The green fire nimbly bypassed her fingertips and "pop," bloomed into a firework at the top of the golden orb. Suisui danced with excitement, its skeletal fingers reaching through the patterns of the golden orb to catch the sparks.
"Harm it?" Xiao Yan blinked. "As your master, I am merely putting on a firework display for it."
As he spoke, a flash of golden light emerged from his sleeve as he whipped out a string of crystal-clear candied haws. Each hawthorn was coated in flowing moonlight, refracting a rainbow aura under the sun. "This little skeleton has much better taste than you. One bite and it will know that the pill candies your master refines are of the highest grade!"
Watching Suisui's lively movements, Li Nanzhu finally let go of the breath she had been holding. What surprised her even more was that Xiao Yan didn't seem to mind at all that Suisui was a skeleton.
"Don't you find it... strange?" Li Nanzhu asked cautiously.
Xiao Yan blinked. "Strange how? It's just missing a few pounds of meat!" With that, he pulled out a handful of sugar beans and stuffed them into the cage. "Come, try Master's special 'bone-nourishing candy'!"
Suisui danced with joy, its bones clacking crisply against one another.
Seeing Suisui so happy, Li Nanzhu finally felt at ease.
"By the way, disciple," Xiao Yan suddenly leaned in close. "Is this little skeleton a pet you're raising? Can you lend it to your master to play with for a couple of days?"
"Master!" Li Nanzhu didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Suisui isn't my pet; it's my partner. And Suisui isn't for playing with; you have to ask for its opinion."
"Then..." Xiao Yan turned his head toward Suisui. "Can you play with me?"
At those words, Suisui tilted its skull and looked at Xiao Yan. The soul fire within its empty eye sockets flickered gently, and its fingers suddenly began to scratch at the patterns of the golden cage with an urgent click-clack.
Seeing this, Xiao Yan immediately snapped his fingers, and the cage door popped open.
"Go on, go on!" Xiao Yan waved his sleeves as if shooing a chick. "It's not like I would actually keep you locked up."
Suisui tumbled out of the cage and scrambled toward Li Nanzhu.
Li Nanzhu quickly crouched down and opened her arms to catch it. The little skeleton's bones were chilly, making a crisp clatter as it bumped into her embrace, but the soul fire pulsed warmly, tickling her neck.
"Are you okay?" Li Nanzhu asked softly, her fingers gently brushing over Suisui's skull to check for any cracks.
Even though she had confirmed Xiao Yan wouldn't harm Suisui, she couldn't help but worry. After all, being locked in a cage must have been unpleasant for Suisui.
Suisui shook its head, its jawbone opening and closing with a clack as if trying to say something. Although it couldn't make a sound, Li Nanzhu could sense its excitement.
"That strang— Master," Li Nanzhu glanced at Xiao Yan, who was currently rummaging through his sleeves. "He wants to play with you. Are you willing?"
Suisui turned its head, its soul fire flickering as it "looked" at Xiao Yan.
Xiao Yan immediately put on his most amiable smile—if one ignored the cowlick atop his head that had just been singed by a stray spark.
The little skeleton tilted its head in thought for a moment before suddenly jumping from Li Nanzhu's arms. It hopped over to Xiao Yan and poked the medicine gourd hanging from his waist with a boney finger.
"You want this?" Xiao Yan's eyes lit up, and he immediately untied the gourd. "This contains my specially refined 'jumping pill.' Eating one will make..."
Before he could finish, Suisui had already snatched the gourd, pouring a handful of multicolored pills into its mouth.
The next second, its skeletal frame suddenly sprang up like a coiled spring, bouncing back and forth through the bamboo grove, causing bamboo leaves to rustle and fall.
"Hahaha!" Xiao Yan slapped his thigh, laughing until he was out of breath. "This is even more fun than I imagined!"
Li Nanzhu watched as Suisui zipped through the bamboo grove like a skeletal shooting star. She was both exasperated and amused, strongly suspecting Xiao Yan had done this on purpose, though she had no evidence.
"Master! Suisui will be alright, won't it?"
"Don't worry, don't worry!" Xiao Yan wiped away tears of laughter. "Master drew a reinforcement talisman on its bones... Eh?"
On its final bounce, Suisui landed with pinpoint accuracy into the spiritual spring of the medicine garden, sending up a massive splash with a loud "plop."
By the time it crawled back out, every bone was covered in glowing spiritual spring algae. Seeing this, Li Nanzhu was reminded of someone.
Well... she hoped that by the time she left, Liu Qingyang's green hair would have returned to normal.
Xiao Yan laughed even harder.
Suisui was having a wonderful time as well, running around on the grass with its glowing bones, leaving a trail of luminous footprints behind it.
Watching this scene, Li Nanzhu finally couldn't help but laugh out loud.
"Master," she said, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye. "These pills of yours..."
"Works of genius!" Xiao Yan puffed out his chest proudly. "Do you want one too?"
Li Nanzhu: "...That's quite unnecessary."
Just as Li Nanzhu was about to say something else, Suisui suddenly made a sharp turn. Its glowing bones whizzed past Xiao Yan, and it nimbly snatched another gourd from his waist.
"Ayo! My medicine gourd!" Xiao Yan scrambled to give chase, only to stumble over his overly long robes.
Li Nanzhu watched as Suisui deftly opened the gourd and poured out a golden pill the size of a longan. The moment the pill touched the air, it transformed into a small golden dragon with a "bang," circling Suisui's skull.
