"Two months ago, when Feng Zeyan took Liu Xuewei back and lit her Soul Lamp, Liu Xuewei accidentally shattered my Soul Lamp."
Si Nansheng answered honestly, but Li Tianhen furrowed his brow.
"A Soul Lamp is no ordinary object. How could it possibly be shattered so easily?"
Something was wrong—terribly wrong.
A Soul Lamp could only be shattered using Spiritual Energy. For Liu Xuewei to have broken it, she must have channeled Spiritual Energy at the time.
Even if it had broken, shouldn't Feng Zeyan have promptly prepared a replacement for Si Nansheng?
Otherwise, without a Soul Lamp, if anything were to happen to Si Nansheng outside, wouldn't there be no way for anyone to know?
"It really did shatter. I saw it with my own eyes, and I felt it, too." Or rather, the former Si Nansheng had seen it with her own eyes.
At the time, she had also suspected that Liu Xuewei did it on purpose, but Liu Xuewei had apologized to her with a timid, aggrieved expression.
Feng Zeyan insisted that Liu Xuewei hadn't meant it, and the matter was simply dropped right there.
Pestered endlessly by Liu Xuewei in every possible way, Feng Zeyan never once remembered to prepare a new Soul Lamp for Little Jiu.
"Your Master understands. Since that's the case, your Master will make a trip there to demand your Soul Lamp back and thoroughly shame Feng Zeyan."
With that, Li Tianhen stood right up.
Si Nansheng watched as Li Tianhen flew off on his sword.
Wasn't her master going to demand her Soul Lamp back? It looked much more like he was going to slap someone across the face.
This master of hers had a rather mischievous streak!
Not only was he mischievous, but he was also fiercely protective of his own!
She loved it!
Si Nansheng didn't know the exact details of what happened next; she only knew that for a long time afterward, rumors circulated in the outside world that the Sect Master of the Shengtian Sect was holding tightly onto Si Nansheng's Soul Lamp and refusing to let go.
Some said he simply couldn't bear to let go of such an exceptional disciple.
Some said he was furious that his disciple had defected to another sect.
Still others called him utterly shameless!
Who would have guessed that he genuinely couldn't produce the thing?
"Junior Sister, I've already set up the Spirit Gathering Array for you. Have a go at it." After setting up the Spirit Gathering Array in Si Nansheng's courtyard, Ye Yanqing looked at her with a warm smile.
Si Nansheng hastily crossed her legs in meditation, closed her eyes, and began to regulate her breathing.
"Thank you, Senior Brother! With the Spirit Gathering Array, my absorption of Spiritual Energy is much faster." Si Nansheng opened her eyes and looked at Ye Yanqing with delight.
Si Nansheng had never expected her Senior Brother to prepare a top-grade Spirit Gathering Array for her.
Back at the Shengtian Sect, the residences of direct disciples were only equipped with low-grade or mid-grade spirit gathering arrays.
Originally, Si Nansheng's own courtyard had possessed an array, but after Liu Xuewei arrived and declared she liked the courtyard, Feng Zeyan and her fellow senior brothers simply told Si Nansheng to hand the courtyard over.
The pre-awakening Si Nansheng had a timid and yielding personality, and combined with Feng Zeyan's command, she had handed the courtyard straight over to Liu Xuewei.
Yet the Spirit Gathering Array before her now was a top-grade one, specially prepared by her Senior Brother.
"Senior Brother, the array you prepared for me is actually a top-grade Spirit Gathering Array. You must have wasted a lot of precious materials on this, right?"
"As long as you like it, and as long as it's useful to you, it's not a waste." Ye Yanqing smiled as he looked at Si Nansheng.
"I love it! Thank you, Senior Brother." Si Nansheng beamed happily at Ye Yanqing.
Ye Yanqing increasingly felt that his junior sister was far too easily satisfied; mere possession of a Spirit Gathering Array had made her this happy.
It seemed that in the future, if he wanted to make his junior sister even happier, he would just have to search out a few more good things for her.
"Senior Brother, Master said you're very skilled in talismans and arrays. Could you teach me?"
Si Nansheng looked at Ye Yanqing with wide, hopeful eyes.
"You want to study talismans and arrays?" Ye Yanqing looked at her, puzzled.
