Chapter 631 - 0366 Strange Junior (Two-in-one)_2

"Ms. Zhu." At this moment, Xu Chang’an only felt that the image of the charming yet competent Miss Zhu he had built in his heart over the years was rapidly collapsing.

So...is this the cost of becoming part of the Direct Lineage?

"Where did I upset my teacher? Please, sister, enlighten me..."

He really couldn’t figure it out himself.

"Look at this bowl, what do you feel?" Zhu Pingniang pointed to a bowl she had just washed nearby.

"Bowl?" Xu Chang’an was taken aback, examining the porcelain bowl carefully, then said seriously, "Green porcelain, the rim is wide open, hmm, quite round."

"...What’s inside it?"

"Inside?"

Xu Chang’an glanced over and blinked, "Dishwashing water?"

"It’s rainwater," Zhu Pingniang said.

Oh.

So he can’t even sense anything special in the rainwater?

What a shame he has a Water Attribute gift.

As Zhu Pingniang observed Xu Chang’an’s expression of sudden realization, she slowly picked up the porcelain bowl, looked at it seriously.

It looked like rainwater.

She sniffed.

Smelt colorless and tasteless, felt somewhat muddy, should also be rainwater.

Then, in Xu Chang’an’s dumbfounded gaze, Zhu Pingniang opened her red lips and took a sip.

Xu Chang’an: "..."

She sipped for a moment, swallowed the rainwater.

"Hmm, tastes like rainwater too."

After experiencing it carefully for a while, Zhu Pingniang stabbed her finger at her heart, then spit the water out.

She elegantly wiped her mouth with a handkerchief, thinking:

Looks like rainwater, smells like rainwater, tastes like rainwater.

Yet it can effortlessly ignore any Spiritual Barrier?

There’s indeed no shortage of strange occurrences in this world...

"You’re truly a strange person." Zhu Pingniang looked at Xu Chang’an, who had recovered, and shook her head, "Have you thought of it?"

"...Yes."

Xu Chang’an nodded.

Rainwater.

Zhu Pingniang had made it so obvious, if he still didn’t understand...then he really would be a fool.

"Ah Bai must have told you not to use spiritual power to shield these rainwaters, right?" Zhu Pingniang asked.

"He did."

"How are you doing now?" Zhu Pingniang knocked on the table, "Have you dismissed Ah Bai’s words?"

How could she feel happy?

"I was wrong."

Xu Chang’an sighed.

Truthfully, after arriving at Beisang City, on Zhu Pingniang’s turf, he was too relaxed and forgot about this issue.

He instinctively thought Lingyu would only happen at Chaoyun Sect.

Unexpectedly...it followed him down the mountain.

"I thought it would happen only up on the mountain..." he said.

"You really can’t figure it out." Zhu Pingniang clicked her tongue, "So, what’s the matter with this rainwater?"

Zhu Pingniang directly asked, as if asking Xu Chang’an what’s for dinner was just as easy.

"I truly don’t know." Xu Chang’an smiled bitterly, "If not for the teacher’s reminder, I wouldn’t have even noticed anything peculiar about this rainwater."

In fact, even now he couldn’t find anything special.

However peculiar it is, except for him, everyone else had to endure it.

This left Xu Chang’an unable to provide a clear explanation himself.

At times like this, if he said it had nothing to do with him...he himself wouldn’t quite believe it.

"Chang’an, look into your sister’s eyes." Zhu Pingniang tilted her head.

Xu Chang’an looked over and saw a pair of watery eyes.

"You don’t know?"

"Don’t know."

"Hmm, sister believes you."

Zhu Pingniang lowered her head, thinking no matter whether Xu Chang’an’s memory was tampered with by himself or something else, she would trust him when he said he didn’t know.

——

Wait.

Xu Chang’an suddenly remembered something.

After Li Zhibai hinted that the rainwater from the sky might be related to him, he went to ask the System if it had anything to do with it.

That time, the System uncharacteristically responded to him, saying "no."

The system claimed the rainwater matter was unrelated to him.

Xu Chang’an had somewhat believed it, but now...he recalled a detail.

A task reward given by the System some time ago, which he had abandoned...

[Adjust the size of the rain curtain based on the task completion.]

Adjust...the rain curtain?

Rain?

Isn’t this related to the rainwater?!

Xu Chang’an lowered his gaze.

Apparently, this widespread Lingyu is indeed related to the System, it’s practically confirmed.

