96 CH96

~~ _Last time it'll be unedited i swear_~~

“Elder Jiao, does the jade do anything else other than provide a training space?” Lin Yi asked, recalling the countless times the jade’s premonition warnings had saved his life. Jiao Yazi was the guy in the jade, and Lin Yi assumed that Yazi had to know something.

“Yes, it provides other functions.” Yazi nodded knowingly.

“What functions?” Lin Yi asked excitedly- So Yazi knew, after all!

“But I don’t know any details.” Yazi started shaking his head as he spoke. “This was modified by my master’s master himself, and I’ve never even put it on before- how am I supposed to know anything? There’s probably more info waiting for you after you get past the second gate.”

“Probably?”

“Well I’ve never went through the doors before, so how would I know?” Yazi’s face told Lin Yi that he didn’t know anything, and that Lin Yi should stop throwing questions at him.

“Okay……” Lin Yi was a bit disappointed for a moment, but got over it immediately. He’d made huge progress today, and that was really more than he could bargain for. _This better not be a dream…_

The sun was up by the time Lin Yi woke- it was probably a couple hours until noon! _What a long sleep,_ Lin Yi thought as he stretched on his bed.

“Wait……” Lin Yi suddenly recalled the dream yesterday- the one about the Yazi guy and the jade training space.

He subconsciously patted about his body- his clothes were supposed to have been burnt to crisps back when he’d made the breakthrough.

But his pajamas weren’t damaged at all, left exactly as they were before he went to sleep! Lin Yi’s heart dropped at the realization- was it just a dream?

He was overjoyed to learn that he’d broken through the first stage, and that he could finally get past the doors this opening..! It was just a dream!!

“Kid, only your mind went into the space- of course your clothes are still intact!”

A sudden voice sounded in Lin Yi’s head, startling him with a jump. It was Jiao Yazi!

“Elder Jiao, is that you?” Lin Yi asked.

“Of course it’s me.” Yazi replied. “You don’t need to speak aloud when talking to me, just think your thoughts out.”

“Like this? Can you hear me, elder?” Lin Yi asked without moving his lips.

“Yes.” Yazi answered crisply.

“Elder Jiao, why didn’t you tell me about the training space earlier if we could do this telepathy thing all along?” Lin Yi asked, curious.

“That’s because we couldn’t- you have to enter the training space before I can make a mental connection with you.” Elder Jiao hmphed. “And to do that, I need you to first connect yourself with the space. Did you think the jade’s still with you?”

“Huh? Isn’t it?” Lin Yi asked as he patted at the jade in front of his chest, only to feel nothing- the jade was gone! “Elder, where’s the jade?!”

Elder Jiao couldn’t help but smirk a bit at Lin Yi’s panicked voice. “The jade’s established a direct bond with you already- it’s merged with your body, and recognized you as its master. No one will be able to take the jade from you anymore, though you could pull it out of hiding and summon it with your will.”

“Oh?” Lin Yi listened attentively- so the jade even had a function like that? He could just think about pushing the jade out if he wanted to, according to the elder.

Lin Yi tested it out, and sure enough: the jade reappeared in front of his chest. Lin Yi let out a sigh of relief as he held onto it through his pajamas- he’d been wearing the thing for almost ten years! Seems like he needn’t worry about the jade missing from now on.

Lin Yi had made sure to keep the jade out of sight after finding it, not showing it off or letting anyone see it. It didn’t look like a valuable gem or anything, but he worried about someone snatching it off his chest all the same.

Last night’s events weren’t a dream, and Lin Yi started his day in an especially good mood with that in mind. He couldn’t be happier for finally breaking through the first stage.

He went to the bathroom and washed his face, brushing his teeth before exiting the room. Mengyao and Yushu were awake already, watching some cartoons in the living room.

Mengyao only glanced at Lin Yi as he walked out. She thought of saying something to address what had happened yesterday before deciding otherwise, turning her eyes back on the cartoon instead.

Chen Yushu, on the other hand, turned her focus onto Lin Yi as she waved at him. “Yo, Shield Guy! Wanna go shopping with me and Yao Yao later?”

“Me?” Lin Yi asked, stunned as he pointed at himself.

“Yeah, help us carry our stuff.” Yushu nodded.

“Can I not go?” Lin Yi said, smiling bitterly as he thought about it- carrying bags didn’t seem like a very favourable job…

Yushu only coughed a bit at the response. “Tissues…”

“Ugh……” Lin Yi couldn’t take this anymore- when was she gonna drop that? Was she gonna be using that magic word for life?

“Did you catch a cold, Shu?” Mengyao asked as she got Yushu some tissues from the coffee table. The girl was coughing and asking for tissues, after all.

“Huh?” Yushu decided to take the tissues and cough into it a bit as she stuck out her tongue- Mengyao had clearly misunderstood.

Lin Yi looked pretty smug as he watched Yushu pretend to cough. He shook his head before going back to his room to change out of his clothes.

His mission, after all, involved guarding Chu Mengyao from danger, at least until the real assignment was given to him. It made plenty sense for him to be following along if Mengyao wanted to go shopping.

Li Fu had breakfast delivered by the time Lin Yi came back out again. The hotel chefs had prepared some egg meat porridge, and a couple of clean pickles.

Lin Yi helped set the table up before Li Fu picked up yesterday’s food containers and left. Mengyao and Yushu then turned the tv off as they made their way into the dining area.

Mengyao curled her lips as she saw Lin Yi turning to walk away from the table- she wanted to invite him to eat together, but stopped herself at the last minute.

“Shield Guy, wanna eat together? We still have to go shopping you know, we can’t just wait for you to have breakfast right?” Yushu said to Lin Yi as Mengyao hesitated.

_Hey!_ Mengyao was a little displeased- she was supposed to do it! She’d even wanted to be kinder to Lin Yi as a gesture of goodwill for what she did yesterday, but… She decided to let it go after some thought- she was Lin Yi’s employer, after all! Why should it be her trying to make up with him, he should be the one to do so!

Mengyao nodded to herself in internally- It was fine this way.

*[Long Taos]: side characters in Chinese operas who perform acrobatics and fight scenes

*[12.47 to 13.07]: don't ask me about the tree sap