Chapter 027: Consuming Oysters to Strengthen the Foundation

“Don’t worry about how much I’ve eaten—just tell me, is it a Blue Beauty?” Qingjin pressed.

“It is,” Qingzhen admitted, resigning himself.

“Then why were you trying to hide it? The blue threads are so obvious. No other shellfish looks like that,” Qingjin said, exasperated.

“But Uncle Zhao said our human clan is extremely poor. Blue Beauty shellfish is a ninth-tier rare delicacy. Even the Dao Court would kill us all if they found out. So it’s best that no one outside knows,” Qingzhen replied. “Anyone who finds out could end up dead. I’m just thinking about all of you.”

Qingjin couldn’t help but laugh. “If you were really thinking about us, you wouldn’t have brought it out for us to eat.”

“I thought, since we were about to die anyway, we might as well eat our fill—not just myself, but let everyone share,” Qingzhen replied, embarrassed.

Ning Qi couldn’t stifle a laugh. Zhou Ji also gave a helpless chuckle.

“Uncle Zhao, what’s going on? Where did the Crimson Origin Fruit and the Blue Beauty come from?” Qingjin decided not to press his younger brother further and asked Uncle Zhao instead.

“We hadn’t been here long,” Uncle Zhao began, “when Miss and Young Master wanted to pick fruit. They ran into a nest of ninth-tier fierce beasts—flying squirrels. Afterwards…” He recounted how Qinghu had found the Crimson Origin Fruit, then continued, “As for the Blue Beauty, when we first settled here, Miss released a brood of little fish into the big lake. Those fish are said to be offspring of fierce beasts, but they listen to Miss. Every day, they bring beasts from the lake ashore as tribute.”

“Tribute?” Qingjin asked in astonishment.

“That’s what Miss calls it!” Uncle Zhao replied, amused. “So we call it that too. In any case, they bring breakfast every day.”

“Yes, and it’s something different each day,” Qingzhen chimed in. “Later, we ate so much beast meat that we started getting overheated. Little Huer asked the fish to bring up some Icy Essence, but since there wasn’t any in the lake, they brought Blue Beauties instead. The effect is the same—it clears heat and detoxifies.

“Speaking of detoxifying, there’s something else. I discovered I had toxins in my body—patches of dark green poison, though I have no idea how I was poisoned. Uncle Zhao has them too. We expelled it after eating the Blue Beauty.”

Qingjin’s face darkened instantly. “You’re always with Mother and Little Sister; there’s no way you were poisoned outside the clan. It must have happened inside. I can’t believe they targeted you as well after me!”

“Big Brother, what do you mean? Were you poisoned too?” Qingzhen asked in shock. Uncle Zhao was equally stunned.

“What happened?” Uncle Zhao asked gravely.

“When I was about ten, I discovered I’d been poisoned. It was a slow poison, meant to destroy my cultivation aptitude, to make me more and more mediocre as I grew. After investigating in secret, I found out it was my aunt from the First House. The reason was that my cousin from the First House is not much older than me. If I showed too much cultivation talent, he would be deprived of resources and risk never building his foundation. So my aunt targeted me.”

“Big Brother, do you think the poison in me is the same as yours? Both aimed at ruining our cultivation talent?”

“How could they be so cruel? But who am I competing with? There’s no one my age in the First House,” Qingzhen demanded.

“There is—Qingyao is your age, both born the same year. And you’re a boy, which makes you more valued in the clan. If you outshone her, Qingyao would get fewer resources,” Qingjin said calmly.

“I’m actually less important than Qingyao?” Qingzhen asked in confusion.

“In the First House, of course you are,” Qingjin replied.

“But there are so many in our generation with better talent than Qingyao. Why target me?”

“Because even with your poisoned aptitude, you far surpass Qingyao. If your true potential emerged, our cousin would be completely overshadowed. Didn’t you notice your big brother left the clan school early? It was to avoid competing with our cousin,” Qingjin explained.

“Did Father know about you being poisoned?” Qingzhen suddenly asked.

“He did.”

“And he told you not to tell anyone else?”

“Yes.”

“Is Father out of his mind? If he’d spoken up, maybe the First House would have backed off and not poisoned me too! Doesn’t keeping silent just let them get away with it?” Qingzhen asked, frustrated.

“Grandfather, the clan chief, apologized on my aunt’s behalf, gave me an antidote, and promised my father nothing like it would ever happen again,” Qingjin said.

“Then how do you explain me getting poisoned?” Qingzhen pressed.

Qingjin’s face turned ashen.

“Brother, I’m eighteen now. The best years for establishing my foundation are almost gone. If I was poisoned with the same thing as you, I may never catch up to your cultivation speed. My whole life could be ruined—because of the scheming of a few malicious old women in our own clan? Brother, do you think I can accept that?”

Tears suddenly welled in Qingzhen’s eyes.

Ever since childhood, he’d always felt less talented than his siblings, the least accomplished of the family. How could he not feel upset? But he told himself talent was innate—he just hadn’t been lucky in his birth.

Now he learned it wasn’t his fault at all, but someone had poisoned him…

Qingzhen felt so wronged, so stifled.

Qingjin went over and pulled his brother’s head into his arms. Qingzhen sobbed and cried.

He was overwhelmed by the injustice. He had never harmed anyone from the First House—how could they do this to him?

“If Father brushes this aside again, I’ll never forgive him,” Qingzhen choked out, aggrieved.

“Fine. We won’t forgive him either,” Qingjin replied firmly.

“In fact,” Zhou Ji said kindly to Qingzhen, “if you eat enough Blue Beauty shellfish, you can completely restore the foundation and talent you lost to poison. At first, I was fond of this lively boy. Who would have thought he’d suffered so much?”

Zhou Ji immediately put aside all the clan taboos his grandfather had warned him about and told Qingzhen, “The reason these are called rare treasures is because they can work miracles. Normally, human cultivation talent is innate—once damaged, there’s almost no way to recover it.

“But the Blue Beauty shellfish can grant your wish—as long as you eat enough of it.”

“Really, Brother Zhou?” Qingzhen’s spirits instantly revived.

“Of course. The only problem is, none of us know how many Blue Beauties are left in the lake. And they’re alive—after heavy hunting, they’ll just migrate elsewhere,” Zhou Ji replied.