She was afraid of being abandoned by him...
When the Brain Disease was still present, Qin Yi had to depend on her.
Now that the Brain Disease was cured, her existence had become dispensable to him.
But she was still as easy to fool as ever.
Or rather, precisely because it was him, she would let herself be fooled so easily.
But Qin Yi hadn't lied to her either.
After confirming that Ruan Su had walked far away, Qin Yi gradually withdrew his smile, his expression returning to calm. He formed a hand seal, adjusted his breathing pattern, and turned to walk back inside.
He had decided to release his mental control over Ruan Su.
While letting her begin cultivation, he would simultaneously restart training her to independently mobilize that almost instinctive chain-derivation ability in her mind.
This had originally been Qin Yi's last resort after being completely cornered by the Brain Disease. Now that the Brain Disease had improved, there was naturally no longer any need for it.He retrieved his sister's hidden valuables from the secret compartment beneath the cabinet. Among them was an additional copy of the Heretical Scripture, and the jade pendant was still there.
It seemed that old woman surnamed Meng hadn't taken it away.
But had she swapped it for a fake?
That also shouldn't be the case.
The other party probably wasn't a first-time visitor. Ruan Su would occasionally record instances of him keeping her awake at night.
Just as he was about to put everything back for his sister, a subtle change on the jade pendant drew his attention, and he subconsciously brought it to his hand.
Holding it up to his eyes for closer inspection, Qin Yi discovered that the originally verdant green jade pendant now had many thin, capillary-like streaks of bright red running through it.
Had that old woman surnamed Meng done this last night?
Or was it,
precisely because this jade pendant had undergone this change, that the old woman surnamed Meng had come to check on it?
After pondering for a moment, Qin Yi simply gave up. Too little information.
He stuffed the cloth pouch back inside and began preparing the grill and seasonings for the midday roast lamb leg.
Just like the previous day, approximately one hundred and fifty breaths after forming the hand seal, those blue halos reappeared before Qin Yi's eyes once more, continuously drawn into his body with each breath as he exhaled.
After a night of mountain wind blowing through, the rank, bloody stench in the courtyard had faded considerably. Since he had to use one hand to form the hand seal, Qin Yi wasn't very fast at setting up the grill in the yard.
His sister really loved eating things he made, to the point where it could even serve as a reward to pamper her.
After Meng Qi had finished transporting both of the Shaking Apes in two trips, there were still some scraps of flesh left in the small courtyard. Having finished setting up the grill, Qin Yi had nothing better to do, so he walked over to the well, used an oilcloth to pick up some of the shredded meat and brain matter he had spotted earlier, and went to the backyard to dig a small pit and bury them.
That uncle Peng Jun's dissection technique was highly professional. The Shaking Apes' internal organs had all been neatly cut out. Among these flesh scraps, there were likely fragments of that rich young lady who had been swallowed whole by the first female ape.
Qin Yi was very grateful to that thick-skinned, oblivious girl.
Although she was already dead, the gold coins she had dropped had cured his Brain Disease. As a well-mannered child, burying her remains as a makeshift memorial mound and occasionally buying two sticks of incense to offer her counted as a form of gratitude.
After doing all this, Qin Yi cultivated while waiting for Ruan Su's return. However, this time his sister seemed to be taking quite a long time.
Fully two shichen later, a rustling sound of a figure pushing through underbrush finally came from outside the courtyard.
Qin Yi looked up, and the scene that met his eyes made his eyelids twitch involuntarily.
Ruan Su's slender, delicate figure had one arm clutching a rolled-up tiger hide and the other hoisting a massive tiger leg over her shoulder. Seeing Qin Yi who had already set up the grill, she immediately curved her eyes into crescents, looking utterly delighted, and called out loudly:
"Little Yi, I... on the way... ran into this... big cat, dragged it... to town... to sell, kept one leg, it's... several dozen jin."
Qin Yi: "......."
As she spoke, the girl turned and shook her waist, revealing a cloth pouch tucked at her side for Qin Yi to see, then continued:
"Uncle Liu said... this... tiger penis... eaten... can help you grow, so I... didn't sell it, hehe."
