"So that's how it is? Then Master, you must have it so hard. Chun Xing really wants to help shoulder more of your worries."
After listening to Qian Renheng, Chun Xing, who was hanging on his back, was so distressed that tears nearly fell from her eyes.
Her little face pressed tightly against Qian Renheng's back, her face full of self-reproach as she only hated that she could not ease more of her master's burdens.
Qian Renheng's expression stiffened at her words, and he coughed twice to hide the awkwardness in his heart.
What an adorable Martial Soul, so innocent it was beyond saving! How could this inexperienced girl possibly understand the treachery of the human heart?!
It actually gave him, her master, a rare sliver of guilt.
It was as though he had deceived a girl who trusted him. He had clearly been lying, yet she believed him without the slightest doubt.
But guilt was guilt—the grand blueprint of AFK cultivation absolutely could not be stopped!
Qian Renheng composed himself, rubbing his chin as he began to ponder. Since his Martial Souls were going to live in the outside world, there would be many problems to deal with.
"Letting you live outside is one thing, but Spirit Hall is huge and crowded with all sorts of people. Wouldn't it be too conspicuous if you followed me around every day?"
Qian Renheng looked at Ming Ji before him, whose beauty rivaled a lotus emerging from water and yet who looked no different from an ordinary person, and asked, "By the way, Ming Ji, Chun Xing, can you control the size of your bodies? Like, become a little smaller?"
"Control the size of our bodies?!"
Ming Ji only pondered for a moment after hearing this, and a trace of understanding flashed through her deep, night-sky-like eyes.
"Like this, Master?"
As her voice fell, a faint black glow unexpectedly spread across Ming Ji's body.
Then, her tall and graceful figure began rapidly shrinking before Qian Renheng's eyes.
In the blink of an eye, the originally beautiful and aloof Death Angel had shrunk to the size of a little finger.
The miniature Ming Ji's six black wings began fluttering lightly behind her, making her resemble a black sprite.
She flapped through the air, tracing a graceful arc before landing steadily on Qian Renheng's right shoulder.
She slightly raised her jade-white swan neck, her cool and exquisite face carrying an unexpectedly adorable contrast as she softly asked, "Is this acceptable, Master?"
"Wow! Big Sister is amazing! Chun Xing wants to try too."
Seeing this, Chun Xing, who was still hanging off Qian Renheng's back, immediately let out a cry of surprise. Golden-green light then shone from her body as she began shrinking as well.
Before long, another miniature sprite no bigger than a little finger flapped her wings and flew onto Qian Renheng's left shoulder.
One on the left and one on the right, two exquisitely beautiful miniature angels had settled in.
"Eh?" Looking at Ming Ji and Chun Xing sitting on his shoulders with their little legs dangling in the air, Qian Renheng could not help saying in delighted surprise, "I only mentioned it casually, but it actually worked?"
This made things much more convenient. He no longer had to worry about drawing attention when going out.
Ming Ji pursed her lips in a small smile at his words. After shrinking, her peerless beauty had lost some of its aloofness and gained an indescribable charm.
Meanwhile, lively Chun Xing simply began hopping around on Qian Renheng's shoulder, seemingly finding this viewpoint incredibly novel.
"Ming Ji, Chun Xing, does shrinking your bodies to this extent have any effect on you?" Qian Renheng asked.
Chun Xing immediately stopped moving, adorably placing her fair little index finger before her lips, her large eyes filled with confusion.
Effects? What effects? Being small was so fun!
But Ming Ji, the calm and aloof Death Angel, quickly provided an answer. "There are still some effects, Master."
"While maintaining this state, our abilities are greatly restricted. We cannot fight, which means we cannot use any power."
"Simply put, after shrinking, we can only serve as mascots. That is the only negative effect."
"What about cultivation?" Qian Renheng asked. Whether they could fight did not matter; if anything happened, they could simply grow larger again.
But if they could not cultivate while AFK, then the cost of shrinking would be far too great. It could even be said to be more trouble than it was worth.
"Cultivation? That will not be affected." Ming Ji replied with a smile. "After shrinking, there will not be the slightest impact on our ability to refine the Soul Power scattered throughout heaven and earth."
Qian Renheng nodded slightly and thought to himself, What is this? My very own Thumbelinas, who can cultivate while AFK, be carried around with me, have incredible concealment, and most importantly, are ridiculously pretty!
Whoosh—
Whoosh—
Just as Qian Renheng was still immersed in the joy of discovering Ming Ji and Chun Xing's new ability,
two sounds of rushing wind suddenly came from the distant sky. Two streaks of light that seemed to tear through the heavens were speeding toward them at an astonishing rate.
Qian Renheng's gaze sharpened as he immediately said, "Someone's coming. Ming Ji, Chun Xing, hide in my ears first."
Ming Ji and Chun Xing reacted swiftly. Their tiny wings gave a sharp beat, and they transformed into faint black and green streaks of light that flew directly into Qian Renheng's left and right ears.
The two little ones did not hide completely. Instead, they mischievously poked out their tiny heads, clinging to the edges of his earlobes as they carefully peeked outside.
Not long afterward, the two streaks of light landed steadily within the Martial Arts Arena.
"Great-grandson! My dear great-grandson, we finally found you!" Qian Wushuang's hearty laughter arrived first. Beaming, he strode briskly up to Qian Renheng, clearly in an excellent mood.
Following closely behind Qian Wushuang was Chrysanthemum Douluo, dressed in a robe embroidered with all manner of dazzling flowers. His temperament was feminine, and his appearance enchantingly beautiful.
Yue Guan stared fixedly at Qian Renheng, his eyes filled with irrepressible excitement, fervor, and even a trace of poorly concealed nervousness.
"Great-Grandfather, what's so urgent that you came looking for me? Could it be that there's already progress on the medicinal herb planting matter I mentioned yesterday?"
Seeing the two of them arrive, Qian Renheng vaguely guessed the reason and asked with some confusion.
"That's right, it's about the medicinal herbs." Qian Wushuang nodded. "After turning everything upside down overnight, we practically searched Spirit Hall's treasury from top to bottom!"
"After carefully selecting them, we finally picked out one thousand rare medicinal herbs of sufficient age and pure lineage to serve as the first batch planted in your Life Realm!"
Qian Renheng nodded slightly, not particularly surprised by that number.
Although Spirit Hall possessed vast wealth and mountains of medicinal herbs, its enormous force of Soul Masters consumed an astronomical amount every day.
Trying to plant every medicinal herb in the treasury into the Life Realm all at once was clearly unrealistic.
Taking out one thousand of the most precious medicinal herbs and planting them in the Life Realm was the safest approach.
Before you continue