Lin Ran lay on the roof, watching Pang Yizhi set up the formation below. Sure enough, he was thoroughly unreliable. He had spent most of the day puzzling over a simple Demon-Locking Formation and still had not figured it out!
In the end, Lin Ran could not bear to watch anymore. With a wave of his little paw, all the formation flags fell into place.
"Huh? I actually stumbled into getting it right?" Dr. Pang raised his head and examined it carefully. When he found that the arrangement was now correct, he was overjoyed.
After secretly finishing her talismans, Li Susu went to find Tantai Jin. That night, when Lin Ran watched the Nightmare Demon sweep the two of them away, he quietly followed.
When Tantai Jin tried to kill himself in the dream, Li Susu appeared and stopped him. Tantai Jin woke from the dream and discovered that Li Susu had saved him, looking at her with a complicated expression.
The Nightmare Demon charged at Tantai Jin. Just then, a formidable aura erupted from within Tantai Jin. Lin Ran watched him closely, observing the power of the Evil Bone, only to find that it was nothing special. Pretty average, really!
After letting Tantai Jin finish absorbing the flower demon's demonic power, Lin Ran suddenly jumped out, giving Dandan Jin a fright.
"Senior, is this the power of the Evil Bone?"
"More or less. How does it feel to have power?"
"Not bad. It's much stronger than directly absorbing the power inside a golden core like before."
"All roads lead to Rome. Cultivating immortal arts is also a viable path. Once you've experienced Prajna Floating Life, I think you'll change."
The next morning, after Li Susu woke up, she looked at the wound on her hand and hurried off with Chun Tao to find Tantai Jin.
Discovering that Little White was actually in Tantai Jin's room, Li Susu scooped Lin Ran into her arms.
"Little White, you're finally back!"
"You passed my test, so naturally, I came back."
"The wound on your hand, Miss Ye?"
"She got it saving you. That dream was also reality. If you died in there, you really would have died."
"There's something I don't understand. Miss Ye, you seem very concerned about whether I live or die?"
"I am not! Anyway, just make sure you stay alive!"
"Thank you for saving me, Miss Ye!" Tantai Jin smiled. There was someone in this world who cared about him now. His chest felt strange, as though something had sprouted there.
"Did you two notice anything else?"
"Anything else? No!"
"Are you referring to Ye Bingchang, Senior?"
"Yes. That eldest sister who seems so kind and approachable to you isn't a good person at heart. Given the chance, the darkness inside her will be fully exposed."
"I noticed something wrong too. Those Flowers of Nightmares drew a lot of nourishment from Eldest Sister! That means she must have a great deal of resentment inside."
"Let's wait and see. It's perfectly normal for her to harbor resentment. After all, not everyone is like Little Jinjin, without the seven emotions and six desires. Ye Bingchang has suffered plenty of grievances in your Ye Residence, and most of them came from you." Lin Ran rolled his eyes at Li Susu.
Li Susu smiled sheepishly. What could she do? She was the family's darling, monopolizing everyone's love.
During the meal, Li Susu and Tantai Jin both secretly studied Ye Bingchang. Lin Ran, however, felt nothing much about it. He ran back and forth across the dining table, eating whatever he wanted, while the Ye Family watched him with smiles.
After he had eaten his fill, Li Susu wiped Lin Ran's mouth, and he settled into her arms to rest with perfect ease. He was currently at a rather special stage and grew sleepy particularly easily. His sacred beast body was about to take its most crucial step. If he succeeded, he would reach sacred beast body greater accomplishment, and his combat power would soar. If he failed-with System around, the odds of failure were minuscule.
With Ye Qingyu's return, the Ye Residence erupted into chickens flying and dogs leaping. There was no helping it. The family disciplinarian had returned, and Li Susu, that unrestrained fool, received her punishment.
"Little White, don't you think my little brother has gone too far? Since when does a younger brother make his older sister kneel as punishment?"
