Shen Xiaoyan felt a lump in her throat. The unexpected wave of emotion left her speechless. She could only hug Zheng Wei again, conveying her feelings.
Zheng Wei stroked Shen Xiaoyan's hair, a smile playing on his lips.
After a while, Shen Xiaoyan told Zheng Wei about her inability to absorb the light orb and being forced to withdraw from cultivation.
Zheng Wei was also surprised. After a moment of thought, he asked, "Is it because you reached a critical point? Or a bottleneck?"
Shen Xiaoyan nodded. "I thought so too, but neither of us understands. It seems we'll have to ask Yi Zhixie later. But... if we ask tomorrow, will it be awkward?"
Zheng Wei understood Shen Xiaoyan's concerns. Asking such a question after only one night of cultivation would surely make Yi Zhixie suspicious.
However...
"Yi Zhixie seemed to have guessed something. Even if he didn't know I had a spatial artifact, he knew I had treasures," Shen Xiaoyan exclaimed.
She suddenly recalled that during the battle with Wu Ershan, Yi Zhixie had told her to put the children in a safe place.
Zheng Wei also remembered this. There had been too much going on before, and they had forgotten about it.
"Since he didn't bring it up again, it seems he doesn't want to pursue it. Let's just play ignorant. We can both pretend to know and not speak of it," Zheng Wei suggested.
Although Shen Xiaoyan felt this wasn't the best approach, it seemed to be the only option for now.
"You cultivate too. I'll watch you."
It was still early. Shen Xiaoyan thought that with Zheng Wei's excellent spiritual roots, he was bound to be highly talented and might even achieve spiritual manifestation faster than her.
Zheng Wei had been worried about Shen Xiaoyan earlier. Now that she was fine, he could cultivate with peace of mind.
Shen Xiaoyan watched Zheng Wei sit cross-legged, his eyes closed. She sat by the immortal spring, watching Zheng Wei and occasionally glancing at the spring.
Had her cultivation gone so smoothly earlier because she drank some immortal spring water?
Should she let Zheng Wei drink some too?
But she wasn't entirely sure if that was the reason, so she hesitated.
"Mimi..."
Just as Shen Xiaoyan was pondering, she heard Zheng Wei's voice. She looked at him in surprise, wondering why he had opened his eyes so soon. Had something gone wrong?
"What's wrong? Is there a problem?" Shen Xiaoyan hurried to Zheng Wei's side, forgetting everything else.
Zheng Wei caught Shen Xiaoyan's inspecting hands and gently patted hers. "Mimi, Mimi, listen to me."
Shen Xiaoyan stopped her actions and looked at Zheng Wei anxiously, waiting for him to continue.
"I just wanted to tell you, I think I've reached a critical point..."
After speaking, Zheng Wei looked at Shen Xiaoyan hesitantly, wondering how she felt.
Shen Xiaoyan indeed felt quite... well, frustrated.
She thought her progress was already very fast, but unexpectedly, there was a monstrous talent like him.
Was this heaven's way of preventing her from becoming arrogant, deliberately sent to crush her?
At this moment, Shen Xiaoyan truly felt she had unearthed the truth.
Although she had thought of many things in that flash of an instant, a smile appeared on her face. "That's wonderful! Then you can ask Yi Zhixie tomorrow what to do next. I won't have to wait indefinitely..."
Zheng Wei had expected Shen Xiaoyan's envy and admiration, but she was thinking of these things, leaving him unsure of what to say. In the end, he could only nod.
They looked at each other and finally burst out laughing.
Since they had done what they needed to do, they left the spatial artifact.
After washing up, they quietly got into bed and slept until morning.
The next morning, everyone sat around the dining table. When Huo Fen served the food, Zheng Wei glanced at Yi Zhixie and said with a half-smile, "I have a question I'd like to ask the Grand Tutor."
Yi Zhixie was startled by Zheng Wei's sudden, serious address of "Grand Tutor," but seeing Zheng Wei's expression, he hesitated. "Uh, just say what you need to say. Don't look at me like that..."
"What's wrong?" Shen Xiaoyan asked curiously.
She looked at Zheng Wei, then at Yi Zhixie, and didn't see anything wrong between them.
"Ahem, go ahead," Yi Zhixie said to Zheng Wei, clearing his throat awkwardly.
He couldn't possibly say that he, a man who had lived for hundreds of years, felt guilty under the gaze of a person barely twenty years old.
But what was he guilty about?
Yi Zhixie, confused about his own feelings, could only smile awkwardly and ask Zheng Wei a question, trying to divert everyone's attention.
Zheng Wei looked at Yi Zhixie's unchanged half-smile. After a moment of silence, he said, "I just want to ask you, why does practicing the spiritual manifestation incantation lead to being forced awake?"
Yi Zhixie's earlier awkwardness vanished with Zheng Wei's question. "What did you say? I didn't understand. Could you explain more carefully?"
Although he said this, Yi Zhixie's voice was excited, trembling slightly, as Shen Xiaoyan could tell.
"I said, I was cultivating last night... and finally, I felt my body was saturated and couldn't absorb any more light orbs."
Zheng Wei described his and Shen Xiaoyan's cultivation experience and the bottleneck they encountered, then waited for Yi Zhixie's answer.
Yi Zhixie and Na Mu Zhong listened to Zheng Wei's words, their mouths opening wider and wider. Eventually, realizing their jaws were almost dislocated and feeling pain, they quickly closed their mouths.
"You cultivated this much in one night? Are you sure you haven't cultivated before?"
Rubbing his sore jaw, Yi Zhixie quickly asked.
"Yes, that's right," Zheng Wei nodded.
"Really? Think again, have you cultivated before, but you forgot..."
"Why so much nonsense? I've already said no," Zheng Wei impatiently interrupted Yi Zhixie.
When had she realized Yi Zhixie was so talkative? It was just like Lu Taobao...
Shen Xiaoyan's mind instinctively produced this thought.
When she realized what she was thinking, she felt like laughing. How could she think that?
If Lu Taobao knew what Shen Xiaoyan was thinking at that moment, he would surely shed tears and say with infinite grievance, "Why am I talkative?"
On the other hand, Yi Zhixie, interrupted by Zheng Wei, wasn't unhappy at all.
On the contrary, Zheng Wei's repeated confirmation that he hadn't cultivated before made Yi Zhixie even more delighted.
Yi Zhixie adjusted his expression and posture, trying to appear comforting and profound. "Excellent, excellent! To reach this level in one night, I can only say you are exceptionally gifted."
Zheng Wei showed no reaction to Yi Zhixie's praise, not even an extra expression.
He had spoken not to hear a few kind words from Yi Zhixie.
"Because your aptitude is acceptable, I've decided to take you as my first disciple. Aren't you very moved? Many people wanted to be my disciple before, but I refused them all."
Yi Zhixie finished speaking and then smiled sweetly at Zheng Wei, continuing, "Do you know why I refused? It's because I was always waiting for you to appear."
"Cough..."
Shen Xiaoyan clutched her chest, coughing repeatedly.
Fortunately, she hadn't eaten anything, or she would have spat it out.
Even so, she still choked on her own saliva because of Yi Zhixie's words.
Yi Zhixie's words sounded very much like a love confession!