"Yes. Earlier, Master gave me his Fire Spirit and Ice Spirit, and I broke through straight to Qi Refining Realm Layer 6. It's a bit too rapid, so I want to slow down and steady my foundation. So, Senior Brother, could you teach me? Don't worry, I'll study hard."
Operating on the philosophy that one can never have too many skills, Si Nansheng intended to start by learning talismans and arrays. Naturally, she could have gone directly to the Library Pavilion to study on her own.
However, figuring things out by herself would be terribly slow, and if others found out later, it would be difficult to explain.
In the end, she decided to learn from her Senior Brother; that way, any explanations would be much more convenient.
"All right, Senior Brother will teach you now. But you must proceed within your limits and not push yourself too hard." Seeing the eager look on Si Nansheng's face, Ye Yanqing could only nod in agreement.
"Understood!"
Ye Yanqing produced an unused talisman brush and a stack of unused talisman paper to begin teaching Si Nansheng.
However, he dared not let her draw talismans straight away; instead, he explained the precautions necessary for crafting talismans and the various functions of different types.
Before leaving, he did not forget to leave behind two books on commonly used talismans and a few standard examples—such as speed talismans, gravity talismans, and Immobilization Talismans.
After Ye Yanqing left, Si Nansheng took out the talisman books she had dug up from the Library Pavilion and began to read through them earnestly.
Once she felt she had researched enough, she started to draw. As a result, she had barely finished a few talismans when her nose began to bleed, and she passed out cold.
When she woke up, she clearly sensed that her spiritual sea had expanded slightly.
"So that's how it is. Crafting talismans consumes Spiritual Energy and trains the Divine Sense. It seems I should practice crafting talismans whenever I have free time to train my Divine Sense."
Si Nansheng was quite pleased with this discovery.
In high spirits, she continued crafting talismans and collected the finished pieces.
Feeling her stomach rumble with hunger, Si Nansheng went on a rampage of chaos through the back mountain, caught a Spirit Chicken, and immediately set up a makeshift hearth to roast it.
"Master, smoke is rising from the back mountain! Is something on fire?" Ye Yanqing had originally planned to check on how Si Nansheng was progressing with her talisman crafting.
The moment he stepped outside, however, he saw a wisp of smoke curling up from the back mountain and hurried to find Li Tianhen.
"Let's go take a look. It sounds like your junior sister is over there." Li Tianhen sighed as he gazed at the smoke in the distance.
When master and disciple walked over, they found Si Nansheng happily devouring a chicken leg.
"Mmph?" Noticing someone approaching, Si Nansheng looked up, a piece of meat still hanging out of her mouth as she blinked dazedly.
Li Tianhen and Ye Yanqing looked at her with helpless expressions.
"Junior Sister, what on earth are you up to?" Ye Yanqing asked, amused by Si Nansheng's adorable and bewildered look.
"Gulp." Si Nansheng swallowed the food in her mouth.
"I was meditating for a bit too long and got hungry, so I came out to find something to eat. Um... Master, Senior Brother, would you like to join me for a bite?"
Si Nansheng held up the chicken leg in her hand. Li Tianhen and Ye Yanqing exchanged glances, then both sat down nearby.
Although the two of them had essentially reached a state of complete penance where they no longer needed regular food, they couldn't resist the fact that the Spirit Chicken roasted by Si Nansheng smelled genuinely mouth-watering.
The last time Si Nansheng had roasted a Spirit Chicken, they hadn't gotten to eat their fill at all.
Si Nansheng truly hadn't expected her Master and Senior Brother to sit down, and she froze for a moment in surprise.
Her Master and Senior Brother had actually come to freeload her Spirit Chicken—what should she do if she didn't even have enough for herself?
Should she go catch another one?
"Roast this instead." With a flick of his sleeve, Li Tianhen produced a spirit bird covered entirely in fiery red feathers.
Then, ignoring Si Nansheng's gaze, he reached over and took the already-roasted Spirit Chicken for himself.
Si Nansheng looked at the sole remaining chicken leg in her hand, then glanced at her Master and Senior Brother eating with gusto, and pouted.
These two were really something... Who steals food from a child?
After finishing off her remaining chicken leg, Si Nansheng finally turned her attention to preparing the spirit bird Li Tianhen had brought out.