"That's the transformation pill I just developed!" Xiao Yan hopped with anxiety. "I haven't tested it on a skeleton yet..."
Before he finished, Suisui gulped down the golden dragon in one bite. Its white bones suddenly radiated golden light, and fine golden threads grew between its joints. In the blink of an eye, it had turned into a shimmering little golden skeleton!
"Good heavens!" Xiao Yan instantly forgot his worry, pulling out a jade slip to start recording. "Golden bones actually work!"
Li Nanzhu, however, crouched down nervously. "Suisui? Do you feel unwell anywhere?"
Suisui clattered its golden neck and suddenly blew a small golden bubble from its mouth.
The bubble floated into the air and abruptly burst into golden powder, falling to the ground and turning into a small golden flower.
Xiao Yan's cowlick stood up in excitement. "It even inherits the properties of the pill! Marvelous!"
He ran over excitedly and pulled out another handful of pills from who-knows-where. "Come, come, come! Try this rainbow pill!"
"Master!" Li Nanzhu quickly stepped in to stop him. "You can't keep using Suisui to test your medicines..."
Before she could finish, Suisui hopped over of its own accord, its skeletal claws accurately snatching the pill and stuffing it into its mouth. Its golden bones immediately began to swirl with seven-colored light.
"Beautiful!" Xiao Yan clapped and cheered. "As expected, multicolored is the most beautiful!"
Li Nanzhu: "..."
She was suddenly very worried that after the pill's effects wore off, Suisui would become a garishly multicolored skeleton. Just thinking of that image...
Li Nanzhu couldn't help but shiver. The image was so vivid she couldn't even imagine it properly.
Before she could dwell on it further, Suisui began to spin, faster and faster, until it turned into a rainbow bone-wheel and rolled away into the distance.
"This is fun!" Xiao Yan's eyes sparkled. "Disciple, where did you find such a cute skeleton? Master wants one too!"
"I don't know how Suisui was formed, either," Li Nanzhu shook her head. "Suisui's original form was an iron-toothed rat. It likely became this way through a series of coincidences."
"An iron-toothed rat?!" Xiao Yan's fan snapped shut with a "clack." "Those little fellows who build their own tombs?"
Li Nanzhu's eyes lit up. "Master knows about them?"
So far, it seemed she was the only person who knew about this unique characteristic of the iron-toothed rat. Even Liu Qingyang, the young master of the Water Moon Sect, hadn't known. She hadn't expected Xiao Yan to be so well-informed! If this could prove Suisui's origins, she wouldn't have to worry about it being treated as an evil creature anymore!
At this thought, the gaze Li Nanzhu directed at Xiao Yan became several degrees more fervent.
"More than just knowing!" Xiao Yan stroked his chin with a look of wonder. "Years ago, I saw their bone mounds in the Forest of Demonic Beasts—hundreds or even thousands of rat bones piled together. When the wind blew, the bones would clatter as if they were singing!"
After a pause, he continued, "I crouched in the Forest of Demonic Beasts for a whole year just to watch them bury their bones! When those little guys lose a companion, they specifically drag them to the place where spiritual energy is densest to build a bone mound. The bones absorb enough moonlight that they occasionally move a bit on their own—unfortunately, I waited all that time and never saw a single set of bones actually come to life. I specifically recorded that trait back then!"
Although Li Nanzhu's expression remained unchanged, a storm was raging in her heart. This record was actually researched by this cheap master of hers! Given that others weren't aware of it, it suggested that Xiao Yan's conclusion was likely only circulated within a small circle.
Yet she had been able to find this record in the Library Pavilion of the Five Elements Dao Sect. Combined with Xiao Yan's strange expression when she mentioned the Five Elements Dao Sect earlier, even if he wasn't part of that sect... he likely had some deep connection with them.
"I never expected to see my conclusion come true one day," Xiao Yan lamented. "However, the bones of an ordinary iron-toothed rat aren't that easy to reassemble, let alone possess such intelligence. How exactly did it come back to life?"
Li Nanzhu observed Xiao Yan's expression. After a moment of silence, she said, "Master, you... you wouldn't take Suisui apart for research, would you?"
As soon as she spoke, Li Nanzhu's head was once again tapped by the fan.
"Take it apart for what! Such a miraculous formation must be the result of a grand opportunity. Why would your master be so foolish as to dismantle it for study!" Xiao Yan said with some dissatisfaction.
Hearing this, Li Nanzhu finally breathed a sigh of relief. If that was the case...
She thought of the medicine garden again.
Considering the recognition and respect those unique spiritual plants showed Suisui, Li Nanzhu felt that Xiao Yan might be the breakthrough she needed.
It wasn't that Li Nanzhu trusted Xiao Yan implicitly, but she knew clearly that if she couldn't prove Suisui's identity, there would likely be even greater trouble once they left. After all, with Cang Dongqing's personality, she would probably love nothing more than to trample her underfoot.
Moreover, since the movements from the cave dwelling were so massive, people from all the major sects would definitely be waiting outside. If Suisui's secret was exposed then... she really wouldn't be able to protect Suisui.
Therefore, she had to take this chance... to uncover everything completely!
"Master, do you know if the spiritual plants in your medicine garden..." Li Nanzhu chose her words carefully as she spoke, "possess sentience?"
"What did you say!" Xiao Yan suddenly straightened up, his cowlick snapping upright. "Are you talking about the medicine garden in my cave dwelling? Those spiritual plants can talk?" His eyes went wide as saucers. "Has that eight-hundred-year-old purple lingzhi finally gained enlightenment?"
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