Bonus Chapter: The Scorching Summer

The scorching summer heat was relentless, with cicadas chirping incessantly.

A gentle breeze blew through, carrying faint traces of coolness—perfect weather for an afternoon nap.

But right now, someone was too hot to sleep.

The reason was simple: the weather was just too damn hot.

Qin Mu felt drained all over.

Staring up at the sun, if you looked closely, the air itself seemed to shimmer and ripple like waves of heat rolling across the sky.

Facing weather like this, going outside was pure torture.

Fortunately, he had Ruoshuang’s long sword cradled in his arms.

Without it, he would have been waking up drenched in sweat every night.

“This has been way too abnormal these past few days.”

Qin Mu grabbed the chilled tea sitting on the table and downed it in one go.

He had been in this world for so many years now, yet this was the first time he had encountered such blistering heat.

The strange part?

This world didn’t even have anything like a greenhouse effect.

After finishing the tea, Qin Mu kept fanning himself listlessly.

In the past, Young Master Qin used to have maids attending him, but once he tried to play a little prank on one of the older maid sisters—only to be caught red-handed by Mengyu.

From that day on, the maids were gone.

The household servants remained for a while, but then someone tried to poison him through them, so the servants disappeared too.

Now, aside from Mengyu’s trusted confidants, it was usually Ruoshuang or Mengyu herself who came to look after him the rest of the time.

Lately the sisters had returned to the Seven Star Sect, so Qin Mu currently had only an old grandfather guarding him.

But that old man was solely responsible for his safety—he didn’t care one bit whether Qin Mu was hot or not.

So high cultivation really means you don’t feel the heat, huh…

Another day of envying cultivation strength…

Thank goodness he still had the sword Ruoshuang used for daily practice.

Without it to ward off the heat, Qin Mu truly wouldn’t know what to do.

Ice blocks had been placed in the room, yet it was still sweltering.

Air conditioning would have been so much better—so refreshing!

Thump, thump—

Heavy footsteps approached. A burly man walked in.

Qin Mu glanced up and saw it was the family cook.

On such a scorching day, not a drop of sweat showed on the cook’s face—because he was at the Foundation Establishment stage, far beyond what someone at the second layer of Qi Refining like Qin Mu could compare to.

“Young Master, this is a freshly made iced drink. The Second Young Lady specially instructed me to prepare it before she left.”

The cook had received quite a few spirit herbs from the Second Young Lady, most of them for relieving summer heat.

In the current Qin Family, although the Eldest Young Lady and Second Young Lady were rarely at home, the two of them were the actual people in control.

The previous elders had all been dealt with by the Sect Master of the Seven Star Sect.

The Tribulation Stage powerhouse of the Qin Family had chosen not to intervene.

As long as it wasn’t a crisis threatening the family’s very existence, the Tribulation Stage expert would not act.

Internal struggles, no matter how fierce, ultimately remained within the Qin Family.

Nowadays the Qin Family was jointly controlled by the Eldest Young Lady and Second Young Lady—and both doted heavily on the Young Master.

The Eldest Young Lady disliked handling affairs, so practically everything was decided by the Second Young Lady.

If the cook failed to complete a task assigned by her, he would have to resign.

The Qin Family treated its people very well—who knew what the next household would be like?

Besides, other major families didn’t necessarily need that many cooks.

“Mm, just leave it there.”

Qin Mu said feebly, lifting a finger to point at the table beside him.

Seeing how miserably hot his Young Master looked, the cook spoke up:

“Young Master, if the heat is really unbearable, this lowly one actually has a solution.”

At those words, interest sparked in Qin Mu’s eyes.

“Oh? Tell me.”

For some reason, this summer felt exceptionally hot to Qin Mu.

He noticed that the other Qi Refining cultivators in the family weren’t suffering like a panting dog the way he was.

“Young Master, at my previous employer’s place, there was a type of ice block made from thousand-year cold ice. It would surely solve your problem with this terrible heat.”

Thousand-year cold ice—that was a real treasure!

Ten-thousand-year cold ice was extremely rare nowadays, while thousand-year cold ice, though still uncommon, was far more plentiful in comparison.

“That’s really good stuff!”

Qin Mu instantly saw hope. With something like that in hand, he could even eat fried yogurt every single day!

“What are we waiting for! Let’s go, let’s go!”

Qin Mu immediately changed his clothes.

Seeing this, the cook quickly led the way for his Young Master.

At that moment, the hidden guards quietly followed along as well.

Once they left the Qin residence, Qin Mu got into the carriage.

The horses pulling it weren’t ordinary horses—they were a legendary breed with Xuanwu bloodline, possessing exceptional endurance, immense strength, and impressive speed.

Before long, the carriage stopped in front of a tavern.

Qin Mu lifted the curtain and looked at the establishment.

His eyes suddenly widened.

“This is!!!”

He immediately dropped the curtain back down.

The cook was puzzled by his Young Master’s reaction.

“Young Master, what’s wrong?”

Inside the carriage, Qin Mu said irritably,

“This is the place Mengyu often visits! Why did you bring me here!?”

The proprietress here had known Qin Mengyu since she was little and always received extra business from her.

Even though Qin Mengyu wasn’t at the Qin residence right now, the proprietress definitely recognized Qin Mu.

If she told Mengyu that Qin Mu had come here, he would inevitably get a scolding.

Mengyu had clearly said: without her permission, Qin Mu was not allowed to leave the Qin residence on his own.

She was protecting her little brother—plenty of people outside wanted the life of this Qin Family Young Master.

“Young Master, this lowly one truly didn’t know.”

The cook sounded a little aggrieved.

If the Second Young Lady found out he had secretly taken the Young Master out, he would be finished.

He had originally wanted to curry favor with his future master, but instead he had turned good intentions into a mess.

“Then Young Master, shall we return home right away?”

The cook asked cautiously.

“Hey, idiot!”

Qin Mu said somewhat angrily,

“I can’t go in, but you can.”

“But…”

The cook looked troubled.

“Young Master, I… I’m afraid I won’t be able to get thousand-year cold ice. It would require using your identity.”

He was merely a Foundation Establishment cultivator; thousand-year cold ice was something he basically had no use for.

“…”

Qin Mu fell silent for a moment.

Finally, gritting his teeth, he made up his mind.

“Then let’s head back!”

Exposing his identity over something like this would be far too costly.

“Oh… alright.”

The cook drove the carriage back dejectedly.

Looked like his goal of showing loyalty had failed—and worse, he had upset the Young Master.

Back at the Qin residence, Qin Mu returned to his sweltering little room.

Looking at Ruoshuang’s long sword, he ultimately resigned himself and hugged it to his chest again.

“Looks like this is still the only way…”

This summer, Young Master Qin suffered more than ever.

Fortunately, half a month later the sisters returned, and Qin Mu’s miserable days finally came to an end.

However, this time Qin Mengyu was a little unhappy.

After coming back, Mu’er had become less clingy with her and instead kept running off to Ruoshuang’s room at every opportunity.

Qin Ruoshuang, for her part, was more than happy about it.

Every night Mu’er would voluntarily snuggle close.

Although Mu’er was only thirteen right now, there were advantages to being small—he was just like a perfect hugging pillow. Very nice~