Chapter 11: Jingle Bells

“So stupid.”

Lin Keqing propped her chin on her hand, looking speechlessly at Lin Ling, who was rolling on the floor.

“I’ve never seen anyone suffer a cultivation deviation just by trying to enter the Spirit Awakening Realm.”

After Lin Keqing healed her injuries, Lin Ling lay on the ground in despair.

She said weakly, “High Immortal, why don’t you find someone else to torture? I might really be unable to cultivate. Please, show some mercy, withdraw your divine powers, and let me turn back into a man.”

Upon hearing this, Lin Keqing frowned slightly, her heart fluttering with a bit of doubt.

“Could it be because the two lifetimes are incompatible?”

Thinking of this, Lin Keqing focused her gaze on the bell around Lin Ling’s neck.

After watching it for a moment, she burst into laughter.

“I was overthinking. The fusion is going much smoother than I imagined. So what exactly is going on?”

Seeing Lin Ling sitting there without any posture, whimpering and whining, Lin Keqing suddenly had an idea.

She smiled and said, “I know now.”

“Huh?”

Lin Ling looked up at her in confusion.

[She doesn’t have another rotten idea to prank me, does she?]

“Sit properly~”

Lin Keqing commanded.

Lin Ling could only reluctantly sit in a cross-legged lotus position, saying, “This is very uncomfortable.”

Hearing this, Lin Keqing dazed for a moment, as if remembering something.

Slowly, a faint smile appeared on her face.

She walked forward and stood behind Lin Ling.

The moment Lin Ling closed her eyes, she reached out and gently flicked the bell around Lin Ling’s neck.

Ding-ling~

A crisp sound rang out.

Lin Ling suddenly felt her world spinning.

the scene before her changed significantly.

She was sitting in a small courtyard, and a young Fox Clan girl stood before her with a reproachful look.

Using her sleeve, she wiped the mud off Lin Ling’s forehead.

“Be careful next time. Falling down just from carrying something—you’re so clumsy.”

“Mhm…”

Lin Ling heard herself sniffing.

She had clearly just been crying.

The girl in front of her was Lin Keqing, but much younger.

“Sister, I’m stuck in my cultivation. I can’t find a way to start,” Lin Ling said, looking seriously at Lin Keqing.

“Am I just not suited for cultivation?”

Lin Ling was startled.

Why did this sound so familiar?

“You need to calm your mind. How can you cultivate when your head is full of thoughts about going out to play?”

Lin Keqing put her hands on her hips, looking like she was frustrated that her sister wasn’t living up to her potential.

“I’ll help you one last time!”

She slowly walked behind Lin Ling and began to recite scriptures to forcibly calm Lin Ling’s heart.

“I can’t calm down.”

Lin Ling sighed and leaned backward, falling right into Lin Keqing’s arms.

“You, oh you.”

Helpless, Lin Keqing reached out and poked Lin Ling’s forehead.

Lin Ling covered her forehead and pouted at her.

“How about this? Sister will give you a magic treasure. It’s a small bell specifically used for heart cultivation. I begged Father for a long time before he gave it to me. Now, I’m letting you have it for cheap.”

Lin Keqing sighed, her eyes darting around as she pulled a small bell from her pocket.

Lin Ling looked at the bell in Lin Keqing’s hand, then reached up to touch her own neck, only to find nothing there.

She froze, suddenly realizing that the bell she wore later came from this exact moment.

“Wow, really! Thank you, Sister! I love you the most!~”

Lin Ling jumped up from the ground with a start and hugged Lin Keqing, rubbing her head against Lin Keqing’s chest.

Lin Keqing just chuckled.

It wasn’t a magic treasure at all; it was just a small gift she had taken the time to make specifically for Lin Ling.

Finally, Lin Keqing personally tied the small bell onto Lin Ling.

Every time Lin Ling sat down to meditate on the Way, she would give the bell a light flick, allowing her to enter the proper state.

The effect was surprisingly good.

Lin Ling watched her past self put on the bell and slowly close her eyes.

She subconsciously touched the bell at her neck, feeling the same emotions as the former Lin Ling.

A feeling called kinship surfaced, filling the panic of her drifting, rootless soul.

The spiritual qi of reality and the insights from the memory pierced through time at this moment, converging in her mind.

As her breath flowed, she truly felt the existence of the spiritual qi in the air.

She was both a newcomer drawing qi into her body for the first time and someone who seemed to have practiced it thousands of times.

Every circulatory cycle was executed with incredible familiarity.

The bell at her neck rang silently, the clear sound echoing only within her mind’s eye.

When she opened her eyes again, Lin Keqing’s soul was looking at her with expectation.

Lin Ling smiled slightly.

“Fox Immortal Sister, I have entered the Spirit Awakening Realm.”

Feeling the world’s spiritual qi constantly surging toward Lin Ling, Lin Keqing looked startled, but that quickly turned into satisfaction.

Not only that, but it was as if Lin Ling had stayed in the Spirit Awakening Realm for a long time.

The density and purity of the spiritual qi in her body rapidly reached the peak of the Spirit Awakening Realm, not far from the Law Condensation Realm.

Lin Ling smiled.

“Is this right, Fox Immortal Sister?”

In the evening, to celebrate Lin Ling achieving Spirit Awakening, the Temple Manager prepared a table full of good food.

Lin Keqing was currently in a soul state and couldn’t eat, so she could only smell the aroma of the food while watching the two of them eat.

However, the only one really feasting was Lin Ling.

The Temple Manager just ate a little before putting down his chopsticks to go work.

“In the future, there are still many of our Fox Clan’s spells you need to learn. Now that you’ve reached the Spirit Awakening Realm, you’ll be even busier than before,” Lin Keqing nagged while watching Lin Ling eat like a starving ghost.

Lin Ling completely ignored what Lin Keqing was saying. Now that she could finally cultivate, she was in a great mood and had a great appetite, giving Lin Keqing only casual responses.

Sighing, Lin Keqing stopped talking.

The girl’s eating manners were so poor she could hardly bear to look.

After stepping forward to give Lin Ling a flick on the head, she left.

Just as Lin Ling was eating with gusto, a knock suddenly sounded at the door.

Lin Ling’s movement of gnawing on a chicken leg stopped abruptly, and she looked toward the door with a confused expression.

The Temple Manager wiped his hands with a rag and walked toward the temple entrance, saying with a light laugh, “It’s too late; this temple is not taking pilgrims. If the guest has business, you might as well come back tomorrow morning.”

His voice was gentle, yet it acted like an invisible wall, firmly blocking the door.

The person outside said, “Old gentleman, there is no need to be nervous. I am not a pilgrim. I just… came to take a look.”

The voice sounded a bit familiar.

Still holding the chicken leg in her mouth, Lin Ling stood up, intending to go out and see.

Reaching the door, she saw the young man surnamed Shen standing there with several guards.

Shen Zaixin’s gaze was sharp.

He quickly noticed Lin Ling peeking out from the back hall.

That petite figure in white and red was truly eye-catching. He waved and smiled.

“Hello, Miss Ling’er. Do you remember me?”

[Holy crap! It’s that squinty-eyed guy! How did he find this place?!]

Lin Ling quickly pulled her head back, finished the chicken leg in record time, tossed the bone aside, and wiped her hands with a cloth.

By then, Shen Zaixin had already explained his reason for coming to the old Temple Manager.

The manager’s expression shifted slightly, but he still let him in.

Lin Ling ran into her room to grab her paper and brush before walking out.

She glanced at Shen Zaixin and wrote on the paper: “Is Lord Shen here to tear down my little temple?”