Before Li Nanzhu could say another word, Xiao Yan had already transformed into a whirlwind of azure, crashing through the bamboo door of the backyard with a loud bang.
She only caught a glimpse of the charred holes in his robes fluttering in the wind, and—
"Master! Your shoe fell off again!"
Suisui appeared out of nowhere, its golden bone claws snatching the flying cloud-patterned boot out of the air. As a result, over a dozen colorful pills clattered out of the boot, raining down on its golden skull with a series of pops and fizzes, instantly dyeing it rainbow colors again.
Li Nanzhu: "..."
Why on earth would someone hide pills in their shoes?!
She really felt a sudden urge to give Suisui a thorough scrubbing from head to toe.
But Suisui didn't give her the chance. It followed right after Xiao Yan into the backyard, leaving Li Nanzhu with no choice but to follow.
When she reached the backyard, Xiao Yan was squatting barefoot in front of an 800-year-old purple lingzhi, poking the cap of the mushroom while muttering to himself, "Old Purple, Old Purple, you're finally willing to open your mouth? Quick, let me hear you call me master!"
The purple lingzhi remained motionless. Dew slowly slid off its cap like a bead of cold sweat.
"Master..." Li Nanzhu said helplessly.
"Quiet!" Xiao Yan waved her off without looking back. "It's just shy!" He pulled a bottle of spiritual liquid from his sleeve. "Come, drink this to clear your throat!"
Pfft—
The purple lingzhi suddenly sprayed a cloud of spores, coating Xiao Yan's face. Instead of getting angry, he jumped up in excitement. "Look! See that temper? It’s definitely developed sapience!"
Suisui watched this scene in eerie silence. Li Nanzhu guessed it was probably trying to understand Xiao Yan's logic.
"Um, about the back of the alchemy room..." Li Nanzhu began, but Xiao Yan had already hopped over to another spirit plant.
"Little Ginseng Sprite!" He shook the leaves of a ginseng plant. "Stop playing dead! Quick, sing a song for me!"
The ginseng's roots seemed to twitch, but like the purple lingzhi, it remained still.
Li Nanzhu pressed a hand to her forehead. "Master, please listen to me..."
"Don't be in such a hurry, disciple!" Xiao Yan charged toward the next plant. "Let your master wake them up one by one!"
The following scene was utter chaos.
Xiao Yan held a singing trumpet flower and shouted at the spirit rice, demanding it dance. He tried to stuff glowing pills into a heart-phantom flower and even attempted to use a memory stone to record the exact moment a barrier-breaking gold lotus spoke...
Li Nanzhu: "..."
She felt her master was truly unhinged. She really wanted to leave this sect!
Finally, Suisui couldn't take it anymore. It suddenly lunged forward, its golden bone claw smacking Xiao Yan on the back.
Taking advantage of his stumble, the little skeleton deftly pulled a translucent leaf from between its ribs—the seed given by the man-eating flower king in the medicinal garden.
"This is..." Xiao Yan stared at the leaf, suddenly growing quiet.
Li Nanzhu finally saw her opening and spoke in one breath, "It's the medicinal garden connected to the alchemy room's passage! The spiritual plants there have all developed sapience. They set up trials for people, they can close the arrays, and they're particularly fond of Suisui!"
Xiao Yan: "..."
Li Nanzhu: "..."
The air suddenly fell silent.
"What is the meaning of this silence!" Li Nanzhu slapped a small table nearby, making Xiao Yan jump.
"Oh, that place..."
"Which 'that place'?" Li Nanzhu stared intently into Xiao Yan's eyes.
One second, two seconds, three seconds...
"..."
"You didn't... forget about it, did you?"
"How could I!" Xiao Yan shouted at the top of his lungs, trying to cover his guilt. He even sheepishly edged behind Suisui, almost pressing himself against the skeleton.
Suisui: ?
"Then explain?" Li Nanzhu watched him with her arms crossed.
Xiao Yan's cowlick, which had been drooping, suddenly snapped upright. "That place! It’s the Hundred Herbs Heaven!" He slapped his forehead. "It seems I opened that area as an experimental field a thousand years ago. Later, I got busy researching new pills and forgot about it..."
"Forgot?!" Li Nanzhu's voice rose sharply.
Xiao Yan's cowlick immediately wilted. He shrank further behind Suisui. "Well... your master remembered now, didn't he? Is it so strange to forget a few things at my age!" Thinking of this, he regained his sense of righteousness.
Suisui tilted its skull, its soul fire flickering as it watched Xiao Yan hiding behind it. Its bone claws hovered in the air, unsure of what to do.
"So, Master, you truly have a short memory for someone so important?" Li Nanzhu narrowed her eyes. "Then why..."
"Wait!" Xiao Yan poked his head out from behind Suisui. "I know about the trials—I set those up. But how can they close the arrays? And why are they... uh, so close to Suisui?"
Li Nanzhu nodded. Xiao Yan sank into deep thought.
"Wait! Let me think..." He rubbed his chin and paced in three circles, his azure robes swaying gently with his movements. He suddenly crouched down to look Suisui in the eye. Those eyes, which usually held a hint of a smile, were now shining with a serious light.
"Little Bones, can you let me check something?"
Suisui tilted its head, its skull making a faint clicking sound. The ghostly blue soul fire in its eye sockets flickered as if considering the request. It turned to look at Li Nanzhu, who was standing nearby with furrowed brows.
"Don't worry, Master won't do anything reckless," Li Nanzhu said softly.
The little skeleton then nodded in agreement and stood still. Xiao Yan immediately pulled an object resembling a magnifying glass from his sleeve and began examining Suisui from head to toe.
"Hmm... tight bone sutures..." Xiao Yan muttered to himself, his fingertips brushing over Suisui's spine. "No abnormalities here... vibrant soul fire..."
