Chapter 85: Spiritual Energy and Downpour

Ning Lingyu's hand carefully approached the jade box before pulling back at the last second. Seeing her hesitant actions, Ling Yun couldn't help but laugh.

"Silly, if you want it, I can even give it to you. What's there to be afraid of from a little touch?"

His sister happily nodded her head and gave an adorable smile before gently touching the jade box.

At that instant, a great change happened!

Ling Yun could feel a ripple in the spiritual energy in the air. With it, he noticed that Ning Lingyu's innate spiritual body no longer freely released spiritual energy into the surroundings. Instead, all the spiritual energy being released was being absorbed into the jade box.

Only Ling Yun understood exactly what this phenomenon was.

This was because his body constitution enabled him to absorb spiritual energy from all things that existed in the heaven and earth. As for Ning Lingyu's innate spiritual body, as long as she did not undergo spiritual training, her body would always release large amounts of spiritual energy at all times.

In other words, unless Ning Lingyu learned to effectively control her body constitution, she would always act as an infinite spiritual energy output unit. To give a better visualization, one could compare her to a moving and talking Shichiyou herb or spirit stone.

Thus, this jade box acted as the perfect carrier for spiritual energy. Not only was it capable of storing a vast quantity of spiritual energy, it could easily release or even automatically absorb spiritual energy.

Furthermore, after treating old man Xue's illness yesterday, Ling Yun had used up every bit of spiritual energy in the jade box. Hence, explaining the phenomenon that occurred when his sister came into contact with the jade box. Thus, if the jade box was like a pond that stores water, Ling Yun would be similar to a water absorber. Whereas his sister would be like the river that supplies water to the pond.

In his heart, Ling Yun was overjoyed!

After all, he had finally solved a problem he had been brooding over for so long. Often seeing spiritual energy released by Shichiyou herbs and Ning Lingyu dissipating into the surroundings meaninglessly, he had always taken to heart the fact that the energy was not utilized meaningfully.

Before reaching the third level of strength training, the spiritual energy lost to the surroundings would be of little concern to Ling Yun. However, after reaching the fourth level and beyond, to break each level limit, he would require an immense amount of spiritual energy. In addition, with each rising level, the amount of energy required would increase. Thus, it was understandable why he was upset with losing precious spiritual energy to the environment.

This was also why, yesterday, during his training beside the Shichiyou herb he had been racking his brain. He had been trying to think of ways to store the spiritual energy constantly released by the herb. Be it using spiritual storage amulets or spiritual energy accumulation abilities, he wanted to store as much as possible rather than lose the energy.

To Ling Yun, spiritual energy was no different from money. The more he had, the better.

Just the thought of his plan having worked out cause a gleeful smile to form on his face. He was exceptionally pleased with himself. By right, before he reached the fourth level, he would not be able to craft a spiritual storage amulet and thus not be able to store up spiritual energy. Hence, having found a way to do it was a blessing to him. This was why he was unable to hide his joy.

Having taken in spiritual energy from the jade box yesterday, he had a rough idea about the capacity of the box and it was extensive. It was not an exaggeration to say that without the spiritual energy from the jade box, Ling Yun would not have dared to attempt to reach the third level!

Moreover, once he reached the fourth level, by adding a few spiritual energy gathering spells onto the jade box, he would be able to increase its capacity several times over!

This would no doubt accelerate Ling Yun's training progress.

"Brother, what's with the laugh?" Ning Lingyu asked in a playful tone. Having touched the jade box a few times, she had then retracted her hands. Seeing how her brother seemed to be staring hard and smiling at her the whole time, she could not help but blush.

"Ehm... I was thinking about how pretty my dear sister is and how lucky whoever marries her will be!" Ling Yun teased his sister after finally regaining his senses.

"Oh, shut up!" Ning Lingyu replied with her whole face and ear turning beet red instantly as she batted her eye shyly at her brother.

Ling Yun laughed as he picked up the jade box. He could already feel the decent amount of spiritual energy contained inside. Nodding to himself in approval, he whispered to himself, "The absorption rate isn't bad."

He then placed the wooden box on the bed. He could not help but feel a moment's relief. After all, if his sister had not touched the box, he might have just very well sold it off for some petty cash. Though money was important to him, it could not compare to the importance of spiritual energy!

This was because so far, Ling Yun had only discovered the Shichiyou herb, his sister's innate spiritual body and the jade box being capable of releasing spiritual energy. He had not found any other sources of spiritual energy yet.

"Big brother, this jade box, these phone numbers and all those branded items, where did they come from?" Having hesitated for some time, Ning Lingyu finally decided to ask her brother about it.

After seeing the jade box and those mobile numbers, it was as if those branded items were nothing in comparison. It was inevitable that she would ask about it!

"Oh, this? Yesterday, while I was out shopping, I saved the life of a wealthy person. In return, he gave me all these." Ling Yun answered. He was not really lying, he simply left out the details. The less others knew about it, the better.

"Ah...?"

Having heard her brother's overly simplified explanation, the quick-witted Ning Lingyu looked suspiciously at her brother's indifferent expression before asking.

"Oh? I didn't know you can save others? How exactly did you save the person?"

