“You must be kidding me, Host,” the system couldn’t believe its ears, saying, “I’m just a regular system, where would I get the blueprints for that thing?”
Even if you search Baidu, you won’t find it, right?
After a brief moment of contemplation, Shen Tanqi also felt that his idea was a bit far-fetched. After a slight pause, he asked, “Then… how about a water gun?”
There should be blueprints for a toy water gun, right? Shen Tanqi’s idea was to infuse spiritual energy into the water gun transformed by Little Black to use as bullets, so even if it was a water gun, it wouldn’t matter.
Upon hearing this, the system was momentarily speechless, using its privileges to open Baidu from the backend and search for a blueprint of a toy water gun.
And indeed, it was there.
The black gun body was adorned with colorful little lights, looking quite cool with an Ultraman sticker on it.
“Did you find it?” Shen Tanqi asked expectantly.
“Well, I did find it…” the system hesitated to answer.
Little Black, unable to understand their conversation, blinked in confusion, took the blueprint that the system reluctantly handed over, which happened to be the design blueprint for the toy water gun.
It narrowed its eyes and carefully examined it, memorizing the changes of each part on it, then leaped into the air, surrounded by dense black mist, which dissipated after a moment.
Shen Tanqi excitedly reached out to receive the weapon customized by Little Black for himself. After inspecting it left and right, his smile froze slightly, “…Next time, we can skip the Ultraman sticker.”
But overall, Little Black was indeed a treasure. Shen Tanqi recalled that when the system first saw Little Black, it seemed to have said that Little Black was one of the eight blood demons, the Red Night.
Could it be that his little dog was really some powerful character?
Seeing Shen Tanqi playing with his new weapon fondly, Yu Ce slowly approached him and pointed to the water gun, whispering, “There’s no spiritual energy in it; you need to infuse the spiritual energy into it.”
Little Black was so weak that ordinary people couldn’t even tell it was a demon, let alone expecting any power from the weapons it transformed.
Shen Tanqi’s eyes lit up, and he subconsciously said, “Teach me.”
Yu Ce was proficient in everything, even able to handle coffins with ease, so naturally, he could control Little Black as well.
Upon hearing his words, Yu Ce’s lips curved slightly, and he reached out to clasp Shen Tanqi’s hand. Sensing Shen Tanqi’s momentary hesitation, he softly explained, “I’ll teach you.”
Shen Tanqi felt somewhat uncomfortable with his sudden intimacy, but he couldn’t pinpoint what exactly felt off. “Uh…”
Yu Ce’s hand was large, easily enveloping Shen Tanqi’s hand. Being this close, the other’s breath tickled his ear, making it itch.
“Channel your energy to your dantian, feel the spiritual energy condensing in the palm of your hand through the meridians of your body.” His voice was serious again, making Shen Tanqi feel oddly awkward, but he obediently followed suit.
Yu Ce had taught him the method of condensing spiritual energy in the cave before, but Shen Tanqi had never been interested in cultivation and had rarely practiced, so he felt particularly unfamiliar at this moment.
After several attempts, he still couldn’t do it as effortlessly as Yu Ce described.
Once the spiritual energy reached his shoulders, it recoiled like a fish out of water, retreating to its comfort zone.
Shen Tanqi was rarely annoyed that he didn’t work hard on weekdays because now there were two little ones and the system all staring at him expectantly.
The system didn’t matter much, but he had set a bad example of being lazy and unambitious for the children, making Shen Tanqi feel embarrassed.
Especially Taro Ball, who was enthusiastically cheering him on, “Daddy, try hard, get the spiritual energy into your hands!”
Interrupted by the children’s voices, Shen Tanqi lost focus, and the spiritual energy leaked back. He awkwardly tried to pull his hand back from Yu Ce’s palm and said, “Maybe we should try again next time…”
Unexpectedly, Yu Ce suddenly tightened his grip on his hand, making it impossible for him to escape.
His faint voice still lingered in Shen Tanqi’s ears, as if the other party had no extra complicated thoughts, just teaching him how to use spiritual energy, straightforwardly stating, “Senior Brother, your talent is good, it’s just a matter of practice. Try a few more times.”
