Adoption, Green Tea, and Martial Soul Awakening

In the end, Na'er was still brought back to the Shen Family by Shen Xing.

Despite Shen Nanxun's many objections.

Although Shen Xing liked Na'er a lot, and the Shen Family certainly had the means to raise a little girl, the Shen Family was a military and political clan, after all. Shen Xing had only thought Na'er was cute and pitiful, and planned to use the Shen Family's connections to help find her family. She hadn't actually considered taking her in.

So Shen Xing called Shen Yue on her soul communicator. The gist of it was to find out Na'er's identity and background, but because of that call, she got a scolding too.

There was no other reason. Shen Xing had shouted directly into the communicator, "You have one minute. I want every bit of information on Na'er." Shen Xing admitted that she really had gotten carried away, daring to speak to her eldest sister like that.

So in the end, she got an earful from Shen Yue.

But afterward, Shen Xing said with obvious satisfaction, "That felt good."

Shen Nanxun had reason to suspect that his second sister had some kind of secret, unusual quirk.

He and Na'er stood on either side of Shen Xing, as if the Chu River and Han border ran between them. Na'er kept her head lowered, like a little girl who'd done something wrong.

Shen Nanxun watched her warily, worried she'd bite him again. Once bitten by Na'er, he'd feared the well rope for ten years.

After Ye Li heard Shen Xing explain the situation, she merely yawned lazily. "Just send her to an orphanage, and then..."

She paused and happened to glance over, catching sight of Na'er's breathtakingly beautiful face.

In the next instant, Na'er felt a gust of wind flash past her eyes, and a pair of warm, soft hands cupped her cheeks.

"What an adorable little baby."

Ye Li rubbed Na'er's little cheeks, her eyes practically sparkling.

Shen Nanxun slapped his forehead. He'd thought his mother might be a little more rational, but he'd forgotten that a lot of the time, she was more eccentric than anyone.

"Mom, are we still sending her to the orphanage?" Shen Xing asked cautiously.

Ye Li's expression changed. Her brows drew together and her eyes narrowed. "An orphanage? What orphanage? Bring up an orphanage again and I'll sell you and Xiaoxun as a two-for-one deal and dump you in there."

Shen Xing: "..."

Shen Nanxun: "So?"

Shen Yue acted quickly. In less than an hour, she had uncovered Na'er's background. Basically, her identity hadn't been entered into the Federation's system, and she'd appeared in North Sea City out of nowhere.

That did fit the profile of a wandering orphan.

As for whether someone had ulterior motives, that was unlikely. Na'er was only six years old—too young to fake a lot of things.

Of course, Shen Nanxun knew her real identity. There was just no need to say it aloud.

"Ahem. Now, let's discuss what to do with Na'er."

The four of them sat at the corners of the sofa. Na'er still had her head lowered, while Ye Li presided over this decisive meeting.

"Na'er can either stay with us or be sent to the North Sea Orphanage. We have two options. Let's vote."

"Raise your hand if you support Na'er staying with us."

Shen Xing was the first to raise her hand. "I support it!"

Ye Li nodded slightly.

"Support."

Shen Nanxun said without hesitation, "Oppose!"

"Your opposition is invalid."

Ye Li pulled Na'er toward her and said gently, "From now on, Na'er is a member of our family."

Shen Nanxun's half-raised hand froze in midair. He looked at his mother and second sister, who had already flanked Na'er on either side, their faces full of affection and excitement. Then he lowered his eyes to the two rows of faintly pink bite marks on his left wrist.

This wasn't a vote. It was a notification!

"Mom, why is my opposition invalid?" Shen Nanxun tried to make one last stand.

Ye Li lifted her head and answered with complete confidence, "Because Mom says so."

Shen Nanxun fell silent. He opened his mouth, then closed it again. Finally, he lowered his raised hand, leaned back into the sofa, and stared blankly at the ceiling. He suddenly realized a cruel truth.

In this family, his place might be lower than that orange cat in the yard, whose only daily responsibilities were sunbathing and meowing. At least nobody chased the cat away from the dinner table. The last time Shen Nanxun had eaten an extra rib, Shen Xing had smacked the back of his hand.

Although the resolution had passed, Na'er still had her head lowered. Her silver hair hung slightly over her face, and her big eyes were red, as though she'd been wronged.

"What's wrong, little Na'er?" Ye Li asked patiently.

Na'er looked up at Shen Nanxun, sitting in the farthest corner, and said softly, "Does Big Brother not like me...?"

Her voice was soft and sweet, as if she'd suffered some terrible injustice.

Green tea?!

