The Guidance Technique

"I'm going to continue cultivating!" Xiao Ninger said coolly, her clear eyes fixed on Nie Li.

Xiao Ninger didn't want anyone disturbing her. She wore an expression that kept people at a distance and rarely spoke with her classmates, especially the boys. With no friends, she seemed rather solitary.

"I'll be leaving in a moment." Nie Li smiled faintly, looking Xiao Ninger up and down with a scrutinizing gaze.

Xiao Ninger's brows drew together. Nie Li's appraisal was downright rude, and she couldn't help getting angry. Many people at Sacred Lan Academy pursued her, but Xiao Ninger had always regarded them with disdain. She focused only on cultivation, and Nie Li's behavior was no different from that of the other boys. It was irritating!

"Are you still not leaving?" Xiao Ninger asked, displeased. Nie Li had already disturbed her for a long time.

Nie Li's gaze fell to Xiao Ninger's feet. She wasn't wearing shoes; her small, delicate feet were as smooth as jade and translucent, with a faint flush under the moonlight. "Whenever night falls, do your feet feel as if they're burning?"

At Nie Li's words, Xiao Ninger froze for a moment. "How did you know?" Since her feet grew scorching hot, she usually went barefoot when cultivating at night.

"Of course I know!" Nie Li said with a smile. "And I know more than that. Your feet burn like fire, but your constitution is extremely cold. Every night at midnight, it's as if you've been plunged into an ice cellar, and it's unbearably painful! You also struggle to cultivate Soul Power, don't you?"

Xiao Ninger's heart quivered. She had endured these things alone for so long, never even telling her family. How could Nie Li know?

From Xiao Ninger's expression, Nie Li knew his guess had been almost exactly right. So this was what had been wrong with Xiao Ninger in his previous life. It was called Extreme Cold Syndrome. Cultivating Soul Power at night had repeatedly allowed cold energy to invade her body, blocking her meridians. A mild case of Extreme Cold Syndrome could leave someone seriously ill; a severe one could make their body explode. In his previous life, Xiao Ninger had only been bedridden for two years. She had been very lucky.

"Besides those symptoms, there must be several bruises on your body. They're painful, refuse to fade, and keep spreading," Nie Li said with certainty. "You haven't reached the Bronze 1-star Realm yet. Once you do, you'll either become seriously ill and suffer a great loss in cultivation, or you'll die."

Listening to Nie Li, Xiao Ninger stood stunned for a moment. Her fists clenched, and her eyes reddened. How could this be? Though she was very strong, she still couldn't bear such a blow when it came so suddenly.

Nie Li had identified her illness at a glance. What he'd said was probably true.

Ever since she was very young, she had known her family wanted to marry her into the Sacred Family, to Shen Fei. As she grew older, Xiao Ninger gradually came to understand what kind of person Shen Fei was. She didn't want to marry that dissolute playboy, so she cultivated desperately, hoping to escape that cruel fate. But it seemed Heaven wouldn't let her have her way. She was just about to reach Bronze 1-star, only to suddenly hear this terrible news.

Seeing Xiao Ninger, who was always so strong, on the verge of tears, Nie Li couldn't help feeling a little sympathy for her.

"Nie Li, you know what illness I have. You must know how to cure it, right?" Xiao Ninger was at a loss, her usual defenses finally crumbling. She pleaded, "Can you help me?" After all, Xiao Ninger was only a thirteen-year-old girl.

Xiao Ninger was strong-willed and rarely asked anyone for help. Hearing her words, Nie Li's heart softened. After a moment's silence, he said, "It's not impossible to treat. You can look it up in Sacred Lan Academy's library. The condition is called Extreme Cold Syndrome."

"Really?" A glimmer of hope suddenly rose in Xiao Ninger. "How do I treat it?"

"You need a special Guidance Technique that nourishes the meridians, using massage to disperse the bruises. Take a medicine made from Golden Thread Grass and Tianluan Grass every day. Given your current condition, you should recover in about a month, or even in just over ten days if things go quickly," Nie Li said. This was how Extreme Cold Syndrome was treated.

"Guidance Technique?" Xiao Ninger's brows furrowed. She came from a Magnate Family, yet had never heard of anyone who knew a Guidance Technique.

"Besides these treatments, you must also make sure you never cultivate Soul Power in the middle of the night again!" Nie Li held out his hand. "Take out your Soul Power cultivation method and let me see it."

Xiao Ninger looked up at Nie Li. If a stranger had asked her for her Soul Power cultivation method, she would have assumed he was trying to trick her out of it. But when she saw Nie Li's serious expression, she felt an inexplicable trust in him. After everything he'd said, she trusted him completely. She took the Soul Power cultivation method out of her Spatial Ring.

It was a small piece of sheepskin, rather old, covered in tiny lines of text.

Nie Li reached out and took the sheepskin from Xiao Ninger. His hand accidentally brushed the skin on the back of hers, smooth as white jade, but he paid no attention and began to study the text.

When Nie Li touched her hand, Xiao Ninger quickly pulled it back. Her heart pounded wildly, and her thoughts grew muddled. What if Nie Li used this to blackmail her? What if he had designs on her? But when she looked up, she saw that Nie Li hadn't noticed her reaction at all. She relaxed a little. He bent over the sheepskin with an extraordinary seriousness that left Xiao Ninger momentarily distracted. After a while, she came to her senses and lowered her head, lost in thought.

