46. ​​Nagatomo (Part Four)

◎One Gift Per Year◎

Although Lou Tinglan was angry with her last night, before leaving, he said in a monotone tone, "At three-quarters past Xu hour, outside the Trial Tower, do not be late."

The moon was bright and the stars were few. The Trial Tower stood in the night. Lou Tinglan was already waiting there, still wearing his white robe with gold trim and swallowtail embroidery, which had remained unchanged for thousands of years. His posture was as upright as a pine tree.

"What instructions does the Immortal Lord have?" Ran Qinghe stood at a distance.

Lou Tinglan turned around, his gaze falling on her: "The matter of your natal spirit sword..."

Ran Qinghe abruptly interrupted, "I don't want to talk about it." It seemed that he must have overheard something outside the window during the day.

"Even without my natal spirit sword, my cultivation level will not stagnate in the slightest."

She disliked mentioning her tragic past in front of others, and even more so, she didn't want others to look at her with pity or sympathy, especially him.

Lou Tinglan said, "I don't want to find out the truth, I just want to remind you that if a cultivator's dantian does not have a natal spirit sword as a foundation, the dantian is very prone to spiritual energy disorder. In addition, due to your physical condition, that's why the spiritual energy storm in the valley that night occurred."

Ran Qinghe responded in a light tone. She knew her own physical condition better than anyone; in any case, she wouldn't die so easily.

Seeing her nonchalant attitude, Lou Tinglan could only step forward first, saying, "Excuse me," while forcefully intertwining her fingers with hers once more.

She tried to pull back, but couldn't shake off his hand: "What are you doing?"

A stream of spiritual energy flowed through their palms. Lou Tinglan frowned and said, "You were already in a bad state last night. Sure enough, your spiritual energy had gathered in your dantian and wouldn't disperse. Why didn't you tell me?"

She seemed a little guilty and said in a low voice, "I was already preparing to go to disperse the spirits tonight, but I didn't make it in time because you called me here."

As if she had just remembered something, she suddenly felt a little embarrassed and added, "Don't worry, I'll be careful this time and choose a different place."

Lou Tinglan said in a deep voice, "Forcibly dispersing spiritual energy will deplete spiritual power, which is not a long-term solution."

“So,” he turned toward the Trial Tower, “I will go in with you and learn how to channel spiritual energy through actual combat. Although your innate spiritual body will allow you to cultivate at an unprecedented speed, at the same time, you will gradually lose your keen perception of spiritual energy.”

In short, it's because spiritual energy is obtained too easily that it is easily squandered.

Ran Qinghe frowned: "Now?" She was still somewhat averse to places like towers.

Lou Tinglan said calmly, "It's alright. If you're scared, I'll help you calm down first."

The provocation tactic always worked on her; she snorted coldly and took the lead towards the tower gate.

The illusions within the tower were ever-changing. The first to arrive were swarms of low-level magical beasts. Almost instinctively, she mobilized her spiritual power, and in the blink of an eye, the magical beasts turned into a group of light spots and disappeared.

It was easy, but the spiritual energy consumption was clearly beyond what was necessary.

Lou Tinglan's voice rang out at the right moment, saying gently, "It's a waste. One-tenth of your spiritual power would have been enough to annihilate the phantom beast, but you used half of it. Pay attention to the output of your spiritual power."

Her second opponent was the even faster Shadow Mist. She tried to control it, but always overexerted herself at crucial moments.

"Only with a calm mind can one control the spirit. A chaotic mind will lead to unstable spiritual power."

For some reason, she suddenly recalled the awkwardness of that night in the valley, her mind wandered, and a burst of spiritual energy almost went astray.

Lou Tinglan's timely reminder rang out, "If you can't concentrate, then stop."

He always had a knack for accurately understanding her psychology. Hearing this, Ran Qinghe felt unconvinced and became even more focused, without the slightest slackening.

For a full hour, under his almost harsh guidance, she adjusted and tried again and again, gradually becoming immersed in the process from initial frustration.

When she finally managed to use just the right amount of spiritual power to kill a troublesome phantom beast, a sense of control welled up within her.

When she emerged from the Trial Tower, her forehead was covered in sweat, her breath was slightly ragged, but her eyes shone with an astonishing brightness.

Lou Tinglan handed over a jade bottle: "Rejuvenation Pill."

Ran Qinghe did not refuse this time, and obediently took it and swallowed it. A gentle spiritual energy quickly replenished her energy. She looked at his expressionless profile and thanked him again.

Exhausted, she collapsed onto the ground and looked up. A moon was already hanging in the sky, not quite full, but it always evoked different thoughts in others.

She suddenly recalled some remaining memories.

When she was in the mortal world, she and a few other girls from the orphanage would sneak up onto the courtyard wall while their caretaker was asleep, and watch the moon and laugh together.

Now, she has done just that.

The walls of Yunya Academy were easier to climb than she had imagined. She leaped up and sat on them, supporting herself with her hands on either side, idly watching the moon.

She called out lazily, "Lou Tinglan."

Lou Tinglan, behaving politely, stood closely behind her at the foot of the courtyard wall and responded with a soft "Mm."

"Would you like to come up and look at the moon?" she tried to invite him, not expecting that someone as conventional as him would agree, but she still coaxed him, "It's quite beautiful."

