Lin Nan returned to her cave dwelling, her fingertips still tingling with soreness, the edges of the Summoning Monster Method’s pages creased deeply from being clenched tightly.
She closed the stone door of the cave, then, by the moonlight, unfolded the scroll. On the yellowed paper, the eight characters “With blood as the guide, with soul as the pact” glimmered with a cold light in the shadows.
The two Spirit Rat corpses that Shen Qingmei had brought were discarded outside the cave, their bloody stench mixed with the distinctive musk of the Spirit Rats.
She raised her right hand, a faint thread of Monster Qi gathering at her fingertips. Compared to Shen Yuer’s Long Breath Song’s blue Qi, her Monster Qi was a heavy, leaden black.
It was the first time since practicing the Summoning Monster Method that she actively manipulated her power and it worked.
The black energy twisted like a fine thread around the corpses, lightly flicking them to roll deep into the bamboo forest beyond the cave.
“Definitely more convenient than the Long Breath Song,” Lin Nan murmured as she looked down at the faint Monster glow lingering in her palm. Her jade-green eyes shed their usual softness, leaving only indifferent coldness.
If the Monster power of her previous eight lives was a locked instinct, then the Summoning Monster Method was like a key that, once inserted, made the beast inside growl lowly.
Following the book’s instructions, she fetched a clay jar filled with clear water and plucked a silver hairpin, piercing her fingertip.
A drop of blood fell into the water, instantly spreading, but instead of sinking, it floated on the surface, spinning into a strange crimson vortex.
Lin Nan recited the incantation of the Summoning Monster Method quietly, her voice low yet carrying a wildness spanning ten thousand years.
This incantation faintly resembled the ritual spell she once chanted as a Monster Empress during sacrifices.
By the third line, the temperature inside the cave plummeted sharply, the candle flame suddenly flaring half a foot high, casting twisted, ghostly shadows on the walls.
The blood-red vortex on the water spun faster and faster, faint sobbing sounds leaking from the jar.
Holding her breath, Lin Nan pressed her fingers together, tapping her forehead.
“Summon!”
A white silhouette no bigger than a palm emerged from the vortex, crawling up Lin Nan’s finger and disappearing into her brow.
The white-haired girl let out a slight hiss as if in pain, pressing a palm on the table, frowning tightly.
Her jade-green eyes rippled with circles of waves, light flashing across them until they suddenly changed into vertical pupils.
A sinister, eerie Monster Qi rapidly filled the cave, the energy-rich space echoing with a muffled rumble like a boiling stone pot, even stirring a faint, almost imperceptible Monster wind.
Bathed in the blood-infused water, the girl examined her current form.
Two fluffy snow-white pointed ears trembled atop her head, paired with those bizarre jade vertical pupils, exuding an inexplicable mysterious aura.
She reached out to pinch her lower lip, noticing the small tiger tooth that had appeared out of nowhere, and suddenly smiled.
“Hmph, so it really is me. Summoned and summoned, it’s still myself who came,” the girl curved her eyes into a crescent smile, and the Monster wind in the cave instantly solidified, then dissipated like smoke.
If control over True Qi was concerned, the girl wouldn’t claim to be an expert. But in terms of Monster Qi, there were probably very few people in the Central Continent stronger than her.
“This life, not a tiger, a half-Monster… so I turned into a spirit cat?”
Her thoughts drifted, and something must have flashed through her mind, for her cheeks flushed deeply.
She bit her lower lip softly, pondering for a long time, then quietly stuck out her little tongue toward her reflection in the water.
Clenching her paw-like hand, she let out a small meow.
Almost simultaneously, faint footsteps sounded outside the cave.
Lin Nan quickly covered the clay jar, turning around to shed her Monster form, donning her usual gentle expression.
“Dong, dong dong—”
“Who’s there?”
“Looking for Lin.”
“Elder Lin Nan?” Lin Nan feigned surprise, opening the cave door to look at the cold-faced woman outside. “Elder, such a late hour. Is there something important?”
Shu Ying wore a simple Taoist robe, her black eyes scanning the cave before settling on the overturned clay jar. “Just passed by, and I sensed a Monster Qi fluctuation in your cave.”
Her tone was flat, but her fingertips subtly tightened inside her sleeves. “New disciples secretly practicing forbidden arts must have their cultivation revoked according to sect rules.”
Lin Nan’s heart tightened, but her face remained composed. “Elder jokes. I can’t even find Qi, let alone dare touch forbidden arts? Maybe it’s just some Monster Qi clinging to me from handling the Spirit Rat corpses.”
She kicked away bloodstains under the stone table. “Those two beasts Shen Qingmei brought were full of violent Qi.”
