“This person… Xu Liling? Just a mortal?”
Dou Ming stood up and looked Xu Liling over.
“A mortal wouldn’t have such bone structure.”
He turned to Qin Huan and laughed heartily, “In my opinion, your son-in-law must have an extraordinary talent for cultivation!”
The tense atmosphere was instantly replaced by surprise and delight.
Qin Huan maintained the composure of a scholar, his eyes already shining:
“Really?”
Guan Yi chimed in, “When I entered Sujing earlier, it was Dou Sir who accompanied me. He is like a mentor to me; what he says is definitely right.”
Guan Yi smiled at Ying Ran, “Yingying, you are blessed.”
Ying Ran also smiled, happy for Xu Liling.
She didn’t expect an extraordinary life, but if Xu Liling could cultivate, then in the future they could earn more spirit stones, and when working outside, he could protect himself better.
Their future days would be better.
Qin Huan said to Xu Liling, “Aren’t you going to thank Dou Sir? He is your benefactor.”
Xu Liling bowed, “Thank you, Dou Sir. But, that’s a bit premature.”
Guan Yi and Qin Huan stopped smiling and frowned.
Xu Liling’s rather unappreciative attitude worried them—they feared he might offend Dou Ming.
But Dou Ming remained straightforward:
“You’re right. It’s good for a young man to be steady and cautious in his actions. Guan Yi, you should learn from him—don’t get all excited and lose your head whenever something happens.”
Dou Ming took out a square metal compass from a small pouch on his person.
The pouch was only about half a palm in size, but the compass was about two palms wide.
Ying Ran was curious and thought, “This must be the legendary storage pouch.”
She had read novels where storage pouches were an unremarkable standard for protagonists in xianxia stories.
But since she transmigrated here, this was the first time she had seen one.
“This is a Spirit-seeking Bone that can measure innate talent. Let me first give you a preliminary test. If you really have cultivation talent, once you enter the government’s Mystic Academy, they will carefully test you to see which sect you are suitable for.”
Dou Ming channeled his spiritual power; a swirl of brown, star-like light danced in his palm and slowly fell onto the Spirit-seeking Bone.
The engraved patterns on the bone glowed with a clear blue light; the runes on it moved like the sun and moon in orbit.
Then, a spiritual thread floated out, circling around Xu Liling’s body.
Xu Liling stood still, watching the Spirit-seeking Bone.
The spiritual thread circled once around him, then the compass suddenly darkened.
Qin Huan was still full of hope.
Guan Yi showed disappointment.
Dou Ming muttered, “How is this possible…”
He tried again.
This time, the spiritual thread didn’t even complete a full circle before the compass went out.
Dou Ming frowned, staring at Xu Liling:
“Strange, very strange.”
“The cultivation root bone can unconsciously absorb the spirit energy of heaven and earth to nourish itself. So those experienced can tell at a glance whether a person has a cultivation root bone or not.”
“I have cultivated for nearly two hundred years and have seen no less than eight hundred or a thousand people. I have never been mistaken. Xu Liling, you—”
Dou Ming pointed at him, “Your root bone, at first glance, seems to be a Pure Spirit Root. But in reality… your root bone is more blocked than an ordinary person’s, completely impervious.”
“Ordinary people can at least make the spiritual thread circle three times, but you—”
Dou Ming shook his head and sat down disappointedly, drinking tea, no longer speaking.
Qin Huan also lost his smile, sat down and continued talking with Dou Ming, no longer paying much attention to Ying Ran and Xu Liling.
Under the table, Ying Ran squeezed Xu Liling’s hand, giving him a concerned look.
Xu Liling leisurely enjoyed his tea and ate some pastries on the table.
He bit a piece that Ying Ran would like and passed it to her.
Ying Ran was amused and sat properly for a while, then got tired and tried to lean secretly on him.
But Xu Liling steadied her waist and helped her sit upright.
Ying Ran was a bit surprised.
He usually seemed polite, but sometimes was more unruly than her in private.
Yet now he wouldn’t let her lean on him.
She felt a little unhappy that he had been labeled the lowest kind of mortal and decided to sit politely for a while before taking him out for a good meal and then going home.
