Chapter Twenty: Memories of Youth

  Four days passed quickly, and before I knew it, the weekend had arrived. Xiaoyao Li almost didn't hesitate, and the class reunion was thrown to the back of her mind. Later on, Wang Zijia also tactfully stopped mentioning it.

  After breakfast, Zuo Xiaoyao went to the supermarket to buy a bunch of food and was about to clean up the house when her phone suddenly rang. She picked it up and saw an unfamiliar number, feeling a bit puzzled as she answered it. On the other end of the line was a slightly hesitant stranger's voice saying "Hello, is this Zuo Xiaoyao?"

  "Who am I? May I ask who you are?" Do you know yourself?

  "I'm Ling Zhen Xiao...... It's been a long time since we last contacted each other, how have you been?"

  Ling Zhen Xiao! Although she has forgotten some of her high school classmates' names, even if she hasn't thought about them in the past few years, they have always remained in Ling Xiang Yao's memory. No matter how precocious she became, no matter how hard she had to work for a living, during that youthful and innocent time, growing up listening to her grandmother tell stories of her and grandfather's past, she too had once had beautiful fantasies and curiosity about love, hoping she could also have a romance that would last a lifetime like her grandmother.

  Ling Zhen Xiao was the one who had once made her experience that kind of innocent first love, but unfortunately, life full of variables would never let people get what they want easily. At that time, a seemingly perfect relationship ended up being fruitless, with conflicts and misunderstandings caused by different living environments and experiences. It couldn't be said who was right or wrong, but after experiencing the heartache of being hurt for love, the budding love in her heart was quickly nipped in the bud. Left Xiao Yao finally understood a reality: emotions were too luxurious for her!

  Since graduating from high school, Zuo Xiaoyao has had little contact with those classmates, even though many of her high school classmates also attended university in S City and worked there after graduation.

  So she wouldn't know about Ling Zhenxiao's recent situation either, and suddenly receiving a call from him made Zuo Xiaoyao feel a little dazed for a moment.

  After a brief pause, Zuo Xiao Yao smiled and replied "I'm fine, thank you for your concern. How did you think of calling me today?"

  "Did you receive the invitation for tonight's party? I heard from Hu Qingguo and others that they didn't get a confirmation reply from you... so I thought I'd call to ask."

  After a brief pause, Ling Zhen Xiao asked in a calm tone.

  The invitation indicated that all students who confirmed their attendance at the party were required to call the phone number printed on the invitation in advance to confirm their punctual arrival, so as to prepare for the number of people attending. Since Zuo Xiaoyao didn't take this matter to heart, she naturally didn't make this call.

  "Thanks for your concern, I have received it!"

  The tone was as gentle as ever, yet the refusal implied in his words was unmistakable.

  "It's been a long time since we last met, let's get together and have a gathering. This time, many classmates will be attending the party, including Yang Pei and Zhang Jingning."

  Again two names that left a deep impression on her, Left Xiaoyao paused for a moment, her eyes slightly condensed, and she tightened the microphone in her hand and said "Alright, I'll be there on time."

  Due to her poor family background and abandoned identity, Zuo Xiaoyao has always been rejected by other children. This situation only slightly improved until she graduated from junior high school, but still no one was willing to get close to her. In high school, as she grew older, her former classmates also gained the basic ability to distinguish right from wrong. With social development, orphans, abandoned children, and single-parent family children were no longer viewed differently by others. The situation of being pointed at, gossiped about, ridiculed, and rejected greatly improved.

  Even so, she had grown accustomed to using a gentle smile and words as a mask, keeping a distance from everyone that was neither too far nor too close. Yang Pei and Zhang Jingning were the only ones who had managed to break through that ambiguous distance with their own initiative and enthusiasm, successfully becoming friends with Zuo Xiao'ou, aside from Wang Zi Jia. However, it turned out that the saying "it's hard to know a person's heart" was indeed true.

