Chapter 11: Touching the Tail

Huo Zhi’s sleep-talk nonsense made Linlang’s face flush slightly.

Who is your daughter? Absurd!

Linlang had no time to pay more attention to Huo Zhi’s sleep murmuring. She was being cooled by Huo Zhi’s icy body temperature. The large fluffy tail she had always wanted to touch was right at her fingertips. The fine, soft fur brushing against her skin was ticklish and carried a pleasant scent.

Unconsciously, Linlang reached out her hand and touched Huo Zhi’s tail. Leaning close to smell Huo Zhi’s scent, she felt as if her heart had suddenly found an anchor. After a moment of satisfaction came a new anticipation, wanting more contact, to inhale her scent more deeply…

The color of Linlang’s crimson eyes shifted from dancing flames to ruby and back again. Before she even realized it, her hands had already lifted Huo Zhi’s tail to her face. The fine, soft fur and pliable tail bone automatically wrapped around her palm. A milky-sweet, cool, and refreshing scent lingered at her nose, growing increasingly rich and fragrant.

Unable to control herself, Linlang pressed the soft tail to her face and rubbed against it.

“Ding, Linlang Happiness Value: -8300.”

“Ding, Linlang Happiness Value: -8200.”

While Huo Zhi slept, 006 reported several times in succession.

“Mm…” Suddenly, Huo Zhi made a sound and her tail flicked. Startled by her own inexplicable behavior, Linlang immediately dropped Huo Zhi’s tail, straightened up, her expression calm on the surface but inwardly mortified. If Huo Zhi found out…

Huo Zhi wasn’t sleeping comfortably and was having many dreams. In the dream, it felt like she had fallen into an icy cave, and she desperately searched for a heat source until she finally found one. Just as she was relaxing, a tingling, itching sensation came from the tip of her tail, waking her. The tip of her tail just didn’t feel right—it itched and tickled, wanting to be smoothed down…

What was she holding in her arms? Since when was her pillow this fragrant and soft?

Huo Zhi was momentarily disoriented, not yet fully aware of the fact that she had transmigrated. With her eyes closed, she reached to feel for her phone, but instead, her hand touched something round and soft. Her wrist was then caught by a scorching hand. Huo Zhi’s eyes flew open.

Seeing the stunningly beautiful face above her, Huo Zhi froze, then rubbed her eyes with her other hand.

Realizing her arms were hugging Linlang’s leg, Huo Zhi remembered the dream of rushing toward a heat source. She had been sleeping so far away, yet she had so brazenly rolled right up to Linlang, even hugging and rubbing against her…

She had just sworn so solemnly to be a role model of virtue.

What happened to teacherly morals and love?!

“I’m sorry, I really didn’t mean to. I truly didn’t do it on purpose. Sorry, sorry!” Huo Zhi reacted with a rapid-fire apology, quickly releasing Linlang and scrambling backward while addressing her.

Linlang remained cold-faced, saying nothing, looking as if she had been offended yet was unwilling to speak more, maintaining a cool demeanor.

Seeing that Huo Zhi was even more embarrassed than she was, Linlang breathed a sigh of relief.

Huo Zhi felt very regretful. The image she had just established as a learned, genius Shizun was about to collapse!

Getting up, Huo Zhi felt a draft on her rear end, which made her heart skip another beat. That tail had popped out again while she was sleeping!

Huo Zhi trotted out of the room to calm down.

Linlang watched Huo Zhi leave the room as if fleeing, her lips unconsciously curving up slightly before flattening again.

To think she had just unconsciously made such an intimate gesture!

And was now still thinking back on it. Just stroking her tail and rubbing her face against it had made her feel safe, fulfilled, a sense of happiness, and a bottomless, uncontrollable possessiveness…

Linlang attributed it all to the effect of the Love Poison Talisman’s Mother-Child Talisman. It was that strange talisman making her lose control, making her consider Huo Zhi her Spouse, making her feel closeness and dependence toward Huo Zhi. The touch, the scent, everything about her—to Linlang, it was all utterly beautiful, a source of security, something she yearned for…

Linlang forced herself to calm down. A short while later, Huo Zhi re-entered the room, already tidied up, tail and pointed ears retracted. She looked aloof, transcendent, and utterly serious.

Huo Zhi had walked in with her fists clenched. She had given herself a pep talk outside. After circulating her technique, she had calmed down considerably. It was time to get down to serious business.

