The Wonderful Little Spirit

"Giggle~ I have legs too now~ I can run so fast!" Wearing one of Lin Xiao's outer robes, Yaoying spread her two tiny legs and bounced wildly all over the ground. She was utterly unaccustomed to the robe on her body. As she ran, it would always slip loose and hang crookedly, exposing great swathes of pale green skin. Qingchu would hurriedly run over to stop her and straighten her clothes for her. The moment Yaoying heard Qingchu call, she obediently stood still, chuckling as Qingchu put that uncomfortable "outer skin" back on her, before taking off on another mad dash.

Lin Xiao lazily followed behind the two little girls, his narrowed eyes taking in the red flowers, green grass, and sunlight carpeting the land. A warm breeze drifted over, carrying the distinct sweet fragrance of the vast fields of golden-thread orchid grass on the opposite slope. Lin Xiao sighed comfortably and murmured, "Spring on Qi Yuan Star? Mm, it feels wonderful!" For a moment, it seemed as though he had returned to Spring Return Valley, wandering aimlessly through the mountains shoulder to shoulder with Yao'er. A faint sweetness rose in his heart. Out of habit, Lin Xiao reached to grasp the hand beside him, but he caught none of the smooth, tender little hand from his memories. Only the empty mountain wind slipped lightly through his fingers. A few blades of grass were swept up by the wind and curled around his fingers before being carried far away again.

With a touch of desolation, Lin Xiao folded his arms and sighed softly. "Yet all of you are dead." Looking at Yaoying excitedly running about ahead, he could not help feeling a few extra traces of envy, even jealousy. This cheerful little monster carried not the slightest worry in her heart, only pure innocence and childlike delight. She ran east and startled several mountain sparrows, then ran west and sent two wild rabbits fleeing in panic. Her silver-bell laughter scattered across every mountain path she passed.

Qingchu followed Yaoying with slight disarray, her forehead already beaded with sweat. Worried that Yaoying would run around causing trouble, she stayed close behind her, terrified that she might stir up another disaster. Yet Qingchu was also concerned about Lin Xiao. She would follow Yaoying for a few steps, turn back to look at Lin Xiao, turn back to look at Lin Xiao again, then hurry after Yaoying for a few more steps. She was truly exhausted. Yaoying kept picking up all manner of strange things from the ground and tossing them to Qingchu. Qingchu foolishly gathered every last one into her arms. Before long, she was carrying a huge pile of rocks, clods of dirt, tree roots, turf, and other odds and ends. Burdened with all that baggage, Qingchu's running became even more miserable.

The three of them walked more than ten li along Medicine Mountain's winding path toward the valley exit. Qingchu was already panting heavily, "Huff, huff," when she let Yaoying out of her sight for a moment. Yaoying suddenly let out an excited cheer, her body floating lightly into the air as she shot toward a tall forest of black pines beside the road. The forest was full of strange black pines as thick as a zhang across. White mist curled through the woods, while the spirit-gathering formations beneath the trees condensed the drifting Spiritual Energy into thin sheets of watery fog, nourishing the purple ganoderma growing parasitically upon the pines.

"Purple Ganoderma~~~ Purple Ganoderma~~~ Eat!" Yaoying cheered. Like a monkey, she curled herself up and leaped onto a black pine, wrapped her little legs around a branch, and tore a huge piece of purple ganoderma from the trunk with both hands, devouring it in great mouthfuls. Amid "smack, smack" sounds, a head-sized piece of purple ganoderma vanished into Yaoying's stomach in two bites. Clapping her little hands excitedly, she tore down another piece as large as a washbasin. "Delicious, delicious! Delicious, Qingchu, delicious!" Yaoying casually flung the chunk of purple ganoderma at Qingchu.

In a panic, Qingchu dropped the heap of miscellaneous objects in her arms and caught the purple ganoderma with one hand. Stamping her feet anxiously, she cried, "Yaoying~ Little Qing~ Hurry and come down! This is a guarded purple ganoderma forest. You can't steal and eat it!"