"Wait!"
Xiao Yan's magnifying glass suddenly stopped at the top of Suisui's skull. His brows knit tightly. His fingertips glowed with azure light as he tapped Suisui's cranium.
A faint ripple of spiritual energy spread out, and the soul fire in Suisui's eyes suddenly turned emerald green.
"This is..." Li Nanzhu watched in surprise as a green orb about the size of a ping-pong ball appeared inside Suisui's skull, slowly rotating.
Xiao Yan's expression became exceptionally grave. "Disciple, do you see that?"
Li Nanzhu nodded. "The green ball?"
Xiao Yan stared at the green orb inside Suisui's skull, his frown deep enough to crush a mosquito. "Strange... this looks familiar..."
"Do you recognize it, Master?"
"Uh..." Xiao Yan scratched his head and thought for a moment before realization dawned. "About a thousand years ago, I picked up a similar green ball in a secret realm." He gestured to show the size. "I thought it looked nice at the time, so I casually named it the 'Life-Giving Creation Pearl'..."
Suisui curiously touched its own skull, its green soul fire flickering.
"And then?" Li Nanzhu pressed.
Xiao Yan seemed to realize something and his eyes widened. "Wait! The Life-Giving Creation Pearl! Back then, I tried seventy-two different methods and still couldn't..." He suddenly pinched his own cheek. "Ow! I'm not dreaming!"
Seeing Li Nanzhu's strange look, Xiao Yan quickly cleared his throat. "Well, I didn't have a use for it, so I think I just threw it in the Hundred Herbs Heaven as a decoration? How did it end up in the little skeleton's head?"
Li Nanzhu sighed. "Master, your memory..."
"Ahem!" Xiao Yan tried to hide behind Suisui again. "I never went back to the Hundred Herbs Heaven after that. How was I to know the pearl would go missing..."
Li Nanzhu: "..."
Quite the 'never went back'! Did you never even look at all those spirit plants you planted there?
However...
Li Nanzhu frowned slightly. Now that he mentioned it, she suspected the loss of the Life-Giving Creation Pearl was likely related to the evil cultivator she had almost forgotten.
She clearly remembered the massive disturbance the evil cultivator had caused in the Forest of Demonic Beasts, and the faint red light in the sky when the cave dwelling opened.
Yet, after entering the cave dwelling, she hadn't seen a single sign of the evil cultivator. Combined with the constant running for her life, she had forgotten about him entirely.
Her initial theory was that the enemy had used some means to learn of the cave dwelling and intended to seize the opportunities within. But given the current situation... it didn't look like any evil cultivator had been here at all.
Based on what the squirrel demon had said, the evil cultivator's activities in the area hadn't been a recent development.
Li Nanzhu had a vague guess: the Life-Giving Creation Pearl had likely been in the Hundred Herbs Heaven until the evil cultivator did something that caused it to be lost and eventually end up outside.
While she was lost in thought, Xiao Yan had already circled Suisui countless times, muttering, "Strange... so strange..."
Suisui was getting dizzy from his circling and held its head with its bone claws, its soul fire flickering erratically.
"Master," Li Nanzhu snapped back to reality. "What are you thinking?"
"I have a partial theory," Xiao Yan said, tapping Suisui's head gently. "If I'm not mistaken, the fact that the spirit plants in the Hundred Herbs Heaven developed sapience is likely thanks to the Life-Giving Creation Pearl."
Li Nanzhu immediately understood what Xiao Yan was getting at and followed up smoothly, "And after the Life-Giving Creation Pearl was lost, it probably landed near where Suisui was born, or perhaps it was eaten by a living iron-toothed rat."
"Smart!" Xiao Yan nodded with satisfaction. "So, after the iron-toothed rat died, the Life-Giving Creation Pearl provided a massive amount of life force. Whether it was inside the rat's stomach or near their bones, it combined perfectly with the iron-toothed rat's bone-burying trait!"
Xiao Yan tried to calm his excitement. "The bones absorbed the moon essence, and with the life force of the Life-Giving Creation Pearl..." At this point, he couldn't stop himself from gesturing wildly. "Crack! Suisui was born!"
Suisui seemed to only half-understand as it touched its golden bones. It suddenly spat out a small green bubble.
Xiao Yan's eyes lit up. "See! There's the proof!" He pulled out a jade slip and began recording frantically. "I knew a normal iron-toothed rat skeleton couldn't be this expressive!"
Li Nanzhu thought of another question. "Then why are the plants in the Hundred Herbs Heaven so fond of Suisui?"
"That’s easy!" Xiao Yan tucked away the jade slip. "They see Suisui as the incarnation of the Life-Giving Creation Pearl!" He leaned in close to Suisui, his nose almost touching the bone. "Little Bones, do the spirit plants usually act very warmly toward you?"
Suisui nodded and used its bone claws to mimic a big hug.
"That’s it!" Xiao Yan flipped his hair triumphantly. "The spirit plants gained sapience because of the Life-Giving Creation Pearl. That is a massive opportunity and a massive debt of karma. Naturally, they would treat Suisui as their closest kin—or rather, bone!"
Li Nanzhu considered this. "In that case, why were they willing to let Suisui leave? And why did they give so many gifts?"
Xiao Yan suddenly quieted down, his expression turning rare and serious. "Because they know..." He gently patted Suisui's head. "The pearl chose Suisui."
The soul fire in Suisui's eyes trembled slightly. Its bone claw instinctively touched the leaf on its chest.
The two people and one skeleton fell into a brief silence. Outside the courtyard, the rustling of bamboo leaves in the wind added a touch of warmth to the atmosphere.
"Master," Li Nanzhu said suddenly. "Does this pearl... have any effect on Suisui?"
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