As for what just happened, as long as she wasn’t embarrassed, it was the other person who would be embarrassed.

She had already cleared that brief memory. Yes, cleared it!

“Let me cool you down first,” Huo Zhi spoke with righteous gravity. Linlang coldly extended her wrist to Huo Zhi.

After Huo Zhi injected Ice-Type Spiritual Qi into Linlang, Linlang temporarily suppressed her own internal fire.

“We’re about to begin. My plan is this: I’ll be responsible for drawing Healing Talismans, Ice Barrier Talismans, and Ice Escape Talismans. You try the Fire Bullet Talisman. The Fire Bullet Talisman is the simplest Fire-type talisman. I’ll draw a sample pattern for you. You follow the lines with a brush, infusing spiritual qi to trace the pattern,” Huo Zhi explained to Linlang.

These few types of talismans were the ones Huo Zhi had thought through as being the most useful right now, and they could be created using basic talisman techniques.

The Healing Talisman to heal Linlang’s injuries and aid recovery. The Ice Barrier Talisman to block Qin Ceyi. The Fire Bullet Talisman to break through the barrier and hinder Qin Ceyi. The Ice Escape Talisman to use for their escape after the barrier was broken.

A Teleportation Talisman would have been the optimal choice. But Huo Zhi was ice-attributed; she couldn’t draw a Space-Attribute Spatial Teleportation Talisman. Moreover, their current materials couldn’t support it. They had no choice but to settle for the Ice Escape Talisman.

The Fire Bullet Talisman was also something only Linlang could draw.

Unless they had a special Talisman Brush that could hold spirit stones of different attributes to support a single-attribute Talisman Master in drawing talismans of various attributes.

Now, Huo Zhi needed to try with Linlang. It could be said that whether Linlang could successfully draw a Fire Bullet Talisman, its success rate, and its power level, would determine whether they could break the barrier and leave this place.

Huo Zhi first took a sheet of talisman paper and used an ordinary charcoal stick to sketch the outline of the Fire Bullet Talisman on it.

The Fire Bullet Talisman’s pattern was formed by an ignited bomb plus an artistic rendition of the character for “fire,” overall still circular in shape.

“Try following this pattern first,” Huo Zhi said, giving the sketched talisman paper to Linlang, and preparing brush and ink for her.

Linlang glanced at Huo Zhi. Just starting to draw, just like that? She hadn’t even taught her how yet!

Although Linlang hadn’t studied talisman drawing in her previous life, she had met quite a few Talisman Masters. Except for Mo Zhenfeng, who relied on heaven-defying luck and tools that were practically divine artifacts, all the others had struggled immensely—it was said that they practiced basic skills for several years before even starting.

Linlang didn’t question Huo Zhi for the moment and took the brush, dipping it in ink.

Even though Linlang’s current Origin Soul already had a very strong control over spiritual qi, because she didn’t know exactly how much spiritual qi the talisman paper could withstand, the moment the brush touched the paper and she infused a bit of Fire-Type Spiritual Qi, the talisman paper burst into flames. The brush handle, somewhat fire-resistant, was also charred halfway black.

Huo Zhi quickly grabbed the brush, infused Ice-Type Spiritual Qi to save the Talisman Brush, but the talisman paper had already burned to nothing.

“Uh…” Huo Zhi was speechless. Tracing a pattern was easy to copy, but controlling the infusing of spiritual qi to trace talisman runes was definitely not that simple.

She had made bold promises to teach someone to draw talismans, yet…

The original novel didn’t detail the specifics of talisman drawing!

Huo Zhi didn’t even know how she herself had managed to succeed. She just had.

Teaching this to someone else—Huo Zhi had no way to describe it.

“The amount of spiritual qi output needs to be precisely controlled. Here’s what we’ll do: I’ll teach you hand-in-hand. Based on how much Ice-Type Spiritual Qi I guide into your body, output the equivalent amount of Fire-Type Spiritual Qi to the Talisman Brush. Shall we try?” Huo Zhi thought it over and suggested, mentally applauding herself for coming up with a teaching plan on the spot.

Huo Zhi sought Linlang’s opinion, and Linlang looked at her and nodded.

Seeing Linlang’s nod, Huo Zhi moved behind her, reached forward, and grasped the hand Linlang was using to hold the Talisman Brush.

