My apprentice is a little weird?

Chapter 450: Lingquan Treasure

Baojie laughed so hard that she fell backwards. She looked at the bamboo piece and clapped her small hands on the large gilded gourd. Her clear laughter echoed beside the misty spiritual spring.

"Haha! The Ancient Immortal Sect has so many talented people now, they're so good at it! A cat-transforming talisman? Which genius came up with this? I'm dying of laughter!"

"Shen Yanqiu? That shameless senior brother?"

Behind the rocks in the distance, Su Xiaoli was startled and subconsciously hid herself deeper, leaving only a pair of eyes exposed, staring at the two uninvited guests without blinking.

A pair of furry ears twitched uncontrollably due to nervousness.

At this moment, a shadow silently enveloped her.

"Huh? The victim is here! Come, let me see him!"

A clear and pleasant voice sounded in her ears.

Su Xiaoli's hair stood on end, and a chill ran from her tailbone to her crown! She hadn't even noticed any approaching aura! When did this person...

She turned around suddenly, but only saw an enlarged, curious, delicate little face.

It's that girl!

Su Xiaoli's heart was filled with alarm. Just as she was about to use her body skills to retreat, a small hand lightly pressed down on her head. The movement seemed gentle, but it seemed to carry a tremendous force, freezing all her movements in an instant.

Then, with a hint of exploration, the little hand accurately found the slightly trembling cat ears under her silk scarf, pinched them gently, and rubbed them with interest.

boom!

Su Xiaoli's cheeks instantly flushed red, as if blood was about to drip out. A strange tingling sensation spread from her ears throughout her body, causing her to stiffen and even her fingertips to go numb. She wanted to escape, to scream, but in the face of the other party's unfathomable strength, all resistance seemed so pale and powerless.

"Um..." She let out a mosquito-like cry from her throat, feeling extremely ashamed and angry.

"So this is the effect of the 'Cat Girl Transformation Talisman'. It feels really good, just like a real orc. No, this is real."

Baojie was amazed and her hands kept moving, as if she was playing with some new toy.

"No...it's not..."

Su Xiaoli's voice was filled with tears, and her eyes were filled with tears.

"It's all... it's all done by my damn senior brother..."

She mustered all her courage, looked up at Sister Bao, and asked with all her might, "Who...who are you? Why did you break into our Qinglan Sect's forbidden Lingquan area?"

Just as Sister Bao was about to speak, Jiang Yan slowly walked over.

He looked at the scene in front of him, first glanced at Sister Bao helplessly, and then cast a kind gaze at Su Xiaoli.

"I have no choice but to borrow your clan's precious land to heal my wounds."

Jiang Yan's voice was calm, yet it had a power that reassured people.

"Yin Li concealed this earlier because she was treating me. She has no other intentions towards your sect."

"After the follow-up matters are settled, Jiang will give you a thank you gift. Jiang would like to express his gratitude here."

After saying that, he stood tall and performed a standard bow in front of Su Xiaoli.

Su Xiaoli's head buzzed and she was completely confused.

For her, an ordinary disciple of the Qinglan Sect, to be bowed to by such an unfathomable senior? If this were to get out, she would probably be beaten to death by the elders of the sect's Discipline Hall!

In horror, he bowed in return without thinking, and even wanted to dodge away.

However, her body remained motionless, as if nailed to the spot by an invisible force. She could only watch as Jiang Yan completed the ritual. An inexplicable heaviness weighed on her heart, making her uneasy. She had never felt this feeling of wanting to move but being unable to.

It's not the pressure from the superior's realm, it's pure loss of control.

Jiang Yan stood up and saw that her face was pale and her eyes were frightened, and he knew what she was thinking.

He smiled faintly and said nothing more.

Just a breeze blew by, gently blowing Su Xiaoli's hair and the corners of her clothes, and the heavy feeling that was pressing on her heart disappeared in an instant, and her heart, which had been beating wildly due to fear, miraculously calmed down.

Su Xiaoli stared at Jiang Yan in a daze, her eyes full of shock and awe.

"Stop it."

Jiang Yan said to Sister Bao who was still kneading the cat's ears.

Baojie curled her lips, then let go of her hand reluctantly and jumped back onto her gourd.

Jiang Yan handed the bamboo slip to Su Xiaoli:

"This must be what you want."

Su Xiaoli took it subconsciously, her eyes fell on the scribbled handwriting on it. After just one glance, her originally pale face quickly turned red, not because of shame, but because of anger!

"Shen! Yan! Qiu!"

She uttered the name through gritted teeth, and the bamboo in her hand creaked.

"So you were hiding here! No wonder I couldn't find you even after searching the entire Qinglan Sect! Damn it!"

But after she calmed down, she looked around with some doubts:

"But the area around this spiritual spring is clearly visible. Where can he hide?"