"A purple ganoderma forest?" It would have been better if Qingchu had not mentioned the subject, but the instant she spoke the words "purple ganoderma forest," anger flashed through Yaoying's blue-green eyes. She shouted, "Bad people~ They cut me with swords~ Eat them all, eat all the purple ganoderma here! Bad people~ They slashed me with swords! Wuu, I want to eat, I want to eat lots and lots, eat everything here." Green light flashed across her entire body as Yaoying suddenly exploded into countless green motes that scattered in all directions. Every mote attached itself to a huge cluster of purple ganoderma. Those purple ganoderma visibly began to wither, their Spiritual Energy and medicinal fluid rapidly drawn away by the motes of light. As the purple ganoderma withered, the motes gradually grew brighter, blazing with Spiritual Energy.

The purple ganoderma in Qingchu's hand suddenly fell to the ground. Her little face crumpled in misery as she stared blankly at the green rain of light covering all the purple ganoderma on dozens of black pines. Her lips twitched as if she might burst into tears at any moment. Yaoying's reckless conduct left Qingchu's hands and feet icy and her body weak; she had nearly collapsed onto the ground. In a shrill, feeble voice, she cried, "Yaoying, you can't eat this purple ganoderma~ Sneaking a piece or two would be one thing, but you can't eat so much~ Wuu, all the medicinal herbs on Medicine Mountain are accounted for!"

"Hmph, hmph! Eat them all, eat them all, eat them all!" Yaoying's smug cry came from the blue-green rain of light. "I have legs now, so I'm not afraid of them chasing me! Heehee!"

A thunderous roar suddenly erupted from within the pine forest. "What demon dares run wild in the purple ganoderma forest? Heavenly lightning, vanquish the demon—go!" With a muffled boom, a red bolt of lightning as thick as a water bucket suddenly descended from the sky, striking straight toward the rain of light Yaoying had become. Before the supremely yang, supremely forceful heavenly lightning had even come within several dozen feet of Yaoying, its vast righteous pressure had already dimmed her glow. The scattered rain of light abruptly contracted, swiftly gathering back into Yaoying's original form. Yaoying stared blankly at the heavenly lightning crashing down upon her and wailed in terror.

"Hmph!" With a soft snort, Lin Xiao flashed lightly to Yaoying's side and casually raised a hand toward the heavenly lightning. His fingers flicked gently, forming dozens of hand seals in the instant the lightning reached him. A faint ball of lightning also glimmered in his palm. When the descending heavenly lightning touched it, it was like a basin of water poured into a vat, absorbed completely by Lin Xiao with a mere lift of his hand. The power of heavenly lightning whirled rapidly through Lin Xiao's body. Strands of lightning spread over his entire body before the surging electrical force finally merged into his golden core. Ripples of light passed over the purple golden core, and the Black Tortoise Ring encircling it suddenly flashed with black light, siphoning away ninety-nine percent of the incomparably pure true essence transformed from the heavenly lightning.

"What exquisite lightning-controlling arts, Fellow Daoist! To draw heavenly lightning into the body and increase one's true essence—truly wondrous beyond measure." A voice of admiration came from deep within the dense forest. An umbrella-shaped magic treasure, radiating countless showers of seven-colored light, slowly flew out from the woods carrying three old Daoists in yellow robes. The old Daoist in the center, with a face like a silver basin and dignified features, said in a deep voice, "However, every cluster of purple ganoderma in this forest is accounted for. If little birds, beasts, small spirits, or little monsters occasionally come to peck at one or two, we do not make too much of it. But this one beside you has been far too ruthless."

Lin Xiao glanced at Yaoying, who was shrinking behind him, then nodded faintly. "Sorry. Yaoying was wrong."

Yet Yaoying suddenly poked out her little head and waved her fists as she shouted, "Yaoying wasn't wrong! They were the ones who slashed me with treasure swords first, chopping me into lots of pieces, lots of pieces, lots of pieces! Mm, Yaoying only wanted a mouthful of purple ganoderma's medicinal fluid, but you slashed me with treasure swords. Not only did you refuse to kill me in one strike, you even chopped me into lots and lots of pieces! You Daoists are all bad people!"

The three old Daoists exchanged blank looks. Then one of them suddenly cried out, "You're that moss demon? How did you take human form? You little monster are truly unreasonable. If we had truly meant to harm you, we would have struck you dead with heavenly lightning the moment you came to steal purple ganoderma. Why would we merely have driven you off with sword light? You, you, you are far too greedy. Every time you revealed your original form, you would wrap yourself around a black pine and devour every one of the hundreds of purple ganoderma growing on it. It was already mercy beyond the law that this poor Daoist did not execute you with heavenly lightning!"

