Chapter 42: Sleeping

After finally getting a good night’s sleep and feeling refreshed, Lin Ling spent the entire day studying the ancient texts sent by Gong Xuance.

She studied the Talisman patterns within while simultaneously dividing her attention to circulate the perfect cycle of the Glimmering Moonlight Heart Sutra over and over.

Although it was still a bit difficult, it was already many times smoother than before.

Perhaps it wouldn’t be long before she reached the early stage of the Law-Condensing Realm.

Stopping the circulation of her cultivation technique, Lin Ling took a deep breath and looked at the Spirit Gathering Talisman she had just researched with the help of the ancient books.

She felt a bit nervous.

This was the first time she had successfully drawn a Second Rank Talisman, and she didn’t know how effective it would be.

‘If it works, I might even be able to construct a new formation with it. When that time comes, I’ll be able to gather the Ling Qi of heaven and earth, making cultivation incredibly easy.’

Lin Ling stood in the center of the room, lightly pinching the Talisman paper, and shouted, “THE TALISMAN FORMS TO OPEN HEAVEN’S MAW, MAY LING QI FLOW FOR 100 YARDS!”

The Talisman paper ignited and flew from Lin Ling’s hand, floating in mid-air.

It then formed a tornado-like vortex of Ling Qi centered around her.

Once this vortex took shape, it transformed into a bolt of white light that shot up into the sky.

The light flew toward the roof like a rainbow piercing the sun, then tore through the ceiling to open a rift in the sky.

Countless amounts of Ling Qi poured into the room through this rift, drawn by the Spirit Gathering Talisman in mid-air, spiraling continuously.

Soon, the Ling Qi where Lin Ling stood became so dense it was visible to the naked eye.

Lin Ling was about to let out an excited cheer, but she was choked by the increasingly thick Ling Qi and began to cough.

Puzzled, Lin Ling quickly accelerated her absorption of the spiritual energy, hoping to reduce its density.

However, the spiritual energy pouring into the room became even more violent, like a river that had opened its floodgates.

The density had even reached the level of a thick morning mist.

Lin Ling grew nervous.

She quickly grabbed another Talisman paper, intending to stop the Spirit Gathering Talisman’s operation, only to find that it completely ignored her commands and continued to glow with fire.

Countless amounts of Ling Qi continued to surge toward her room.

Lin Ling felt a momentary panic, and cold sweat broke out on her forehead.

‘It seems I played a bit too hard,’ she muttered to herself.

Since she couldn’t stop the Spirit Gathering Talisman and her own spiritual energy was likely insufficient for the Talisman to absorb, she had to find another way to destroy it.

Lin Ling rummaged through her person and pulled out several Scarlet Fire Talismans.

She activated them all at once and threw them toward the Spirit Gathering Talisman floating in the air.

There was a thunderous explosion.

A muffled sound, like a dud firecracker, erupted from Lin Ling’s room.

Plumes of black smoke billowed out, attracting the attention of many guards.

The Little Fox pushed the door open and walked out of the room, coughing while waving her hand to clear the air in front of her nose.

‘It seems some of the circuits in the Runes I drew were wrong, which is why the Spirit Gathering Talisman wouldn’t stop,’ Lin Ling thought, her face covered in soot.

She let out a sigh and then put her hands on her hips, regaining her confidence.

‘At least it was halfway successful!’

She only returned to continue her research after the thick smoke in the room had cleared.

After a hasty lunch in the Xun Zhu Si kitchen, Lin Ling returned without pause to continue her study of the Talismans.

Before long, the sky gradually darkened.

Lin Ling stretched, extinguished the candle, and stepped out of her room.

***

At this time, there was no one else in the Xun Zhu Si except for a few guards.

The mortals who usually came and went seeking help had disappeared.

Feeling a bit hungry, the Little Fox planned to go to the kitchen to see if there was anything left to eat.

As she passed some guards, they all greeted Lin Ling with solemn expressions.

Lin Ling then remembered that she was a Sixth Rank official.

Although it was a middle-management position, it was certainly much higher than the guards.

She quickly hurried away, feeling somewhat unaccustomed to the situation.

Returning to her room, Lin Ling gathered her quilt and pillows and headed toward Xiu Jiming’s house.

At that moment, Xiu Jiming was sitting cross-legged on the bed, eyes focused on his nose and his nose focused on his heart, trying to suppress the strange, fiery sensation in his mind.

When Lin Ling knocked on the door, a surge of sinister energy suddenly rose within Xiu Jiming, nearly causing him to suffer from Qi Deviation.

He let out a cough and stepped forward to open the door for Lin Ling.

She was quite small and was cradling a large pile of bedding.

As she looked up at him, he couldn’t help but find it a bit amusing.

Taking the quilt from Lin Ling’s arms, Xiu Jiming walked into the room.

Just as he was about to say something, Lin Ling began to look around his room.

She poked his back and wrote on a piece of paper for him to see: ‘Why is there only one bed? Didn’t I tell you I was coming to sleep with you?’

Upon seeing this, Xiu Jiming’s face darkened, and for a moment, he didn’t know how to respond.

‘How am I supposed to say that I thought I’d be sleeping in the same bed as her?’

He felt extremely embarrassed and wished he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.

However, there was no other way now, so he could only say vaguely, “Cough… For the time being… I can’t find a second bed. That… you sleep on the bed, and I’ll just sleep on the floor.”

Lin Ling sat down on the edge of Xiu Jiming’s bed with great ease and wrote: ‘That would be so embarrassing. It’s the middle of winter. Even if there’s floor heating, sleeping on the ground isn’t good, right?’

Xiu Jiming sat silently beside Lin Ling, looking down at the Little Fox and asking, “Then what do you think we should do?”

Lin Ling sighed with a bit of regret and scanned Xiu Jiming’s bed.

‘Your bed is actually quite big, so why don’t we just share?’

Lin Ling seemed completely unconcerned.

Seeing this, Xiu Jiming secretly gave himself a thumbs-up for not preparing an extra bed.

Lin Ling brought over two pillows and placed them horizontally between them.

She said, “We’ll sleep with these between us. It was already embarrassing enough that I keep bothering you,” Lin Ling scratched her head.

Xiu Jiming watched her, observing the Little Fox’s busy movements on the bed, and nodded silently. “Fine.”

And so, Lin Ling climbed onto the bed with her quilt.

After she lay down, Xiu Jiming followed her and slowly lay down on the other side of the bed.

The atmosphere was a bit awkward, and neither of them spoke.

However, since she was there to rest, Lin Ling didn’t think much of it.

She closed her eyes and began to count sheep.

Back when she was a bandit, whenever winter came and the stronghold didn’t have enough heat, she would often stay with a group of other bandits.

It was never as cold with more people around, so she didn’t see any problem with it.

The stove in Xiu Jiming’s room was burning brightly, and Lin Ling soon felt drowsiness wash over her.

After a yawn, she curled up in her quilt on her side and fell asleep.

Xiu Jiming, however, found things difficult.

Being so close and smelling the fragrance of the young girl, he suddenly felt flustered and restless.

Unable to sleep, he simply sat up, glanced at Lin Ling who was wrapped tightly beside him, let out a soft sigh, and began to meditate on the spot.

By the next morning, Lin Ling found that she had somehow rolled over the middle line and was lying in Xiu Jiming’s spot, clinging to him like an octopus.

She had even left a bit of drool on his clothes.

She looked up awkwardly, only to see Xiu Jiming’s face marked with dark circles under his eyes.

She coughed and said, “Xiao Ming, good morning.”