Murim's Weakest Princess-Chapter 217: Birthday Blues

When Yan Ping found Anji, she instantly recognised the false happy tone Anji sometimes used when something was weighing on her mind.

"Anji greets shifu," the girl smiled, and Ruiting excused herself to give the student and teacher some privacy in Anji’s personal garden.

The persimmon tree had grown well, and Yan Ping knew this was the persimmon tree her student had grown to send her the leaves for an unusual but effective tea.

"Birthday blues?" the blind prophet asked, sitting on the stone garden stool beside Anji.

Anji did not deny it. If anything, she stared at the small tree she planted. It had grown from a seedling into a young plant. However, it was still too early to call it a tree. According to the gardener, it would take a persimmon a decade to grow from a seed into a fruiting tree. Anji did not originally plant this for its fruits. She wanted to plant it for its leaves. However, the spiritual energy she circulated into the tree helped it mature quicker than others. This particular pot that she nursed when she was younger grew large enough to be planted as a centrepiece in her courtyard.

"When I was in the Mystical Qilin Sect, I did not miss home this much," Anji admitted. "But now that I’m back, leaving it for the second time feels more difficult."

Unsure what to say in response to this realisation, Yan Ping only remained a steady, silent presence in Anji’s garden. Eventually, the blind prophet asked if Anji would rather stay in the Celestial Dragon Sect until she was nine years old instead of leaving right after her eighth birthday.

Anji shook her head. Her eyes were clear as if she had already made up her mind before Yan Ping’s arrival.

"No, shifu. Anji wants to return to the Mystical Qilin Sect. The operation has to be done as soon as possible. I’ve already made so much progress in my short stay here. It would be risky not to proceed with the operation."

That much progress? Even for Yan Ping, that came as a surprise.

"Let’s see how much progress you’ve made. Harmonising with nature is not a process that can be rushed."

Grinning, Anji hopped off the stone stool and walked to her persimmon tree.

"Shifu, it only works on this tree I planted. Although it is not complete harmonisation, I think I found a hint on how I can become one with nature a little easier."

Observing with her spirit vision, Yan Ping observed how Anji poured her own energy into the persimmon tree. At first, it seemed like Anji was merely attempting to overwrite the energy in the tree and in nature with her own signature. However, the energy pulsing gradually fused, and a miracle occurred.

Between tree and child, her spirit eye could not differentiate between the two forms. They had completely turned into one energy signature, emitting the same breath into the environment. How was this possible? Natural harmonisation involved absorbing natural qi into the body for the cultivator’s use. Anji had worked in the complete opposite nature when it came to harmonising and turned her energy signature into something nature could use instead. Although it still counted as harmonising, it was a strange process that did not benefit cultivation at all.

"Shifu, how is it? I can’t identify the wavelengths of different plants and animals as easily to absorb them. However, I can match my own qi to theirs with enough time. Father says this is a different form of harmonisation that is not commonly taught or practised, so I should check with you. Did I pass?"

Not commonly taught or practised? Zhao Mingfeng must be shitting bricks in his pants when Anji did it. If Yan Ping were a lesser person, she might have scolded Anji and told her never to do it again. It was a highly dangerous technique that was akin to donating blood. While it saved the lives of others, there was a high risk of energy backlash from rejection and incompatibility. There was a reason why Anji only managed to perform conditional harmonisation with this particular persimmon tree.

"It’s not a full passing mark," Yan Ping calmly explained. "True harmonisation requires you to adapt to every living source of energy. I’m not going to question the reversal of roles in your qi adaptation of this harmonisation form. However, you should never attempt this on any other life forms. Your father might not know the risks, but I do. Inanimate objects are empty cups. However, living things do not have empty cups. If your cup is higher than the cup you’re attempting to pour into, it’s easier to overpower them into harmonising at the expense of your own water. However, that’s not true harmonisation because it only flows in one direction. If you were to forcefully attempt this with a cup higher than yours, your cup could shatter."

Hearing this, Anji’s heart thumped loudly. She had no idea what her innovative technique was doing. Grandpa Jin did not stop her from attempting it, claiming it was similar to imbuing energy into the persimmon leaves. After hearing the true damage she was doing to her beloved tree, Anji apologised profusely.

The shock erased all last traces of Anji’s birthday blues effectively, and Yan Ping sighed. Leave it to her pupil to get into trouble the moment nobody was monitoring her. Children were just like that. They were so curious with no sense of danger that adults couldn’t help but worry whenever they were out of sight.

"Forget that training for now," Yan Ping beckoned Anji over. "I have a pop quiz for you. This was a joint research by Senior Researcher Ke and me. Let’s see how much of this new array you can decipher."

Snapping into academic mode, Anji bounded over to have a look at the new, exciting array. Part of the reason why she enjoyed studying spells was that every spell was like a new type of puzzle to solve. Although some of them were difficult, Anji enjoyed the challenge. Compared to swinging the sword a hundred times in the same way to improve, Anji enjoyed the process of doing something different each time to improve.

Only after she determined that Anji was fully distracted from her complex emotions, Yan Ping wondered if this new spell array was a better gift for Anji or her family.