Chapter 55 A Friendship Forged in a Box of Cookies
Xiao Shi glared at him, her cheeks puffed out in anger.
If it could solidify into a physical form, wouldn't it have solidified eight hundred years ago?
Unfortunately, despite its countless efforts, it could only conjure a phantom image that could be seen and smelled, but could not be touched or eaten.
Sigh! If I had known I would suffer like this, I would have preferred not to leave the ten-story tower.
But guarding the ten-story tower every day is so boring. I've finally met such a cute little kid, so I'll stay by his side for a while.
Today, Achen read books about talismans. Since he chose the talisman-making system, he wanted to learn talismans thoroughly.
He read and took notes, completely absorbed in the text.
Xiao Shi was surprised to find that this little boy was truly gifted; he could always find the key points immediately and write them down.
This was the first time Xiao Shi had seen someone reading a book since it gained sentience. Then, it unexpectedly discovered that as A Chen read, wisps of spiritual energy began to emanate from the book.
In the past, when it absorbed the spiritual essence of books, only a faint spiritual essence would float in each book. After it absorbed it, it would be difficult to find any spiritual essence in the book anymore.
But today it realized that the charm of the book was not just a little bit as it thought, but required the reader's focus and understanding to bring out the charm of the book.
The spiritual essence in the book was a great tonic for Xiao Shi, so while A Chen was reading it attentively, Xiao Shi quietly circled around him, absorbing the wisps of spiritual essence emanating from the book.
The young boy was reading, and a little spirit disguised as an old man with a white beard floated beside him. The two were surprisingly in harmony.
Suddenly, a crisp "ding-dong" sound rang out. Ah Chen looked up and saw a person's image appear on the wall of the study.
"Junior Brother Zuo Chen, I am Nie Xiaoxiao. I was admitted to Shifang Academy at the same time as you."
We are neighbors. I brought some local specialties from my hometown and came to pay a visit. Could you please lift the access restriction and let me in?
The speaker was a little girl of about eight years old. She was pretty with delicate features and clear, bright eyes, the kind of girl who was hard not to like.
She tied her hair into a ponytail with a green ribbon, a simple outfit that made her look even more refreshing and radiant.
She was wearing the plant science department uniform, with green leaf patterns embroidered on her robe.
After a brief analysis, Achen concluded that Nie Xiaoxiao must have been among the top three in the assessment, otherwise she wouldn't have been able to enter Shangqingyuan.
Although he encountered Gu Panshi and that guy impersonating Liu Dongming today, they only wanted to make things difficult for him and didn't dare to really hurt him.
Ah Chen guessed that the academy would have extremely severe punishments for students who harmed their classmates, so he wasn't worried that Nie Xiaoxiao, who had come to his door on her own initiative, would really hurt him.
He unlocked the courtyard's protective barrier and personally went to the gate to greet them.
It's basic courtesy to have a neighbor come to visit.
When Nie Xiaoxiao saw him come to greet her personally, she smiled. Achen noticed that she even had two dimples when she smiled, making her look even more adorable.
Her two little tiger teeth added a touch of playfulness to her appearance, making her look lively and agile.
"Senior Sister Nie, please come in!" Ah Chen said politely.
"May I take a look at your garden first?" Nie Xiaoxiao asked.
"Of course, this way please!" Ah Chen led her towards the garden.
“This is the residual scent of the Nourishing Technique. Junior Brother Zuo Chen, you only moved in yesterday, and you already thought of using the Nourishing Technique on the flowers and plants in the yard. It seems you are someone who cherishes flowers and plants,” Nie Xiaoxiao said with a bright look in her eyes.
She had originally planned to come over and water her new neighbor's flowers, hoping to get closer to him, but she never expected that her junior brother would be such a flower lover.
“Senior Sister Nie, you chose the planting major, which shows that you also love flowers, plants and trees,” Achen said.
"That's right! I've loved flowers and plants since I was a child. Whenever I see wilted flowers and plants by the roadside, I can't help but move them into my yard."
Later, the yard was filled with plants, and my parents had no choice but to buy a large estate so that I could live there and grow flowers and plants.
I was reluctant to leave my flowers and plants to study elsewhere, but my father said that Shifang Academy has a planting department, where there are many rare and exotic flowers and plants that we can't buy at home.
Then I took the exam, and to my surprise, I was accepted. Nie Xiaoxiao became very enthusiastic when she talked about flowers, plants, and trees.
"You love gardening so much, how did you pass the first test?" Ah Chen asked curiously.
"Oh, you mean the puppet formation? When I went in, I saw four puppet rabbits. They were so cute, all fluffy, and they were hopping around."
I took out the second-tier radishes I had grown and fed them to them, and also gave them a lot of fresh and delicious spiritual herbs.