Yaoying blinked, tilted her head, and frowned. "Really? You didn't blast me with that kind of heavenly lightning last time! Um, Big Brother Lin, are they really good people?"

Lin Xiao glared at Yaoying, gently patting her head as he nodded. "These three Daoist masters are good people. You stole and ate so much purple ganoderma, yet they only drove you away with sword light. Had they dealt with you using lightning arts or true fire, you little spirit would already have been reduced to ashes." Shaking his head, Lin Xiao took out the jade token representing his status as an Attendant and waved it at the three old Daoists. "This junior is Lin Xiao, Heavenly Mechanism Guest Official of the Origin Sect. Consider the purple ganoderma Yaoying ate to be medicinal materials allocated by this junior."

"Attendant Lin Xiao!" The three old Daoists' eyes lit up at once. They floated down from the umbrella-shaped magic treasure and hurried eagerly to Lin Xiao's side. "So it is Attendant Lin! Ha, no wonder you could help this moss demon, which absorbs the essence of ten thousand spiritual herbs, take human form. Hahaha, this poor Daoist and his two junior brothers have long heard of Attendant's great name. Yet we have official duties and could not leave Medicine Mountain, or we would have gone to seek instruction from Attendant Lin long ago."

The three old Daoists surrounded Lin Xiao, each speaking over the others as they sought his advice on methods for cultivating medicinal herbs, tempering medicinal potency, and condensing pills. Lin Xiao merely selected one or two sentences from the most elementary portions of the Great Luo Pill Scripture to explain to them, and the old Daoists were so delighted their brows danced and their faces shone, nearly worshipping Lin Xiao as their master. They took turns asking questions, and more than an hour slipped by without notice. Qingchu and Yaoying were so bored that they squatted to count ants on the ground, while the three old Daoists still clustered tightly around Lin Xiao, continuously seeking instruction in the arts of alchemy.

After finally shaking off the three old Daoists, who insisted on dragging Lin Xiao into the black pine forest for tea, Lin Xiao fled the purple ganoderma forest with Qingchu and Yaoying as though escaping for his life. Standing atop a boulder, the three old Daoists watched Lin Xiao's retreating back and continued waving eagerly. "Attendant Lin, if you have time in the future, please come stroll through this purple ganoderma forest! Little Miss Yaoying, the eighteen Medicine Mountains within this purple ganoderma forest are all managed by this poor Daoist and his junior brothers. If you want medicine to eat, just come! Every year, we have over a million jin of medicinal herbs that can be written off as losses!"

Lin Xiao and Qingchu rolled their eyes. Yaoying, meanwhile, turned back at the three old Daoists with immense emotion, squinting blissfully as she smiled. "They're all good people! Mm, good people!"

Qingchu looked at Yaoying with jealousy and let out a somewhat resentful snort. "You were just chopped into pieces, but the moment you heard there was food, they lured you right away?"

Yaoying giggled and turned back to smile at Qingchu. "Qingchu is a good person too! Better than them!" Yaoying's big eyes blinked and blinked, making her look exceptionally innocent and adorable. Qingchu gave a "Heehee" laugh, her big eyes curving like crescent moons as she stretched out a hand and gently patted Yaoying's head. Smiling sweetly, Yaoying copied Qingchu and stretched out her hand to lightly pat Qingchu's shoulder. The two little girls pressed close together, hopping and skipping after Lin Xiao.

With his hands behind his back, Lin Xiao turned his head slightly and studied the two little girls from the corner of his eye. A tranquility and warmth he had never known before slowly echoed through his heart. That comfortable peace and warmth did not weaken in the slightest even when he returned to his dwelling and saw the furnace full of ruined pills. He suddenly realized that he had come to like these two little girls. Not in the way he liked Yao'er, but with the affection an elder felt for a younger generation, an elder brother for his little sisters.

Looking at the furnace full of ruined pill dregs, a faint, gentle smile instead appeared on Lin Xiao's face. The Daoist stewards standing before him with their heads hanging low also sensed the brightness and cheer in his heart. They cautiously raised their heads, only to see a gentle smile on the face of Lin Xiao, who had always been cold as a stone man. The Daoists, who had been worried they would be scolded because something had gone wrong with the pills, were influenced by Lin Xiao's smile, and one by one, they smiled as well.