She quietly listened as Qin Huan and Dou Ming talked about
“… A thousand years ago, an immortal once traveled here and subdued a great wilderness immortal beast. Whether the scarcity of demons and monsters here is related to that…”
Dou Ming fell into thought.
She whispered, “Dad, Dou Sir, Guan Yi, I and Huaizhen have things to attend to today, so we won’t eat here. We’ll take our leave first.”
She stood and bowed.
Though she hadn’t discussed it with Xu Liling, he understood her.
He calmly stood, bowed, and said, “The library affairs have been busy recently; we will visit again another day.”
Qin Huan was about to rise, looked at Ying Ran to say something, but finally sighed deeply and sat back down, solemn and serious:
“Let’s go.”
Ying Ran bowed again to say goodbye and left with Xu Liling.
“I’ll see them out, Dou Sir, sir, you continue your conversation.”
Guan Yi got up and caught up with Ying Ran and Xu Liling.
He first called Xu Liling “brother-in-law,” then patted Ying Ran’s shoulder, “Dou Sir is straightforward; you know your dad’s temper. Don’t let this bother you and make you unhappy.”
Ying Ran smiled, “You know my temper too well; I wouldn’t be upset about this.”
Guan Yi nodded and reassured Xu Liling, “About the root bone, Dou Sir’s judgment is not always accurate. Don’t take it too seriously.”
Xu Liling nodded and casually glanced at Guan Yi’s hand hanging by his side.
Guan Yi said, “I’m going back first.”
He turned and went back to the guest room.
Xu Liling casually draped his arm over Ying Ran’s shoulder, patting the spot Guan Yi had just touched as if dusting off.
Ying Ran didn’t mind and said to him, “What Guan Yi said is right. Huaizhen, don’t mind what Dou Sir said. Besides, we are all mortals anyway. Even if the spiritual thread can circle many more times, what good does it do?”
“The number of circles the thread makes is not many, yet you and I live normal lives…”
She spoke words of comfort, which was her real reason for wanting to leave early.
Xu Liling: “Hmm.”
Ying Ran’s voice stopped; she sensed his evasiveness.
After watching his expression for a while, she thought maybe he wasn’t as bothered as she had assumed.
She leaned on him and asked, “Why didn’t you let me lean on you just now?”
Xu Liling said, “If you leaned on me, your dad would definitely scold you.”
That was her father after all, and he couldn’t just stomp on that.
Ying Ran looked at him for a moment, understood his meaning, and smiled quietly.
So that’s how it was—she had overthought it.
She linked arms with Xu Liling as they left the Chun Chan Academy and walked side by side on the street with proper manners.
Xu Liling didn’t ask where she was going.
Wherever she went, he followed.
Rarely coming to Yunshui County City with him, Ying Ran decided to indulge a little and took him into the Yuehong Restaurant.
They couldn’t afford the second floor, so they found a quiet corner and called a waiter to order two dishes:
Yuehong’s signature braised chicken and a stir-fried seasonal vegetable.
For mortals like them entering a restaurant, some only order a small dish and plain rice, but the waiter still enthusiastically served them, “Alright, please wait a moment. There’s a storyteller over there; you can listen to pass the time.”
Ying Ran agreed and said to Xu Liling, “Earlier, when I came here with Guan Yi, we ate at this place. Their food is quite good.”
Xu Liling only responded with a “hmm.”
Very much so.
Whenever she mentioned Guan Yi, he would respond like this.
If she said anything about Guan Yi, she would argue with him just like the first time.
He was too lazy to argue back, so he just let it go in one ear and out the other, responding half-heartedly.
But Ying Ran didn’t notice and just assumed he was tired, so she linked her arm with his and went to listen to the storyteller together.
Today, the storyteller had changed, and he was telling a story about Xuancha’s detective case.
But Ying Ran noticed an old man wearing a gray scholar’s robe, walking between tables, asking customers something.
That old man was the one Ying Ran had seen before when she came with Guan Yi.
The old man stopped at a table beside Ying Ran, and when he got close, she heard him say,
“I have a story here, dare you listen?”
The customer’s expression changed sharply:
“Go away, you old thing, you’re really tired of living if you say anything.”
