The Token of Denbong

“Master...?!”

Qin Ran was teaching mathematics here when a cry that went from excitement to incredulity came from over there. The voice was very familiar, making Qin Ran subconsciously feel guilty.

He looked in the direction of the voice to see Li Shiyin flying over from the other side of the river and landing on the grassy bank here by the lake. She was holding the Qingxing Sword in her hand. Her surprised and doubtful little face scrunched up as she looked at him and then at Tushan Youyou next to him.

“Hmm? That close?” Only then did Qin Ran realize how close he was to Tushan Youyou.

Indeed, he thought to himself, the distance between him and Tushan Youyou was a bit too close...close enough that he could feel the softness of her feminine figure and smell the fragrance from her lips and teeth.

“Shiyin...” Seeing Li Shiyin’s murderous aura, he forcibly kept his cool and explained, “I’m learning about mystical arrays.”

After he finished speaking, he didn’t feel like there was anything wrong with what he had said.

“Is that so?” Li Shiyin felt sour and awful inside, and she really wanted to get angry and say or do something, but unfortunately, she realized that she was just a disciple.

“Then Master...” She made a shwing sound as she swiftly pulled out the Qingxing Sword, channeling sword energy into it as she faced Qin Ran, “Let me teach you swordplay!”

The cute face of the silly disciple was gloomy as she radiated an aura of murderousness. Qin Ran didn’t dare go learn swordplay from her.

“This teacher does not study swordsmanship,” he declined.

Then he hurriedly took out a book and handed it to Tushan Youyou, saying, “This has some basic knowledge about physics related to mystical arrays. Take it and read it yourself.

“As for mathematics, it is a practical subject that requires constant problem solving and experimentation. I have already taught you a lot today, so go back and review more on your own.

“...Unless absolutely necessary, do not come looking for me again.”

Tushan Youyou took the book and looked at Qin Ran and then at the murderous Li Shiyin off to the side. Somewhat puzzled, she asked, “Aren’t you two master and disciple?”

“That’s right, we are master and disciple,” Qin Ran quickly nodded.

“Then...” Tushan Youyou’s fox spirit instincts told her that the relationship between these two people didn’t seem like a normal master-disciple one.

Qin Ran cut her off before she could say anything strange, “Just focus on learning about mystical arrays. Don’t bother trying to analyze human social structures – they are very complicated and too difficult for a demon like you to understand.”

“Is that so?” Tushan Youyou was confused. What did this have to do with human social structures? But it was true that human society was more complex than demon society, so she didn’t argue.

“Yes!” Qin Ran nodded. “Hurry back and review what I taught you today. Don’t forget it all.”

“Alright, Mr. Qin,” Tushan Youyou still felt somewhat puzzled, but she listened to Qin Ran. After bowing to him, she left, returning to her fox’s den.

Only after Tushan Youyou had departed did Li Shiyin plop herself down next to Qin Ran on the grass, still pouting. She didn’t put away the Qingxing Sword either, leaving it on the ground between her and Qin Ran.

Li Shiyin didn’t even know why she felt irritated. She and Qin Ran were clearly just master and disciple. But for some reason, she hated seeing her master getting along with other women, especially a peerless beauty like Tushan Youyou.

She felt afraid, afraid that her master would be snatched away by someone else... Yet at the same time, she also felt powerless to do anything about it. She really disliked that feeling of helplessness.

Li Shiyin pouted, her heroic eyebrows knitted together in displeasure, carrying a hint of maidenly resentment. She secretly glanced at Qin Ran and saw him seriously writing and drawing on paper.

“Master is so handsome...” she thought. Her master was smart and knowledgeable, better than the scholar characters in storybooks by ten thousand times... No, she shook her head, thinking “Master is an idiot.”

She looked at Qin Ran’s refined and focused face for a while. Right when he was about to turn to her, she huffed and quickly turned her head away to look at the lake surface instead.

“Do you like this?” Qin Ran suddenly asked.

