Volume 1, Chapter 12 – Jade Tempering Art

When Shi Feng stepped through the door, Shi Lan was already eating.

Seeing Shi Feng come in, Shi Lan set her chopsticks down. “Have you eaten? Want to join me?”

The words Shi Feng had rehearsed on the way over stuck in his throat. He could only refuse with a bit of helplessness. “Thank you, Young Master, but this subordinate isn’t hungry.”

Shi Lan didn’t mind. She’d only said it in passing anyway. The medicinal meal Zique had sent over barely felt enough for her alone. It was just a habit of hers, offering out of politeness.

“You’re coming to me at this hour—what’s the matter?”

Shi Feng stepped forward and handed over the wooden box in his hands. “This subordinate happened to obtain a hundred-year blood ginseng. It’s very effective for replenishing vitality and nourishing qi. Young Master has just begun practicing martial arts and could use the tonic.”

Shi Lan’s eyes lit up. She took the wooden box and opened it right away. A stalk of blood ginseng nearly a foot long lay quietly inside, roots dense and spreading, giving off a strange fragrance.

The main effect of blood ginseng was to nourish the blood and calm the spirit. The reason Shi Lan was so delighted was because, in her previous life, she’d once heard someone mention that blood ginseng supposedly worked wonders for menstrual cramps.

After the excitement passed, Shi Lan closed the box and cleared her throat twice. Shi Feng was being so thoughtful it was actually making her feel a bit embarrassed.

“Young Master, though this blood ginseng isn’t that old, its medicinal strength isn’t weak. It can be considered a spiritual material. Since you’ve just started training, it’s best not to take more than half a qian each time.”

“I’ll gladly accept this generous gift. From now on, you don’t need to call me Young Master. Call me big brother!”

“Ah?”

Big… brother?

Shi Feng’s expression turned odd. He was four years older than Shi Lan—how was he supposed to call her big brother? Besides, how was Shi Lan supposed to be his big brother?

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The moment the words left her mouth, Shi Lan realized something was off. Knowing she’d gotten a bit carried away, she said awkwardly, “You can pretend you didn’t hear that…”

With that, Shi Lan sat down and buried her head back into her medicinal meal.

Shi Feng remained silent, not sure what he should say. A faint worry rose in his heart. Had Shi Lan been pretending to be a man for so long that it had messed with her thinking?

The only sound left in the room was Shi Lan eating.

“Anything else?”

Shi Lan polished off the medicinal meal in no time. Seeing Shi Feng still standing off to the side, she couldn’t help asking in puzzlement.

“N-nothing else. Young Master should rest early.”

After Shi Feng left the room and pulled the door closed behind him, he leaped up in one motion, silently landing on the rooftop. Moving with practiced ease, he found a comfortable corner and lay down.

Looking up at the familiar expanse of brilliant stars, Shi Feng’s thoughts gradually emptied out.

It had been fourteen winters and summers since he’d come to the Shi residence. This was already his fifteenth year there.

After entering the Shi residence, hunger and cold were completely cut off from his life. All that remained for him was martial training and the missions Shi Tianlu assigned him.

He had thought his whole life would pass just like that—until he met Shi Lan.

Shi Lan, that name… Five years ago, he’d only ever heard it from the mouths of other guards and servants: born with a crippled body, weak-tempered, useless—never anything remotely praiseworthy.

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Shi Lan had barely any presence in the Shi residence. He’d always treated Shi Lan as someone entirely unrelated to him.

Until five years ago, when Shi Tianlu ordered him to become Shi Lan’s secret guard—and the Eldest Young Master turned into the Eldest Young Miss.

When he first heard the news, Shi Feng had been somewhat shocked. But he calmed down quickly. It was just another ordinary assignment.

As he spent more time around Shi Lan, Shi Feng began to notice something different about her—her simplicity, gentleness, kindness, and that almost unimaginable endurance.