Huo Zhi’s body leaned in behind Linlang, a pleasant scent wafting over as her body pressed against Linlang’s back. Linlang went rigid.

Was talisman drawing supposed to be taught this way?

Still in a highly sensitive state, Linlang already felt a unique sensation toward Huo Zhi. The moment Huo Zhi’s icy, soft hand covered the back of Linlang’s hand, the broken Love Poison Talisman Seal within Linlang’s Origin Soul flickered faintly again.

Before they had even started drawing, the Talisman Brush in their hand attached too much Fire-Type Spiritual Qi and caught fire again, spreading to the talisman paper. The fire was even stronger than before, and the talisman paper ignited Huo Zhi’s sleeve. Startled, Huo Zhi flailed her burning sleeve and quickly put distance between herself and Linlang.

The momentary shock shattered her Dao of Ruthlessness again.

Huo Zhi extinguished the fire, circulated her technique again, tidied up, and only then approached Linlang.

Huo Zhi felt very awkward. Such a strong reaction to her clothes catching fire—she nearly scared Linlang.

When Linlang had tried earlier by herself, the fire hadn’t been nearly this large. When she guided hand-in-hand, it became much bigger.

Using Ice-Type Spiritual Qi to gauge the Fire-Type Spiritual Qi output was inherently difficult to evaluate.

“Ding, Linlang Happiness Value: -8230. Host, happiness value dropped,” 006, who had been silent for a while, reported.

The drop in happiness value made Huo Zhi think Linlang was likely feeling remorseful and frustrated.

“It’s not your fault. This robe isn’t flame-resistant; it’s fine. My mistake. What I said earlier wasn’t clear. Your output was too much—reduce it, just a tenth of what it was just now. Try again,” Huo Zhi tried to reassure Linlang, worried about damaging her confidence.

“…” Linlang looked at Huo Zhi. She was actually worried she’d upset her. In her previous life, Huo Zhi had cared deeply about her attire and appearance. Back then, just accidentally dirtying the hem of Huo Zhi’s robe had caused her to fly into a rage and freeze Linlang for a full day and night as punishment.

But now she was so gentle, comforting her.

She truly wasn’t the same person from her previous life.

“You try. Don’t be afraid. The first time I drew a talisman myself, I ruined over fifty sheets before succeeding,” Huo Zhi lied to encourage her, seeing Linlang frozen with the brush unmoving. She grasped Linlang’s wrist and infused a tiny thread of Ice-Type Spiritual Qi. “I’ll infuse a bit more Ice-Type Spiritual Qi into you, just to experience it. Don’t draw on the talisman paper yet; just output to the Talisman Brush.”

This time, fearing another fire, Huo Zhi kept a bit more distance from Linlang, only holding her wrist.

Linlang was somewhat prepared this time. The influence wasn’t great. Collecting her thoughts, Linlang lowered her head and outputted at one-tenth the strength Huo Zhi had instructed. As expected, nothing caught fire.

“Excellent! Now you can try drawing on the talisman paper.” Huo Zhi was even happier than when she had succeeded in drawing a talisman herself, continuing to guide.

This time, it seemed a little too weak. Before the later parts were drawn, the earlier strokes already lost their spiritual qi.

“Not bad. Just a tiny bit more…” Huo Zhi continued instructing.

Huo Zhi, who could meticulously render every single hair and pore in a realistic painting, possessed excellent patience.

A sliver of Linlang’s Origin Soul came from several hundred years ago, so her control over spiritual qi was already extremely practiced.

She had long grasped the precise measure of spiritual qi output Huo Zhi was talking about. However, mindful of Huo Zhi’s example about ruining over fifty sheets before succeeding, and with her past-life experience, she didn’t immediately display perfection. Intermittently, she ruined over fifty sheets of talisman paper before one was almost successful—only to be ruined again during the final closing step.

Throughout this, Huo Zhi remained incredibly patient while teaching Linlang, showing not the slightest hint of impatience.

Finally, after ruining sixty sheets of talisman paper, Linlang, under Huo Zhi’s hand-in-hand instruction, drew her first successful Fire Bullet Talisman.

Crimson light swirled across it, looking incredibly vivid. Testing its power, it was quite decent.

“Ding, Linlang Happiness Value: -7820. Host, happiness value increased! Host is mighty!” 006 announced.

Huo Zhi was also very happy. If she could successfully draw one, the rest should be simple. Once they had stockpiled enough talismans, they would leave immediately.