Big Sister Na'er?
A faint smile curled at the corners of Xu Qingjia's lips.
His dark eyes looked the little girl up and down before finally settling on the cowlick atop Na'er's head, which swayed gently with her movements.
Xu Qingjia took a step forward.
A fresh scent mingled with a faint medicinal fragrance entered Na'er's senses.
Na'er's eyes went blank for a moment. Looking at the boy so close to her, she felt that unfamiliar scent stir emotions in her mind that she couldn't understand. Instinctively, she wanted to take half a step back, but King Na'er's pride made her force herself to stay calm. "Y-you... what are you doing?"
Xu Qingjia said nothing. He merely laid a hand flat on top of Na'er's little head, then moved it horizontally until it lined up perfectly with his eyebrows.
Holding that pose, Xu Qingjia stepped back and raised an eyebrow in a mild challenge.
"Hmph!" Na'er understood at once. Her delicately sculpted little face puffed up like a pufferfish, and her cherry lips formed an indignant pout. "What's so great about that? You're only a tiny bit taller than me!"
"Mm."
"I'll definitely grow taller than you someday!"
"Mm."
"And I'll be stronger than you, too!"
"Mm."
The smile never left Xu Qingjia's lips as he nodded lightly.
"Ugh..." Watching his breezy, unruffled manner, Na'er felt as though all her strength had struck a wad of cotton. Her cheeks puffed up even more.
"It's getting late." Xu Qingjia glanced at the Soul Guidance Clock on the wall, a teasing note in his voice. "Children who stay up late won't grow tall. You wouldn't want to lose your chance to become 'Big Sister Na'er,' would you?"
As he spoke, he took a glass of chilled sour plum drink from the Soul Guidance Refrigerator in the room and handed it to Na'er.
"It's sweet and tart, and it helps with digestion. Your bedding is all ready, too."
Though he supposed that such a tiny burden was nothing to her "world-shaking appetite."
"Hmph." Na'er lifted her little head with a haughty air.
Since you've brought an offering to King Na'er...
The bedroom fell quiet.
Xu Qingjia's gaze dropped to the grilled skewers in his hand.
He didn't usually have a habit of eating before bed.
Still, they tasted good.
He washed up and bathed.
After changing into loose pajamas, the young boy took a copy of Analysis of Meditation Method Creation from the bookshelf.
"Meditation is a compulsory subject for every Soul Master."
"A good, suitable meditation method can at least double cultivation speed compared with the most basic meditation method."
A Soul Master's meditation cultivation consisted of two parts.
The first step was to capture the natural energy in the air through meditation using spiritual power.
The second step was to draw that natural energy into the circulation of Soul Power through the meridians and refine it.
Xu Qingjia took several more meditation manuals from the bookshelf.
During its conquest of the entire Douluo Continent, the Sun Moon Empire had known that its Martial Soul research lagged far behind that of the original Douluo Three Kingdoms. Throughout that process, it had deliberately collected Martial Soul research from their various sects and academies, including meditation methods from the Heavenly Dragon Sect, one of the successors to the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect, and even the Tang Sect's Mysterious Heaven Skill.
Although the Tang Sect's current Mysterious Heaven Skill was incomplete compared with the version Sea God Tang San possessed, Xu Qingjia was still rather curious about a cultivation technique that even a God King continued to use.
His real goal, however, was to create one of his own.
It didn't necessarily have to be the best, but it had to suit him.
So that he could improve faster!
The final showdown would begin in twenty years. That was by no means a generous amount of time.
Meditating with his family's ancestral meditation method went quite smoothly, but something always felt uncomfortable. It was like wearing ill-fitting clothes: they still kept him warm and protected him from the cold, but they simply didn't fit and restricted his movements.
After spending half an hour, he had roughly sorted out the fundamentals and core principles of the various meditation methods.
Xu Qingjia began experimenting.
His consciousness sank into his Sea of Consciousness, and his gaze fell upon the Book of Life and Death. With a thought, the book reverted to the form he had first seen: intertwined dark-gold and profound black light, seemingly poised between reality and illusion. Patterns containing the fundamental truths of heaven and earth manifested upon it.
Meditation? Visualization!
But that aspect was still beyond his reach for now.
Although, as the master of the Book of Life and Death, he could vaguely grasp the mysteries of those laws on some instinctive level, his actual understanding remained quite hazy.
Blazing a new trail was something only someone who had already become a grandmaster in an existing path could accomplish.
Xu Qingjia didn't think he could simply go, "Lemme think about it," and instantly create a supreme cultivation technique that perfectly matched the mysteries governing the Book of Life and Death's cycle of life, death, and reincarnation-one he could use all the way to God King, Supreme God King, or even a level beyond this universe.
Was that something a level-eighteen Soul Master with Spirit Connection Realm spiritual power could do?
Thus, his aim was to modify the second step of his ancestral meditation method, making the circulation of Soul Power through his meridians smoother, faster, and more perfectly suited to him.
Creating a technique was a difficult process. Even when standing on the shoulders of giants and modifying only part of an existing method, some sections might feel perfectly smooth during initial testing. Yet just as you finally approached completion, you might suddenly discover that the pieces simply wouldn't fit together. A careful review would reveal that an earlier section was wrong, forcing you to tear the whole process down and start again.
