Chapter 134:
The grimoire materialized in her hand from the interspatial storage ring. She handed it to the old man.
“What? You’ll let me see?” The old man gazed at Claire incredulously, echoing her words.
“Mhm. Go on,” Claire said calmly.
“Old man, where’s your medicine? Claire is wounded,” Feng Yixuan exclaimed with panic, noticing her wounds. Ever since they had left the capital, Claire had never said a word, leaving her wounds untreated. Coupled with dealing with the lightning, they had completely forgotten Claire’s wounds.
“Oh, oh, medicine.” The old man hurriedly rummaged through his interspatial storage ring, the pulled out a small blue and white porcelain bottle. He shook out one small pill and handed it to Claire, saying, “Eat this, I guarantee you’ll feel much better immediately. Si Konglin gave me this medicine and it cost me quite a bit to trade for it.” The old man said this with a bit of a heartache. It was clear he was only being this generous because Claire had promised to let him see her grimoire. His words were also meant to be friendly.
Claire didn’t hold back and swallowed the medicine in one gulp. Sure enough, a cooling sensation spread throughout her whole body, lingering especially her wounds, and her aches and pains quickly melted away. She felt refreshed and exceptionally comfortable. What was the medicine? Claire was extremely shocked. Treatment from priests and alchemists could not compare with its effects.
Claire handed over the grimoire and the old man received it happily. But after he impatiently glanced over the cover, his expression changed.
“Wha-what are these words?” The old man frowned, blinking as he asked. He seemed to be talking to himself, yet also asking Claire.
Claire remained silent.
After pausing for a moment, the old man immediately continued on, about to flip through.
But then something strange occurred. The grimoire remained shut!
“Hmm?” The old man frowned, then tried to flip it open again, but once again, he was still unable to open it.
They all froze. What was going on?
“Old man, are you trying to be dramatic again?” Feng Yixuan asked seriously, his gaze sharp.
“Be dramatic my ass! Which one of you see I’m trying to be dramatic? Would I really open just a book so dramatically?” the old man fumed at Feng Yixuan.
Feng Yixuan froze. In other words, the old man was really unable to open it?
“Why can’t I open it?” The old man fumbled around with the book, inspecting it.
Claire was also surprised. Originally, she had thought it wouldn’t matter because he wouldn’t be able to read Chinese. If he could, that meant he had also come from another world like her and it would be another matter to deal with.
But she had not anticipated this situation. He was actually unable to open the book?
The old man tried to open it while exerting strength, but the ordinary looking book did not budge.
After trying for a while, the old man finally gave up and asked Claire suspiciously, “This is the grimoire?”
Before Claire said anything, Feng Yixuan said a little angrily, “Huh? Old man, what are you trying to imply? How could Claire try to trick you!”
“It is the grimoire.” Claire walked over and took the book, also very confused. What was this situation? With a light flip, the book opened immediately.
Instantly, the room fell silent.
Thousands of expressions passed through the old man’s face. Feng Yixuan and An Lisha watched on in a daze. Claire frowned, a surge of confusion in her heart.
“Let me see.” The old man grabbed it angrily, glaring with wide eyes at the words. But he couldn’t read it! Thus, the old man tried to flip to the next page, but he couldn’t!
Claire calmly helped old man flip to the next page. But again, the old man could not understand.
The old man turned rigid, sitting stiffly in place.
Claire’s expression remained tranquil. She continued to flip the ages and the old man continued to not understand.
“F*ck! Si Konlin, you dared to screw with me!” The old man bellowed, extremely angry. He turned and bounded over to Feng Yixuan. “Come over, boy, check if you can flip it!”
Feng Yixuan obediently dashed over and flipped the pages easily.
The old man’s face greened.
“Si Konglin! You shameless old thing! You actually restricted me! Won’t let me see or learn? Discriminating against my Heavenly Astral Wind? You just won’t allow my Heavenly Astral Wind to be bound to your Golden Lotus? Then I’ll do just that!” The old man stood up, angry now, stomping all about.
The other three remained frozen.
“Little lass! You must learn Heavenly Astral Wind from me! I’m going to teach you every single thing! I’m going to piss off that damn Si Konglin!” the old man hollered angrily. Now they understood what he meant by bound together!
