Living Up to You Chapter 13

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Nan Zhi Nan Zhi... This particular night, Ling Xi didn't know why, but just because she had given her Xian spirit such a name, she was having a hard time falling asleep. Counting since she was young, the majority of books she had ever read were those incantations that Feng Shu had made her memorize. The truth was, to come up with a decent name, is really too much of a challenge for her. Fortunately for her, when her hard-to-please Xian spirit heard the name, even though his face was still expressionless, she had the gut feeling he wasn't repulsed by it.

At least when she called him “Nan Zhi”, he wouldn't get mad and run away like he did when he hears “Xiao Hei” or “Little Turtle.”

“Nan Zhi, I don't want to eat wild fruits anymore. Go find something else for me to eat!”

“Nan Zhi, don't turn into a big black bear tonight. Can you turn into a little black bunny? I want to hug you to sleep.”

“Nan Zhi, you finished another book again? The books in Da Shixiong's library won't last you very long!”

“Nan Zhi! Nan Zhi! Today it was raining again, but we still can't hear the thunder or the rain. When do you think we can finally be able to see a true sunset?”

“Nan Zhi! Nan Zhi! Look, I got taller again! If I'm so unlucky to be locked up here for a hundred years, when I get old, die, turn into dust, what will happen to you?”

“Nan Zhi! Nan Zhi! You have to be a good Xian spirit, quickly cultivate a physical body so I can hug the real you...”

Time was like water, in between Ling Xi's countless utterances of “Nan Zhi”, it flowed on like a silent stream.

Ling Xi's everyday life was simple. It consisted of her and Nan Zhi thinking of various ways to utilize that one hour of daylight they had to find food for her to eat and to cultivate and practice incantations. Afterwards, she would 'instruct' Nan Zhi to cultivate diligently. When she thinks about the past, at least what she remembered of it, she would share it with Nan Zhi. She would squabble with him intentionally or unintentionally, try to get him mad, observing his expressionless face and trying to figure out when exactly an expression would appear.

After three years, Nan Zhi had already finished all the books in Feng Shu's library.

Ling Xi was both happy and unhappy about this. She was happy because her Nan Zhi was practically the prodigy of all prodigies. If it had been a normal person cultivating all those books, even a hundred years might not be enough to finish them. Yet he was like someone who already knew everything beforehand, only needing one glance to master it. She was unhappy because while her Xian spirit was making such spectacular progress, she on the other hand was practicing hard every day, yet the only thing she managed to learn was sword gliding, if one could even call it that...

Of course, she would never find a sword here to practice with. What she was gliding with, were merely dried tree branches...

At this moment, facing this house full of books yet unable to find a single one for Nan Zhi to continue his cultivation with the next day, that little scale inside Ling Xi's heart which had been imbalanced all this time finally tipped over.

“Little Turtle! Little Turtle! Little Turtle! Before you cultivate a physical body, you're still a Little Turtle! Now you're called Nan Zhi, but before your name was Xiao Hei and Little Turtle! When you were stomped on by Second Shixiong, you were even a Little Turtle with wings!”

Hence, today Ling Xi yet again used “Little Turtle” and successfully got Nan Zhi to run off in anger.

These past three years, Nan Zhi's running away from home had never stopped, but he had added some new tricks up his sleeve. Sometimes when he came back, he would bring less food and water or he would return late so at least Ling Xi's stomach would feel some guilt. However, that was the extent of his tricks... As soon as it was time for Ling Xi to sleep, no matter how cold that face of his was when he ran off, he would surely come back.

Only today, it was actually different.

Ling Xi waited in the house for an entire hour, yet she never saw Nan Zhi come back. She was starting to panic.

Was he really upset? Should she go find him? How should she coax him? Promise to never use “Little Turtle” to taunt him again?

No no no, she had only discovered this one weakness of his. If she couldn't use “Little Turtle”, she wouldn't be able to control him anymore!

Ling Xi laid there on her bed thinking for what seemed like half a day. In the end, she decided to go out and find him first. Although it was pitch black out there, but she knew that Xu Wang Cliff wasn't that big. If she searched carefully, she should be able to find him.

Thinking this, Ling Xi quickly climbed down from the bed, lit a lantern with an incantation, and went out to find him.

Nobody had stepped foot on the Xu Wang Cliff for sixty years. When Ling Xi first arrived, weeds had overtaken much of the outside of the house. She had been bed-ridden for three months, when summer came, those weeds had already grown to the height of a person already. Afterwards when Nan Zhi and her had more time on their hands, they would tend to the neglected land all over the cliff. Unexpectedly, they found some hardy qilian lilies that hadn't died off. Ling Xi guessed that it must've been Feng Shu who planted them here before. Once all the the weeds were removed, they gathered all of the qilian lilies and replanted them together. The following year, those very flowers they had replanted had unexpectedly grown into a charming field of qilian lilies.

The night sky was thick and black. All her eyes could see was the faint light coming from the lantern in her hand.

It was currently the flowering period of the qilian lilies. As soon as she stepped foot outside, the relaxing scent of the flowers drifted over to her. The fragrant breeze also carried with it soft purple flower petals.

“Nan Zhi...”

Ling Xi's voice was very soft, however in the silence of Xu Wang Cliff, it sounded especially clear. Unfortunately even after calling out a few times, there was still no reply.

Maybe this time... he was very very angry?

Just as Ling Xi was speculating, brows creased together, a silver light flashed across the sky as if intending to crack open the night. For a brief moment, it lit up that field of purple flowers.

Ling Xi was so startled that she fell back a few steps. The strength of it, didn't seem like lightning...

“Nan Zhi!” Ling Xi grew a bit nervous, shouting at the top of her lungs.

Another silver light flashed across the sky, flickering continuously, but strangely there was no sound at all. Almost immediately, the dark sky dissipated, daylight reemerged. In a blink of an eye, Xu Wang Cliff was actually flooded with sunlight again!

Ling Xi was shocked to see the qilian lilies blooming unreserved under the sunlight, to be hearing the long-absent sound of birds chirping, feeling the soft breeze dancing across her fingertips and inhaling the scent of spring in the air.

This... this is...

Xu Wang Cliff's barrier, has actually been broken!

Chapter end