Chapter 156: You Are Too Fierce

"Little friend Qin Xuan, are you talking about traveling?"
In the villa's spacious living room, Master Jinguang stroked his eyebrow with one hand after hearing Qin Xuan's inquiry.
"Indeed. I wonder if the Master has any method to allow Qingwan to safely spend a night outdoors?"
Qin Xuan's question instantly caught the attention of both Dongfang Qingwan and Liu Qianqian.
Dongfang Qingwan never expected that Qin Xuan would bring this matter up with Master Jinguang, and a warm wave of gratitude welled up in her heart. Liu Qianqian, on the other hand, was baffled. An autumn trip?
Growing rather excited, she quietly began questioning Dongfang Qingwan about it.
"Since that is the case..." Master Jinguang muttered thoughtfully, pulling a paper talisman from his robe. "If the old monk inscribes three formations onto this paper talisman, it should possess such an effect."
"Master, you truly have a way?"
Qin Xuan was pleasantly surprised.
Originally, he had not held out much hope, but hearing this now, it seemed this was no difficult task for Master Jinguang at all.
Naturally, he remained slightly concerned: "Master, is this method completely safe? If it is not a hundred percent secure, there is no need to trouble you. Safety must always come first."
"Little friend Qin Xuan, listen to the details."
Master Jinguang smiled benevolently. "Among the three formations, the first is the Concealment Array, which can mask the aura of the Profound Yin Physique belonging to this female benefactor. The second is the Ghost-Repelling Array; should any spirit detect the Profound Yin aura around her, any entity whose cultivation has not reached the Nascent Soul stage or above will be unable to approach within ten meters of her. The third is the Spirit-Gathering Array, which gathers the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to provide operational energy for the first two formations."
"Such a miraculous feat?"
Qin Xuan was somewhat astonished. "Does that mean as long as she carries this paper talisman, Qingwan will be safe at all times?"
"Little friend Qin Xuan, these three formations must not be underestimated. Even for the old monk, it requires a considerable expenditure of effort to inscribe them onto a paper talisman. Moreover, regarding the Spirit-Gathering Array, the old monk only understands the superficial basics. Once activated, it can only sustain operation for twelve hours. Once that time elapses, the entire talisman will lose its energy source and become ineffective..."
Hearing this, Qin Xuan finally understood how it worked, while concurrently feeling a surge of curiosity toward the Spirit-Gathering Array.
Even Master Jinguang had only grasped the superficial basics—just what tier of formation could this possibly be? Yet, upon reflection, it made sense. A Spirit-Gathering Array could continuously harvest energy directly from the air and the heavens. If it were that easy to master, all worldly forms of electricity, wind power, water power, and solar energy would pale into utter insignificance.
"The old monk shall now inscribe the three formations. When the time comes, simply inject true qi into the Spirit-Gathering Array to activate it."
As he spoke, Master Jinguang extended one hand and began tracing formations onto the small paper talisman. Streams of golden light emerged from his fingertips, sketching out intricate lines upon the yellow paper, though each line vanished almost as quickly as it appeared.
It was not until Master Jinguang paused midway that the upper half of the paper talisman revealed a complex array outline—the first formation was complete.

