Chapter 25
A young woman stood rooted to the ground, unable to react immediately. Even though some people were inquiring about the herbs on her display stand, she treated them as air. Behind her white veil, a look of shock could be seen.
"He... he can feel my spiritual sense," she muttered to herself.
Her head buzzed with confusion, unable to make sense of the situation. While she had seen many strange things from the mortal Shin Jiao, she now suspected that he was a powerful cultivator in hiding. She wasn't sure if her conjecture was right, though, because of his apparent mortal condition, and he seemed to have stayed in the forest for a long time, judging by his clothing and actions.
After a while, her mind cleared, and her attention was diverted to what Shin Jiao had crafted. When she remembered the object in his hand, her eyes gleamed with excitement. Her old master could also craft things, and he had given her many artifacts to help her in life-or-death battles. Her interest was piqued, and she wanted to know what kind of artifact Shin Jiao had made. She decided to go inside the small room and ask, but before she could move, Shin Jiao parted the cloth dividing the front stall and came out of the small room.
"Oh, hey. Thank you for the book. Here it is; I'll give it back to you," Shin Jiao said, handing the basic list of medicinal herbs back to Qin Lou, who subconsciously accepted it.
Qin Lou didn't react and just stood there. Shin Jiao couldn't see her expression since her face and eyes were covered. After a while, his curiosity got the better of him, and he unknowingly released his spiritual sense, scanning her face. He almost showed a shocked expression but immediately covered it with a smile. Shin Jiao had seen her face and was a little taken aback by the wounds, which seemed to be inborn. Based on her body and temperament, he had judged her to be in her 30s. But seeing her face under the veil, he realized that she was only a young woman, around 19 years old. His heart was touched by her perseverance and will to push through.
If Qin Lou knew that Shin Jiao's spiritual sense had penetrated her veil, she would have been shocked, as her veil had a special concealment spell to prevent others from seeing her true face.
"Ah… right, I can test the functions of the glasses I made," Shin Jiao thought to himself and immediately put on the glasses.
When Qin Lou saw his action, she regained her senses and observed him putting something on his eyes. She used a thin strand of her spiritual sense, which she was proficient at controlling, so others wouldn't be able to detect it. Upon observing, she saw a crystal-like glass object that covered his eyes.
In the cultivation world, no one had problems with their eyes since spiritual pills and medicine could keep their bodies healthy and functioning normally, even for mortals. So the glasses Shin Jiao was wearing were an unfamiliar object to her, making Qin Lou curious. What amazed her most was the fine craftsmanship of the frame, as she knew that the only way to make it was through the use of spiritual sense control.
Contrary to Qin Lou's curiosity, Shin Jiao was excited to test out the glasses' simple AI function. He had made it by combining his knowledge of runes from Earth with a more advanced runic pattern he found on a rock, which he had not learned from his mentor, Gubu. He used this knowledge to make a simple computer AI system, along with the things he learned from making the goggles, which was Gubu's idea. If Shin Jiao had not gained spiritual sense, it would have been impossible for him to craft the eyeglasses. But with his new spiritual sense and experience in crafting, he was able to craft the glasses in just a short time. Plus, the glasses didn't require a complex structure of arrays; he only needed to refine a viewing crystal, a tiny array container behind the head strap, and a spiritual Qi absorption pattern for energy.
After putting the glasses on, he could see information about Qin Lou, as the AI automatically showed her basic condition. He then tested it by looking at plants, and it gave him information on each plant his eyes focused on. The function of the glasses was incomparable to the goggles, but it had basic AI assistance. With this, Shin Jiao felt a little proud of his accomplishment and new creation. Before his mind could wander, he heard Qin Lou's voice.
"What is that... that thing?" she said, pointing at the glasses.
Shin Jiao was shaken, having forgotten that he had to hide this skill. He cursed himself for being muddle-headed. He realized his muddle-headedness came from thinking too much about dulling his heartache and the excitement he felt upon learning something new. But then, he realized he didn't mind showing it to Qin Lou that much. He didn't know why, but he felt he could trust her. And she was very quiet and seemed to have developed an introverted personality because of her looks. So he decided to show her just a glimpse of what he could do and go from there.
"This is something that took me almost my whole life to plan and, at last, make. It's eyewear to get information on plants and beasts and record them if they are still unknown," Shin Jiao lied without batting an eye.
"Really? How... how long did it take you to make it?" Qin Lou probed, still doubtful of his answer.
"Well, let me see... around 10 years, I think," Shin Jiao thought, estimating how long it would take to make this eyewear with the current technology.
"I guess it's your life's work..." she muttered, seemingly thinking about something.
"Yes, it took me a long time to craft this thing. And because you gave me the compendium of basic medicinal herbs, I was finally able to finish it. So I wanted to thank you for your help," Shin Jiao said without a hint of falsehood in his tone or actions.
Qin Lou stayed quiet and just nodded her head, but she seemed to hesitate, wanting to ask something. Deep inside, she really wanted to ask the question that truly baffled her.
"Can... can I ask you something?" she asked with a little hesitation.
"Sure, what is it?"
Qin Lou was uncertain about asking this question because she didn't know if Shin Jiao would answer, but her interest was already piqued. So she decided to ask regardless.
"You... you're a cultivator, right? How... how did you hide your Core Forming Stage aura?"
This question baffled Shin Jiao, especially when she revealed that his aura was that of a Core Forming Realm cultivator. This meant one thing: she had seen his aura. Although she said he was hiding it, he didn't know how to answer because his meridians were truly unable to hold any power as he didn't have any spiritual roots. Everything was in a sphere-like thing inside his dantian. His eyes lit up with realization. When and how had she seen his aura? This was the crucial point. He looked at her and asked.
