Forcing the Aloof Master to Madness - Chapter 27.2

Shen Lezhi realized the truth at this thought.

It was because Wang Xi could not fuse with the Water Spirits. She possessed the mutated single Ice Spiritual Root and did not have the innate advantage of closeness to Water Spirits like Shen Lezhi did.

Wang Xi controlled the Water Spirits in the same way she had controlled Shen Lezhi several times before: forcefully, without allowing refusal, using spiritual power to cage the Water Spirits in her domain, like an invisible prison.

Shen Lezhi thought, If Wang Xi’s spiritual power can become a cage, can hers become something more minute?

To penetrate little by little, like a needle, like a thread, seeping into the core of the Water Spirits and fusing with their energy.

She acted upon her thought. Previously, she had only released spiritual power for large-scale control. Now, she needed extremely fine control—to evade Wang Xi’s spiritual power and to slowly infiltrate.

Such precise control made her dizzy within half an hour, but Shen Lezhi had been constantly depleting her spiritual power to treat the Crying Soul Strand recently. She was used to the feeling of her body being empty of spiritual power. Even as the world spun, she did not give up on infiltrating the Water Spirits before her.

She only chose less than a hundred Water Spirits. After all, her spiritual power was too little to support more. Little by little, she persisted for a full half hour.

A thought flickered in Shen Lezhi’s mind, and the Water Spirits she had infiltrated immediately responded to her.

She succeeded!

Shen Lezhi chuckled, panting lightly. She lowered her head slightly, thinking of something amusing.

Then she looked up at Wang Xi, who remained motionless against the wind, and smiled at the Master.

Suddenly.

A popping sound echoed in the quiet air. It wasn’t very loud, but it was particularly jarring.

Shen Lezhi gazed at Wang Xi and saw the Master suddenly open her eyes. Shen Lezhi’s smile became wider.

She had made the Water Spirits she controlled explode. She could have controlled them to perform different actions to show Wang Xi the results of her cultivation, but such a childish impulse had suddenly surfaced in her mind.

Perhaps her head was too dizzy.

Shen Lezhi couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

Wang Xi instantly appeared before her, looking down at her intently, her thin lips moving slightly, her voice exceptionally cold: “A cheap trick.”

This was her assessment of Shen Lezhi’s method of controlling the Water Spirits.

Shen Lezhi felt weak all over and raised her head with some difficulty, smiling as she looked into Wang Xi’s eyes.

As long as it works.

She thought this in her heart but said aloud: “Thank you for your guidance, Master.”

She was exhausted from the depletion of her spiritual power and her body trembled slightly in spasms, but the smile she raised was like a flower in the warm sunlight, facing the rising sun, vibrant and beautiful.

Sun-Facing Spiritual Treasure Flower.

The name of this spiritual plant came to Wang Xi’s mind.

It was a spiritual flower that always faced the rising sun, possessed an extremely strong vitality, and was excessively vivid.

Shen Lezhi at this moment resembled that blooming flower.

A faint glow flickered in Wang Xi’s eyes. She shifted her gaze away from Shen Lezhi’s face, paused briefly, and then coldly stated: “Come again tomorrow. You may descend the mountain.”

Shen Lezhi truly couldn’t practice anymore. The depletion of spiritual power made her uncomfortable. A cultivator’s meridians are essentially a spiritual power reservoir. Daily meditation practice is to cultivate the capacity of the meridians.

Each stage has a limit. Breaking through is expanding the storage of the meridians. Shen Lezhi’s current capacity was small. When her body lacked spiritual power support, her meridians felt deprived of nourishment, making even walking difficult.

Fortunately, Shen Lezhi was already accustomed to this feeling. She skillfully took out a spirit stone to quickly alleviate the pain caused by spiritual power depletion, then entered meditative repose to regulate her energy, absorbing the surrounding spiritual energy.

Wang Xi looked at her state, and a trace of doubt flashed in her eyes.

Does Shen Lezhi frequently experience spiritual power depletion?

Wang Xi was merely puzzled and did not feel compelled to investigate. Shen Lezhi’s cultivation matters were constantly irritating her lately.