Shen Nanxun was instantly on high alert.

This girl's tea-making skills were better than his!

Could she be... West Lake Dragon Well?!

"How dare he!"

Shen Xing was the first to glare at Shen Nanxun. Ye Li looked over too, her expression impassive, and asked evenly, "Shen Nanxun, do you like Na'er or not?"

Faced with these threats and bribes, Shen Nanxun had planned to resist to the bitter end, but then he thought about how he'd be treated at home from now on.

A true man could bend and stretch. This was exactly what that meant.

He could only grit his teeth and force out every word:

"Of course... I like her."

This world was one colossal beauty-obsessed trap.

But no one noticed that after Shen Nanxun said this, a barely perceptible glint of slyness flashed deep in Na'er's eyes.

"Hehe, let's make a Douhun video!" Shen Xing took out her soul communicator and squeezed in next to Ye Li, with Na'er beside her.

"We're taking a picture. Sit closer."

Shen Nanxun sat beside Na'er, but an entire galaxy lay between them. In the end, Shen Xing had to drag him over by force.

Forced to play along, Shen Nanxun could only sit beside Na'er. He was very unwilling, but there was nothing he could do under the pressure of her authority.

His arm touched Na'er's fair, slender arm. He felt nothing in particular, only a slight sense of strangeness.

The four of them sat on the sofa and finally took a lovely picture, which they posted on Douhun.

Night fell, and the bright moon hung high in the sky.

Shen Nanxun sat on his bed, meditating and cultivating. The room was quiet. A portion of spicy rabbit head sat on the bedside table, wrapped in oiled paper. Shen Xing had insisted on buying it from another shop on the way back.

It had originally been meant as a late-night snack for Na'er, but Ye Li had taken the girl to bathe and change her clothes. The whole ordeal had dragged on, and she still hadn't come out, so the rabbit head had been left with him for the time being.

Shen Nanxun's eyes were closed, his breathing steady. His consciousness sank into his Sea of Consciousness as he guided that faint wisp of Soul Power slowly through his meridians. Five levels of Soul Power still wasn't much, but compared to the sluggishness he'd felt at level two, his Soul Power now flowed far more smoothly. Qian Renxue had set him a cultivation schedule: meditate for an hour every morning and evening, without fail.

A faint golden glow emerged from between his brows and slowly took shape.

A chibi Qian Renxue popped out of his Sea of Consciousness.

The palm-sized figure hovered in midair, six tiny golden wings fluttering gently behind her. She looked around. Shen Nanxun was meditating with his eyes closed and his breathing steady; his consciousness was clearly still immersed in cultivation, and he hadn't noticed her.

The window was closed, the door was closed, and there was no one else in the room.

Then her gaze fell on the bedside table.

The spicy rabbit head wrapped in oiled paper.

She flew over beside the paper and looked down at the rabbit head. Folding her arms, she raised her little chin slightly, a scrutinizing glint in her purple eyes.

"Two thousand years of human society, and their cooking techniques have certainly improved." She muttered, her cool voice still carrying a trace of the dignity she was so desperately trying to maintain as the Angel God. "It smells better than that bland, watery stuff from back then."

She paused and glanced at Shen Nanxun. His eyes were still closed, and his breathing remained steady.

"This goddess isn't giving in to her appetite." She addressed the rabbit head solemnly, as if explaining herself to it—or to herself. "But after the Godhood Inheritance was broken, changes in human cuisine are also worthy of study. Know yourself and your enemy, and you can..."

She didn't finish the sentence, because another tendril of the rabbit head's aroma drifted into her nose.

The chibi Qian Renxue was silent for a moment. Then she reached out with both tiny hands and carefully peeled back one corner of the oiled paper. She plucked a tiny shred of meat from the rabbit head.

The instant the meat touched her tongue,

the chibi Qian Renxue's little wings stiffened.

"Delicious!"

About half an hour later, footsteps sounded outside the room.

"Xiaoxun, where's the spicy rabbit head? Na'er is hungry."

"..."

"Damn it, you actually stole Na'er's late-night snack!"

"I really didn't eat it!"

"You still dare talk back!"

"Ow!"

At that moment, in the Sea of Consciousness, the well-fed Qian Renxue was lounging against the golden tree. She yawned and settled in to enjoy a beauty sleep.

As for Shen Nanxun outside,

his life or death was up to fate.

The next day.

Shen Xing got up early and set off for Ming Capital. The serious task of taking Na'er to awaken her Martial Soul therefore fell to Shen Nanxun.

As for why it was serious,

it was probably because the two of them were somewhat like fire and water. Of course, most of the time, that only applied to Shen Nanxun.