"How and when did you see my aura?" Shin Jiao asked with an inquisitive tone instead of answering.
Qin Lou seemed to think for a while, as she didn't expect Shin Jiao to ask this question. But then she replied.
"I think it's when you were holding the jade slip and trying to record something in it."
"Record something?... Wait a minute, when I was recording the things I learned from the book, I was exerting my spiritual sense and sending information. Could it be that… Ah... right... Now I know. Let me try this..." Shin Jiao said to himself.
He closed his eyes and tried to feel the spiritual Qi inside the spheres in his dantian. He tried to circulate them out into his body. At first, he failed, unable to get the hang of it, but after trying a couple more times, he was able to control the flow of the Qi and natural energy coming in and out of the spheres. By doing so, he realized that his body became clearer, and a refreshing feeling overcame him. After a while, a sudden epiphany struck him.
"This... this is cultivating, right?" He suddenly said to himself.
This was too familiar to him, as he had always seen Cherry Lao having this kind of circulation in her dantian before. At that time, all he could think of was how to increase the spheres in his dantian, and he hadn't thought of circulating them in his body.
Unknown to Shin Jiao, Qin Lou had been observing him for a long time. He was unaware that he had been standing there for a couple of hours. She was truly stupefied by what she saw: the changing of Shin Jiao's aura from Body Refining, Spiritual Refining, and then to Core Forming stages and back again. It was as if he was wielding different power auras in his body, and they were unstable. Not only her, but some people passing by also saw this and were shaking their heads. This was a symptom of having a Qi deviation, the rapid changing of aura that would cause irreparable damage to one's own dantian.
It was already nighttime when Shin Jiao opened his eyes. He was now able to fully control the circulation of spiritual Qi in his body. He decided to circulate just a small amount, making his aura that of a Body Refining cultivator. This way, he could slowly refine his body to be stronger and become familiar with spiritual Qi. His body was already used to the feeling of natural energy, and now it was time for it to get the feel of spiritual Qi.
Upon opening his eyes, he found that Qin Lou was sitting behind the counter as if waiting for him, and all her medicinal herbs were already inside the straw-woven basket. She seemed to notice his gaze and turned her head toward him.
"You're awake at last. We need to go now. Tomorrow is the start of the martial arts and cultivators' matches. I need to be there to assist the other seniors of the school," Qin Lou said as she stood up, grabbed the basket, and started walking back toward the pond.
"Thank you," Shin Jiao said suddenly, seeing her walking away.
Qin Lou stopped and nodded, then continued walking, and Shin Jiao followed suit. The two walked quietly toward the pond, and upon reaching it, Qin Lou quietly entered the small hut. Shin Jiao had no other choice but to find a place where he could sit down and cultivate. He found that cultivating was very relaxing and made his whole body feel great, more so than sleeping, so he decided to cultivate for the whole night.
The next day...
Shin Jiao woke up feeling refreshed, but then he suddenly felt that something was amiss. A stinky black sludge covered his body and clothes. This made him dumbfounded, as he never thought his body would undergo cleansing after cultivating for just one night. He curiously felt his body and was dumbstruck by what he discovered. His life force was now strong and steady. Before, it was like a small candlelight that could be extinguished by a strong wind, but now it was still like a candle, but the flame was a little bigger and brighter. This meant that his lifespan was now a lot longer than that of a mortal. With this discovery, he felt really happy and forgot the stink coming from his body.
He got up and carefully checked his surroundings, discovering that Qin Lou was not in the hut. He quickly went to the pond and took a bath. The cool water refreshed him and cleaned his body. He also washed his clothes. After cleaning himself up, he planned to take off his clothes to dry them, but as soon as he took off his upper robe, he heard a woman's gasp behind him. Not far from him stood Qin Lou, and judging from where she came from, it was behind a large boulder. Shin Jiao was shaken by this discovery. Instead of being shy, he became curious about the stone, as he had already scanned his perimeter with his goggles and still hadn't found her. He thought the stone was able to block his goggles and intended to investigate it later.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to..." Qin Lou said shyly, dropping her gaze.
"It's okay... I didn't mean to take my clothes off. It's just that everything is wet, so I need to dry them," Shin Jiao explained.
"You... you don't know any Dao spells?" she asked with doubt.
"Ah, yes... you see, it's my... I have been staying in this forest for a long time as I was born with a great physique. I tend to hide from others, so I don't have much contact with other people," Shin Jiao said, sticking to the story he told Cherry Lao.
"Hmm... Let me help you then," Qin Lou said, waving her hand. A warm air enveloped Shin Jiao's upper robe, and after a few minutes, it was already dry. She repeated the same spell on him, and the wet clothes on his body became dry as well.
"Wow, that is truly very convenient magic... Can you teach me?" Shin Jiao asked.
Although Qin Lou was a little hesitant, she gave Shin Jiao the basic spells: fire, wind, water, and earth. All of these basic spells were learned by middle-stage Body Refining cultivators, so it was not a big deal for her. But for Shin Jiao, who was not familiar with the incantations for spells, he became really excited. He would learn and decipher these incantations and then make his own spells so that in the future he didn't have to run all over the place just to find specific spells. But before Shin Jiao could read the book, Qin Lou walked toward her hut and reminded him.
"I need to go back and do my duty as a facilitator today. If you want to learn about martial arts and cultivation, you can come with me."
Upon hearing this, Shin Jiao felt a little expectant, as the cultivators he had seen and faced in this world were a little lacking in fighting skills. They were almost too flashy, lacking the sharpness and refined features of the modern martial techniques that he had learned.
So that morning, they once again went back to the small village camp to enter and watch the martial arts and cultivators' tournament.