She was not instructing Shen Lezhi as meticulously as in the previous life, nor was she as cautiously afraid of the girl being harmed during cultivation.

At that time, Shen Lezhi’s health was worse than it was now, and her attitude was more discouraged.

The Shen Lezhi of that time had already given up on cultivation. Even when she expressed a desire to cultivate, her eyes held no spark of interest when Wang Xi taught her.

She didn’t like it; she was just doing it to show Wang Xi.

She was nothing like the current Shen Lezhi, who was so focused that she wouldn’t give up even when her spiritual power was depleted, and who smiled at the Master even while her body was convulsing.

That look of saying she couldn’t do it while her eyes revealed intense interest; that brilliant, golden-like gaze when looking over; that childish act of using a little trick even when utterly exhausted.

Wang Xi genuinely thought Shen Lezhi was enjoying the pleasure of this kind of cultivation.

Perhaps she wasn’t just thinking it.

Wang Xi was suddenly unable to judge Shen Lezhi’s true intentions.

She stubbornly believed that everything about Shen Lezhi was fake. Her smile, her slight childishness, her vitality like the Sun-Facing Spiritual Treasure Flower—it must all be her pretense.

She is a malicious person.

Wang Xi no longer looked at the meditating Shen Lezhi. She turned and left alone.

But why did she feel like she was truly sensing the warmth of the morning sun from Shen Lezhi?

Wang Xi did not want to think about it anymore. She flew back to her cave dwelling on her sword, took out the mother Gu for the Life-and-Death Gu, and stared at the dormant Gu worm in the container.

She shouldn’t be influenced by Shen Lezhi’s state of mind. She reminded herself that perhaps killing Shen Lezhi now was also an option.

The matters she needed to investigate would take some time. She would find out eventually.

If the girl continued to be like she was in the previous life, she could keep her and continue to torture her.

Her fingertip hovered above the mother Gu. With just one breath, by killing the mother Gu before her, Shen Lezhi would die along with it.

It was truly a pity. Compared to killing Shen Lezhi so easily, she had originally wanted to see the girl suffer endless torment.

Wang Xi gently closed her eyes. A thought flickered, and spiritual power gathered at her fingertip.

“Master, your disciple takes her leave.”

Shen Lezhi’s voice sounded abruptly in Wang Xi’s ear. Wang Xi paused slightly. Shen Lezhi had already recovered some spiritual power and called out loudly toward the direction of the cave dwelling to bid farewell.

Shen Lezhi knew that Wang Xi’s spiritual consciousness covered all of Exquisite Peak. Too lazy to climb back up to the cave dwelling, she simply bowed on the spot.

So cunning, yet stubbornly maintaining propriety.

Wang Xi lowered her eyes and finally put away the Gu worm.

Wang Xi’s spiritual consciousness followed Shen Lezhi. Although the girl’s face also carried a smile, it was completely different from the previous life.

The Shen Lezhi before her was not truly obedient.

Although she would still pretend to be docile and follow Wang Xi’s words, most of the time, even when pretending, she would secretly reveal an expression of defiance.

Wang Xi stood in front of the cave dwelling, looking into the distance—the path Shen Lezhi was taking down the mountain.

She gently exhaled. A broken branch not far away was moved by her spiritual energy, carried by the cool breeze, and floated down Exquisite Peak.

It floated past the mountainside and arrived next to Shen Lezhi.

It brushed past her robes and grazed her hair.

Shen Lezhi was startled by the sudden broken branch and abruptly sidestepped to dodge. Unexpectedly, the branch was caught by the wind, suddenly rushed toward her, and struck her forehead.

“Hey!” Shen Lezhi cried out in annoyance.

Because she already knew that this broken branch had been deliberately aimed at her!

It was wrapped in a layer of dense Ice-type spiritual power—Wang Xi’s overbearing and immense spiritual power.

The Master was taking revenge for Shen Lezhi’s intentional act of making the Water Spirits explode to startle her earlier!

Childish!

Shen Lezhi swore silently. Then she felt like she was swearing at herself, so she simply pouted, rubbed her forehead, and quickly ran down the mountain.