As soon as He Zhuoming finished saying those words with a completely serious expression, she saw Lin Qingyun burst into laughter once again—he was always smiling normally, but the instances of him laughing out loud were rare, and they seemed to be triggered almost exclusively by what He Zhuoming said.
He Zhuoming asked, “What’s so funny?”
Lin Qingyun laughed to the point of rubbing his eyes, saying, “I thought you were going to say you’d cultivate diligently and strive for opportunities on your own—how is it going to diligently burning incense instead, Xiao He?”
“Is burning incense not considered diligence?”
He Zhuoming puffed out her cheeks unhappily and said, “Of course burning incense counts! If I can persist in going to burn incense every day, then just like my persistence in running every day, it’s all hard work… Why keep laughing? What’s so funny about it?”
Seeing that Lin Qingyun was still laughing, laughing so hard that the long earring hanging beside his left ear was swaying about, she couldn’t help getting a little angry, and poked him in the chest with the wooden sword in her hand: “Stop laughing! It’s so annoying!”
Lin Qingyun raised both hands in a gesture of surrender, no longer laughing so hard that he rocked back and forth like just before, though his eyes remained slightly curved, the corners of his mouth curved up slightly as well, and the pair of dimples beside his lips became faintly discernible.
Lin Qingyun said, “No laughing, no laughing.”
He Zhuoming pouted, withdrew the wooden sword, and placed it beside her.
Driven by residual curiosity, her gaze naturally drifted once more to Lin Qingyun’s waist—judging purely by external appearance, Lin Qingyun’s sword didn’t look like a sword at all; it lacked the sharpness and oppressive aura possessed by truly formidable swords.
It looked very soft, and even had a cluster of fragrant begonias hanging from it…
He Zhuoming tilted her head and asked in confusion, “Qingyun, where is your waist plaque?”
Lin Qingyun also looked confused: “What waist plaque?”
He Zhuoming pointed at his waist and said, “That one, the waist plaque with your name carved on it, and lots of begonias painted on it! It was hanging on your waist before.”
Lin Qingyun reached out and touched the soft sword at his waist, pondering for quite a while before remembering which waist plaque He Zhuoming was talking about.
He answered lazily and indifferently, ” Oh, that thing… I don’t remember where I dropped it.”
He Zhuoming exclaimed, “Can you just casually throw things away like that?!”
Lin Qingyun asked, “Are you hungry? Let’s roast some fish for dinner.”
He Zhuoming was instantly thrown off her train of thought: “Okay, okay, but I don’t know how to catch fish…”
Lin Qingyun smiled, “I know how.”
Lin Qingyun borrowed He Zhuoming’s wooden sword, took off his shoes and socks, rolled up his trouser legs, and waded into the middle of the shallow stream—the moonlight and the shimmering water of the stream intertwined, his reflection swaying upon the water’s surface.
Standing by the bank and peering into the water, He Zhuoming felt that the light waves were surging, making everything look somewhat distorted and unreal.
Yet Lin Qingyun seemed completely unaffected by the changing light; he lowered his gaze to study the water surface for a moment, then suddenly and ruthlessly thrust the wooden sword downward!
When he lifted the wooden sword back up, two plump, fresh fish were already strung upon it—holding up the wooden sword strung with fish, Lin Qingyun turned back and waved at He Zhuoming.
He Zhuoming immediately clapped for him and said loudly, “You really caught them… and speared two at once! So amazing!”
Lin Qingyun smiled and said, “This is nothing much.”
They had grilled fish for dinner. As soon as she finished eating and was full, He Zhuoming immediately began to feel drowsy—an overly youthful body was always prone to sleepiness, especially since she had never had the habit of staying up late, and was moreover sitting beside a blazing fire.
Yawning repeatedly, she bid Lin Qingyun a sleepy good night and was about to keel over and fall asleep on the ground. Lin Qingyun reached out and nudged her shoulder, guiding her to lie down with her head on his lap.
Lowering his gaze, Lin Qingyun stared down at He Zhuoming; she fell asleep very quickly, seemingly devoid of any concept of vigilance, her closed eyelashes fluttering gently with her breathing as she slept soundly.