After the old man said this, Claire was frozen in place as were An Lisha and Feng Yixuan.
“Boy, conveniently, you should also learn along the way. Your wind blades are pretty good. Doesn’t it feel great after being unsealed?” the old man ordered without care for their opinion.
An Lisha was filled with glee. Master was going to teach Feng Yixuan so easily? The reason why she had never taught Feng Yixuan Heavenly Astral Wind is because she vowed to her master she would not teach others it and because she understood how much he cared about it, but today, he had agreed to teach him so easily. And it was simply out of convenience. Her eyes settled on Claire, sighing in her heart. Whether it was because of the girl’s luck or Feng Yixuan that brat’s good foresight was unknown.
“But, Senior, I am fire attributed,” Claire said softly. Meanwhile, Claire had determined one thing: the person named Si Konglin was probably from the same world as her! He was the one who created the grimoire in Chinese. It was only unknown how he had lost it.
“So what? That doesn’t matter. From now on, you must learn from me! It doesn’t matter how many levels you learn! You just have to learn! Even just one level is fine! Since you know the Treasured Lotus Style, you must learn my Heavenly Astral Wind, otherwise, how else can I anger that old thing to death?” the old man bellowed angrily, then added a little shamelessly, “After all, I blocked seven lightning strikes for you today! Can you at least humor me? Even if it’s just one sentence, you must learn it!”
Claire was completely like 囧*. Her lip twitched, wanting to say something but not knowing what to say. The old man sure was strange. Since when was this kind of exchange a thing? Was she even allowed to refuse? Claire felt a bit of a headache coming on.
*reminder: this means her expression turned into the same way the Chinese character looks. It’s often used as an emoji
“But I already have a master,” Claire said after thinking for a moment. Although she knew that learning the old man’s supreme techniques would probably save her life if necessary, she couldn’t become his disciple. And Claire understood that being fire attributed, she wouldn’t be able to learn the essence.
“I wouldn’t become your master even if you wanted me to.” The old man swung his hips gleefully. Of course he had a plan in mind. Firstly, the girl seemed to be An Lisha’s future daughter in law, so he couldn’t accept her as his disciple, or else their relationships would become a mess. Secondly, the girl was neither his nor Si Konglin’s disciple, but would be able to practice both of their techniques. What would Si Konglin’s expression be after he found out? Just thinking about it made him giddy.
Eh? Claire watched the giddy old man a bit blankly. Teach her without becoming her master?
“Girl, what’s your name? It’s on the tip of my tongue.” The old man stroked his beard thoughtfully.
“Claire Hill,” Claire responded.
“Oh good. From now on, call me senior Feng Astral!” the old man instructed, wagging his finger.
“Senior Feng Astral?” Claire repeated. It sounded so weird and was definitely not his real name.
“What? Got a problem? Doesn’t this name sound very profound and domineering?” The old man shot a glance at her.
“N-no problem.” Claire shook her head a little depressedly.
“Alright. An Lisha, return and do what you need to do. Wait for when I think these two fellas are ready,” the old man instructed An Lisha.
“Oh, Master. Ok. I’ll leave Claire and Feng Yixuan to you,” An Lisha agreed with a smile. She turned to Claire. “Just humor Master for saving your life for now. Even if you learn just one level, consider it fulfilling his wish.”
Since An Lisha had already said this, Claire couldn’t find an excuse to refuse.
“Wait, what about the competition?” Claire frowned, remembering that Lagark’s competition didn’t seem to have finished yet.
“You’ve already brought glory to the Li clan. Don’t worry, I’ll had over the royal weaponry rights to the Li clan. Also, I’ll instruct Shui Wenmo and Feng Yixuan to get rid of the others, then surrender. The Li clan will be considered the winner,” An Lisha declared her decision, smiling.
“But…” Claire glanced at An Lisha with a complex expression, unable to speak.
“Don’t misinterpret it as us helping you! With your current strength, both Shui Wenmo and Yixuan are not your match! So the winner was going to be the Li clan anyways.” An Lisha’s expression turned serious as she explained. “Just cultivate here without worry.”
