Chapter 242: Returning Together (12)
Xiao Ji felt that Zhong Yinnian was very childish.
One second he was brooding and depressed, and the next second he was chattering away non-stop, as if no one in the world was happier than him.
When the sun rose high in the sky and the heavy fog covering Qingyang Mountain dissipated, sunlight filtered through the treetops and leaves. He simply lay down and said to Xiao Ji:
“Buddhist Son Gege, may I borrow your lap for a moment? I’m sleepy.”
After saying that, without caring whether Xiao Ji was willing or not, he directly rested his head on Xiao Ji’s lap and closed his eyes.
A gentle breeze blew past, and the faint scent of agarwood drifted into Xiao Ji’s nose. Xiao Ji lowered his eyes to look at Zhong Yinnian. After a long while, he shifted his gaze to Zhong Yinnian’s hands, which were crossed over his upper abdomen.
Zhong Yinnian slept straight through until after noon.
When he woke up, the two of them tacitly said nothing more, as if that rare intimacy and tranquility beneath the great tree had never happened.
After noon, they practiced spell techniques.
Once again, Zhong Yinnian displayed his clumsiness in the application of spell techniques.
The path of spells was based on one’s own foundation, mobilizing the Five Elements of heaven and earth, and then performing various transformations upon those Five Elements.
Everyone had different talents, and the spells they excelled at using were also different.
Even someone as outstanding in everything as Xiao Ji had shortcomings in the use of fire and earth spells. It could only be said that he could summon and use them, but his proficiency was mediocre, and their actual combat effectiveness often fell short of expectations.
He would not lead a student astray, so he only attempted to teach Zhong Yinnian how to condense water into ice.
But Zhong Yinnian seemed to be deliberately opposing Xiao Ji. No matter how Xiao Ji taught him, it was to no avail.
Xiao Ji tried to teach him hand seals hand-in-hand, just like when they practiced swordsmanship yesterday. Zhong Yinnian did indeed perform them without a single error, but the water stubbornly refused to appear.
Left with no choice, Xiao Ji could only change his approach and teach him how to ignite fire.
Who would have known that Zhong Yinnian would suddenly become clever at this? In less than a quarter of an hour, he ignited a cluster of flames in his palm that resembled his bird.
While he was smugly showing it off to Xiao Ji, under Xiao Ji’s watchful eyes, the flame was enveloped within a layer of ice.
Very quickly, the flame was extinguished, while the ice solidified solidly in Zhong Yinnian’s palm.
“Water and fire are incompatible. You and I mutually generate and counter each other.”
After he finished speaking, he saw Zhong Yinnian raise an eyebrow. The flame in his palm reignited, and in a short while, it melted that piece of ice into water, which then evaporated from his palm.
“As long as the heat is sufficient and sustained for long enough, the ice will melt sooner or later.”
Xiao Ji did not refute him. He merely looked at the cluster of flames and said faintly:
“You are talented in the path of spells. I am not adept at controlling fire, so I cannot be of much help to you. Do as you please.”
After saying that, he turned and left, finding a corner to cool off in the shade.
At night, Xiao Ji returned to his own sleeping quarters. He sat cross-legged by the window, meditating and silently reciting the Heart-Clearing Sutra.
In the past, Xiao Ji rarely had moments of irritability. But whenever he didn’t know what he should do, he would use this method to clear his mind.
However, today, whether it was because he lacked that string of Buddhist prayer beads or for some other reason, Xiao Ji would zone out midway. Intermittently over the course of an hour, he was unable to recite the scripture completely.
He rubbed his fingertips and looked at the candle stand in front of him. Raising his hand, he formed a hand seal to draw fire and lit the candle stand. Gazing at the dancing flame, he remembered the look in Zhong Yinnian’s eyes when he looked at him.
That was not the gaze one used when looking at a fellow sect member or a close friend.
Actually, from the very first time the two of them met, when Zhong Yinnian looked at him, his eyes contained something indescribable and unclear.
