could sell him off and he'd still happily help you count the money!"

"Oh!" Tu Xiaomeng burst into a giggle. "Brother Yan, the way you put it makes me sound like a human trafficker! Hehehe... All right! Songtaer has gone off to practice against the clock, so I cannot waste any time either. I must press on with my cultivation!"

Years leave no trace, and time flies swiftly; in the blink of an eye, three years passed.

The year entered 637 AD—the spring of the eleventh year of the Zhenguan era of the Great Tang.

Under the constant spurring of Tu Xiaomeng's reverse psychology and the absorption of the abundant spiritual energy from the vast quantities of "Seven-Colored Spirit Stones," Songtaer's cultivation realm advanced by leaps and bounds, constantly surpassing himself... Presently, his cultivation had entered the early stage of Foundation Establishment;
Through bitter and arduous practice, Tu Xiaomeng's cultivation had now reached the middle stage of Foundation Establishment;
Bai Xiaoyue's cultivation had entered the early stage of Enlightenment, and her Paper-Painted Talisman Daoist Arts grew increasingly formidable day by day;
Yan Chixia had broken through the bottleneck of the late Golden Core stage, entering the early stage of Nascent Soul. True Person Qingxu had begun teaching him the Art of Sword Flight...