lerbook #175 - Peach Blossom
#175 - Peach Blossom
Hearing Xia Huai say this, Lu Jing remembered that when they first met, the girl seemed to have mentioned that she originally went down the mountain to deliver a letter to a strange place.
It was only after delivering the letter that she heard there was excitement to be seen in Wujiang City, so she took a detour.
From this, it seemed that the strange place she mentioned was likely the academy, and for some reason, she had been selected by the academy early on.
Seeming to know what Lu Jing was thinking, Xia Huai stretched out a small hand and caught a falling peach blossom from the tree.
Then, her fingers danced up and down, eventually bending her second, third, and fourth fingers slightly, fixing on Hai, then using her thumb to point to Chou, concealing the petals in her palm.
At the same time, her lips parted slightly, and she chanted, "The mysteries of heaven and earth, the combination of reality and illusion, the brightness and darkness, the myriad phenomena of life, are difficult to distinguish!"
After saying the last word, Xia Huai opened her palm.
As a result, the one peach blossom petal originally hidden there had actually transformed into three petals, but soon after, two of the illusory petals disappeared.
Xia Huai stuck out her tongue, "This spell is called Myriad Creations, and it was taught to me by Guo Shaojian when he saw me a month ago. He said my aptitude... um, is not bad."
"Especially in a place like the academy where secret power is abundant, even if I don't have secret power in my body, I can mobilize the secret power of heaven and earth to try to cast one or two small spells."
Lu Jing knew that the girl was being modest; her aptitude was more than just not bad.
To be able to alarm the Shaojian of the Sitianjian, who personally came to give her special training and teach her spells, and to be able to cast spells without cultivating secret power, if this were placed in Jinjiang, she would definitely be the female lead of a female-dominated novel!
However, Lu Jing was still a little worried, "Before you entered the academy, did they tell you that this line of work is very dangerous, and that you will probably have to deal with those strange creatures in the future?"
Xia Huai nodded, "The senior who recommended me here is a close friend of my master. I learned some things about this from her, and she also asked for my opinion. I volunteered to come here."
"My father is the Tongpan of Mei Prefecture. When I first entered the Xijian Pavilion to practice martial arts, it was partly because I was young and playful, and I especially loved swordsmanship, and partly because I wanted to learn some skills to help my father."
"And now that the world is about to be in chaos, I heard that many of the reasons behind this are because of strange creatures, so I want to enter the Sitianjian, learn more skills, and do more for my father and for the people of the world."
Xia Huai paused, then asked curiously, "What about you, Young Hero Lu?"
"I'm mainly here to solve... a problem in my body," Lu Jing said with a wry smile.
"A problem in your body? What kind of illness is it?" Xia Huai was stunned, "But aren't you already a first-rate expert? Your name even appeared on the Tianji Ranking, what illness is incurable?"
Xia Huai's words were not without reason. In fact, people in the martial world, especially internal energy experts, rarely get sick.
Like Zhao Banshan of the Tianma Escort Agency, at the age of sixty, he still looked radiant, his legs and feet were more agile than young people, and he could eat several large bowls of rice in one breath.
And Lu Jing, as one of the only two top experts in the martial world who had entered the first-rate realm before the age of twenty, logically speaking, his body should be as healthy as it could be.
"Do you want me to introduce you to a famous doctor?" Xia Huai then asked with concern.
"Hey, my illness is a bit tricky, ordinary doctors can't cure it, but it's not a big problem for the time being, I can only slowly think of a solution myself," Lu Jing said vaguely.
Xia Huai was relieved only after hearing Lu Jing say that it was not a big problem for the time being.
Seeing that Lu Jing seemed unwilling to elaborate, she didn't ask any further questions. Then she heard Lu Jing say again, "By the way, you just mentioned the Qingyun Ranking and the Tianji Ranking..."
"You just came out of the Trial Realm, so you probably don't know that the Qingyun Ranking and the Tianji Ranking have both been updated. My name appeared on the Qingyun Ranking, ranked thirty-seventh, but your name went directly to the Tianji Ranking, ranked with Heroine Yan."
"These days, everyone in the academy has been discussing you. Hearing that I am an old acquaintance of yours, many people have come to ask me about you," Xia Huai said, becoming cheerful again.
"Everyone also admires you for staying in the Trial Realm for more than a month. Heroine Yan said that you must have discovered something that everyone else didn't."
Lu Jing then asked curiously, "What did you get from the Trial Realm?"
"As far as I know, no one else has obtained anything from the Trial Realm except for you. After all, it was just an exam that the academy gave us. In fact, most people died directly. Only you and Heroine Yan solved the problem of that desert town."
Xia Huai pointed to herself, "I stayed inside for seven days, and finally, when my internal energy was exhausted, I had to ask the headquarters for help through that sacred well."
"And apart from you two monsters, the best performer was Bai Yu Gongzi of the Xiaoyao Villa. He stayed inside for twelve days and found the mastermind behind the scenes, but unfortunately, the opponent's martial arts were too high, and he didn't have much internal energy left, so he failed in the end."
"That's also very impressive. Those sand warriors each have the realm of a second-rate expert, right?" Lu Jing praised.
"No, no, no, everyone exchanged information afterward and found that although we all went to that oasis town called Marasar Khan, the strength of the opponents seemed to be linked to our realm. For example, the sand warriors I encountered were at the peak of the third-rate realm. Similarly, the strength of the old city lord also varied."
"But Heroine Yan also said that the possessed old city lord was impossible to defeat, especially since he could also control those sand warriors. In the end, she obtained a method from that little girl named Nikaar to free those sand warriors from the control of the corrupting energy."
"Then, together with those sand warriors who remembered their mission, they defeated the old city lord."
"Is that so?" Lu Jing scratched his head, beginning to suspect that he was playing a different game than everyone else.
He recalled that Nikaar seemed to have said something similar to the effect that those sand warriors had been polluted, but at that time, he was only focused on how to collect black stones.
As soon as he heard that the other side was polluted, the thought of eliminating them all naturally arose.
He didn't think about the possibility of turning enemies into friends.
Fortunately, the final boss battle was considered thrilling but safe. The only regret was that the black stones he had painstakingly collected before could not be brought out at all.
Then, the two chatted about what happened in Wujiang City back then. At the end, Xia Huai said with a red face, "Young... Young Hero Lu, is that painting still there?"
Hearing this, Lu Jing nodded, "I brought it to the capital with me. It's in my new residence. Why, do you want to take it back?"
"No, no, no, just leave it with you," Xia Huai said in a voice as soft as a mosquito's hum, "I just wanted to tell you, Young Hero Lu, that I've grown a lot taller since I painted the picture."