She felt an indescribable rush of pleasure flow through her limbs, like gentle streams clearing her meridians and nourishing her flesh and blood.
The sensation was so intense she nearly let out a soft moan.
If she made any sound here, her image in her Senior Brother's mind would completely collapse.
Her face flushed crimson. She was too embarrassed to meet his gaze, terrified he'd notice something was off.
A bead of sweat dripped onto her robes, spreading across the fabric.
She suddenly remembered, this was exactly like the spiritual energy absorption described in the texts.
Her raced with excitement!
For so long, with her useless spiritual roots, no matter what cultivation method she tried, she could never achieve energy absorption. In other words, she couldn't store spiritual energy, making cultivation impossible.
She'd never experienced this feeling before!
All thanks to Senior Brother...
Without him teaching this body cultivation technique, I'd never be able to build my foundation in this lifetime.
Senior Brother's teachings were like being reborn.
She didn't want her Senior Brother to think she was some perverted girl having dirty thoughts when she should be focusing on cultivation.
At this thought, Sumin bit her lip hard.
Endure it!
She felt like a small sun was rising from her dantian, and even her blood seemed ready to boil.
Hot and painful, but her joy far outweighed the discomfort.
What she could only dream about before was now undeniable reality.
The pain proved her body was being refined by spiritual energy, making her feel truly alive.
She couldn't give up, couldn't stop!
According to theory, the more exhausted you became, the closer to your limits, the more effective the body cultivation.
So she adjusted her breathing rhythm and continued training with renewed determination.
Beautiful and powerful movements, like masterful calligraphy, flowing like dragons and clouds.
"Right, Senior Brother also told me to empty my mind and comprehend."
Sumin recalled Sulan's guidance and tried to meditate.
But her breakthrough joy made it impossible to calm down. Even after training until she was drenched in sweat and gasping for breath, she couldn't grasp anything.
Just then, Sulan snapped back to attention and saw his junior sister's pale yellow robes soaked through, clinging to her small body. She looked like she'd been pulled from water, with a confused expression.
Holy crap! What happened?
I just spaced out for a bit, how did you end up like this?
Are you kidding me?!
Good thing I know you're doing tai chi. Anyone else would think you'd broken through several cultivation levels!
"Thank you, Senior Brother!" Sumin was exhausted to the point of collapse, her eyelids heavy with sweat, but the moment she noticed his gaze, she perked up like she'd been injected with adrenaline.
"Ah... um..." Sulan sensed something was off but couldn't put his finger on it. "How did the practice go?"
"Amazing results!"
Sulan nodded blankly.
Anyone with eyes could see that.
You're practically a water baby, of course the results are obvious!
"Run into any problems?"
"Everything else was fine, but I couldn't calm my mind."
Her mouth twitched. You were doing tai chi like it was kickboxing, hell yeah you couldn't calm down!
"You practiced way too fast. Remember, excess leads to deficiency, haste makes waste. This technique emphasizes using softness to overcome hardness, stillness to control motion. Slow down, and you'll naturally find mind pace."
After hearing his advice, Sumin reflected deeply.
Her joy had gone to her head, making her too excited, which led to practicing faster and faster.
According to her Senior Brother, that approach was completely ineffective and could even risk an energy deviation.
"Senior Brother, I'm sorry. I got carried away."
The white-haired girl obediently lowered her head in apology.
Sulan figured she was just fascinated by tai chi since it was new to her, losing control of the rhythm. He waved it off. "It's fine, just be more careful next time. I'm teaching you this to cultivate your mind and personality, not to play Fast and Furious."
"About the meditation..."
"Sit down and rest first." Sulan pulled out a handkerchief.
"Thank you, Senior Brother." Sumin accepted it with a radiant smile.
The girl settled into proper posture beside her senior brother, palms facing up, and slowly closed her eyes.
After his lecture, her excitement had died down somewhat. This time she quickly cleared her mind of distractions and found inner peace.
She visualized every move and stance from earlier.
Senior Brother had originally wanted me to comprehend while practicing, that arrangement must contain some deeper meaning.
Sumin wanted to understand it.
She went through the movements again and again, trying not to miss any detail.
Eventually, multiple figures appeared in her mind. They looked exactly like her, each focused on repeating a single technique, like someone had put them on infinite loop.
Gradually, she entered a mysterious state where her consciousness seemed to split in two. Half remained in place, continuing to visualize the techniques and grasp their secrets, while the other half ascended to a higher dimension, observing everything from above.