The Shen Family's driver drove the two of them through North Sea City's morning streets. Sunlight streamed in through the windows, falling on the two small figures in the back seat. Shen Nanxun leaned against the left-side door, arms folded, his face expressionless as he watched the scenery speed past outside.

Na'er leaned against the right-side door, both hands placed neatly on her knees as she gazed out the window in silence.

An entire back seat separated them, with a clear border between their sides.

Shen Nanxun turned his head and glanced at her. Na'er had changed into clean clothes: a plain white blouse, a light blue skirt, and a brand-new pair of white cloth shoes.

Ye Li had tied Na'er's silver-white hair into a small ponytail with a pale blue ribbon. She gazed quietly out the window, the morning sunlight gilding the soft baby fat of her profile with a gentle golden glow.

She was already beautiful, and in her fresh new clothes after a bath, she looked even prettier.

She no longer looked like the poor little waif who'd showed up last night and begged for food. Instead, she looked more like a little princess from a great clan.

Perhaps this was the special aura that came with being the Silver Dragon King.

That girl was a tiny bit too greedy, a tiny bit too dim, and a tiny bit too much of a green tea. But there was no denying that she had the looks to back it up. Perhaps that was one of the few good points these two Silver Dragon Kings had.

Being lovestruck didn't count as a good point.

Perhaps sensing his gaze, Na'er turned her head, her silver eyes meeting his.

Shen Nanxun turned his head away expressionlessly.

Na'er blinked and turned her head back as well.

The octagonal base rose high into the clouds, and the silver tower looked remarkably like a crystal pillar reaching up to the heavens. This was North Sea City's Spirit Pagoda, and also one of the branch towers among the Eighteen Heavenly Pillars.

North Sea City was, after all, guarded by the entire North Sea Legion, so the need for Soul Spirits and Spirit Ascension Platforms was considerable.

The car stopped beside the plaza in front of the Spirit Pagoda's main entrance. Shen Nanxun was the first to push open the door and hop out. Na'er followed behind him, her silver eyes lifting to look at the towering silver spire before her. Her pupils widened slightly for an instant.

"Come on," Shen Nanxun said without looking back, striding toward the main entrance.

Na'er ran after him, her silver ponytail swishing behind her. She caught up to a spot half a step behind Shen Nanxun's side and didn't come any closer. She followed at a distance, like a little tail.

Thanks to the Shen Family's connections, Spirit Pagoda staff guided them along the way. They didn't need to queue and went straight to one of the floors.

The staff member knocked on the door before leading them in.

"Come in." A woman's voice came from inside. She wasn't young, but she wasn't old either, and her voice had the warmth of someone who'd spent years dealing with all kinds of people.

Shen Nanxun pushed open the door.

The room wasn't large and was simply furnished. Beside the window stood a reclining chair covered with a white cushion, and next to it was a sophisticated silver device.

It was a Martial Soul Awakening device, one of the Spirit Pagoda's core pieces of equipment. It could guide the Soul Power inside the person undergoing awakening to resonate, thereby manifesting their Martial Soul.

A woman sat at the desk. She looked to be around forty, wore a simple gray robe, and had her hair loosely pinned up at the back of her head with a wooden hairpin.

She was Su Jiuyin, one of the best awakening masters in North Sea City's Spirit Pagoda.

Su Jiuyin looked up, swept her gaze over the two children who'd entered, and finally settled on Shen Nanxun. She smiled slightly. "Well, if it isn't the young master of the Shen Family. Your eldest sister already gave me a heads-up yesterday."

She remembered Shen Nanxun quite well. First, he'd had Soul Power but no Martial Soul. Later, she'd heard he'd awakened a Martial Soul. It was astonishing, completely beyond anything her years of Martial Soul research had prepared her for.

Shen Nanxun nodded and stepped aside to reveal Na'er behind him. "She's the one awakening today."

Su Jiuyin nodded slightly and led Na'er toward the awakening platform.

Martial Soul Awakening was very quick. It could have been done at the Shen Family's home, but since they were already at the Spirit Pagoda, they could register Na'er at the same time.

Pale golden light seeped from Na'er's body and slowly gathered above her into a long, silver-white spear.

The spear was slender and looked as if it were made of moonlight. A silver dragon relief coiled around its shaft, its head held high beneath the spearhead. Every scale was rendered in exquisite detail. The spearhead emerged from the dragon's mouth, its edge so thin it was nearly transparent. The spear hovered silently, silver light flowing over it as the dragon's shadow shifted.

"Silver Dragon Spear!"