章 23: Gifts! (2)
Li Ao went first again. Opening the brocade box in front of him, he found a pair of silver-ish boots. There were simple engravings on its glistening heels, and felt a little heavy to carry.
Putting them on, Li Ao noticed a force covering up to his waist. A slight wind picked up around the room as he took a step and appeared twenty meters away.
However, Li Ao didn't employ his cultivation base or fleshly strength. It was entirely the effect of the boots.
''This is...''
It was good! It was very good, and Li Ao felt like it would greatly aid him in moving around for the foreseeable future.
Only, it was too flamboyant! When he stepped out into the garden, the silver light around the boots outshone the lanterns. When he moved around, he seemed like a miniature Sun sailing across the sky.
''How is it?''
Going back inside, Li Ao gave another bow. ''Excellent, thank you!''
''Thank you what?''
''Thank you, senior sister...''
Qing Yan also smiled from ear to ear, then looked up at the smug smiling Sun Jian. It seemed that so long as Sun Jian was there, she couldn't fully enjoy the spirit of seniority.
''I don't have a naming sense, so I just called them Silver. You can change its name if you want—'' Qing Yan gestured at the boots as he put them inside his spatial ring with the gloves. ''It's 6-th grade, Earth Quality. They can help you move faster, and can boost the power of your Fire-related Martial Arts.''
''Its light also has a suppression effect on ghosts and low-rank demons. If you spend a little time with it, you can change its intensity at your will.''
Li Ao let out a soft 'Oh' when he understood the reason for the light. She seemed to be even more thoughtful than Sun Jian. After all, there were no ghosts or demons near First Capital.
Only the northern border dealt with them.
Bowing again, Li Ao sat down. He noticed Fan Yueyin hang a smile on her face, though when he noticed it she glared back at him.
'What did I do!?'
Sighing, he watched Sun Jian take out his gift.
It was actually a golden headband. There was a blue gemstone at its front, which made Sun Jian look like a prince when he put it on. The gem had the same soothing effect as the Prismatic Gloves, except the power was more concentrated, and paired well with Sun Jian's martial arts.
Fan Yueyin's gift was a deep purple armband. Nine dark, amethyst-like gems strewn on its frame, the armband added a mysterious charm to the already pretty woman.
Fan Yueyin deeply nodded, evidently impressed with its beauty.
Then it was time for Li Ao to distribute his gifts.
He took out only two simple wooden boxes.
''You two can open it together.''
Qing Yan and Sun Jian shared a look, then at the same time flipped open the lids.
They were a pair of bracelets. Sun Jian's was a gold color, as the boy liked it very much, and Qing Yan's an elegant jade. They had thin lines of formations going around them that seemed rough and mysterious.
''They are Formation Bracelets.'' Li Ao explained. ''I engraved two formations on them—Sound Blocking and a 3rd grade Gathering Formation.''
''When you send your Qi, Sound Blocking formation will block out everyone five meters away from you from hearing your voice. Its effectiveness increases with your cultivation. The gathering formation can help you better absorb medicine and other resources or extract the impurity of some ores.''
The latter use, Li Ao had only discovered through accident. It was infinitely harder to do than pills, of course, and a 3rd grade Gathering Formation was nothing great by itself.
But both of his seniors were capable people, and this bracelet was the same as a portable formation. In the absence of access, they could better protect themselves from danger and recover faster.
Qing Yan and Sun Jian both smiled, their eyes glittering, and clasped their hands, showering ''Junior Brother~'' upon him.
He received the praise with a little posturing, then turned to his master.
''For first—''
Li Ao waved his hand in front of his face, and Xu Liao's face disappeared. He replaced it with a thin young man with deep eyes and short brows, looking slightly silly but handsome.
Sun Jian's eyes popped out at the transformation. The boy looked at Fan Yueyin, who didn't seem surprised, then at Qing Yan, whose mouth opened so wide it seemed like it would be torn.
''Fuck, a demon! A demon took away my junior brother!''
Sobbing, leaping over the table, Sun Jian lunged at Li Ao.
''You monkey, Stop! Stop I said!''
Qing Yan watched them struggle on the floor, biting and shoving each other, then turned towards her master.
Fan Yueyin's eyes shone with a weird light as she smiled, then turned cold when their eyes met.
Receiving her affirmation, Qing Yan looked down with curious eyes.
Sun Jian held Li Ao's cheeks in both hands and kept pulling them apart. The boy had tears in his eyes as he wailed, shaking poor Li Ao back and forth like a doll.
After a minute, Fan Yueyin separated them. It took a while for Sun Jian to be convinced, who in turn looked back at Li Ao's scarlet cheeks and sobbed again.
Ignoring his apologies, Li Ao turned to Fan Yueyin.
''Master, strike a pose!''
Raising a brow, Fan Yueyin saw a light glint on Li Ao's finger. Right after the light disappeared, a very minute wave of Qi washed over the surroundings. If not for her cultivation and raised vigilance, even she might not have noticed it.
Fan Yueyin opened her eyes a little. ''What is that ring?''
''Something good—'' Li Ao took out a ring from his index finger. It was also dark-purple, with a orange ball strapped on it like a gem. On the gem, if looked closely, one could see hundreds of tiny formation lines interweaving each other, occasionally glistening with white light.
Pressing on top of the gem, a round light assembled on the empty center of the table. Flickering for a few moments, the light started to take on color, then turned into the life-like image of a thirty-or-so years old woman.