Qin Yi: "......."
Carrying the tiger leg, Ruan Su walked slowly into the courtyard, a fine sheen of sweat beading on her forehead.
Qin Yi silently tossed aside the finger-thick wooden stick he had just sharpened, went inside to retrieve a long spear with its tip removed, and handed it to Ruan Su.
Ruan Su took it, adjusted her grip, planted the butt end on the ground, gave a little hop, and casually thrust downward. With a "shwick" sound, the spear punched straight through the tiger leg vertically.
Nothing special. Just sheer brute force.
Having done that, Ruan Su set down the tiger leg now pinned to the ground, ran inside to drag out a small stool, sat down with her hands cupping her cheeks, and stared unblinkingly at Qin Yi with eager, hungry eyes, waiting to eat.
"........"
Qin Yi rubbed his brow and took a deep breath:
"Processing this thing will take at least a few hours. What about lunch?"
Ruan Su immediately and considerately pulled two meat buns from her bosom and shoved them at him.
Qin Yi took them, glanced down at them, opened his mouth, but ultimately closed it again. He shot a glance at the tiger leg skewered on the spear shaft but still didn't move for a long while.
Ruan Su blinked and asked softly:
"What's... wrong...?"
"Do you think I can move that thing?"
"Mmm..."
"If you want to eat, come help."
"...Okay!"
...
After a flurry of activity, cooking smoke began to rise. A grill capable of bearing the tiger leg was assembled through the joint efforts of the siblings, with flames below roasting the marinated tiger leg meat, gradually releasing a fragrance of peppercorn.
Qin Yi held a hand seal with one hand to cultivate while using a small knife to score the meat with the other, speaking softly:
"Since we have some free time now, I'll teach you the cultivation technique. Give it a try."
Ruan Su, who had been intently turning the tiger leg on the other side of the grill, immediately looked up and asked in confusion:
"Don't you need... the herbs... and silver needles?"
Qin Yi shook his head and explained:
"No need. This technique only requires adjusting your breathing pattern and forming a hand seal."
As he spoke, he raised his left hand, which had been concealed in his sleeve all along, still holding the hand seal, to demonstrate.
Ruan Su's beautiful eyes widened in shock:
"That... simple? You're not... being disobedient and... secretly cultivating, are you, Little Yi?!"
"......"
Qin Yi ignored his sister's indignant protest and taught her the breathing method and hand seal recorded in the Heretical Scripture.
As a cultivation manual, the cultivation method recorded in the Heretical Scripture was almost absurdly simple. At least, that was the case for Qin Yi.
The only difficulty was probably maintaining that somewhat constricted breathing pattern at all times.
If normal breathing delivered five units of oxygen to the lungs per second, then practicing the Heretical Scripture only allowed one. But as long as one held out until the blue halos appeared, breathing would naturally become smooth again.
Given Ruan Su's physical aptitude, this shouldn't be too difficult for her.
Ruan Su was somewhat dissatisfied with Qin Yi's perfunctory attitude, but she still began forming the hand seal according to his instructions. The steady rise and fall of her chest immediately became barely perceptible.
Time ticked by, minute after minute. The sauce coating the surface of the tiger leg dripped down into the fire pit below along with the rendered fat.
Ruan Su took longer to enter the cultivation state than Qin Yi had anticipated.
He himself could reach the state of seeing the halos in about one hundred and fifty breaths. He had originally assumed that with Ruan Su's talent, it would be even shorter. But now over three hundred breaths had passed, and she still hadn't given any feedback.
In the silence,
another hundred breaths passed in the blink of an eye.
Finally, a change appeared before Qin Yi's eyes.
At first, it was merely ripples like a gentle breeze passing over a lake's surface. Wispy strands of blue halos began drifting continuously with Ruan Su's breathing.
But before Qin Yi could confirm it,
that ripple rapidly expanded, forming a vortex centered on Ruan Su, siphoning in all the blue halos from the surrounding area!