The old man looked troubled:
“This story was told to me by a Xuan cultivator, and I paid a high price for it. I must at least earn back the spirit stones.”
The customer took out two spirit stone pieces the size of fingernails and gave them to the old man, still speaking rudely:
“Who dares to listen to that person’s story? Everyone knows if you mention him, you’ll die.”
“I think what you met wasn’t a Xuan cultivator, but a demon. No one but demons would care about his story. I advise you, even if you have to beg for spirit stones to buy a new storybook, don’t talk about it anymore.”
The old man accepted the spirit stones and thanked the customer, handing him something in return.
Then he turned around, his gaze meeting Ying Ran’s as he walked toward her.
Although Ying Ran wasn’t rich, she wasn’t poor either.
Before the old man could speak, she took out two spirit stone pieces and handed them to him. “Old sir, don’t tell the story, just take these.”
The old man thanked her, his gaze flickering between Xu Liling and Ying Ran, finally stopping on Xu Liling as if testing him:
“Are you really not interested?”
From Xu Liling’s eyes, he saw a strange mix of indifference and interest.
No one dared mention that person, let alone show curiosity.
Yet this young man’s rebellious attitude…
Such a person… naturally has a demonic nature.
Xu Liling said, “I do want to hear it.”
Sure enough.
The old man thought silently.
Just as he was about to begin, Ying Ran stopped him, whispering to Xu Liling:
“Guan Yi told me this story can’t be heard. His followers are fanatical, all demons. Anyone who mentions him twice will be killed.”
Xu Liling said “Oh” flatly, without any change in tone:
“So scary, then forget it.”
Ying Ran comforted him by patting his arm and said to the old man, “Old sir, please go. We won’t listen.”
The old man’s eyes flashed darkly. Sighing, he took out two fingernail-sized, amethyst-like stones from his chest pocket.
“If you don’t listen, then you don’t. Young lady, you’re a good person. These two stones are from the river at my doorstep, not valuable but pretty. I gift them to you and your young man, to use as decorations or jewelry.”
Ying Ran felt the old man was also a scholar with pride and didn’t want to freeload, so she accepted the stones and thanked him.
The old man took the spirit stones and went to the next table.
Ying Ran picked up the amethyst stones and looked at them, then said to Xu Liling, “They really are quite pretty. Later we can make two hairpins, one for you and one for me.”
Xu Liling took the stones from her hand and put them away.
“I’ll keep them.”
“Okay.”
Ying Ran didn’t mind and kept holding his arm as they listened to the story.
After the waiter brought the dishes and they ate, Ying Ran and Xu Liling wandered in the city, buying rice, flour, oil, and other daily necessities.
Then they returned to the back gate of the Chunchan Academy, caught their swift horse, and went home.
It was still an ordinary, peaceful day.
Before sleeping, Ying Ran hugged Xu Liling and snuggled against him.
Xu Liling patted her back, falling asleep together with her.
At dusk.
Ying Ran was sleeping on the courtyard lounge chair, waiting for Xu Liling to come home, when she suddenly heard a voice calling her.
“Host.”
She jumped up quickly, looking around.
“Host.”
She heard the voice getting closer and looked again, spotting a small tabby cat jumping down from the thatched roof, walking toward her.
The little cat opened and closed its mouth, calling to her: “Host.”
It was the system.
The little kitten was truly adorable, looking to be just a little over a month old.
Ying Ran squatted down and petted the system’s head.
The system behaved exactly like a cat, rubbing its little head against her hand.
Ying Ran asked, “Do you have something to say again?”
She needed to quickly get the cat to leave, otherwise when Huaizhen came back, she wouldn’t know how to explain it.
The system was displeased. “I don’t know how to convince you for now, but I’ve made up my mind—”
Its words suddenly stopped as it dashed toward the courtyard gate.
Ying Ran turned to look in the direction of the sound and saw Xiao Huang hiding behind the wooden door, sneaking around suspiciously.
The system jumped up, a cat paw slashing toward Xiao Huang’s head.
Xiao Huang growled softly and dodged.
The cat paw unexpectedly emitted an electric current.
Xiao Huang was hit by the electric shock, his whole body stiffening, then he collapsed straight down.
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