Shen Tanqi pursed his lips and could only obediently place his hand back on the water gun, aiming at the kumquat bonsai not far away on the table, continuing to concentrate on gathering spiritual energy in his palm.
However, every time, there was always that slight gap, as if his hand and mind were not on the same wavelength.
He became increasingly discouraged. He didn’t want to dwell too much on something that he obviously found difficult to achieve. He always thought, let’s procrastinate a little, try harder next time.
Yu Ce’s eyes narrowed slightly, falling on Shen Tanqi’s earlobes tinged with a blush from embarrassment, very small.
He pinched it, feeling nice in his hand.
The other hand slowly moved up and rested on Shen Tanqi’s waist. “Senior Brother, you’re doing great. Try again, you just lack a little determination.”
Without firm willpower, cultivation cannot be achieved.
Shen Tanqi needed his help.
Feeling the cold touch on his waist, Shen Tanqi’s mind raised some uneasy thoughts. He was about to ask what Yu Ce was doing when the latter spoke first, in a calm and unquestionable tone, “Condense the energy.”
It was like when the teacher suddenly asks you a question in class, and your brain instantly obeys his command.
Driven by his words, Shen Tanqi, oblivious to the movement of the hand on his waist, slowly activated the spiritual energy in his palm.
This time, the progress was much better than before. Actually, for someone like Shen Tanqi who had never truly grasped the essence of cultivation techniques, this was indeed a rare talent.
He couldn’t help but feel a little excited. Just as he was about to channel the spiritual energy into the water gun, it seemed like the energy, sensing his emotions, suddenly began to recede uncontrollably.
Shen Tanqi knew it would be the same as before. He felt somewhat helpless, about to let the spiritual energy retreat and try again, when the hand on his waist suddenly pinched him, neither too light nor too heavy.
Feeling a slight tremble throughout his body from Yu Ce’s pinch, Shen Tanqi instinctively released the spiritual energy, and it actually caused the energy to surge into the water gun.
His face flushed red, Shen Tanqi gritted his teeth and turned to look at Yu Ce. He was about to scold him for daring to do such a thing in front of the children when he heard Taro Ball’s excited cheers from behind, “It worked, Daddy is amazing!”
Shen Tanqi was slightly startled and looked down at the water gun in his hand, which emitted a faint, flowing light, indicating that the spiritual energy had indeed been infused into it.
He aimed at the kumquat bonsai not far away, gently pulled the trigger, and in an instant, the pent-up spiritual energy surged out, smashing the bonsai to pieces.
So powerful…
The hand on his waist slowly retracted, and Shen Tanqi realized that Yu Ce had only been helping him. He had misunderstood Yu Ce.
“You’re very clever, Senior Brother,” Yu Ce smiled as if he didn’t care about Shen Tanqi’s reaction just now. He politely took a step back and said, “This weapon suits you well.”
Feeling uncomfortable with the praise, Shen Tanqi coughed lightly and said, “Thanks to you, otherwise, I wouldn’t know how to use it.”
Yu Ce shook his head and said, “It’s nothing. We’re brothers in the same sect. It’s only right for fellow disciples to help each other.”
He emphasized the word ‘Brother,’ which slightly surprised Shen Tanqi. Had Yu Ce ever said that before?
He couldn’t remember.
But Shen Tanqi was glad that Yu Ce understood their relationship in time. After all, being brothers was the best choice between them.
In a place where Shen Tanqi couldn’t see, Yu Ce smiled slightly, and the hand behind his back lightly twiddled, seeming to savor something.
— It felt nice too.
After practicing with the spiritual energy, Shen Tanqi firmly remembered the steps Yu Ce taught him and planned to practice in his spare time every day.
Taro Ball and Goldfish recounted to Shen Tanqi the danger they encountered when they went out and how a strange person helped them get rid of Chen Gui.
Shen Tanqi and Yu Ce were both somewhat surprised, but considering that Xiao Qingyu had previously signaled to the sect for reinforcements, it was likely that the elders of the sect had intervened and killed Chen Gui.