For anyone else, this would take a very long time.
...But-
Bring on the cheat!
Following the ancestral Sun Moon Meditation Method, Xu Qingjia meditated and cultivated. While ensuring that he wouldn't place too great a burden on his meridians, he circulated his Soul Power at slightly above their normal capacity.
Then his consciousness sank into his Sea of Consciousness.
Xu Qingjia opened the Book of Life and Death and consulted the record of his life.
[Meditation cultivation: Soul Power veered right while passing through the life gate acupoint, causing imperceptibly slight damage to the meridians. Damage has healed naturally...]
Attempt after attempt, adjustment after adjustment.
The Book of Life and Death couldn't directly give him a supreme cultivation technique, but it could show him what he had done and what consequences those actions had produced within his body.
Xu Qingjia swallowed a Mystic Water Pill to repair his meridians.
Though, if he hadn't swallowed it quickly enough, those imperceptibly tiny injuries would have healed completely on their own.
Elsewhere.
Na'er's bedroom.
A little white-haired dumpling nestled
on the soft, spacious bed, letting out a contented little hum. Beneath her head lay a pillow stuffed with thousand-year-old Emerald Swan feathers, fluffy and soft to the touch, making her feel as though she were lying among the clouds.
A few hours earlier, she had still been out on the street with her stomach growling and the cold wind cutting against her. Now, not only had she sampled exquisite delicacies she had never seen before and eaten until her belly was round, but she could also snuggle into a warm, comfortable bed.
Na'er felt that she had no regrets left in this life.
If only that human cub would obediently call her "Big Sister," everything would be perfect!
Even that rotten Gu Yue had a bunch of underlings under her command-Di Tian, the Scarlet King, and other Ferocious Beasts.
How could the illustrious King Na'er not have even a single underling?
Exactly!
The white-haired dumpling suddenly sat up, waving her fair little fist, her eyes shining with determination. "King Na'er will make Xu Qingjia call her Big Sister! Wahahaha!"
"But have I forgotten something?"
Na'er tilted her little head and pondered for a moment. She had eaten her fill and drunk her sour plum drink. It seemed... it was time to sleep!
"Na'er..." A cool voice sounded beside her ear.
"Gu Yue!" Na'er's heart jolted.
She remembered.
Na'er touched the silver dragon scale around her neck with her spiritual power. The softness beneath her and the fullness in her stomach inexplicably left her feeling a little guilty. But then she reconsidered. Why should she feel guilty? Did completing a mission mean she had to dine on the wind and sleep beneath the open sky?
If anything, that rotten Gu Yue had sent her out on a mission without even giving her any travel money.
The white-haired dumpling immediately felt entirely justified and communicated through her spiritual power. "What is it?"
When Shen Xi had bathed Na'er earlier, she had also noticed this object on the little girl. At first, she had assumed it was some sort of listening device, but neither probing it with spiritual power nor injecting Soul Power had elicited any response. After hearing Na'er explain that her mother had given it to her, she had treated it as some custom from Na'er's hometown.
Gu Yue asked, "How are things on your end? How is the mission going?"
She and Na'er had originated from the same being. They could sense each other's physical and emotional states in sync, especially Gu Yue, as the main body.
But they were too far apart now. Mainly because her strength was sealed, the signal wasn't very good.
"Things are going very well," Na'er said solemnly.
The potato chips are fragrant, crispy, and delicious, the roast lamb leg has just the right texture, and the steak is nice and chewy.
The white-haired dumpling lay comfortably on her stomach on the bed. Her dainty little feet resembled exquisite works of art, every graceful curve just right. Their fair, pink-tinged skin was like peeled hard-boiled eggs, and her pearl-like toes showed a healthy blush in the air, swaying gently with her movements.
Gu Yue's voice reached Na'er's mind through the spiritual fluctuations transmitted by the Silver Dragon Reverse Scale. "Earlier, I sensed two presences near you whose strength was around that of Limit Douluo."
To avoid being detected by others, she would cut off their connection whenever anyone approached.
"Those were probably Aunt Shen and Uncle Xu," Na'er said. A touch of pride entered the little girl's spiritual fluctuations. "Thanks to King Na'er's acting skills, refined to the realm of the divine, King Na'er successfully infiltrated a powerful family."
Exactly. This was all part of King Na'er's plan!
She hadn't been lured here by potato chips and delicious food at all.
"Mm." A note of praise entered Gu Yue's cool voice. "Well done. Remember to keep gathering information whenever you can. If any trace of the Netherworld's aura appears, I'll notify you."
"No problem!" Na'er brimmed with confidence.
Their conversation ended.
"Haa..." The white-haired dumpling gave an adorable yawn.
A full belly made her sleepy.
Her little head drowsily nuzzled the pillow. As for missions and such, tomorrow would be soon enough.
Roast lamb leg, potato chips... hehe...
As her consciousness gradually grew hazy, Na'er curled up beneath the soft, warm covers and soon drifted into sweet dreams.