After transmigrating As The Sickly Junior Sister - Chapter 17

The yellowed book did not move at all, allowing the sword tip to pierce the already fragile paper.

It was as if the scene of it flipping over just now had merely been Jiang Li’s illusion.

Jiang Li stood there without moving.

Xiao Hu understood. A moment later, she transmitted, “I opened my divine sense and checked. There’s no aura of any living being on it. We probably saw wrong.”

Only Golden Core cultivators could open their divine sense. Jiang Li had not reached that level yet, but even after hearing Xiao Hu’s words, she still did not dare be careless. One person seeing wrong would be one thing, but two people seeing wrong together would be too much of a coincidence.

She used the sword to poke that half-book again and released spiritual power to test it, but from beginning to end, there was nothing unusual about it.

Jiang Li relaxed slightly. Had they really seen wrong?

She moved closer and saw the words on the cover: Talisman Master.

Talismans? Drawing talismans?

“Ah Gu, you have no talent for cultivation, and alchemy doesn’t work either. Maybe this is your opportunity.”

Hearing Xiao Hu’s voice transmission, Jiang Li hesitated for a moment, but in the end, she reached out and picked up the book.

Seeing that nothing unexpected happened, she began to flip through it.

The book was very thin, only half a volume with a few dozen pages.

The front introduced the origin of talismans in detail, as well as several great talisman masters who had fallen a thousand years ago. After that came the method of making talismans.

The first section was called: Heavenly Thunder Talisman.

The more Jiang Li read, the brighter her eyes became. After finishing the method for making a first-level Heavenly Thunder Talisman, she eagerly turned to the next page.

And then there was nothing.

Nothing!

The front had introduced so much useless information, yet when it reached the serious part, it only left behind one method of making a talisman, and it was the lowest level one at that.

Was it playing with her?

Jiang Li stiffened in place for a long while. In the end, she could not resist the urge to try, and walked out with the half-volume book in hand. She truly wanted to become stronger.

Seeing the book she brought out, Niu Buyi froze.

He had also flipped through that book before. It only contained an introduction to the origin of talisman masters and did not explain how to make talismans that had been lost for hundreds or thousands of years.

To put it plainly, it was a useless broken book. Could Junior Sister Jiang Li be bored and planning to read it as a casual book?

After being puzzled for a moment, Niu Buyi recorded it according to the rules.

On the other side, after Jiang Li returned, she could not wait to try making a first-level Heavenly Thunder Talisman. But after seeing the required materials, she went numb again.

The brush had to be made from demonic beast bone. The talisman paper had to be made from demonic beast hide that could carry spiritual power. As for the ink, it had to be the talisman master’s own blood. No matter how she looked at it, it seemed wicked.

The key point was that she had neither demonic beast bone nor demonic beast hide.

Jiang Li hurriedly flipped through the new disciple manual. After finding the information she wanted, her mood improved quite a bit.

A first-level Heavenly Thunder Talisman required the bones and hide of a first-rank demonic beast. Low-rank demonic beasts had not yet developed intelligence and were easy to hunt.

There were people selling them at the marketplace down the mountain, and the price was not high. If worse came to worst, she could even hunt them herself.

After thinking for a moment, Jiang Li quickly went to buy first-rank demonic beast bone and hide. Then, gritting her teeth, she cut her own finger and followed the steps in the book to begin drawing talismans.

Xiao Hu watched with a deep frown. But when she thought of her little companion’s pitifully weak cultivation, she said nothing.

In this cultivation world where strength was respected, Jiang Li, who was only at early Qi Refining, was undoubtedly meat on the chopping block, someone anyone could slaughter. She needed to become stronger. At the very least, she needed the ability to protect herself.

After drawing a few talismans, Jiang Li followed what was written in the book and used spiritual power to refine them into palm-sized pieces. Only then were they considered complete.

She did not know how powerful this so-called first-level Heavenly Thunder Talisman was. It would be best to find a place to test it.

“Xiao Hu, is there any place suitable for blasting with this Heavenly Thunder Talisman?”

Xiao Hu immediately replied, “Definitely not inside the sect. Down the mountain is not suitable either. If the explosion is too loud and attracts people to investigate, that would be bad. There is one place that would work: Fanjie Mountain.”

Fanjie Mountain was the demon race’s territory. There were many places where they could avoid people. That was their home. If they were returning to their own home, they could test whatever they wanted.

“Fanjie Mountain? There’s no rush. We can go when there’s a chance in the future.” To cultivators, Fanjie Mountain was the demon realm. When Jiang Li thought that it might be full of demons everywhere, she felt a little nervous.

Seeing that Jiang Li had no intention of going to Fanjie Mountain, Xiao Hu said meaningfully, “I advise you to go today.”

Jiang Li was puzzled. “Why?”

“Mid-Autumn is almost here. Tonight is also a full moon night. Ye Qingruo will most likely go to the cold pond on Fanjie Mountain. Aren’t you worried that she won’t be able to suppress the love gu and something will happen to her?”

Jiang Li fell silent. Ye Qingruo’s figure flashed through her mind, and she did not speak.

That night, she silently and secretly went down the mountain.

After arriving at Fanjie Mountain, Jiang Li asked, “Xiao Hu, where is there no one—no, where are there no demons? Let’s go test the power of the Heavenly Thunder Talisman.”

Xiao Hu transformed and brought Jiang Li flying toward the back mountain.

Only when they reached a barren land full of scattered rocks did she stop. “Here is fine. Even if we make noise, no one will know.”