Yes, he was asking her.

“Like what?” she retorted, too embarrassed to look at him.

Seeing his silly disciple’s shy reaction, Qin Ran held out the paper he had been working on for her to see.

“This is your token – you can use it to come and go from Dan Peak in the future,” he explained.

Li Shiyin’s heroic eyebrows smoothed out a little, but she kept pouting. Feigning nonchalance, she rolled her dark pupils to the side to glimpse at the paper Qin Ran held out. Drawn on the pristine white sheet was a cute fat sword with a tasselled cord tied to the hilt, making it look like a jade pendant.

She loved the adorable sword so much that her eyes shone brightly with delight. She would take a look at the drawing and then sneak a peek at Qin Ran, only to become bashful from seeing the brightness in his eyes.

“Master obviously likes me,” she thought, unable to lie to herself when she saw the care towards her in those eyes. But thinking like that made her feel even more embarrassed.

Li Shiyin pouted, her cheeks flushing red, as she pretended not to care and turned her head to gaze at the lake. Her small hands unconsciously fidgeted with her shoes.

“This is for me?” she asked.

“That’s right, I designed it specially for you,” Qin Ran said with a smile, unable to hide his delight at how adorably coy his silly disciple was acting. He felt like he was coaxing a child as he added, “I’ll have it made by tomorrow. You can wear it in the future when you go out to play like before.”

Li Shiyin was very happy to hear that. She asked again, “I’m the only one who has something like this, right?”

“Chasing the Wind and the others have them too...” Qin Ran replied.

Li Shiyin immediately became very disappointed, her face puckering up once more.

“Look...” Qin Ran turned the paper over to another page and showed it to Li Shiyin, “This is what Chasing the Wind’s token looks like.”

Li Shiyin turned to look. Drawn on the paper was a ferocious cartoon white tiger cub. Although Li Shiyin didn’t know what a cartoon art style was, she thought it looked cute and recognized it as Chasing the Wind.

“How can he be so cute?” she objected with a twist of her lips.

“He accompanies you to practice swordplay every day – how is that not cute?” countered Qin Ran.

Li Shiyin had to agree since she had gained some new insights lately into her mastery of One Strike, One Kill, which often resulted in Chasing the Wind getting injured from being unable to withstand her sword energy despite his strong physique and her master’s medicinal pills...

“He is pretty cute when he’s not being obnoxious,” she conceded with a nod.

As she spoke, she wondered about Long Qiqi and the fox spirit’s tokens too.

Feigning indifference again, she asked, “What about theirs?”

Qin Ran then showed Li Shiyin the tokens he designed for Long Qiqi and Tushan Youyou. They were similarly cute cartoon drawings, except one was of a curled up fat snake while the other was a white fox with five tails.

“At least mine is the most unique since it’s a sword,” Li Shiyin immediately realized, becoming happy once more. “It seems the fox spirit is no different from Chasing the Wind and Qiqi in Master’s eyes.”

The corners of Li Shiyin’s lips curved up into a smile.

The silly disciple wore all of her thoughts and feelings openly on her face. With one look, Qin Ran knew this crisis had passed... The innocent disciple was effortlessly toyed with by her cunning master.

Looking relaxed, he casually asked Li Shiyin, “Why have you been practicing swordplay with such diligence lately?”

Li Shiyin didn’t want her master knowing she had made a pact to duel someone, so she vaguely answered, “Just...training hard!”

It was obvious she was lying. Qin Ran pressed further, “Did you get into trouble outside?”

“No way!” Li Shiyin started panicking a little, her mind racing to come up with an excuse.

Luckily, just then...

“Dad...roar...roar...!” An idiotic-sounding tiger’s cry echoed in from outside the mist, “Dad, Chasing the Wind, open the door!”

It was that silly cub Chasing the Wind shouting to be let in again.

“Ugh!” Qin Ran sighed and got up to go get Chasing the Wind.

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