"It is only one ruined furnace of pills. It is nothing serious." Lin Xiao shrugged easily and said faintly, "The basic spiritual pills refined this past month are already enough for use. Everyone is tired too. Rest for a few days before we begin refining again."

After casually reciting a pill formula for the Daoists to record, Lin Xiao turned and walked toward his dwelling, saying as he went, "Prepare the medicinal materials according to this formula. When we next open the furnace, try refining some higher-grade spiritual pills. Alchemy is also an excellent path of cultivation!" For others, alchemy was laborious work that taxed both heart and strength, but for Lin Xiao, it truly was a shortcut to raising his cultivation—after all, he possessed a pure fire-aspected constitution. The rolling pill fire was exactly what nourished him.

The Daoists nodded obediently and dispersed. Lin Xiao had refined pills like a madman for over a month, and they truly had been exhausted beyond endurance. Since Lin Xiao had rarely shown mercy and given them several days off, they were more than happy to properly regulate and recover their bodies.

Nothing happened that night. After completing his evening lessons, Lin Xiao fell into a deep sleep and thoroughly relaxed his mind.

Early the next morning, just as Lin Xiao was about to rise from bed, he discovered that his body was pinned down by a thick, soft mass. He could not move in the slightest. Lin Xiao was greatly startled. He struggled to turn his head and look around, only to discover that his entire room was covered in thick moss. No, not covered—stuffed full. The entire room had been crammed full of thick, huge clumps of moss. The moss, carrying a rich medicinal fragrance, had even spread a layer half a zhang thick over his body. Strands of moss crisscrossed into a great net, fastening Lin Xiao firmly to the bed as though he were a fish caught in its mesh.

Lin Xiao looked around in a daze and struggled fiercely. As though sensing his movement, the moss throughout the room began wriggling at once. A lazy voice emerged from nowhere. "Wuu~ Sleepy~ Don't move around! Sleepy, sleepy~ Mm, Big Brother Lin smells so good!"

Lin Xiao recognized Yaoying's voice and hurriedly shouted, "Yaoying, you—let me out now!"

The thick moss wriggled again as Yaoying lazily hummed, "Smells so good~~~ I really want to eat Big Brother Lin too~~~ Smack, smack, delicious, delicious!"

Though he knew Yaoying was talking in her sleep, her words still sent chills crawling over Lin Xiao's entire body. He struggled with all his might and shouted loudly, "Qingchu~ Qingchu~ Come get Yaoying out of my room! Heavens, what did this little monster eat yesterday? How did she grow this big?"

Lin Xiao clearly remembered that Yaoying in the pool yesterday had been only half a finger joint in size. How had her original form grown so enormous after just one night? How much moss was there in these thick, heavy, layer upon layer of clumps?

Qingchu's flustered voice came from outside. "Wuu~ Big Brother Lin, I can't move either. Yaoying stuffed my place full too. Wuwu, I can't move."

Lin Xiao was so angry his nose nearly twisted crooked. He struggled desperately, but how could he move? Apart from a little space around his head, every inch around his body was packed full by Yaoying. After struggling for a while and realizing it was utterly futile, he could only shout, "Yaoying~ Heavenly lightning is coming down!"

Muttering an incantation, Lin Xiao concentrated and gathered a tiny bit of heavenly lightning energy in the bamboo grove several zhang away from the dwelling.

With an enormous boom, the heavenly lightning energy Lin Xiao had gathered exploded. This thread of lightning energy was not powerful; it only blew up a few bamboo leaves from the ground. Yet the sound was astonishingly loud.

"Waaaah~~~ Help~~~ Heavenly lightning is coming down!" A hoarse, desperate shriek echoed throughout the entire dwelling. Streams of green light whirled rapidly as the moss filling the dwelling shrank with a rustling sound. Finally, amid Lin Xiao's scream, the naked Yaoying fell from thin air into Lin Xiao's arms, both hands clamped tightly over her ears.

Lin Xiao broke out in a cold sweat. He grabbed Yaoying by the neck and tossed her aside, then smashed through the wall of the dwelling headfirst. Shouting as he ran, he quickly vanished without a trace.

Yaoying turned back in surprise to look at Qingchu standing in the doorway and frowned. "Qingchu~ Am I scary?"

Tilting her head and rolling her eyes, Qingchu gave a soft sigh toward the sky. "Yes~ Very scary."

"Er?" Yaoying looked at Qingchu in grievance, her mouth puckered, and she burst into tears.