Jiang Li took out a Heavenly Thunder Talisman from her storage pouch and casually threw it into the distance.

The moment the talisman paper touched the rock, it exploded with a boom. A deep pit was blasted directly into the rocky ground about ten meters across.

Jiang Li was dumbfounded. This was way too powerful!

Xiao Hu was dumbfounded. She could not have seen wrong, right?

The two of them looked at each other. Jiang Li asked expectantly, “How powerful is this talisman?”

Xiao Hu said dryly, “This strike has at least the power of the Golden Core stage. If it were Ye Qingruo, who is only at early Golden Core, she definitely wouldn’t dare take it head-on. Only a late Golden Core like me could withstand it.”

What a joke. Whether Ye Qingruo dared to take it or not, Xiao Hu did not know, but she definitely did not dare. Of course, there was no need to tell her little companion that. She was still very impressive.

Jiang Li was overjoyed. “Great. I’ll go back and refine more right away.”

She turned around, but her steps paused. She did not fly away on her sword.

“Why aren’t you leaving?”

“Well, I think the moonlight tonight is nice. It’s suitable for moon viewing.”

Xiao Hu directly exposed her thoughts. “If you’re worried about Ye Qingruo, then just say you’re worried about Ye Qingruo. Moon viewing? Why are you acting like humans and saying one thing while meaning another?”

Jiang Li coughed lightly and retorted, “I’m not worried about Ye Qingruo. She suffered an undeserved disaster because of me, so I naturally ought to care about her situation. Caring and worrying are different, understand?”

The corner of Xiao Hu’s mouth twitched. Against her will, she said, “I understand. Caring and worrying are different.” Bah, what difference was there?

Seeing Xiao Hu holding back laughter, Jiang Li gave up explaining.

She really was just concerned! It was different from worrying!

Both of them fell silent and looked up at the moon.

After a while, Jiang Li looked toward Xiao Hu, who was still staring up at the sky. “Um, Xiao Hu, where is the cold pond?”

As soon as Xiao Hu heard this, she could not help laughing. “Weren’t you not worried? Let’s continue admiring the moon.”

Jiang Li rubbed her forehead and corrected her with a serious expression. “It’s concern.”

Xiao Hu shrugged and lifted her chin. “Follow me. We’re going to show concern for Ye Qingruo. The moon is already out. If we don’t go now, you won’t get a chance to show your concern.”

Jiang Li: “…”

She really wanted to throw all the remaining Heavenly Thunder Talismans at this little fox.

But that was impossible. Heavenly Thunder Talismans were so powerful; using them to blow up Xiao Hu would be too wasteful. It was better to keep them for self-defense.

The cold pond was not very far from here. Flying there only took about fifteen minutes.

When the two of them arrived, however, they did not see Ye Qingruo.

Looking at the empty cold pond, Jiang Li guessed, “Ye Qingruo’s love gu should have already flared up, right? Could it be that she found another way to suppress it?”

The cold pond truly lived up to its name. Just standing at the edge made Jiang Li feel as if the surrounding air was cold, hard, and piercing to the bone.

Before Xiao Hu could answer, a sudden movement came from midair.

A white figure flew over unsteadily. When she was still more than ten meters away from the cold pond, she suddenly fell.

Jiang Li instinctively flew forward to catch her, holding her securely as they landed.

“Ye Qingruo, how are you?”

Ye Qingruo’s gaze was blank for an instant. When she saw clearly that the person holding her was Jiang Li, she inexplicably felt a little more at ease.

“This love gu really does flare up worse each time.”

She had come earlier than last time, but before she could even fly to the cold pond, she had already nearly lost control several times.

As her words fell, she stretched out one hand and, as if dazed, touched Jiang Li’s cheek.

Jiang Li was first stunned. Then she supported Ye Qingruo and helped her toward the cold pond. “Hold on. I’ll help you over.”

But the hand touching her face changed direction and wrapped tightly around Jiang Li’s waist instead.

Ye Qingruo leaned her entire body into Jiang Li’s embrace, soft as if she had no bones.

She lifted her head slightly, her gaze hazy. Her reddened eyes seemed misted over, and her flushed cheeks no longer had their usual cold and distant expression. Her skin was like ice and jade, her charm natural and breathtaking.

Ye Qingruo stared at Jiang Li’s brows and eyes, and her reason collapsed in an instant.

She opened her mouth slightly, her voice low, hoarse, and gentle. “Jiang Li, help me.”

Jiang Li’s breath caught. Looking at the person in her arms, she almost forgot how to think.

In the next instant, a loud shout rang out.

“Ah Gu, Ye Qingruo asked for it herself! Hurry and dual cultivate with her! Ah, I’m also just concerned about her!”

Xiao Hu’s eyes shone as she stomped excitedly.

Jiang Li: “…”

If she had not added that last sentence, Jiang Li almost would have believed her.

“Ah Gu, hurry and help her. I’ll stand guard for you two,” Xiao Hu urged, full of anticipation.

The person in Jiang Li’s arms seemed to find it noisy, or perhaps she could no longer suppress her desire. She frowned and tugged at Jiang Li’s collar. When she failed to pull it open, she lifted her head to search for the corner of Jiang Li’s mouth.

Jiang Li’s jaw was bitten, neither too lightly nor too heavily, and trembling breaths fell against her skin.

Jiang Li struggled to take a deep breath. Gritting her teeth, she directly lifted Ye Qingruo into her arms.

She took a few quick steps, stumbled, and threw the person into the cold pond.