They finished eating and left, and then I received a notification that I had passed the test,” Nie Xiaoxiao said.
"It's that simple?!" Ah Chen could hardly believe it.
"That's right, it's that simple. Didn't you encounter four cute little rabbits?" Nie Xiaoxiao asked curiously.
"Uh, no, that's not it. What I encountered were four divine beast puppets: Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise," Achen said dejectedly.
"Wow! The Four Divine Beasts! That's so cool!" Nie Xiaoxiao exclaimed with envy.
Zuo Chen: If they beat you up and left you with a black eye and a swollen face, do you think you'd feel cool?
He felt that he and Nie Xiaoxiao must have entered different testing spaces, otherwise how could he have attracted the Four Divine Beast Puppets?
Well, maybe that space is like a roulette wheel; lucky people will encounter little rabbit puppets, and they like to eat carrots and grass and don't attack people.
Or perhaps the testing space is selective; if it encounters a cute little girl, a few little rabbits will pop out.
In fact, Ah Chen really wronged the testing space. It was based on an individual's potential strength that it could unleash different kinds of puppet beasts.
Nie Xiaoxiao has extremely low combat power and loves planting. The rabbit puppet is the most suitable thing for her in the testing space.
Of course, the rabbit puppet isn't incapable of attacking people, but who told her to bring out a second-tier water radish and a whole bunch of fresh and tender spirit herbs right away?
When all the beast-shaped puppets were designed, many characteristics of the beast were incorporated. For example, this rabbit puppet would also want to eat the food that rabbits like.
Of course, they cannot actually digest the food, but they can absorb the spiritual energy contained within it.
As the saying goes, "He who eats another's food is bound to do his bidding." The four rabbit puppets had eaten so much delicious food from Nie Xiaoxiao and absorbed her spiritual energy, so of course they would go easy on her and stop attacking her.
If other candidates knew this trick, they would probably take out a bunch of rare and precious treasures to bribe those puppet beasts when they entered the examination hall.
Fortunately, apart from Nie Xiaoxiao, no other examinee would be foolish enough to feed the puppet beast right away, otherwise the testing system would be useless.
Achen accompanied Nie Xiaoxiao on a tour of the garden. As expected, the little girl couldn't resist the flowers and plants. She bent down to touch a leaf and smell a flower, wishing she could embrace all the flowers and plants.
Ah Chen secretly thought: Luckily, these flowers and plants are all plants. If they could all transform into human form, would Nie Xiaoxiao become a womanizer, always having two women around her?
He soon discovered something magical: all the flowers and plants that she had caressed seemed to become exceptionally fresh and vibrant.
Could it be that she is the empress of flowers, and all the flowers and plants nourished by her rain and dew can be revitalized?
Nie Xiaoxiao seemed to see his confusion and said triumphantly, "I am a natural wood spirit body. The wood spirit energy emanating from my body is beneficial to all plants, so they all like me."
"Senior Sister Nie, you shouldn't tell outsiders about this kind of thing so easily. What if you encounter someone with ulterior motives who kidnaps you to be a gardener? You'll be in big trouble!" Ah Chen reminded her.
He thought this junior sister was too naive and simple-minded. He really didn't know how she had survived in this cruel and competitive world of cultivation.
"Don't worry! I'm not as naive as you think! Do you know what the greatest advantage of a Wood Spirit is?"
It means that no matter where I go, I can always communicate with the nearby flowers, plants, and trees.
The moment I entered your yard, all those flowers and plants revealed everything about you to me.
"I'm sure you're not a bad person. Sure enough, as soon as I revealed the secret of my Wood Spirit Body, you immediately reminded me," Nie Xiaoxiao said confidently.
Then, she took out a beautiful wooden food box and handed it to him, saying, "These are flower cakes I made myself. I hope you like them."
"Thank you, Senior Sister Nie! I also have something delicious for you." Feeling embarrassed to take something from a girl for free, A-Chen quickly took out a box of cookies made by his mother from his storage ring and handed it to her.
Nie Xiaoxiao took the box, opened it, and tasted a piece. Then, with a look of delight, she exclaimed, "Wow! It's so delicious!"
Seeing this, Ah Chen had no choice but to take a bite of the flower cake she gave him, and then couldn't help but smile and say, "This flower cake is also very delicious."
Hearing this, Nie Xiaoxiao smiled even more happily. She stretched out her small, white hand, still covered in cookie crumbs, and said solemnly, "We've exchanged food. Come on, let's shake hands! From today onwards, we're friends!"
Achen: ...
Although she wouldn't admit that she was naive, Ah Chen still thought she was naive. It was just a box of cookies, how did they become friends?
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