"A Magnate Family as grand as this, and yet even the direct descendants cultivate such an inferior Soul Power method. No wonder City of Brilliance was ultimately destroyed..." Nie Li murmured.

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"What did you say?" Xiao Ninger's eyes widened. She had caught a few scattered words but hadn't heard Nie Li clearly.

"Nothing." Nie Li smiled faintly. "This Soul Power cultivation method is terrible. Cultivating it will inevitably damage your meridians. Your Extreme Cold Syndrome is closely tied to this method, too. Change 'the heart and eyes connect with the spirit' to 'the heart and mind connect with the spirit,' and change this line to 'the soul joins with the spirit, the heart connects with the mind'..." Nie Li went on and on, revising the Soul Power method until it was completely transformed.

At first, Xiao Ninger was rather unconvinced as she listened to Nie Li revise her Soul Power cultivation method. This method had been passed down in her family for generations and ranked sixth among all the Soul Power methods stored by the Lineage. How could Nie Li simply change it as he pleased? Still, she listened to everything he said. As its practitioner, she understood certain aspects of the method deeply. Gradually, she realized that Nie Li's revisions made a great deal of sense; they were indeed far more profound and intricate than the original lines.

Xiao Ninger stared at Nie Li, her eyes wide with disbelief.

"Nie Li, could you say that again? I'll write down everything you said!" Xiao Ninger hurriedly said.

"Sure!" Nie Li slowed down and repeated every part of the Soul Power method that needed to be revised. Since beginning to cultivate Soul Power, Xiao Ninger had developed a photographic memory. Though she only partly understood what Nie Li was saying, she memorized every word. The more she examined it, the more she realized that the revised method was far more profound and intricate than she had imagined.

The look Xiao Ninger gave Nie Li shifted from confusion to growing admiration.

How vast did someone's knowledge of Soul Power have to be to revise such a high-level cultivation method? Perhaps even a Black Gold Demon Spirit Master couldn't do it. Could Nie Li's understanding of cultivation have surpassed that of a Black Gold Demon Spirit Master and even reached the realm of a Legendary Demon Spirit Master?

As if she'd found a priceless treasure, Xiao Ninger etched every word Nie Li said into her heart. She couldn't say what she felt toward him now. Awe? Admiration?

Nie Li was the same age as her, yet Xiao Ninger now saw just how great the gap between them was. It was laughable that she had once thought Nie Li was the bottom of the class. Only now did she realize how ignorant Mentor Shen Xiu and the other students had been to mock him. She almost firmly believed Nie Li would become a Legendary Demon Spirit Master, just as he'd said.

Everything Nie Li had said in class was true!

From childhood, Xiao Ninger had surpassed her peers in both talent and intelligence. This was the first time she had ever looked up to someone her own age.

Nie Li had said he would marry the most beautiful woman in City of Brilliance. Xiao Ninger's thoughts grew tangled at the memory, and she lowered her head in silence. Suddenly, a figure flashed through her mind: Ye Ziyun. Xiao Ninger was very confident in her own looks, but she had to admit she might not be able to rival Ye Ziyun in beauty.

"What are you thinking about?" Nie Li asked, looking at Xiao Ninger in confusion. Her expression seemed a little strange.

"N-nothing..." Xiao Ninger hurriedly shook her head, driving the thoughts from her mind. "Nie Li, do you know the Guidance Technique?"

"Of course." Nie Li nodded. "But the Guidance Technique requires massaging the bruises, so it might not be appropriate for me to do it."

Xiao Ninger looked up at Nie Li. His features were sharply defined, with swordlike brows and bright eyes. His dark eyes gleamed with profound light, and he had a striking, handsome air. His appearance slowly merged with the image in her heart. Xiao Ninger lowered her head and said, "I don't mind. You're just helping me get better, aren't you? I don't want to become a cripple." The last part sounded almost as though she were trying to reassure herself.

In front of Nie Li, Xiao Ninger finally lowered her icy defenses.

"Uh..." Nie Li fell silent for a moment. Since the girl herself didn't mind, it would be petty of him to refuse. He already had Ye Ziyun in his heart, and he only felt a little fondness for Xiao Ninger, nothing more. "All right, then. I'll use the Guidance Technique to treat you once every three days. When you get back, take the herbs I told you about, and I'm sure you'll recover soon."

"Mm." Xiao Ninger nodded without a word.

"Where are your bruises?" Nie Li asked.

A shy blush passed over Xiao Ninger's usually cool cheeks. She pointed to the top of her foot. "There's one here!"

Nie Li looked down and saw a deep purplish bruise on Xiao Ninger's fair instep. It was already very serious.

"It's that bad." Nie Li furrowed his brows. "Luckily, it's on your instep. It would be troublesome if it were somewhere else. The instep is convenient, too. This'll only take a moment!" Nie Li crouched down and sat cross-legged on the ground.

"Mm." Xiao Ninger nodded. She didn't say that this was only one of the bruises. She slowly sat down as well and lifted her foot onto Nie Li's leg, her gaze flickering as she wondered what to think.

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