My apprentice is a little weird?

Chapter 416 Trust

"It's not that Shen Ming found something, but he found some interesting points. Aren't you curious, Master?"

"You must know that it is not easy to become a major sect in a region. Haven't you seen that since the rise of the Yunxia Sect more than 300 years ago, its power gradually weakened and then disappeared, and then the Qianyu Sect suddenly emerged, there was a window period of about 100 years in between."

"During this period, why didn't other cultivation sects in Jinglan Territory replace Yunxia Sect? Are they unwilling to do so?"

Jiang Yan pondered for a moment and said, "It's not that I don't want to, but I can't, or... I can't do it."

"According to the rules of the cultivation world in the past, the birth of a sect, especially a large sect, often means the division of huge resources. The resources that had already been divided among the various domains at that time would not be easily given to the smaller sects."

"With the demise of the Yunxia Sect and the disappearance of the Yuanlian Sect, the huge resources they originally occupied have become ownerless."

"The foreign sects are invading and seizing resources, and without the protection of the big sects, it is impossible for the small sects to defend Jinglan Territory alone."

Jiang Yan frowned, somewhat confused.

"But what does this mean?"

At this time, in the northwest of Jinglan Territory, at the foot of a stretch of mountains, a thinly dressed graceful figure appeared above the ground covered with snow.

A pair of sapphire-like eyes looked at the towering snow-capped mountains with a smile.

From afar, the continuous mountains look like billions of pieces of broken white jade, sparkling with cold light in the sun.

Broken Jade Snow Mountain.

The person here is none other than Shen Ming!

She held a jade bell in her hand, and in her eyes was a smile that could warm the frost and snow.

Without even looking up, a silvery-white halo appeared around her body. The next moment, she disappeared and reappeared on a plain not far away.

And where she was originally standing, an invisible restriction was triggered and a burst of frosty air suddenly shot out!

But because Shen Ming left first, the frosty air missed the target and hit a century-old pine tree instead.

In just a moment, this extremely tough pine tree suddenly turned into crystal clear ice, and the texture of the pine tree inside was clearly visible, as if it was trapped in amber.

All this did not cause the slightest ripple in Shen Ming's eyes. She moved around in the restriction as if strolling in a garden, and managed to pass by it every time.

She was as graceful and free as a butterfly flying through flowers, and her connection with Jiang Yan was not affected at all.

"Master, maybe you led a sect to prosperity too easily, so you overlooked that weakness is the main theme of this world."

"From the ancient times to the immortals who were popular thousands of years ago, and then to the mortals today. The ancient immortal sect with thousands of years of heritage could not avoid the end of decline, so what about Qianyu Sect, an unknown sect that emerged from nowhere..."

"How did it manage to exclude all the insiders and outsiders and become an existence recognized by the major clans in other domains?"

"If you only sell your wealth for fame and to please the big clan, you will never be recognized and monopolize a region..."

Jiang Yan rubbed his chin and nodded thoughtfully: "That's right, you are suspecting that... Huayinfang is actually a cover for Qianyu Sect?"

"But this distance is wrong. Broken Jade Snow Mountain is at the northwest end, quite a distance away from Jingming Mansion. Could it be that I investigated wrongly... Wait, you haven't answered my previous question yet. Do you know where Yin Li is?"

A strange look flashed in Shen Ming's eyes, but he was rarely hesitant.

"What I put on her was erased..."

"Ok?"

Jiang Yan was stunned at first, and then burst into laughter.

"Hahaha! You've come to this day, Shen Ming. I let you rely on your magical powers to do whatever you want. Now you're in trouble, haha!"

Shen Ming was silent and just stared at the jade bell. Jiang Yan also sensed the faint gaze and quickly restrained his smile and whispered to comfort her:

"My supernatural powers are not as good as destiny, so mistakes are inevitable. After all, I, the master, have boasted about being awesome for many years, but I still failed..."

"Well... so, Ming'er, you don't have any clues at all?"

"There are still some clues. The place where my perception disappeared last is not far from where you are investigating, Master. It is within the Jingming Prefecture~"

Jiang Yan thought for a moment: "Then my feeling is quite accurate."

"Yes, Master's intuition is really accurate~"

Jiang Yan heard the displeasure in his voice, but pretended not to notice and said:

"Okay, in that case, Shen Ming No. 1, you continue to explore the Broken Jade Snow Mountain. Don't force yourself if you can't do it. Shen Ming No. 2's potential commander is me, and I will be used for communication and protection."

