"Enough, enough."
Chen Ye shook his head, ultimately couldn’t bring himself to reprimand those two little girls any longer.
He knew in his heart that although his disciples were a bit mischievous, they only cared too much about him.
As a master and elder, if he worried too much about them, he would lose his dignity.
He straightened his robe and then took steps towards the small, secluded courtyard of the Lin sisters.
The courtyard door was ajar, and Chen Ye pushed it open and entered.
The courtyard was empty, as he had expected.
Lin Qiongyu should be attending to his two disciples, leaving only Lin Jin behind.
"Hmm... I need to make the two disciples mentally prepared soon. Otherwise, letting this child stay alone in the courtyard all day will eventually cause psychological problems."
Chen Ye felt a bit guilty.
But he had no choice; he could only temporarily let Lin Jin stay here.
It’s not just because of the disciples, but more so because of Lin Jin herself.
This woman is reclusive, reticent, and doesn’t like interacting with outsiders.
Forcing her to stay with the two disciples would only worsen her condition.
It could only be done step by step...
Chen Ye walked to the window, peeking through the gap in the paper, and saw Lin Jin still sitting quietly in the wheelchair, motionless, like a lifeless porcelain doll.
Although her legs had already healed.
But the hardest disease to cure was in her heart.
Lin Jin seemed to sense his arrival, her small hands silently tightened on the armrests.
Chen Ye didn’t know whether to feel gratified or not—this girl showed no interest in anything in the world, yet she had an inexplicable fear towards him.
"Cultivation practice cannot be rushed, nor should one give up halfway due to difficulties."
Realizing he had been noticed, Chen Ye simply stepped inside.
He glanced around the room.
The scene inside was no different from his memory.
The light was dim, the air filled with the smell of dust. By the girl’s desk were several plates of food that had long gone cold.
Most likely, Lin Qiongyu had prepared these for Lin Jin before rushing off to attend to her disciples, not having time to care for Lin Jin.
Chen Ye approached Lin Jin, and without caring whether she wished it or not, he directly placed a Grain Avoidance Pill between her pale lips.
The girl, caught off guard, instinctively parted her lips, allowing the Pill to slip in.
Before she could react, Chen Ye’s fingers gently pushed against her smooth chin.
The Pill slid down her throat.
"..."
Being controlled like a puppet made Lin Jin feel unbearable, but she could only silently accept it, fixing her dark eyes on him.
"Hmm? Not happy even when I feed you?"
Chen Ye raised an eyebrow, looking at her.
The girl’s eyelashes trembled slightly, her gaze lowered.
Seeing this, Chen Ye instead let out a sigh of relief.
Not bad, at least there were emotions rather than being truly wooden.
"Concentrate your spirit, calm your breath, guide the spirit into your body..."
His voice was low, yet clearly reached Lin Jin’s ears,
A force filled with vibrant vitality slowly flowed into her limbs through his fingertips.
Using his Divine Sense as a guide, he directed Lin Jin’s spiritual power to circulate.
"Hmm? Already at Qi Cultivation Third-Layer?"
Noticing Lin Jin’s spiritual power within, Chen Ye was taken aback.
This little girl really cultivated at an astonishing speed.
In just a month, she had directly broken through from Qi Cultivation First-Layer to Third-Layer!
Thinking about it, Chen Ye found it understandable.
Lin Jin, unlike his disciples, spent almost the entire day cultivating at home.
Though she had no interest in the outside world, her enthusiasm for cultivation was unexpectedly fervent—perhaps she believed that all the Lin Family’s pain came from the Cold Flame within her, thus she had an almost obsessive desire to refine the Spiritual Fire.
"Water and fire dual Spiritual Root, Profound Yin Body, coupled with the water and fire attribute Cold Flame, tsk tsk, the future prospects might be limitless."
Chen Ye withdrew his hand with satisfaction; after a round of spiritual power circulation, he had already dispelled most of the accumulated cold energy within Lin Jin.
He suddenly asked, "Lin Jin... cough cough, Jin’er, the doll I gave you at first, where is it?"
Hesitating for a moment, he chose a more intimate form of address.
Having exchanged feelings for so long, it seemed inappropriate to keep addressing her strictly as Lin Jin, after all, she was his disciple, albeit an unofficial one.
Chen Ye had actually prepared himself mentally, knowing this girl wouldn’t respond.
Unexpectedly, when he mentioned the word "doll," Lin Jin’s face suddenly turned pale, her body trembling.
"?"
Chen Ye was stunned and surreptitiously used his Divine Sense to scan the room.
His pupils constricted when he discovered the doll under the bed, but... the doll was already unrecognizable.
Though confused, his actions were swift as he bent down, reaching under the dust-filled bed.
His fingertips touched something not the soft plush of a doll but something hard and slightly sticky.
When the doll’s entirety was exposed under the dim light, even with Chen Ye’s composed temperament, he couldn’t help but take a cold breath.
What kind of cute long-eared rabbit doll was it anymore?
It was clearly a mutilated, desecrated corpse.
The once snow-white soft fur had congealed into strands, stained with unknown dark brown patches, mottled with a bloody smell.
Its supposed black gem-like button eyes, one had been forcefully gouged out, leaving an empty socket.
The other eye haphazardly dangled on the edge of the socket, on the verge of dropping.
The mouth, stitched with red thread, had long been torn to shreds, with several broken red threads resembling dried blood, giving a ghastly smile.
Its body was riddled with dense pinholes.
Ordinarily, Chen Ye wouldn’t be shocked to see this doll.