This was indeed a good thing. Although they hadn’t caught the demons behind the scenes who were instigating the conspiracy, these demons would surely reappear sooner or later, and they would catch them eventually.
With the task of dealing with the Chen Gui in Shuoxia City resolved, their most important goal remained—the plot point of the sect’s grand competition.
Shen Tanqi attached great importance to it, but it seemed that a certain protagonist of this plot point didn’t care at all.
In Yu Ce’s words, ‘Winning the competition is naturally good, but the main focus of the sect’s grand competition is to cultivate more talented new disciples, so there’s no need to attract too much attention.’
In other words, he’s already talented enough and doesn’t need to steal the spotlight from the newcomers.
Shen Tanqi felt like hitting someone after hearing this.
Come on, this book specifically sets up this plot point for you to show off your skills, and you’re just being lazy here. What’s up with that?
Shen Tanqi deeply felt that it was his own laziness that caused Yu Ce to lose his drive to become stronger as he did before.
If a protagonist of an upgrade genre doesn’t want to become stronger, then the plot is ruined.
So he decided to lead by example and accompany Yu Ce to participate in the sect’s grand competition.
This matter had long been prepared. The Shen family was equally looking forward to Shen Tanqi’s participation in the sect’s grand competition, and they had packed over a dozen ancestral treasures for him that night, urging him to show his power on the battlefield.
Shen Tanqi immediately handed them over to Yu Ce, earnestly advising him, “If you don’t win this time in the sect’s grand competition, then all the efforts I put into nurturing you will be in vain.”
Yu Ce’s response was, “I will definitely try my best.”
Emphasizing on trying to a certain extent.
Shen Tanqi simply felt that Yu Ce now seemed to enjoy being laid-back even more than he did. At least now, for the sake of learning how to use Little Black’s transformed water gun, he diligently practiced spiritual energy every day, and there were even signs of a breakthrough in his cultivation.
On the day they left the Shen family, the sky drizzled again, but Shen Tanqi hadn’t experienced any dependency episodes in the past few days. He felt that the third child was quite sensible and didn’t like to make a fuss.
But Yu Ce thought that the third child was still holding a grudge against him for waking him up that day, deliberately preventing Shen Tanqi’s dependency episodes from recurring.
The third child’s temperament was too difficult to understand. Before he was born, they couldn’t figure out his personality and preferences. In comparison… Goldfish and Taro Ball were more like the minds of three-year-old children.
Leaving the Shen family, the most distressed people in the entire family were the two little ones. As soon as they heard they were going back to the sect, Goldfish and Taro Ball cried in their grandparents’ arms for a long time. It wasn’t until the head of the family and Consort Shen promised to go to Rongyun Sect on the day of the sect’s grand competition to watch their matches that the little ones wiped away their tears and bid farewell obediently.
Shen Tanqi’s family boarded the carriage back to the sect, and he also remembered to invite Xiao Qingyu, who had come with them before. However, as soon as Xiao Qingyu saw Yu Ce, he absolutely refused to ride with them again, afraid of causing any unnecessary misunderstandings. Shen Tanqi had no choice but to let him go.
As for the beggar, according to the system, the monks of their Golden Light Temple never stayed in one place for their entire lives. On the day Chen Gui disappeared, he disappeared along with it.
Now, he probably had gone to a new place to solve new troubles.
With people like them around, the world could maintain balance for a long time.
Shen Tanqi looked at the tall and magnificent city gate where they first met and suddenly remembered something.
If that beggar really had great abilities, then what he said about the Red Phoenix Star moving…
Shen Tanqi glanced sideways at Yu Ce, who was using a handkerchief to wipe the children’s hands one by one. Just as Yu Ce was about to look up, Shen Tanqi immediately averted his gaze.
Nonsense, yeah, he must have been talking nonsense.
Hello, everyone ヾ(＾∇＾). I hope you enjoyed the story! If you’re feeling generous, please buy me a coffee, share/comment on my translated works! Check out the link below for early chapters. (๑>ᴗ<๑)