"We will continue to investigate separately. If we gain any information, please share it promptly. Don't act rashly!"

"Why does Shen Ming feel that Master seems to be very happy?"

Jiang Yan's grin narrowed a little.

"I'm really lonely without you~"

"Heh... perfunctory..."

Then he kissed the virtual image of the jade bell hard and waved his hands.

"Alright, alright, get busy. I can feel the power of those restrictions from here. Don't get hurt, or I'll have to rescue you."

"Yes~ my Master~"

"Remember not to cross Shen Ming's bottom line~"

The contact was cut off, but Shen Ming's last words still lingered in my ears for a long time.

"It seems like Ming'er has been a little irritated lately, but... let her be irritated. I've been feeling aggrieved for days, so what if I let her feel aggrieved for a while?"

Jiang Yan thought with some evil interest...

.........

At the foot of the Broken Jade Snow Mountain, Shen Ming stroked the green jade bell, feeling the lingering sound from it, his eyes slightly narrowed.

"The naughty teacher also likes it..."

He put away the jade bell, looked around, a series of silver lines flashed across his eyes, and then a mysterious and complex rune was outlined.

Slight spatial fluctuations emanated from her eyes but quickly disappeared and became normal.

When I opened my eyes again, the colors of the world before my eyes faded, all matter disappeared, and all turned into a strange scene drawn purely by lines.

Most of this space is static, and only some areas covered by formations have regular flow.

When she raised her hand and drew it across the void in front of her, the static lines flowed with it, like a watermark that did not stick to anything.

Shen Ming traveled through this world, and those forbidden areas outlined and woven by the forbidden formations were also easily passed through by Shen Ming according to a certain pattern.

Although the speed is slow, the goal is determined to reach the top of the snow mountain.

There, what Shen Ming saw was no longer a world woven by pure lines, but a world full of distortions and nothingness, as if ink had dripped onto a piece of white paper, blocking any attempt to spy on it, looking abnormal and abrupt.

The corners of Shen Ming's mouth curled up slightly, and his eyes were as cold as a deep spring in a cold pond.

"To conceal the truth"

…………

At night, in the winding alleys of Jinxiufang in Jingming Mansion, Jiang Yan returned to the nameless courtyard he bought.

After a quick sense, he found that the little girl was still there. She did not leave when he was away, nor did she touch anything in the house. Instead, she cleaned the house inside and out and made it quite tidy.

And there was no sense of her mother's presence around.

"Is this considered... abandonment?"

"But some of it isn't like...it's more like...huh?!"

Push the door open and enter.

He cooked a meal and put it on the table as usual, but this time Jiang Yan did not ignore the little girl in the closet. Instead, he stood in front of the door and stared at her.

Jiang Yan could feel the little girl shivering inside, but he did nothing at this point.

If it was a few days ago, Jiang Yan would not have bothered much, because he was just here to do a simple investigation and then leave. If there was really nothing unusual here, he would naturally give up and change to another place. If there was? He would directly call Shen Ming to come.

But Shen Ming's words just now made him change his mind. And for some reason, when he learned that Yin Li's aura disappeared in Jingming Mansion, it seemed that there was a flash of inspiration that connected someone in Jingming Mansion.

But when he came to his senses, that flash of inspiration seemed like a fleeting glimpse and he could no longer sense it.

This made him depressed and he returned to the courtyard. It was at this moment that his thoughts fell on the little girl, and the scenes of their meeting also flashed through his mind one by one.

But he suddenly noticed something was wrong.

I still remember that he murmured "Qin family" and "Qin Xiangling" at that time, but the little girl's mother trembled all over and froze on the spot, even forgetting to hold her daughter's hand.

At that time, he thought the other party might have some relationship with the Qin family, but he didn't take it to heart afterwards.

But now thinking back to her reaction at that time... I found that it was more like shock. The force exerted by the hand even made the little girl, who was able to endure it, cry out in pain.

Jiang Yan didn't understand at that time, but now Zhiwei saw it. After understanding the little girl's temper, he became more suspicious of the woman's reaction at that time.

Just hearing the name makes me tremble all over. So what on earth did she go through to become like this? And what caused her and her daughter to hide away?

Yes, Jiang Yan could be very sure that the mother and daughter were definitely hiding something.

The habits of avoiding, hiding, and distrusting everyone that were ingrained in the little girl's bones were by no means innate but were formed by continuous education.

Why would a mother who loves her daughter keep teaching her to hide everywhere, to the point where she doesn't even dare to look people in the eye?