He watched for a long time, and finally couldn’t help reaching out to fiddle with the messy short hair on He Zhuoming’s forehead, before tugging on her two crookedly braided pigtails.
Although Lin Qingyun didn’t use much force, he still felt it was quite miraculous that He Zhuoming could remain fast asleep through all of this.
Whenever he felt a sense of wonder at some of He Zhuoming’s behaviors, he would inevitably be struck by a question: Just how did this person grow up?
The night passed without dreams. The next morning, He Zhuoming was shaken awake by Lin Qingyun.
Rubbing her eyes in a daze, she was pulled up by Lin Qingyun, who asked, “What are you… what are you doing?”
Lin Qingyun reached out and patted her face a couple of times, saying, “The sun is about to rise. Right now is the prime time to practice breathing and meditation.”
With her cheeks stung into a slight numbness, He Zhuoming finally woke up a bit, though she was still sleepy, her eyes only half-open: “Breathing… what breathing? Natto toast slices? I really want some grilled bread right now…”
Lin Qingyun directly pushed her by the shoulders, turning her to face the direction of the sunrise, and began to whisper the Qi-guiding formula in her ear.
Strangely enough, while He Zhuoming’s efficiency in memorizing and reciting things for classes was usually just average, this time as Lin Qingyun recited the formula in her ear, she heard it only once and managed to remember all of it.
She recited it once along with Lin Qingyun. At that exact moment, the morning sun was just beginning to rise, making the heavens and earth bright. A stream of pure and upright Qi was guided by the formula, merging into He Zhuoming’s body.
Under Lin Qingyun’s deliberate guidance, the pure Qi smoothly traversed the young girl’s internal organs and meridians, fully belonging to He Zhuoming within just a few breaths—having no prior experience in the path of cultivation, He Zhuoming only felt her spirits instantly perk up quite a bit, her body growing light as a feather. Looking out into the distance, the world in her eyes had also become much clearer.
Lin Qingyun released her shoulders and handed the wooden sword over to He Zhuoming, “Try the sword again.”
He Zhuoming took the wooden sword and fluently flourished a sword dance—though it was still just for show, this time the movements were unexpectedly smooth, and He Zhuoming felt as though her arms were cooperating with her exceptionally well today.
Tilted her head, He Zhuoming asked Lin Qingyun, “Does this count as being initiated?”
Lin Qingyun replied, “You’re still a long way from initiation. Starting today, you must wake up earlier than the sun every morning and practice breathing and meditation facing the direction of the sunrise.”
He Zhuoming asked, “Then until when do I need to practice for it to count as initiation?”
Lin Qingyun rubbed his chin, his eyes curved and his smile amiable: “As for this… I don’t know, sigh.”
He Zhuoming: “…You don’t know?!”
Lin Qingyun spread his hands and said, “That’s right, I don’t know. I never went through it myself.”
He Zhuoming asked, “But, but aren’t you…”
Lin Qingyun: “I am at the Innate Great Perfection. I was already a cultivator the moment I was born, so I never went through the process of drawing Qi into my body.”
Hearing this, He Zhuoming felt somewhat discouraged, but accepted the point very easily—after all, he was the male protagonist! It was completely normal for the male protagonist to have cheats; how else could he kill so many evil deities if he didn’t use cheats?
Naturally, the male protagonist and an ordinary passerby could not start at the same starting line.
They resumed their journey, though this time He Zhuoming did not ride the horse.
Having gone through that session of drawing Qi into her body in the morning, He Zhuoming now felt her body was extremely agile, and walking a stretch of mountain trail was an absolute breeze for her. More importantly, He Zhuoming did not want her backside to suffer any more abuse.
She would much rather walk.
Lin Qingyun glanced at the blazing sun, took off the bamboo-woven hat from the top of the white-spotted horse’s head, and handed it to He Zhuoming: “Put this on so you don’t get heatstroke.”
He Zhuoming waved her hand: “No need, that’s Qingyang’s hat. Give it to it to wear instead.”
Lin Qingyun: “…”
Author’s Note:
White-spotted horse: It wasn’t me, I didn’t do it, I’m not wearing it.