Chapter 221

Chapter 221

“Come on, Wu boy, let’s talk this over again. Do I really have to meet that wicked… ahem, do I really have to meet your master? I hardly know her. Why don’t we just forget it?”

Even after we were walking along the country road back to the village, the stupid bird kept nagging in my ear.

I found it hilarious and thought,

“Everything has its natural nemesis! Roundy acts arrogant around everyone else, as though afraid of nothing under heaven or earth. Only Master can make it back down.”

So I immediately put on a serious expression.

“You can’t look at it that way! Master was the one who taught me the household familiar art, and she personally handled everything when I summoned a household familiar.”

“Now that you can remain with me for long periods and accompany me everywhere, of course Master needs to advise us on how to cooperate in battle from now on, right?”

My reasoning was sound, leaving Roundy no grounds to refuse.

It seemed about to say something, but in the end, it merely raised its head and let out a long string of coos. Then it sighed in my mind.

“Sigh… It’s all this mouth’s fault! I never should’ve eaten that stupid snake. Its cultivation wasn’t high, its meat tasted bad, and its skin stank of fish. I got greedy and ate it on impulse, only to trap myself in the bargain. I was a fool, a complete fool.”

Watching the big fat bird hang its head dejectedly while muttering endlessly, I could not help bursting into laughter.

This felt wonderful!

After returning to Wujia Village, I greeted my parents, put down my book bag, and prepared to take dinner straight to Master’s house.

“Wait, Wu boy! You’re one rice bowl short.”

Roundy’s voice sounded in my mind.

I froze.

“No, I’m not.”

“Damn it! What about your big brother’s bowl? I want to eat from a rice bowl at the table too!”

Roundy puffed up angrily.

Only then did I remember how many demands the damned fat bird had. It was clearly a stupid bird, yet insisted on eating at the table with humans or it would throw a tantrum.

Helpless, I placed another bowl in the wooden food box before setting out.

I entered the courtyard of Master’s house.

As usual, I happily trotted inside, calling out with a grin,

“Master! I’m back! Did you miss your good disciple these past few days? Even if you missed me terribly, you still have to eat and drink!”

Creak.

The door opened.

Master’s clear voice carried a trace of resignation.

“Ah-Zhong, you’re asking for another beating. Now that you have someone to share it, you’ve grown even more unrestrained, haven’t you?”

Smack, smack, smack!

Invisible palms seemed to strike both Roundy and me on the head at the same time.

Roundy was instantly dumbfounded.

“What the hell? Wu boy deserved that beating for running his mouth. Why did you have to include me? That’s so unfair! It’s true that the prettier a woman is, the crueler her heart!”

Smack, smack, smack!

All right. This time, Roundy alone took the beating.

I rubbed its ruffled head and gave it a sidelong smile.

“Roundy, don’t ever think of standing your ground or talking back to Master. You need to know when to yield, understand? Look at me. I admit my mistakes incredibly fast.”

Roundy: “…”

The two of us entered the main room.

Master still sat beside the table drinking tea.

She seemed eternally calm and unruffled, her bearing filled with elegance and beauty.

I opened the wooden food box and arranged the dishes inside on the table.

Roundy stood obediently on the dining table, its wings tucked neatly against its sides. It looked very well behaved, nothing like its usual arrogant pose with wings planted on its waist.

Master frowned slightly when she saw me place a bowl before Roundy.

“It’s already enough that a bird is eating at the table. It even needs a bowl?”

Roundy instinctively talked back.

“So what? This lo… lovable bird just wants to eat from a bowl. Is that all right, Immortal Sister?”

Good grief!

Even I stared in amazement from the side.

It had clearly begun to call itself “this lord,” but fortunately, good sense made it change course in time. Otherwise, it probably could not have escaped the misfortune of another rapid three-slap beating on the head.

“Fine.”

Master nodded and spoke softly.

Then we began eating.

The big fat bird Roundy could not pick up food, so while eating, I had to tend to it as well, using my chopsticks to place meat and vegetables in its bowl.