"I told you it's definitely not my fault. Sure enough, the look I made is definitely friendly. Anyone who sees it will say good things!"

Two rows of bright white teeth appeared on Jiang Yan's dark and rough face.

At the same time, a gentle force rippled out and lingered over the little girl.

The other person's originally panicked heartbeat gradually stabilized and he became less scared.

Jiang Yan did not open it directly, but raised his hand and knocked on the door and said slowly:

"You cleaned all day and only had a bowl of porridge in the morning. I'm not such a petty person as a tenant. Come out."

There was complete silence in the cabinet, as if no one was moved by Jiang Yan's words.

"If you don't accept my rent, then I can't rent you and I can only kick you out."

After she finished speaking, the little girl began to tremble again.

The little hands raised and lowered, and he huddled into a ball in the cabinet, with a look of panic on his face.

Jiang Yan did not urge her, but cast a spell again to calm her mind. After waiting for a while, the cabinet door slowly opened a crack, revealing a pair of bright black eyes, which met Jiang Yan's eyes.

"Come out, little girl. Aren't you bored hiding all the time?"

After saying that, regardless of whether the girl agreed or not, Jiang Yan slowly but firmly opened the door. The girl couldn't stop herself and opened her mouth to shout, but she only whimpered a few times.

His voice was hoarse and unclear, as if he hadn't spoken for a long time.

At this moment, Jiang Yan finally saw the full picture of the little girl.

Her appearance is pretty cute among her peers, but her eyes, as bright as obsidian, are an extra bonus.

She was dressed simply and neatly, with bare feet and black soles...

With this physique, if she had been well educated since childhood, she should have been a proud and pretty girl, but she did not have the cuteness that a girl should have. She stood timidly in front of Jiang Yan, bending down with her head down, not daring to look at him.

"Come"

Jiang Yan took her hand and led her to the table to sit down, and then started eating as if he didn't care.

The little girl kept her head down and remained silent, as if she was an outsider, but in fact Jiang Yan was constantly trying to reduce the girl's anxiety.

Only when he felt that it was almost done did Jiang Yan pretend to have finished eating and started to clean up the mess.

At this time, the little girl performed the second action of the ostrich retracting its head for the first time.

The little hand fell hesitantly on the table as if to stop Jiang Yan's actions, and a mosquito-like sound came out of her mouth.

"I...I'll clean it up..."

Jiang Yan suddenly revealed a smile, it became~

But this action made the little girl retract her outstretched hand again, and even moved her body back in fear.

Jiang Yan: …………

Take a deep breath, don't be upset, if there is a first time, there will be a second time, as long as a hole is opened, it will burst sooner or later.

In this way, Jiang Yan spent a few more days with her, and the progress of his "good friend" relationship with the girl seemed to be fixed. Except for going out of the closet to clean the house every day, he hardly went out!

Originally, Jiang Yan wanted to buy her a bed, or a larger box where she could lie down, but she seemed to have set her mind on the cabinet and refused to leave.

If Jiang Yan had not been able to understand the other party's intentions from a spiritual level, he would have thought that all his actions during this period were in vain.

On that day, Jiang Yan renovated his courtyard again. He paved the ground with gravel and slabs of stone, planted vegetables in the corners, and the wild tree in the middle that served as a landscape also had a new lease of life.

The whole courtyard is full of vitality, completely different from its previous dilapidated appearance.

Inside the house, the little girl was diligently wiping the newly purchased furniture, trying to keep it spotless.

Jiang Yan clapped his hands and walked into the house. The little girl was in a panic and tried to get back into the closet, but Jiang Yan was quick enough to stop her in front of the closet door.

"Don't rush back. You've cleaned this place very well these past few days, so I decided to grant you one wish."

The little girl lowered her head, grasping the edge of her skirt with her fingers, her long hair covering her eyes and she said nothing. She looked so aggrieved that she couldn't speak, but in fact, Jiang Yan could feel his heart trembling at that moment.

Just when he said that he could fulfill one of her wishes.

The little girl's innocence has made her develop a certain trust in him after spending a few days with him.

For people like her, "trust" often does not exist. She should avoid anyone other than her blood relatives. I believe her mother should have taught her this.

Therefore, once this kind of "trust" is established, its firmness will be unmatched by others, even though this trust is very small.

So, after a long silence, the little girl slowly opened her mouth.

The voice was hoarse and incoherent, as if it took a lot of effort.

"Please...find...my...mother..."