Xiaodouding saw Zhang Chen smiling, knowing that nothing incriminating had been left behind. At this moment, looking at Zhang Chen’s face, he suddenly spoke.
In Xiaodouding’s eyes, Zhang Chen seemed quite different. His skin was too delicate, too fair!
So delicate that no pores were visible, his skin was white with a hint of red, so smooth it seemed like it could be pinched to produce water, even smoother than his own skin.
"What’s wrong with me?" Zhang Chen asked in surprise.
"The hereditary condition in your family is amazing. How can I inherit it? I wish that when I grow older, my skin can be as delicate as yours," Xiaodouding said, envy filling his eyes.
Zhang Chen raised his hand to take a look, indeed his own skin was excessively delicate, to the extent that all his pores seemed to have disappeared. His skin seemed to form a whole, sealing all the Essence Qi within his body.
"What are you thinking about at such a young age?" Zhang Chen glared at Xiaodouding, who seemed unusually mature, and was already concerned with beauty at a young age.
Training was suspended today, even the morning classes were halted, until midday when a Law Enforcement Disciple hurried over from afar, whispered something in the elder’s ear.
The elder frowned upon hearing this, a shadow crossed his eyes, as if a storm was brewing in them: "You all are really something, you’ve covered your tracks so cleanly and swiftly, I’ve learned something new today. But you’d better pray that you never leave a trace because if I catch you again, it won’t just be a matter of breaking a few legs."
"Disperse now!"
The Law Enforcement Elder snorted coldly, turned and walked away.
With the departure of the Law Enforcement Elder, the disciples dispersed, glancing over at Xiaodouding and Zhang Chen, resembling students being watched by the onlookers. Zhang Chen didn’t mind. Having lived two lives, what was there to be upset about? However, Xiaodouding was overwhelmed with shame, lowering his head to stare at his toes.
Once everyone had left, Xiaodouding turned to Zhang Chen in annoyance: "It’s all your fault, making me lose face like this."
"Oh? Then should I still invite you for meat next time?" Zhang Chen asked with a smile.
"If you dare not to invite me, I’ll show you what real sisterly love is," Xiaodouding waved his fist that was as big as a sandbag.
It was only midday when the two of them carried meal buckets, running towards the kitchen.
Fortunately, this time they weren’t late, each holding a bucket of porridge and two steamed buns, returning to their quarters to feast.
But after two bites of the steamed bun, Zhang Chen put down both the porridge and bun, handing them to Xiaodouding, "I can’t eat anymore!"
Having eaten stewed meat and noodles late at night, it would be strange if he could eat steamed buns and porridge now.
Xiaodouding also set down the wooden bucket larger than his face, not having touched the porridge inside, and then rubbed his bulging belly: "So eating too much is also quite uncomfortable."
"You practice martial arts to digest, I’m going upstairs to catch up on sleep. Those two temples, you clean them for me, I’ve done your work for seven days in return," Xiaodouding said, clutching his stomach, and shuffled upstairs.
Once Xiaodouding was gone, Zhang Chen closed the door and summoned Fox Fairy Nannan.
"Your little senior sister is not quite right," Fox Fairy Nannan said directly.
"I obviously know something’s off, unheard of for a five-year-old to already reach Huajin unless their Mental Realm is profoundly developed to an unpredictable level," Zhang Chen replied irritably.
After complaining, he turned to Fox Fairy Nannan again and scolded, "This time when you went to steal meat, you were too sloppy. If it weren’t for my caution, we might have been exposed."
"Then should I not steal next time?" Fox Fairy Nannan looked at Zhang Chen with annoyance. Was it her idea to go steal meat? Clearly someone was instructing her to do the dirty work, right?
"I’m just advising you to be more subtle, make it look better next time," Zhang Chen quickly changed his tone.
"Hypocrite! When I took things from your house, I was disgusting, but when I take things from others for you, it’s only right. Ha, men!" Fox Fairy Nannan’s voice was filled with mockery.
Zhang Chen didn’t respond to Fox Fairy Nannan’s sarcasm but pondered about apprenticing to learn writing.
Next, he needs to parse the Huangting Scripture and study the path of Qi Cultivators. Such important texts demand his personal interpretation; he can’t afford to rely on anyone else. Should anything go wrong or should he be misled, that would be disastrous.
"Doesn’t matter if it costs more money, just need to find a private school somewhere."
He said this while consulting the Fox Spirit, since ever acquiring the Fox Spirit, money had never been a concern for him.
The Fox Spirit shook his head, "Your county has no private schools! Not just your county, the entire Northern Land has none! How can common folks or merchants be qualified to study? Esteemed families have clan schools but they only teach the children of noble families; common people, no matter how rich, don’t get the chance to squeeze into that circle."
"Then it seems the only target left is Mr. Wuliu? Zhang Xiaohua and I have a deep-seated enmity of life and death, even if I wanted to apprentice to learn to read and write, I’d need to hide my identity. Also, who knows the situation at the Walking Flood Dragon battleground? I remember Zhang Shicheng’s dragon body is still there, wonder if there’s a chance to taste some Dragon Flesh." Thoughts flickered through Zhang Chen’s mind, and he had a little longing for that Flood Dragon’s body.
"How far is it from here to the village back home?" Zhang Chen asked the Fox Spirit.
"Huangli Temple is outside the Prefecture City, about five hundred li from your home village," said the Fox Spirit.
Hearing this, Zhang Chen smiled. A distance of five hundred li was indeed quite far for his past self. But now he could transform into a Vampire Bat, a mere five hundred li was just an hour away.
"In which direction?" Zhang Chen asked again.
Fox Fairy Nannan pointed in the direction, then said to Zhang Chen, "This Huangli Temple is quite eerie. You’d better find a chance to leave early. You wouldn’t want to get yourself involved."
Zhang Chen didn’t heed Fox Fairy Nannan’s words; he knew she was worried about getting involved should something happen to him. But he had no intention of leaving Huangli Temple; there was Mysterious Power here, and perhaps a chance to uncover more mysteries. Especially when even a cultivation technique like the Huangting Scripture has emerged, he must find a way to explore the grand tomb of the Huangting Scripture to see, maybe there could be new findings.
Casually turning Fox Fairy Nannan into a rune and storing it within Dragon Qi, he then headed to the temple, cleaning it thoroughly. Seeing it was still midday, he headed into a secluded forest within the Daoist Temple to open his Dharma Eye for investigation. He did not sense Elder Wu’s Qi Mechanism, nor the divine incense breath, so he transformed into thirty-six Vampire Bats and dispersed, flying through the temple’s woods. In just over thirty breaths, he had navigated through the trees, mountains, and waters to fly beyond the temple, then dispersed into the mountains.
He dared not fly high, as flying high would draw attention and there were natural predators like Sparrowhawk to worry about, so he wanted to keep a low profile.
Flying among the mountains and rivers, the speed was indeed very fast.
Plus, with the wide view from high up, an hour later Zhang Chen had already seen the familiar peak, transforming into a human and landing in front of the cave.
The hornets were still there, and their hive had grown quite large.
The Hunting Falcon was so starved it was skin and bones, resembling a skeleton.
The hornets sensed Zhang Chen’s presence and swarmed over, surrounding him, exuding a sense of kinship.
Faced with a swarm of hornets surrounding him, Zhang Chen showed a tinge of helplessness: "Doesn’t it seem to have tens of thousands of hornets? To survive such a great drought is really not easy."
Fortunately, there’s still a stream in the cave, so they wouldn’t die of thirst.