Chapter 9 Li Xuanji's Methods

Li Xuanji woke up from his sleep and found himself lying on the bed. He glanced sideways and saw Zhao Yuehua sitting by the window at the desk, holding her cheek with one hand and flipping through his cultivation manual with the other. The sunlight shone through the window and illuminated her side face, as if a fairy from the nine heavens had descended to the world, so beautiful that words could not describe. He snorted softly, indicating that he was awake. Zhao Yuehua heard the noise and came back to her senses. She put down the book in her hand and went to the bedside. She stretched out her hand to probe his pulse on his neck. Then she took out a pill from her storage bag and stuffed it into his mouth, saying, "You are too weak. You need to rest for some time after taking the pill." "Thank you, fairy." Li Xuanji muttered and gasped, but his mind was secretly savoring the tenderness of her jade finger on his lips when she fed him the pill. "I should be the one thanking you." Zhao Yuehua shook her head, and then seemed to think of something. She said, "Your body is weak and may not be able to digest the medicinal power of the pill. I'll go and cook some porridge for you." She said and turned around and left the bedroom. Li Xuanji watched her back and smiled slightly, with a hint of emotion in his eyes. He sighed inwardly, 'It's worth it!' In a short while... Zhao Yuehua came back to the bedroom with a bowl of porridge made from spirit rice. The porridge was steaming hot, obviously just out of the pot. Li Xuanji wanted to sit up when he saw it, but as if he thought of something, he suddenly 'turned pale' and leaned against the head of the bed, looking exhausted. He moved his lips and reached out to take the porridge, "Fairy, I... I can do it myself." "..." Zhao Yuehua sighed and said helplessly, "Just sit still." She said and sat on the bed with one hand holding the porridge and the other holding the spoon. She scooped a little porridge, blew it and brought it to Li Xuanji's mouth. "..." Li Xuanji looked stunned and sipped the porridge from the spoon. He came to his senses and his eyes reddened. He smiled bitterly, with both sourness and infatuation in his smile. "What's wrong?" Zhao Yuehua saw his expression and frowned slightly. She asked, "Is there anything wrong with the porridge I cooked?" "No, no." Li Xuanji shook his head quickly and implied, "I have lived for more than thirty years, and this is the first time I have tasted such delicious porridge." "..." Zhao Yuehua was a little dazed. She knew that he had lost his parents since childhood and was driven out of the city when he was only eight years old. He lived alone in the Lonely City for so many years. It was not easy... "Drink it..." "Okay!" He finished the bowl of porridge and with the effect of the pill, his face also regained some color. He hesitated for a moment and said, "The foundation-building puppet that you asked me to refine, I have already made the drawings and the requirements for refining the auxiliary materials." Zhao Yuehua heard him talk about business and also became serious. She asked, "What do you need me to do?" "Learn!" "Learn?" "Learn the carving and attaching of runes and talismans in the art of puppetry!" "You teach me?" "Yes!" Li Xuanji nodded slightly and explained solemnly, "The foundation-building puppet requires a lot of mana for carving and attaching runes and talismans. I can't do it..." He paused and said, "But I can teach you these steps and refine the puppet with your help!" "..." Zhao Yuehua thought for a while and said, "No wonder you said the key is me..." "The art of puppetry is very complicated..." Li Xuanji muttered to himself and then implied, "Even if I teach, you have to be willing to learn." "Don't worry..." Zhao Yuehua pondered for a while and said firmly, "From now on, you are the teacher, and I will do whatever you say!" Li Xuanji smiled slightly and said, as if encouraging or declaring something, "This matter will succeed!" ... There is no time in cultivation. In a blink of an eye, more than a year had passed. At this time, in the study. Li Xuanji stood by the side like a teacher in a school, with his hands tucked in his chest. Zhao Yuehua sat at the desk like a student, holding a pen and practicing how to draw the talismans on the paper. When she found that the talisman was wrong again, Li Xuanji would even go directly to her side, hold her hand and teach her how to draw it. "Ouch~ Sister Zhao, can I call you Grandpa Wen instead?" "Are you drawing talismans or creating pictographs?" "Good heavens, what kind of hand is this? How can you draw such a simple talisman like this?" "..." Since Li Xuanji woke up from his coma last time, Zhao Yuehua's attitude towards him had obviously softened a lot. After that, Li Xuanji took the initiative to teach her the art of puppetry, such as the carving of the formation patterns and the attaching of the talismans. The art of puppetry was not something that could be learned in one or two years without any foundation, so he only taught her the patterns and talismans used to make the foundation-building puppet. It was a cramming style of teaching. At first, Li Xuanji was a bit shy and polite, but as time went by, the relationship got closer and he became more bold. From the original senior and junior titles, he changed to fairy, and then gradually to the equal you and me, and then naturally to the more intimate 'Sister Zhao'. From being courteous to being 'impatient', and then to a 'spontaneous' impulse, he directly went forward and taught her hand by hand. When he noticed that she was a bit resistant to physical contact, Li Xuanji did not stop, but often found excuses to teach her hand by hand. Once or twice was fine, but after many times, her resistance was also worn away by time, and she even became a bit dependent... Li Xuanji took advantage of the principle of 'I say one and you do it', and tested her bottom line little by little. After spending a year together, even Zhao Yuehua herself did not realize that her bottom line had been grasped by someone's 'unintentional' actions. As another talisman failed to inject mana properly, he was greeted by a scolding. "You... don't always scold me." She bit her lower lip and muttered with a grievance, "I have been very serious in learning these days, but I don't know the art of puppetry, so it's normal to make some mistakes..." "..." Li Xuanji also seemed to think of something and sighed, saying, "I was too demanding." Zhao Yuehua was stunned and glanced at him. She said cautiously, "It's not that demanding. It's my own problem..." "I'm not being sarcastic." Li Xuanji smiled gently and said, "It's not easy to learn these things without knowing the art of puppetry. It's like building a castle in the air. You have done a great job." "Really?" "Really." "..." Zhao Yuehua blinked blankly. She thought of how strict he was with her before, and she still had some resentment in her heart. Now that his attitude suddenly became gentle, she felt a sense of being flattered. "It's okay, I'll teach you. Let's continue drawing." Li Xuanji said and walked behind her, bent down and leaned on her shoulder, holding her hand and drawing on the paper, telling her how to inject mana when actually operating. Zhao Yuehua also followed his instructions, but she felt something was wrong as she learned... His attitude was too gentle. She glanced at him with the corner of her eye and saw that he seemed to have some sadness in his eyebrows. She couldn't help but ask curiously, "Xuanji, did something happen?" "Hmm?" Li Xuanji looked at her in surprise, but saw that she was also looking at him. The two were already very close, and their eyes met in the air less than a foot apart. They could even feel each other's breath...