Passing By

After making up his mind, Lin Xiao planned to find Liu Yunan to discuss his upcoming arrangements.

However, while passing by a shaded area under the trees, he saw his elder cousin Lin Yan sitting beside Aunt Yang, staring intently at the object in Aunt Yang's hands.

So Lin Xiao walked up and greeted them,

"Aunt Yang, Sister Yan'er, what are you doing here?"

Seeing it was him, Yang Jinshu and Lin Yan smiled faintly,

"Brother Xiao is here."

"Sanlang, I am learning embroidery from Aunt Yang."

Yang Jinshu chimed in,

"Yes, Brother Xiao, you might not know this, but Yan'er is very talented in embroidery. She grasps many things with just a little guidance. In a few years, her embroidery skills will likely far surpass mine."

Before her family met with disaster, Yang Jinshu was considered a lady from a prominent family. While she might not be a master of the zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting, she was quite proficient in all of them.

As for her embroidery skills, her mother had paid a hefty sum to hire a very famous master to teach her.

Hearing this, Lin Xiao was quite amazed.

He looked at the embroidery hoop in Aunt Yang's hands, which stretched a small piece of silk cloth tightly, the incredibly fine embroidery needle weaving through it, and the cluster of flowers already taking shape on the hoop, and his scalp went numb.

It was amazing that Aunt Yang and his cousin actually liked this kind of thing.

Just looking at it made him feel tired.

He felt tired watching the fine needle weaving back and forth, and tired looking at those embroidery threads that were finer than a strand of hair.

After nodding to Aunt Yang, he asked Lin Yan with some doubt,

"Sister Yan'er, is this fun?"

Seeing his daunted expression, Lin Yan pursed her lips into a smile and said,

"It's fun. Watching yourself carefully embroider a pattern onto the cloth little by little from nothing is very interesting. Do you want to try it with us, Brother Xiao?"

"Ah, no, no, no, that won't be necessary. As long as you're having fun, Sister Yan'er. I still have things to do, so I'll be taking my leave! See you later, Aunt Yang and Sister Yan'er—"

Lin Xiao immediately slipped away, vanishing from the spot in the blink of an eye.

Watching his retreating back, Yang Jinshu and Lin Yan laughed heartily under the shade.

Only after escaping the two women who actually wanted him to learn embroidery did Lin Xiao slow down.

He happened to arrive near the Artifact Forging Hall and heard the clang, clang, clang sound of striking iron coming from inside.

Lin Xiao walked over to take a look and discovered that the person striking the iron was Tietou.

At this moment, he was sweating profusely, his clothes completely soaked with sweat. His sturdy arms were still forcefully swinging the large hammer in his hands, continuously striking the piece of profound iron on the anvil.

Seeing this, Lin Xiao walked in, stood next to Tietou, and said,

"Tietou, do you like blacksmithing—I mean, artifact forging?"

Hearing this, Tietou didn't stop his work, but his rhythm slowed down a bit. He gave Lin Xiao a bashful smile and said,

"It's Brother Xiao. Hehe, I saw that apart from when you used this Artifact Forging Hall half a year ago, only Yigao and Yuanjiao came a few times recently. I thought, you went through so much trouble to build this Artifact Forging Hall, we can't let it go to waste. Since everyone else isn't interested in this, I decided to come and practice.

I figured, even though I'm clumsy, as long as I put in more effort and work hard every day, maybe I'll master it someday. If I really can't learn it, I'll just treat it as adding some liveliness to the place. Who knows, maybe someone else will come to learn it in the future, hehe."

Listening to his words, Lin Xiao didn't say anything but earnestly watched the profound iron being repeatedly struck by Tietou on the anvil.

Then he noticed that the originally chaotic patterns on the profound iron were gradually forming a stable structure.

However, it was very faint. If it weren't for his current Golden Core stage cultivation, it would have been absolutely impossible for him to see it.

So, inexplicably, Lin Xiao felt that Tietou might actually achieve something on the path of artifact forging.

He turned his head, just about to pat Tietou on the shoulder and say something, when he saw the bulging muscles and popping veins on Tietou's arm as he struck the iron, looking exactly like a muscular macho man.

A wave of envy welled up in Lin Xiao's heart.

Then he rested his hand on Tietou's shoulder, patted it gently, and said,

"Tietou, keep it up. I think your blacksmithing—no, artifact forging! It definitely has a bright future!"

Hearing Lin Xiao's words, Tietou was extremely excited. He immediately turned his head and looked at him with shining eyes:

"Really, Brother Xiao! Great! I will do my best!"

As he spoke, he swung the large hammer in his hands with unusual excitement, smashing it down with a hundred percent of his strength with a series of heavy bangs.

Then Lin Xiao saw the gradually forming patterns he had just witnessed completely vanish under these few heavy strikes.

He closed his mouth tightly, speechless, silently patted Tietou's shoulder again, and let out a long sigh:

"Keep it up. I still have things to do, I'll be leaving first."

After saying that, he turned around and left the Artifact Forging Hall without looking back.

He only heard the sound of striking iron inside the Artifact Forging Hall behind him become even more deafening.

Feeling quite melancholy, Lin Xiao strolled over to the edge of the cold pool in the small garden at the entrance of the secret realm. There, he saw an orange furball, Fang Tuantuan, sticking its butt up, poking its head down, one paw clinging to the bank, and the other paw constantly reaching for the silver-tailed fish in the cold pool.

The orange tail on its butt also swished back and forth from time to time.

In Lin Xiao's eyes, it seemed to be saying to him:

"Come and kick me."

So his foot followed his heart's desire, lifting up, and just as he was about to kick that little butt...

He saw Fang Tuantuan, who was originally teasing the fish, suddenly seem to sense the malicious intent coming from behind. Its fur instantly stood on end all over its body, and it rapidly spun around, flashing its shiny claws.

"Meow!"

Discovered, Lin Xiao immediately pulled back the foot he was about to kick out and started drawing circles on the ground with his toe.

At the same time, he smiled and waved at Fang Tuantuan, saying,

"What a coincidence, Tuantuan. Why aren't you accompanying Yigao today?"

Seeing it was Lin Xiao, Fang Tuantuan retracted its kitty claws, looked left and right, and then peeked behind Lin Xiao.

So strange, there are no enemies.

But why did it feel a chill just now?

"Meow~"

Fang Tuantuan brushed Lin Xiao off with a couple of meows, then turned back around, stuck its butt up again, and continued to mess around in the cold pool, scaring the silver-tailed fish inside into darting all over the place.

Having failed in his mischievous attempt, Lin Xiao had no choice but to bid farewell to Fang Tuantuan and continue walking toward the Affairs Hall.

For some reason, suddenly, he felt like he had become idle.

For example, right now, he only needed to go to the Affairs Hall and tell Baldy about the upcoming arrangements, and he would gather everyone and organize everything.

Then there would be nothing left for him to do.

At most, after it was done, he would go and inspect it.

But Baldy was very serious and meticulous in his work, so he would just be going through the motions.

It seemed like everyone in the sect had their own things to do.

Only he, the previously busy person, seemed to have suddenly become completely free.

Could it be that as the sect master, the only thing left for him to do now was to hurry up and cultivate, improve his cultivation base, and act as the sect's mascot?

As he advanced toward the Affairs Hall at a snail's pace, he looked up at the sky, wondering if there were any interesting things he could do other than cultivating.

When his gaze inadvertently swept toward the foot of the mountain, suddenly, Lin Xiao thought of the private school down the mountain.