Jiang Yan's gaze slowly turned to the sparkling spiritual spring and pointed with his finger.

"I found this bamboo piece from the bottom of the spring."

His voice was very soft, but it left Su Xiaoli confused.

The spiritual spring is not big and can be seen at a glance. How can it hide people?

Jiang Yan ignored her surprise and continued speaking, his voice becoming somewhat deeper:

"The spiritual spring here is of extraordinary size. The spiritual energy contained within is too abundant to be nurtured by the terrain of this mountain range. If my predictions are correct..."

He paused, as if giving the listener some time to calm down.

Baojie, who had been listening intently, suddenly had her eyes light up. She came over eagerly, her face full of anticipation:

"You mean to say that this spiritual spring of heaven and earth was formed by the influence of something else?!"

Jiang Yan's eyes were so deep that they seemed to be able to penetrate the spring water, see through the underground rock layers, and reach the core of the secret.

"Right below this spiritual spring, there is an imperceptible crack."

"There are strands of... extremely pure spirituality seeping out from it."

"That is the true cause and source of the formation of this spiritual spring."

Spiritual penetration! Did I hear that right?

Baojie couldn't believe it for a moment. Could the word "penetration" really be used to describe spirituality?

What will it be like then!

Su Xiaoli was confused by what she heard. She only knew about spiritual energy and had never heard of "spirituality".

But she could feel that when Jiang Yan said these words, the air around them seemed to freeze for a moment. She looked at Jiang Yan's eyes that seemed to see through everything, and then looked at Sister Bao, who was so excited that she was about to jump up, and a vague idea arose in her mind.

Although I don't understand it, judging from the literal meaning, the formation of my own spiritual spring seems to have other reasons.

And these two mysterious predecessors seemed to have accidentally touched upon the deepest secret of Qinglan Sect, which even she herself did not know.

Her unlucky senior brother seemed, probably, as if... he had fallen into the center of this secret.

........................

"Spiritual infiltration?!"

Sister Bao's pair of bright eyes widened instantly. In the last second, she was curious about Su Xiaoli's cat ears, and in the next second, her attention was completely attracted by Jiang Yan's words.

She almost turned into a stream of light and floated in front of Jiang Yan with a "whoosh". Her little face was almost touching his nose, and her voice was filled with uncontrollable ecstasy and trembling.

"So... there's a real treasure down there... down there?!"

She didn't doubt the truth of Jiang Yan's words, not even a little bit. Since they met, Jiang Yan might be lazy, slack off, and say some nonsense, but when it comes to things like this that concern the foundation of the great Dao, he has never missed a beat.

"This is the best strategy among the three strategies you mentioned, right?"

Baojie excitedly spun around in the air, her white and tender little feet drawing a beautiful arc.

"As long as I find the source, can't I just... hold it and suck it till I'm full!?"

Jiang Yan felt amused when he saw her money-grubber look.

"This is a completely unexpected surprise. I never could have predicted this... But seeing how happy she is, I'd better not tell her."

He shook his head seriously, stretched out a finger, gently tapped Baojie's smooth forehead, and held back her excited body.

"Don't be too happy too soon. Everything has its pros and cons. The spirituality here is so abnormal that it can even distort space and drag that kid Shen Yanqiu into it. It can be seen that its source is not simple." Jiang Yan's tone calmed down.

“Don’t jump to conclusions before you get the full picture. You need to observe carefully.”

"I know, I know!"

Baojie agreed readily, but her eyes were shining as if they were filled with stars. Her mind had long since flown to some spiritual ocean, and she was so happy that the words "I'm going to be rich" were almost written on her face.

Jiang Yan looked at her adorable absent-minded look, grinned, and while she was distracted, he stretched out his hand like lightning and gently pinched her soft, chubby face.

It feels really good.

"Hmm!" Sister Bao was like being electrocuted, and came back to her senses in an instant. Her little face suddenly became angry, and she floated back with her hands on her hips, her eyebrows raised, making herself fly half a head higher than Jiang Yan, putting on a condescending attitude.

"How dare you pinch me! Don't think I'll let you do whatever you want just because I'm trying to please you! This is the compensation you should give me, do you hear me?"

Although her voice was angry, the joyful look in her eyes betrayed her.

Jiang Yan smiled and bowed, his attitude just right: "Yes, yes, it's my duty, it's my duty."

Baojie could see that he was not serious, but the huge joy in her heart overwhelmed everything at the moment. She was too lazy to care and snorted, letting him go for the time being.

She just waved her hand, and the big gilded gourd flew towards her, spinning rapidly, shrinking in the air, and finally turned into the size of a palm and fell into her hand.