Qin Xuan watched in sheer wonder. Truly, he was worthy of being called Master Jinguang, able to construct such exquisite formations on a piece of paper so small. It was much like carving; countless people could carve onto a massive stone wall, but those capable of carving intricate designs onto a single grain of rice could be counted on one's fingers.
Inscribing formations was equally meticulous technical work.
Master Jinguang traced with a single hand amidst flashing golden light. After roughly ten minutes, the task was finally finished. The yellow paper talisman, measuring thirty centimeters in length and eighteen in width, now bore three complex formation seals.
"Little friend Qin Xuan, the old monk will take his leave now. Amitabha..."
Smiling benevolently, Master Jinguang handed the three-formation talisman to Qin Xuan, then waved his hand and vanished entirely from sight.
Seeing a person literally disappear right before her eyes, Dongfang Qingwan could not help but gasp in shock, looking left and right without finding a trace of him.
"Qingwan, stop looking, the Master has already left~"
Reminded by Liu Qianqian, Dongfang Qingwan finally snapped back to reality, finding Master Jinguang increasingly unfathomable—he seemed even more formidable than the characters in martial arts novels.
Holding the three-formation talisman crafted by Master Jinguang, Qin Xuan contemplated for a moment before tucking it safely inside his robe. When the time came for the autumn trip, he would simply infuse the Spirit-Gathering Array with spiritual energy to activate it; until then, keeping it in his own custody was the most prudent course of action.
With the matter resolved, Qin Xuan raised his head and looked at Liu Qianqian. Today's incident had been entirely provoked by her, and Qin Xuan decided he needed to teach her a proper lesson, otherwise she would become completely lawless. This was the sort of careless behavior that could have gotten everyone killed.
Noticing Qin Xuan looking her way, Liu Qianqian felt a twinge of fear and hid behind Dongfang Qingwan.
"Lass, come out."
Qin Xuan gazed at her and said.
"What?"
Liu Qianqian asked timidly, her eyes not daring to meet his.
"Still asking what? Aren't you going to lower your head and admit your mistake for today's fiasco?" Qin Xuan looked at her, his expression turning stern.
"Qin Xuan..."
Liu Qianqian lowered her head, apparently aware of her wrongdoing. She had learned from Narcissus that there was hidden wine in this villa, so she had excitedly rushed down to the underground wine cellar. Upon catching sight of the glowing green gem and letting her curiosity get the better of her, she had inadvertently disrupted the evil-suppressing barrier.
"I only did it by accident..."
Liu Qianqian muttered, looking deeply aggrieved.
"By accident?" Qin Xuan glared at her, his expression severe. "Do you realize we were all walking along the gates of hell just now? You might not care about living, but don't drag the rest of us down with you."

"Alright, alright." Dongfang Qingwan quickly stepped in to persuade Qin Xuan. "Aren't we all fine now? Just be more careful in the future, and Qianqian knows she was wrong."
"Knowing she was wrong is enough? Qingwan, you cannot be too lenient. If we don't give her some sort of lesson, there's no telling what kind of trouble this girl will stir up next time. When a real catastrophe happens, it will be too late..."
As Qin Xuan spoke, he suddenly noticed that Liu Qianqian, hiding behind Dongfang Qingwan, was reaching out to wipe her eyes. A wave of confusion washed over him: What is this girl doing, could she be wiping away tears? Surely not?
Qin Xuan could hardly believe that a girl like Liu Qianqian would actually cry, and suddenly his heart softened. Just as he wanted to offer some gentle words of comfort, Liu Qianqian unexpectedly threw a tantrum.
"You're just afraid I'll cause trouble! If you hate me this much, I'll just leave!"
With a shout, Liu Qianqian spun around. Her shoulders shuddered twice, and with a light touch of her feet, her entire figure bolted out through the living room doors.
"Qianqian!"
Startled, Dongfang Qingwan hurriedly tried to chase after her, but how could she possibly keep up with Liu Qianqian? Rushing to the villa entrance, she discovered that Liu Qianqian's vibrant red figure had long since vanished into the distance, leaving only gusts of chilly wind blowing outside the villa.
"This girl..."
Qin Xuan also walked to the entrance and let out a slight sigh.
"Qin Xuan, why aren't you chasing after her!"
Dongfang Qingwan stamped her foot, deeply displeased with Qin Xuan's current composure.
"Chase her for what? When this girl's temper flares up, she'll come back on her own once she calms down." Qin Xuan offered a helpless, bitter smile, appearing entirely confident. "Besides, where else could she run off to live besides here? Don't worry, she'll be back shortly."
"What if something happens to her?"
Dongfang Qingwan remained deeply worried, her delicate brows knitting together. "No, Qin Xuan, you must go and chase her back. Don't look at how cheerful Qianqian usually acts; underneath it all, her pride is extremely fragile. With the way you scolded her just now, of course she felt too embarrassed to stay. Besides, you were so harsh—if you don't go after her yourself, she'll definitely be too proud to return on her own."
I was harsh?
Qin Xuan was left torn between laughter and tears. He had merely spoken a few words to her; could that possibly be considered harsh?
Yet, what Dongfang Qingwan said made a certain amount of sense. When it came to the minds of young women, Qin Xuan was utterly clueless, having simply assumed Liu Qianqian was angry at his reprimand. Now, it seemed he had driven her to a state of utter mortification...
So, should he chase after her or not?