Shu Ying’s gaze lingered on Lin Nan’s fingertip for a moment.
The pinhole wound hadn’t healed yet, still faintly smelling of blood.
She suddenly stepped forward, reaching out to touch Lin Nan’s wrist, but her hand was deftly avoided mid-air.
“Anything else, Elder?” Lin Nan took half a step back, keeping her distance, the warmth in her jade eyes dimming. “It’s late; I should rest.”
Shu Ying’s hand froze midair, complex emotions swirling in her black eyes.
She had indeed sensed that Monster Qi just now not the ordinary beast’s ferocity, but a long-held dominance that overlapped so much with a certain figure from her memories it startled her.
“How’s your practice of the Summoning Monster Method?” Shu Ying suddenly asked, her tone unreadable.
Lin Nan blinked, then smiled. “How does Elder know? I just borrowed the book to look at it. It’s too difficult, I’m afraid I can’t learn it.”
“That book has strong violent Qi,” Shu Ying turned away, back facing her. “It’s not suitable for you. Tomorrow I’ll send someone to bring the Blue Cloud Heart Sutra. It’s more useful than that heretical method of yours.”
“Thank you for your kindness, Elder,” Lin Nan bowed her head, looking at the clay jar. “But I still want to give it a try.”
Shu Ying’s shoulders trembled almost imperceptibly.
Those words were too familiar.
When she first ascended, Lin Nan had pestered her to teach swordsmanship. She always found the moves cumbersome and thought Lin Nan, a mere ‘mortal,’ had too little talent, so learning was futile.
Back then, the teacher looked down at the sword manual and said, “But I still want to try.”
“Suit yourself,” Shu Ying’s voice cooled, and as she pushed the door open and left, her robe brushed the threshold, stirring the candle flame to flicker once more.
The stone door shut, and Lin Nan’s tense spine suddenly relaxed.
She raised a hand to press her chest; her fingertips felt cold.
“Crazy,” Lin Nan muttered under her breath, unsure if she was cursing Shu Ying or herself.
She lifted the clay jar’s lid, staring at the now clear water surface in silence for a long while.
She was a rare half-Monster in the entire Central Continent.
To learn orthodox cultivation techniques, she had to first convert her Monster power into True Qi through such “heretical” methods like the Summoning Monster Method.
Only then could she hope to study more advanced techniques.
But Monsters had been extinct for a thousand years; if anyone truly understood Monsters, it was only Shu Ying.
So… was she really going to seek out Shu Ying, who was like a daughter she had raised, as her teacher?
Their teacher-student relationship completely reversed in this lifetime?
Just imagining that scene gave Lin Nan goosebumps.
“Thought-Reflection Cliff… The Ancestral Tomb…”
The girl twisted her white hair round and round with her fingers, her expression tangled.
Just then, Shen Yuer’s voice came from outside the cave, tinged with excitement: “Little Lin! I finished the last rune for the water method; do you want to see it?”
Lin Nan quickly hid the clay jar in the stone cabinet and called out, “Coming!”
She opened the door.
Shen Yuer stood in the moonlight holding a sheet covered in blue runes, her stray bangs blown wildly by the wind, eyes brighter than starlight.
“Look here, I combined the ‘Pierce’ and ‘Bind’ techniques; it can both stab and bind. In three months, we’ll definitely knock Shen Qingmei down!”
Seeing her excitement, the dark clouds in Lin Nan’s heart cleared somewhat.
She reached out to brush the grass from Shen Yuer’s hair and said softly, “Impressive. But starting tomorrow, we’ll have to get up earlier to train, or we won’t make it to the early lessons of the initiation ceremony.”
“Okay!” Shen Yuer nodded eagerly, then suddenly leaned in close, her nose almost touching Lin Nan’s cheek. “Little Lin, why do you smell like sandalwood?”
Lin Nan’s movement paused, then she smiled faintly. “Probably picked it up in the library today.”
Shen Yuer didn’t ask further.
She grabbed Lin Nan’s hand, chattering excitedly about tomorrow’s training plans.
Lin Nan let her lead, but her gaze drifted past Shen Yuer’s shoulder toward Thought-Reflection Cliff.
The night wind rustled through the bamboo forest, carrying the distant clamor of Beast Taming Peak.
Shen Qingmei was probably still throwing a tantrum over the Spirit Rat deaths.
Lin Nan clenched Shen Yuer’s hand tightly, a glint of resolve flashing in her jade eyes.
In both this life and the past, these things had to be faced. Besides…
She also had to keep pushing forward step by step. Only then could she remain by Shen Yuer’s side unwaveringly.
As for the love and hatred entwined for a thousand years, she’d just let them lie buried beneath Thought-Reflection Cliff.