It seemed as if he was looking at him, yet it also felt as if he was looking through him at something else.
Today, while they were talking beneath the great tree, this feeling had intensified.
It continued until the afternoon, when Zhong Yinnian spoke about melting ice. Xiao Ji suddenly felt somewhat unsure of how to face Zhong Yinnian.
Xiao Ji could not comprehend the meaning behind that gaze, but he found it awkward.
It was an unprecedented awkwardness that he had never experienced with anyone else.
He hesitated over whether he should make it clear to Zhong Yinnian that their previous mutual assistance and unreserved teaching should end here. He did not wish to be tainted by karma with anyone.
But before he could figure out exactly how to respond, the sound of knocking came from outside his sleeping quarters.
The only person who could come and disturb Xiao Ji at this hour needed no second thought.
Xiao Ji stalled for a moment, making no sound.
However, when the knock sounded for the third time, Xiao Ji ultimately sighed. With a wave of his hand, he opened the door.
As the door opened, Zhong Yinnian looked inside.
He saw Xiao Ji sitting by the window, cross-legged on the floor. In the entire sleeping quarters, only a single faint candle flame was lit.
He walked through the door, closing it backhandedly behind him, and asked Xiao Ji, “Were you waiting for me?”
Xiao Ji had indeed been waiting for Zhong Yinnian yesterday, but today, that anticipation had undergone a slight change.
He told the truth: “I was not.”
Zhong Yinnian walked toward Xiao Ji and sat cross-legged in front of him, saying softly, “What a pity. I thought you would miss me.”
On this point, however, Xiao Ji did not deny it.
Regardless of the reason, he had indeed just been thinking of Zhong Yinnian.
Zhong Yinnian didn’t say any inexplicable or messy words. He merely poured himself a cup of tea that had long gone cold and said to Xiao Ji:
“Your talent in the path of divination is not weak. But now, I need you to do one thing.”
Xiao Ji frowned: “What is it?”
Zhong Yinnian said, “Forget what you’ve learned in the past. I will teach you my exclusive divination techniques.”
Xiao Ji’s expression grew subtle: “The exclusive divination techniques of Tianque Palace—if you spread them to outsiders like this and your Master finds out, will he not reprimand you?”
Zhong Yinnian looked at Xiao Ji: “Who told you that what I’m going to teach is Tianque Palace’s exclusive divination techniques?”
Xiao Ji met his gaze. Remaining silent for a moment, he asked no further questions, only saying softly:
“Alright.”
Not only was Xiao Ji remarkably gifted in the path of cultivation, but his ability to forget things was also something ordinary people could never hope to match.
When he said he would forget what he had learned in the past, it was as if he suddenly locked away everything he had ever learned about divination.
Zhong Yinnian asked a whole string of questions in a row, and he couldn’t answer a single one. Even when the three copper coins he had used for many years were placed in front of him again, he found them unprecedentedly unfamiliar.
Zhong Yinnian was very satisfied with this state of his. For a full hour that followed, Zhong Yinnian overturned the inherent divination algorithms of the immortal sects; more accurately, they were almost entirely the opposite.
Ordinary people borrowed the Heavenly Dao to divine; prying into the secrets of heaven was a great disaster.
But Zhong Yinnian’s divination was entirely about commanding the Heavenly Dao—tyrannical and unreasonable. Even if he pried into the Heavenly Dao, he would still make the Heavenly Dao apologize to him, saying “I’m sorry for hurting your eyes.”
Even Xiao Ji was somewhat shocked:
“Does this method not violate the Heavenly Dao?”
Zhong Yinnian looked at Xiao Ji and sneered:
“Violating the Heavenly Dao is just an excuse used by the weak to exonerate themselves. If your strength is formidable enough and the Heavenly Dao forbids it, then it is the Heavenly Dao that violates you.”
Xiao Ji pondered for a moment: “So, regarding my marriage destiny… was it you who forced the Heavenly Dao?”
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