She had dark hair tied into a bun, wore a loose dark blue robe, and sat with crossed legs that made her look both domineering and pretty. One hand on her chin, other resting on her lap, her raised brow conveyed her intrigue and confusion to the viewer.
''...a portrait?''
Fan Yueyin approached closer, admiring her own figure for a solid minute with the curious Qing Yan and Sun Jian. Li Ao pushed the ring towards her with a bow, and Fan Yueyin received it with bright eyes.
''What is this? How does it work?''
''It is a Memory Ring. Me and Lei Jin engraved an Image Retainment Formation onto a Replenishment Gem, then a basic Preservation formation to the ring's body. It can take scenes from real life and preserve them inside with Qi.''
Fan Yueyin put on the ring on her right pinky alongside the bracer and armband, then suddenly pointed forward.
A light glinted in the ring, and a moment later another round image appeared in the air.
There were three—two young men, and a bald woman under a dim yellow light. They had surprised expressions on their faces, with all of them slightly leaning over a glittering picture of a woman on the table. Behind them stood a beautiful scenery of the garden and trickling moonlight.
It seemed to be a lively, yet also memorable scene.
Gazing at the image, Fan Yueyin didn't speak for a long time.
Pulling her arm back, Fan Yueyin sat down again. ''Your formation mastery is greater than I expected.''
Li Ao bowed in response.
''How many scenes can it preserve?''
''Around a thousand.'' Li Ao replied. ''However, you can transfer the images inside onto any Qi-conductive paper with ease.''
Saying so, Li Ao took out a small notebook with thirty pages. Each paper was thick and callous, but upon them were various sceneries of the First Capital. The marketplace, Sun Estate, the Smithy, a certain Zhu Qiu wolfing down a piece of chicken, and a certain Master Jiao with an unusually bright smile. His assistant Riri popped his old head behind Master Jiao, with both hands in the air, managing to make himself stand out in the picture.
Though the edges of these images were blurred and couldn't compare with the live image from the ring, they still seemed to be lifelike and full of emotion.
The Li Family, as well as most Great Families back in the Great Wei Dynasty had such documents in their libraries. Li Ao had seen his grandfather look through them whenever he was alone. There was a special one that he carried with him. His grandpa had shown him most of the people in there, who all were his close friends. Most of them remained dead or missing.
Li Ao also had a special booklet in his room, where images of his parents and his missing older brother remained. Sometimes, he would look at them when he felt lonely.
The idea to craft this ring came to him when he thought of how he would leave this world. He noticed a trend where some of his missions occurred in the same world, which made him sure he could see people here again.
However, the time difference between the worlds was too large to ignore.
One month was equal to two decades, almost three. People here would spend a lifetime while he, perhaps, only laid around for some time.
It was similar to being dead or missing.
So, he decided to leave behind something memorable.
It was like a consolation prize, though Li Ao also couldn't think of anything else that carried meaning.
Fan Yueyin nodded as she flipped through the book, then gave it back to Li Ao.
She waved her hand and the images around them disappeared. In their stead, three bronze boxes appeared.
''Open them.''
Obliging, the three took out a strange substance. It seemed to be some kind of a metallic liquid, dark silver, and bubbled as it sucked out their Qi. It seemed to move around on its own as if it was...excited?
Sun Jian's eyes began to glow.
''Spiritual tools?''
''Heaven-grade.'' Fan Yueyin said.
All three almost dropped the liquid from their hands. Eyes open wide, mouths gaping, the trio cast feverish gazes at the bubbling metals.
Heaven-Grade was just a whole other realm than Spiritual tools!
To become Heaven-Grade, a tool first had to gain Spirituality!
After that, it would need to gain awareness through careful nourishment.
Once it reached maturity, its latent consciousness would awaken, making it a proper living being!
Once a tool reached that state, it would become Heaven-Grade, and could cultivate by itself like any other cultivator.
Of course, Li Ao had seen many Heaven-Grade weapons and tools, but even then they weren't something to be taken light of. The Li family only had three of them themselves, to say nothing of other Great Families. Only three dozen Heaven-grade tools existed there!
Now, receiving a Heaven-grade tool, Li Ao felt like he should call Fan Yueyin a goddess. What else could compare with this generosity?
''Mama~''
''Goddess!''
''O'Blessed One!''
''What are you retards calling me!?''
Fan Yueyin kicked the crying Sun Jian away from herself and cleared her throat. She had a slight blush as she spoke.
''These little ones are Heaven-grade, but they aren't weapons or anything. Their consciousness is also new—the three of them are sibling tools that can only sense each other for now. As long as you three are within a thousand kilometer of each other, you can sense the other's presence.''
''They can also serve as a compass to find each other across long distances. Their shapes are sublime, but once you use them a certain way they will identify themselves in that form. After they grow up, they will learn skills based on the form you use them. The range you can sense each other will also increase with their cultivation.''
''Other than that, they are very intelligent. It is better to begin their education around four years old, but you can push it back to seven years old if you wish. You need to feed them with ores to keep them sated. The higher quality ores can help them grow healthier and absorb attributes...''
While Fan Yueyin explained how to care for the Heaven-Grade Tool, Li Ao felt his heart shaking at the dawning realization. He had a blank face as he looked down at the little pulsing substance, who sensed his gaze and bubbled with pure affection.
'Am I...am I going to be a dad?'
'How is this any different from taking care of a baby!?'
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