26 Spirit Crystal Body

Shi Yueh, seeing that the little girl was moving towards him a little unsure, realised that she had to ask him something and tried to calm her down.

"Don't worry Lien Hua. I'm always here if you have any questions, so there's no need to be insecure about coming to talk to me."

Lien Hua, seeing that she was being so obvious, lowered her eyes a bit in embarrassment. 'Hehe... I was far too obvious, but whatever.'

So Lien Hua, feeling that there was no problem in going to disturb him, stood in front of the Sect Elder and started talking.

"Well... Sect Elder, I don't know how to explain it to you, I mean, um..."

Lien Hua still felt quite nervous and wanted to throw a hand to her face from embarrassment. 'I just need to ask him something. *sigh*... Why am I so nervous?'

Meanwhile, Shi Yueh, seeing how Lien Hua was still so insecure that she couldn't even speak, was a little surprised. 'What is it that she has to tell me that has her so worried? I hope it's nothing serious.'

"As I said before, Lien Hua, don't worry. It's just you and me here, so you can tell me anything."

Lien Hua, seeing that she was still being reassured by an adult like a normal child wanted to bury herself, 'Okay it's an important thing, but is there any need to be so obvious and insecure in saying it? Even if in the end they want to do something to me against my will what can I do? Better to just spit it out...'

"Well this morning... Um, after I checked how the cultivation had gone that night, I noticed something strange."

Lien Hua made a strange face after saying that word. Although she more or less understood what it was, she didn't know if it meant something good or something bad in this world, so to be sure, she continued her speech, noticing that Shi Yueh was looking at her curiously.

"As soon as I entered with my subconscious into my body to see my progress, it was as if I had entered a room full of light. Shocked, I didn't understand what it was and turning around a bit I found the origin: in some of my muscles, small filaments of something had become luminescent and were strange, wanting- Sect Elder? Are you alright?!"

Meanwhile, as Lien Hua was explaining to him this problem she had encountered, Shi Yueh felt more and more shocked with every word she spoke. By the end of the sentence, he was about to faint from astonishment if he hadn't leaned on the desk in front of him for a moment. With a hand on his face, Shi Yueh was too shocked to speak. '*Sigh*... An 8 year old girl who can even get into a stage that I didn't even finish after decades of hard work, is this what they call natural talent? *Sigh*...'

Seeing that Lien Hua was getting worried, Shi Yueh stood up again and with a stern expression, looked at her much more seriously than before.

"Dear Lien Hua, I know very well what happened to your body, but from now on don't tell other people. Why? Because what you've entered into is called Spirit Crystal Body, a rank of the body whereby all the muscles, after large amounts of spiritual energy have been absorbed, transform themselves into crystallized spiritual muscles. This increases the speed of cultivation by a great deal and also increases physical strength. One problem is, how did a young girl like you acquire this ability?"

Lien Hua, seeing that she had entered this strange Spirit Crystal Body rank, didn't know what to do, continuously encountering things that she didn't know, however, she immediately understood one thing: 'Heck, if it wasn't him but other people who came to know about this thing, what would they have done? I knew I shouldn't have told people about my secrets...' Lien Hua was quite frightened and looked a bit fearfully towards Shi Yueh.

"S-se- Sect Elder, is something going to happen to me? Is something bad going to happen to me, and what should I do now?"

"Lien Hua, don't worry. The Spirit Crystal Body phase isn't a bad thing, quite the contrary. But it's very rare for such a young person to be able to enter it, heck even I haven't completed it after decades trying to complete it, so I was shocked, but don't worry. I have an idea I've been thinking over for several days now, so once I'm certain about it, don't worry; I think I have a solution."

Lien Hua was happy when she realised that she could trust this man, but at the same time it was better not to trust a person to get heart's content, after all, they were not in a modern world, but in a world where the strongest ruled and if they wanted something from you, you can only accept it.

