After Su Zhiyun’s words fell, A Ran fell into thought.
It seemed like Su Zhiyun wanted A Ran to truly believe her, so she took out the stone bead containing the Breathing Method that Jiu Baiyun had originally given her and extended it toward A Ran.
“Here, this is the token from Lord Fox Immortal. It contains the Breathing Method. Once you master it, you can start cultivating immortality.”
A Ran looked at the stone bead—about the size of a pigeon egg, perfectly round, with a warm, jade-like luster—and was stunned at first, then a delighted expression spread across her face.
“Really!? Ah… can I take a look?”
Jiu Baiyun, who was watching from the side, was also visibly taken aback when Su Zhiyun pulled out the stone bead.
In particular, her words left Jiu Baiyun feeling a mix of amusement and exasperation.
‘I gave that to her… but in a way, it really did come from a fox immortal…’
After thinking it over, Jiu Baiyun’s gaze flickered between the stone bead and Su Zhiyun’s face for a moment.
Finally, he turned his head away and chose not to speak up.
He was a little afraid he wouldn’t be able to keep a straight face.
When Su Zhiyun saw the surprise on A Ran’s face, she smiled faintly and agreed decisively.
“Of course. Getting the Breathing Method is simple—just hold the stone bead and recite it silently.”
She wasn’t worried about A Ran learning the Breathing Method.
Though she hadn’t mastered it herself, if A Ran could, wouldn’t that be just as good?
Receiving Su Zhiyun’s affirmation, A Ran carefully cradled the warm stone bead in her hands, her eyes shimmering with curiosity and anticipation.
Following Su Zhiyun’s instructions, she pressed her palms together, enclosing the bead in her hands, closed her eyes, held her breath, and began silently reciting in her heart.
“Breathing Method… Breathing Method…”
Time seemed to freeze in that moment.
Jiu Baiyun and Su Zhiyun both held their breath, watching A Ran.
The only sound in the back courtyard of the Ancestral Hall was the faint rustle of wind through the leaves.
But as time passed, Su Zhiyun’s brow began to furrow.
She walked over to Jiu Baiyun and poked his elbow.
“Hey, how long does this take?”
Though she had received the Breathing Method the night before last, the problem was that once her consciousness sank in, she couldn’t sense the passage of time at all.
She had no idea how long it took her to finish receiving the Breathing Method back then.
As for Jiu Baiyun… naturally, he didn’t know either.
Even though it was his item, he hadn’t used it in a long time—nearly a hundred years.
How could he possibly remember?
He spread his hands toward Su Zhiyun, indicating he had no clue.
“Seriously, why don’t you know!?”
“What can I say? It’s been too long.”
Seeing Jiu Baiyun’s matter-of-fact expression, Su Zhiyun was now the one covered in black lines.
She shot him a fierce glare, then turned her attention back to A Ran.
After a few seconds of silence, she looked at Jiu Baiyun again, her voice dropping slightly.
“Be serious. Can this be interrupted midway?”
There was a note of anxiety in Su Zhiyun’s face, and Jiu Baiyun naturally noticed.
He furrowed his brow slightly, his gaze shifting between A Ran and Su Zhiyun a couple of times before he finally straightened up and asked seriously, “What’s wrong? Is something urgent?”
Su Zhiyun was a fellow Transmigrator, and she had a Golden Finger that he knew nothing about.
For her to suddenly be so anxious, she must have learned something.
He couldn’t afford to take that lightly.
Hearing his words, Su Zhiyun fell silent.
After a long moment, she finally spoke slowly, “If I don’t tell you the source of this information, will you believe me?”
Even though Jiu Baiyun was her fellow countryman, Su Zhiyun still didn’t want him to know about her Golden Finger.
But if she didn’t say what her Golden Finger was, she was afraid Jiu Baiyun wouldn’t believe her.
“Hm?”
Jiu Baiyun was taken aback, then found it a bit amusing.
He hadn’t asked about Su Zhiyun’s Golden Finger for this long—didn’t that already show his stance?
If he really cared about the Golden Finger, he could have just performed a soul search.
He waved his hand dismissively and said helplessly, “I already know you have a Golden Finger. Do I really need to care about how you got the information?”
“There’s no need to hesitate over the Golden Finger here.”
Jiu Baiyun’s words put Su Zhiyun somewhat at ease.
Indeed, he had never pried into her secrets.
That trust made her hesitate no longer.
“Alright!”
Su Zhiyun spoke rapidly, her voice carrying a barely perceptible tremor.
“My ‘feeling’ tells me… danger is very close! Faster than we imagined! It’s not ‘maybe’—it’s ‘immediately’! We have to leave now!”
When Jiu Baiyun heard the word “immediately” spoken with a tremble, his pupils suddenly contracted.
That intense sense of crisis instantly overwhelmed any hesitation or concern.
Without a second thought, he nodded firmly, indicating he fully understood the gravity of the situation.
“Got it!”
Without waiting for Su Zhiyun’s next move, Jiu Baiyun went straight to A Ran’s side.
At that moment, A Ran was still immersed in the meditative state brought by the stone bead.
Her small brows were slightly furrowed, as if she were struggling to perceive the profound Breathing Method.
“A Ran! Wake up! There’s no time!”
Jiu Baiyun’s voice was urgent, but it didn’t snap A Ran out of her meditative state.
He frowned slightly.
He knew well that someone who had just entered a meditative state generally couldn’t perceive external disturbances.
Waking them through normal means clearly wouldn’t work.
His eyes sharpened, and he hesitated no longer.
He quickly moved behind A Ran, formed a finger with his right hand, and a faint golden light glimmered at his fingertips.
Carefully, he placed his fingertip on A Ran’s thin back, near the region of the Spirit Platform acupoint, avoiding areas that might harm her delicate meridians.
A gentle stream of spiritual energy, like a trickling stream, cautiously seeped into A Ran’s body.
“Mm…”
A Ran, absorbed in the stone bead’s meditation, flinched violently, letting out a short, muffled groan.
The gentle spiritual energy was like a pebble thrown into a still lake, instantly disrupting the calm brought by the stone bead, forcibly pulling her out of that mysterious state of perception.
Her long lashes fluttered violently a few times before finally opening slowly.
Her eyes were filled with confusion and lingering disorientation, as if she had just woken from a long dream and couldn’t immediately tell where she was.
Then, she instinctively looked down at her empty hands.
The stone bead had slipped during the earlier jolt and had been caught by the quick-eyed Su Zhiyun.
“Big Brother Jiu…?”
A Ran’s voice was drowsy, as if she had just awakened.
She turned to look at Jiu Baiyun behind her, then at Su Zhiyun’s tense and serious expression.
“What’s wrong? I… I think I felt something… something warm and comfortable… but it seemed like I couldn’t hold onto it…”
Jiu Baiyun quickly withdrew his finger and forced a reassuring smile onto his face—though to Su Zhiyun, that smile clearly carried tension and urgency.
He crouched down to bring his eyes level with A Ran’s and spoke in an especially gentle tone, though his words came faster than usual.
“A Ran, forget about that for now. Just now… did you sense something special? Something… that felt a bit like the presence of Lord Fox Immortal?”
When he had channeled the spiritual energy earlier, he had also infused a strand of the Yao Fox Demon Venerable’s demon power, simulating the Fox Immortal’s aura.