This mystical dual perspective brought qualitative change, like enlightenment flooding her mind, making her thoughts clear and sharp.
As if she'd opened the door to a new world.
Because of this, vague insights began forming in her heart.
Unfortunately, her cultivation was still too shallow to fully understand and absorb them. Otherwise, she was confident she could perfect the technique while greatly enhancing her spiritual power.
To Sulan, his junior sister sat motionless like a monk in deep meditation.
Damn, she's even better at playing the part than I am. Though I have to admit, she really looks the part.
Probably dozing off. Well, as long as she's happy.
Sulan didn't disturb her, instead pulling out a leisure book from his storage ring to pass the time.
Sumin didn't know how long she'd been meditating. When she opened her eyes, the sun was setting, orange twilight painting a heartwarming scene.
Her nose twitched at the smell of food, completely awakening her appetite.
Sulan was grilling meat nearby, occasionally flipping it and sprinkling secret seasonings until the skin was perfectly crispy.
"Awake? Come have dinner."
Sulan sliced the meat thin, wrapped it in spiritual plant leaves, and handed it to her.
One bite was enough to completely conquer Sumin. Her eyes sparkled with delight, and her cheeks flushed pink.
Simple ingredients, yet they combined multiple flavors with rich layers like ink wash painting, absolutely irresistible.
Sumin couldn't help thinking that if she had a tail, it would definitely be wagging non-stop at such delicious temptation.
Senior Brother's cooking skills were also outstanding.
Sumin felt this was unexpected yet perfectly reasonable.
In Sulan's eyes, the girl went "ahm" and swallowed the grilled meat, then puffed out her cheeks as she chewed slowly, looking exactly like a little hamster.
Watching a cute girl eat really was healing.
"You worked hard earlier, right? It's okay, eat as much as you want. I will grill more for you."
That night, after they separated, Sumin wanted to strike while the iron was hot and practice a few more times.
This time she learned her lesson, no longer pursuing speed but deliberately slowing her pace.
30minutes passed. She stopped cultivating and fidgeted with her silver-white hair, looking confused.
"Why? Whether body cultivation or comprehension, there's absolutely no effect?"
This was actually the normal state for useless spiritual roots.
She reviewed everything, the process and movements were flawless. Logically, this shouldn't be happening.
"Could it be what Senior Brother meant by 'excess leads to deficiency'? Can this technique only be practiced a fixed number of times per day?"
She immediately shook her head, dismissing this guess.
If there really were such restrictions, Senior Brother would have no reason not to warn me.
Then the only difference was...
The girl unconsciously looked toward her Senior's room next door.
During the day, when she practiced cultivation and meditation beside him, she made rapid progress. Could it be that Senior Brother deliberately set up some kind of formation to assist my cultivation?
The more Sumin thought about it, the more convinced she became that she'd cracked the case.
Verification would be simple, I'd get up early tomorrow and try again to confirm exactly what was going on.
The next morning's attempt turned out exactly as Sumin had expected.
Only when she was near her senior brother could she experience that same feeling from yesterday, drawing energy into her body and achieving sudden enlightenment.
Sulan had just gotten up when he saw Sumin's joy written all over her face. He was completely baffled.
What was up with this girl? Why did she look at me first thing in the morning with that "the WiFi finally connected" expression?
Had I really become so handsome that everyone loved me and flowers bloomed wherever i went?
Sulan wondered to himself, but didn't let it show.
Having lived two lifetimes, why would he wear all his thoughts on his face?
Sumin had volunteered to make breakfast. Though it looked simple, it tasted pretty good.
As Sulan ate, a warm feeling washed over him.
Having a junior was really great.
Plus her talent was so hopeless that didn't need to worry about her suddenly rising up and kicking me off Heavenly Jade Peak.
Being around her was completely stress-free and relaxing.
When master returned, the two of us could work together as fellow slackers to keep her happy, everyone wins. Worst case scenario, with junior as a shield, master wouldn't come for me first, right?
The more Sulan looked, the more satisfied he felt. The more he thought about it, the better his mood became.
Though Sumin held her bowl, her gaze kept stealing glances at him.
He could have chosen a junior with far superior talent at the Immortal Selection Assembly and taken the easy path, but instead he'd picked her.
To help her cultivate, he not only taught her techniques but used special methods to assist her practice.
He never said it out loud, but he'd quietly sacrificed so much.
