"What you're saying is way too far-fetched. Where is there such a miraculous fairy medicine? How could it possibly make someone grow longer all of a sudden? That's completely absurd!" The crowd shook their heads one after another, making it clear they didn't believe it.
"Exactly, exactly! Did you go crazy thinking about things last night and make up a story just to fool us?"
A short, plump cultivator said with a leering expression on his face.
"Hmph, believe what you want! Anyway, I heard people over in the East Market talking about it as if it actually happened." The middle-aged woman stamped her foot in frustration.
"The East Market? Droopy? Long-legs? Snake Brother?!"
Thinking of this, Li Pingyi felt a jolt in his chest. His foot slipped, his body staggered, and he immediately covered his face and bolted away in a frantic run.
...
"Brother Pingyi, it's really great to see you're okay! You have no idea how worried I was. I didn't feel at ease until I got word last night that you'd made it home safely."
Just as Li Pingyi reached the entrance of the schoolhouse, he heard a hysterical shout coming from behind.
Looking back, he saw a short, chubby figure wildly flailing his arms, running toward him while panting heavily.
Li Pingyi instantly remembered what he had forgotten last night, his thoughts clearing up in a flash. He hurriedly cast a Spirit Talisman armor spell on himself first, then spread his arms and strode forward to meet him.
The Academy Award-winning actor instantly went online.
"Jingui, my good brother, you have no idea how worried I was! If the Market Town hadn't still been under curfew last night, I would have run straight to your house to look for you. It wasn't until I got the news from my dad that you'd gotten home safe that I finally felt at ease."
While pretending to wipe away tears that weren't there at all, Li Pingyi used the momentum to take a large step backward, secretly sighing to himself that casting the armor spell had been a remarkably wise choice.
Fatty Jin wiped his tears and said hurriedly:
"Brother Pingyi, I understand everything, I get it all! At that exact moment when we were sucked in yesterday, Brother Pingyi, you were still thinking of pushing me out. I understand everything. From now on, you'll always be my big brother, forever."
Li Pingyi wore a blank look, then frantically searched his memory before immediately understanding.
If he told him right now that his shout of "Step back!" was just to keep him from blocking the path, would Fatty Jin march right up and smash his head against a wall?
"Quick, tell me what you went through in there! Did you run into any danger?"
Li Pingyi quickly changed the subject with an excited expression.
Fatty Jin steadied himself and replied:
"I got teleported into a forest, and right next to me was a tree hole. I wanted to go in and hide, but inside I found a Wood Spirit Flower. After that, I just stayed hidden in the tree hole the whole time and didn't dare cultivate at all, right up until I got teleported out."
Hearing this, Li Pingyi could only call out that the fellow was blessed. Such luck was simply defying the heavens—could it be that this guy was the protagonist of this book?
The moment he was teleported in yesterday, he had memorized the layout of the light pillars on the chessboard. There were only two treasures that didn't have black light pillars over them; he had gone to one, and the other must have been taken by Fatty Jin.
"From now on, whenever you harvest spirit plants, get out of there immediately. Heavenly materials and earthly treasures are basically all guarded by Monster Beasts. You got lucky this time, but next time might not be the same. Did you hear me?"
He looked at Li Pingyi—no, he looked at Jingui with a stern expression.
With Brother Qi's help, he had been able to smoothly bypass danger, which made him sigh once again that this little fatty's luck was truly formidable.
Hearing this, Fatty Jin couldn't help feeling a lingering sense of fear, and he nodded hastily.
"I know, Brother Pingyi. Next time I'll definitely listen to you: grab and run, absolutely no lingering."
After this incident, Li Pingyi's status in Jingui's heart skyrocketed straight up.
Since their families lived not far apart, they usually walked home together after school, so their relationship was already pretty good to begin with.
Added to what happened this time around, anyway, this lackey Jingui was completely locked in for good.
Jingui's family ran a Spirit Talisman business in the Market Town, and their household was quite well-off.
At the schoolhouse, the other students were always eager to play with him, but he saw through them like a clear mirror, knowing full well they were only after his generous pocket money and the treats he was constantly buying.
Only Li Pingyi never asked him for things.
The little fatty might look carefree on the outside, but inside he was as clear as a mirror.
If Li Pingyi knew what Jingui was thinking, he would definitely cry out that he was being wronged.
His actual age was already over forty; acting innocent and cute on a regular basis was already his absolute limit. There was no way he was going to go scamming a kid's pocket money on top of that.
No matter how lacking in morals and integrity he might be, he could never stoop to doing something like that.
Though once Jingui grew up, well, that might be hard to say.
The two of them walked side by side into the schoolhouse. Jingui leaned close to Li Pingyi's ear and lowered his voice.
"Brother Pingyi, I heard that those of us at the Qi Condensation 4th Layer might have to go to the Outer Sect to study early."
Li Pingyi froze slightly, blurting out, "So sudden?"
Jingui hurried to explain: "My dad said so, it shouldn't be wrong. It seems because of what happened yesterday, the sect feels we need to go study in the Outer Sect early on, otherwise they're afraid we won't have the ability to protect ourselves."
Li Pingyi nodded gently and fell into deep thought.
Jingui went on: "Brother Pingyi, I don't want to be too far from you. How about we live close to each other in the Outer Sect?"
Li Pingyi was startled at first, his face full of astonishment and suspicion. He instinctively took a step back, putting quite a distance between them, a trace of wariness flashing in his eyes.
Little Fatty, do you have any idea how strange that sounds?
Yet seeing the expectant and sincere look in Jingui's eyes a second later, he smiled and patted Jingui on the shoulder.
"Alright, no problem. That way we can look out for each other."
Jingui instantly beamed with joy. "That's great! With Brother Pingyi around, I feel so much more secure."
The schoolhouse where they were enrolled was an internal academy specially established by the Qingxuan Sect for the direct descendants of sect members who held official duties.
To put it simply, it was an employee dependents' class.
However, because most sect members poured their hearts entirely into cultivation and simply didn't have the time for romance, marriage, or starting families—and the higher one's cultivation realm, the harder it was to have offspring—the number of students in the schoolhouse was very small.
Meanwhile, the indigenous residents of Sifang Market were mostly descendants of past Qingxuan Sect members, and some had never even stepped foot outside Sifang Market their entire lives.
In their hearts, the Qingxuan Sect was their guardian deity, and their sense of belonging was exceptionally strong.
Therefore, the schoolhouse also opened its doors to enroll children of the indigenous residents of Sifang Market.
Any child who awakened their cultivation talent before the age of ten would be sent to this schoolhouse.
As a result, Sifang Market instantly turned into the legendary "school district housing."
According to past regulations, students originally had to reach the Qi Condensation 5th Layer before they could advance from the schoolhouse into the Outer Sect, where they would cultivate and audit certain courses. If their cultivation reached the 6th layer before turning eighteen, they could formally enter the Outer Sect.
To his surprise, this time they were actually arranging for Qi Condensation 4th Layer students to head to the Outer Sect early.
Li Pingyi sat down at his desk, watching his classmates chatting and laughing around him, while quietly calculating in his mind:
"Plans have changed. Still, this might not necessarily be a bad thing."
For the entire rest of the day, he exercised his Consciousness Sea.
Lifting the white Go piece, then setting it down.
Whenever he felt tired, he would immediately close his eyes and rest his mind, never pushing himself even a fraction past his limit.
After all, if one wanted to bid farewell to being short and small, hard work was the only way.
...