"It is a little much. Then just don't kneel. At worst, you'll take a few strikes across the palms."
Li Susu shrank back. Compared with having her palms struck, kneeling was preferable.
With a thought, Lin Ran opened the system shop and spent one Origin Point to exchange for a deck of playing cards.
"Little White, is this some kind of treasure?" Li Susu asked curiously.
"No, it's something to pass the time. Chun Tao, come over here too."
Lin Ran then explained how to play to them, and the three began playing cards in the ancestral hall!
"Calling landlord?"
"No!" Li Susu looked at her cards and decisively shook her head.
"If Miss isn't calling, I will." Chun Tao chuckled and picked up the three cards belonging to the landlord. Her face immediately fell. These bottom cards were terrible.
The three were right in the thick of their game. Lin Ran had both jokers and four twos this round, making him practically invincible, when Ye Qingyu stormed in with Tantai Jin.
Ten minutes later, they were sitting in a circle, playing Tiger Cards with Lin Ran as the banker!
Li Susu looked at the cards in her hand. Eight points. That was already a very high total. Pretending nothing was amiss, she looked at Lin Ran.
"Raise if you're staying in!"
As soon as Lin Ran spoke, Tantai Jin raised without hesitation. Ye Qingyu hesitated briefly before raising as well. Chun Tao, however, helplessly put down her cards. She only had two points this round and really did not dare raise.
Their betting chips were simple: spirit pearls Lin Ran had exchanged for, ten per person. Tantai Jin currently held fourteen, while Li Susu had only three left and Chun Tao had five. After playing several rounds, Ye Qingyu actually still had ten.
"Bets down, hands off! Hehe! A bomb! I take it all!"
Lin Ran was just about to sweep all the spirit pearls over to himself when Tantai Jin stopped him.
"I have a bomb too, and mine is bigger than yours, Senior!" Tantai Jin smiled faintly, leaving Lin Ran no choice but to give him four spirit pearls.
After they played a while longer, Lin Ran stretched out his large tiger paw, intending to sweep away the spirit pearls in front of him. Li Susu clung to his paw and refused to let go, her face pleading. She did not have a single spirit pearl left!
"Little White, we're so close. Could you lend me a few more spirit pearls?"
"Yes, yes, Little White, lend us some more spirit pearls," Chun Tao chimed in. She was about to lose all of hers too.
Lin Ran waved his paw, and another forty spirit pearls appeared before him. He gave each person ten.
Li Susu and Chun Tao happily gathered up the spirit pearls. These spirit pearls were the size of walnuts and contained pure spiritual energy. Had Xiao Lin seen them, his eyes would certainly have widened in astonishment. In the immortal sects of the present day, these were absolutely rare treasures!
Each spirit pearl cost ten Origin Points. Lin Ran had not exchanged for these pearls solely to play games. He could give them to Li Susu for cultivation. He had asked System, and people in this world could absorb spiritual energy.
Lin Ran also had an idea: to keep Li Susu from cultivating the Dao of Ruthlessness. He would exchange for a badass cultivation art for her. Wouldn't that be far more reliable than her Dao of Ruthlessness?
And Dandan Jin-he would get one for him too!
Lin Ran called out to System in his mind, asking Them to recommend cultivation arts suitable for the two.
[In response to the host, purchasing the Nine Heavens Divine Art and the Extreme Demon Heavenly Art is recommended.]
"Hm? Little Jinjin is suited to cultivating demonic arts?"
[Yes. He has a natural-born demonic physique and is best suited to cultivating the demon race's cultivation arts.]
Lin Ran looked Tantai Jin up and down. He had not expected him to have a natural-born demonic physique. A devil fetus meant a natural-born demonic physique? Reasonable! Very reasonable!
However, the two cultivation arts cost five hundred thousand Origin Points each, and he no longer had enough Origin Points. It seemed he would have to find a chance to earn something on the side!