Chapter 11.1

To reach the Qi practice stage in such a short time, Lin SuCi became the main focus of attention of Cardinal Sect.

Standing under a tree in the woods, Lin SuCi was in deep concentration. The thin rays of sun scattered through the leaves and fell on his body, and his eyelashes left slight shadows on his cheeks.

In his fingers was a yellow charm, and his ears twitched about vigilantly as he remained aware of his surroundings.

The wind rustled through the forest. The chirps of the insects along with the tweets of sparrows were the clearest things Lin SuCi could distinguish.

In the air, the flowing spiritual energy was indistinct, speeding through like a line that could not be grasped.

Lin SuCi scrunched up his nose, and remained motionless while narrowing his eyes.

The wind blew at Lin SuCi’s clothes, tugging at them. He stood majestically, unmoving, and counted his pulse. Bit by bit, he slowly followed the rhythm.

The wind whistled.

In an instant, Lin SuCi moved, and the charm in his hand turned into a fire dragon with a wave of his fingers, engulfing a paper spirit that brushed past him in flames.

A ball of fire fell to the ground, flickering for a bit before it gradually extinguished.

Only a burnt shred of paper the size of a fingernail was left on the ground.

Lin SuCi bent over and picked it up, dusting the ashes off it, and waved the shred of paper towards the southeast direction with a smile. His tone was triumphant, “I did it!”

Hidden by the trees in the distance, Yan Boshen slowly walked out.

His finger beckoned, and the shred of paper in Lin SuCi’s hand flew into his palm, then lit up flames and burned up.

“Not bad.”

After a month of studying, the strict teacher Yan Boshen finally praised Lin SuCi for once.

Hearing that, Lin SuCi’s eyes curved in a smile, his tail swayed back and forth, and he barely managed to push down his excitement, pretending to be composed, “I guess it’s like that. It’s so meaningless to be a talented person, learning things too quickly, and would not be able to enjoy the pleasure of failure.”

Yan Boshen glanced at Lin SuCi rather speechlessly. “…”

Lin SuCi gloated for a while, then urged him, “Let’s do it again, again!”

A month’s time had let him learn how to capture the flow of the spiritual energy in the air, and also learn how to identify and analyse the traces of other people’s spells and charms. Now, he was in the midst of enhancing what he had learnt, and Lin SuCi was very interested in the whole process, and so was very keen on it.

In his hand was a charm that Huilian taught him how to draw. The rough and shaky symbols on the charm had greatly lessened its effect, and naturally, it would not be very threatening. However, it was very suitable for practice usage.

Lin SuCi grabbed a charm that he had practised drawing himself, and to Yan Boshen, the tadpole-like handwriting was ghastly to see. He silently turned his head away and waved his fingers, then a brand new piece of paper spirit appeared spinning above his hand.

“Hey——”

Yan Boshen released the paper spirit, and the flow of the spiritual energy in the air sped up. The paper spirit whirled in the wind, circling deftly, then flew up and disappeared into the woods.

Yan Boshen crossed his arms and leaned against the tree trunk, looking silently at Lin SuCi.

His eyes roamed around, vigilantly holding on to the charm in his hand. His cat ears twitched, using his innate animal ability to distinguish all the sounds of his surroundings.

Yan Boshen looked at him, and his eyes were drawn to Lin SuCi’s waist.

The youth’s figure was too thin, together with the dried fish and spiritual pills that Lin SuCi always brought along, a leather belt was tied tightly around his waist, highlighting his narrow waistline.

The wind tugged at Lin SuCi’s clothes, as he swayed with the increasing strength of the wind, he gave off a frail feeling.

“Yeah!”

Yan Boshen’s eyes flashed, and he slowly looked up.

On the slender face of the youth was a gleeful smile, revealing a row of little sharp white teeth. He winked at Yan Boshen.

“Senior, Senior, I caught it again!”

Only then did Yan Boshen discovered that Lin SuCi’s charm had already ignited the paper spirit, and it was rolling about in his palm.

Yan Boshen’s eyes paused on Lin SuCi’s smile, then said indifferently, “Continue.”

The forest was vast, and on Lin SuCi’s waist was a bundled a stack of charms. Back and forth he ran over ten times, practising all sorts of basic charms. His face was flushed, and he perspired non-stop.

Lin SuCi was soaked in sweat. He forced himself to use up all the charms he had before wiping his sweat, exhaling hotly and waving at Yan Boshen. “Senior, let’s go back for food. I’m starving.”

Yan Boshen nodded. When he walked over, Lin SuCi grabbed his sleeve, and in the next moment, his sleeve was tugged upwards.

“Senior, your body is so cool, it’s so comfortable.”

While Lin SuCi touched him, he plastered himself onto him.

He was so warm that he could feel the hot air rising up from his skin. Unexpectedly, it was as though Yan Boshen had just been pulled out from an ice cellar, his clothes chilly. To him, he was like a life-saver, and once he grabbed on to him, he could not let go.

Yan Boshan struggled, but did not manage to save his crumpled sleeve. Having had a long-term understanding of Lin SuCi’s thick-skinned persistence, he could only retreat and asked, “Turn back to your original body.”

Lin SuCi was very obedient, and instantly turned into a little kitten. Clinging on Yan Boshen’s sleeve, he swung his little paws as though he was on a swing, swaying and mewling away.

Accustomed to it, Yan Boshen gathered Lin SuCi’s clothes, and tucked the spoiled little kitten into his sleeve.

Sitting on Yan Boshen’s cuff with his little claws grasping on it, Lin SuCi stuck his head out, his sitting posture extremely lordly, and he softly said, “Giddy up~~~”

Yan Boshen knew very clearly how naughty this little kitty in his sleeve was. Also, he knew very well that this little fellow was very energetic. If he gave him a response, he might have to be bothered by him for the entire journey. The battered Yan Boshen coolly chose to ignore him.

At this moment, the sun was setting in the west. The courtyard was lit with an orange glow, and the fence posts were dyed gold.

There were some additions of assorted cages in the courtyard. On the wooden post that Ruan Linggu often sat on to repair her amulets was a fragile, shining broken crack. With one glance, there was no one there, and a small sound had already travelled from the room next door to outside the fence.

Yan Boshen gathered up his sleeves and entered. His position could be seen from the open door, and when the person inside saw him, his eyes brightened, and with quick steps he headed towards him.

“Eldest Senior ——”

“Shh——”

Yan Boshen raised a finger to his lips, signalling to the person coming towards him.

Running over was a teenager, travel-stained, and only his pair of slender eyes were bright with light.

The teenager was fazed by Yan Boshen’s action. He felt silent, his feet paused, and stretched his neck to look around, wondering why he wanted him to keep his voice down.

“Eldest Senior, little disciple has returned, and he’s brought so many spiritual gems back with him! Hahaha, our Haiming is so impressive!”

Before Zhongli Haiming could find the reason for keeping quiet, Xiao Lan had already ran out laughing loudly. In his hands were glittering spiritual gems, and he showed them to Yan Boshen as though he was presenting treasure.

Yan Boshen was too late to stop him. He watched as Xiao Lan circled him laughing, and when he felt his sleeve moved, he closed his eyes in resignation.