Ling Yun glanced at her before replying, "How else can you save someone? He was sick and dying, so your brother used his miracle hands to cure him!"

"Miracle hands?! Since when did you know how to treat illnesses? How are you able to bring someone on the brink of death back to life?" Ning Lingyu exclaimed in disbelief as she worried about her brother's sanity. To spout such nonsense!

Ling Yun gave Ning Lingyu a glare before explaining.

"Lingyu, stop belittling your brother, alright?" He then pointed his thumb at the shelf half filled with medical books before continuing. "See those books? I didn't buy them for show."

Still doubtful, Ning Lingyu asked while looking at the shelf, "But...to really master medicine without a teacher? To become a doctor through self-teaching?"

Ning Lingyu was well aware. Whenever her brother came home, he would always coop himself in the bedroom. His head would always be deep in one of those medical books, be it eastern or western medicine. Even so, she refused to believe that her brother was capable of mastering a subject without a teacher or even produce substantial results.

Ling Yun smiled before announcing proudly, " Hehe, sister, just like how you are a genius academic wise, your brother is a prodigy in the medical field! Thus, I absorb medical knowledge like a sponge and I've mastered the art without a teacher!"

Hearing that, Ning Lingyu could not help but giggle playfully.

"Blowing your own trumpet, so shameless..."

The siblings were having fun teasing one another before Ning Lingyu suddenly decided to ask another question.

"Brother, for the past two days, you were still the same size. How did you slim down all of a sudden today?"

As she asked her question, Ning Lingyu could not resist looking at the dimple on her brother's left cheek. In her mind, she was glad that his dimple was still present even after he had lost weight. At the same time, she was holding back the urge to poke Ling Yun's dimple with her forefinger. It was as if the dimple would go deeper if she poked it.

In return, Ling Yun's expression became stern. He gently held Ning Lingyu's fair and delicate wrist before calmly asking, "Lingyu, have you ever seen a person grow old or a flower blooming or wither?"

Puzzled by the brother's question, Ning Lingyu hesitantly nodded her head.

Ling Yun smiled as he shook his head in disagreement.

"No, you haven't. All you have seen is old people, not people growing old. Similarly, you have always seen a flower but not a flower blooming. It's the same logic."

"Just like how a person seems to age overnight or how a flower seems to bloom after a single night, these are all simply results. Yet, such living things are actually undergoing slight changes everyday, changes that humans with their naked eyes seldom notice."

Ning Lingyu finally understood what her brother meant. Many things in life often go unnoticed. Sometimes, we even neglect the slow and gradual change that a person undergoes. It is often only at the moment a person completely changes that one would suddenly realize the extent of his or her change!

It was the same for aging, flowers blooming and even slimming down. Who is to say that the cycle of life is not the same?

As humans, we always have a feeling that the we of yesterday is the same as today. Sometimes, we even feel that we are still the same from a year ago. But what about ten years later?

Looking back, we will then sigh incessantly as we realize how much we have aged.

Ning Lingyu gazed deep into the depths of Ling Yun's eyes as she gently bit down on her lower lips. She hated herself so much!

Maybe, what her brother wanted to tell her was that he had been slowly changing for the past six years, silently and gradually. And he had only completed his change these few days.

It had been six long years. Especially during these three years, Ning Lingyu had been giving her brother the cold shoulder and was uncaring and unfeeling towards him. Even though she did all that because she wanted him to grow and regain his own pride and courage, what exactly had she given to help him?

Glares? Indifference? Scorn? Contempt?

Despite all that she had done to him, the day he regained his pride as a man, not only did he welcome her back with open arms, he even bought her the best smartphone!

Be it Zhuang Meina's scorn, Xie Junyan's harassment or even her financial needs... all of them were cleared away by her brother. She felt like the most blissful person on earth!

This was just like six years ago!

As for Ling Yun, such things were far from his mind. All he wanted to do was to use some of his realizations in life to explain the problem to Ning Lingyu. This was all in the hopes that she would stop probing and asking so many questions. This was because every question that Ning Lingyu asked seemed to be related to his deepest and greatest secret. This was always hard to handle for him.

After all, in the future, he would definitely undergo even more changes. Hence, he could not afford to explain each and every time this happens or he might as well quit his training and become an orator.

However, seeing his sister's face turning from bright to pale and her bright eyes becoming tearful, Ling Yun momentarily lost himself.

"Uhm, Lingyu, what's wrong? Big brother was just giving an example. Actually, I have been training hard all this time. That's how I slimmed down and will continue to slim..."

Ling Yun was unaware of Ning Lingyu's thoughts and was under the impression that his dishonesty had upset her. Thus, he was frantically trying to explain himself to her.

"Brother, please don't be angry with me, I'm sorry..." *sob sob*

There was no way to stop the tears. The more Ning Lingyu thought about how she had treated Ling Yun, the more guilty and shameful she felt. Pushing herself into Ling Yun's embrace, she could not help but start crying.

Even though the Sun was shining brighter than ever outside.

On the inside, it was raining heavier than ever.

The awkward and speechless Ling Yun could only remain motionless. At that moment, a phone rang.