"The peach and plum trees say nothing, yet a path forms beneath them."
Being his junior, she was truly blessed beyond measure.
But just how was Senior managing to do this?
Sumin was curious, but since he didn't explain, she couldn't very well ask directly. She could only express her gratitude this way.
She knew clearly that even if she spent her whole life serving him tea and water, she could never repay the kindness of this opportunity he'd given her.
That he sought no reward showed his noble character. If she didn't show gratitude, she'd be completely ungrateful.
Her bright eyes seemed to hold a thousand words.
"Senior Brother, you're so good to me!"
A huge question mark appeared over Sulan's head.
What was going on?
After thinking it over, he figured the problem probably lay with that tai chi and body-refining technique he'd taught her yesterday.
After all, his junior had been practicing it first thing this morning.
Putting himself in her shoes, because of her trash spiritual roots, she'd probably endured plenty of cold stares over the years. He might be the first person willing to teach her anything.
Here I am planning to trick her and sell her out, and she's still helping me count the money.
Such an innocent, sweet girl was rarer than phoenix feathers in the cultivation world.
Sulan suddenly felt his conscience ache for another moment.
"It's nothing worth mentioning." He waved dismissively, covering his guilt.
Sumin didn't see it that way at all.
Behind each of Senior Brother's small gestures lay talent and effort beyond ordinary people's imagination.
"Senior Brother..."
Her voice was gentle with a trace of shyness.
Seeing her hesitant expression, Sulan immediately caught on.
Ah, so she had something to tell me.
All that guilt for nothing!
"What is it?" If it was just some small wish within his power, Sulan could consider granting it.
Junior's needed a bit of spoiling. After all, when the crucial moment came, he'd need to put her in front to draw master's fire.
Sumin set down her bowl and folded her hands, twisting her pale fingers together.
She knew the request she was about to make was pushing her luck somewhat.
"Senior Brother, could Sumin... stay by your side always?"
After confirming that he was the reason she could cultivate, she'd agonized over this for ages.
His kindness to her was as weighty as mountains. Only by improving her strength could she help him and repay his kindness. But to cultivate, she needed to stay near him, which would only deepen her debt...
It seemed like a cycle, one she could never escape.
Sumin's heart suddenly raced, pounding so hard it almost seemed ready to leap out, as if waiting for him to pronounce judgment on her.
Out of shame, she wanted to look away, but forced herself to meet his eyes directly.
"Sure." As a straight guy, Sulan didn't overthink it and answered immediately.
In fact, his junior voluntarily asking to stay by his side was absolutely perfect.
The two of them happily holed up on Heavenly Jade Peak, it fit his original plan perfectly!
Besides, by any standard, his junior definitely qualified as a beautiful girl.
Who didn't like pretty girls? He couldn't think of a single reason to refuse!
"R… Really?" Sumin was so excited that her bright watery eyes sparkled like brilliant stars.
She moved from her seat across the table to beside Sulan, head lowered, unable to hide the smile at the corners of her mouth.
"Of course it's true. Actually, I want to stay here on Heavenly Jade Peak with you too."
Hopefully we can slack off until the end of time, Sulan silently added.
Hearing this, Sumin blushed from cheeks to her ears.
Could Senior Brother's words have some hidden meaning?
No, no, no, impossible!
Sumin was quite confident about her appearance. But faced with the graceful, handsome young man who looked like a banished immortal, her heart held only gratitude and humility.
Even becoming his junior couldn't change the fact that she had trash spiritual roots.
In other words, as she was now, she was nowhere near worthy of him.
Setting aside those messy thoughts, his attitude toward her could be perfectly summed up as like an older brother caring for family.
Since he had taken her in and made all these thoughtful arrangements, she'd cultivate properly and not disappoint his efforts.
If she became more outstanding, she could share his burdens. That way, maybe I could... slightly repay his kindness.
The girl set this goal for herself.
Her current feelings had nothing whatsoever to do with her past obsession with showing them all.
After breakfast, Sumin planned to start practicing immediately, but Sulan stopped her.
"You just ate, don't exercise right away. Let it digest first."
Sulan didn't know if cultivators worried about such things, but his junior was just an ordinary person, so better to take it easy.
Everything in moderation. If she injured herself practicing, that would completely defeat the purpose of him teaching her.
Besides, ordinary people's techniques for strengthening the body wouldn't make her into an immortal no matter how much she practiced.
As fellow losers, why push so hard?
Losers working themselves to death, what was the point of that?