  This fragment of friendship that was cut off before the college entrance examination gave her another lesson with profound meaning, making Zuo Xiaoyao understand that among the strong, there are those who are even stronger. It turned out that not only she wore a mask, some people's level had reached the point where they could completely fake it to the point of being real, and based on her past experience and intuition of interacting with others, she really didn't have the possibility of distinguishing the truth.

  "She's really stupid. If it weren't for her pretty good painting skills, we wouldn't have bothered to spend so much effort on this fatherless and motherless bumpkin!"

  "Yes, but with these two paintings... added points. To say the least, she really has some skills, and can actually paint two completely different styles of paintings!"

  "This is someone's skill for making a living, it must be done with care."

  Hanging up the phone, those words that had brought her immense pain and disappointment at the time echoed in her mind. The warm smile on Zuo Xiao's face remained unchanged, but her eyes seemed slightly sharper. She should thank them for inadvertently pointing out a clear direction for herself back then. By utilizing different painting techniques, she successfully attracted several big clients who were willing to pay high prices and make long-term purchases, thereby securing her university tuition fees as well as the living expenses for her and her grandmother.

  Although it's not considered evasion, she never saw those people who had hurt her again. It was as if she couldn't let go, even though she thought she could have done so long ago. Zuo Xiaoyao had never confirmed this in person. Thinking about how she had endured immense pain and taken three Purifying Dust Pills to break through to the Nascent Soul stage, she suddenly changed her mind and decided to attend. She would use this as a way to put an end to that part of her past and completely eliminate those uncertain negative thoughts from her heart.

  After taking the Jingchen Dan, she felt that many impurities in her body had been eliminated, and her cultivation speed had improved significantly. This improvement was different from taking Yiqi San, as it allowed Zuo Xiaoyao to clearly feel that her Qi absorption speed had improved fundamentally when running her Gongfa. At the same time, her body's sensitivity to those mysterious light points also became more acute.

  After purifying the dust and removing impurities from her body, she had such a magical effect. She thought to herself that if she could also remove the impurities in her mind, it would be very beneficial for her cultivation. With no one to guide her, Zuo Xiaoyao could only rely on herself to grope forward.

  As she recalled the memories of her youth brought back by this phone call, she carefully cleaned up the house and it was just noon, with half a day to go before tonight's gathering. In the pool in the empty space of Ziyuan, she drew water into a wooden bathtub in the bamboo courtyard until it was half full, then got into the water with only her head and face exposed. Only then did Xiangxiang continue to take the Jingchen Dan. This was a method she had come up with after the painful experience of the first time, as all the impurities could be immediately washed away by the water. Anyway, there was only herself here, so she didn't have to feel embarrassed about bathing in the courtyard.

  Although the amount of impurities that can be eliminated has decreased after several previous purifications, Zuo Xiao Yao, who has become accustomed to the pain, did not give up. Especially when she clearly discovered that her recent self-cultivation speed was much faster than before, she had no intention of giving up this method. After all, the water in the bucket would still become very turbid each time, proving that there were still many impurities in her body waiting to be eliminated.

  Since breaking through to the Nasal Stage and achieving a perfect state, Zuo Xiaoyao discovered that the energy ball in her Dantian had turned into a fog-like state. After a period of cultivation, the fog did not grow larger, but only made it look denser. The benefits brought by the improvement in her cultivation not only made the two low-level spells more powerful, but also allowed Zuo Xiaoyao to continuously refine two furnaces of first-grade elixirs without worrying about exhaustion. At the same time, she also learned another low-level defensive spell, the First-Grade Spiritual Power Shield.

  As soon as this spell is released, a shield of light will quickly condense around her body, and the mist in Xue Xiao's body will also be consumed very quickly.

  Compared to others, she still prefers the Water Arrow Technique and Fire Control Technique. However, she can also vaguely sense that this Spiritual Power Shield Technique should be very important, after all, it is the last technique she can learn in the Naso stage. Even though it seems useless for now, Zuo Xiaoyao has not given up on diligently practicing this technique, even if each time it still consumes the mist in her body.

  PS: Thanks for Cartoon Lian's support, the second update will be posted around 8 pm tonight!