Only after we finished eating and I completed the Hand-Sealing Method did Master ask about my life in Lianghe Town, as she usually did.

But that week had been peaceful, and nothing had happened. We casually chatted about amusing incidents involving my classmates and good friends at school, laughing together until the time slipped away.
Then I asked her for guidance on cultivating the household familiar art.

Master would have brought it up even if I had not asked.

But taking the initiative made me look eager to learn, did it not?

For some reason, I always had little schemes and calculations in my heart when I was around her… although she saw through most of them at a glance.

“I developed the household familiar art years ago while traveling in the Northeast. It is an adaptation of household guardian spirit arts, the spirit-medium tradition, and similar schools. Its foundation still lies in the household guardian spirit arts and spirit-medium tradition, but I added some of my own understanding.”

“Of course, methods and techniques like these differ from feng shui teachings. You don’t need to know too much of the theory at first. It’s extremely dry. Begin with practical techniques.”

“There aren’t any incidents in the nearby mountain villages that need handling these next two days, so this is a good time for you to practice cooperating with this stupid bird. My lineage’s household familiar art places great importance on mutual coordination with the familiar. There will be many combined attack techniques later, so you need to understand each other’s abilities and develop rapport.”

I committed every word Master said to memory and nodded repeatedly.

Under the weight of Master’s authority, the damned fat bird Roundy could only pretend to listen obediently despite its obvious impatience.

Master suddenly smiled.

“That’s enough explanation. First, I’ll let the two of you experience it.”

As the words left her mouth, she swept her sleeve.

Before Roundy or I could react, the scene before us abruptly changed.

Whoosh!

The main room vanished, and we seemed to be standing in a pitch-black void.

Roundy cried out in shock.

“Is this… a realistic mental illusion? Or some instantly activated formation? I didn’t have time to react, much less resist. This speed and method are terrifying!”

Master gave it an ambiguous smile.

“Stupid bird, you know quite a lot, don’t you? Your origins are rather mysterious.”

Perhaps sensing Roundy’s body stiffen, she continued,

“But as long as you harbor no malice, and the household familiar contract between you and Ah-Zhong has already been established in fact, I won’t force you to speak or extract your soul to investigate. All right, stupid bird. Release your demonic energy without holding anything back.”

Then she turned toward me and smiled.

“Ah-Zhong, release the qi from your Dantian Palace as well.”

“Yes, Master!”

With a thought, the qi in my dantian flowed out along my meridians and rose from the top of my head like a faint, glowing white mist.

Roundy’s demonic energy was snow-white and seemed to carry the faint texture of snowflakes and ice crystals.

At that moment, I fully understood why the big fat bird had been so shocked!

We were now inside this strange, dark void rather than Master’s main room. It had to be either a mental illusion or a formation that had altered our surroundings.

But if this were a mental illusion, why did the qi inside us feel exactly the same as it did in reality?

An illusion was, by definition, fundamentally false. It could not perfectly reproduce a person’s true qi and arcane arts from reality.

Yet I felt exactly as I did in the real world! The demonic energy Roundy released confirmed it.

If Master had used a Qimen Dunjia formation to transform the main room’s environment, had she truly completed it with that single light sweep of her sleeve?

Such effortless movement and speed…

It was terrifying!

The longer I spent with Master, the more I sensed her power and mystery. What she had revealed so far was no more than the tip of an iceberg.

And I felt an intense desire to understand that mystery.

I wanted to draw closer to her and know more about her!

In fact, that was another reason I cultivated so diligently and wanted to grow stronger faster.

It was no longer merely because I wanted to use arcane cultivation to defy fate and avoid dying suddenly before I turned fifteen.

There was another equally important reason–I hoped to learn more about Master and grow closer to her!

Of course, I kept these private thoughts buried deep in my heart.

I could not dwell on them now. The urgent task was to learn the mysteries of the household familiar art.

“Ah-Zhong, stupid bird, now try bringing your demonic energy and qi closer together. Be careful and make an effort to sense each other’s aura.”

Master spoke softly.