"I'll go in and recuperate first, and adjust to the best condition!" Sister Bao grabbed her beloved treasure gourd, her figure gradually became illusory, and turned into a golden light and drilled in, leaving only a crisp echo floating beside the spiritual spring.

"Wait... when the time comes, remember to call me! You must remember!"

Jiang Yan agreed in a voice transmission and looked at the small gourd, smiling in his heart.

"What is this? The Lingbao version of 'bathing, burning incense, and waiting for the auspicious time'? It's quite ritualistic."

Putting away the ridicule in his heart, Jiang Yan counted on his fingers and turned around.

He waved his hand lightly, and the golden lotus wrapped around Yin Li opened up, its light dissipated, revealing the figure sleeping quietly inside.

As if sensing the changes in the outside world, Yin Li's long eyelashes trembled a few times and she slowly opened her eyes.

What a pair of eyes those are.

The eyes that were once as bright as stars now seemed covered with a thick layer of dust, losing all their brilliance.

The emotions surging in it are extremely complex, including the loss of control, the loneliness of being alone, the cowardice in facing the unknown, and the deep fear of oneself and the whole world.

She stood up silently, the sense of separation brought by the cartoon style on her body becoming stronger and stronger, covering and hiding her surging emotions.

A person hides inside, like a lonely soul who is out of tune with this realistic world.

She looked at Jiang Yan, her lips moving as if she wanted to say something, but no sound came out. Only her slightly trembling body revealed the turmoil in her heart.

After cutting off all the strings, she gained true freedom, but like a newborn baby, she was stripped of all protection and exposed nakedly to this strange world.

Jiang Yan sighed inwardly, without explaining anything, because any words seemed pale at this moment. He just looked at her calmly, then waved at her.

Yin Li's body stiffened for a moment, but she finally walked obediently and silently to stand behind Jiang Yan, with her head lowered, like a shadow that had lost its soul, or like a most loyal Taoist follower.

Su Xiaoli, who was standing by, watched the whole thing, and a huge wave of emotion rose in her heart.

She had originally come here to investigate out of concern for Yin Li, but at this moment, looking at the silent, lonely Yin Li who gave off an aura of keeping strangers away, she didn't even have the courage to step forward and talk to her.

It was a feeling of strangeness that came from the soul, as if the person in front of her was no longer the somewhat clumsy and simple Yin Li she knew.

And as Yin Li woke up, Yin Li in her "eyes" gradually turned into another strange but kind person.

She would feel a liking for him at first sight, but she was sure she had never seen this person before, which made her feel even more terrified.

She opened her mouth, but in the end she didn't ask anything. She silently took a step back, not daring to look again.

At this delicate moment, Jiang Yan turned his head slightly, as if sensing something. He cast a deep gaze in the direction of the Qinglan Sect's main hall, and his brows raised slightly.

The next moment, a gentle voice sounded directly in Su Xiaoli's mind.

"If someone comes later, you can tell them that I'm your good friend, just like Miss Yin Li. I heard about the magical power of your sect's spiritual spring and came here to learn from it. I hope I can help you cover up something."

Su Xiaoli's heart trembled, and she subconsciously refused. Betraying the master? This is a grave sin!

But the thought only flashed through her mind before she suppressed it herself.

What a joke! Betraying the sect? Just look at the might of this senior who can change the weather with the flick of a finger, and move the celestial phenomena with a single word. Let alone the entire Qinglan Sect, even if they pulled the founder out of his tablet, he wouldn't be able to crush them with a single finger.

How could this be considered betrayal? This is called assessing the situation and following the good advice! Yes, follow the good advice!

After figuring this out, Su Xiaoli immediately felt at ease and nodded heavily in her heart, indicating that she would cooperate fully.

Just as she finished preparing herself mentally, a mighty pressure as powerful as a mountain descended from the sky!

I saw a green light coming in an instant, as if tearing through the space, and appeared silently above the spiritual spring.

The visitor was a middle-aged man in a green Taoist robe. He had a gaunt face, bright eyes, and three strands of long beard floating on his chest, giving him an immortal-like appearance.

It was the leader of Qinglan Sect, Li Muran!

As soon as he appeared, his incomparably powerful divine sense swept across the entire Lingquan area like a tide. Every inch of land, every blade of grass, and even every grain of sand under the spring could not escape his detection.

He did not find anything abnormal in his mind, and the power of "heavenly punishment" that made him palpitate had long disappeared without a trace. Only then did Li Muran breathe a sigh of relief.

His eyes passed over Jiang Yan and Yin Li, and just a quick glance, he classified them as ordinary cultivators who had luckily gotten some opportunities despite having low cultivation, and were not worth mentioning.

Finally, his scrutinizing and majestic gaze fell on Su Xiaoli, and his brows were tightly furrowed.

"Xiao Li, this is a key area of the sect. Why did you bring two outsiders here?"