It has shown its hand.

It’s the System, after all; its thoughts are not yet meticulous, allowing him to discover glimpses and clues.

Indeed, for a system that lies and isn’t clever, his caution is correct.

He mustn’t heed it; he mustn’t use anything it provides anymore.

Yet, Xu Chang’an didn’t understand what the System’s purpose was in creating these rainwaters.

Could it be, merely to display its limits, its capabilities to him?

——

System: "..."

No matter how meticulously Xu Chang’an ponders, he cannot comprehend the matter of Smoke Rain rising due to Miss Yin Yun’s mood changes being immutable.

——

"What are you thinking?" Zhu Pingniang noticed Xu Chang’an’s subtle expression change, squinting her eyes, "You...aren’t you actually aware of the reason?"

"I...have a Water Attribute talent, I don’t know if it has any relation to this." Xu Chang’an shook his head.

"A Water Attribute talent can trigger celestial phenomena?" Zhu Pingniang couldn’t understand, "Child of Heaven?"

At this moment, a peal of thunder arose from afar outside the window.

Xu Chang’an thought, let alone a Child of Heaven, he’s purely an "outsider," lucky not to be troubled.

Oh.

He didn’t count as an outsider either, considering he merely awakened those memories.

"Ms. Zhu." Xu Chang’an’s expression turned serious, "Teacher suspects this rain might have something to do with my Spirit Platform."

"...Oh, now you mention it, I remember you still possess this physique." Zhu Pingniang remembered what Li Zhibai had said about him being able to disregard the Sword Hall barriers and freely cleaning, she immediately became alert.

"Chang’an, you should stay away from me."

"?"

Xu Chang’an was stunned, then nodded, stood up, and walked to the corner of the room.

"Pfft, I meant stay away from my physical body." Zhu Pingniang’s eye twitched.

She felt that if Xu Chang’an entered Beisang City’s Mountain Protection Array, and by chance damaged her Array Hub, then things would be disastrous.

"..." Xu Chang’an sighed, wondering what this Senior Zhu was pondering.

Zhu Pingniang raised her head, her face no longer with teasing.

She calmly said, "Chang’an...this matter is quite severe."

Anyone who understands the unavoidable nature of this rainwater would realize its eeriness and, thus, severity.

"I know." Xu Chang’an nodded.

"This rain, neither I can block it, nor can Ah Bai...and even..."

Zhu Pingniang thought about Li Zhibai’s message implying Xu Chang’an might have already encountered the Sect Leader, and sighed, "Yet you can easily intercept it. Do you understand its significance?"

"Understand, and also don’t understand." Xu Chang’an pressed his palm against his forehead.

He is the one who restrains his brilliance.

Yet now, it seems a hand in the dark pushes him toward the summit.

But he thoroughly dislikes such attention, feeling as if he’s leaning on a fire rack.

Xu Chang’an has always believed that quietly and silently developing is the most cautious way to cultivate in this world.

"So the current state of the Cultivation Realm...you may not know, but all I can say is, in a time of great contention, tensions are high everywhere." Zhu Pingniang picked up the preserved fruit Xu Chang’an had given her, about to put it in her mouth but then put it down, looking seriously at him.

"Ah Bai trusts you."

The Sect Leader also trusts.

"But...how can you let sister me trust you?"

How can she view such a mysterious person full of secrets as a junior?

In fact, she was surprised herself that after knowing the truth, she could still genuinely view Xu Chang’an as a junior.

Whether she’s gone mad, or if the world is deeply flawed.

Xu Chang’an was speechless.

Indeed.

It rains only on Muyu Peak.

Anywhere else, anyone like him...it’s only normal to be locked up and studied.

Though he knew such a problem would eventually fall upon him, didn’t expect...it would be like this, to be questioned by Zhu Pingniang in such a remote place.

Honestly, looking at it from a different perspective, Xu Chang’an also feels that someone as secretive as himself doesn’t deserve trust.

This day was bound to come sooner or later.

Having Zhu Pingniang, and her asking it in such a daily, playful way was the best, giving him the smallest pressure.

Senior, indeed is a gentle person.

Zhu Pingniang blinked as she was looked at by Xu Chang’an, yet maintained a serious demeanor.

"So...Chang’an, who are you really?"

"..."

Zhu Pingniang awaited Xu Chang’an’s response.

She wanted an answer that she could be satisfied with.