Unexpectedly, Lou Tinglan actually did as she wished, climbed over, and sat down next to her on the courtyard wall.

It seemed that he hadn't judged the distance well; their shoulders were very close, and their body heat was being transmitted through the thin fabric of their clothes.

She shrugged, and her mood became flustered and irritated again because of his unprovoked approach, even though she was the one who had invited him.

Therefore, she could only change the subject haphazardly, saying, "Tell me, is the moon in the mortal realm a false moon? After all, the mortal realm is below, and the cultivation realm is above."

Although Lou Tinglan was puzzled by her abrupt question, she still answered seriously: "It shouldn't be. The cultivation world is not like the Nine Heavens, which completely covers the mortal world below. It is just like a few mountains in a high place that the mortal world cannot reach."

Looking at his serious expression as he answered, she suppressed a laugh and said, "Oh, I see. Then what we saw must have been the real moon."

Lou Tinglan: "Them?"

Ran Qinghe replied, "They were the girls you saw at my coming-of-age ceremony." Their appearances were already blurry in her memory, but she still remembered, "They embroidered red clothes for me and watched coldly as I was thrown into the fire pit."

Lou Tinglan frowned slightly: "You know?"

Ran Qinghe pretended to be relaxed and said, "After all, the Mirror of Forgetfulness is in my hands, so it would be hard for me not to go back and look at it."

"However, I should have believed you." That way, when she looks at the moon now, bad memories won't linger in her mind.

A moment of silence fell between the two.

"Sigh, I'm just missing some snacks, or maybe a jar of wine would be nice too," she suddenly sighed.

For some reason, her thoughts drifted off again, and she cursed, "Speaking of which, it's all Lou Yu Lou Qiong's fault for breaking a jar of my fine wine."

She suddenly turned her head to look at him: "It's all your fault." If he hadn't come to arrest her back then, she might be enjoying herself somewhere, drinking and singing. Instead, she's trapped in this academy, learning some boring and tedious mental cultivation techniques, and then exhausted like a dog in the trial tower.

Lou Tinglan replied indulgently, "Yes, it's all my fault."

"However, I don't know if this can be considered a snack."

As if by magic, he pulled a candied hawthorn skewer from his storage bag, and it looked as if a hawthorn ball had been bitten off the wooden stick.

The sight before her was so comical that Ran Qinghe stared wide-eyed as she took it, exclaiming, "How did you get this?"

The rock sugar coating on the hawthorns hadn't melted at all. Ran Qinghe couldn't wait to take a bite, and muttered teasingly, "Why did you sneak one first?"

Lou Tinglan paused for a moment. He had taken a bite of the candied hawthorn on the stick out of embarrassment and then stuck it back into the vendor's wooden target for fear of being discovered by Ran Qinghe. But the vendor had caught up with him later and forced the stick into his hand.

He had no choice but to temporarily store it in his storage bag. It was only when she mentioned some snacks that he remembered he had such a thing in his storage bag.

Ran Qinghe couldn't help but chuckle and glanced to the side, but he remained as serious as ever.

She thought to herself, Lou Tinglan didn't seem to notice anything amiss at all.

The person in the mirror cannot see the person outside the mirror. Therefore, the vendor selling candied hawthorns was also created by her using a puppet talisman. When she thought of the scene where Lou Tinglan was later chased by the puppet she controlled, she couldn't help but laugh out loud, kicking her legs.

Lou Tinglan looked completely bewildered: ?

Seeing her take a bite of the second hawthorn ball, he suddenly asked, as if possessed, "Is the candied hawthorn sweeter, or the sugar painting?"

She found the question quite strange, but then realized it was probably because this serious little boy had never eaten anything "ordinary," so she patiently explained:

"Candied hawthorn is usually made by coating hawthorn with boiled rock sugar, while sugar painting is made with maltose. In terms of sweetness and sourness, candied hawthorn is actually sweet and sour, while sugar painting is sweet without any sourness."

Lou Tinglan said "Oh," and drew a conclusion for her: "So, in your heart, sugar painting is sweeter."

Ran Qinghe raised an eyebrow: "Isn't this just a matter of course?"

He let out another "oh," as if he had accidentally bitten into a hawthorn that wasn't coated with rock sugar, leaving a sour and astringent taste.

Ran Qinghe stuffed the last hawthorn ball into her mouth and mumbled, "Throw this stick away for me."

Lou Tinglan casually tossed it into her storage bag and continued looking up at the sky, but she was already preparing to get up and leave.

"Tonight should be the 14th of August. The moon on the 14th is not as round as the moon on the 15th. Let's look again tomorrow. I'll find some good wine and enjoy the moon while drinking. That would be a wonderful thing."

Lou Tinglan grabbed her wrist: "Wait a minute, I... have something for you." With that, as if she had prepared it beforehand, she took out a wooden hairpin from her sleeve and handed it to her.

“I remember your coming-of-age ceremony was on August 14th. I read in the ‘Records of the Mortal Realm’ that mortals have short lifespans, so they hold a ceremony every year.”

"But what kind of gift to give is not recorded in the local customs and products."

Ran Qinghe accepted it in a daze, so he could only clumsily imitate the hairpin-tying ceremony she had when she came of age and give her a wooden hairpin.

She smiled and said, "Lou Tinglan, does the local chronicle mention that in the mortal realm, when a man gives a woman a hairpin, it's to express his feelings?"