They say, if you have children at home, it's best not to keep pets.
...Because it's not good for the pets.
When human cubs are two, three, four, or five years old, they are truly disliked by both people and dogs - troublesome and not cute at all. Especially when playing with cats and dogs, they don't know how to be gentle, and can easily hurt the animals or themselves.
But Li An was different. This fellow had an innate sword aura, and could fly around the world on sword energy at just one month old. So his period of being disliked by all came earlier, and was far more terrifying.
Just look outside - the mighty Profound Underworld Spirit Tiger, a level seven or perhaps even level eight beast, was being chased all around by him wielding a sword.
One can only say: How terrifying!
It made Qin Ran draw in a sharp breath.
He opened the door of the study and went out. Outside Li Shiyin's room, in the corridor, Li Shiyin and Yu Chi Zhen were watching the chase scene in the air, their faces full of concern.
...Though it wasn't clear if they were worried for Chasing the Wind.
Li Shiyin sensed Qin Ran's gaze and looked over. Seeing Qin Ran come out of the study, she frowned and asked, "Master, did you spend all night in the study again?"
"Mm, there were some urgent matters to deal with," Qin Ran nodded.
"You're always like this..." Li Shiyin said, "What can't be handled during the day?"
Qin Ran looked at his foolish disciple's expression - ah, there was that familiar look. He smiled and replied, "It just happened to need handling, so I took care of it all. What's the problem?"
"Staying up all night isn't good!" Li Shiyin said.
"..." Qin Ran responded, "We're cultivating immortality here!"
As he spoke, he glanced at Yu Chi Zhen and asked with concern, "Has sister-in-law's injury healed?"
Yu Chi Zhen nodded: "It's nothing serious."
Qin Ran relaxed a bit. If Yu Chi Zhen had been killed by her son while in his care, he truly wouldn't know how to explain it to the Li family.
He looked up at Li An chasing Chasing the Wind through the air and sighed, "This child's innate sword talent is quite high... able to control Shiyin's sword energy."
"So Master, what do we do now?" Li Shiyin was a bit worried, "How can we send him back like this?"
"Didn't you say you were going to teach him to control the sword energy?" Qin Ran asked. "Once he can control it, he can go home."
Li Shiyin was still conflicted and helpless, expressing her difficulty: "Master, look at him - he can't even speak yet and doesn't understand reason. How can I teach him?"
"Is he harder to teach than you were?" Qin Ran asked in surprise. When his foolish disciple first started cultivating, she couldn't grasp any theory or techniques at all. If not for him as her master, she would have gone mad with cultivation deviation and died hundreds of times over by now.
"Oh, Master! I'm trying to discuss something serious here!"
"I am being serious!" Qin Ran pretended to be solemn, then said to Li Shiyin, "Think about how I taught you to cultivate back then. And think about how I taught Chasing the Wind to speak."
Li Shiyin was originally a sword prodigy, so Qin Ran only needed to guide her from a macro perspective, without needing to teach her every specific sword technique or cultivation method. As for sword moves and forms, he didn't need to bother with those at all.
As for Chasing the Wind, he was originally a beast without a human language system, so it was impossible for him to speak. Qin Ran used his Divine Soul to directly communicate with Chasing the Wind's soul, then gradually adjusted his physiological structure to teach him how to speak bit by bit.
Li An's current situation was a combination of the two - he was also a sword prodigy, and also couldn't speak.
So, Li Shiyin needed to use her divine sense to communicate with him and teach him how to control his power.
Li Shiyin, who had gradually become more mature and steady, followed her master's words and recalled scenes of him teaching her and Chasing the Wind in the past. She slowly understood her master's meaning.
She nodded to Qin Ran: "Mm! Master, I understand now."
Qin Ran looked at Li Shiyin, his eyes full of pride and a sense of accomplishment.
He watched his foolish disciple grow from a complete novice to a genius in the cultivation world, and now finally to someone steady, with the bearing of a great master. He had guided her step by step along this path.
He couldn't help but think back to the girl in the Hall of Seeking the Dao years ago - that cold, stubborn, goddess-like top-tier metal attribute spirit root Li Shiyin. Then he thought of how her disguise fell away, revealing his silly, adorable female disciple. Finally, he looked at the mature, steady woman before him who was about to become his wife...
So much had happened in between.
Li Shiyin noticed her master staring at her and met his gaze. Seeing the warmth and reminiscence in his eyes, she grinned, giggling "hehe".
"Silly disciple!" Qin Ran called out affectionately, smiling indulgently.
Li Shiyin wasn't ashamed at all, but rather proud. Her silly giggle gradually turned into a smug laugh.
It must be said that in love, it's hard to tell who is the hunter and who is the prey.
To call Li Shiyin silly - she wasn't silly at all, but rather clever as a fox. To call Qin Ran smart - he sometimes made mistakes too, and could be quite dense.
Master and disciple gazed at each other across the corridor, their eyes conveying deep emotion, completely disregarding Yu Chi Zhen's presence beside Li Shiyin. This was the so-called turning of the tables. Who does heaven spare? Back when she and Li Shiwen were feeding Li Shiyin dog food, they showed no mercy either.
Before long, Chasing the Wind came whooshing back from the distance.
"Shiyin, save me!" he shouted, diving straight into Li Shiyin's arms.
The simple-minded Chasing the Wind was actually quite clever - he knew that in this situation, Dad couldn't save him, only Shiyin could.
He had barely caught his breath in Li Shiyin's arms when a purple Star Sword Qi came slashing in from afar...
"Big... big... big monster... no... run... play..."
Along with the sword energy came a child's milky babbling.
Those who hadn't directly faced Li Shiyin's Star Sword Qi couldn't know how terrifying it was. Now Yu Chi Zhen and Qin Ran in the corridor watched Li An riding Li Shiyin's sword energy flying straight towards them, feeling tense inside.
The weight of that sword energy, the sharpness of that sword energy!
"Foolish disciple..." Qin Ran sighed inwardly again.
Facing the terrifying sword energy, Li Shiyin raised her hand and made a gesture. Li An immediately curved with the sword energy and flew into her hand.
"Ah... ya... ya... yi..." Once again caught by Li Shiyin, Li An was still not used to it. He stood up in Li Shiyin's hand, looking confused as to why his treasure no longer obeyed his control.
"Bad... bad..." he mumbled, looking at Li Shiyin.
"Auntie!" Li Shiyin said sternly, once again teaching Li An how to address her.
Hmm, even his silly disciple could put on a stern face to discipline someone now. Qin Ran watched, finding it oddly amusing, yet also thinking... she seemed a bit fierce.
"Goo... goo!?" Li An tilted his head.
"Auntie!" Li Shiyin said.
"Auntie..."
"Good!" Li Shiyin nodded and said, "Today, I'll formally teach you swordsmanship."
"Hm?" Li An didn't understand.
Then Li Shiyin's brow glowed, and a beam of Divine Soul power shot out, flying directly into Li An's Sea of Wisdom.
"Sword techniques are just the external manifestation of a sword cultivator. What's important is mastery over power." Li Shiyin's first lesson in cultivation for little Li An, the first sentence imprinted in little Li An's mind was, "You must become the master of power, not be controlled by power."
Li An only felt Auntie's voice in his head, but didn't know what she was saying. He opened his eyes wide, confused yet adorable.
But that sentence was indeed imprinted in his mind.