Therefore, Lien Hua thought, 'Whatever his solution is, I'll just have to accept it. *Sigh*... How bad it is to be bossed around by an unknown person. However, I just hope that I can trust him and he won't do anything bad to me. I hope..."

So with a little bow, Lien Hua put her hands out in front of her and with a salute, thanked him so vigorously to show her respect.

Thank you very much for listening to me, esteemed Sect Elder. I have nothing more to ask of you and am only waiting to hear from you. Thank you very much."

"Don't worry, it's nothing. So goodbye, my news will reach you by tonight."

So, seeing that the Sect Elder had dismissed her, with another salute she descended the steps from the podium and started up the stairs towards the exit of the classroom.

Meanwhile, Shi Yueh, without being noticed by Lien Hua, was looking at her the whole time she was leaving until she disappeared between the open doors of the classroom, and he too, adjusting his uniform a bit, looked towards the window behind him and thought, 'Yeah... she's the one, isn't she, Meng? I guess so...'

As soon as he thought that, however, with a sigh full of melancholy and sadness, Shi Yueh disappeared from the room in less than a millisecond, leaving no trace of his presence, and without moving a single particle of dust, once again letting out a sigh that could depress anyone.

In the meantime Lien Hua, who had heard nothing and seen nothing unusual, had come out of her classroom and after seeing the chaos outside could see that she had been a little mistaken in coming out so late.

Moving towards the sea of disciples that had formed in front of the left-hand building on the other side of the square, Lien Hua, with shrewd and quick steps, tried to find his friends in the middle of all this mess.

Where the hell are they? Those aren't them, not even here- Ah! There they are!'

Lien Hua was happy, not only because she had found them, but also because they were very close to the building, and there were only a few people left before their turn, so as soon as she stood next to them and was noticed by them who had prior to that been too focused on something else.

"Phew... guys, I finally found you. It was quite difficult, but here I am. I've finished talking to the Sect Elder."

Lien Hua saw how her two friends had jumped a little from fright because she had appeared out of nowhere as they had been thinking of something else and that they looked at her a little angry. Seeing their reactions, Lien Hua started to laugh but was stopped by Lin Yue.

"Yikes, Lien Hua... you gave us a scare. But other than that, how did it go with the Sect Elder?"

"Quite well. He managed to answer all my questions and mentioned that he would tell me about something by this evening, but I don't know what it is."

Chen Huang and Lin, Yue hearing Lien Hua's last words about tonight's news, were quite surprised, but they didn't pay that much attention to it and looked in front of them where the people who had been blocking them before had now left and they could now finally enter the building.

"Finally we can get in! Guys, come on!"

So without waiting any longer, Lien Hua, Chen Huang, and Lin Yue entered the building.

As soon as they entered, they could see that it was much bigger than they thought. Inside there were simply three benches: one in front of them, attached to the north wall, and two more along the other walls. Behind them a disciple was working incessantly to give the people who had been through the line ahead of them their monthly spirit stones.

Lien Hua and her friends approached the one on the right, which was vacant at the moment, and as soon as they stood in front of it, the disciple behind the desk looked up, and taking a pen in his hand, began to speak quickly,

"Names, please?"

"Emh... Lien Hua, Chen Huang, and Lin Yue, thank you."

Hearing their names, the disciple in the same uniform, but much older than them, began to write things down on some paperwork and then looked up at them and turned to his right where, with one hand towards that side, he took out 15 bright red stones and placed them on the counter in front of him and went back to his work without giving the three of them another glance.

As soon as they realised they had to leave, Lien Hua and her friends took the 15 stones, 5 for each of them, and were surprised when they felt the stones in their hands. Lien Hua, in the meantime as they were leaving the building and heading towards their home, thought to herself, 'I didn't think that these stones would be so hot, but that they would be cold. How strange.'

So after a few seconds of walking, Lin Yue, Chen Huang, and Lien Hua found themselves in front of the latter's house and entered without much trouble.