Whenever Shi Lan watched the servant girls in the residence, her eyes always carried a deeply suppressed envy. Jade hairpins, ornamental hairpieces, red makeup and plain dresses—these ordinary things were extravagant dreams she could hardly even imagine having.

She had lived like that for nearly twenty years.

Gradually, Shi Feng found that he actually liked the feeling of watching Shi Lan from the shadows. As long as he was looking at her, his heart would calm, and he could cast aside all the blood and gore he encountered in his missions.

But today, Shi Feng suddenly realized that feeling in his heart had vanished. It was as if an unbridgeable chasm had opened up between him and Shi Lan—a gulf he could not cross.

……

Sitting on the bed, Shi Lan summoned the panel of the Empress-Raising System. The system had taken one level of her cultivation, and as compensation had given her a lottery draw. The day’s mission hadn’t been for nothing.

Looking at the spinning wheel on the lottery interface, Shi Lan said without hesitation, “Draw.”

The wheel spun rapidly and came to an abrupt halt after a few breaths.

【Congratulations, Host, you have drawn a three-star skill: Heaven’s Eye Qi-Observing Art.】

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Heaven’s Eye Qi-Observing Art…

Waves of information surged into Shi Lan’s mind.

It took her nearly two hours to barely digest all of it.

“What a Heaven’s Eye Qi-Observing Art!”

Shi Lan opened her eyes, filled with astonishment.

The Heaven’s Eye Qi-Observing Art could read feng shui layouts, trace the flow of the earth’s dragon veins, and see the rise and fall, length and breadth of a person’s fortune.

It didn’t help much in direct combat, but Shi Lan knew very well that its auxiliary functions were nothing to scoff at.

Thinking of the rewards from the earlier novice mission, Shi Lan opened the system’s temporary storage. In addition to the Body Tempering Pills and the White Crane Dress, there was now a small booklet with a green cover.

Shi Lan took out the Jade Tempering Art and flipped through it. Half a quarter-hour later, she closed the booklet, a faint understanding in her eyes.

The Jade Tempering Art was divided into nine levels. With a cultivation of only the Body Tempering Realm, one could practice only levels one to three; levels six to nine required at least the Innate Realm.

Once the Jade Tempering Art was cultivated to perfection, it could condense a Glazed Jade Body—body like glazed glass, like soft warm jade, hard for ordinary magic treasures to damage.

According to Su Lanyue, the techniques in this world were divided into four grades: lower, middle, upper, and the legendary supreme arts. The Vajra Divine Fist she practiced belonged to the upper-grade techniques within the Body Tempering Realm.

As for which grade this Jade Tempering Art belonged to, she had no idea.

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Shi Lan sat cross-legged, closed her eyes, and began circulating the formula for the first level of the Jade Tempering Art.

She didn’t know how much time had passed when a wisp of qi was born within her body. That wisp of qi traveled throughout her, beginning to temper her muscles, bones, skin, and flesh.

But the wisp of qi was far too weak. It barely made one full circuit through her body before dissipating without a trace.

Once that wisp of qi disappeared, a terrifying hunger surged up. The hunger was so intense that Shi Lan felt like even her stomach was starting to cramp.

Shi Lan opened her eyes, jumped off the bed, pulled out that bundle of dry rations from the wardrobe, and devoured it. Even after she finished, the hunger in her belly still hadn’t gone away.

Glancing at the pitch-black sky outside, Shi Lan hesitated for a moment, then turned her gaze to the wooden box on the desk that held the blood ginseng.

“I don’t think I’m supposed to eat too much at once…”

She opened the box, a bit torn. How much was half a qian again?

The hunger in her belly kept surging up. Shi Lan’s eyes gleamed greenish, and she couldn’t be bothered to think anymore. She’d eat first and worry later.

Shi Lan grabbed the blood ginseng and bit off a huge chunk like she was gnawing on a radish.

The texture was slightly astringent, with a hint of sweetness.